Where I've Been and Where I Am

I have posted a slide show of new pictures. As promised, I posted pictures from the Shicali Ceramic Workshop. I re-visited the place to see the ceramic-making process in progress and to order customized coffee “tazas” (mugs) for the two ladies I have lived with while in Language School. Also, in the “links” section to the right, I have posted a link to an article about rights for people with disabilities in El Salvador because many of you expressed interest in my last post about people with disabilities. Thanks for your interest, and thanks Stephanie Nodine, for sending me this link!

OK, now for an update: I finished language school on Friday, and many here and from home have asked me how it feels to be finished with language school. I feel a lot of things. First, I know that at CIS, I learned an excellent foundation for the Spanish language. I learned grammar, sentence structures, new vocabulary, etc. With this foundation, I will continue to practice, practice, practice. I also know that at times, I get pretty frustrated with not knowing, for example, last Friday when friends were talking really fast about the president and I really wanted to contribute but didn’t have the confidence to interject with my slow and thought-intensive Spanish. On the other hand, I love the feeling when I express myself (even complicated things) really well; for example, on Saturday night when I talked to a guy for about 2 and a half hours about intricacies of his experiences as a 12-year-old guerrilla during the war, about his role as a pastor, and about his desire to move to the US. I also know that I learned a lot about the history, politics, economy, human rights abuses, and other current situations of El Salvador while at CIS. This was not only good for me personally because I love history and current events, but also it informs the work that I am beginning to do now. Another aspect of my time at language school that was important was that I got to know people and the city of San Salvador at least reasonably well. I made friends (both Salvadorans, foreigners who like me are here for a long while, and foreigners who are only traveling through) and others have commented that for only having been in the city for a while, I know it pretty well. This comes in handy, for example, when I want to go to take a group to a concert in such-and-such park, or as is the case now, I need to buy a bed, desk, closet, mattress, etc for my room in the house where I will be moving.

Right now, I am having the opportunity (because I am presently and temporarily living in a bedroom in the back of the FUNDAHMER office) to really appreciate the experience I had living with the family of Elba and Nena during language school. Although I moved to this different location on Monday, yesterday (Tuesday), my host family gave me a despidido (good-bye party) at Little Ceasars. Pizza at Little Ceasars and then ice cream at Burger King. The most important point is that my time in their home was a really warm and welcoming opportunity to “find my feet” in this new place, and for that I was blessed.

Becuase I said I am not at language school anymore, you must be wondering what and where and how I am doing. I traveled outside the city a little this past weekend, (more about that in a later post—and see the photos from “Visit to Perquin and El Mazote”), moved to the office of FUNDAHMER on Monday, and yesterday (Tuesday) was my first day working with the organization. Much like learning Spanish is an exercise of my patience with myself when its not possible to learn it all in a matter of weeks, so has my experience here at the office been an exercise of patience. Patience with the people I work with to have time to meet with me in their very busy schedules as the calendar year wraps up. Patience with myself to not expect to do too much right away. So far, I have met a lot of the people I will be working with, have read about the history, mission, and current work of FUNDAHMER, and had some “free time” to answer emails, work on this blog, and study Spanish. I’m always challenged and inspired when I read or hear about people who against difficult odds (like a civil war, oppressive government, poverty, opposition, etc) have nevertheless retained hope that a better world, a better El Salvador, and a better life is possible and spent their energy working towards that end. FUNDAHMER was formed to, and currently works to, support Christian base communities that recognize social, economic, political, and eclesial realities, and are working to better function as communities (the most basic meaning of church) to respond with transformative hope to their realities.