Today was absolutely awesome. Minus a few more mosquito bites (I mean I already have about 100, so what’s another 30?) and my much sunburned back, it was an amazing day. I did learn a new Spanish word today! Sunburn in Espanol is quemadura. :-)
On Thursday, we probably had one of our best days of training; we visited the Mercado in San Vicente (very different from Super Sectos, the supermarket sort of similar to your neighborhood grocery store minus the organic section) in the morning with our small groups of Spanish classes. We all bought different things, then returned to the training center and prepared several side dishes including fruit juice, tomato salsa, crudito (a cabbage spicy slaw traditionally served with pupusas), and yucca. We also tried a variety of unique fruits. Some of them I have had in the past such as mountain apples, lechi, and bananas of course, but there were new ones too like Sapote (my new favorite) and nances. We played several memory and dancing games to remember all the names of everything we had just bought. We had a cultural class as well and an entire session on “gestos” or known as gestures, that are common in El Salvador. Some were universal I would say, but there were helpful ones like moving your shoulders up and down is “Que Paso?” or What’s up? Where a thumbs up is a symbol of the conservative political party here and a peace sign (using your 2 fingers) symbolizes one’s unified beliefs with the leftist political party. Since we did not have a heavy schedule this week, we planned a day trip to the lake near Apastepeque (my town) for Saturday.
Now, back to today, sorry about the random tangent. Although Rachael did get sick (glad your fever is gone!), Dan took care of her, that left Andrew and Drew being with their host families, we rounded up 11 out of the 15 in our group to go to the lake. Everyone arrived in Apastepeque around the same time, all together even at that, coming from the 4 other host communities we were placed in. We took a 30 cent pickup truck (that literally means standing, no seats or seatbelts in the pack of a truck) to the lake. There was a $1 entrance fee where they had a pool, dock, bathrooms, and all that we could need for the day. Everyone seemed to have needed a break from their communities and we just had a good time being together, swimming and laying out in the sun. I truly appreciate everyone in our group. Everyone has such different backgrounds and travel experiences, they are all so unique and good-hearted people.
After stopping at a restaurant by the lake for sodas and a fresh fish lunch (actually caught them in front of us and cooked them!) we heading back to Apastepeque. Where we gladly showed everyone our little but succulent ice cream shop, which everyone HAD to try to make sure it tasted okay. Afterwards, we headed to my house to chill for a bit and get out of the sun for awhile before everyone caught pick up’s back to their communities. Everything about the day was so relaxing, fun and I just could not seem to stop smiling. I feel so luck to be given this opportunity and I am pretty sure my time spent in El Salvador over the next two years will not only be great, but will truly be an experience of a lifetime. :-)
Oh very important, last but not least...I bought new shoes. For $6!
that pan dulce looks AMAZING!! I know you will make some when you get back miss baker extraordinaire!
ReplyDeleteand cute shoes-what a steal!! : )
loveeee the shoes and the blue toes of course~
ReplyDelete<3 you
Amanda Panda