Updates on El Salvador

Hola amigos and amigas,

I am officially in El Salvador. I have made it through my first month in El Salvador. It has been nothing but amazing!!! No worries everyone, I have not been held at gunpoint, I have not gotten sick, no volcanoes have errupted, there have not been any earthquakes and I have not gotten dengue fever. It has been really great here!!! The people are so amazing, they will do anything for you. They are so selfless!! I have already made some amazing friends at the school (the other teachers). We have gotten to go to the beach twice and stay at one of our friends (a teacher) beachhouse. It is absolutely beautiful, although the sand is black because it is the remains of volcanic ash. What a dream, to see palm trees, mountains, the ocean and at the same time to ride horses on the beach with my friends!!! Really, I feel like I'm on a year long vacation.

Just to let you all know, I have been doing work too. During the last month we have been at the school making lesson plans for the year and preparing our classrooms for when the students arrive. We start school on Monday August 14th. That makes me a little nervous, but I am so excited to see what God does in the lives of my students and myself. This will truly prove to be a growing experience. Completely out of my comfort zone. :)

Our friends that we have met here have been so amazing!!! They have taken us to so many places!!! If we need anything they help us immediately!!! They are so selfless!!! It's a great lesson to learn.

Our house is so much nicer than anything I ever expected it to be!!! We even have a jacuzzi in our backyard with a waterfall that flows into it (it's a hard life to live, I know, but someone has to do it). We have plenty of room, it is a whole lot larger than I thought it would be!!!

As we all knew before I came I did not speak any Spanish, but no fear it is improving very very slowly every single day. We have someone come to our house to give us Spanish lessons every Saturday. That will prove to be very helpful I'm sure (we just started them).

The food, I'm sure you are all wondering, but no worries everyone they have many of the same commodities as we do in the states, it's just that everything takes a little longer to get done here. We have experience many of the foods that are common to Salvadorians, most of it is pretty good. Pupusas are the big thing, which we have had several times. They are pretty good, but I couldn't eat them everyday because they are so unhealthy. I've been having fun trying everything, though.

Well, I think I better sign out. However, I just want to remind you all of how I am sitting here suffering in the tropics, surrounded by the mountains and spending my weekends at the beach. Poor me!! :)