Pupusas!

So it has been almost a week since I have been here in El Salv. I have moved in with a host family in a small village type area called Molinaros, just outside of San Vicente. My family is awesome and huge. There are the two parents and 4 of their 6 grown children live with them, which is compleatly normal here, and then 2 grand children. And on our area of land there are almost all of thier relatives in other houses. Needless to say there is always someone around. Also  there is so much noise here at night, they keep saying you get used to it, but we will see. I think the church bells ringing at 3am every Thursday morning are likely to wake me up every week. And I am not sure I will ever get used to the roosters crowing all night long. Will some one please tell them that they need to wait until the sun is atleast up? Thanks.

So far I have liked almost every food my host mother has put in front of me. Pupusas are a staple here as are rice and beans and tortillas, and I love it all. But I can already tell that I cannot make it a long term habit or I will come home muy gordita. Running is not common here, especially for girls, so I am investigating other forms of excersize, such as hiking.

It is hard to believe that a week has gone by so quickly. I have a feeling all of training will do the same. Most of my days consist of 8hr Spanish lessons and charlas (classes) on staying healthy, keeping safe, and preping us for our perminante site. My Spanish is improving daily but I am still having trouble communicating everything. Sink or swim though. I will try to post some pictures soon! Hope everyone is well. :)

El Salv Fact- Instead of Mr. and Ms/Mrs. men and women are called Don and Niña

Hola!

My internet access is going to be pretty sporadic for the next few weeks. I made it safely to El Salvador. We took a bus to San Vicente and have been staying in a local hotel. It has been pretty nice to have air conditioning and showers so I will be sad to leave it today. But on the other side of that I am meeting and moving in with my first host family today! Yay! I am very excited about that. There will be a couple of other volunteers at my site for the first two months, so that will be good. Yesterday was a loooong,  a very busy 13hr day. I will go in to detail later but mostly we were in meetings on health issues (preping water, cooking, and washing veggies dehydration etc) and gang violence and I got my typhoid shot. Also we were issued mosquito nets and have begun taking malaria medication. The food so far has all been delicious. Good thing I like beans! I am about to run out the door to breakfast, but will be able to post again some time next week I think.

The End of The Wait

So here I we are, 4.5 days until I am off to staging in VA and I am about 50% done packing and 50% done with my quilt, and 85% done with the skirt I am making. Here is what I have of my quilt! I am done with the pattern on the top, I just need to add the padding and back, sew it all together and close it up around the edges. I need to finish it before I leave though, because if I don't my Dad said he was going to take over and finish....

I will post a pic of the 100% finished product.
(If I finish that is)

As for my packing, I have come to the realization that I am going to run out of space in my bags before I hit the 80lb weight limit. Oy. I have a feeling I will be asking my parents to mail down everything that I cannot fit into my bags. (Thanks Mom and Dad!)  Speaking of mailing, I do not have an address yet, but as soon as I do, I will post it. They recommend that people only send packages and mail via USPS. Nothing else, just USPS. 

So I put off buying a pair of sandals until I could figure out which brand I wanted to buy. I narrowed it down to either Chaco's or Teva's. But I still have not purchased them... I know I am cutting it down to the wire, but I cannot decide. I need to have a pair that have a back, as required by the PC, if you are planning on wearing sandals. Hopefully I will figure that out soon, as I am not super keen on wearing sneakers all summer.

I always get so annoyed when the bloggers that I read on a regular basis do not post for a long period of time. Well now I am quite guilty of that. My apologies. Unfortunately, my life has not been what most would call exciting. My family and I just got back from a week long, post Christmas trip to Atlanta to visit my Grandma and Aunt and Uncle who live there. We completed 2 puzzles, did a little post Christmas shopping (and found some great deals, I must add), I did some quilting and am now also working on making my own skirt, we made a failed attempt at tiramisu (note to self: don't let Mom handle the bottle of Kalua near the dessert or the whole bottle may just end up in there) and we headed into Atlanta one day for a trip to the Georgia Aquarium (which is the largest in the world) and the World of Coke museum.  Ok so when I put it like that, it does kind of sound like a lot.

Well here it is, 10 days until I leave sunny Florida for VA for a day with Paige and a my Peace Corps staging. 12 days until I am off to El Salvador!

I promise to try to post more often!