In the Swing of Things

Here I am in San Salvador! Que Chivo! Sorry it has taken me awhile to upload this blog. These first 13 days have been a whirlwind of activities, emotions, delicious food and amazing new friends. I arrived about 2 weeks ago and was one of the last four to fly in. I actually had a chance to get to know two students on the flight on the way down from Houston, which made going through immigration and customs a much more enjoyable process. The two students, Steven and Ali (both from Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles), actually yelled out my name in the middle of the waiting area just as we were about to board the flight. At the time, I was talking to a student from Chapman College who would eventually make her way to Nicaragua for an internship. And because I’m not accustomed to hearing my name thrown around in public places, I knew immediately they were talking to me. After introductions and an exchange of mutual feelings of nervousness, we boarded the plane and discovered that all of our seats were in the same isle. Needless to say, we got a head start on the whole four months of bonding.

Upon our arrival to the Casa, we received warm welcomes from the other 18 students and then split up to unpack and go to bed. Casa students live in one of three houses, which are situated within about a block of one another. I’m living in Casa Ita, which is the smallest of the three houses. Along with roommates from Santa Clara University and Depaul University, two Salvadoran scholarship students, Lupita and Edith, also reside in the house. They are from the department of Chalatenango, but reside in San Salvador during the school year. We’ve had a great time laughing through misunderstood conversations, and exchanging our favorite music, jokes, stories and recipes. I have also already become very close to the other students in the program. We spent the first 8 days in orientation discussing our semester in further detail, and becoming better oriented with the Salvadoran culture, and all of the different praxis sites. We’ve also spent a lot of time hanging out with the other 20 Salvadoran becario students who live in a separate house. Every gathering is accompanied by a delicious spread of traditional food, and there are always at least two people who know how to play the guitar. This makes for a lot of singing and dancing…excellent!!!

Along with getting adjusted to consistently hot weather, simple/community living, cold showers, and washing laundry by hand, my American belly has also had quite the time trying to accommodate the foreign food. Over the weekend ¾ of the students were bed-ridden (yes, this includes me) from some food or drink we have yet to figure out. And although extremely unpleasant, we were all in it together and have fully recovered. Just in time too! Tonight is our first Pupusa night with all of the Salvadoran scholarship students in the program. Pupusas are the traditional dish of El Salvador and loved by all! There are TONS of little restaurants called pupuserias that specialize in making these stuffed tortillas. Every Thursday we get together at a neighborhood pupuseria for what I can only imagine will be great food and wonderful conversation.

And although so much of my time here has been full of wonderful and exciting moments, there have also been a number of times when I have been completely overwhelmed and unsure of how to deal with the extreme poverty that surrounds me. Even in the short amount of time I have been here, I have come to glimpse the many paradoxes that characterize life here in El Salvador. In the midst of a great deal of poverty and violence, the Salvadoran people embrace life and each other. Despite their great suffering, they retain an unimaginable amount of hope and determination for the future, leaving me more humbled and perplexed with each passing day. While I cannot wait to continue on with the semester, I am also afraid to think of what I might witness at my praxis site, and the emotions that might surface. One constant comfort is that there is a community of students and staff here who will be there to help me through the rough days.

I will give you all the juicy details on my classes and praxis site in my next entry!

Wishing you all the best!

Hasta Luego,
Chandler