Garden Surprises

I came home from El Salvador to a neatly-trimmed front yard, thanks to Mom. The garden, however, is being its typical unruly self. Every year the same thing happens - I plant in the spring and the tiny seedlings look so far apart that I think they will have plenty of room to spread out. But then the pumpkins and squash go crazy, and this year the tomatoes have joined them. It makes every trip out there like a little treasure hunt - you never quite know what you will find. The Very Large Pumpkin is easy because it is already turning orange (it will soon have to go into the basement, although I don't know how, since I can't carry it). There are two other pumpkins - one in the middle of my tomatillos, and one over by the cantaloupes (these are at opposite ends of the garden, mind you). And there is a white pumpkin out there somewhere. I saw it once. The vines at this point are beginning to poke out of the fence and head into the orchard. Mixed in with the pumpkins are spaghetti squash (I planted yellow ones, but am getting an equal number of yellow and white ones. No one knows why. One of my hippie neighbors suggested mischevious garden fairies, and I know she was being serious) and what I thought were butternut squash. Turns out they are pattypans. My neighbor made a mistake on her labeling. I found out because I lifted a leaf over by the fence and found a yellow pattypan squash the size of a soccer ball, which caused my friend Heather, who was with me at the time, to laugh until she cried (this is my same friend who got me to run the half marathon - see the Sept 14, 2008 blog entry). I may have simultaneously yelled, "What the?" We cut it in half to positively identify it as a squash and laughed at the size. We are still talking about it - wish I had taken a picture of it. Anyway, there's the garden update for now - in between getting everything ready for the start of school, trying to get to the beach a couple more times, and general house/car/animal upkeep, I head out to the garden every couple of days just to see what surprise is waiting for me next!

Home - Part 2

We are home! Well, three of us are. Grace, Jason and I came home on Wednesday (Jamey and our students are remaining in El Salvador until the 23rd). After a five-hour flight, customs at LAX, and a four-hour drive north (with only a quick stop at the In-N-Out Burger in Westwood), we pulled into our driveway at about 1 a.m. on Thursday. We are realizing that there are many things to be thankful for about where we live:

1. My parents were our housesitters, so we came home to happy animals, a clean house, a stocked refrigerator, and a trimmed yard.

2. The air here is so fresh and clean! After two big smoggy cities, it seemed like we had arrived at a campsite or something. It really does smell great.

3. It was 72 degrees here today. That was the high. In August. I realize that in a few days it could be up in the high 90's, but today we enjoyed the cool breeze with the windows open.

4. Trader Joe's and other grocery stores - especially the abundance of fresh produce and healthy choices.

5. At night, because we don't have streetlights, there are SO many stars! I notice this often, but we did miss all of the stars when we were gone. The view is particularly amazing from Grace's new hammock, which is now in the backyard.

6. We all have great friends - some we are very sad to leave behind in El Salvador, and some we are so happy to see again.

above photos: our last evening in El Sal, and our first freeway view of LA when we passed over the 405 during our landing at LAX

Home

From the smiles on these faces, you might think we were at a school or a playground. But on Tuesday and Thursday our team went to a state-run orphanage in San Salvador to paint, clean, wash windows, make lunch, and generally love on these children. Grace spent her time coloring and playing on the trampoline with the little girls, and Jason played basketball and soccer with some of the boys. It was amazing to me how sweet and joyful the kids seemed, even though they come from horrible circumstances. Rosa, the little girl on the right in the picture with me, was worried that I didn't have lunch as she offered me part of her peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I explained that we would eat our lunch later, and then she asked me if I have brothers or sisters. It turns out she has one brother, just like me. Her brother is sixteen and has moved back home with her mom, to get a job and earn some money (not all of the kids here are totally without parents - some just aren't able or willing to care for them). She misses him and loves it when he comes to visit. But she told me that she doesn't really know her mom at all - she has never been to visit. Some of the babies we held were found abandoned, and don't have names. Many of the older girls are already mothers, even though they are 13 or 14 years old. Their families have expelled them, and they had nowhere else to go.

It was a difficult and wonderful day at the same time. Later on, when I was talking to Layo, the director of Campus Crusade for Latin America, he explained to me why it is so important for us to visit places like this, and to take the Vida Estudiantil students (about 5 went this day) with us. In El Salvador, as in many countries, there is a huge gap between the wealthiest and the poorest citizens. The students who attend Matias University come from the top 3 percent of the population, and are the children of the richest and most powerful people in the country. Most of them have lived very sheltered lives, so it is a great thing, Layo said, for them to go out and paint schools in poor villages, and to serve orphans at the state orphanage. He explained that in the future, these students will be the leaders of El Salvador in politics, the arts, business, and medicine. And he wants them to remember these days and these people. As they go out with our students, they are growing in compassion along with us, and that is a very good thing.

After the morning, we sat around the pool at the hotel and let students talk about what they had experienced. And Jamey shared a verse from the Bible - Matthew 9:36 - which says, "When he (Jesus) saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." We are growing in our compassion for people, and are seeing a country full of people who God loves.

First Day At Matias

Yesterday was the first day of the new term at Matias, and the Vida Estudiantil students had a table up, giving away candy and fliers, and getting contact information from interested new students. We brought a World Cup soccer ball and t-shirt and a designer purse from the states to be given away as raffle prizes at the first VE meeting on Thursday (at noon). We also put together 100 freshman survival kits to hand out; each contains candy, a flier, and a DVD of World Cup players giving their testimonies. It was fun and encouraging to watch the US students, who are brave but speak almost no Spanish, and the VE students, who speak Spanish but are not always brave, team up to meet and converse with the new students. There are a lot of students who want more information about English Club, Vida Estudiantil, or a relationship with God, and our hope is that when we leave in a few short weeks, the VE students will have the confidence and training to just run with the ministry.

One joy for our family has been hanging out with the wonderful Avendano family. Manuel and Ceci are on staff with Campus Crusade and have two fun boys, Geovanny (a VE student at Universitad Evangelical), and Andres, who is in the fifth grade. Jason has been able to hang out at Andres' school a couple of times and play soccer with all of the kids, and on Friday Andres hung out with us all day at our hotel (it's a cool place to hang out, because of the pool, jacuzzi, game room, and proximity to McDonalds). Manuel has been our driver, tour guide and translator, and Ceci is just basically amazing! I for one would love to host them in SLO for a change. How fun that would be!

We will be on campus the rest of this week and will round out the week by taking a group of kids from an orphanage to see 'Toy Story Three' in Spanish on Saturday morning. And we are still thinking ourselves hugely blessed to be here...

The Fun Stuff

We have been working hard on campus, but since classes at Matias University begin on Monday, we have had quite a bit of time up front to do some sightseeing and exploring around this beautiful country. On Wednesday, we went to the beach (Punta Roca, for all of you surfers out there), where Jason finally found a coconut tree to mess with, and Grace found a sweet little parrot friend. The sand is black here, since it's volcanic, and on our way we drove past mango trees, starfruit trees, and a rhododendron tree at least 30 feet tall (I have a rhododendron outside of my house, off the porch. It is 3 feet tall at the most - a shrub. I will blame my soil.)

Today we went to "El Boqueron" (meaning 'wide gap') National Park to see the San Salvador volcano, pictured above. Grace said it was like driving through a post card. I felt like I was on a movie set. Someone mentioned 'Jurassic Park'. Unbelievable plants, colors, bugs, birds, and then we got to the crater and were able to hike along the rim a little and look down in (it hasn't erupted since 1917, and there was no steam coming out, or rumbling, so we felt perfectly safe). The jungle here is gorgeous. On the way back down, we stopped for yet another great meal at a coffee plantation. Jamey and I decided to go native and order some typical Salvadorean fare of pupusas, yuca (it actually is a yucca root, but looks and tastes like big thick french fries), and plantains that were filled with beans and cheese, with horchata to drink. YUM.

Tomorrow we will be attending the Union Church here (an English-speaking church, where a lot of missionary families and embassy personnel go), and then we are off and running early Monday morning. We will be on both Matias campuses handing out some freshman survival kits (consisting of a soccer dvd, a flyer about Vida Estudiantil, and candy of course), raffling off a world cup soccer ball (boys) and a designer purse (girls), and just continuing to meet and talk to students. We will be helping the student leaders at Matias (about 10 or so) with their weekly meeting, and just talking to them and encouraging them, and our US students will be running a couple of weekly English clubs. In between, we will continue to explore, and enjoy, and eat, and generally feel very blessed that we get to spend our time in this amazing place!

10 new things we are learning about el salvador

1. When an elevator says "holds 10", it means 10. Try to put in, say, 13 students, 1 intern, 1 mom and 1 daughter, for example, and you will get stuck!

2. When a minivan (called a "micro" here) says it's a 10-passenger van, now that is just a suggestion. You can stuff up to 14 or so people in one of these.

3. To young Salvadorean girls, Jason Pappas in a baseball hat and sunglasses bears a striking resemblance to teen pop sensation Justin Bieber (see picture above). This could possibly be the highlight of his trip.

4. Barbecued rabbit might just be better than barbecued beef at some food festivals.

5. It is possible to find bread, juice, and peanut butter without 'ickies' (i.e. chemicals) in El Salvador, much to the delight of Grace Pappas.

6. When you run on a treadmill and impress yourself with the distance, it is good to remember that it may just be because the treadmill is calibrated in kilometers, not miles.

7. The jungle in El Salvador is amazing and beautiful (see picture above), even when wet from an afternoon thundershower.

8. Coke zero is everywhere.

9. Washing machines are not (we are spoiled).

10. The people of El Salvador are some of the most friendly, patient, and helpful people on the entire planet.

Buenos Dias de El Salvador

Hello from El Salvador! We arrived at 7:30 yesterday morning, checked into our hotel, and enjoyed our first day in the city of San Salvador, capped off with a traditional dinner of pupusas. If you aren't familiar with them, imagine a very thick corn tortilla with something in the middle, like melted cheese, beans, pork, or squash (my favorite....perhaps a new use for all of those extra zucchinis?) Today we had our students learning about the culture, as taught by Manuel, Ceci, Janet, and Selegna, the San Salvador staff team, along with Brandon, a Cal Poly alum and current stinter here. We walked to the closest Pizza Hut for dinner tonight and ran back in a downpour - evenings here remind me of the monsoon season in Arizona, when there is a quick, crazy thunderstorm about every night. Jason, Grace and Jamey headed up to the 11th-floor game room, gym and jacuzzi (I think Jason is boxing some of the boys on the Wii) while I am sitting in the lobby, writing, 'facebooking', checking email, and watching the Padres take the lead over the Diamondbacks in the fourth inning thanks to my very generous husband and MLB.com. Tomorrow being Saturday, we will be touring the countryside, going to one of the smaller villages that has a wonderful food market and arts and crafts fair every weekend. I will have my camera in hand! The above photo is one that we took at lunch today on the balcony of Shaw's restaurant (and purveyor of delicious-looking chocolate creations). Sunday we will go to church with Manuel, Ceci and family, and then we will begin going to campus on Monday. Every one of us (22 total) is doing quite well so far. Our beds are comfy, the food is wonderful and plentiful, and the people are super friendly and helpful. I will do my best to keep everyone posted on our progress and adventures over the next three weeks....hasta luego for now! Y muy buenos noches...