mi nueva vida

So I’ve made some power moves in a week here. I am now living in my very own room, with my very own bed, table and hammock. I bought a few things that got delivered to me and a few kids from the pueblo zoomed up to my room, took things out of the boxes and ran off with the trash. It was freaking unbelievable how helpful people are. (Sidebar: My dad grounded me in 7th grade for an unjust 2 week sentence for saying “freaking shoes”. Although I’ve graduated college, have an expansive vocabulary, and could’ve easily have chosen a variety of words to fill that slot, I feel like pops will appreciate that. Also, grounding me would be wonderful, at least I’d get hot showers).

But, I digress. OK, so another little example of how helpful people have been thus far (just over a week in my site)…I was chatting with a lady from town and mentioned to her how nice her table was and that I would love to find something similar for my room. Friday morning, 7 am, a carpenter shows up outside looking for the “gringa”, finds me, and by 4 pm I was the proud new owner of a beautiful wooden table. Also, the kid downstairs showed up at 7 am the same morning to help me hang my hammock. Good thing I’ve become an early riser. I’ll thank the combination of the Salvadoran culture, roosters, and the early morning dog fights for that.

Additionally, I had my first experience of washing laundry by hand in the “pila”, a concrete structure that people use to do dishes and clothes. How I’ve taken washing machines for granted. I used to complain when I had to do laundry in the states, a relatively quick and painless process by comparison. I got up at 5:30 am to start soaking my clothes and then for the next 3 hours, I washed all of my garments and hung them out to dry. I have lots of little cuts on my hands from rubbing them on the rocks. I was a MESS and all my neighbors and passersby were laughing at me because I was soaked from head to toe scrubbing my little heart out. WOOP WOOP, I did it though (however, a good majority of my underthings now have holes). Things I’ll never complain about again: lukewarm water (it’s better than freezing!) and doing my laundry.

It was a crazy week though, I feel like I’ve seen and done lots of things and met lots of people. Oh yes, and I’ve officially renounced my Christian name of Linsey for a simpler Hispanic-friendly one, Lila. No one can pronounce my name. I’ll still respond to “Linsey” in the states.



Also, I’ve just discovered that New Kids on the Block has come out with a new song. How come no one emailed me about that?