Free Speech and Chipotle: Why Did I Ever Leave?

I am back from my two week vaca in the States. It was awesome. I spent most of my time in Florida with my parents and brother with a quick trip to Atlanta to visit my family up there. In reality though, I spent most of my time eating. It is pretty gross the amount of food I was putting away daily. But seeing as I have had some combo of tortillas, beans, rice and eggs for almost every meal for the past year, I did not feel guilty. Pretty sure I gained an unhealthy amount of weight. But not to worry, I am back on a strictly beans and tortilla diet. I'm sure I will be back to my svelte self shortly. haha

Here is a short list of things I did in the US of A that I cannot or have not done since leaving a year ago:

*Drive (PCV's are not allowed to drive for safety reasons, I assume. I mostly spend my time dreaming of a time when teleportation will be feasible. Beam me up Scotty!)
*Walking down the street with my iPod out (Down here that would be a huge don't do. But at home it is normal, and apparently iPhones have taken over the world. EVERYONE has one! Crazy)
*Eating Chipotle ( I tried to stay away from all food that could be classified as coming from Central America. But Chipotle never lets me down. A delicious little bundle of goodness, the only bad part is that I only got to eat there once.)
*Getting my hair cut (By the way never get your hair cut hungover. You end up deciding bangs are a good idea. Bangs are almost never a good idea, especially living in a hot and humid country. Only 8.5 more months until they are grown out!)
*Blending in (Being a blond Gringa makes me stick out like a sore thumb down here. In the states blond girls are everywhere, although I like to think I stick out for other reasons. But I don't mind that as much.)
*Being consistently understood (My Spanish sills improve daily, but it is great to have the full command of a language and know that when you are going to someone's house it is to have lunch not kill a chicken...)
*Watching NCIS and Law and Order SVU marathons (As much as I love telenovelas like Soy Tu Dueña, NCIS and SVU will always be my favorites, especially when there are marathons of them on.)

Shockingly not too much changed while I was away, and that was comforting. The biggest change around where my parents lived was the new Rooms to Go. I mean, that is a pretty big deal, but somehow I feel ok with missing out on it.

Cheers!

It was nice to be able to unwind and hang out with my family. Tomorrow marks my living in El Salvador for one year. Crazzy. Peace Corps El Salvador is going through some serious changes right now (which I will discuss in my next post). Even though home was great and times are uncertain down here right now, I am glad to be back. Here is to a productive and fun second year!