Michael Comstock
Class of 2004

March 29, 2005

Hey Everyone,

This is just a quick note to give everyone my new email address (comstock28@yahoo.com) if you don't have it yet, and to tell you all that I've started my Peace Corps tour in El Salvador as a Rural Health and Sanitation Volunteer. My training group of 17 (now down to 16) arrived safely in country February 2 after a couple day "staging" in Washingon, DC. The first ten weeks, which are almost up now, serve as our training to prepare us for two years of service. They've given us technical training (how to build latrines and fuel-efficient stoves, how to work with NGOs, fundraising, etc); cultural and safety training (cultural sensitivity in doing development work and how to not get shot in San Salvador); medical training (how to boil water? and avoid malaria and Dengue, lots of immunizations); and finally Spanish classes.

I live in a little rural canton called La Cruz, outside San Vicente with a host family that is incredible (host mom, sister, and two younger brothers). They are the most generous family ever and definitely spoil me. The living conditions are very modest, but a lot better than what I'll be living in the next two years. It's a cement block house with electricity, but no unning water. I brush my teeth and shave outside, poop in a pit latrine out back, and take bucket baths next to the latrine on a concrete slab. I've gotten to love the refreshing bucket baths, I actually consider the tarantulas in my room friends now, and I've gotten used to the roosters screaming at 2:00 in the morning.

Despite the medical training, I've still managed to get sick, along with everyone else. Diarrhea, vomiting, strep throat, etc., but at least I haven't had any parasites or worms yet, like some of my "companeros" :-) Just as long as I don't get Malaria or Dengue, I'll be happy. Besides training in the Training Center in San Vicente every week and spending time in our host communities, we've also made trips to go visit other volunteers' sites to get a feel for the volunteer experience, gone into the capital, gone to the beach, and other cool stuff.

Training's coming to an end here pretty quickly... tomorrow we find out our site assignments (as of now, we still don't know which little village or which department we'll be in for the next two years), April 14 we have our "Swearing-in" as volunteers at the US Embassy, followed by a huge party with all the volunteers in-country! Then the next day we head out to our sites!! I am looking forward to getting to my site, but I'm going to miss all my fellow "trainees"! Everyone is awesome, all between 22 and 26 years old, 13 girls, 3 guys, all with extremely varying backgrounds and experiences. We'll still be able to see each other once in a while after we get to our sites, like when we go into the central PC office in San Salvador (which is a big compound with 15 foot walls, barbed wire, armed guards, mirrors to check for bombs when cars enter, and a fleet of matching Four-Wheel Drive Peace Corps vehicles). I'm positive that I'll be in an extremely remote area based on my site interview (made the mistake of telling them I didn't mind not having water or electricity), the fact I'm a male and have a higher Spanish level than the others (they put us in the more risky areas - great), and our job to begin with is "Rural" Health and Sanitation (meaning we're out in the boonies more than the other AgroForestry and Municipal Development volunteers in-country). But, I came here for a challenge, so I'm looking forward to it! I'll let you know how it goes....

Hope all is well!
Yours, Mike :-)

Michael Comstock
comstock28@yahoo.com

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