Temporary Residency

After a little quest in the land of paperwork mishaps, I´m now officially a temporary resident of El Salvador! Since I´ve spent the past week on this project, I´ve been staying in Santa Tecla and will return to Olocuilta tomorrow morning.

When I arrived here last Saturday, we had a devotional meeting/fundraiser. The event was held at the Baha´i Center that evening. As it is perpetually summer here, the prayers and songs were recited outside. They were so beautiful! These devotions were said for a group of Baha´is who are imprisoned, soley for their beliefs, in Iran and the date of their trial is soon. The fundraiser side of things was for the community of El Salvador, in general. Wonderful food was served and people made donations. All the while there was more music and I met such lively people.

My religion also has its own calendar, where each month spans 19 days. At the start of the new month we get together for a Feast. The one I attended earlier this week was another opportunity for me to meet more blessed people. During the devotions I read a short passage, in Spanish nonetheless, for a group of no less than 30 people. What an accomplishment in my bilingual studies! I may have not made any grand mistakes at that gathering, but I´ve sure said some funny things in my attempts to communicate. For instance, I once tried to say 'I am going to like the children' and it came out 'All the boys will like me'...! However, I´ve learned to embrace my mistakes and relish the moments when I can laugh at myself. Speaking of which, the day I finally located and bought a new memory card for my camera, I dropped the whole thing and it may be broken, oops.

This is a good time for me to reflect on my life´s learning. The purpose of this blog is to share my experiences, but also to convey the fact that all of this is one big process for me. There is always so much more I could say. However, be assured that while I´m having the time of my life, this is a difficult adjustment. My time here has made me question the foundations I base my happiness on. I see many people who have next to nothing, but are rich in spirit and cheer. For me, life always has its polite way of encouraging me to improve.