2 weeks in El Sal

So I’ve been in El Salvador for just about 2 weeks now…it certainly feels a lot longer than that. I am now in week 2 of 10 weeks of training, and I can already tell that it is going to be a LONG ten weeks. Our days are filled with Spanish classes, technical training (I learned how to build a compost pile last week and this week I get to work with worms!), and a bunch of other stuff. We’ve also been learning about all the sicknesses we will probably get. Fortunately I have been fairly healthy, and I haven’t really had a problem sticking to my vegetarian diet. Today, however, I ate a chicken breast…there was no way around it! My Salvadoran mother is a great cook, and she always gives me way more than I can eat. The food may be tasty, but it is loaded with grease, salt, grease sugar, and more grease! I’m definitely going to pack on the pounds over the next 10 weeks.

There are 25 other trainees from all over the U.S. and everyone seems great. We have been told that we are a strong group of trainees, and fortunately we haven’t lost anyone yet! Our training group is divided up between several different communities in the San Vicente area. I live in a community with 3 other trainees right on the Pan-American highway. We all live within 5 minutes of each other, and we’re only about a 20 minute bus ride to the training center. I have a Salvadoran mother, father, brother, 4 nieces, and 1 nephew. My family has been very welcoming and I feel quite comfortable here. So far they have taught me how to make papusas and tortillas, and I am now able to wash my clothes by hand…it is definitely a time-consuming task, but I kind of enjoy it (at least for now). I feel a bit lucky compared to the other trainees because I am one of the few who has a flush toilet and a shower…however they aren’t anything like what we have in the U.S.

I haven’t really seen anything too crazy yet. I wake up to roaches on my wall almost every day, and last week I saw my brother skin a rabbit and leave it guts on the ground and the fur hanging on the clothesline. Oh, I also saw a coral snake the other morning when I was walking to meet my brother at his fields. Riding the buses here is always an adventure. They are old U.S. school buses that are always filled way beyond capacity. The bus I take to the training center is always packed in the morning, and the other day I was hanging halfway out the bus….they don’t always close the doors. It’s a bit scary, but I’m starting to get used to it.

I definitely like it here in El Salvador. It is a beautiful country and the people are incredibly friendly. I get more excited with each day, and am really looking forward to being here for the next 2 years.

I’m not sure when I will post again, but hopefully next time I will include photos. Hope you are all doing well!! Keep in touch!!!!