My fun group and intro spanish level...

Ooo....those special keys on the keyboards here are so cool!! :) So....now that I´m attempting to download these photos and it says it´s going to take 5 hours (geez, I really hope not!), I thought it would be a good time to write to all of you!!

First of all, the photo that is attached has the three people in my host community with the volcano in the background. This was taken at our bus stop that we wait at in the morning, on the days we travel to San Vicente. Andrew (Andres), Tara, & John (Juan) are my three compañeros here. We all have a great time together! Andrew played for a professional hockey team as the goalie before coming here – I forget which one exactly...Georgia or Alabama...something like that. Tara was a co-captain of her track team in college and just finished her graduate degree and decided moving to the middle of nowhere sounded like fun. We figured out that we wear the same size clothes and shoes, so we´re psyched about that! And we decided we´re definitely going out sometime to a dance club! And Juan worked as a professional tennis coach and worked with youth from a Spanish community in southern California, I think. As you can imagine, his spanish is WAY better than the other three of us! So Tara, Andrew, and I have spanish class together and Juan goes off to talk to leaders in the community. We all have a blast together.

So, today we went to the capital. It was a blast! After 2-3 weeks of Salvadoran food, we finally got the American good stuff - I had Wendy´s & Cinnabon. Oh my goodness was it good!! There is a mall in the capital called Metro Center (or that might just be the area), but it´s pretty much like a mall that you would find in the states. The problem is...the prices are the same too. So when I make $1 per day instead of whatever I made back home, it kind of increases the value quite a bit! So I probably won´t be hanging out there too much...but it´s a good place to splurge when needed!! :)

So the weather here is pretty hot. As you all know, I freeze my butt off in the states when most other people are comfortable, so I actually like it here most of the time. The other people in my group are just drenched in sweat most of the time, and I find that I´m just a bit hot sometimes. Last night, I got out the blanket (thanks Jen!) because I was freezing!! I looked at the temperature on my alarm clock, and it was 77!! So....I´m going to DIE when I go back to the states!! I guess I´m going to have to live somewhere HOT! TIS....will you take me in?? :)

Yeah, so spanish. I´m getting it little by little. Today I actually talked to a random person on the bus, and she said, (in spanish) ¨Your spanish is really good!!¨ I was like, ¨YES!!¨ Because in actuality, I´m lost most of the time. I don´t think I´ve put this story in any of my emails yet, so I´ll tell it here. :) During my spanish test that took place the first day we arrived here, the person I was talking to (a spanish teacher that´s been here for 7 years and worked with hundreds of volunteers) asked me to ask her 7 questions. So I asked about her family, and stuff like that. But for the last question, I asked, ¨How many volunteers need help with spanish?¨ She said, Äll of them. No one is perfect!¨ So I said, ¨Right....well, how many volunteers need AS MUCH help as I do in spanish?¨ She thought about it for a minute, then picked up her pen, and wrote ¨0¨with a line through it...you know, like you do in math class. I was like, ¨ZERO??!!¨ And I´m freaking out like crazy because she´s worked with hundreds of volunteers and she´s basically telling me that I´m the worst!! So while I´m having a nervous breakdown, she realizes what´s going on, and she´s like, ¨No!! 50-50!¨ The line down the middle apparently represented half of the people. That made both of us laugh like crazy. My heart attack was put on hold! I have another good story about spanish class, but I´ll save that for next time!

Well, this email looks like it´s getting pretty long and I´m sure you´re tired of reading by now, so I´ll send more later!! I miss all of you so much and think about you all of the time!!!!!

Talk to you soon!!