First Couple of Days

So if anyone had any doubt that it is hot here, let me assure that it is VERY hot! I have been in country for three days now, but it already feels like a longer time.

The first couple of days have been spent in orientation sessions learning about safety protocol, cultural aspects of El Salvador and more than I ever needed and or wanted to know about Diarrhea. They say we are ALL going to get it, but I am hoping to try my best to avoid it (I know, joke´s on me). The food is here is rich in carbohydrate and grease and sodium, so my stomach is going definitely going to have to adjust if I want to eat. The pupusas here are super tasty though. For those who do not know what a pupusa is, it´s like a quesadilla and a pita had a baby and that baby is super delicioso. Haven´t really seen any vegetables yet, but I am hoping I can buy some to help with the diet. Potatoes, tortillas, rice, and beans are pretty much the staple item.

It has been a whirlwind of information and meeting new people. My training group has 36 people in it, and hopefully we will all make it through training together. I always knew this was going to be a very interesting and tough experience, but the adjustment is pretty big. You begin to learn to lower your standards real fast.

Also, I understand the term ¨gringo tv¨ now. As soon as we arrived in the airport, to walking in the streets, from sitting in this cyber cafe, and to our house out in the campo (country-side), we get stared down as if we are the zoo. Our trainers like to call it the fish bowl effect and its pretty accurate.

Another thing, the smells here. Its the ¨dry¨ season here, which means everyone is burning their crops for the next installment of the crops. The incents of burning sugar cane are everywhere. Where I will be living in for the next couple of months, I will be coexisting with all animals and be amongst burning trash daily.

I moved in with my host family yesterday whom I will be spending the next two months with in their house, eating with them, hanging out with them, and so on. They consist of my host mom and her girls, ages five and eight. Grandpa also lives with them as well. The kitchen is outside as well as the shower and bathroom :) (latrine). And at any given moment, whether in the house, front porch, or around the kitchen, you will see the rooster running after the hens, the dogs looking for food, and hearing the grunts of the pigs. Which honestly those pigs sound like they drank a soda really fast and have the burps to prove it! Living with a host family, altough overwhelming at times will definitely help me with my spanish. They speak a lot of ¨caliche¨ (slang) so it´s like learning a whole new language. For example, dog is not perro, it´s cucho. So for the first night, my host mom kept asking where are the cuchos? And I am really glad she was just talking about the dogs and not something I did! I also took my first bucket shower today with cold water, but it is so hot here, you want to take a cold shower.

We are all in different communities now, and I have five gringos where I am living. We made a map of our community with our spanish teachers. It feels a bit better to know where things are and get oriented to where we will be spending a lot of time. My town is a bit spread out, so I will be doing a lot of walking. Oh and if I need transportation, it´s the back of a pick up! Pick ups here have bars in the back to look almost like a cage (there are meant to be hold on to while they are driving). Definitely an experience.

Well I have to go, but keep checking in to the blog. I promise they will get interesting because life here is everything we don´t deal with in the states.

Chao!