feb 6th.

Feb 6th. 2010
So the blog continues. Yesterday we arrived at our host stay homes. The places where we will be for the next 7 weeks of training. Before moving in I had a really bad feeling.. kind of hard to explain but you are moving in with a family that you don’t know and you are not comfortable with their language. It kind of sucks. Anyway as soon as we moved in a truck drove by that was selling cell phones. It was 10 dollars for a phone and 250 minutes. 12 cents a minute to call the us.
My house is disgusting in comparison to US standards but for here it’s not bad at all. It has electricity so I can’t really complain. But it is rather dirty. During dinner rats ran across the roof and the family just giggled when I pointed it out. They kind of look at me like I’m crazy.
But here I am…this gringo from America in El Salvador to help. I can’t even count the number of times I have said to myself what the hell am I doing here… earlier today I had nothing to do and I just laid in my bed and asked myself why the hell I was here. I was sad. I was frustrated. And I wanted to give up. But I know all of those feelings are normal in the beginning and I won’t give up.
I woke up from a 2 hour nap and forced myself to go be with my family. I went out back and watched them make bread. Every Saturday they make delicious bread and sell it in their tienda. A tienda is a little local store that sells sodas chips.. Etc and also a place where you can add money to your cell phone. A few minutes after being back there, 2 other aspirantes (Peace Corps volunteers) showed up and hung out at my house for a little. It was just what I needed. Because I was sad and lonely. After that we ended up at Lindsay’s house which is down the street. She has a beautiful house that is clean and homey with one of the most amazing views of the underlying valley and volcano in the distance. We stayed there and the 5 of us ended up talking for about 2 hours. It really changed my mood.
The rest of the night has been good. I helped clean the dishes from dinner in the back yard with the buckets and soap… the same buckets that we use to shower. Apparently showers haven’t been invented yet here. We also have no bathroom. It’s a latrine/outhouse. It is a little hut with a cement cylinder and toilet seat on top. It smells like roses. And also has an infestation of cockroaches. (Yes I signed up for this.) I guess I need to make a confession... It’s hard to make myself use it so I have been peeing on the side of my house. Probably more information then you needed, but I’m just telling you how it is.
Tomorrow we are all getting up at 5 am for church. It starts at 6. So now I’m off to bed.
PAZ y AMOR
Sam