Yesterday I moved from the house of Pastors Matias and Martina to the Casa Concordia (the Lutheran guest house in the capital, San Salvador). I was a little bit sad to leave them (they took such good care of me!), but I will see them again and I am definitely ready for some new adventures. My most wonderful friend Julie arrived here on Monday night and it has been SO great to be with her. Even better, it has been so nice to be able to speak English (Pastor Matias and Jorge know some English and we practiced sometimes, but it just wasn´t the same). Every day I gain a better appreciation of what it is like for so many immigrants in the U.S. who are trying to learn English...it isn´t easy to be living in a place where most people do not speak the language you are used to! I´m also glad that Julie is here because it´s good to be with someone else who understands the difficulties of living in a different culture.
There are a variety of people staying here at the Casa Concordia. The Casa Concordia is run by Doña Trinidad (Trini for short) and her family, so she, some of her daughters and daughters-in-law, and many of her grand kids stay here off and on. Today a delegation of 16 people from a church in Minnesota will be arriving and they will all stay here. There is Nick, a young missionary from the States, who is staying here. There are also a few university students who stay here. Right next to the Casa is the Bishop´s office as well as the administrative offices for the Salvadoran Lutheran Church. (The bishop is currently out of the country but he will be back in a few days.) There are constantly people coming in and out, and it has been great to meet a few new people and to see those that I met when I was here before.
On the way to the Casa Concordia, we drove on a very nice section of a new highway. Pastor Matias told me that it is indeed wonderful that they constructed this piece of highway because it makes it easy for him to get into the capital and to the Casa Concordia where he often has meetings. However, to build the highway they had to evict many people from the land where they were living. As it usually is, these people who got the bad end of the deal were poor people who only had the land and whatever sort of house they were able to construct on that land. When the highway project began, these people had to leave with whatever they could carry with them and try to find someplace to live. Who knows where they ended up or how they are doing. While this highway may seem like progress and development, for those people who were kicked out of where they were living it certainly was not a positive development.
Random observation...I am continually struck by how genuinely happy and full of life Salvadorans are. They are always laughing, joking with each other and (lovingly) making fun of each other. Pastor Matias always seems to be whistling or singing a joyful song or hymn. The kids play with each other and always find some way to have fun. Even though their life isn´t always the greatest, Salvadorans somehow find a way to make the best of the situation.
