settling in and such things

Hello! sorry it's been so long since I've written. The internet was down in my town (along with all the phone lines) for the past two weeks, so the only times I've had online were brief moments at the internet cafe, not long enough to sit down and write a blog post.
Generally, things are going well here. The rains started, and I have never been so happy to have cloudy weather. Today for example, I am wearing a t-shirt (as opposed to a tank top) and am not sweating! It's wonderful.
I've managed to keep myself busy these past couple weeks, attending various meetings around the community. If I wanted to, I could have zero free time as the two schools seems very anxious to have me there as much time as possible. I've been helping the English teacher at one of the schools with her English, she's very sweet, and have been teaching English classes myself as well. I am not sure if I'll continue with those classes though, as they seem a little pointless. As I only can teach once or twice a week, there's little follow-through, and the students are not accountable for what they do (or don't do) in my class. I am also teaching English classes in the Casa de Cultura, a sort of community center for the youth, which are much more rewarding. The students that come are ones that are more motivated and actually sought me out to solicit classes, so they are a pleasure to teach. Teaching classes in the school is a good way to get integrated into the community though, so I think I will stick around for a bit longer. I will also start teaching computer classes in one of the schools in the countryside outside the town (about an hour's walk away, though I usually manage to find someone who is happy to give me a ride on the back of their pick-up).
The differences between the countryside and the city in my municipality is startling. Though the city is fairly well off, with a lot of remesa (or remittance) money, the countryside is incredibly poor. I have had the opportunity to visit different areas in the countryside the past week with the health clinic and the Red Solidaria program. The Red Solidaria program is the government program to alleviate poverty. It is only in the poorest counties in the nation, one of which is mine. They pay families who qualify between $15-20 a month to send their children to school, bring them for check-ups to the health clinics and to attend various workshops, the one I attended for example was on children's health. I've heard a lot of criticism of the program, most of which stemming from the fact that the families use their $15 to buy pollo campero (the local fast food) and not healthy food for their children or school supplies, which is largely true. Nonetheless, the success of the program lies in the fact that no matter what people do with that money, they really are sending their children to school, to the health clinic and attending all these meetings, which is wonderful. I hope to do some work with them in the future.
So generally, I am managing to fill my time here, though I still feel insecure about what my work will be, I still feel like I am just floating around from place to place without any real responsibilities, which is nice in some ways but also a little frustrating. I just need to keep reminding myself that I'm new, that I have so much more time here and things will work out.
On a personal level, this past weekend was pretty fun. On Thursday, I went to visit another volunteer nearby (about an hour and a half away) to help him put on a play for his school. He runs the Peace Corps theater troupe, called Gringuisimo that puts on play for children with different messages on the environment and other important subjects. We did a musical rendition of "the Lorax" in Spanish and a play on the life of trash, good stuff. It was fun to meet up with other Peace Corps volunteers and spend time speaking English, and hearing about their experiences in their different assignments.
And then on Saturday, I went out to La Union, the department farthest east, for a PC soccer game. We have a fairly informal team (made up of whoever can come that weekend), which travels to one volunteer's site once a month to play against a local team in the community. The community usually gets a real kick out of beating the gringos and for us it's a great excuse to meet up with other volunteers and visit a new part of the country. The game was less fun this time since it was pouring rain and very, very muddy, but I'm still glad I went as it was a good time with the other volunteers.
Also, one last piece of news. I was selected to be the Municipal Development editor for the Peace Corps newspaper! It only comes out 4 times a year and is read by like 200 people, but I am excited about it. We had to submit a piece to get selected, and I think I will post it for you all if you want to read it. I will be going into the capital this week to start editing this next issue, I think it will be a fun project to work on.
Well, my computer is about to die so I should run, but I will be updating more frequently soon!