OUR DAYS START AT 5:30 here in El Salvador. On monday, wednesday and Friday we go to the local school. Treava does kindergarten, Noelle, Vienna and Chris go to spanish for two hours. THEN noelle, Vienna, chris and I teach english for two hours. IT IS SO MUCH FUn ! The caps button here goes on and off so forgive the capitalized verus non capital. THIS WEEKEND is a huge festival. They asked Treava to be the princess of San pedro for her classroom. It was a hard choice for me as to say no would have offended them yet I hate how the white woman, child are given more value here. In San salvador there are ads and bullentin boards everywhere often posted with a white blond woman and a latin man and white children. It seems to bother me more than the locals as noone shows antamosity towards us.
Treava had a friend come over to our house the other day. her name is Valeria. I went to her house and am in continue awe at what these women do to care for their families. HER MOM HAS 5 KIDS AND IS EXPECTING HER SIXTH IN november. SHE RUNS A SMALL STORE, WHICH ALMOST EVERYONE DOES to increase income, a pupusaria and tortilla stand. Making pupusas is often done over a wood fire and takes lots of time.
First one must get the corn cobs, husk and dehaul it. THEN YOU HAVE TO WALK A MILE OR MORE TO HAVE IT GROUND OR GRIND IT YOURSELF WHICH CAN TAKE HOURS. then you must collect the wood, build the fire and mix up the tortillas mix. somewhere in there you would have made frijoles. Each pupupsa takes about 2 minutes to make 5 minutes to cook. THEY Sell them for a quarter each. I can eat two.
We are sowly getting into a grove and have made many new friends. Vienna is most verbal about being homesick. She Usally has lots of highs each day yet her low is always missing home, scheyanna and friends. NOELLE seems to enjoy the slower pace of life, drawing, painting, reading and playinf soccer. She ocassinally speaks of missing home. THOUGH SHE DOES SAY SHE STILL DOES NOT FEEL SAFE HERE. FEEELS AS THOUGH SHE IS ALWAYS ON GUARD. FOR ME THIS HAS LESSENED YET ONCE IT GETS DARK i FEEL THE SAME. treava misses scheyschey yet loves her friends at school and all the attention she gets.
I miss running water and the easy life we have in alaska--washing machine, dish washer. I love the weather and the rich spirit of the people. chris has been sick so heisn´t in an enjoying mood. Lisa

Sept 17, 2005
Wow, wow, wow. What an incrediable journey we have had so far. San Pedro is a little town. We live one block from the centro of the community. The streets are cobblestone and fill up with litter as the day goes on. Each day they have street cleaners who come to clean them. Common custom is when done with it drop it. We look hard for trash cans.
The people are the heart and soul of the country for us. Their welcoming of us has been overwhelming with generousity and help. ROLANDO THE PEACE CORP DIRECTOR HAS introduced us into the community in royal fashion. We are treated as royalty by everyone which is a bit much to take. TREAVA ATTRACTS A LOT OF ATTENTION BECAUSE SHE IS SO LINDA, BONITA! I believe it is her blond hair that attracts everyone. Noelle and Vienna also attract attention because of their linda but people are not as outspoken about them. Culturely they seem fine to vocalize about Treava yet understand that with the older two it is better to say only after a friendship is established. We have visited the schools, old folks home and clinic and will begin to volunteer on Wednesday.
THE ADJUSTMENTS ARE MANY. The food is very different. For the first 5 days we had no way to cook so we ate out each day. After being at the market Noelle, Treava, Vienna and I became instant vegetarians. THE MEAT IS ALL OUT OFTEN NOT ON ICE AND WITH MANY FLIES. OR YOU CAN BUY YOUR OWN CHICHEN OR DUCK AND TAKE IT HOME AND KILL IT. if we get hungry enough we will do this. Pupusas have been our mainstay with frijoles soup and tortillas as another.
cooking and living are time consuming here. TO SANTIZE THINGS THEN COOK AND CLEAN UP IT CAN TAKE HOURS WHERE AT HOME IT MAY HAVE TAKEN 30 MINUTES. mOST PEOPLE HERE DO NOT COOK. tHEY EXIST AS A COMMUNITY . tHERE IS THE TAMALE WOMAN , PUPUsas woman, the soupa woman and they deliver to your house. A pupusas dinner for our family may cost us$2.50. I can't cook for that. Washing clothes is done by hand. What an incrediablr feat it is. hard yet is to dry the clothes in the humid environment. It may take 4 or 5 days.
The kids have been great for the most part. The lack of cleanliness was a huge obstacle to overcome. It´s amazing what a week can do to desensitize a person.
LOVE LISA
Hello every one! (its noelle) I miss you all so much! On saturday we played soccer and there is this one realy REALY good kid named pablo, he is my age, and he goes to a all Soccer school where thery practice every day for 2-3 hours. there soccer feilds are very differint, but realy nice to play on.

Missing you all

noelle

hey evey one i miss yu all el savodor is okay but the way they treat the animals is so so sad they kick and hit there dogs and they dont even feed them now i understand wy karla dosent like dogs we might get a dog but that would be so hard because we would have to leave it with some one that we didint no how they would treat it but we might be able to bring it home wit us i miss you all,vienna

Chris:

We noticed that we have a slight drainage problem during a recent thunderstorm as water streamed directly through our kitchen and down into the garden. We must talk to the neighbors about this situation !

My biggest adventure thus far occured last weekend when twenty of us loaded into the back of a small nissan pickup and headed to the beach for a basketball game against the local rivals. We ended up winning the game by about ten points after sweating about 3 bottles of water. Afterwards we drove the beach for a dip into the pacific.

The return trip to San Pedro was a bit on the wet side as the rain started falling just as soon as we left the Costa el Sol.

We are having a grand adventure thus far and having a great experience!

Los Angels is Hot

We arrived in La at 7:05 after many long days of packing and a flight that went on forever. We weighed in at 525 lbs of gear at Anchorage. The Alaska airline clerk was exceptional and let us slide on the extra 25lbs.
We were greeted by 103 degree weather in LA. Spent the morning at Manhatten Beach and then on to a family reunion. Manhatten beach was full of activity. There were surfers, boogie boaders, soccer, volleyball, running, biking, fishing, swimming and sunbathing. Ellen told us the ocean is very polluted here and that Manhatten Beach is said to be the fittest area in the US. We see why with all these activities. It is great to spend time with our cousins here in LA.
Thanks to all of you who helped make our journey possible and for pitching in.