Un mas diente de leche y deportivo

Cole lost another front tooth - "baby teeth" or "diente de leche" (milk tooth) - which I just learned from Haydee. He lost it last Monday - and again, went to the nurse to have it pulled. Cole is also quite the photographer - so he took a picture of his own gaping smile and other things... Enjoy! I think the pictures pretty much say it all :-)

Last Saturday, we participated in the "Family Cup" Trojan Games for the Lower School kids who participate in sports/deportivo. Cole plays soccer or futbol after school two days a week. It was a game of the kids against the parents! (Rich and I both played at different times). And basically it was controlled chaos - and of course the kiddos won! Cole got his hair spray-painted. He still seems to enjoy the social part of it more than the sport, which is just fine/good. The Booster Club of the school does a great job of providing fun family sporting events.

Here are some pictures from another "family sporting event" day for parents and kids of Pre-Kinder that took place in December of last year. There were obstacle course type things, sack race, three-legged race (after picture of Amy and Cole), shoe-pile with race to put it on the quickest (picture of Rich and Cole), etc...

Adios!

President Obama y CARNAVAL

Obama in El Salvador? Por que? Por que no? The U.S. president is coming to El Salvador today together with his family. This will end the Latin American tour traveling first to Brazil and then to Chile. My understanding is that one of the main reasons the stop in El Salvador is to highlight the drug trafficking and violence that occurs in Central America, which is a source of great debate in the ongoing "war on drugs", which it is safe to say is not working. It is the debate of Supply or Demand. Why doesn't the U.S. just stop their illicit drug problem --- end the demand and the profitable business? (more treatment, legalizing illicit drugs, etc...) Or why don't we stop the illicit drugs from coming into the U.S. --- stop the supply? It is a complex problem. But remember, the usage of illicit drugs in El Salvador is very low - even marijuana use is low... We do have a couple of days off from school - today and tomorrow (Tuesday and Wednesday) due to the closure of roads nearby to the school and the havoc that will cause with traffic. The government in El Savador closed down operations in San Salvador for these two days. U.S. Embassy folks have been busy over the last couple of months preparing for the visit...We will only be seeing him in the news (some past presidents have landed in the field of Escuela Americana, but this one I believe has other priorities). http://www.elsalvador.com/mwedh/ AND as of about noon today - President Obama and family have arrived and went to the Presidential Palace. So far, I have heard of plans to go visit the tomb of a national hero, Archbishop Romero who spoke/fought for "the people", and it is considered a departure for most presidential visits. As well as a visit to a famous archeological site, Joyan de Ceren. Here is one photo I was able to get in "real time":

On another note, a couple of weeks ago was Carnaval! (Fat Tuesday) Celebrated widely in Brazil and the Carribean - my parents were in Cozumel, MX and had a great time watching the parade there. It is not celebrated here in El Salvador, but the Friday following Fat Tuesday, one of Cole's classmates, Rafael, (Guatemalean family) invited him over to celebrate Carnaval Guatemalaen style. For the kiddos they had fun dressing up and running around in their costumes (Cole wore The Incredibles costume), painting eggs, decorating cupcakes, and the most fun was when they cracked hollowed-out, decorated eggs filled with confetti, over each other's heads! Here, there is no boiling of eggs (or plastic eggs) and then decorating them ---- you peck the top off of an egg, empty it out, clean it, fill it with confetti or candy, and then top it off with a piece of tissue-type paper to cover the nickel-sized hold in the top. Here are the pics - you can see the fun they had! The girls in the picture are the older sister of Rafael - Paulina and friends.

The East: Playa Espino

Catching up! February 25-27th we had a three day weekend....so we ventured out to explore the East beaches of El Salvador (said to be very nice). Playa Espino is about 2 1/2 hours from San Salvador. We stayed at Hotel Playa Espino ~ La Estancia de Don Luis: http://www.playaespino.com/inicio.html ~ a basic place with good food (seafood soup and grilled shrimp - yum!) and no one got sick (bonus!).

El Salvador is not known for it's "tourism infrastructure", which can be both good and bad. On the one hand, costs are less, there is less "pushiness" that can come with more tourism/tourists, and you have beautiful beaches with very few tourists and little development along the beach. Also, as a tourist you are also not separated from the lives of everyday people - right next door to our lodging were palm houses and roosters crowing (yes, the good and bad) along with roaming cows on the beaches.

There are very few "resorts" and only a handful of small hotels or lodges (outside of San Salvador) in El Salvador. Many people who live here (with means) mostly go to their beach/lake house (or others may rent them out). There are also very few towns that are geared for tourists --- especially at the beaches or lakes. When you reach your destination (hotel, lodge, house) - it is largely that destination alone where you eat/cook all of your meals and do various activities (mainly pool, beach, boat rides, etc...). There is typically not a town that you go to where you may wander around and take in some shops, restaurants, local culture, etc... Many people who come to El Salvador like it here exactly because it is less "touristy". It definitely has a different vibe. I do like that it is low key, but at times it would be nice to have available a couple of beach/lake places with a little more infrastructure in place. In El Salvador that is largely a few inland spots - Suchitoto and mountain/coffee areas of Ataco, Apaneca and Ahuachapán.

At Playa El Espino, we enjoyed the low key vibe well enough - staying for two nights and taking in this area of El Salvador. We had a couple of morning boat-outings in the estuary/bay and more remote beaches (thanks to some friends who connected us with Leonardo and his boat). Cole and I roamed the beach right outside our door in the very early mornings, then after breakfast we'd all go out on a boat (estuary/beaches), and in the late afternoons we'd be back on the hotel beach --- all the while walking, swimming, digging in the sand, and finding sand dollars (live and dead), beautiful shells, crabs, snails, seagulls, pelicans....

Here are some pictures of the desolate beaches we went to and walked around - just beautiful and we had it all to ourselves!



One one of our boat trips, Leonardo spotted an iguana swimming in the estuary. He proceeded to pick it up out of the water and put it back onto land. The iguana seemed to be doing okay swimming...which is interesting. I wasn't sure what Leonardo was going to do with this iguana (e.g. eat it?), so I was relieved when he simply let it go onto land when we docked. Although it would have been understandable had he wanted to take it home for the kiddos.

Just another day at the beach in El Salvador! After these outings, we are typically glad to get home to a nice, comfortable place complete with our cat and dog, and the amenities of San Salvador. We are very fortunate ~ home sweet home.

Cole's Front Tooth, Spanish, Swimming and Other Stuff...

About a week ago Cole lost one of his upper front teeth. I don't know what it is about the two front teeth --- but it certainly makes me realize how fast he is growing up and he looks older. Once again for this third lost tooth (the other two being his bottom front teeth), he went to the nurses office to get it pulled with the desired white plastic tooth-shaped carrier to wear around his neck. I didn't even know it was that loose and then I come home to get him after lunch and his front tooth is missing! He now has it stored with his other tooth (first one got lost) and still with no desire to give it over to the tooth fairy or raton.

Cole has been in school now for about 6 1/2 months. I don't often get to hear his Spanish - but occasionally I do and it is amazing how he has progressed in a relatively short period of time. His accent seems quite on target and sometimes I don't really understand all that he is saying or I learn from him how to string certain words together. His teachers and parents of classmates tell me how good he is now in speaking Spanish. I hear him speaking with Haydee and most of the time it seems they understand each other. He will also use Spanish words when he is at play at home. And now when we have playdates with his friends (especially when they come over to our house and it is mainly me supervising) it is much easier and the "conversation" seems to go pretty well. We are still working on sharing, taking turns, doing things your friends like, etc... Cole attends quite a few pinatas (birthday parties) - which is whole blog in itself - but his progression with these events from August until now says a lot! Cole is developing friendships with his classmates in and out of school and the language is a big part of it, so it's great that it is coming along so well. And next year more of his friends will speak English! (I hear a few of them now practicing with Cole.)

Picture of Cole at school during snack time and 2 pictures at a Pizza Hut pinata!

Cole at Tin Marin (Children's Museum in San Salvador) with his friend Andres playing together in the theatre with a fantastic volunteer (spoke Spanish and English) ~ the boys have done various things together like go to the Air Museum, beach, play areas, parks, etc...

Yet we all need to be able to be at ease from time to time - for it to be "easy" both culturally and lingually. He has play telephone conversations with his friends back in Colorado, including a girl friend. He has real conversations from time to time with his friends back in Colorado. And he enjoys the occassional play times he has with English speaking kiddos no matter what the age (younger, older). I am going to continue to seek that out more for him - it is surprisingly not that easy to find kids his age that are English speaking, but there are a few more avenues to pursue with other bilingual schools and a few kids at the US Embassy (with me being as intentional as I have been with his classmates).

Here are some things Cole really likes: to ride his red scooter (and is getting better and better at balancing for longer periods of time); swimming in both pools and the ocean - he is very comfortable and confident in a pool (and now snorkels as well) and likes to be in the waves and boogie-board; collecting and/or catching (then letting go) things in nature - rocks, wood, sea shells, sand dollars, sea glass, seeds, geckos, crabs, hermit crabs, snails, little fish; and doing art - whether it be in his after-school art class or at home making scribbly pictures or creating cardboard, taped-up "things". Cole also has soccer after school two days a week and seems to enjoy it, but the kids are a year/grade older and that makes the dynamic a little challenging.

It certainly is a journey and experience for us all -- day by day...we are all learning and growing.

Parque Zoológical Nacional El Salvador

Well, so much for my "frequent and short" blog resolution...onward. (I knew there was a reason I have never liked "new year's resolutions! smile)

The most recent adventure was a close-by outing to the El Salvador Zoo on Saturday, March 5th in our home town of San Salvador. Zoos can be rather depressing when the conditions are not good for the animals, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. When I traveled to China over 20 years ago I went to a zoo there and it left a lot to be desired; I remember it being "sad". There were no need for zoos in Kenya - spectacular wildlife reserves and ranches provided an unbelievable once-in-a-lifetime experience; and I was fortunate to live outside an international destination, the Maasai Mara Game Reserve. My work also took me to villages whereby in riding my bike I would see zebra and giraffe and would need to be aware of elephants.

In San Salvador it is a classic old zoo with various monkeys (mostly from Central and South America), lions and other felines, alligators, snakes, lizards, hippos, water buffalo, coyote, llama, river otter, etc... Rich was anticipating and preparing to dodge the llama's spit - who did seem rather interested/attracted. It cost about $2.50 for all of us including the parking. It is a family destination for locals and although the zoo was nothing like the one back home, it was an enjoyable outing and a way to continue to get a feel for the local life and culture of El Salvador. The jewel of the zoo was a large water area with monkeys, large iguanas, and bird life on a few islands with large trees - and that was quite enjoyable. Also, beautiful bamboo areas. Apparently there used to be a large and beautiful aviary, but looks like it was closed. I am guessing the zoo may have seen better days than now.

We had fun. And along with the zoo itself, we were one of the attractions. I say "we" but it was more Rich (tall, male wearing shorts ~ most adults wear only pants/jeans and kids seem to more often wear pants/jeans than shorts) and Cole (plantinum blonde hair, blue eyes and fair skin) than myself. Here - I can actually semi-pass for being Salvadoran, until you hear me speak. There were quite a few "que lindo"s going around for Cole who is not a big fan of this attention.