Fillin my Half Empty Cup

Last night it happened. What I was afraid of. I woke up to some rustling noise, and there was a rat directly above me, chilling on top of my mosquito net.... Chewing holes in it. WTF rat. Why are you so intent on terrorizing me. I sat up, stared at him above me with my mini mag lite shining up at him... I was trying to get the courage to hit him and make him fall off. He must have sensed what was coming, because just as I was about to do it jumped. Then I tried to go back to sleep... but I couldn’t close my eyes without seeing the image of an ugly rat in my head. Oh and excuse me, the He-rat is probably a She-rat... the one that’s been dropping baby rats in my house. I can’t have holes in my mosquito net. What’s he trying to do? .... get inside and chew on me next? Ugh. Ballsy little she-rat. I’m going to try to lock one of my host mom’s cats in my house with me tonight. So... To Be Continued....

In other news, my fan club came over to draw and color yesterday. The first official meeting of the color club. There were 9 children in my house... ages 3 to 9. It went great! They did great work, and I hung the best ones up on my wall. Good cheap decorations. I had them sign their names on the bottom of their drawings so I could remember who did each one. I told Norma, who is 6 or 7 years old, to write her name on her paper, and she just shook her head no. I said “Do you know how to write you name Norma?” Another head shake for no. I was kinda surprised... the 4 year old on the other side of the table from her knew how to write his name. Anyway, I wrote her name for her and told her she could copy it. But then I saw she didn’t know how to make the letters. So step by step I showed her which lines and curves to make each letter. After she did it she was all smiles and really excited. Heck, I was really excited! It’s fun to get opportunities like that to teach someone something so simple but so necessary. On her next drawing she took it upon herself to write her name on her own... It spelled Morma. LoL. It was close!

The Color Club!



In my house, in front of the wall where I was putting up their art!



Yesterday was 10-10-10. Maybe that has something to do with why I woke up feeling so strange. Never mind the fact that I’m the only American girl living in an isolated farm town in the middle of El Salvador... I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I got up and put my shoes on to go for a run at the soccer field. As soon as I walked out of my house there was one of the old lady neighbors there trying to sell a little wooden table for $15. It was actually a decent table- one that I could use because I dont have many places to put books and stuff. I was just cranky about it though. Well, in general I am cranky when I wake up in the morning. When I was in high school I remember I would freak out on people if they even tried to talk to me in the morning. Through the years my morning mood has improved, but the crankiness still exists a little. I was just a little annoyed that it was first thing in the morning, I walk out my door and there’s someone trying to sell me something.

People are always coming to the house selling stuff, wanting your money. I’ve seen people selling Hello Kitty pillows, crap made in China, Sweet Bread, Pizza, sandwiches, soap, beef, chicken, eggs, and the list goes on. Sometimes it’s actually kind of nice if you get to purchase something you really like and without having to leave the house. But really, it’s not cool. Everyday you have the opportunity to spend money. I just don’t really like the principal of it. But I understand that people here really do need the money and that if it´s something I need and I have the money to buy it, it helps them put food on their table.

I’m sure it was all over my face that I was annoyed, and at the same time my host mom was discussing the sale with me, but talking with all this food in her mouth. People here don’t use forks either, they just eat with their hands and with tortillas. She was telling me how the woman needed to sell it because she needed money to buy food. And I really could use the table... so I gave her $13 for it. I like it. I just hope people aren’t coming to the house targeting me for their sales because they think I’m the rich American girl. One woman brought a long-sleeved shirt to sell me- 75 cents. It’s El Salvador- I have no need for long sleeved shirts. I declined.

Then there’s the situation with the table for my house. Marinita gave me the big table from her house and now there’s no where for people to eat when she has guests. A lot of the time she will move the table back to her house. I want to get my own big table so we don’t keep moving the same one back and forth between houses. So I asked her to find out how much it would cost to get one made by the guy that made me a little wooden one for my kitchen for $15. When the guy said the price would be $70 I said, Sorry that’s a lot. I would rather buy the cheap plastic ones, they’re only $18 each. But when Marinita told him I wasn’t interested and she saw he was upset, she felt bad. So she told him she would buy it when she had the money. Then she had this idea that we’d split the cost and I’d give her the table at the end of my 2 years here. I said ok to that. That’s a good deal. Although it’s kinda weird- she wouldn’t be spending the money if she had the guts to say no to someone. She is an extreme people pleaser... Feels bad if she doesn’t buy something from every person that comes to this house. That explains why they are here selling stuff all the time. I think Marinita has some money though. All of her kids went to the U.S. illegally and live in Boston and send her money. Well, now I’m going to have a nice big table.

Sometimes when I think about it- How every single person here has tons of family in the U.S.... I am in awe of how flooded our country is with illegal immigrants. It’s crazy. And more and more our pouring in everyday. And as much as I understand why they go- drawn to a better way of life... I just can’t help but wonder how much the U.S. can take. Eventually we will be overflowing with them... We won’t be able to sustain them all.... What do you think will happen if they keep coming? or contrarily- What do you think would happen if we closed the borders? Either way we lose.
On the plus side- these millions (or billions?) of immigrants to the U.S. bring with them their flavorful cultures- and that’s part of what makes my country so special.

Yesterday I was going a little crazy though. Adapting to my new life here can be extremely challenging at times. After I came home from my run, I was ready to wash some clothes on the rock... As I was doing so, I had Marinita talking to me a lot- And when she talks to me she usually feels like she has to repeat herself 2 or 3 times... and sometimes she even talks really loud like I’m deaf. It can be annoying. So she was doing that, and there was some really loud obnoxious church music blasting from the house and I’m standing there hearing all this buya, what they called noise, and scrubing my clothes on the rock and just thinking about where I was and how I was going to be there for two years and feeling like it was all too much in that moment- I had to run to my house and take a breather. I even cried a little. Just a little. But you know that’s ok, it’s going to happen sometimes. Don’t worry about me. I just needed to take some time for myself. Make sure I can check out from time to time...

After some deep breaths, I returned to my wash with my iPod to drown out the buya. It helped a lot. And I also reminded myself that how I feel here is all about my attitude. So I decided to smile a little more when Marinita talks to me, and to not be so cranky. She really cares for me and is always willing to go out of her way for me. And being in a bad mood- what for? I am in an amazing place doing amazing things. I really think I can live here happily for the next two years... as long as I always make sure to take some time for myself. So I went on to have a great day after that... I felt even better that I got to talk to my good buddy Sarah and my brother Evan. Staying in touch with home is really important to me and lifted my spirits a lot. I love y’all. Hey- I am going to try to come home in January because I have some airline credits to use up. :) Can’t wait for that!

Ok, time to go to school and help teachers and hang out with kids!


Paz y Amor!


All theír artwork. Makes for cheap decorations!