Ingenio Ingenio, Amapulapa Amapulapa

Road outside of the school.

Lest we forget.

Feeding the cows mangos.

Just part of the scenery on a walk right outside of the school.

Not as good as Kim Cypert, but close.

Laughing about getting my hair cut from my host sister. And sort of crying.

Cati and her little brother Miguel.

The volcano on my way back home.

Another pool with a cool slide.

Luis.

One of the pools in Amapulapa. There are tiny fish in there that nibble on your feet.

And an awesome waterfall.

Brad and his host family, and Benjy.

How You Doin Bubba

It is almost always the first thing I hear from ole Brad "Pepe" Kaiser.
And it makes me glad that there is another Texan in my community
With another Texan just down the road, ole Jenny in Tecoluca.

The day starts off just like any other day, even though everyday is never going to be anything like today, it always starts off the same. The roosters are singing and it is 3am which is affirmed by my watch. It is time to use that one sheet I have and wrap myself up for the remaining time I have to sleep. One of the best feelings is that 3am reminder that the air is fresh, the dogs will soon be joining in for the chorus with the roosters, and I have 3 more hours of sleep.

6am, people are talking outside of my room, the radio is blasting my favorite channel, AH BAY SAY, Pitbull seems to be on every song, and if not it is usally the best 80s song you could ever imagine. A quick stretch and smile on my face and I open the door, "Buenos dias", "Buenos dias Miguel!" Everyone has been up since 5 and they have already eaten and ironed their clothes. I head for the latrine and then grab my towel and get ready to bathe.

Concentrate, it is cold, but it is going to get pretty hot today. Enjoy this. Dumping the water on my head I talk to my host mom Ana who is just outside of the shower cleaning dishes. I tell her the plans for my day. After it is breakfast which is usually pancakes, or chicken and rice, or ramen noodles. And after I eat I try to catch some of this Mexican show called "Casa De La Risa".

The rest of the day is filled with (on a normal day) Spanish class and then culture class. From 8am to 12pm we talk Spanish vocabulary which includes vocabulary about the body, the mayor's office, and adjectives and descriptions. 12pm to 1pm is lunch time and usually have a nice nap in the hammock. After that we go back to class to learn more about the community and the country. Classes are over at 3pm and we are free.

Usually after I will go back home and hangout with the kids next door, play frisbee, or walk around and feed the cows mangos. I finally got to see the new Harry Potter. I bought it from a man for 1 dollar, and it is in Spanish, and it is in black and white. Lumos!

Sometimes it can get frustrating, not only because I want to be able to speak more fluently or because I miss Lite Bite so much, but rather because there are so many things to be done and sometimes it feels like we are not actually doing anything. Of course we are indeed doing many things, and most importantly we are adapting and learning how to live in the Valley of Hammocks for the next 2 years.

Hair Comes The Sun

My names here in El Salvador.

Miguel
Don Miguel
Pelito Amarillo
Miguelito
El Leon

This will be quite short, and hopefully soon I will have some time to write about a "normal" day.

Yesterday I was told to cut my hair, and I did (barely) with my host sister Bea. I have some great pictures of me crying.

The meeting they had with me about cutting my hair was so uncomfortable. It was probably one of the worst things I had to sit through, besides those few days of diarrhea.

Don and Niña

It is a beautiful day in El Salvador!

Today I would like to describe my home and living quarters here in the valley of hammocks.

First off I have to say that one of the things I adore, among the ridiculous amounts of things that I adore, is that Salvadorans do not say Señor or Señora, but instead they say Don or Niña. I of course am assimilating to their culture so I use it as well. For example I call my host brother, and the only other man in the house, Don Carlos El guapo, and my host sisters Las Niñas famosas.

My home has three rooms, one large living room, an area for cooking, and an area for washing dish and clothes and taking bucket baths. The patio is probably my favorite area, it is the best place to sit in the hammock, chat while someone is cooking or cleaning, and it is also where the main table is for eating.

The living room is really nice, really big with another hammock that stretches across the room. There is no AC nor are there any fans in the living room so at night it can get really hot in there. My family does not watch that much tv, and if they do watch something it is either a movie, music videos, or telenovelas.

My room is pretty small so I have no need to really hangout in there and besides, all the action is taking place on the patio which is everyones favorite place to be. I do have a small table that I use for a desk, a pretty nice bed, and a place to hang my hat. My room can get pretty warm at night, so I usually end up going to bed without my one sheet that I use, and around 2 or 3 in the morning I will wake up and grab the one sheet that I need and cover myself up for the night. It is freaking wonderful.

There is no indoor plumbing, so if you need to use the bathroom there is a latrine and if you need to bathe there is an area for bucket baths. At our house we have what is called a "pila". There is an area for all of the water and then then on top of that there is a place to wash the clothes and dishes. Also the pila goes into a small box where you can go in with a small bucket and take a very nice and relaxing bucket bath. I take at least one everyday, usually two. The best though is taking a bath in the morning, it is perfect and cold and exactly what you need to wake up.

As far as drinking water goes we get all of our water for the Peace Corps training center in these huge jugs whenever necessary.

Now if you would like you can scroll even further down and see what my house looks like for yourself along with a few of the beautiful people that I see every day.

Your Veins Are Quite Prominent

Haha this is one a few chickens in the house and I found it in my room this morning. We also have one rooster.
The latrine.

Bucket bath.
My desk and water.
Clothes and hats.
My room.
Patio.
Living room.
Kitchen. And a chicken.
The next door neighbors Claudia and Cati in front of the garden.
That first picture is of my sister Lee, laughing, in front of the house.
The next one is of Scooby, one of two dogs, in the front yard.

The volcano that we will climb the second to last week. This is taken from the hammock in the patio.
Tranquilo.
That apple and the card below were gifts from my friend Terri. The first things I see when I wake up.

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.