Update 1/3: Thanksgiving in El Salvador

Since Thanksgiving I have done a myriad of wonderful things, and now that I am sitting on my couch in Ohio eating my mom's chex mix with my dog beside me with the Christmas tree all lit up, I finally have found time to write about all of them.

Thanksgiving Break:

A group of 10 teachers trekked to El Salvador to spend a few days on the beach of the Pacific Ocean. It was absolutely gorgeous, not to mention relaxing, and a wonderful opportunity to soak in God's beauty. 

We spent a lot of time on the beach, and we mostly had it to ourselves.

Some of what we did:

-played in the black sand
-jumped in the ginormous ocean waves
-watched the little crabs scuttle back and forth
-collected wave-polished rocks
-read in the sunshine
-swam in the pool
-walked along the beach
-made a campfire after watching the sun go down
-looked at the clear stars 
-drank fresh coconut water after the neighbor boy shimmied up a tree with his machete to get the coconuts
-walked down the dirt road beside sugar cane fields and very simple houses and got attacked by a goose 

Our beach house and the view we had

The house we rented was somewhat....interesting....

-We made our Thanksgiving meal on a gas camping stove with one low heat setting and it took 3 hours, but it was worth it! (Mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, chicken, stuffing, and oreo pie.) We only had 2 skillets and a large pot that were usable, and had to keep our food in a dorm sized fridge.

-The sink only drained where it was supposed to 80% of the time and the rest ended up on the floor, which made doing dishes a little soggy for the feet.
-One of the toilets leaked onto the floor of the main room.
-At night a bat would fly in and out of our house because the main room was open all the way through.
-There were ants trying to carry away any hint of food we tried to prepare.
-One night a stray dog came through and ate our bread.
-The next morning the boy who was our “go-to/guard” asked if we wanted some “pan Frances,” which we thought would be French bread, so we said sure we would take some since the dog had eaten ours, and he came back with 6 packaged muffins. So much for bread. And literal translations. 

Beautiful sunset over the Pacific.

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands." ~Psalm 19:1