Have you ever been so involved in something--so wrapped up in the meticulous detail of the work--that you fail to notice the beauty of the world all around you? Fortunately that's not happening to me these days since I've been easily distracted by everything around me. It's absolutely necessary that a person who lives in the city of San Salvador be attentive to EVERYTHING that happens around him/her. Here are some pictures of the most simplistic and yet entertaining things of El Salvador. Allow me to show off a little bit through random pictures.

Let's start with a view of what driving through the country is like for us...

Everywhere you look, you'll see someone trying to sell you something. Even on the fast-paced highway roads through the country, the locals set up stands to sell what they can

Texaco and other Americanized businesses exist amidst jungle trees! Check out the load of people in the back of the truck.

This road leads into the suburbs where the public school gathers a crowd. If you look closely, you can see one of the toys that the little ones play on.

Within the heart of San Salvador, traffic is crazy and drivers don't allow road signs to govern their decisions. Everyone has places to go, people to see, and very little time to accomplish any of these. Yet those who are high up in the LDS employment tower can see beyond the car in front of them and enjoy the view of the mountains and lusch greenery.

Just an hour south of where we live is a gorgeous beach house with amazing views of the beach. This is potentially one of them.

Ok....so through the daily occurrence of distractions, I've also been working. This week was filled full. While most of the team dispersed to work on various projects including Habitat for Humanity, square-foot gardening with Balsamo, and teaching English classes, my hours were spent observing lots of meetings with the big guys of local NGO's. Together we talked about the different projects that HELP is able to participate in and others that we want to initiate with them. Once those meetings were done, I went to CIPI, a girl's temporary home for those who don't have the adequate care they should have. My job is to totally build their self-esteem with art projects.

It looks like it's working!

Ok well, time is running out and I don't have a creative ending. Until next week!

YA

Ya Llegue!

It's been a wild week in El Salvador--so much work to be done here and so many people who are excited that the kids from HELP International are here. Hopefully I can show just a little flavor of what it's been like for me thus far with some photos.


Here we are...the three mujeres fabulosas flying into the city of San Salvador. This older woman (Maria) was the most talkative lady and so anxious to find out about the Mormon church--I didn't initiate the conversation I promise! Later the girl in the center came and sat next to us since her previous seat was next to an older man who kept telling her she had a beautiful body and he wanted to buy her a drink. I helped her feel better by telling her she needed to lose some weight. We all became really close and swapped information. Maria wants the missionaries to come visit her. ...totally wasn't my intentions in talking to her I SWEAR!


Above, you will see, the whereabouts of our neighborhood. Antiguo Cuzcatlan is the name of our community. It's gated and every day and night we have a guard with his rifle to greet us. The girls in our group are very cool and always ready to go have fun. This picture is right before we went to a Young Single Adult Dance in the city of Ilapongo. There I made friends who taught me lots of necessary culture. I found out the in the very north of El Salvador lives a group of freckled people. They're considered red-necks to the rest of El Salvador.

Once we'd spent a few hours working, it was the weekend already and as necessary, we took a break at one of the member's beach house. It was truly a dream come true. Long story short, there was the beach right there behind us and a swimming pool that we took advantage of instead. All day long in the sun. Sun burn. Farmer's tan.


With time, the country directors felt comfortable in giving us an initiation. We had to go into the center of the market and look for some pretty ridiculous items. Whoever found the most ridiculous won. Instead of ridiculous, I went for most useful. I figured Jill would like gold most of all so I bought that one. I'll let you guess which pair of underwear actually won.



Ok enough fooling around. I'm totally going to show you the groups we're working with. CIPI is a temporary home for troubled teens and little boys. I've been put in charge of teaching art lessons to the teenage girls. The first class was a blind contour drawing of a face and the girls loved it. They laughed hysterically when I drew Christina (not pictured) and didn't look at what I was drawing. They thought I was the worst artist in the world. So we all practiced drawing. Aracely, the girl right next to me, is holding up a drawing that she made especially for me of flowers and birds. Inside the big heart it reads "te quiero." These girls really look up to us as well as the ladies that are working with them.

FUDEM is a non-profit organization that does eye exams for the community of San Salvador. We help them go into schools and do exams for both the students and the community members around the school. It's so interesting to see the public schooling system here. There's absolutely no glass in the windows because almost no one here has air conditioning. The members of FUDEM say that many of the students in public education are wild and rebellious because their parents can't afford private education. I couldn't tell if they were always as wild as they were yesterday because all of them were yelling and screaming as they watched the World Cup. I couldn't help but feel that really the kids here are just the same as those in Salt Lake City.

Ok, I've got to get back to work and teach some ENGLISH. I'm safe, I'm happy, and I'm so appreciative to have been able to come here. The people here are amazing. The country is beautiful. Tune in next week to see pictures of the landscape.... EL PAISAJE!

CAIO CAIO!!