Day 16

I can't believe we've been here two weeks already. This week seemed to fly by, probably because of the holiday weekend last week. This past week wasn't as eventful, but deffinitely some things worth mentioning: On Wednesday we visited the orphange here- in addition to the school where I work now, it is the other volunteer location. The place is called "hogar para ninos"- home for children, because the Carmelite nuns who run it don't like the association with the word "orphanage." What these nuns have done is truly amazing; they have a created a completely self-sustaining gated community that houses 60 children and is equipped with a medical clinic, dental clinic, psychological facility, playground area, colorful classrooms, a large dining area, church, and of course rooms for the kids. Perhaps the most amazing part is that it all exists amongst a fully functioning farm- they produce everything they need right on the premisis: an incredible variety of organic fruits and vegetables, two pools where tilapia are raised, acres of coffee, they even have hives to make their own honey. During the tour the sister led us to a large sheltered room with cage after cage of....bunnies! My thought: sooo cute! The sad truth: dinner for the children :(

While I was crushed that thumper and his friends were going to end up as hamburger meat (and other various dishes the nuns have come up with), I do see the logic: The nuns had told Joaquin the kids weren't getting enough protein. Since we all know how quickly rabbits reproduce- Joaquin created the rabit project and it served as the perfect solution for the protein deficiency.

These nuns truly know how to make the most out of everything- they even have compost piles so that all their gargabe is recycled, and after decomposing can be used to fertilize the plants. I was honestly blown away with the place they have created.

After visiting, Vicki and I were rethinking our assigment...I mean who wouldn't want to work in this sanctuary? (plus that fact thats its only about 5 min from Joaquin's house as opposed to my 30 min walk plus 40 min bus ride to school) However, I do love the kids at school (the youngins anyway haha) and we didn't want to leave them in a lurch after we had committed. We are still working out the details, and it will also depend on other volunteers as definately one, and maybe two more are going to be coming in October. For now, I will continue to work at the school every morning and probably work a few afternoons a week at the orphanage. It seems like a good compromise.

Thursday & Friday- back to teaching. Nothing too crazy to report there this week. Friday night coming home from school Vicki and I were starrrving. We had been eyeing a Chinese restaurant down the street from the house so we decided to give it a try. I'm not going to go into detail, but basically I think I'm going to stick with food closer to typical El Salvadorian fare....I had what I thought was going to be like "chicken with mixed vegetables", but I think it would be more like "chicken?" swimming in sodium, with some veggies tossed in. Edible, but not enjoyable. Luckily when I went home Joaquin's mom was prepared to show me how to me how to make a "Canoes" a typical El Salvadorian dessert. Basically fried plantains with a sort of pudding like filling topped with raisins and cinnamon. Vicki took a video- I'll try to post it.

Saturday was pretty calm. Joaquin took me with him and his dad to "Taco Loco" to watch the Barcelona Vs. A. Madrid game: Barcelona= victorious! I must admit, I'm kind of getting into the whole soccer thing. Joaquin promised we could go to the Stadium to see El Salvador play in October so I'm really looking forward to that.

And finally Sunday- the perfect way to end the weekend: a lovely day at the beach/pool. This morning we traveled to Costa del sol. Normally this is a rich area and you can only get access to the beach if you are a resident or staying at one of the hotels. Howeverrrr Joaquin has a friend who hooked us up so we got passes to what I guess could be compared to a beach club there. Okay now- don't think like rows of chairs lining an olympic pool with diving boards and tennis courts, it's more like a modest size pool, with some cabanas & hammocks. While it may not be what we think of as the "norm" for beach club it was still the perfect, private relaxing atmosphere. What I still can't get over is how warm the water is. I can't say I got too far into the surf though. The waves and current were insane. I feel like I had to keep walking to the right just to stay in front of the same spot on the beach. Given Joaquin told me he knew 3 people that had died there, in addition to the fact that the "lifeguard" was pushing like 250lbs (those are not lbs of muscle either) I didn't feel like too much of pansy not getting in further. Now time to get ready for another week of school- my first Monday actually working!