I can't believe it is May

Happy Cinco de Mayo! It seems pointless to even say it. There is no celebration in El Salvador for this Mexican holiday. But we did just have Dia de la Cruz, and the cross in our backyard has been beautifully decorated by Mila with colored streamers. And the biggest holiday ever is coming up - Mother’s Day! I horrified my students by asking what was the exact date for Mother’s Day. They didn’t know that it’s a set holiday here and a floating holiday in the States. Benjamin said, "Oh, it’s like Thanksgiving!" and then they forgave me. I promised them all that I really love my mother.

I can’t bring myself to look at the last time I updated the blog. I have gotten some really amazing comments from Salvadorans all over the world. I owe everyone better, I know! We have been all over the country since Spring Break. I guess it’s almost understandable that I haven’t written. I also survived and completed my third master’s class. Only six more to go and I’ve finished the program. But we have to live through final exams first, and then another master’s class, and then our first summer school. James and I are both scheduled to teach, and Maggie is trying to get ahead in history by taking Latin American Studies this summer. What I didn’t expect was that school would start again so quickly. It looks like we’ll have about 10 days of vacation between the end of the summer session and the first faculty meeting. That gives us enough time to fly home, give our families a hug, hit Wal-Mart, and head on back here.

Maggie has her first handball game in about an hour. She just joined a school sport. Handball here is not the same as in the States. Mags says the rules are like soccer, but you dribble like basketball and throw the ball into a net to score. The amazing part to me is that everything is in Spanish - I'm so impressed that she even knows what the coach is saying. The game is at another school or I’d be there watching. It would probably make her nervous. They play the game on a smooth concrete surface and there seems to be lots of tackling. I probably don’t want to watch.

Instead of writing too much (because I have tests AND essays to grade this weekend), I thought I’d finish this entry with pictures. The one of James and me and a very tall EA student has a pretty interesting story. This young man is Gerardo Munguia. He has made the final 12 in MTV’s search for the new Menudo. He was a really good sport in letting us take his picture. He flies back to the States at the end of May for the final competition. The reality show starts in a few weeks on MTV. Cheer for him - he’s the only Salvadoran who made the finals.

The photo of the beach was taken over Spring Break in the Juquilisco Bay. We stayed in this amazing house on an almost deserted island (there had to be a village somewhere because there were loads of cows on the beach). You have to look carefully to see the house - it's that square thing in the middle. We took the picture as we were leaving in the boat. Boats are taxies in this part of the country. It was beautiful but it was also really really hot.

Will went to see the premier of Spiderman III last night, and Maggie is off to a quinceñera tonight. I have one child clinging to his American culture, and one child who hasn't looked back since we left. Life is good both ways. Susan