Lots of Learning and Birthday Shenanigans

So it is still my birthday as I write this in El Salvador! And I must say that I have had a great day! Thank you to all of my friends here in ES for making it so special. The day began with “Happy Birthdays” from my professor and Kayla who was super excited! My prof and I left early for a trip into San Rafael Oriente to attend the morning portion of a training session for teens at the Instituto (or high school) for a literacy project that they have here. Our cab driver friend here in town also wished me happy birthday on the way! The Ministry of Education has provided funding to areas around the country to promote literacy among the adult population. Teens and young adults are trained as instructors and serve as leaders in the community and teachers to the older population. This is a really great project and is one of the possible future collaborations for DGH and future fellows! I sat in the front of a classroom at the Institute. A lady by the name of Flor is in charge of the program and introduced me and also told the teens not to bother me when she left the room. One of the guys beside me and I chatted during our down time and I watched, amusingly, as he nodded and winked at multiple girls as they walked by our classroom causing them to blush or flip their hair. Oh high school…I swear it never changes. During one of the breaks my friend Carolina (who we practice English with on weekends) came over to say hello. She was telling another girl bout Kayla and I and mentioned that I was 25. So I told her I was 26 today and this turned into multiple hugs by people and Flor calling me up in front of the class to sing to me. It was so sweet, though the expressions on the kids’ faces were priceless with their “who is this girl and why are we singing to her looks.” A few hours into the training Prof and I had to leave to go to a meeting in San Miguel. There we spoke with an OB-GYN and received a tour of the maternity ward and labor and delivery. It was so interesting. Though among the 5000 births in the hospital in 2010, 100 were from girls 10-14 years in age!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW and that number has increased from 23 in 2007. El Salvador has a high teenage pregnancy rate overall.

(So now its Wednesday) The meeting was great and I was enjoying my day so far but something about being in a foreign country on your birthday when your phone is not working and you do not have internet access to see the birthday love in electronic form was making me kind of sad. I had not spoken with anyone in my family in weeks because of the phone issue and I really wanted to. I decided to try my phone in San Miguel and it worked!!!! I got to talk to my Dad for 15 minutes or so and it made me so happy!!! It was a reconnection to home! From there the day got even better. So Kayla went to pick up Jerry as I said and they came back around 4:30 bearing gifts!!! I had asked Jerry to bring me peanut butter which he did and wrapped in bday paper and they also bought 4 chocolate bars! YUM They were in all flavors and are king size! I kept trying to share them with everyone because here I have little self-control as I eat nothing bad ever! So we will see how long they last! And then Doris and David came over with a beautiful cake they bought in El Transito! It was so sweet. I almost ruined the surprise of the cake by peeking my head around the corner but I saw nothing! We all sat around the table eating cake, chocolate, and mangos and drinking wine. Sibia, Hember, Fredhy, Chevo, and Antonio also enjoyed the cake and wished me well! Kayla bought me my own baby bottle which was so yummy! This year like last, my birthday left me feeling so happy and loved.

And then I went to San Salvador… where I checked my email and found some of the nicest emails and facebook posts and my birthday celebration got even better! Did I mention that Friday was Day 2 of my 4 day celebration???? You know how I do it! Friday night we went out with the girls to my favorite Taqueria ever and had tacos. Then we went to the disco and had some drinks and danced for a while which was awesome!!! Day 3 celebration began early with a venti Starbucks coffee and a 3 way phone call with my Dad, Maria, & T and Bee!!!! It was lovely! It continued with a shopping trip, a dinner out with the girls, VIP section at a free bar, and then dancing!! We ran into the guys from our last visit to San Salv at the disco and they mentioned to Marce how we never stop dancing. Haha um yep it’s what we do; once at the dicso its dance time! Day 4 was full of a day at the beach!!!! I mean can you say perfect birthday? Karla and Marce and 3 of their friends took us to Playa Tunco where I tried a Seafood Coctel at lunch with this awesome coconut smoothie. Then we had play time at the beach (Playa Teatro I think) until we headed back to take Jerry for some Sunday night papusas at my fave Papuseria Lily! I had hot chocolate and papusas= amazing! One couple we were hanging out with wanted to hang out with us more whenever we returned to the city. Yay more friends! They we so funny and cute together! They had awesome Central American travel tips as well! Basically it was the perfect weekend. As we were leaving on Monday, I was again reminded of the generosity of the people we know here. Leonel allows us to stay at his home in San Salvador when we visit, but his cousin (the girls’ dad) is watching his home. So Jorge comes to collect the key from us and offers to take us to a cab closer to the bus station. On the way, we tell him we want to go to Guatemala this weekend (since our Panama trip did not work out…sad) and he takes us to the Sheraton to buy tickets on a reputable bus line. As we are leaving he tells us amidst our million thanks that we are like his family and that we have a family here in San Salv and that they will miss us so much when we are gone. I feel so lucky to have met such warm and welcoming people and feel the same way about them. I truly hope that I can repay this generosity to them or their friends when they come to DC in the future!

Now I know all I have talked about are my 4 days of fun but I must say that these last few weeks here have been full of hard work and long days! We have had meetings with principles, directors, doctors, nurses, and health promoters in an attempt to find a potential program for the future. We have also finished visiting the community here. Kayla, Jerry, and I returned to the farm on Monday afternoon for the last time and I began to get sad. I have really bonded with so many of the people here and will miss them all so much. I realize that in addition to the people here I will miss the farm and the dogs and all the loud noises that have become a part of my home in this foreign land. I am glad that we have been so busy with work and interviews that I have not had much time to think about saying goodbye.

We have been without electricity at the farm for 2 days so I will write more later on the end of this experience. For now I will give the gifts we purchased to the people we have become friends with and begin packing my 1 backpack for the adventures ahead!

Thank you again to all of you who made my birthday wonderful!!! Bee and Papa, the care package was the BEST!!! Thank you so much:)

Love to all,

Coley