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Monday, 05 January 2009 |
Laura is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio and a 2007 graduate of SLU. She is currently volunteering in El Salvador with an organization called CRISPAZ: Christians for Peace in El Salvador.
 Happy New Year’s, everyone! I sit here on my last night of vacation going through my photos and I realize how much has gone on in the past few weeks! I came back to El Salvador with only two weeks left until vacation, and during that time I taught two English intensive classes at the Centro de Alcance, and was able to participate in the Participacion Juvenil end-of-the-year evaluation. Once on vacation, I traveled to the beach, the Lower Lempa region (a nature reserve in Nicaragua), and Cesar's town, Tepecoyo.
 I also spent my first Christmas (and second New Year’s) in El Salvador. To be honest, even though I got to talk to most of my family members on the phone, it still didn't feel like Christmas. I guess when you do the same thing for Christmas your whole life, it’s hard to adjust to such a drastic change. It was a fun day though. I saw a nativity play and learned how to make chicken tamales, which everyone eats on Christmas. We danced merengue and cumbia music, and got to go swimming in the river. The swimming in the river was probably my favorite part, as it was absolutely beautiful and I have never been able to go swimming on Christmas in Cincinnati.
The nature reserve in Nicaragua was wonderful and I recommend it to anyone who wants to visit some community tourism projects. The trip to Nicaragua, however, was absolutely exhausting (13 hours on nine busses), and we decided that next time, we have to go for more time for the trip to be worth it. We wanted to be back, however, to spend New Year’s with Cesar's family in Tepecoyo. New Year’s here is like 4th of July in terms of fireworks, though a lot more dangerous. Children run wild in the street throwing fireworks left and right, and it’s quite frightening. The next day the town festival started and there were a ton of events going on. We, instead of going to any planned events, hiked down to the river with some of Cesar's friends. Minus the garbage thrown mindlessly all over the path, it was really pretty and a good exercise.
Now I am back in the capital getting ready to head back to a new year of work at CFO. It’s hard to believe that I have been living in El Salvador for a year because it has gone by so fast, but in retrospect I feel like I have done a lot and learned even more. Thanks to everyone who has supported me in my decision to come here a year ago. I will try to keep up the blog this year for anyone interested in reading about what 2009 has to bring me here in this country. Thank you!
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