Not all who wander are lost: Always an adventure

"Always an adventure". That’s what Kathy told me when I called her on the phone this morning. I got out of bed around 7am since I didn’t have to go to school until 8:15am to check if I had classes today or not. The door started buzzing and buzzing. I wasn’t for sure if I wanted to answer it or not since I was all alone. But they kept buzzing so I decided to go answer it. I was met by a group of people. Two people were selling the newspaper that I was supposed to buy for the Casa, three people were there with a receipt to get reimbursed for something, and Marvin, Cecilia’s son, was there as well. I bought the newspaper, told the group of three there wasn’t anyone here that could help them, and let Marvin inside. We went into the kitchen where he told me he didn’t have school today. There went any doubts that classes were being held today. He smiled when I told him there were no adults as the house, just us kids. Since it was only him and me at the house I decided to call Kathy, who was in San Salvador, to let her know what was going on. She said she’d call Idalia to come to the house. Idalia must have been on her way because a few minutes later the door buzzed again. There was Idalia, Blanca, and the group of three people. The ladies were able to help the people with what they needed.

I sat down to breakfast and to read the newspaper. A few minutes later I dumped my entire cup of tea down my shirt and pants. Not a problem. I was planning to do some laundry today. I spent the better part of an hour doing laundry. I didn’t have a ton to do, it just takes a while. First you put some pre-rinse stuff in a bucket with water for about 10 minutes. Then each piece of clothing/towels/bedding is washed separately. You soap each piece, scrub, and then rinse using small buckets of water. Line dry to finish.

Idalia left a couple times to go to the market this morning. Each time she was sure to tell me to be careful when she was gone. The ladies are pretty protective of us and are always looking out for us. It’s like having a bunch of fun, older sisters. She made a delicious lunch today: torta de huevo she called it. It was basically a tasty omelet with cheese, green chiles, onion, and tomato. I snarfed it down with a couple tortillas and some avocado. After lunch I set out to get some candy for the kids at school. I’m using the candy to teach the kids colors. Plus I thought they needed a little treat for doing so well in class. On my way to the market I saw two little boys walking a tiny husky puppy on a leash. It was so cute!! Seeing dogs as pets and going for walks is not very common here. I’ve seen probably a hundred dogs and only two that were on leashes. There is a difference between a chucho (street dog) and a perro (pet dog).

I worked on some lesson planning this afternoon. I’ve also spent quite a bit of time today reading a book Kathy loaned me called, “From Grandmother to Granddaughter: Salvadoran Women’s Stories”. It’s a wonderful book about three generations of women in three families of different social classes. I laid in the hammock and read but did not fall asleep. I also found a little niche up above the chapel at the Casa to read. I read there for a while until dinner. After dinner Kathy and I chatted for a while until it became obvious we were both tired and had lost access to our short term memory.

I was thinking about yesterday’s blog and I realized I should probably explain that there is more fruit here than I let on. There is often watermelon and cantaloupe here to eat. It looks and smells absolutely delicious. I didn’t think to mention that when I wrote about not eating a ton of fruit. I don’t eat the cantaloupe or watermelon because I’m slightly allergic to it. It’s not a full blown food allergy and I would probably be okay eating it. My allergist explained that it was called oral allergy syndrome (OAS), which is when my body confuses the proteins in certain foods for the proteins in ragweed and pollen. It’s like having an allergic reaction to a cat or dog, only inside my throat and sometimes my lips.

I’ve tried to be more careful lately because of a bit of a scare back in September with snow peas. I was hungry for a midnight snack and thinking I’d be healthy I choose some snow peas. Never having had an allergic reaction to snow peas I was surprised when my throat swelled. It was a little worse than usual and I got a bit panicky. Having almost gone into anaphylactic shock before I knew the symptoms and realized my reaction to the snow peas was not that serious. Plus OAS rarely results in anaphylaxis. Just in case I went to the doctor and she prescribed me an Epi-pen. And yes mom, I do have my Epi-pen with me. Plus Kathy said I was not allowed to die on her watch so everything should be fine. That was probably way more than you wanted to know but I hope it was somewhat interesting.

Carpe diem! Rejoice while you are alive; enjoy the day; live life to the fullest; make the most of what you have. It is later than you think.
~Horace (Ancient Roman Poet)