Buena Suerte

Graduation took place at the school today for the four of us who are departing after about a month here in San Pedro. We had to prepare a ¨discurso¨ upon receiving our certificates, so I rambled on for a few minutes in Spanish. I felt true sympathy for the folks who were shaking up there while reading their papers and simultaneously felt grateful that at least I´m accustomed to the miserable feeling of standing up in front of much larger crowds than this. The general form that the speeches take is to thank everyone for the great adventure, which I did. But I also felt compelled to appreciate the structure of the school because it provides the opportunity to learn the language through immersion in the culture. The experience exceeded my expectations by far, and I recommend the San Pedro Spanish School to anyone interested in similar experience.

My housemate, Jon, and I also received diplomas for our volunteer work with the students this week. It was all very formal, considering the unstructured nature of the week. Three young students stood up and individually thanked us with a brief speech, and then implored us to talk too. We felt very emotional about the whole thing for a second, but I guess they do that every week. Jon bought them a soccer ball to replace the ragged one they played with all week. After a rocky start on Monday, we quickly developed a rapport with these students and I was again reminded of why I love what I do.

There are so many times when I wish my camera would upload its contents and today is no exception. With the 18 students, we collected 10 large bags of trash yesterday on the way to a nice swimming beach. The kids cheerfully carried the bags back to school after swimming and listened attentively as I described to them what happens to plastic in the environment. A friend once told me that many people here just don´t realize yet the difference between the things they threw on the ground in the past (biodegradable) and the things we manufacture now. The whole concept that something will not biodegrade is new within the past few generations and they just need to understand the affects of plastic and other materials on the environment. I asked them to please tell their family and friends how much easier it would be to put the stuff 

in the trash in the first place rather than collect it later. The kids were so enthusiastic about the process that a man came down from his house to thank us for our work. His words were this: ¨I don´t know what you did, but I´m watching the same kids who would normally throw trash on the ground searching for trash to pick up. I guess I was pessimistic. I thought it would take three generations to change things, but here you are making it happen today. Thank you.¨ Of course I told him, ¨Yes, we are making it happen in this generation.¨ What more could I ask for?

There is only one day left in San Pedro and a relaxing night across the water, and then it´s time 

to face the open road on a chicken bus. These things are really wild... old school buses painted in much nicer colors than yellow and with absolutely no exhaust regulations. I´m distributing my stuff into different bags and pockets so that I won´t loose everything if one item gets snagged. I don´t like thinking that way, but I´ve heard too many stories. This time next week, I hope to be surfing in El Salvador, but we will see! The phrase of the day seems to be, ¨Buena suerte¨ as we all say our goodbyes to people we may never see again but have grown to consider friends. Now that I feel equipped with the language skills to navigate this adventure, I guess the rest really is up to luck, which I feel is on my side.