Ana Mi Amor

It is winter here in El Salvador.

The hills and mountains are green and the sun shines during the day creating incredible heat and at night the rain comes in to cool us down as we sit outside and chat about how many books I brought and how incredible it would be for my host mom Ana to able to read.

Coffee and sitting with good people are probably two of my favorite things in the world. Unfortunately I am relapsing to my first few days in Spain and I have to get accustomed to the new foods and different coffee. The other day we had a talk about diarrhea which lasted, and I am not trying to exaggerate, at least 3 maybe 4 hours. I fell asleep a few times, along with a few other trainees, and of course I have had diarrhea for the past few days.

No worries though.
Our instructor Chavo told us that most of the time it happens is because of the new food and there are many ways to take care of yourself.

My host family is wonderful. My host mom has five children and two of them live in the USA in Virginia. There are three kids at home, two girls who are older teenagers and one boy who is 18. They are so incredibly nice and friendly and I am overwhelmed with how great my host family and house are. My host mom is very sweet. Her name is Ana and everytime I come home I say "hola Ana mi amor". She thinks I am hilarious and that the pictures of my family are beautiful and precious. She kept asking me which brother I was because she said we all looked alike. She has never left El Salvador, but she is utterly brilliant and wise and if we continue to have 2 hour long chats like last night I am going to be in good shape.

She told me that Salvadorans are known for being "habladores" or "speakers". They love to talk. The spanish is so much more beautiful than I thought it was going to be. Outside of San Salvador the people tend to use the formal subject usted instead of the informal tu. Meaningless as this may seem to you it is interesting because I have always thought that in rural and poverty stricken areas of countries the people usually tend to be more sloppy with their language and it is just the opposite here. Instead everything seems very formal and when people see each other they always say hello and are extremely polite.

Whenever you see people here it is very important to smile and say hello.
I love the fact that one of the most important things is simply being polite.

The plan is that for the next 8 weeks me and 4 other trainees will live in San Antonio Caminos. It is just 5 minutes outside of the beautiful city of San Vicente and hopefully before the 8 weeks are over we will climb the volcano that stands as a sort of Peace Corps rite of passage. Our spanish teacher told us that most volunteers have said that after climbing to the volcano they come back and feel like they are fully prepared. I asked my neighbor about it and he said it is incredible when you reach the top. You can see the river, the sea, and all of El Salvador.

After the 8 weeks we will be assigned to our site where we will live for the next 2 years. I do not even want to look that far ahead because right now I just want to take in everything from my family and learn as much as I can about living here.

Yesterday was our first day to stay at our new homes and we rode in a pickup truck from San Vicente.

As I looked out into the mountains and the hills and green that seems to never end I closed my eyes for just a few seconds and felt everything. The wind in my hair, the rare silence of Salvadoran air, and then I opened my eyes to an enormous volcano that is literally the first thing I see when I walk outside of my room.

I can't believe I live here.

I started to think about how I know that I am going to miss the US, my family, and friends, but I also believe that it is very important to make sure that you are wherever you are. The mountains, hills, and land scream passion, love, and life but you do not have to come to El Salvador to hear it and I hope that wherever you are you will take this day to step outside and see that surrounding you is all of this God created beauty and if you do not realize that you have an amazing life you are going to miss so many things that are filled with an infinite amount of joy and beauty.

As much as I love it here, I would never want to be anywhere other than where I am.
And if everyday one's desire is to be somewhere else they are going to find themselves in a sea of despair, and misery, and discontent for everything they see and everyone they know.

My sister Lindsay says it best, love and life.

We are now off to the shoe man or zapatero because one of the trainees, who I am pretty sure is my new best friend, broke one of his boots and is going to get it fixed.

I love you very much and send a mountain of love and peace to you all.