Mumble Jumble Peru Mumble Jumble

Geoff and I are counting down the days until we go to Peru! We are supposed to be hiking and camping for 5 days / 4 nights and ending up at Machu Picchu. I am excited!!! :) I am a little nervous about the whole altitude thing, since we won't have a lot of time to spend in Cuzco before embarking on the hike. (The timing just doesn't work out that well, even though we know that it is recommended to arrive early in Cuzco to let your body adjust to the altitude before climbing to higher grounds.) But, we'll see how it goes!

This past weekend, we went down to Costa del Sol, which is a ritzy beach area where the rich and the powerful Salvadoreans bring their families on the weekends (to stay at their luxurious villas). It was Geoff's and my first time down there, so we drove around for a while before we found Hotel Bahia del Sol, which we had read mixed reviews of. It turns out that they only offer all-inclusive deals ($69 per person per night, which is pretty pricey by Salvadorean standards), but since we had never done something like this before, Geoff and I decided to spring for it!

As you might imagine, we had a really lovely time. :) We actually didn't spend much time in the ocean this time, but we did lie under the coconut trees on the warm sand for a while. The rain managed to hold off for the most part -- it drizzled a good amount during the evening that we stayed there, but not enough to spoil our spirits. The rest of the time, we dipped in their lovely pool (it was shaped like a circular river, and even ran underneath a bridge at parts) and relaxed. Geoff also drank like a fish, because he felt the need to get both of our money's worth. :) So, it was amazing! Definitely a do-over at some point, maybe with more people next time.

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After our trip to Peru, things will definitely pick up their pace! The new hires will arrive, and the year will start to glide into gear... If I can get myself motivated, I'll try to work my way through some Geometry researching / planning this week, while I still have time to myself.

Also, I am back on the yoga bandwagon.* My goal for this week is to be able to consistently hold my headstand for 1 minute, so that I can start working towards 2 minutes! :)

*My yoga teacher is officially on maternity leave! She hasn't actually delivered her baby yet, but she's putting off yoga instruction for now. I am sad and relieved at the same time. Up until a few weeks ago, she was still doing some demonstrations and spotting people on their scorpions, etc. Some of the girls in the class were more scared of accidentally kicking her than they were of falling!

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I remembered this morning a story my mom had told me about how poor the people were in Taiwan when she was growing up. Only when they had guests over, would her mom send her down to the store to buy one egg. They would stir-fry the (one) egg for the guest, and all the kids would stand by enviously as they watched the guest eat. They also bought cooking oil by the scoop. It wasn't until she was much older -- maybe high school? -- that eggs were sold by the dozen, and oil by liter-containers.

I've been thinking about writing down some of these stories, because I am very forgetful and, at some point, they will be lost from our family. You might read about some of them here, as I feel randomly inspired to transcribe them.

May (through October) showers

It is cold and damp here in San Salvador; I actually feel as though I'd have to break out the jackets soon! The dreadful rainy season is here to stay, all the way through October or so. It is making me jealous that everyone in the States is bathing in sunshine, even though I recognize the irony that I am the one who never has to deal with walking through snow to get to work.

With the end of the year quickly approaching, our twice-weekly Spanish classes are wrapping up as well -- y eso es muy triste. I love our current teacher, and I feel like I learn a great deal in her class; we even went out and got her chocolates to thank her for teaching us! Even though I will definitely keep working on my Spanish, we probably won't luck out the same way next year in getting another super structured, systematic instructor. Entonces, hoy mi clase de espanol fue a la casa de Kristin para celebrar el fin del ano con vino y brownies. Fue muy divertido! Hablamos por casi dos horas antes de la hora nos occurio.

On the personal end of things, I am feeling complacent. Work has zapped me of all my energy for personal pursuits in recent weeks; I haven't even finished a book in three weeks. The only thing I am actively working on is learning to do a headstand. (I anticipate this to take me a long time, since I have a horrible sense of balance, but I do intend on practicing daily until I get it.) I love my yoga class, and I really think that both my flexibility and core strength have improved significantly in the few months since I joined the class. This summer, my goal is to work on my personal yoga practice, so that I am not always so reliant on going to my yoga class to get things done!

And, I am excited about going to LA and Shanghai so soon to visit the fam!! Of course, I'll have to stuff my suitcase with books, TV downloads, and my yoga mat on the way there, but I do expect to come back with an extra suitcase full of American goodies! :) (Things we can't get very easily here or are very expensive: contact lens solution, sour patch kids, Neutrogena face wash, condoms, good beers...) --And, who knows? I might get to swing-dance in Shanghai! :)

Rejuvenating Weeks

The last two weeks have been pretty amazing. For one, work has been extremely productive. The Measurement Unit I had envisioned for Geometry has been in full swing, and the kids' progress in understanding length, volume, and (2-D and 3-D) conversions is staggering and extremely rewarding. Not to mention it has been a lot of fun to give the 9th-graders a chance to work on all kinds of hands-on math problems! :)

The other beautiful thing about the last two weeks is that I have started going to a yoga class, held in a very intimate setting -- the home of our great yoga instructor! I had never had much of a motivation to do yoga back in the States (it seemed too much like a fad to me), but now with swing dancing being out of the picture for so long, I find that I really need something else to keep me active and energized. Salsa is totally fun, but I don't always work up a sweat, for some reason. My friend Colleen had told me about this yoga class she had started going to regularly, taught by a teacher I had taken a one-off yoga class from once. Last week, I tagged along with her finally, and it felt so amazing physically that I've decided to make a regular effort to attend the class.

So, between yoga, salsa lessons, and Spanish classes, life has been busy outside of school the last two weeks, and beautifully so. :) I'm also slowly reading my way through a pretty good book, The Geographer's Library. (Ever since I've come back from Christmas vacation, I'm finding time to do recreational reading again. Any suggestions? It can't really be current best-sellers, since I check them out from the school's library, which is delayed in its ordering of the best and the latest.)

Anyway, the next big thing: BELIZE!!!

Portezuelo Coffee Finca

Holly, who works at our school as a community-service coordinator, also is experienced working in eco-tourism (which is a buzzword for sustainable tourism, for those of you who are un-hip like me). She organized a trip this weekend up to a coffee finca (farm) up in the mountains, about an hour drive away from the Guatemalan border, and happily I went along.

It was fantastic! We got there in the afternoon, and it was pretty rainy. Everyone was a good sport, so we all huddled indoors and drank hot chocolates and coffees to keep warm. Our hosts at the farm came out to greet us, and they talked about the history of the farm, as well as their motivation for running a part-time eco-tourism business to help supplement their income. They have horses, mountain bikes, hiking trails, and even a few neat ropes courses on the farm! Not to mention delicious food and amazing hospitality. (They had even arranged for us to roast marshmellows at night. Mmmm marshmellows for gringos...) :) There is also a charming remnant of a church where the young couple had gotten married 10 years ago; the actual church collapsed a few years after their wedding, in an earthquake, so now it's just a beautiful empty courtyard, with a wall where the chapel used to stand. Because they had wanted to explore the possibility of offering yoga (and other therapeutic activities) on site, they had asked a yoga teacher to come from San Salvador to stay for the night at the finca. Early the next day, at around 7am, five of us girls rose early to do yoga with Visel the yoga teacher in the chapel courtyard. I'm not really a yoga person, but doing yoga outdoors on a Sunday is such a beautiful feeling! She said that she is down at El Tunco on some weekends, so I might have to look her up so I can check out her morning yoga class on the beach!!

Anyway, after breakfast, since we didn't have a ton of time (it's Sunday, and we teachers had to get back to the city to do work before the day ends), we all got to choose just one activity out of the many things to do at the farm. I had originally planned on going horseback-riding (because I had only done it once in college, and it had been so much fun), but I last-minute changed my mind and decided to go on a hike to the geiser instead. Either way, I had figured I couldn't lose, and visiting the geiser seemed more like a once-in-a-lifetime sort of thing. It was a surprisingly leisurely hike down to the geiser, actually. The floor was muddy and slippery from the rain, but otherwise the trail was fairly well-maintained and the terrain was pretty easy to traverse. The actual geiser itself was amazing! When asked how hot the water is in temperature, the guide said, "Demaciado!" and then quickly explained that it's hotter than water that is boiling over fire. You could see the steam and smell the sulfur (sulfre) from even a short distance away. The Earth Science teacher in me swooned obligatorily. :)

This weekend was fantastic, but I missed Geoff a lot. We'll have to go back there together sometime, because I'm sure he would want to check it out, and also because I'd like to check out their horses! (The ladies who went horseback-riding said they went from one hill across to another hill before they finally turned around. Sounds incredible!!)

Yay eco-tourism!