Long Live El Salvador!! :)

I´ve now been in my site for 3 weeks, and it´s a miracle how at home I feel. I couldn´t ask for a more welcoming community where I feel at ease to share of myself...God´s truly blessed me with a family environment. I live with Ester, a sixty something year old lady who´s bursting with personality with her high pitched screechy voice that could be annoying but it´s endearing. She´s a Christian, and she´s spunky...I mean a lot of spunk. She takes care of me, but still can give me room to be an adult also, which I like. She´s been telling me the town gossip, even though, ¨she doesn´t like to talk about people, but...¨ I need to know so that people don´t talk about me because of who I hang out with. It´s true, really. So, it´s good to have the inside scoop.

The fact that my canton is mainly evangelical is a good and a bad thing. Good because the people are very giving and loving, and it´s nice to talk about the things of the Lord. Bad because they´re legalistic as well. It´s pretty taboo that I dance, so I´m trying not to do it, even though the young people want to learn. I´d love to teach it, but am afraid of the reprucions (sp?) with the relationships and trust of the parents. Anyway, it´s a minor thing, but it´s just a bit frustrating. It´s the denomination where everyone prays out loud and there´s a lot of screaming and babbling and when people talk,, they have to yell...no one talks in a normal voice. I find that wierd and don´t see how it´s seen as worship or glorifying to God. But, to each his own.

This Saturday I start teaching English. To the youth at 9am and to the adults at 11:30am. Then, we´re trying to start a softball team for the girls to have something to do besides stay in the house. Also, it´s a good opp. to form relationships with a few of them and open doors for really good conversations and learning\teaching opps. Also, on Tues. and Thurs. I´ll be leading an exercise class for the women and young ladies. They need exercise, and it´s a good avenue to discuss health issues...also a good preventitive measure. Then, our main objective is building a health clinic in our canton so the the people don´t have to walk an hour to the town Consuelas, and so that the health promotor has a place to store the medicine and do checkups. Tomorrow a couple leaders and I are going to get papers for the ADESCO and the land authorized so that we can begin soliciting. Then, I´m really excited because since Intervida is already working in our community, we´re going to solicit to them, and I think that option will work out well. If not, we´ll look for other means. Other ideas for future projects are Letrines (half of the comm. doesn´t have a latrine. It´s like an outhouse. So, they just go in the woods\behind the house), Chimneys for the wood stoves, beautifying the field and making it more like a park and more shady and a good place for the people to enjoy life a little. They work so hard and receive so little. It would be awesome for them to have a spot to relax\play.

Regarding cultural norms, my canton´s pretty special. No guys throw piropos, meaning no one says crude things to me as I walk by. I feel pretty well respected overall. The guys, for the most part, are descent and not so machisto like a lot of Salvadorans. So, I´m very thankful for that. However, I´m having to guard myself a bit because I don´t want to be naive and end up with some guy coming on to me. Being the white, tall, ¨blonde gringa¨ is an automatic attention grabber. It´s ridiculus because the people here actually say that everyone in ES is ugly, and that the U.S. has all people bonito. Isn´t it crazy how skin color and height can be so important to some people? I personally think the people here are beautiful, and their appearances (most) are very attractive as well.

Well, that´s it for the current update. For a couple of fun facts: I rode a horse, got peed on by some bug that burned my skin, swam under a waterfall, and am learning to make tortillas quite well. Until next time, God Bless and thanks for reading!