El Salvador

This blog will be a bit eclectic and long.  Our host home doesn’t have internet, so we’re at the mission center this morning as we await language classes this afternoon.  Thus, we’re writing as much as we can before lunch.

We arrived in El Salvador Saturday.  When Hannah and I arrived at immigration, there was a large group of American students that walked up behind us. A person from this group walked up to the desk and I noticed the giant “BAYLOR” on their shirt. Then I turned to look at the rest of the group and saw the husband to my advisor at Baylor and member of the church I went to and interned at in Waco. We chatted briefly (between talking with the immigration officer) and then left to meet with our group.  I personally took it as particularly providential.  God provided a sense of comfort through something familiar immediately upon our arrival.

            Our supervisor and a church administrator picked us up and drove us home, and there was a wreck that caused us to reroute, adding about 45 minutes to our drive.  We stayed at the Mission Center from Saturday through Monday.  The other three Duke students moved to their host homes Monday evening, and Hannah and I moved Tuesday afternoon.

We went to a church about 30 minutes away Sunday. They had a special mother’s day celebration after the service, giving mugs to all the moms present.  They also served food: something like a hotdog bun with chicken inside and veggies on the side.  Hannah, another group member, and I all got a little sick Monday, and our supervisor thought it was likely because of that food.  Hannah and I were able to wait it out, but the other group member got it pretty bad and needed some medicine. 

Church was good.  Our supervisor preached, and I actually understood large portions of what he said, but then my brain would get worn out from concentrating and I would zone out for 2-3 minute chunks.  When we were singing it was almost impossible to understand what was being said.  Hannah recognized one song because she picked up the word “luz” (light) and the tune of “At the cross at the cross where I first saw the light…”. Although, we discussed later that we didn’t recall hearing anything that sounded like cross, but perhaps there was a slight change in the lyrics.  It was definitely the tune of that song.

            We took our language school placement tests Monday.  I felt good about the amount of things I remembered, and I continued to feel this way interacting with some of the children who live at the mission center.  However, clearly my language ability (or perhaps the fact that I’m a foreigner) still gets in the way.  We tried to get cellphone minutes at a store close to the school because we finished a bit before we were supposed to, and it didn’t go well. I couldn’t understand the reasoning the store owner gave, but she basically told us she wasn’t able to help us due to the company we’re using for service. There was clearly a sign for our service provider over the store, but the reasoning she gave for not being able to help us was lost due to the speed of her speaking.  Her body-language and tone also seemed to be not too inviting, so my first thought was that we weren’t wanted. Maybe this wasn’t right to think, but it was hard to avoid.  Whatever the case, it was somewhat deflating to have my first experience with a stranger in El Salvador not end how I anticipated.

            Thankfully our host home has been much easier to navigate. They are extremely accommodating: they ask us when we want to eat, what we want to eat, and how we want it cooked.  It’s difficult to convey that we can do whatever they normally do (other than Hannah eating bread) because they just reply that they want to accommodate us.  I think because of this we’ll have to learn to be a bit more decisive about things. Our host is the church administrator. Also in her house are her mom, her aunt & cousin, and her son (who is 4).

            Yesterday (Wednesday) was our first full day at the house, and we didn’t have anything planned, so we spent a lot of time talking with our host’s mother.  She only knows a few words in English, so we had to ask her to explain a number of words, but we were able to navigate conversations in Spanish that consisted of topics such as food, differences between here and the US, what our apartment in the US is like, the fact that Hannah attracts every mosquito alive, the recent completion of their house (and what happened to their old houe), and differences between washing machines/dryers and hand washing clothes.  We also talked about the service of thanksgiving they had at their house on Tuesday night for the completion of the house and how it’s good to share with friends when God gives blessings.

            The people in El Salvador are definitely not short on hospitality.  All of our hosts in the mission center and in our host homes have been very gracious.  When you can hardly speak to anybody, such kindness makes the adjustment to a different culture a bit easier.   We’ll be sure to share stories of this hospitality in the future.