Thanksgiving in August

First of all, a big shout-out to all of you (and your respective companies) who are actually considering donating used and new computers to the school here! If you still want in, email me and I'll let you know how you can send yours here to Santa Rosa too. If you prefer, you can just write a check, that goes toward a scholarship or sponsorship of an interna ($8 a month for 10 months), or you can send me things to donate! We're always in need of medicine, especially pain killers and Midol, pads, school supplies, DVDs (PG13 or better), sneakers, and black mary-jane or ballet flat-type shoes. Please know that you all are such a blessing to me and to the girls here, and anything and everything is VERY much appreciated.

As for me, these past few weeks have been really great! I got to go back to El Salvador for 6 days while my director was in a meeting in Santa Tecla, just outside of San Salvador. I went back to Chalchuapa for the first few days to stay with the girls there. They've been going through a lot of changes there too, so I was doing a lot of moving for them, along with helping with homework and in the gardens, and playing with those adorable kids in the preschool. I happened to be there during the feast day of the patron saint of Chalchuapa, which is San Roque (random, I know), so I got to see the parade, which was right along our street, and I even knew the Queen of the Coffee (she was one of the girls in the family that invited us to the river in May)! It reminded me a lot of the Flambeau parade in San Antonio, with marching bands from the schools in the area, floats, and people dressed up. Only the people were dressed in giant plaster heads, on stilts, and in scary costumes. The ones in scary costumes loved to run up to the girls and me to try to scare them, but they would give them candy to make up for it, so by the end of the parade, the girls didn't even flinch and just put out their hands for candy.

I also got the chance to visit the other volunteers in El Salvador, Sydney and Roberta, which was very refreshing and relaxing. I spent some time in both of their schools in Santa Ana and Santa Tecla too, so it was nice to meet some of their students and friends there. Hanging out with the Salvadoran VIDES group was really fun too. Plus, just speaking English was great in itself. I also got to go to a few of the schools in San Salvador with Sor Mirna once her meeting was over, and we went to her parents' house in San Salvador too! Unfortunately, I left my camera in Roberta's room in Santa Tecla, so this is the only picture I have of my whole Salvadoran trip. It's the courtyard of the María Auxiliadora school in San Salvador, for 1,300 middle-class and wealthier girls, during morning recess.

Yesterday was the Day of Thanks here at the school, which is like a cross between Thanksgiving and Valentine's Day in the States. All week, the girls have been sending each other notes of thanks in the mailboxes for each grade in the office. They look a lot like valentines, most of them red and heart-shaped. The school is all decorated with Valentinesy things too, but they're still on "summer" vacation during actual Valentine's day so I guess this makes up for it. There was a Mass in the morning for the entire school, along with a drama, songs, dancing, and games. Then, everybody that wanted to got to go up to the microphone to say what they were thankful for, and we all had a big pizza feast for lunch. Almost Thanksgiving, but not quite. Just as meaningful, though, and that's what counts.

Also, all this month, there's a fair here in Santa Rosa to honor St Rose of Lima, who's feast day is at the end of this month. Usually, there are only things to do on the weekends and at night, so I haven't been to any events yet. However, this weekend, five internas and I went in search of the fair for the afternoon. To our dismay, there was nothing going on, but we made up for it by just walking around town and taking pictures. It remided me of walking around Austin with the Littlefield girls, because we stopped almost every 5 minutes to pose for more pictures (ahem, Jamie).

Here are some of the things we did:

First, we went down the "stairs" to the lower section of town.

We stopped at a bus stop.

And then at the restaurant in the bus station.

After that, I ran across the highway, and didn't know the girls weren't behind me. So they took a picture of me by myself. I didn't realize how appropriate the picture actually was until I looked at it later! It's the entrance to the only actual grocery store in town, with a coffee shop and a cell phone store inside too.

After we went shopping, we decided to take the footbridge overpass instead of sprinting across the highway. One of the girls was afraid of heights, though, and she would've preferred the traffic risk.

Here I am with the main highway (and consequently, the only paved road) that leads to the borders of Guatemala and El Salvador in the background.

Here's a view of the upper section of town from the highway.

And here's the other side of town, toward San Pedro Sula.

We stopped in a restaurant for a snack. Julia, Maritza, Blanca, Rosa Lilian, and Xiomara are all enjoying their pineapple juice.

Here's the steep road back up to our section of town.

Of course, as soon as we got back to the school, they started shooting off fireworks in the plaza for the fair, so we just missed it. But that gives us an excuse to go back again!

Until next time, sports fans...