I´m still alive...

Hey, everyone!! Well, it was really smart of me to send out an email to everyone asking for contact info 1 day before leaving for a country with limited internet access!! I finally have finished going through the responses and THINK I've added everyone that wanted to be added. If I missed someone, just let me know! :)

So....El Salvador is AWESOME!! Granted, there are some major differences from the US. Women cook, clean, don't really work like they do in the states. We have to bathe with a pila, a container of (unheated) water that we dump on our heads. We sleep with a mosquito net over our beds that is covered with bugs. Let me tell you...the mosquito net is awesome! It keeps EVERYTHING out of the bed! We're not allowed to throw toilet paper in the toilets. And yes, I just started my period today. Some things don't change. It was quite a surprise to me and I had to borrow - ok - take – some stuff from the nurse. I was laughing so hard and I don't quite think anyone understood why. But they'll get used to that sooner or later. :)

My host family is great. Roberto and Maria are the grandparents. Danira is their daughter (mid-30's maybe?) and Roberta is the grand-daughter. Roberta and I dance to this exercise video called Zumba many nights during the week. It's pretty funny. The rest of the family sits on the couch and laughs at us! :)

We went to the lake on Saturday and bought fish. Let me tell ya...this process freaked me out. We actually walked to the water's edge, asked the guy in the canoe for 5 pounds of fish, and he literally pulled live fish out of the water and smashed them flopping around into this little plastic bag. I was thinking, oh my goodness....that is what I'm eating now. Those live things that are flopping around like crazy. Then we got home and Maria cooked a few up for lunch. When they cook fish here, they cook the entire thing. They just throw the fish into the frying pan so you eat everything when it's done. I told them I was a bit freaked out to see the head and eyes staring at me, so they chopped off the heads for me. I was quite thankful. But when we sat down, I didn't know how to eat it. I was thinking, are you allowed to eat the scales? The fin and everything were there. They had to show me how to eat it and they thought it was quite humorous. Actually, scales taste a lot like other animals' skin - chicken, etc. It was quite a memorable day!:)

The bus that we take from San Rafael Cedros (where my host family lives) is PACKED and I mean PACKED all the time. It looks like a commercial for deodorant. You would all laugh so hard. But...it'sa good place to chat with people, if you can handle talking to someone 2 inches from your face!Well, I need to get back to the training. I'll hopefully send out another update soon....I miss all of you terribly and think of you often!! AIA - I sent out my first letter to you earlier in the week so we'll see how long it takes to get to you. :)

Miss ya tons!
M