Things That Go Bump in the Night

It was a dark and stormy night...but seriously though, as cliché as it may sound, it was pretty dark and stormy the other night...I'm talkin about axe murderer friendly type weather here! Anyway, so here I was in my house, all nice and cozy in my hammock and getting ready to watch the opening season of Heroes, which by the way took me about 2 hours to download. Oh, and yes it was worth it! I'm actually downloading new episodes of The Office as I type. Anyway, so I'm in my hammock and it's raining vacas and caballos outside...I have about three leaks in my roof, which are loud enough to keep any Abdullah (or person with selective hearing) awake. So I start watching the show. About 5 minutes into the show, the power goes out. Luckily for me, my laptop was fully charged...so the power outage really didn't bother me too much...at least not at first. Within minutes, my laptop becomes an open flame to all flying creatures. I was a little annoyed, but I kept watching my show anyway. I guess I could have easily migrated over to my mosquito-netted bed, but I was way too comfortable to move. About an hour into the show, I start hearing some familiar noises...squeaks, chirps, and ribbets to be exact. Normally, these sounds don’t faze me; however, they were a little different that night…in fact, they were significantly louder and closer than I liked them to be. Even with all the leaks, bugs, and well orchestrated jungle music, I still remained adamant about staying put and completing my show...which is exactly what I did. I'm sure you'd do the same, right? Alright so there I was, glued to my laptop, and all of sudden this giant frog jumps into my hammock! I frickin' flip out! About a few minutes later, the power turns back on and I discover bats flying over my head. Thinking that the situation couldn't get any worse, I go to the kitchen to grab a broom and find about a thousand ants attacking a nearly dead scorpion. oh, and I'm not gonna lie...it was kinda cool to watch! Now, the only thing missing from this picture was a chicken eating my Top Ramen. Yes, it happened before and if it happened again...'Pollo' would have become the new main course of the week! Anyway, so about a can of Raid later, I was able to play hero and reclaim my house...yeah, whatever that means LoL

My New Crib in El Divisadero, Morazan!

I moved into my new site yesterday...or, I guess you can say my new house. I´m renting a 3 bedroom house (for $25 a month!) that lies about 100 ft. from the main highway. I live within a 5 minute walking distance to the nearby pueblo (town). It´s a pretty tranquilo (chill) spot...there´s a ciber cafe, a hardware store, other small tiendas/chill spots, a sweet futbol field, and a beautiful church. My house came partially furnished with a hammack, bed, table, and 2 chairs. There´s still quite a few things that I still need...such as a fridge and stove. Fortunately, Peace Corps gave us about $750 each for our first month, which gives me some budget to work with. All in all, I´m pretty excited to make my house into a home and to start working in my community! ojala (inshaAllah) =)

My Site Assignment!

I'm the yellow start on the far right, middle part of the map.

10 Benches, 6 Peace Corps Trainees, 1 Tarantula, & A Whole Lot of Fun!

I probably should have added the 7 painful blisters that I inherited during this past, eventful weekend...but I guess it´s always best to start out with something positive, right? lol. aite so I, along with 5 other PCTs, joined a youth group in making bamboo benches for our community´s playground (aka ¨La Cancha¨). It was definitely a fun and interesting experience, one that I´m excited to share with you all. So go ahead and enjoy these videos...and don´t be afraid to pick my brain and share your thoughts. peace ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khOj4myOPbs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5uDJjYOwxo

La Prosseción de Santo Domingo

Here´s a video I made during Santo Domingo, a religious festival here in San Vicente, E.S. It was a pretty wild day! There were people dressed up in all sorts of costumes...there were even cross-dressers in the mix. Anyway, enjoy the video! =)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5BjvC9WERY

Tour de San Isidros

Here are a couple of videos I took of my host-community in San Isidros, San Vicente. Enjoy! =)

Part 1 or 2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eOHbCutWpI
Part 2 of 2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh-2Kzuoqds

Hola!

Alright, so it's been about 2 weeks since I've arrived in El Salvador and I'm loving every minute of it! Yes it's HELLA hot, but the people and food make up for that. My host family is super nice too. I live with a mother and father and their two beautiful kids. I'm in San Salvador today and plan on buying a couple of birthday presents for my host dad and brother. Oh, did I mention that birthdays are pretty big here? yeah, just imagine a low scale wedding lol. it's pretty awesome. Hasta luego