I am going to go down as the worst blog writer ever - especially after this one, the intro. There’s a lot to tell so far, so let it be and grin and bear it.

So let’s break it down. By the way this is a picture of my campus.

Casa de la Solidaridad
This is the where. Located in Antiguo Cuscatlan, just on the southwest border of San Salvador (for those completely out of the loop, I’m studying abroad in El Salvador for the next 4 months). There are actually 3 houses, Casa Ita (7 people), Casa Silvia (11 people), and Casa Romero (16 people). I live in Casa Silvia with Sabrina in a double room meant to be a triple and another 9 people.

So basically, the mission of the Casa is solidarity through community and education. The education here is everywhere, most profoundly in the community. Right now we’re amidst our week and a half orientation that will “officially” end on Saturday. It was founded by some people, mostly from Santa Clara, under Jesuit influence with the thoughts of Kevin and Trena Yonkers-Talz, who are the directors and absolutely beautiful people. They live in a house a block or so away with their three girls, and as past JVIs in Belize, they definitely have their heads straight and just definitely know what they´re doing. It started in 1998, with 5 students and has grown to 24 this semester, with 6 becari@s. The becari@s (the @ stands for –os and –as, the masculine and feminine, meaning there are becarios and becarias) are Salvadoran students from marginalized communities, and there are two who live in each house, then in March, when their school year starts – they’re in summer session right now – 10 other students will move into a house down the street. So here are some logistics on the house:

Food: DELICIOUS

There is one cook for each of the houses: Lupita, Fran, Lydia, and sometimes Sara. Tortillas here are much smaller than Mexican tortillas and about 6 times as thick, almost like a small piece of bread. No Salvadoran feels full without having at least one tortilla at the meals. We also have the typical pupusas (two tortillas together with either pork, beans, or cheese…or all three), beans, rice, corn, squash, ensalada, tamales, and on and on and on. Basically the food is amazing and different and FRESH. Yeah, there’s a lot of lard sometimes, but it’s all fresh. I’m probably eating better here than I will ever in the EE.UU (US)

Cleaning

Ok, I know this is un poco raro to mention about the bathrooms and laundry, but I had to because its so different. Cold showers, all the time, lo siento (I’m sorry). Also, when you use the toilet, you throw away your paper. When you clean your clothes, you do it by hand and hang them up outside. First you soak them then you wash them in the pila, which is a HUGE sink divided three ways, the middle section which has all fresh water and the two side sections are where you scrub and rinse. Socks are the worst because there’s no fabric softener. I did my laundry this morning. It took me a little over an hour and I did a lazy job.

Jayaque: Hi-ya-k

My praxis site, or where I will be spending all of my Mondays and Wednesdays from 8-4 for the next four months. The people there are amazing, lots of younger people. It’s 45 minutes away from San Salvador – really rural. Mainly, I’ll be in the cooperative which is a across the street from a chicken processing plant, so it’s a little smelly but whatever. Just trying to give all you all an image. So the cooperative does a lot of things: dental clinic, psychology clinic, makes natural medicine, a bakery and a sewing academy are also there. Also, up the road a little bit there’s a elementary school where we will be helping teachers in kindergarten classes and also possibly teaching English. I’ll be going with Ryan (USanFran), Roe (Fordham), and Colin (BC). Chill group of kids, who are distracting me right now and that’s why my typing and story line is horrible, but hopefully you’re getting the idea.

So sorry for the vagueness of this, but this is just to give a little background. Today is Amy’s 21^st birthday, so we’re going to get some pupusas after I get this up at the internet café down the street. No internet in the houses, and 30 people share 6 computers unless you brought your own. So here’s my first try with USB drives. More to come later, with stories – that are pretty unbelievable – about families, immigration, murder, gangs, health and safety. So sorry to be so vague and desperate to catch your attention, but there is so much more to come and I am excited to share it with you all.