Only good news

I made a deal with my brother, Dick, that I would only send good news home - happy phone calls, happy emails, and so far, one happy newspaper article. But I feel like I'm only telling one side of the story. If anyone were to read The New York Times, they'd see that Central America is under water. It has rained since Friday - constant rain. So many people in El Salvador live on the sides of mountains. Needless to say, their homes have washed away.

But to answer the question my dear, sweet, mother is wondering, "are we safe?" Yes, of course. We're soggy, we're mildewed, we're stir crazy, and we're safe. The Ministry of Education closed all schools in the country on Monday. We just got the call that schools are closed for the rest of the week. We have read, watched movies, played cards and gone door to door visiting friends in the complejo. Everyone has a leaky something right now - floor, roof, wall. It's only drizzling as I write this, which is such a relief.

If you check out weather.com, you can see the storms that we are underneath. I walked around school today. The classrooms are pretty dry. But the roads are messy. We've made a grocery store run, but other than that it is best to stay close to home. We gave the last of our "Mila dinners" to the school guards. Evidently it is a challenge right now to have food delivered, and they work 12 hour shifts at the gate. I bet Pizza Hut and Pollo Compero (the KFC of Central America) are doing brisk delivery business this week.

I have tremendous respect for the people of this country. They are up against some incredible odds - seems like nature won't cut El Salvador any slack right now. But I'm also amazed at how sheltered life in the States can be. I wonder if any of this news has made CNN. Mexico and Guatamala have offered aid to help with the recovery. No word on the U.S. just yet.

I'll try to write an even balance of life in El Salvador from now on. The kids are fine and James is fine. And we all can't wait to see the sun again.