This week was the week. The week that I have been waiting for and I could have not been more excited about what has happened this week. On Monday, my World Race Journey started and my team and I left for El Salvador!!
This week has been full of adventures, laughs, new foods, new Spanish words, risk, service, PRAYER and so much more!!!! Today I am just going to tell you about three different stories about this week. When Mireya picked us up at the airport we were very tired but also very excited!! She informed us that we would be going to a restaurant for lunch which was the best news ever since we were all starving!!! So, we piled in the van and off we went to Pollo Camperio!!!! We walked in to a colorful fun restaurant that had music playing, people talking and meals being had. Mireya ordered all of us a family fried chicken with bread, Pepsi, ice tea, and French fries. Now this might just sound like any other “American” lunch but it was AMAZING!! This is where community started!! This is where strangers became family and that language did not matter if we could laugh about it!! We learned so much in just a short amount of time in Pollo Comparo that I will never forget and that will stay with me forever. Also, that food was great!!
When you are from the United States in El Salvador you stand out!! And when you do not speak the language you also stand out!! So as a team we have been working together on learning more and more Spanish so that we have to rely on a translator less and less. Well Mireya’s eleven-year-old son Samuel has been teaching us more Spanish words and more importantly how to pronounce them correctly. So, one day when we were traveling from lunch back to the church he was telling is what bracelet was in Spanish…. Pulsera. But this was a difficult word for us all to say so her broke it down… PULLLSAERRRAAAA PULLLSAERRRAAAA we repeated the work over and over again!! This made him laugh and brought so much joy to our team!! Every time now that we see Samuel, all seven of us all shout PULSERA and he smiles every time!!
One night we were informed by the youth of the church that the next day for dinner we would be eating Pupusas, a homemade white corn tortilla filled with beans and cheese, from a street vender!!! We were so excited to hear about this because a new traditional food of El Salvador sounded AMAZING!! But Mireya shut down this plan because she that they could make us sick if we ate them off the side of the road. We were thankful for her concern about our safety but also sad because we really wanted to try pupupsas. So along comes the nest day and the youth group is going to start soon and Mireya comes in to the church with her mom with all of the ingredients to make pupusas. We were beyond excited and better than that they let Taylor and I help shape the Pupusas. This was so amazing because I was able to learn something I did not know how to do and got to join the culture to El Salvador.
That is, it for today!!!! I still need some help with fundraising as you might be able to see from the top!! So, if you feel led to help support me though this race please donate!!
Love You ALL!!!! Julia
