Sunday, June 29

Sorry we've been out of touch, but I want to let you know that we're having a great trip.  It has been really hot and humid.  There's been very little rain this year, which has prevented things from cooling off at night, though we did get a thunderstorm tonight which helped.  We're drinking a LOT of water.

The ESL classes are going well, in spite of daily surprises in the schedule.  Our volunteers are doing a great job and are gaining in confidence daily.  The materials are good and the kits are working out.  I love watching the teams of three doing their planning, they are so energized when they think about how they'll be working with the students.

The home stays are going well, too, though we heard a lot of stories about scary bugs when we were debriefing on Friday night.  Everyone loves their families and are working through the difficulties in communication.  There has been some success in playing games with the families, and some of the bilingual picture dictionaries that we brought with us have been useful.

We were divided into two groups for the Spanish classes, no matter what our level and it has been great.  We meet under the tree next to the community center in El Bario, and have had two classes so far, with three more to come next week. The first day we had a theme on farm animals and common things that we'd need to know in the house.  The second day we had foods and body parts.  Very practical, some new vocabulary for the more advanced students, and an explanation of which words are different in El Salvador.  It's a different approach and we've enjoyed it, partly because it's not too taxing.

Saturday we went to San Salvador for a pretty heavy day as far as civil war history goes.  We were well prepared from the two films that we saw in El Bario and from a couple of talks that we went to and got a lot out of it.  We also went to a play for an hour in the evening, then had dinner with our scholarship students and participated in some salsa dance lessons.  The evening was a lot of fun, and our youth interacted a lot with the Salvadoran youth.

Today was a free day, with Meeting for Worship, then swimming, shopping, or napping.  Tomorrow we go back to El Bario for two days of classes and another day of painting.

Robert has been really sick with typhoid, but is now on a course of medicine and is feeling much better.  He will be able to go with us next week on all our adventures.  Typhoid is food-borne (usually because fecal matter gets into the food) and, since he has not prepared any food for us and we've all been vaccinated or taken the oral prevention, we are not at any risk.  It's been hard for him, though, to stay home and have others help us out.  I'm really glad that he's getting better, and also am grateful that we have Andrew with us.  Thank goodness Andrew and I have been here enough times before that we know our way around.  Our local guides have been wonderful.

Our group has been very responsible, very mature, and very healthy!  A few icky stomachs, but no major problems, knock on wood.  Let's hope it stays that way!

Sunday, June 22

We had a very full day today, with Meeting for Worship followed by ice-breakers and an orientation. We walked through Suchitoto and had lunch at Rinconcito del Gringo. Then we split into groups---some went shopping, a couple went swimming, some rested, and others played cards. At 4:00 we reconvened and spent the next two hours sorting our ESL materials, forming teams and teambuilding, then planning the lessons for tomorrow. We have four teams, and each team is really stepping up to the challenge. They have made lesson plans, really thought through what they are doing, and made the materials that they wanted that they didn't already have. Our pre-dinner planning was punctuated by a downpour that knocked out all the electricity, but some folks really enjoyed running around in the rain. Very refreshing!

Robert, however, has come down with a fever and is feeling terrible, so he didn't join us for the late afternoon or evening session. Andrew has checked in on him and we are hoping that he'll be feeling better tomorrow.

At 6:00 seven youth from El Bario came for dinner, and fortunately our dining room has a battery operated light so that we could see each other. These five young men and two young women speak very little English, but we interspersed them among our group and everyone valiantly attempted to communicate. There were definitely some awkward moments until people figured it out. After dinner we moved all the tables aside, put the chairs in a circle, and engaged in some dinámicas or ice-breakers. These games involved running, hanging onto each other for dear life, and huge amounts of laughter. We will be meeting with these youth throughout the week and some of them will be our Spanish teachers.

We ended the evening with more planning for tomorrow and then our youth played cards for awhile. The biggest event was when a toad got into the boys' room and we had to call the caretaker to remove it, thinking it was one of the poisonous variety. Evidently it wasn't as the caretaker picked it up with his hands and carried it out to the garden.

Only 3 more days!

We will be converging on Suchitoto the evening of July 21 and will be staying at the hostel at Centro Arte Para La Paz (http://capsuchitoto.org/en/) while we are in town.  Check out their website to learn about their amazing history and mission.

For those of you who want to keep up with us, here's our itinerary as of today.  There has been an 11th hour change in schedule because of a Ministry of Education visit to the school in El Bario on Tuesday, which will cause us to switch our English project for that day to a painting project.  Robert is making arrangements as I write. 

This year I hope that we'll be able to post to the blog on the days that we are in Suchi.  On the days when we are in El Bario we'll be away from the internet, staying with our home stay families.

Saturday, 7/21:  Arrive San Salvador, stop for pupusas in Olocuilta, spend the night in Suchitoto at the hostel.

Sunday, 7/22:  Breakfast at hostel, Meeting for Worship, orientation, walking tour of Suchitoto, lunch at Rinconcito Del Gringo, sorting ESL materials and team building, free time, lesson planning, dinner at hostel with the youth group from El Bario, icebreakers, free time or lesson planning, sleep at the hostel.

Monday, 7/23:  Breakfast at hostel, service project begins-- teaching English at the El Bario school, lunch at El Bario school, Spanish classes, get the village tour and meet our host families, prepare English lessons, group reflections, dinner with host families,  movie at community center, stay with host families.

Tuesday, 7/24: 
Breakfast with host family, painting project with El Bario youth, communal lunch with youth group in El Bario, painting project, meet with youth group and community leaders, reflections, dinner with host families, prepare English lessons, free time with host family or activity at community center, stay with host families.

Wednesday, 7/25:   Breakfast with host family, class preparation, service project teaching English, lunch at El Bario school, Spanish classes, prepare English lessons, group reflections, dinner with host families,  free time with host family or activity at community center, stay with host families.

Thursday, 7/26:  Breakfast with host family, class preparation, service project teaching English, lunch at El Bario school, Spanish classes, prepare English lessons, group reflections, dinner with host families,  free time with host family or activity at community center, stay with host families.

Friday, 7/27: Breakfast with host family, class preparation, service project teaching English, return to Suchitoto, lunch at hostel, free time in Suchitoto, dinner at hostel, reflections, sleep at hostel.

Saturday, 7/28:  Breakfast at hostel, visit San Salvador, University of Central America, museum to Archbishop Romero, fast food lunch in San Salvador (Pizza Hut), visit National Cathedral and explore city center, return to Suchitoto, meet university students, dinner at hostel with university students and El Bario youth, salsa lessons, and sleep at hostel.

Sunday, 7/29:  Breakfast at hostel, Meeting for Worship, lunch Rinconcito Del Gringo, free time in Suchitoto, boat tour or waterfall trip, goodbyes to El Bario youth and university students, dinner at hostel, prep English lessons, reflections, sleep at hostel.

Monday, 7/30: Breakfast at hostel, service project teaching English at the El Bario school, lunch at El Bario school, Spanish classes, prepare English lessons, group reflections, dinner with host families,  free time with host family or movie or activity at community center, stay with host families.

Tuesday, 7/31:  Breakfast with host family, class preparation, service project teaching English, lunch at El Bario school, Spanish classes, prepare English lessons, group reflections, dinner with host families,  free time with host family or activity at community center, stay with host families.

Wednesday, 8/1: Breakfast with host family, class preparation, service project (painting) in El Bario, return to Suchitoto, lunch at hostel, free time in Suchitoto, dinner at hostel, reflections, sleep at hostel.

Thursday, 8/2: Breakfast at hostel, service project (painting) in Santa Anita, lunch in Santa Anita wit El Bario and local youth, Agro farm tour and trip to waterfall, return to Suchitoto, dinner at hostel, free time and icebreakers with El Bario youth, reflections, sleep at hostel.

Friday, 8/3: Breakfast at hostel, civil war learning day, tour by boat to Copapayo, then bird island, ending in El Sitio Cenicero, with in El Sitio, optional hike to bat cave, return to Suchitoto, pupusa making classes at El Rinconcito del Gringo, free time, reflections, sleep at hostel.


Saturday, 8/4: Breakfast at hostel, transport to west coast beach, check in, free time and lunch on your own, last night group dinner, reflection and debriefing, hotel room for packing and quiet time.

Sunday, 8/5:  Light breakfast, EARLY (6-6:30 a.m.) departure for airport as first flight out leaves at 8:20 a.m., head for home.