Projects are going well...

Immersion Day Return & Suchitoto Celebration
So, Leah, my mentee, returned to San Isidro (my site) on Saturday, the 4th and we had the BEST 2 days! We went to Sonsonate for lunch and met up with another volunteer, Lisa, and then all returned to San Isidro and enjoyed our own little Happy Hour in my house. That night, I took Leah to eat the world-famous pupusas in my site, and then we just talked late into the night. And the next morning, we headed off to San Salvador, where I gave her a tour of the places to be. We worked out at the Sheraton in the morning, then went to the office, then to a mall in the area, then we headed off to Suchitoto with Adolfo and his friend Jose to celebrate the 45th anniversary of Peace Corps with other volunteers and staff. For some reason, I thought the Suchitoto celebration would be...what's the word...well, I'm going to use fun because I can't think of anything else. Apparently, there was only going to be music in the beginning of it, which we missed, so it was just a whole bunch of volunteers in this empty building, with a few Salvadorans selling stuff. No music. No games. No speeches (or maybe we missed those). It was pretty lame, so we left pretty darn fast and returned to San Salvador.


English Classes
So, we FINALLY started the English classes in my site. There are 2 classes, an adult class and a youth class. The adult class started on Monday, the 6th. It meets twice a week, from 7-9 PM. And it is a HUGE hit!! The class (well, so far), has been SO fun and people are really learning the language! It's exciting to watch Salvadorans teaching other Salvadorans in an active learning environment, since normally, classes consist of the teacher dictating and students copying. Anyway, during the 2nd class, where we learned greetings, we did an activity where we made 2 circles, one inside of the other. And we played music. The inside circle people danced in place, while the outside circle people danced while walking to the right. When the music stopped, the outside circle would stop moving and face the inside circle. Then each person would introduce him/herself to the person across from them on the inside circle. It was SUPER fun! And we played "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" or whatever the name of that song is. So we were all going crazy dancing. Anyone want to come visit and help out during a class?? :)








Tourism Opportunities
On Thursday, the 9th, Will, a worker from the Cooperativa in my site, took Adolfo and I all around the area to scope out potential tourism sites. And, oh my goodness! We went to some BEAUTIFUL places!! We viewed the Izalco volcano from a couple of different angles. We walked over lava rocks from the last eruption of this volcano. We visited caves that are HUGE and FILLED with bats. We visited the land of the former owner of all of the land (after the civil war, the land owners were required to give away X% of their land to the people since so few people owned the majority of the land and resources) and saw the remnants of his mansion. We just went all over and it was all GORGEOUS. So now I'm all excited about working on some sort of tourism project. And Will said there were tons of other places that we could go, but couldn't due to time that day. But we're scheduling another outing soon...








Another Beach Visit...
Remember the amazing beach house that I talked about in my last update? On Friday, Adolfo took me to the neighbor's house. And this one had steps down to the beach, with a natural stone pool built into the beach. So, when the tide is high, the pool is filled with ocean water, and when the tide goes down, you have a pool right on the beach to swim in. It is AWESOME!! Anyway, we hung out in that pool all morning on Saturday. We played cards, drank, listened to music, talked...it was a BLAST!









Going Away Party...
On Sunday, the 12th, I attended a going away party for 2 volunteers that I've become REALLY good friends with. They served in Panama and Ecuador in the Peace Corps when it was first created, had their first child WHILE SERVING (now THAT takes some guts), returned to the states where they obtained their masters' degrees and worked in Education, then retired, joined the Peace Corps again, and served in the Dominican Republic and are now ending their service this Wednesday. They are SUPER fun and inspiring people and we had a great going away party for them. We met up at a staff member's house that located in a small community in the country, which allows them to have TONS of land, covered in gardens and guest houses. (They told us there are over 900 stairs within the property.) We ate a magnificent lunch, listened to an AMAZING mariachi band, talked, drank, and just laughed together. And we presented the leaving couple with a document created by a local artist, thanking them for their 30 years of service to Peace Corps. It was AMAZING!! And I cried like crazy. I'm going to miss them SO MUCH!! The only downside of the whole day was the effect of the dogs on me. We were outside the entire time, so I didn't think there would be a problem with my allergies and the dogs. I was wrong. I was wheezing and struggling to breathe ALL NIGHT. It was terrible, but totally worth it since I got the chance to say goodbye to some amazing volunteers here.








Memorable moments from the last 2 weeks...
And, I think the favorite part of each email...the crazy stuff that has happened to me recently. Here's the most recent list:

1) Adolfo has an open-air jeep. I'm talking no doors, no windows...just the base of a jeep and everything open. And this is AWESOME when you're driving through the country, because you feel so free and can really enjoy the beautiful scenery. However, while returning to San Isidro on Monday night (March 6th), we came across a fire that was burning RIGHT next to the highway. We just saw smoke and hot inders blowing all over the interstate. But there was no way around it, so we just had to drive straight through. Oh my goodness. I took the duck and cover option...it felt like we were driving THROUGH a fire!! But, luckily, no physical harm done. Just a good story for back home. :)

2) When I decided to join Peace Corps, my dad went crazy with things like, "Do you know you're going to have bugs a foot long crawling all over you at night?!" "Do you know you're not going to get to bathe?!" "Do you know you're going to be so sick that you're going to be laid out in your bed for 2 weeks thinking you're going to die??!" Stuff like that. And my response to all of that was, "Well, other people can live there for their entire lives and not have a problem. So what does that say about me if I can't handle it for 2 years?" Well, I had my first shivery icky bug experience...I was taking a shower in San Salvador (of course with cold water) and as I was rinsing the shampoo out of my hair, I felt something on my foot. I got the water out of my face, looked down, and saw this cockroach crawling all over me. I did the "oooOOOooo!!" sound and the body shiver thing. Ugh. I don't like that. :)

3) And this attached photo is attached especially for my baby bro. Bennigans is SO GOOD!! :)


Anyway, those are the updates for the moment...stay tuned for more fun stuff!! :)

Miss ya!