Oh, so here's a funny thing that happened in Peru that I forgot to relay: At some point, we were hanging out at Machu Picchu and the guides wanted us to list all the things we knew about the famous ruins or about the Incas. Out of a group of 13 of us, guess how much we knew? ...Next to nothing.
Those guys were shocked. They said, "What do you guys learn in the U.S. schools?" ...Yeah, if only I had a dollar for every time I heard that.
Being a teacher, that's a pretty sad thing to hear. My Taiwanese friend (who is really smug about a lot of things, whether rightfully so or not) is quick to point out that Americans don't get geography jokes about other countries, because given a random non-Western-European country name, we can't really tell you anything specific about that country's geography, besides roughly where it is located in the world.
Sad.
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So, I'm back in El Salvador. I had thought I would be relieved to be home after four weeks of consecutive traveling. And, I am. But I miss Geoff already, and it's only Day 1. :(
Work starts tomorrow for me. I feel a fair amount of anxiety about returning to work (for reasons not to be discussed here -- but suffices to say that this is a rare occurence for me) and about the fact that Geoff will remain in the States for at least another 2 weeks. (Maybe longer, if he needs to close a deal on a house.) So, I am home, yes, but calm the way I normally feel at home? That's still a work in progress...
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In other news, recently I've been telling people stories about how Geoff and I went about planning out the next few years of our lives together. Everyone's been choking on laughter when I say matter-of-factly that Geoff wants to make babies at some point, and that I have told him that that shouldn't happen when we're, say, 40.
It's funny how men have nesting instincts but are clueless about fertility rates. How come people always talk about women having mothering instincts? :) I think Geoff's fathering instincts far exceed my own nurturing instincts. I can't even hold babies! (I am scared of breaking them.)
Anyway, I thought I'd put it out there, so you can all tell him that you now know he has a sensitive side. ;)
Showing posts with label united states. Show all posts
Showing posts with label united states. Show all posts
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Affirmative.
Coming back to the States only once or twice a year is pretty funny, because it's like flying into the future. I am constantly amazed by how wired everyone is in the States. In El Salvador, I literally don't carry a phone with me half the time. I have only rough estimates of what time it is, at any given moment.
Here in the States, our friends are constantly checking their phones to look up videos or to check train schedules on the go. In Los Angeles (where I was recently), literally everyone owns a GPS; my high school friend can't even drive around in our home town anymore, without her GPS. Our friends from NYC were talking about how there are devices that upload your TiVo online, so that you can log in and watch your recorded shows while you are away from home. The Kindle is also huge now -- I was sitting next to two different people on the subway, each reading their own Kindle -- Amazon.com is even releasing a new version that's $50 cheaper (around $135?) that will run solely off of wireless connections, instead of the 3G network. My friend Tim was just saying that now, instead of Netflix sending you DVDs in the mail, they just send you one generic software CD that you can pop into your Wii, and you can stream movies off of the wireless connection that is built into the Wii. Geoff and I just got back about 30 minutes ago from the local grocery store, where they have vending machines for DVD rentals. All you need is a credit card, and they'll charge you $1 a day for the rental, absolutely no subscription or storefront needed. Not to mention the 3-D television sets that are popping up everywhere (you can sample them if you go to a Samsung store near you, but they give me a headache, for some reason); our friend Yomi said that his company is working on figuring out how many cameras they are going to need to broadcast the Olympics in Brazil with 3-D technology.
It's pretty ridiculous how technologically advanced everything is. It's pretty awesome, in a way, but in a way it also creeps me out a bit just how reliant we are on technology. Is it just me? Are we going to start saying "affirmative" instead of "yes"? ZerozerozerozerozerozeroOne.
Here in the States, our friends are constantly checking their phones to look up videos or to check train schedules on the go. In Los Angeles (where I was recently), literally everyone owns a GPS; my high school friend can't even drive around in our home town anymore, without her GPS. Our friends from NYC were talking about how there are devices that upload your TiVo online, so that you can log in and watch your recorded shows while you are away from home. The Kindle is also huge now -- I was sitting next to two different people on the subway, each reading their own Kindle -- Amazon.com is even releasing a new version that's $50 cheaper (around $135?) that will run solely off of wireless connections, instead of the 3G network. My friend Tim was just saying that now, instead of Netflix sending you DVDs in the mail, they just send you one generic software CD that you can pop into your Wii, and you can stream movies off of the wireless connection that is built into the Wii. Geoff and I just got back about 30 minutes ago from the local grocery store, where they have vending machines for DVD rentals. All you need is a credit card, and they'll charge you $1 a day for the rental, absolutely no subscription or storefront needed. Not to mention the 3-D television sets that are popping up everywhere (you can sample them if you go to a Samsung store near you, but they give me a headache, for some reason); our friend Yomi said that his company is working on figuring out how many cameras they are going to need to broadcast the Olympics in Brazil with 3-D technology.
It's pretty ridiculous how technologically advanced everything is. It's pretty awesome, in a way, but in a way it also creeps me out a bit just how reliant we are on technology. Is it just me? Are we going to start saying "affirmative" instead of "yes"? ZerozerozerozerozerozeroOne.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
A History of Poverty
To help understand why things are the way they are down here, I think we need to talk briefly about the recent history of El Salvador. Some of this information I gathered from various readings on the internet; others came from word-of-mouth (ie. from talking to my principal, who has lived here for 3+ years).
In El Salvador, for many generations the country had no middle class. There were the land-owning elite, namely "the 14 families", who literally divided the entire country into 14 gigantic jigsaw pieces (after driving out the native Indians), and those who were landless and impoverished. To give an idea of how far-reaching the wealth is of those elite families, my principal pointed to the giant volcano that backdrops the city of San Salvador, and said that two-thirds of that mountain is still owned by a single board member of our school today! All of that land teems with coffee plantations, and one can only imagine how much money is associated with that volume of production.
As with any sort of wealth disparity comes social unrest. The country divided itself over time into two parties -- the same two parties that still exist today -- the Republican party, or ARENA, and the Socialist party, or FMLN. Locals simply refer to the latter as Frente, which literally means "Front" and refers to the idea that the FMLN came about as a coalition of smaller populist parties. Over time, both parties began to use violence -- torture, rape, and killings -- to further their cause, and by the late 1970s, the situation had boiled over to a full-blown Civil War.
Because the landless Salvadoreans were sympathizers of Fidel Castro and because this period in Salvadorean history corresponded in timeline to the U.S. fear of the spread of Communism, the U.S. administrations from Carter to Bush Sr. gave a total of 7 billion dollars in aid to El Salvador in support of the ruling elite. Sadly, since this choosing of sides was political in nature, whether it was justified remains questionable. An excerpt from Amnesty International's 1985 annual report states, "Many of the 40,000 people killed in the preceding five years had been murdered, by government forces, who openly dumped mutilated corpses, in an apparent effort, to terrorize the population." --This is not to gloss over the violence brought on by the opposing guerrillas, but simply to state that both sides were definitely violent to an extreme in this internal conflict.
In any case, in 1992 a peace accord was signed, partly because the guerrillas were running out of steam. For a period of 5 years that followed, parts of the land were re-distributed slowly to eligible soldiers on both sides under the supervision of the United Nations, and the guerrillas re-established themselves as a legitimate political party.
In June, the first ever Frente president took over in a legitimate election. It had been expected to be a landslide victory, ever since he had emerged as a popular, moderate, and charismatic candidate. But, the 6 months before the election saw a lot of rumors spreading fear that he was a Communist and was going to drive away all the business owners in the country. In the end, he won by a margin less than 3%. The jury is still out, since he is so new, but we can only hope for the best.
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Some worrisome news from a Salvadorean blog I read:
The online periodical Contra Punto reports the latest homicide statistics for the first 7 months of 2009 and they are troubling. Murders are up 37% in El Salvador for the first seven months of 2009 compared with the same period in 2008. So far in 2009, there have been 2428 violent deaths, compared to 1767 in 2008. These statistics come from the Attorney General's office who asserts that the majority of these murders are gang-related.
Speaking of gangs, supposedly the rampant gang activity down here is, again, closely tied to the history of poverty in this country -- and maybe surprisingly, also related to the Salvadorean immigration to/deportation from the States.
In any case, Geoff's and my neighborhood is relatively safe. Like most of our neighbors, we have 24-hour security guards who hold machine guns behind closed gates -- not that they actually would use the guns in a time of need, but as far as appearances go, I think they give off some sort of a protective vibe, anyway. And for now, Geoff and I have given up on walking home at night, just to be on the safe side. Cab rides are only a few dollars to get to anywhere in the city, so it's really not worth it to walk even 15 minutes in the dark...
In El Salvador, for many generations the country had no middle class. There were the land-owning elite, namely "the 14 families", who literally divided the entire country into 14 gigantic jigsaw pieces (after driving out the native Indians), and those who were landless and impoverished. To give an idea of how far-reaching the wealth is of those elite families, my principal pointed to the giant volcano that backdrops the city of San Salvador, and said that two-thirds of that mountain is still owned by a single board member of our school today! All of that land teems with coffee plantations, and one can only imagine how much money is associated with that volume of production.
As with any sort of wealth disparity comes social unrest. The country divided itself over time into two parties -- the same two parties that still exist today -- the Republican party, or ARENA, and the Socialist party, or FMLN. Locals simply refer to the latter as Frente, which literally means "Front" and refers to the idea that the FMLN came about as a coalition of smaller populist parties. Over time, both parties began to use violence -- torture, rape, and killings -- to further their cause, and by the late 1970s, the situation had boiled over to a full-blown Civil War.
Because the landless Salvadoreans were sympathizers of Fidel Castro and because this period in Salvadorean history corresponded in timeline to the U.S. fear of the spread of Communism, the U.S. administrations from Carter to Bush Sr. gave a total of 7 billion dollars in aid to El Salvador in support of the ruling elite. Sadly, since this choosing of sides was political in nature, whether it was justified remains questionable. An excerpt from Amnesty International's 1985 annual report states, "Many of the 40,000 people killed in the preceding five years had been murdered, by government forces, who openly dumped mutilated corpses, in an apparent effort, to terrorize the population." --This is not to gloss over the violence brought on by the opposing guerrillas, but simply to state that both sides were definitely violent to an extreme in this internal conflict.
In any case, in 1992 a peace accord was signed, partly because the guerrillas were running out of steam. For a period of 5 years that followed, parts of the land were re-distributed slowly to eligible soldiers on both sides under the supervision of the United Nations, and the guerrillas re-established themselves as a legitimate political party.
In June, the first ever Frente president took over in a legitimate election. It had been expected to be a landslide victory, ever since he had emerged as a popular, moderate, and charismatic candidate. But, the 6 months before the election saw a lot of rumors spreading fear that he was a Communist and was going to drive away all the business owners in the country. In the end, he won by a margin less than 3%. The jury is still out, since he is so new, but we can only hope for the best.
-----------------------
Some worrisome news from a Salvadorean blog I read:
The online periodical Contra Punto reports the latest homicide statistics for the first 7 months of 2009 and they are troubling. Murders are up 37% in El Salvador for the first seven months of 2009 compared with the same period in 2008. So far in 2009, there have been 2428 violent deaths, compared to 1767 in 2008. These statistics come from the Attorney General's office who asserts that the majority of these murders are gang-related.
Speaking of gangs, supposedly the rampant gang activity down here is, again, closely tied to the history of poverty in this country -- and maybe surprisingly, also related to the Salvadorean immigration to/deportation from the States.
In any case, Geoff's and my neighborhood is relatively safe. Like most of our neighbors, we have 24-hour security guards who hold machine guns behind closed gates -- not that they actually would use the guns in a time of need, but as far as appearances go, I think they give off some sort of a protective vibe, anyway. And for now, Geoff and I have given up on walking home at night, just to be on the safe side. Cab rides are only a few dollars to get to anywhere in the city, so it's really not worth it to walk even 15 minutes in the dark...
Friday, July 17, 2009
First Tasks
Upon arrival in El Salvador, the customs officers issue you a 90-day tourist visa at the border. After that, your first order of business should be to obtain a "NIT" card.
The NIT, Número de Identificación Tributaria, is the local equivalent of the Taxpayer Identification Number, issuable to any individual who holds a valid passport -- even if they only have a 90-day tourist visa. It is a stepping stone to doing other important things, like setting up a local bank account.
Fortunately for us, one of the school staffers took Geoff and me to apply for a NIT on the first day. The whole process took about 10 minutes and 50 cents. --You read that right, 50 cents! For both of us combined! The same awesome lady also took me to open a local bank account, which took significantly longer. There were a lot of papers to sign, and it looked like the only reason why things went through so smoothly was because I was backed by the Escuela Americana staffer.
Then, Geoff and I spent the rest of the day looking at apartments (putting what little Spanish we know to the test). Even though there is still paperwork stuff to iron out, we are pretty sure we have found our first home! yay! For future reference, doing everything in El Salvador is about whom you know. There is no Craigslist or real-estate agency... You go look at apartments that are owned by a friend-of-a-friend, or by the mom of a cousin of a co-worker. Pretty funny. :)
Keeping our fingers crossed, Geoff and I will be in our home by Sunday, minimally settled by next week (with cellular phones and internet access all hooked up, and our bed delivered), so that we can start taking surf lessons! :) (As it turns out, one of my new co-workers dates one of the top-ranked surfers in El Salvador, and he offers $10 surf lessons... As you might expect, Geoff has already enthusiastically chatted him up and gotten him to agree to teach us to surf!)
Then, Geoff and I spent the rest of the day looking at apartments (putting what little Spanish we know to the test). Even though there is still paperwork stuff to iron out, we are pretty sure we have found our first home! yay! For future reference, doing everything in El Salvador is about whom you know. There is no Craigslist or real-estate agency... You go look at apartments that are owned by a friend-of-a-friend, or by the mom of a cousin of a co-worker. Pretty funny. :)
Keeping our fingers crossed, Geoff and I will be in our home by Sunday, minimally settled by next week (with cellular phones and internet access all hooked up, and our bed delivered), so that we can start taking surf lessons! :) (As it turns out, one of my new co-workers dates one of the top-ranked surfers in El Salvador, and he offers $10 surf lessons... As you might expect, Geoff has already enthusiastically chatted him up and gotten him to agree to teach us to surf!)
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Incidentally, I looked it up briefly out of curiosity, and it looks like the requirements for getting a tax ID number are indeed much stricter in the US than in El Salvador, as one might expect. As a foreigner looking to apply for a Social Security number, you would have to either prove that you have permission to work in the States or prove that you are part of a federal program (ie. federal funding) that requires an SSN.
As for opening US bank accounts as a foreigner, the process is so mind-bogglingly complex that I would have to recommend browsing through this link to get a sense of the difficulties involved. It is pretty insane how unfriendly the US framework is to foreign businesses, and yet how many people still want to do business with us. ...For now, anyway.
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