Im Home!!!!

Well, last night I got in at the airport around 9:30 pm. I got home around 11:30 pm. When I got home I noticed my mom had cleaned and repainted my room a dark blue, my favorite color. I went to school today and got some homework to do that I missed. Im gonna have to go to some tutoring sessions to get cought back up, but it won't be to hard because I only missed 5 school days. Even though I was gone more than 5 I only missed 5 because we had some days off at school here in the states.
I miss El Salvador but I am still glad to be home and with my friends here. I also miss not having to get up as early as I do here in North Carolina.
When I gave my family their gifts that I bought them in El Salvador they were thrilled.
Well I guess I am done with this blog. I hope all my viewers have enjoyed checking out my blog and seeing what I did in El Salvador. Adios!

My Ninth Day in El Salvador

Today was much the same as yesterday. Today though was a little bit different. It was different not really in a school related thing but with the students and teachers. At the end of the day I said to some of them that I knew, goodbye. It wasn't anything special, just a goodbye exchange and telling the teachers thanks for having me in your class and telling my friend Bryce thanks for helping me out. That was really the only thing different. The food was still great, we had cheese hamburgers and fries and some other good stuff.
Today after school I got home to the house we are staying at and did some homework for my school in North Carolina, or in spanish Carolina de Norte. After I did my homework my friend Bryce called and we went and played some ping pong for the last time. I owned him. Now I am going to eat dinner and enjoy my last night in El Salvador.

My Eighth Day in El Salvador

(This is a sort of side shop on the city streets of El Salvador. It sort of looks like New York with all the side shops.)
Well today I went back to Escuela Americana. I started a new class there, it was computers. The computer class was very much like our own at Jefferson Middle. Although the computers were a little bit older that ours. In spanish class today I learned some new words. They were mostly just food word, but I also learned a few others that are used in conversations.
The food today was better than ever. There was something that was cheese with bread over it, and they also had pupusas today. I tried one and boy oh boy are they delicious. So I went back and got another one. Tonight I am going to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. The two ladies that took us around on Saturday are taking us to the Chinese restaurant.
Couple of Hours Later
The food at the Chinese restaurant, called Hunan, was very good. It was not quite like the Chinese food that we have in the States but it is good all the same. I got the general tso's (zoes) chicken and spring rolls. It was all great but as I said before, not quite like the Chinese food in the States.
Tomorrow I go back to EA and it will be my last full day there, and then on Wednesday I say adios to El Salvador.

This is a El Salvadoran band playing in the center of a neighborhood park.
This is a street in a neighborhood that we went through. It is where I got my souvenirs for me and my family. You can see dogs that are super skinny because they are not feed enough, and you can see people that are extremely poor.

This is a church getting ready for a wedding.

This is an archeological dig site at a museum that I went to.
This is the fruit that chocolate is made from. M&Ms are made from this fruit as well. The fruit is called Cacao.

These are both pictures of me tye dyeing a cloth. The smell was horrible but it was pretty fun.

These are all pyramids that have not yet been looked through or excavated because the museum that owns them does not have enough money to do so.

This is the mask of the god of rain made by earlier El Salvadorans.
This is a bowl made by earlier El Salvadorans also.

This is one of the shelters at the club we went to at the beach.

My Seventh Day in El Salvador

(This is part of the beach that we went to today.)
Today I went to the beach with my friend Will, his parents, and two other ladies. We went to a club there on the beach, there at the club were these shelter type things. The club also had a couple pools and there was a monkey in a cage there too. You could order food at the club as well.
The beach that we went to was on the Pacific ocean. It was my first time at a beach on the Pacific ocean because normally I go to ones on the Atlantic. The waves were huge there, maybe about 20 or so feet high, and when they crashed against the rocks it sent up water that sometimes could be powerful enough to knock you down. The sand on the beach was made of volcanic sand, so it was all black and it hurt when walking on it because its so hot in El Salvador that it made the sand super de duper hot.
On the way back from the beach we stopped to get ice cream. It was different then in the states but just as good. I got cookies and cream, and the vanilla wasn't white, it was yellow. You could also taste the difference in the ice cream here then what its like in the states. Though the ice cream is still good, I can still taste it even as I am typing this.
Tomorrow I go back to Escuela Americana, and then I go back to EA on Tuesday and then I leave on Wednesday to go back to the states.

My Sixth Day in El Salvador

(This is the outside of one of the shops I went to)Today my grandfather and I went touring of El Salvador. We had two very nice ladies take us around and show us some very interesting things. We went to an archeological site called Indigo. There we saw some pyramids. The pyramids have not been searched though because the owners of the museum did not have enough money to cover the funds for it.
We also went to a museum where they had an archeological dig site. I took a picture of it and I will post it for you to see. While there I also did a dye activity. I made a really cool tye dye bandanna looking thing. After that we went to a town were one of the ladies father was originally from. While there I got some souvenirs for me and my family. The shops outside and inside walls were painted with animals and different colors. It was really fascinating. While there we also saw a band play some El Salvadoran music in a park.
Also we saw a church that was decorated for a wedding about to take place. I got a couple pictures of that that I will also post. Tomorrow I go to the Pacific ocean, which will be fascinating since I have only been to the Atlantic.

This is just part of the crowd at bingo.
This picture is of Bryce eating cotton candy at bingo.

My Sixth Day in El Salvador

(This is a picture of boys and girls surrounding the stage where a man is calling out the letters and numbers for bingo.) Today has been much the same as yesterday. We had all the classes for 45 min. periods. Lunch today was awesome. Guess what it was...........it was pizza! I know every one reading this is all 'Wow pizza. Thats new and exciting!'
Right now I'm pretty happy. We are pizza for dinner also, and I am about to go play bingo at the school gym and try and win a ping pong table.
Couple hours later
Well, I just got back from playing bingo with my friend Bryce. I would have won the ping pong table except I was outside when I got bingo and the person playing my card didn't go up and get it. Bingo was pretty fun anyway, there were a lot of people there too. About 700 to maybe a thousand, and thats a lot of people in one gymnasium.
Today I also learned that the president of El Salvador is Tony Saca. There are elections going on right now though so soon there will be a new president of El Salvador.

This is my friend Bryce working on a project that we are doing together for Social Studies. He is the one that I have been following around to most of his classes.

My Fith Day in El Salvador

(This is me in the school uniform before I walked to school. My friend Bryce took it for me.) Today was mostly the same as yesterday, and the day before that and so on. One thing that was different though was that the classes were all 45 minutes long instead of 60, or an hour. It was so that all the classes could fit into the days schedule. Also I learned that on Thursdays, the students have health. Another new kid came today, he is from Arizona. He came to go to school here because his father or mother, or both got a job with the American Embassy here in El Salvador.
Last night I went to a Mexican restaurant. I ordered tacos, and boy they are not the same as in America. The taco I had had chicken in it, melted cheese, pineapple and onions, and it tasted great, except for the pineapple (I don't like pineapple). One thing that is different between the restaurants here and the ones in America is that the menus here are in spanish, so I have to ask one of the people that I am with to translate for me. Right now I can't wait to see what tomorrow has in store for me!

My Fith Day in El Salvador

My Fourth Day in El Salvador

(This is part of the wall surrounding the Complejo and the garage type thing leading out of it, the garage thing is the blue doorway looking thing.) Today I have done most of the same things as yesterday.Something really wierd happened today, while I was walking to a class I saw a cat on the roof of the building!
For fun most of the students play soccer, or handball, which is a mix between soccer and basketball, they also play basketball and volleyball for fun as well. Some also go to movies with their friends on the weekends, some play paintball. The students here are not much different from the ones in America, the only difference is they speak spanish more fluently. The teachers teach most of the same stuff as they do at home. Though spanish is different and we are farther along in math. For english they are reading the Outsiders, which we have already read at home. In science they are learning something totally different from what we are learning. They are learning about chromosomes and the reproductive system and interphase, prophase, metaphase and some other things like that.
Today I also learned that pupusas, which is sort of like a tortilla, is the most famous food in El Salvador and the most liked. Pupusas are mostly made of beans and cheese. My friend, Bryce, once ate 16 of them a one after another. While on the subject of food, for lunch at Escuela American they serve french fries, hot dogs, some Chinese type noodles, pupusas, brownies, doughnuts, apples, differnt types of snacks, gatorade, apple juice, chicken sandwhiches, once they served subway, and some other good stuff.

These are houses in the neighborhood where I am staying. The neighborhood is called the Complejo.

My Third Day in El Salvador

(This is a picture of the house that I am staying at) Today I went back to Escuela Americana for school. I followed Bryce, one of my friends, around all day. I had most of the same classes. I had gym today also, but I could not do anything because I pulled my hamstring in a soccer game last Friday. The other kids though ran a couple laps first and then did some jumping. They would run and jump over a rope in a couple different ways. One kid did a front flip over the string when it was about halfway to the top, which was about 3 feet high, and landed it on is feet! Of course there was a cushion type thingy right behind the rope. Lunch today was as good as it was yesterday, if not better. Right now I can't wait for tomorrow to start.

These are some students going to their home in the Complejo and some going to a shelter type thing to be picked up by their parents.

Here are some of the students waiting for their rides home.

This is part of the cafeteria of Escuela Americana. There is more to it behind the tables, to the sides, and in front of the tables. The food that the school offers to its students and teachers is very good.

My Second Day in El Salvador

(This is the track and soccer field on the campus. And the mountain you see in the background is actually a volcano.)Today I went to Escuela Americana. I have basically been shadowing, or following around, my two friends Will and Bryce to their classes. The school is very nice. The campus grounds are beautiful and the teachers are extremely nice. Their schedule is very different from ours though. They do not have A and B days that alternate, they also do not number their periods. They give their periods letters. Their is a Day L, Day E, Day A, Day R, and a Day N, which is basically like our A & B days. Their periods our A, B, C, then they have lunch, period D, E, then a 20 minute break and then period F. That is all on Day L. Some days there is an AA period and a GSH period, and a period H. Every day it varys in what periods you will have. Also the last two days of the week have 45 minute period classes instead of 60 minute periods. Also there is only one teacher for each subject for each grade although for spanish there are two, one for each level. The levels are regular spanish and spanish spoken as a second language. Also there is a principle for elementary school, one for middle school, and one for highschool, then there is a headmaster, which is kind of like a head principle.
The students here are nice. They behave well in class, sometimes. The faculty, or teachers, are also very nice. The cafeteria is outside and is also nice, you can sit anywhere you want to during lunch. Another good thing about the school is that it does not start until 7:45. So you can do what ever you want around the school until the school day starts.

My First Day In El Salvador

(This is a picture I took when we were going down the road to where we are going to be staying. This picture is of a vendor's little shop like thing where people can pull over and buy stuff) When I came out of the airport there were tons of Salvadorans waiting for their families. My grandfather and I got in a van that had been waiting for us. It took us to EA's Complejo, where we are staying with the Skippers. On the way to the Complejo we saw some pretty interesting things. There were vendors on the side of the roads, and you could see a volcano that is not extinct. I also made friends with a couple of kids that live in the Complejo at EA. They showed me around some of the schools campus, I'll try and post some pictures of the campus tomorrow because I forgot to do so today.