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Security Briefing and more

The security briefing...is more of a safety dos and don'ts of El Salvador. They tell you how to behave, how to be safe, where to go, tell you what the most pressing dangers are, warn you about the driving, tell you about the security people that work at the embassy, etc. the general safety of living in a foreign country. It was helping, a little, b/c I lived here for almost 2 months, I figured out or was told a lot of what I heard in the meeting. But the good news is that I now have access to the embassy. What does that mean? It means that when I take the kids to the pool or playground, or go to the gym each morning, I can show my badge and after they check the car for security, I get to come in. 24/7 access to unclassified areas. So no more waiting or having to be escorted places in the embassy. (It's really nice)!!!

Today Sara took the kids and I to the beach she goes to. It was really nice. Since it was a tuesday afternoon, it was just us and the kids at the beach and pools (I'll put pictures up when I have a faster internet speed). Black sand beach - the only beach that doesn't have rocks all over it too - huge ocean waves, fresh water in the pools (always my favorite being a fresh water girl) and of course sunshine and warm weather. It was in the mid 80s today. Oh, but last night was gorgous! It was windy and it cooled down a lot. So it felt like a fall night, I just sat outside enjoying the breeze and cool weather. It's not nearly as cool as Michigan right now, but it was nice.

The windy season is beginning soon. I asked Alex what that means and he said, "The Wendy season is where everyone goes to Wendy's." Not a bad answer...we go to Wendys - very infrequently - to play on the playplace. It's a good change from the embassy from time to time.

I am going to be volunteering at my church here to help organize files, do power points/bulletins, etc. as needed on my day off. It will be nice to use the skills I learned over the past few years. I am teaching 5th and 6th grade Sunday school too. They are a fun group of kids, but I only teach with them once a month. So I'm beginning to aquire some extra weekly scheduling. Once I find a language school, I'll add that to the mix too. I have tennis lessons (for now) on Tuesday mornings, which is a fun time with Denise and Pam, but I'm getting bored with the instruction being the same week after week. So I'm debating just working on it on my own...that would just require finding time to do that though.

Halloween is coming up soon...that will be so much fun. We're going to be the superhero family - Shane and Alex are spiderman(men) I'm Batgirl (like batman...) and Syndey is a little bat. Then Shane is going to have a murder mystery party - Trailer Trash Tragedy - so it will be a super fun dress up day, busy but fun and totally worth it.

Just in case i haven't mentioned it...I totally enjoy my life here and I'm so thankful that God has allowed me to be here. The kids are wonderful (most days ;) ) and I have so many blessings.

October really?

I can't believe it is already October. Time has gone so quickly...for real, it seems like i just arrived, yet at the same time like this is my home. We had some sick children for a couple weeks. It seems like everyone here has a cough or runny nose. Hopefully as we get closer to the end of the rainy season and into the windy season that will go away. I haven't gotten too sick, just a small cough and a few allergy problems from time to time.

So what's new? I can't say too much has changed. I've done a bit more traveling, gone to the beach a couple times (I love it there. Shane has a membership at Club Salvordorano and it is beautiful. There are huge waves from the ocean, but for those of us (me and the kids) who don't like to go in the salt water, there are two super nice pools (a kids-size and adult-size). We have our own cabanas with hammocks and changing area. Such a great place to go!!!). I've gone to the zoo, which was so funny. You see, we are all gringos (white people) so when we go out, everyone stares...everyone. So at the zoo people got brave and came over to talk to me and see if I could speak spanish, then they wanted to know what we were doing in El Salvador. When I tell them that Shane works at the embassy...oh ok. And that's usually the end of the conversation. It's funny. The zoo was pretty nice. Monkey island was the best part; they are so funny! We went to the playground for a bit and Alex and Sydney were swinging with some JR HI/HS age girls in the swings. Alex loves the girls, especially if they are older than he is. This girl asked him what is name was (Alex who doesn't liket o speak spanish) and he said Spiderman - with a spanish accent of course trying to impress her. So funny.

I haven't gotten involved with the youth at church because my schedule doesn't allow for it but I will begin to teach the 5th and 6th grade kids once a month. I have great intentions of emailing the pastor to see what else I could help with, but of course I haven't done that, since I'm online so much.

I did begin a bible study with some ladies of the church. I enjoy our group. It's a funny mix of people but they are very interseted in the history and really desire to grow closer to God.

I'm currently looking for a language school, to help with my spanish. And....I have my security briefing tomorrow morning!!! YEAH! Access to the embassy. What a blessing!

Well time has run out and I need to go pick up the children...so I will hopefully update the rest of the details and pictures soon.

Schedules and routines...

Life has become scheduled...it's so nice. I usually wake up at 5:45ish and see if Sydney and Alex are awake yet. If they are I get them up or if not, I'll begin to pack their lunches. Once the kids are up it's eating breakfast, getting dressed, brushing teeth, combing hair, and they are off to school with Shane by 7:10 - that is the goal at least. I then wait for Denise to come and pick me up so we can go workout at the embassy. I usually get home around 9-9:30, eat breakfast, talk with Sara and Cecy, shower, read, and then I'm off to pick the kids of from school with Denise at 11:30. We get back around 12:15ish and try to eat lunch around 12:30 so Sydney can go down around 1 for her nap. Alex will then have "rest time" for a bit and then I pull out the workbooks so he can get out of his room. Right now we're working on spelling his name. He can do the letters pretty well, but he forgets what the letters are...so I'm trying to come up with a fun song for his name. Sydney is up around 3 and we usually leave for the embassy playground or pool. It's been hotter than normal here so pools days are so nice. Then we come home with Shane, eat dinner, try the wear the kids out, baths, and bed around 7:30 pm. And I'm usually in bed around 10, depending on the night.

I met with the leadership team of the church last week to get plugged in. I will help with the youth whenever I'm able and I will also help lead singing periodically. I'm sure there are other ways I will be serving the church as well. Bible study begins next week (we'll be doing the Beth Moore study on Esther) and I'm looking forward to meeting more ladies on a spiritual level. I really like the church. The pastor, Peter Desoto is great. He has such a great heart and is a very good pastor, shepherd, teacher, leader. His wife is so sweet - Dara (like Kara with a D).

Nothing too exciting this week. Lot's of fun, the time just flies here, most days. Next week the kids are off Monday and Tuesday for their Independence Day. I'm going to try to plan some fun things we could do.

Week 2

Today was the first day I drove. I was so stinkin proud of myself. I made it with only two honks and only had to go around the circle three times before I took the right way. I didn’t even use a map. I realize that sounds like I didn’t really get it, but on the contrary…honks happen frequently here. Driving is another fun thing to add to the list of remember this and this and this…people steal manhole covers in this country, so it’s important to dodge them entirely just incase there isn’t a top. I think most people just start driving without any official license. It’s crazy, Argentina was worse – as a passenger, since I never drove there but they are much more aggressive here than in the USA (and since I’m such an aggressive driver – do you hear the sarcasm?) it’s not too different. I’ll probably go out tomorrow morning again just to make sure I can do it again and then maybe try to find another route. There are so many one ways that it really is difficult to figure out where you’re going. I’m usually pretty good with directions so hopefully I’ll get it pretty quickly.

Yesterday we went to Santa Ana and saw the volcanoes. That was really cool. I mean how many people can say that they’ve visited and hiked around a volcano? I have some pictures if I can get them to upload. Very cool for sure!!! I’m getting better at taking pictures, although most of them aren’t that great. So I’ll have to get use to that. While in Santa Ana we visited the big church, which is the biggest attraction in the city. It was beautiful. It was about a 45 min drive to Santa Ana (which is about half-way to Guatemala…that’s such a crazy thought to me).

Things have been going really well overall. I still think it’s great that the kids somewhat enjoy me. Sydney is such a daddy’s girl and Alex is too, but he’s a little older so he’s ok to not be with daddy all the time when he’s home (most days). Sydney reads all the time…all the time. She likes me to sing kids songs to her too. We’ve done some coloring and some blocks, but that’s about all she’ll do besides reading – unless we’re away from the house. Ok, I guess she likes to do play-doh and also goes in the jump house – a big inflatable trampoline thing. Alex likes to play hide and seek. We built a fort but that wore off in about three minutes, it’s more fun to destroy things than it is to build them. I’m trying to get him to spell his name and then we’re going to work on letter sounds along with writing. But with the attention span of 30 seconds, we’ve got the A down…he knows my name is Bah-bah Becky…with a b. So maybe we have two letter sounds. Alex loves to be loved and Sydney is now letting me hug her and kiss her more. They really are great kids. They are fun to be with. Alex loves spider-man. Just about everyday he wears something that is spider-man. Batman is getting there too, but he likes to talk about venom and spider-man. He didn’t like going to school when I arrived but now does much better and seems to enjoy it. We have some people who would like to line up some playdates with the kids (they are in class with Alex). Which will be good for everyone, but we just have to find someone for Sydney too. She and Emily – Denise’s youngest are friends.

I really really like Denise. We have become friends quickly. It’s nice to have a believer and someone with the same morals that is a woman. It makes it so nice. I’ve gotten to know her husband Chris a bit more too and I enjoy his humor. He’s a Barb Lucarelli humor. Shane is a very kind man – must be the southern roots. It has been nice to get to know him better and enjoy his humor as well. I don’t think he quite gets my humor yet…but then again I just laugh at myself so eh…guess I always have an audience J We’ve been able to have a few more conversations, which has also been really nice – as far as getting to know things.

I really enjoy it here and I’m very content, although a hug from Colton and a kiss from Lucy would be welcome anytime!!! I miss constant conversation, since I’m alone most of the time, but with the ability to drive now, I foresee that being a bit different. Once I have security clearance into the embassy it will be even better – I can work out there in the mornings. I have been doing my workout videos but I’m not allowed to run in the neighborhoods so I’ll have to wait until I can get into the embassy. Weather-wise it is right around 86 each day…not so bad.

Most mornings I’ve spent studying the Word or working on my Spanish grammar. I’m trying to become bolder speaking with people, but there are so many words I need to refresh my memory in first. It’ll come. I speak with Sara usually in Spanish. She’s patient and helps me when I need help.

God is good and I pray that He will be glorified in all things here. The church has asked me to help with the youth…and by that they mean head up the youth. I’ve been approached by two different people. So please pray with me as I decide about helping. It is on a day I don’t have off so I would have to change my schedule. There are several things to pray for…so instead of listing all of them, pray for me and the people I’ve mentioned. We all have ways we could use prayer. Below you’ll find some pictures. J I do have my cell phone now, so if you’d like to call or would like me to call, shoot me a facebook message or an email beckyelyea@comcast.net and I’ll give you my number or will call you when I have the chance.

Pics cont

In the backyard


Sydney and Emily on the tire swing at church

The streets of Santa Ana

The church in Santa Ana

Shane, Alex, and Sydney at the volcano.

Volcano

Sydney chilling with her cool sunglasses

Alex on the horse at the park near the volcanoes

Dress up with Adam...I love Alex's face!

Just having fun!

Picures

Dining Room


Backyard #1


Backyard #2

Living Room

Outside my window

My room #1

My room #2 - door opens to my half-bath.

The outside of the house and the car Shane is letting me use - Toyota Corolla

Moving Down

I know several of you have been wondering what has been going on, how my flights were, what life is like in El Salvador. Both my flights were great. The first was on a very small plane, but it was very nice, I did not have anyone sitting next to me so I was able to stretch out and actually slept just about the entire time (2 ½ hour flight to Houston). From Houston I flew right into San Salvador, in first class, which was so very nice. I sat next to a Salvadoran who explained the land and the ocean as we flew in. He was funny, very proud of his country. After going through customs, with no problems at all, it was helpful to know Spanish. They didn’t’ like that I didn’t know the address I was going to be “visiting” but he was still more pleasant than I thought he would be. The longest wait was getting my luggage, which praise the Lord, all arrive with me. I was greeted by Shane once I got outside. He wasn’t kidding. There were so many people held off by a rope but thankfully he recognized me right away. We had about a 40 minute drive back from the airport, so I was able to see a bit of the city and learned about some of areas we’re not allowed to go. (I’ll learn more of this once I’m able to go through the security briefing – which is just a matter of the embassy making time for me to do this).

When we got to the house, we were greeted by Rocky – the little black poodle, Sara – the cook (and she’s such a good cook!!! All kinds of fresh foods, chicken, rice, salads – it’s great not having to cook the food, a huge change but fun for now), CiCi – the maid, and Alex and Sydney. The kids went down for naps, so I did too. Three am was so early and the travel wore me out…so I slept for a whopping 20 minutes. I started to unpack, but didn’t have a ton of time to do this since one of Shane’s friends (Denise Stitt) was coming to meet me. We took the kids to the embassy playground until Shane and her husband got out of work. We then went out to dinner to have some pupusas – a Salvadoran dish. Once we got home, we gave the kids baths and put them to bed. I also went to bed since I was exhausted. The next day, Alex didn’t want to go to preschool so he stayed home with me. Shane had a meeting at the embassy in the evening so he was home for a bit but I bathed the kids, read books and put them to bed, which also went well considering they barely know me. Friday it was preschool with Alex at home in the morning, Sydney got home, ate lunch, then took a nap. Alex and I joined Denise and her son Adam at the embassy pool for the afternoon. We came back to get the girl after naps because there was an ice cream social at the embassy in the afternoon. We had dinner at home with the Stitts, they went home so we could put the kids to bed and then returned so we could play cards.

Saturday we went to a botanical garden – which was beautiful and I of course didn’t take a single picture. Then Shane showed me the mall and let the kids play there too. The goal in Saturdays is to wear them out. So then it was nap time – Shane had to do some things so I had the kids. It was overcast so we didn’t go to the pool again as planned; instead we did some grocery shopping. So I got to see all the big stores and know what they had. Other than foods (which are still overpriced) things are priced double or three times what they are in the USA. So it’s cheaper to buy things online and have them shipped here. So we had dinner and a night at home.

Today, we went to church, which I liked very much. Good worship and good message. It is an English church but today we had a Spanish speaking pastor so they translated it. It’s a very casual church with about 70+ people. They were very friendly. I’ll go again a couple times before I decide if that is where I want to go while I’m here. I need to learn the city before I venture too far away from home. I’m off on Sundays so it’s was a catch up day. I got to shower this morning…no rushing to get kids ready for school. I finished unpacking so now my room is situated. I have a good-size room it has a double bed, a dresser and two night stands as well as a half bath attached. The house has three other bedrooms, two full baths, kitchen, dining room, living room, the separate area with the laundry room and a maid room attached. There is also a patio and small yard. It is a nice house. Not too much room to not be in other people’s business but it’s a good size house. I was even able to work out...praise the Lord!

The family is great. Shane is so nice and has really made me feel at home. The kids are very sweet and affectionate – which I like a lot too. But they are testing as well – which is to be expected. It has been a good adjustment.

I’ve yet to take any pictures here. I’ll work on it. It is beautiful and going well. I appreciate your prayers. Pray for Alex, he has a lot going on right now and lots of adjusting – school, new nanny, friends moving away, lots of changes. Once I get my cell phone I will begin to call people. The wi-fi isn’t working here so it might be a while before I’m really online. Feel free to email me as much as you’d like. I’ll respond asap. beckyelyea@comcast.net