El Havillel

5-22

I woke up this morning and for breakfast had plaintains and the corn drink. I'm horrible at compliments so the only thing I could say was that the corn drink tasted like hot yogurt. Justin could barely contain himself. I guess it wasn't really a compliment. Seriously though, gravy + yogurt = corn drink.
I could tell when I showed up that everyone was really tired and worn down a little and I knew they needed me. I got my shovel and started shoveling loads of concrete with the sun beating down on me. It's so hot that we have to take breaks pretty frequently. Sarai is joining us for the day to shovel as well! I'm glad she gets to meet everyone on the trip.

We continued to work until 5pm when pretty much all the kids in the village came to play soccer with us. I thought that we were stared at in San Miguel but in El Havillel we are like Justin Bieber. Children and adults alike watch our every move. They follow us from the work site to Dorita's house (where the women sleep and all of us eat our meals). The men sleep at the church. The church is gorgeous and simple. It's really pathetic that those are the only words I have to describe it.

 You wouldn't believe the living conditions of the people here. They have livestock, mainly chickens, that are allowed to roam around the village-- including the houses. The other night, Zach was eating lunch and was pecked by a chicken! They typically don't bother you though. The bathrooms consist of toilets that don't really flush. If you go numero dos you have to pour a bucket of water into the toilet. Toilet paper doesn't go in the toilet. That's basically the worst thing you can do because it kills the plumbing. Your shower is a bucket of water that you pour on yourself. Sinks are made out of stone, as is most of the house-- with rusted tin roofs. The only things they have that even remotely come from this century are Tv's, cellphones and bicycles. The tv's are older, like the ones I grew up with. I'm wondering what they think of the people they watch on the TV. What do they think about the houses that the people live in? They way they live their lives? What if they knew that that way of living is normal in the U.S.

Card Tricks and Ice Cream

5-21 

My time with Justin, Sarai and the Diaz family have been fantastic. We've played a lot of card games, watched a few movies (they're in english with spanish subtitles! good for me but sucko for the family). My favorite thing we've done though is pray the rosary half in English and half in Spanish with the family. One night it was so late that almost everyone fell asleep but it was so cool that we could do that together. It's amazing how your faith can connect you even past language barriers. 

Little Francisco is absolutely in love with Justin. I think it has to do with the fact that Francisco is constantly around women and having another guy in the house was golden for him. The hammock is my new best friend. I even took a nap in it the other day which I think everyone should experience because it feels like you are sleeping on a cloud. 

Sarai and I had a really beautiful talk with Justin about vocations today that really answered a lot of my questions. It's really nice to get a perspective from someone who has a) found his vocation (Justin's getting married in a month! and b) is younger because we all have to admit that talking to your parents about how they found each other or something can seem a little weird. I've found that sometimes vocation stories have seemed ridiculously surreal. For instance someone coming up to a friend of mine and telling her that he prayed about it and thought that they should pursue a relationship.  Does that happen everyday? I'm sure it happens but it seems so weird to me. Justin's made sense though. He found someone that he enjoyed being around and it slowly the steps toward marriage happened and were right. 

Justin and I have been joking the entire time about taking pictures of us laying in hammocks and eating ice cream and tonight is the night! I've been thinking about the group the entire time I've been here and I can't wait to get back. We might have to pull their leg a little and show them the pictures though :)

My stomach feels better but apparently I'm still not eating a lot of food. I'm trying my hardest to eat as much as I can. I better be ready for tomorrow because the day includes the corn drink--uggggh (I've heard it's a hard thing to drink for us Americans because we're not used to hot drinks in hot places but it's a right of passage that I must endure like my comrades), daily mass and an hour drive to El Havillel. 

****My pictures are unfortunately unable to be uploaded at this time but I'll try to find the USB cord ASAP

Vomit

5-19
I woke up this morning with a stomachache and immediately thought: "I want to puke". A rooster was crowing outside my window for at least an hour, waking me up dangerously early. I got ready for the day and went to mass at the cathedral in San Miguel. During the homily I ran outside and puked next to a car. I'm pretty sure the entire church could hear me. I felt soooo much better after puking and thought it was just the papusas and the heat that made me sick. I puked 4 more times after mass. I couldn't even keep medicine down. The lowest part of today was when I was puking on the bus through the mountains.

The only thing I could manage to talk about while on the bus puking

After laying on a hammock (the only cure to my sickness) in a small village while everyone else ate a traditional El Salvadorian lunch, Fr. Emilio took Justin and I to Francisco's house. I wasn't even fully out of the car before Francisco was touching my face and asking me in Spanish if I had a temperature. His daughter Sarai was right behind him translating my symptoms from English to Spanish for her parents. Thank goodness she speaks amazing English! I went straight up the stairs to a bedroom with three beds.

The Hammock Room at Francisco's

Soon Sarai's mother, father and Justin were coming into the room and suggesting I go to a doctor, a friend of the family's. After a little bit of convincing, I agreed. We went to the doctor's house, Francisco entering in first to talk to the family. Then we were allowed to come in and I went to a back bedroom passing a man making something with a yamaca on his head in a living room. The bed had a hammock laying over it and at first I didn't know if I was supposed to lay on the hammock or the bed. The doctor started pushing on my stomach. It was tight and in pain. She told Sarai that I had an infection and a temperature. So now I'm on 4 medications that slowly through the night started working on my fever and stomach issues. I could feel my digestive system moving back into the right place when I took one of the medicines--So Bizarre! I was instructed to stay in San Miguel for two more days with Francisco's family to make sure I'm recovering. While I'm really upset that I'm not with the group and I keep thinking about them, I'm really thankful to be spending a few days getting to know Francisco, his wife and his six children (five girls and one boy!)

Francisco's Family!

Day 3: We're in El Salvador!

5-18

We get to El Salvador and go through customs. We already lost one of our group members- Angela in the airport. I honestly don't know how Angela got lost but for being 18, she's extremely smart so I'm glad out of everyone it was her. Angela has such a beautiful soul and is entering the convent in a few months. When I first met her I kept thinking 'woah you are really young to be ready for that kind of comittment' but after being around her for an evening or two I truly saw how ready she is for community life, it's so awesome. After going through customs where they asked me questions in Spanish even though I was assured they wouldn't ask me anything (I can't respond to anything in Spanish and the woman was talking too quickly for me to understand), we are greeted by Francisco the architect. He comes in a white bus with blue curtains and the name Stephanie on the back of it.

All of us on the bus

We get into the bus and Papusas and cold sodas are passed out to us. Papusas look similar to a pancake and are filled with cheese, beans or pork. I only ate one papusa though because I was so full. We drove through San Salvador and made our way to San Miguel, about an hour and a half drive. We got to see a volcano! Being on that bus and seeing El Salvador for the first time, breathing in the sticky fiery smelling air, and seeing that volcano, I knew I was supposed to be in El Salvador. After a year of a really tough and dry period with God, I felt him everywhere. It was so emotional I wanted to cry but tried to contain myself. We finally got to the Bishops residence, where we were staying for the night and were greeted by Fr. Emilio who showed us where the bathrooms and bedrooms were. I couldn't get over how open the residence was, the outside and the inside of the house are combined!

Courtyard at Bishops residence

We were lucky to have beds and air conditioning-- something we weren't expecting. Kaice, Angela, Kellee and I all slept in the same room while the other girls got to sleep at Francisco's house. The best part of the night was that we all thought that we didn't have a shower so we washed our hair in a sink near the courtyard. Someone had washed their hair before me and I wasn't paying attention and slid right under the sink from the water on tile action. Luckily Kellee was there to laugh at me :)

Day 2: On the Plane

May 16th

At this point, I can barely remember what day it is. The days on this trip are long and filled with a lot of great fellowship. I spent a lovely day in Denver on the 14th hanging out with the Cotter's. I enjoy their family so much and had some beautiful conversations with them especially about emotional chastity. I love how passionate they are about emotional chastity. Tyler picked me up from the airport and then took me to the hotel the next day to meet the group that I'm going to El Salvador with.

Over the past 24 hours I've really learned a lot about the 13 people who are traveling with me. We range from Nevada to Florida and numerous states in between. Two people on our trip are fluent in Spanish and two have been on the trip to El Salv before. We also have one non-catholic on the trip. Today we had to be at the airport at 8 AM after an awesome continental breakfast that featured waffles, omelets and breakfast burritos!

We flew from Denver to Houston in the early afternoon. The Houston airport is huge! It has five ridiculously long terminals. We ate at a place called "real food" (not a good name for something when you walk by other places and say: "Let's go get some real food" *cough cough--> Allie).  I had a margherita pizza and a Mr. Pibb.... that somehow ended up being Diet Coke. We took photos and talked about different state accents. We left the U.S. at 4:45 PM. So now we're sitting on the plane flying over the gulf. I'm sitting next to Allie who is from Columbus Ohio but goes to Pitt. She's majoring in chemical engineering and is a vegetarian as well! It's always fun to meet another vegetarian. We were just served cheeseburgers on the plane. Allie and I have both forgone our vegetarianism for this trip but she's definitely a lot braver than I am. Red meat and I will never be friends but Allie is trying the cheeseburger. Her first meat encounter in 4 years was a Five Guys hamburger and she's been eating meat since Easter. I ate chicken for three days and fish for two. Either way I'm glad I gave my cheeseburger to our team director, Justin.


I am anticipating our arrival in El Salvador very much. Here's what I'm most excited for:
1. To sacrifice myself and the comforts I've experienced my whole life. I'm trying to find my inner Mother Teresa.
2. To grow closer to God and the people on my trip
3. To see the Bishop Romero sites including the chapel he was assassinated in
4. To 'moose' the people on my trip.

To 'moose' someone you just wait until someone falls asleep during the trip and then you stick a picture of a moose next to them and take a photo as shown below:

Denver Here I Come!

*note: this blog was written during my journey to el salvador from May 15th-31st

May 14th
I'm on the sea turtle! One of the many reasons I love frontier is because each plane features an animal on the tail of it. Last year I was on a bobcat when I flew to Denver to spend an entire summer there, this time I'm on the sea turtle. A lot has happened in one year but my day will look remarkably similar (almost to the exact date) to a year ago. I will journey to the house I lived in for an entire summer and sleep in the bed that was mine for the whole summer. I will stay with a family I've grown to love very much and I'll get to see friends that I cherish.

The Cotter's House!

Looking back to my life in Denver a year ago, I've grown a lot especially in my faith life. I know that this trip marks even more growth in my life and I'm excited for that. El Salvador-- a country that I know is ridiculously different to America and will change me drastically.

This early AM flight has given me a lot of blessings:
1. I enjoyed coffee with my parents and waved to them as I walked through the terminal.
2. It doesn't matter how old I am and how many plane rides I've been on by myself, they still watch me until I'm in a different concourse.
3. I got to see the sunrise, even through the rain.

The Square!

Now the plane is about to take off and I'm two hours away from my dear friend Tyler (part of my square of amazing people) picking me up from the airport. He's a saint for willingly picking me up at 7:30 AM!
Then I'm on my way to the Cotter's house to greet them in their pajamas, most likely eating breakfast. Tomorrow I'll meet all of the people I'm going to El Salvador with and the real journey begins but for right now i'm living in the moment and excited to see the mountains again.
It's time to breathe that fresh mountain air!

Random moment:
I bet planes are the best places for writers to find characters. For instance, I'm sitting next to a bald headed woman in her 30s wearing all black and silver nail polish and a sweet Asian man in his 50s sporting a business suit and joking about the lack of leg room.... I'd put them in a story.