Arrival

Today has been a very interesting and encouraging start to my journey in El Salvador. The main component of the day has been meeting Alicia's students and reconnecting with friends in the Casa program. My first encounter with a friendly Salvadoran took place on my flight from Houston to San Salvador. The woman I met, Claudia, had a most unusual way of beginning our conversation.
I had not even made it to my seat yet, in fact I think I was just finishing stowing my laptop case away in the overhead compartment, when the woman sitting in my row asked me quite innocently, "Why are you going to El Salvador?" I realized that in any other context I might be more inclined to take offense at such an apparently pointed question from a stranger, but for some reason the circumstances of the day (namely, me going to El Salvador on very little sleep and very much anticipation) indicated that this was an appropriate greeting.
I ended up having a very nice conversation with Claudia who as it turns out was returning to El Salvador to visit her parents after being away working in the states for the last 5 years.

After arriving on the ground in El Salvador I had another interesting interaction with the immigration officer. Now from past experience in El Salvador I know that immigration can be tough because it is not always pleasing to Salvadorans to know that Americans are coming to their country with pseudo-political ends and ideals. I was well aware as I approached the "Delegato" that I would not mention peace, or community centers, or anything like that, but I guess I had not quite chosen my story. I ended up saying, as he looked over my passport, "Usted puede regelarme lo normal- los noventa dias por favor?" I asked for a 90-day visa since that would give me the most time in El Salvador before having to renew my visa eventually by traveling out of the country. The officer asked me my reason for being in El Salvador and I told him turismo. He then asked "porque quieres noventa dias?" I think it was a combination of my winning smile and my honesty when I responded, "porque tengo muchos amigos a visitar y a mi me encanta El Salvador" (because I have many friends to visit and I love El Salvador) that convinced the officer, who then adopted an amiable smile, to just let me through.
Later on upon relating this funny exchange to my taxi-driving friend Salvador he informed me that there have indeed been some conflicts and controversies at immigration, espeically during times of political fervour, so it was lucky I happened upon a nice officer at the airport.

Well the first thing I did when I arrived to the Casa was eat lunch- mashed potatoes (pure de papas) and chicken lasagna to be exact (no not "mashed potatoes and chicken lasagna", two separate foods, but mashed potatoes n' chicken lasagna, one food, think about it...). That was delicious. I then hung out with Alicia and went over to see Trena (one half of the Yonkers-Talz couple that runs the program) and three of her four wonderful daughters (aged roughly 8 months to 10 years I think). Hannah, the rowdy 4 year old seemed to remember me quite well, and she spent the half hour visit hiding from me and running around being goofy. She is pretty adorable, especially now as her normally golden blonde hair has streaks of pink in it and she has the cutest "Rosemary circa '94" haircut featuring sharp bangs and everything.

Alicia's coworkers Guillermo and Betsy are really nice, and all of the students I have met today seem like great people. I also have reconnected with several Salvadoran students that I met during my time here last spring. That has been just awesome and every single one of them has said that they did not recognize me at first. It is not until inspecting my face more closely that they realize I am Alex, "pero con pelo corto".
Some of the Salvadoran students are just the most fun-loving people. I especially enjoyed seeing a woman named Deysi who lived in the same house as me while I was here in 2009. She gave me the nickname Tarzan last year for obvious reasons, though she will have to come up with a new nickname now I suppose, and a hug from her felt like a million bucks.

The final activity of the night was "pupusas". Every Thursday night all the Casa students and the Salvadoran students in the parallel "Programa Romero" gather at a local pupuseria to eat the Salvadoran national food, which is essentially a thick tortilla stuffed with queso, frijoles, ayote (squash), revueltas (pork), or a combination. De-licious.
Before dinner Alicia introduced me to the group of roughly 30 people, both Salvadoran and North American. We were all standing in a circle holding hands preparing to say grace, and you can just imagine how adorable Alicia was introducing me to the group in Spanish and beaming her brilliant smile out to everyone present.
After her presentation, we all sang "vamos todos", which is the Casa's traditional pre-meal prayer song that is a beautiful little ditty adapted from a prayer by Father Rutilio Grande (typically referenced as the first priest to be killed by right-wing militarists before the onset of the civil war; and also the great man whose tragic death helped Oscar Romero to see the injustice and corruption that permeated the military-political establishment in El Salvador. The drive-up, gun-down murder of Father Grande and two other Salvadorans, which took place as the three men were headed to mass on a quiet country road in Alguilares in 1977, is usually pinpointed as Romero's principal motivation for turning to the Light side and speaking up for El Salvador's poor and oppressed).
Alright, that is about all my tired mind can take for now. I figured if I shared a thorough version of my first day here that would at least provide a good context for the shorter posts to follow. Alicia is finishing up leading her community in a "life-story" community night (which means one of the students is sharing their testimony with their housemates- great bonding activity), and I am just hanging out in her and her coworkers' office missing my family and friends and looking foward to tomorrow. I love you all very much and hope the weekend is full of relaxation and peace.
-Alex