Week 6

This past weekend I had the opportunity to just hang out and catch up on homework. Well, that was the plan anyway. Given a free weekend, I thought I would have no problem just taking it easy and getting a lot of rest. But the shenanigans started on Friday night when we decided to go out dancing. We arrived at la discoteca around 9:30 and the dance floor was completely empty (we got there a little early, oops!). Luckily this didn’t phase a single one of us (we’ve gotten very accustomed to frequent stares and strange looks). Once about 11 o’clock hit, gringo hour came to a halt as the place filled up with tons of people. As the Salvadorans approached the dance floor, we felt a little less than adequate and retreated to our booth. But after a brief rest, we mustered the courage to get back out there and proudly display our awkwardness. After about another hour of dancing, we packed up and joined the crowd for karaoke!

The rest of the weekend was filled with many attempts to write papers and read for my classes, but somehow I always found myself doing something else. For some reason, trips to the botanical gardens and cooking lessons from the Becarios intrigued me more than the thought of writing a paper on the Existential Imperative ;). But my time in the sun quickly ended on Sunday night when I realized just how much I had to do for the coming week. I had a little more than a few late nights and early mornings this week…bummer. It’s hard to figure out time to get homework done down here because I’m either completely exhausted after Praxis or busy with other activities. We’re all trying to figure out a balance between course work and the other parts of the program. Here’s what a typical week looks like for me:

Monday:

7:30a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Praxis site
5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Weekly program meeting
6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Praxis Class

Tuesday:

10:00 a.m. – 12:30 a.m. Spanish Conversation Class (at the UCA)
1:00 p.m. Lunch back at Casa Ita
2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Sociology of Public Communication in El Salvador (UCA)
6:00 p.m. Dinner!!
7:00 p.m. House cleaning
8:00 p.m. Spirituality night (optional)

Wednesday

7:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Praxis site
6:30 p.m. Dinner!!!

Thursday

10:00 a.m. – 1:10 Philosophy of Suffering and Solidarity (UCA)
1:30 p.m. lunch at casa Ita
6:30 p.m Pupusa night with the Romero Program
8:00 p.m. - Community night

Friday

8 a.m. – 11 a.m. Liberation Theology (UCA)
12:30 p.m. Lunch!!!

(I love Fridays)

So my week is pretty structured, and I often find this to be a bit overwhelming. It’s really important for me to have down time, so I’m trying to figure out a way to make sure I fit in naps and yoga. Some weeks it’s just not feasible for me to do everything, and I’m learning to be okay with this. And although the classes are turning out to be a lot of work, each one is helping me process all of my other experiences. Every course relates closely with an important aspect of the Salvadoran culture, which is helping me connect theory with application in a real-world setting. And this is really helpful when I’m trying to integrate and process everything.

Tomorrow we leave at 7 a.m. for a weekend trip to El Mozote, the site of the 1981 massacre. We will be there all weekend and return on Sunday night. I hope to have a lot to write about when I return.

Wishing everyone the best!

Chanita

P.S. I promise to get a slideshow of pictures up soon!!!