Am I Good At Not Writing Or What?

Se les saludas a todas y todos! Lo siento for not updating this enough... Anyway, a lot has happened (or at least I think a lot has happened) so I will just dive and throw it at you. Take it as you will. Also, no pics this time, trust me - some good ones to come. In terms of work, I have been keeping very busy. My English class had its first exam the other week. We have been studying 'how to present yourself'.

Anatomy of a 'How to Present Yourself' Exam.

"Hello, my name is Jim. What is your name?"

"Heeeeloo, Him, my naaaame is Edith. How are you?" (In the cutest think Spanish accent ever)

"Edith, I am well, thank you. How are you?"

"I am well, thank you. Niiice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you."

It was SO cool giving these kids their exam. They were very, very nervous but all did very well. Their faces lit up when I gave them high fives and wrote 10/10 on a sheet of paper to give to them!

I just gave a nice discussion at the latest PTA meeting over respect and the importance of it. The students are amazing in my site but sometimes they just want to do what they want to do (regular kids right?). Anyway, I more or less informed the parents about some of the stuff that could be improved and then taught some techniques of how to condition kids to show more respect (i.e. please and thank you...). At the end of the meeting the mothers and I discussed having a community hangout night in the near future. All of them seemed totally psyched about it, but said we would need to wait until December when the families have more free time. I am psyched, and waiting to gather the troops to plan the heck out of this event!

I am also starting to give guitar lessons at my house a few days a week. After about three weeks of kids coming up to me and literally saying, "and the guitar?” I said, "yes, the guitar - I'm going to teach you". I think some of the kids are a little too young to learn (aka the guitar is double the size of them) but they enjoy trying - so I am all about it!

A few days ago, I came home to find that my barril of water (which I use to bathe) was full of mosquitoes and larva. So I am going to initiate a clean water campaign in my site. I got in contact with my local health promoter and she is going to give me little bags called abate. These will clean and prevent that insects and their eggs can live in our water sources. I am so geared to get this project going. The plan is to go house to house, chatting it up, and then tossing a few of those suckers in everyone’s barrel and/or pila.

Last weekend I took a little trip to the western side of the country. The departamento of Santa Ana to visit a good buddy of mine, Gabe. It was his birthday, and about 12 of us pilled in at his house to celebrate. Not going to lie, some beers were purchased and I acted as if I was a freshmen at Michigan State University (I passed out water to re-hydrate and was the designated driver). The next night, we all took off for the beach. We hung out, had a few drinks and enjoyed the company of other white people. Then, I made the best decision ever. Our hotel was right on the water, and I decided to take a little hike along the shore. I found an old tree fort right on the water, climbed up, and decided to spend the night outside on the beach shore. I saw nothing but my long legs, my feet and the cresting waves! It was the best night’s sleep I have had in a long time, also completely safe (sorry mom).

I came into town today to send in a quarterly report, which works out perfectly, because it means I can stick around and watch the presidential debate tonight! SCORE FOR ME!

Things are starting to move a lot more smoothly. I am getting use to the slow pace of life and progress. Sometimes I look down and see that my leg is shaking like I’m waiting for the gun at the start of a 100 yard dash and I say, “relax Jimbo, you have more time, lets take slowly”. I have learned that slow is good and the little things count the most:

Things that work in El Salvador:

- Rapping while your English students are drawing a person and labeling the clothes that they are wearing.
- Throwing out your hand and yelling “Dame cinco” and then giving a high-five. Then folding one of your fingers and yelling “dame cuarto”… and repeating the process until the kids are on the ground laughing.
- Making jokes about how the road looks more like a river when it is raining, while making swimming motions with your hands and saying “I forgot my bathing suit”.
- Telling people over and over again that people in the states do not eat tortillas.
- Asking three year olds if I can borrow their toys for the rest of my life. (For some reason mothers really get a kick out of this).


OK guys, that is all I have for now. I promise in the near future an update with fotos!

Hiimboooo