Tis The Season

It has been three weeks since my last post. There are reasons. Good reasons. My beautiful computer finally sighed it's last breath, leaving me all alone. And as I have discussed before I dislike internet cafes in this country. But I have sucked it up and am at one now. I hope you all forgive my absence and enjoyed my last post. (And for all who were wondering, my dad did confirm a toilet paper competition of sorts at the beginning of my parents marriage.)  Lets begin by talking about my Thanksgiving, or Accion de Gracias (quite the literal translation).

Leslie and my one curl. 

I celebrated Thanksgiving this year in San Salvador, the capital of El
Salvador. The American embassy has a great relationship with Peace Corps in El Salvador, and every year volunteers get invited to spend Turkey day with the American families who work at the embassy and live in the capital. So I headed to the capital to stuff my face with turkey and pie in an air conditioned house and speak English. Hello nirvana? Is that you who was knocking on my door? Yeah I think it was. It was a fantastic weekend. We started off by celebrating my friend Alexandra's birthday. On Thanksgiving morning Joelle, Mike and I met up with Leslie, the embassy worker we would be staying with. Leslie is about my age and had a fantastic apartment. She was so kind and hospitable the whole time we were there. We did some cooking (I made an apple pie, which was so fantastic. I miss having an oven and being able to bake whenever I want.) We took our pies, cranberry sauce and potatoes to Leslie's friend Gerldine's house for dinner. She had prepared the turkey, stuffing, salad, more potatoes and lots of wine. It was a great evening.

 Melida

The next day I headed to the Embassy for a craft fair. My host mom, Melida, made a bunch of dulces for me to sell for her. I will write another post about dulce making at a later time. We did ok, but did not quite sell out all of the sweets. Turns out Americans don't care for sweets that consist of mostly sugar. Go figure. No worries though, Melida was more than grateful for all that I did sell.

When I got back to my community, a friend of mine gave me a call and asked if I wanted a Christmas tree from his property. I said yes, and he delivered it to my house the next weekend. My host sisters, Josslyn and Katherine, and I decorated it with construction paper. I also attempted to make a popcorn string, but gave up quickly. Those things are deceivingly hard to make. So even though it is 80 deg outside right now, this tree makes it feel a little more like Christmas.

Speaking of being 80 deg, it is now the dry season. I officially love the month of December in El Salvador. It is hot enough during the day to dry my clothes the same day I wash them, but chilly at night.  I will say though it really does not feel like Christmas time. School is out for 'summer vacation' and it is hot all day making today feel more like June 12th than December 12th. Two weeks ago I got the worst sunburn I have had in years. Like the deep red, blistering kind of sunburn. Not pleasant. And now my body is quitando a layer of skin. Again not pleasant and not very wintery. On the other hand I have a pine tree on my front porch and just got sent a vanilla sugar cookie candle which help create a Christmas ambiance.

In kind of related news, I am coming home soon! One week from today I will be headed to San Salvador to catch my 2am flight back to the Oosa. I am very excited. I will be with my family in northern, pan handle Florida for most of my trip. We are also going to make a trip to Atlanta to visit our family up there. If you will be in either location let me know!

More posts to come as soon as I feel like heading to an internet cafe again....