more of my life in el salvador...

This is Isaiah I’m going to tell you about what I’ve been doing lately.

 orphanage group shot

making chocobananos!!

School: In school I am in the band, first I played a thing that you would scrape up and down. 

Then one day the triple drum player wasn’t doing good and I went up and did the rhythm. One of the instructors noticed and later they adjusted it and put it on me and I could do it! After a while some people thought that it was to heavy and later they changed me to the snare drum. I want to practice but I’m at home.

Bacteria:  Awhile ago I got this infection on my ear and it spread to my body. I went to the doctor about 5 times, and then yesterday I went to the capital [San Salvador] and saw a kids doctor which is called a pediatrician. She was nice and helpful. I got some new medicine and it’s already getting better.

Spanish: Some times when I am thinking I will think in Spanish and English. Now when I talk I don’t need to think as much about translating. I am fluent in the stuff I know well. In Spanish you pronounce all the letters except H.

Other: In San Vicente there has been some things happening like fighting. Two groups do not like each other very much. There has been some murders lately too. The to groups don’t like so much that they separated them into to different jails.

We had some visitors and there names were Emily and Tyson (tyson translated is flaming log!). We went to the beach, and there was a dog that is going to have babies. I miss home and want to go out to B.C. and help my friends build a cabin.

 (orphanage soccer game - GO BARCA!!!)

We went to an orphanage and played soccer. The first time we went we roasted hot dogs and marshmellows. It was really good. This time, we played soccer with lots of the kids. They are very good at soccer and very nice kids. After we had snacks that we had brought. There are 48 kids at the orphanage and most of them have been treated very badly in their homes or streets before coming there. The kids are never told to leave. They may stay as long as they want when they get older.

This is my dad in his redonculous glasses (my mom thinks they are anyway)

This is Ben. He fell out of his bed around 3 in the morning. He got 7 stitches and 8 needles for freezing...

don't look if you are squeamish...

Please comment and have a good back to school month bye.

Isaiah

our new home & San Vicente

The last time I wrote a blog I was in a different country. This time I'm in San Vincente, El Salvador. Thats the city I live in. In this blog I'm going to write about my new house, San Vincente and a little village that I'm going to work in this year. The first picture is of a lady in front of her house in San Antonio. We hope to build a new house for her before the rainy season. She has a blanket for one of the walls and she has no power in her house.

My new house has 3 rooms, great security, 2 houses in one and a garage with a truck. The new house has three big rooms, me and my brother sleep in one of them, my mom and dad sleep in another and Annah and Elias in the last. My siblings and I all share two bunk beds. In my room there is a hammock which is really nice. The Berstad's have the top half of the house and the McAllister's have the bottom. The separation has a big difference because we are separate not 1. Our garage is really big you can play soccer on. We have a truck that has 2 doors and a small box. My family and the other family are going to get railing on it so we can ride in the back. My house feels safe at night and I am glad God gave it to us.

(Annah and her school friends)

San Vincente is the city that I live in. It has a bridge, 1 big store, a market, a few friends

and a big clock tower. In San Vincente there is a bridge that was broken last year during

hurricane Ida. My dad was in San Vicente when it happened and he experienced nothing

like it before. The bridge overflowed with water when the rain poured for four days.

There is one grocery store called 'Super Selectos' and its smaller than Co-op. We

walk through the market to get to school everyday. At the market you can buy anything

you want from fresh chicken to home made cheese, and machetes to laundry

detergent. My friends at school only speak spanish. I have also made friends

with some kids from San Antonio. We took over 200 kids to the pool and

had a blast last week. Lots of them had never gone to the pool before! There

is a big clock tower in central park and every hour the bell rings the

number of hours that it is. Annah will talk about it a bit more in her

next post. San Vicente is an interesting place to live.

(central park clock tower above)

San Antonio is a village near San Vicente that we are working in to build houses.

The railroad track has been taken apart because the train doesn't get used anymore.

Now it's a road for people to walk down and oxen pulling carts and drive trucks.

The reason these people moved along the tracks 25 years ago is because it was

in the middle of the civil war here and wherever they lived

before was too dangerous to stay. Some people that are older could hear guns

in the distance when they were little. It was a very scary time for them. Now

where i live you hear fire crackers going off all day and all night long! It

sometimes scares me too. When we drive in San Antonio we hang on in

the back of the pick up truck. My friend Kade jumped off and fell. When

we took the kids to the pool we had around 80 kids in the first truck load!!

San Antonio is a fun place to run and play.

(this is our new truck! it's huge inside the double cab)

I miss my friends and family back home in Canada. But i am enjoying

our new place in San Vicente and spending time in San Antonio,

El Salvador. Thanks for reading! Please comment here so

I know that you are reading this blog!!

Bye for now,

Isaiah

(ben and a new kitten - eyes still shut)

Mayan Village - by Annah

Hi this is Annah. I want to tell you about traditional

Guatemalan food and clothes. We visited the town of San Antonio, which is a small town outside Antigua.

This is a picture of me cooking a tortilla they are really good after they are cooked or with some beef in them. You have to pat the dough until it is really flat and thin. Then you put it on a very hot pan that is cooking over a fire.

This is the pan they cook the tortillas on.

We had some yummy but spicy food it had chicken and veggies and rice in it. I liked it very much!!

This is a traditional thing that they do. They put the basket on their heads and they don't use their hands! That's how they carry things like fruits & vegetables.

We got to seperate the strings, and see how they make clothes and blankets by weaving them. We also got to see a d wedding ceremony. They wear a special skirt and shirt that have a belt around it

that keeps it up. The bride

also makes gifts to give to the parents, grandparents and husband. They do a special dance back and forth.

Volcan Pacaya - by isaiah

Hi its Isaiah and I climbed a volcano!!! There are 34 volcanos is Guatemala. Three of them are around Antigua: (1) volcan auga - water, (2) valcan fuago - fire, (3)volcan acatanago. Only fuago is active. We climbed an active volcano near Guatemala city called volcan pacaya. An active volcano is a mountain that has lava in it and can still explode.

It was a dos

hour drive to the base that we got ready to climb [dos means two]. When we got out of the van a whole lot of kids came and tried to sell us sticks that we could use as walking sticks. There were also horses that you could ride up on. The owners called them taxis. On the drive to the base I got really sick. I almost did't go up the volcano. When we started up it was really steep and very hard.

When we were about a 3rd of the way up the was a spot that you could look out from at the other volcanos. There was horses that were still following us so my dad got a horse for me and the other kids. My friend Winnie and me got the first ride and it was fun. There was a really steep part that Kade and Elias had to get strapped on to the saddle on the horse. Then we went down and then through a rock field that was made from the big explosion about 9 months ago.

This is Elias feeling how hot the ground is.

When we stopped, the guide roasted marsh mellows over a hot spot that was so hot that it

could kill you if you fell in. He also roasted cheese that I put on a cracker. Then up another hill there was a cave that I went in and it was so hot that you could cook a pollo in it (pollo is chicken). Then on the way back I was so hot that I almost went down onto my knees and rested. My dad gave me a piggy back ride and fell. It was really dusty on the way down the small trails. When we got back to the van almost all of the

kids fell asleep with in 20 min. That's how a good and bad day go if your lucky.

My favorite part was in the cave that was so hot that you you could cook a pollo in it. In this picture you can see how hot Elias looks. It was so hot we could barely stand there. I hope you enjoy seeing the pics of my climb.

Me In Antigua!

Hi everyone (& special 'hi' to Ms. Georg and my grade 1 class)!!

This is Ben and I want to tell you about where I live. I have some pictures to show you. I am living in Antigua, Guatemala. This is where I am learning Spanish. I go to school everyday at 8a.m until 12pm. I am learning lots of words. I know all my colors like rojo, azul, verde, and amarillo. I like school very much.

There are 3 volcanoes around Antigua. One is named Agua (water), one is named Fuago (fire), and one is named Pacaya. The streets are made of stones and they are very bumpy. Today I rode in a carriage behind a horse!

On saturday I got to go to the beach. It was so much fun. I love playing in the waves. My favorite part was when I got to release baby turtles into the ocean. We pretended that they were racing to the water!

The scariest part was when we went into our room and guess what we found on the wall? A scorpion! But it was o.k. we just killed it with our shoe.

I miss you all very much and hope you are having fun in the snow!!

Love, Ben

i've been fried!

Hi this is Isaiah writing and i'm going to tell you about some of the things i've done so far. I've gone on the longest plane ride I've ever been on. It was from Calgary at 7:30, then I watched a lot of t.v and then at 9:30 we landed in L.A. Then at the air port my family and my friends had to go through security. there was a big machine that scanned people for items that are not permitted on the plane. Then at 12:00 am. something we left L.A and flew to Guatemala. The ride ended at about 7:30. After that a big bus/van thing picked us up from the air port and an hour drive to Antigua.

The place that were staying has a big fence around the yard. We walk to school every day. Then on the weekend we got to drive to a hotel that had the oc

ean on the other side. When we got there we found a scorpion on the wall. We killed it with our shoe!

My friend Kade had a birthday on that day so we had a pinata. At the ocean the waves were so big that it hurt when it smashes you into the sand. It was so hot i got totally fried! I didn't get burned, I just didn't feel so good because I had a lot of sun. The riptide that was going out was scary sometimes. The sand is black too. We released baby turtles into the ocean and got to watch them scooch their way into the ocean. They were so cute!

Then on Sunday we went to the ocean and the pool and lun

ch, then soon it was time to go. The ride was bumpy the last 30 min. and I got sick in my tummy. When we got back I laid down and then we went for dinner and we got to watch part of Shrek. then in the morning we walked to school. I have learned lots of Spanish words like el cuchio, el plato, and la mesa.

Isaiah