End of week 5 updates

Hi all – Just thought I'd check in before going away for a couple days (this weekend is my group's only “free weekend” during the ten weeks of training, so we're renting a house on the beach for two nights).

On the ankle front, I got some x-rays on Monday and the orthopedist concluded I have a “moderate to severe sprain”. I have to wear an air cast for four weeks, which isn't too much of a hassle, since it can be taken off when I bathe and sleep. The pain is pretty minimal – I just can't shoot hoops or go jogging for a while, which I had been doing regularly prior to the sprain.

Training this week was pretty low-key – the usual combination of Spanish classes and sessions on assessment tools and Peace Corps policies. We also had our first session on HIV/AIDS, of which Peace Corps El Salvador encourages its volunteers to raise awareness in their sites. In Spanish class on Wednesday, my class had one of our Community Contacts with the vice principal of the local school (who also happens to be Don Vidal, my host father), and we learned some interesting things about some of the challenges the country's education system faces. For instance, in some areas where the gang presence is particularly high (such as the capital), many teachers have to pay renta to their students who belong to gangs. The student might demand, for instance, $50 a month from the teacher (about a tenth of a typical teacher's salary), and threaten to harm the teacher's family if the money doesn't come through. Very tragic.

Next week we have Field-Based Training (FBT) from Tuesday to Friday. FBT is similar to Immersion Days, in that trainees stay in the site of a current volunteer, but as observing is to Immersion Days, doing is to FTB. We'll be expected to lead some activities that the volunteer has arranged, for instance. I'll be staying, along with two other trainees, with a volunteer named Rachel, whose site is very close to Cesar's, where I stayed for Immersion Days last week.

That's all I've got on El Salvador for now. I've been checking the news frequently for updates on Syria. What happened with Great Britain yesterday was a bit shocking (at least for someone with only a cursory understanding of British politics) – one moment the British were releasing documents to justify airstrikes, and the next (seemingly – remember, I have limited access to internet, so I can't follow developments minute-by-minute), they had ruled said airstrikes out after a vote in parliament. I feel weird about spending the weekend at a beach house at a time when my country could at any minute begin military strikes against another Middle Eastern country, but at the same time I realize it really makes no difference.