El tiempo vuela.

El tiempo está volando. Yo me siento contento por estar aquí tanto tiempo...me ha acostumbrado al estilo de vida acá y me llegan los amigos, y el trabajo. Además con mis clases de la universidad, estoy aprendiendo materiales que me llaman la atención y que actualmente están enseñándome algo actual – que concierne con la vida actual. Bueno no sé, ahorita no pudiera verme viviendo en los estados unidos si tratara. Pues, hay que disfrutar el presente que llevo ahora. Por fin yo diría que puedo hablar (más o menos) fluído, y lo que me falta hablar, por lo menos entiendo.

Yo estaré escribiendo esta anotación en español y después traduciendo al inglés.


Ok las últimas dos semanas. . .

(Primero la clase de inglés)
SEMANA 4: Esta semana empezó Febrero. Wow, dónde ha pasado el tiempo??? Esta semana nos enfocamos en la gramática, también los verbos "phrasals" y expresiones idiomáticas. En mi clase de sociología esa semana, el tema era uno de los Coreas (del Norte y del Sur) y por eso miramos un documental supér chivo que yo quería utilizar en mi clase de inglés. Nosotros leímos un poquito de las Coreas y después lo miramos el documental y para tarea los estudiantes tuvieron que analizarlo. La semana fue bastante aburrida por el hecho que habían muchas ausencias. Nada emocionante.

SEMANA 5: La última semana en la clase de inglés, incorporamos otra canción, "Hacerte Loco," por Brett Dennen (una melodía buenísima con un mensaje profundo). Hablamos sobre lo que nos hace sentirnos felices, y lo que nos enloquecen. Discutimos sobre la justificación en sentirse feliz cuando hay otra gente en el mundo que sufre. Había un poco difícil tema pero me alegró que ellos pensaron primer en lo bien en vez del dinero por ejemplo. Yo regañé mi clase el martes por mucho tiempo porque otra vez nadie hizo nada en las tareas. Yo les dije que yo no se las doy para ser dictador ni mala honda, sino que porque creo que les ayudará. (Wow ahora entiendo el dolor que sentían mis profesores). Decidimos que queremos cambiar diferentes aspectos de la clase y que vamos a conversar MÁS. Terminamos la semana con una gran discusión y practica de traduzca.


Mis clases de la universidad siguen siendo bien interesantes y chivas.

Jay, mi amigo que vino a ayudar a enseñar, decidió que a él no le gustó la ciudad de San Salvador y se enamoró con la playa. Dentro de dos semanas de estar aquí, se mudó a la playa para surfear todos los días. Espero que encuentre lo que busca él. Pero ni modo, estaba feliz por verlo – aún si era un ratito.

El último fin de semana yo tenía que alcanzarme en tareas y me quedé en mi cuarto casi todo el día. El sábado yo fui a enseñar una clase en una organización que se llama FUNDAMEHR. Es el OGN por lo cual trabaja Maja, mi amiga sueca. Me dormí allá después de comer pupusas y enseñar la clase. El domingo me desperté bien temprano, comí y regresé a casa para terminar los haceres. En la tarde noté que me ardía mi cara y me di cuenta de que había cambiado los muebles en mi cuarto y puse la cama cerca de la ventana. Mientras dormía, el sol me quedaba. Solamente en El Salvador, puedes quemarte sin salir de casa, me dije.

Este fin de semana, ha sido bien divertido. Anoche, fui a la fiesta de Maja porque ya pronto se va a regresar a su pais (el fin de Febrero) y no tiene mucho tiempo. También había su cumpleaños. Disfrutamos mucho de la comida, postre, y cuba libres. Hoy hice tarea y a las tres fui a la casa de mi amigo, Anderson. Queríamos cocinar cena para nosotros y los compañeros de su casa. Caminamos al supermercado y compramos los ingredientes para hacer un banquete delicioso. Trabajamos un poco en la casa, yo las tareas y él limpiando. Comimos una pasta tan deliciosa de pesto y pan de ajo. También tomamos un vino de pinto (que era más alcohol puro que vino...) Una noche buenísima. Hicimos un pacto para hacerlo cada Sábado. Eso me llega.

Espero que ustedes estén bien. Nos vemos amigos.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Well friends, time is flying by and I'm very happy to have spent so much time here. I'm really adjusted to this lifestyle and I have great friends and work here. Plus, with my university classes, I'm learning things that I like and that actually are teaching me something real – that pertains to my life. I'm not sure, right now I couldn't see me living in the states if I tried. Well, I have to enjoy the time I have right now in the present. Finally, I would say that I can speak (more or less) fluently, and what I can't speak, at least I understand.

I will be writing this entry in Spanish and after translating to English.



Ok the last two weeks. . .

(First English Class)
WEEK 4: This week February began. Wow where has the time gone??? This week we focused on a little grammar, as well as phrasal verbs and idiomatic expressions. In my sociology class that week, the topic was North and South Korea and we watched a really cool video which I wanted to incorporate into my English class, so we read a little bit about the Koreas and watched it and for homework they had to analyze it. The week was fairly boring and there were a bunch of absences in my class. Nothing exciting.

WEEK 5: Last week in English class we listened to another song, Make You Crazy, by Brett Dennen (another awesome jam with a cool message). We talked about what makes us happy, and what makes us go crazy. We talked about the justification in feeling happy when there are so many people in the world suffering. It was a har topic but I was glad that they thought first in the good instead of just money, for example. I scolded my class Tuesday for a while because once again, nobody did the homework. I told them that I was not giving it to them to be an evil dictator, or be the bad guy, but because I believe it will help them. (Wow now I understand the pain that my teachers felt with me). We decided that we want to change different aspects of the class and that we want to converse MORE. We finished the week with a big discussion and translation practice.


My university classes are still very interesting and cool.

Jay, my friend who came to help teach, decided that he didn't like the city of San Salvador and he fell in love with the beach. Within two weeks of being here, he moved to the beach to surf every day. I hope he finds what he's looking for. Ah well, I was happy to see him, even if it was a short time.

The last weekend, I had to catch up on homework and I stayed in my room almost all day. Saturday I went to teach a class in an organization called FUNDAMEHR. It's the NGO where Maja, my Swedish friend, works. I slept over there after we ate pupusas and I taught the class. Sunday I woke up really early, ate and returned home to finish up my tasks. In the afternoon, my face was burning and hurting and I realized that I had changed my furniture in my room around and put my bed near the window. While I slept, the sun was burning me. Only in El Salvador, can you burn without leaving home, I decided.

This weekend was just as fun. Last night I went to Maja's goodbye party, because already it's almost time for her to go home (the end of February). It was also her birthday. We enjoyed all the food, desert, and cuba libres. Today, I did some homework and around 3 I went over to my friend, Anderson's house. We wanted to cook dinner for his roommates and us. We walked to the grocery store to buy ingredients to make a delicious feast. We worked at home, me on homework and him cleaning. We ate a delicious pesto pasta with garlic bread. We also had red wine (that was more like pure alcohol than anything...) But a great night. We made a deal to do it every Saturday. Awesome.

I hope you are all great. Until next time.

Adios Enero. Hola Febrero.

Sorry I haven't written in a few weeks, here is a lay down of what's been happening in my life:

WEEK 2:
I’m very happy again with this week of English classes. Monday was MLK Jr day and we started class with a reflection of what dreams are and why we should have them. Every day at the beginning of class I write a quote up on the board and we analyze it. This is usually one of my favorite parts. Finding the quotes and talking about them. It’s always interesting how I anticipate the students to respond and how different their answers can be. The Latin culture is so incredible. So many genuine good, loving people. We talked about what a good leader is (relating it to a good hero from the last week) and ended by doing a listening activity (kind of like Bradley’s class, fill in the ____ of the song) with “Dream Big” by Ryan Shupe (one of my favorite ‘feel-better’ songs). Tuesday we watched a video from TED about “How Great Leaders Inspire” and talked about different leaders over time (MLK Jr, MonSenor Romero, etc) as well as how they were able to actually make a difference. We reviewed the conditional tense with the prompt “If you were President of El Salvador, what kind of leader would you be like?” They finished for homework. Thursday, we began by reviewing what they had written and I gave them their next project which we are going to be doing all next week. We are incorporating all that we have learned so far by holding an election. Each one of them is a contender for the presidency in El Salvador. They have to make a propaganda poster to put up in the school (in the halls or conference room) and then second, they must write a two minute speech which they will perform to the Advanced level next Thursday (at which time we will have the Advanced class vote for who will be President). I’m really excited to see what the week will bring. Mostly we talked about what a good speech consists of and what they feel most strongly about in regards to change in El Salvador.

After class, we went out and got pupusas (the local dish, rice or corn tortillas wrapped around either frijoles, frijol con queso, chicharon, queso, etc.) They’re so good. I tried spinach and bean (frijol y espinaca) tonight at the Vegetarian pupuseria. I thought it would be gross, but so good. So good. I’m about to watch a movie and then go to bed. Good week.

--January 21, 2011


WEEK 3:
This week turned out to be just as fun as the last. It was very relaxed in my English class in relation to the first two weeks of pumping it out. We began Monday with a review of the week's plans talking about Election. We decided for Thursday and then spent the first hour talking about what a good speech contains, and the structure of a simple speech (Intro, body, conclusion, call to action, etc) and then I gave them the rest of the class to work on it, and ask me questions. We actually ended up getting into a really intense debate about different issues that they all feel strongly about. We talked about differences in capitalism and socialism, especially with regards to basic need services such as running, purified water, electricity, and sewage. Everyone seemed to be focusing on improving the water situation in their pledge to be president. Tuesday, we spent the first half writing our speeches, again, more class time. After the break, we turned to campaign posters and each one of them fashioned a poster that represented their beliefs using the propaganda techniques we studied in week one. I told them they all better be prepared for Thursday and if they didn't write a speech, I would make them stand in front of everyone for two whole minutes of good old fashioned stare-fun. (Not sure if this motivated them, or pissed them off!) We decided that we'd all bring food and drinks for the second half of class and skip break. So after I had set up with some balloons, ribbon, and cheesy election-band-orchestra music, we kicked off the election with the advanced class in the audience, to take notes and ask questions at the end. Almost all of my students had prepared amazing speeches and I was really proud and impressed with the way (almost) all of them presented them. The advanced class responded with great questions and the conversation was forced to think on the spot and answer them. It was altogether a great lesson. The last half hour we broke open the pupusas, tamales, and jugos and invited the rest of the classes into the room. Saria is leaving for Canada this monday so we surprised her with a cake (it also happened to be her birthday) at the party and I know that made her day.

Next week though, I have planned grammar, grammar, and more grammar!




I can tell already that this entry is getting a bit lengthy, but following up on school, my online classes aren't exactly what I expected, but I find myself really enjoying them. Although I dropped my English class and went to just 13 credits instead of 19, but still "full time" status. My Spanish class is very easy and a part from busy work assignments and facile tests, I have to log on once a week from home for a "conversation" practice (as if I don't get enough of this, right?) so all the students log on and we have microphones and headphones to hear each other, as well as book work to do together. My sociology class is really interesting, and I have been doing a lot of reading for that, and there is at least one discussion topic, homework assignment, and quiz every week. My politics class is a slow moving class, and we have already done anything yet, which is good cause my book still hasn't arrived yet. My extreme weather class is good, lots of reading, but really spread out due dates and easy quizes.


Today we went to the beach for Saria, and everyone was making fun of me because I was studying my sociology notes. But surrounded by mariachi bands, margaritas, palm trees, and the ocean, I couldn't think of a better place to study. My experience this time around feels a lot different from last time, because I think I consider this more of "living" than "traveling" like last time. I have obligations and responsibilities and feel at home more so. My host family is great, we celebrated Joshua's birthday last Tuesday, and Thursday was host mum's birthday (except the kids were sick so it wasn't as fun as Joshua's). I am looking forward to some rest tomorrow, and then another full week.

--January 29, 2011

one week in.

Well, it’s already been a week. What felt like an eternity the first time I was here, has gone by in the blink of an eye. I have adjusted so well that I forget I was home…and yet I was. Being home for break was crazy, I barely had a moment to breathe, stressed by culture shock and people to see. I loved being in Flagstaff, the snow, the pines, the friends and family, but it made me realize that I made a good decision this year. I’m so excited to go to NAU (in person) next year but I’m not in any rush just yet to return home. I’ve grown and changed a lot and it was so weird to be thrust back into a place where it felt time had stood still, and for a few weeks, I too, felt reverted back to the past. I imagine this is how everyone feels after being away and coming home after a long while, but it seemed to me, seems to me, that so much has happened for me, I just forget that it’s because it’s so new, not that it’s soo different.

This week, I resumed my teaching. I have the conversational level. I’m really trying to keep things intense and we hit the ground running. The first day we discussed Capital Punishment, we read an article from the NY times, and watched the news on the Tucson Tragedy coverage. We argued who deserves death and who awards it. The following day, we learned different types of propaganda and after so, made posters, one group in favor of Death Penalty and the other against. We shared posters before playing Taboo. (they hate this game by the way). Finally, we talked about heroism on Thursday, tying in more of the news from Arizona, heroic acts outlined in Obama’s speech at the University of Arizona (part of which we watched and analyzed), as well as what it means to be a hero. We took surveys the first day and one of my students is studying to be a chef. He wants more cooking vocabulary. So we made Hero Recipes. We listed ingredients of a hero and then wrote down directions. Again, dividing into two groups and making big posters to be presented to the class. It was a really good week, but I have nothing to do in the mornings now that I’m not doing Spanish school. That’ll all change when I start my online NAU classes this week however. I’m really looking forward to them. I’m taking Intro to Politics, Intro to Sociology, Extreme Weather, English (freshman course I think), and Spanish 202. It’s a lot of online I suppose but it’ll give me something to do. Tomorrow we’re getting internet at the house, although I’ve found this wireless source in my room from one of the neighbors. But sometimes it’s there and other times not. Hmmm. That’s all the news I have as of now.

Glad to be back in the 90 degree weather, snow is only so nice for so long. I also skyped my family tonight via my brother’s ipod touch. Technology is crazy.

I miss Spanish (Part Two)

Bueno, aquí estoy en the city of angels. But let me backtrack. .


December 6th, we got up early and headed out to the docks in B City where we grabbed a water taxi that took us about 45 minutes north to an island/cay called Caye Caulker. It's hardly 2 miles long and half a mile across, but it was so relaxing, and peaceful. This was the vacation part. By this time, we were joined by honeymooners, true vacationists, as well as a few backpackers. We stayed in the beach side hotel for 10$ each and spend the days reading, swimming, laying on the beach, and I found this yoga class that did yoga every night at sunset on top of one of the hotels. That was incredible. After a few days, Saria, the Canadian, decided she wanted to head home, so we said goodbye and I stayed on the island by myself.

I moved to a little hostel called Bellas and met a bunch of other backpackers. It was nice to be able to hang out with people closer to my age. There was a kitchen there, as well as free canoes, that we all made use of. I met these volunteers from Oregon and a Guatemalan and we canoed out and fed these giant fish. Later, we got a free ride out to the coral reef from the owner of the hostel who was going spearfishing, we rented snorkels for cheap and spent the day on the reef. Very awesome.

When finally a week had passed, I figured I should make my way back home, so I took off, and bussed back to Flores, Guatemala and stayed the night. The next morning I met these guys who were going to Lanquín, which sounded cool, so I decided to tag along. We got there in the afternoon and I was glad I joined them. Lanquín is situated in the mountains of central Guate, in a valley where the Lenca river flows through.

The next day I signed up for a cave exploration tour...We took a 45 minute bus ride with me, this Frenchie, a guy from Israel, couple Canadians, two Australians, and another United Statesian. We went to this cave, where the underground river comes out. We got down to swim suits and grabbed nothing more than a candle and entered the cave. The water was maybe up to my ankles, and the further we walked, the higher it rose. When it reached our necks, we took a turn and ended up swimming, and in many places I couldn't touch the bottom, even after intentionally trying. We would swim and climb up, and walk up waterfalls, and slide through crevices for 45 minutes, following our crazy guide. The water was freezing! When finally we reached a stopping point we turned around and came back out. This was one of the coolest things I've ever done.

When we came back out, we hiked up the side of the cliff where the river is, and ate lunch at a lookout point. The Lenca river below is beautiful. It waves out into 6 or 7 crystal clear pools that are separated by little waterfalls. We climbed down after eating and spent the hour swimming from pool to pool. Finally we returned to the hostel, roasted marshmallows over the fire and enjoyed the night.

The next day, I took a shuttle to Antigua, with the Frenchie, Julien, and the two Israelis, Maor and Raz. We arrived and stayed at the Yellow House, and enjoyed feasts of spaghetti almost every night that we made in the kitchen. The noodles were like 20 cents at the grocery store so we all pitched in and ate cheaply.

A few days before I had to be back to San Salvador, we hiked one of the active volcanoes in the region, Volcán Pacaya. It was really great, and we went around dusk to see the sunset. We were above the clouds on the top, and you could see for miles and miles. We hiked into the crater and the smell of sulfur as well as the heat from the ground began to take over. Our guide showed us a tiny hole in the rocks where he put a stick into, which immediately caught fire. We hiked a ways more and found a big crack in the ground the size of dresser, and we roasted the hot dogs that we had brought. They were delicious.

Finally, the day came to head home, and me and Julien headed on the bus to San Salvador, as he was headed that way too. We got in by dusk and made our way to my neighborhood. It was weird how much it felt like I was home when we arrived. Afterwards we went out for pupusas and I helped Julien find the place where he was staying.

The next day I spent with my family, hanging out and doing some Christmas shopping for my actual family. Yesterday I did the same before going to the airport around 4:30 and waiting my 7 o clock flight. I arrived in LA around 11 LA time, (1 am Salvador) and didn't get out of customs until 12, where I found Chelsea and together we headed home to her apartment, an hour away.

Today, I am relaxing while she is at work, and tomorrow or Thursday we make the drive home.

Christmas! (Part one)

*DISCLAIMER* My English spelling is suffering, I blame the Español....


I´m sitting here in a Ciber Café as I wait for 4 o clock to come, at which point I´ll make my way to the airport, 45 minutes away, where I will hop on a five hour plane ride to Los Angeles where I will stay with my good friend, Chelsea. Then we will make the 8 hour drive together to Flagstaff for the holidays.

Where has the time gone? I apologize for failing at this whole blogging thing. Maybe I will make up for it now...


October (last post..) through end of November:

Things continued through the months of October and November, and I settled into the routine and lifestyle of San Salvador, things became familiar and easier. I was able to navigate the city better (or at least the part where I need to navigate...) and with every other, or every couple of weekends, came a trip to a different part of the country. I continued to hanging out with the other volunteer English teachers, but also made some friends at the Universidad de El Salvador.

My English class was my favorite part of the day, and although I still don´t think I´m a professional teacher by any means, I feel like they learned quite a bit and had fun along the way. My Spanish classes became very exhausting, day after day, four hours, but I had the best teacher who taught me a lot more than just Spanish. We would discuss politics, and religion, and different global issues and ideas.

As November drew to a close, so did my Spanish and English classes. On the 22nd, we had graduation. All the students came, we shared a potluck, performed skits, and made speeches. After the celebration, we put on Salsa music and danced until just the teachers remained.

We all celebrated with a few beers and made our goodbyes. It was all very sad, I´ve really enjoyed these past months, hanging out and teaching with these guys. I have learned so much, and that statement is vauge, I know, but I couldn´t specify if I tried.

...but time stops for nothing, and the second part of my trip began on the 26th of November.

Life out of backpack.

I packed up 3 shirts, jeans, shorts, and some chonies, grabbed my sweatshirt, and a few vital toiletries and left San Salvador for the east country. I started off with one of the other volunteers, Saria, the canadian lady, as well as a girl from Washington, who was on her way to Nicaragua. We went to the annual carnival in San Miguel. It´s a huge month celebration that ends on a Saturday (the night we were there), there were over one million people crammed into the downtown with different live bands on every street corner, un montón de policía, as well as all the pilsner anybody could ask for. The night was very fun, ending around 2 in the morning for Washington and me, but in all the excitement and huge crowds, my camera was "lost", it either fell out of my pocket or was stolen, both are actually quite likely. Kind of a bad beginning but at the same time, from then on I felt completely free, not carrying anything of value (minus the passport) and therefore not worrying constantly.

After San Miguel, we headed up to Perquín, a very small town in the north, in the mountainous border of El Salvador and Honduras, that was affected greatly by the civil war of the 1980s. There was a great museum there that was based in an actual Guerilla camp, it was really awe-some (not awesome..) to see the reality of the war here in El Salvador. The following morning, we hiked up to one of the hills to see the sunrise, and it was one of the best views I´ve ever seen. The whole valley lay below us, with Honduras to our north. Perquín reminded me a bit of Flagstaff with the whole Pine forest/mountain thing going on.

The following day, we had planned to cross the northern border and make our way to Gracias, Honduras, but we had a bit of a complication when the bus broke down just after the border, and we had to hitchhike through Honduras in the dead of night, but that was probably the most excitement I had my entire trip :) (also another story unto itself..) We arrived a few hours (or maybe a lot of hours..) later in Marcala, a town that is actually only 32 miles away from Perquín. But the only road there is a dirt road through the craziest mountains I´ve ever seen.

The next day, we continued the pattern of long trips through another mountain pass that led us to Esperanza, Honduras and then finally to Gracias. Gracias, a small colonial town in a valley in the most mountainous part of Honduras, was once the Spanish capital in the 16th century. Originially "Gracias a Dios que hemos hallado tierra plana" (thank god we found flat land), now it is just called Gracias. I really liked this little town, where there were natural hot springs as well as a very spanish vibe without the tourists.

The next day, we took a trip north and west to near the border of Honduras and Guatemala to Copán Ruínas. Another valley that was once home to the Mayan civilization in the 300BC - 900 AD era. We toured Copán (the ruins...which is only slightly confusing...the town is Copán Ruínas and the ruins simply Copán) and it was one of the coolest things I´d ever seen. Like the Grand Canyon, you can´t capture this kind of beauty or place on film (not that I had any) but it was amazing to see in person.

Early December by now...

We left Copán Ruínas for the Guate border 13 kilometres away. There we took a hour bus to Chiquimula, a largish city in eastern Guatemala, and after that a 12 hour bus up to the very northern part of Guatemala, Petén. We stayed on an island called Flores that is situated in the middle of the lake Petén up north. The whole area is part of the Mayan Biosphere, a huge reserve with the most dense population of Jaguars in the world!

We got up at 4 in the morning, and took a shuttle from Flores to Tikal, an hour and a half away. Here we spent the entire morning hiking some of the highest, best restored Mayan temples in the world. It´s also the largest site known. This was even better than Copán...not to mention I saw parrots, tucans, a howler monkey AND a spider monkey. By this point we had moved away from the trails to the tourist path. But I didn´t mind. I met a bunch of people from Austrailia and a few more Canadians.

We stayed in Flores one more day before taking a van to the border of Belize and hitchhiking to the capital. From the capital we paid 3 US dollars for a bus to Belize City. We got to Belize City by December 5th, and made plans to head to Caye Caulker, one of the Cays (islands) that aligns the coast of Belize and the second largest barrier reef in the world.


Here I will leave you with the intent to finish my adventure later on tonight, from LA.

October!

It´s been a little more than a month, and at times it feels like it´s all gone by really fast, but I feel like I´ve been here for months and months already. Either way, I´m enjoying every minute.

I´ve found myself venturing off to the country side every weekend, to escape from the big city. The first weekend, was the rainforest. Next I went to Suchitoto, a little town in the north tucked between mountains on the edge of the largest lake in El Salvador. It was very beautiful and exactly as I imagined El Salvador. The little quaint town is centered around a huge square/park with a great church in the center. From there the "downtown" stretches out combined with little houses. The streets are cobblestone and the houses made of brick. It rained quite a bit the weekend we went, but we were able to hike down to some waterfalls and also eat some delicious pupusas, the official Salvadorean dish. That sunday we came back it rained from sun-up to sun-down. A lot of the country was on Red Alert for flooding, as Hurricane Matthew passed over. In fact the bridge to Guatemala was swept away and the border was unpassable for a few days.

I also experienced my first earthquake the following Thursday, a 5.6 that shook the ground. I heard it before I felt it and it only lasted about 10 seconds. I was in the living room, it was at about 9:20 at night. We all scrambled under the door, and waited. I wasn´t really scared, in fact I didn´t realize it was a earthquake until my host mom was yelling out "en la puerta, la puerta!"

The following weekend I was sick and stayed home, but went to the Cine, to catch a movie.

This weekend, I was in Barra de Santiago, a small fishing community on the south western beach. So peaceful, and hermoso. I tried surfing for the first time, with no such luck. My souveniers included bruises and a fresh sunburn.

I have finally settled into San Salvador and am familiar with my surroundings, places to eat, shops, and bus routes. I feel very comfortable and happy. And although sometimes I feel like my Spanish is horrible, I have improved tenfold since I came.

I´ve also ditched my English speaking volunteers (for the most part..) because I met a bunch of University students who I´ve been hanging out with. They´re all language students and a part from teaching each other the Caliche/slang and malditas/bad words, I´ve been learning a little bit of French, taught in Spanish. I really like all my friends here and just about everything else.

My English class is also going great, I have 12 students but only about 7 students are there per class, but whoever comes I teach my lesson for the day. We´ve been acting out skits, and listening to songs, as well as watching CNN clips and reading and analyzing. I really like all my students and really respect them for their work. One student is a mom of two, a university student, a worker and she drives her husband and kids to work and school. Her day starts at 5am and ends at 8pm everyday with no break. It´s pretty inspiring.

I hope to get a hike in on the Volcán de San Salvador this week.

´ta luego.

San Salvador, El Salvador.

Hello all, sorry it has taken awhile to post on this blog but here goes.

It´s Wednesday, Sept. 22 and I´ve been here for about 2 weeks and a lot has happened in these past two weeks.

I´m living in San Luis, a nice, secure, residencial area in the nice part of San Salvador, El Salvador. There are about 2.2 million people living in the city with an extreme poverty rate of 20%. It´s strange to live in such a "nice" part of town, which really isn´t nice at all in comparison to western society.

I love my host family. The two parents are lawyers with a 1 year old daughter, Allison, and a 4 year old son, Joshua. The kids love Nickilodeon and Disney, and I´ve found that I can´t escape Dora the Explorer no matter where I go.
The family doesn´t speak any English, and it´s often frustrating when we are talking and discussing our different worlds. I love the food here, and my host mom is a great cook, as I´ve found most Salvadorean women are.
I have a nice bedroom to myself, a bathroom and a little porch, which is nice to sit out on at night. I live about 10 minutes (walk) from a nice shopping center with a bank/atm, grocery store, internet cafès, and other stores.

I´m about a 30 minute walk to my school.

Monday through Friday, 8am to 12pm, is my Spanish class. It´s just me and another girl, from Michigan, in the intermediate class. Everything is taught in Spanish and so far we have been reading, analyzing, watching videos and just doing differnet excercises, oh and a lot of conversation.

Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, I teach English from 5pm - 7pm. There are five other English teacher volunteers like me, and I´ve found myself hanging out with them, mostly. There is a girl from Sweden, 19, and two Canadians, one 20 one 60, an art teacher from Kansas, in her 20s and then a 23 year old New Yorker. We spend a lot of time together prepping classes, or just hanging out. There are 6 different levels of classes offered to Adult Salvadoreans, from Basic A and B, Intermediate A and B, Advanced and Conversational. I´m teaching Advanced, and am surprised at how much my students already know a lot of Enlgish.

It´s really rewarding because all of the students want to be there, and everyone is really motivated and excited to learn. Teaching a foreign language is harder than it seems, even if it doesn´t seem so foreign to me. But all in all I love my classes and students.

Apart from studying and teaching, I don´t have much time, except for the weekends. The first weekend, the other volunteers and I went out to the National Park: El Imposible. A beautiful Rainforest preserve in the west with heavy vegetation and many rivers and waterfalls. We spent two days there and it was beautiful, but unfortunately, I caught the cold and have been sick the last couple of days.

I love the city of San Salvador, and the countryside too. I´m learning a lot and at times, my brain is on overload but I am enjoying every minute.

El Salvador Ahead!

Hey guys! I’m gearing up and getting ready for my trip which is 42 days away! This Summer has been flying by and I can’t wait to start my adventure this Fall. Hope you all found my blog ok and can navigate it (better than I can...)

The whole purpose of this, is to keep everyone posted on the happenings this Fall.

So far this Summer, I’ve stayed really busy, working my two jobs. I’m still at Baskin Robbins (over a year and a half now!) and I got a job “mannying” for a little family out in Parks. I watch their two kids, Mariella and Wyatt, and help them (retain) their Spanish, as they spend half the year down in Mexico, los ninos (the kids) have picked up quite a bit of Spanish. If anything, they’re helping me with my Spanish though!

I spent two weeks in Florida with my Aunt and Uncle, and also went to Harry Potter Land at the end of June, so I’ve definitely had an awesome Summer. I can’t believe it’s almost August though... but I can’t wait for September 8th to come at the same time.

So, I have been accepted into a program through El Centro de Intercambio y Solidaridad (Center for Exchange and Solidarity) and you can check out their website (http://www.cis-elsalvador.org/en/language-school/english-school/volunteer-teachers.htm) <-- there. I will be volunteer English teaching for 10 weeks in San Salvador (the capitol). In addition I will be taking formal Spanish classes 5 days a week M-F, 8am to 12pm. I will be living these 10 weeks with a home stay family, of which I’ve not been assigned yet. I’m sure I will have such a great experience this way and can’t wait. Apart from that, that is all that is set in stone, planned. After the class/teaching ends November 22nd, i’m going to send up my suitcase in the mail, take as little as I can (need...) and spend the next four weeks backpacking the country, staying in hostels and meeting people and helping out where needed. There is a small town up north, where I hope to spend a week working in an orphanage. El Parque Nacional (national park) in the East is filled with live volcanoes and forests and I plan to get some great hiking in. Of course I will make my way south to la playa (beach) and out west to la ciudad Santa Ana. I only hope four weeks is enough!

These are my plans, and of course I recognize that a lot is up for negotiation. . . but it’s solidified enough to where I’ll be alright, but not in trouble if things turn out differently.

I spend a lot of time at work these days and fall into my El Salvador state of mind...and today’s no exception. It’s all I can think about..I can’t wait. I’m anxious, nervous, excited, scared, but ready. As I said, 42 days.

And I know how fast 42 days can go by.

El Salvador it is!

I will be in El Salvador from September to November! This Blog will help me keep everyone up to date! . . . more to come.

Welcome to my blog

Lately I have felt disconnected from family, especially those of you not even in Arizona or neighboring states. I hope this isn't too impersonal but this way I can keep everyone a little more updated on the happenings of Flagstaff, my life and our family here. It's gearing up toward March, and there's 95 days until high school graduation. Time to make some decisions.