Last full day!

(Wednesday) We awoke early to join the ten mattresses into one mat using plastic and a tarp.  Little did we know that this would become a fiasco, twice.  After painstakingly joining every piece with too little of each material.  We flipped the unit over and created a mess of plastic foam and rope.  We dove under the mess to try to salvage our labor and came out laughing at the mess we had made.  The best explanation is the video Nate took as we began to come out from underneath.  In short, we were able to fix it and would have to relive the whole thing later that evening when more rope and tarp were purchased.

But by 9:30 (started at 5:15) we were ready to receive our first groups.  We taught about 100 kids how to climb.  I yelled the instructions over the sound of fans and circular saws (carpentry class).  The students and teachers were fascinated.  When the first kid fell (6th grade) the group erupted in laughter and I spent some time talking about encouragement.  As more kids attempted I talked about making the next hold your goal and not the end of the route.  The kids started using the names of the different routes (like el pengüino vikingo, and el pájaro carpintero) and instructing one another.  It really was beautiful.  Luke created a video compilation :).

By 1:00 we were wiped out and went for coffee back at the house before heading to chapel.

Chapel was led by the sixth grade and when it was our time to speak, I asked the students and teachers to start with questions about us.  I think this helped them to see us as more than just a rock climbing family.  This time was also the setting of a classic Spanish blunder.  I was searching for a word and a student attempted to help me, but whispered it and I came out with the wrong word sending the congregation into hysterics.  Oh well.  You have to jump in with both feet. :)

After school, I invited family, students and teachers to come and climb. It was such an encouraging, fun environment.  I loved that a 12 year old’s (recently caught) bird was being passed around while she climbed. Moments like these are just part of the whole journey.  We don’t do all the work for the fun at the end, but these times sure do make you feel great.

When we left on Thursday morning, there were selfies galore.  I told Luke and Gabe they were “rock stars”.  The girls were all coming up and wanting pictures with them.  Pretty cute.  We left at 7:30 AM and headed to the airport.

It was a short trip, but it was such a blessing to spend the time working alongside my family to bring something unique to a rural school that has become such a part of our lives over the last 25 years.

Back to work, the electricity is on!

Tuesday Night

Following a full morning of construction (5:15 till 10:00) we are invited to the gymnasium where the high school students had prepared entrepreneurship displays.  They worked in groups of 6 to 10 to invent a product and market it.  To our surprise we were supposed to judge the projects.    We went table to table around the gym.  The students gave us a demonstration (usually in Spanish) and in many cases we were invited to taste the product (chocolate, fruit juice) or take on home (various paper flowers, bookmarks).  Our favorite project was the fortune cookie group.  They were actually delicious and home made by two boys.  The presentation was impressive.  They even had a kindergartner dressed in traditional Asian clothing bowing to us.

After the entrepreneurship fair, we returned to work.  It was time to set the problems.  Lots of kids and teachers/staff came by and I took time to explain things.  Lunch was delivered to us and was amazing (burritos, pizza and icees).  As the school day drew to a close we began to invite kids up to the wall.  Two high schoolers were fearless (a boy and a girl).  They came up on the platform and gave it their all.  The girl’s name was Eva.  She was voted Queen of Ahuachapán (their state).  I really was impressed with her tenacity.  At one point she grabbed a role of masking tape and started taping her fingers like a pro. 

Then when Nate mentioned cutting some blocks of wood to try and make some temporary holds, the same girl ran and got a sander and a welding mask and went to work sanding all of the wood that Luke cut.  What a beautiful thing to have this equipment available at school and have kids who know how to use them (well the welding max was probably overkill… but precious.)

At one moment the science teacher came to see what we were up to.  She and I talked a bit and discovered that she was one of my students in the Kindergarten class that I did my internship with back in college. 

The lingering kids invited us to join them giving out food to the local community.  Luke and I decided to go and 12 of us packed into a 3-seat pick up with 10 or more boxes of bagged rice and beans.  The food packs were very similar to the ones that we packed last fall with Feed My Starving Children.

Hard to believe that we only have one more full day here.

Volcanos and Climbing Mats

(Written Tuesday, April 25, 2017) Expect the unexpected.  Monday morning the students here at Casa la Atarraya put on a bit of a welcome show for us, combined with morning announcements and worship.  We were seated on the concrete bleachers in the open air gymnasium. I think we would agree that one of our favorite parts was all the homemade pompoms. My family and I were asked to introduce ourselves.  I started with Gabe and a kindergarten girl came up and gave Gabe her pompom.  It was precious. I was giving the morning devotion to the student body when the electricity cut out.  That began a change of plans.

We learned from the teachers that the government had cut electricity to the whole state of Ahuachapán for the day.  It had apparently been on the news that we didn’t watch.  Without the electricity, progress on the wall came to a screeching halt.  I can’t help but have flashbacks to Nehemiah as we go through this adventure.  With no drills to work with, we said goodbye to Ashapuco and headed to a volcano in the state of Santa Ana.

El Volcán de Santa Ana (Izalco?) is the highest point in El Salvador and last erupted in 2005.  No electricity needed, just hiking boots and water.  We joined a group from a local hostel (Holland, Norway, UK and USA) and began hiking with our two armed guards and a tour guide. It was about 3 hours round trip and at the peak Gabe called down to me, eternally behind when hiking, and said, “Mom, you gotta come up here.  This is amazing!  Better than the last volcano (7 years ago).”

On top of Izalco, looking down at the crater

The basin was filled with boiling blue green water (copper and sulfer) and the crater was 3 kilometers in circumference. It really was beautiful.

On the way down I chatted with the rear guard.  He was very friendly and had two kids ages 10 and 12.  The one loves soccer/math and the other swimming/science.  I enjoy making connections.

Not all was lost on the building of the wall.  Part way up the volcano, Bobby got a call from Terry saying that he needed to buy the mats in Santa Ana before we headed home.  So into the city we went, looking for foam beds with no springs.  It was a crazy mad house of buses, fruit, and humanity.  Finally we located the furniture district and a foam distributer.  The owner of the store was nice and wanted to know what I thought of his country.  He was particularly concerned about how it is portrayed in the media (intensely violent).  In the end, we bought 10 beds and they will be delivered to the school today (Tuesday).

For dinner we went to the mall and ate in the food court.  Luke and Gabe ordered their own meal.  They called me in to rescue them (Spanish), but I went over and spoke with the owner and asked him to be patient with them as they practice.  No one else was in line at Pollo Campero so he had the time.  He smiled real big and seemed to enjoy the process from that moment on.  He got out pictures to help them and kept looking over to me with a twinkle in his eye.  I bet he has kids of his own.

The evening was quiet.  We played games (Karuba) with Jake, the youngest Hamilton, and then crashed at 8PM.  It is now 5:05AM and Bobby is chomping at the bit for us to get out the door and start working again.  Work will be underway by 5:15AM.  What a blessing to have a day to rest from the work.

Sunday

Last year when I came to El Salvador and was on the sometimes hair-raising drive to the house (2+ hours of being thankful for the invention of seatbelts), Jesus put a thought in my head. It has stuck with me all year.  I am not any more or less special than anyone else, and yet I am who God created me to be today.  It was humbling, disappointing and freeing all at the same time.  It was a profound moment for me.

The same thing happened on the ride from the airport this year (except the kids were with us and hair-raising was exactly what they were looking for) but the message went a different direction… I had the immediate sense that I have not taken the time to understand that God loves me.  Trying to let that happen.

Putting the T nuts in the plywood

So yesterday was a huge work day.  We began building at 7AM and stopped twice to eat but otherwise the men worked all day, with me periodically lending a hand and bringing water.  They were flying and getting in their way was slowing the progress, so I found other things to do.  My day was largely digital.  I designed 3 signs to be printed for the rock walls.  Two on safety (one for top-roping and one for bouldering) and one for terminology… all in Spanish of course.  I scoured Spanish and English rock gym websites to be sure that I was using appropriate vocab.  Then, whenever I could get Nate to let go of Luke he and I worked on the large gym sign with the name of Gabe’s dream gym: Rock Solid.

Luke worked on Photoshop with a Spanish interface.  He said that was actually really fun as he tried (for a couple hours) to find the buttons and read the error messages.  He did amazing.  The background is a composite picture made of an El Salvadoran mountain that he pieced with ocean and river to create a scene with the sun’s rays shining down. I love the little cartoon he put on the one corner that reads (sorry non climbers… this may not make sense, but the V’s are difficulty levels):

          One climber says to the other: “This is a V2 but if the volcano erupts it is a V7”

Luke thought it was funny because these kids live beside a volcano.  Kids are great. :)

The wall is nearly done.  There is a row of plywood that needs to be put up about 7 feet in the air and 24 feet across.  They will work on that this morning. Then a final spray with termite repellent and Gabe can begin to set problems and the students can climb!

Getting Started

Purchasing wood for the wall

Building the wall

Saturday evening

What a great group of people today!  By 9AM, 8 students and a gym teacher (Alex) came to school on a Saturday to see why we had come to El Salvador.  Alex went to school for nursing and is now in a M.Ed program.  He is safety conscious and interested in understanding how rock climbing can be used to teach life lessons like trust and overcoming fear.  It was nice to start with just a few kids today since 400 could be quite overwhelming.  Luke and Gabe demonstrated how to use the belay equipment (and how not to use it :P). It was great to see Luke and Gabe practicing Spanish with the locals :).

Belay training for the gym teacher and watching him train a student

Before we came down here, Bobby put up plastic climbing holds into a brick wall.  He purchased a foot deep of foam pads and covered them with tarps.  My job was to fix the belay system. I added an anchor (so that the belayer does not rise into the air when the climber falls), I replaced  the rope with a less elastic version and taught the gym teacher some climbing basics.  The high school kids were very interested in the concept.  About four kids and the teacher attempted the wall.  I look forward to seeing how they will do on a bouldering wall (no ropes, with problems to solve).  After my demo time, I was the worst player in 3v3 basketball.  I warned them, but they wanted me anyway.

Bobby and Armando cutting wood for Nate

So the wall we are building is now 30% complete.  (We are all wishing we had more holds to put on it.) Luke is actively thinking of how to make more out of wood. We went to the local hardware store this morning and ordered the materials list for the bouldering wall.  We bought out their entire selection of 2x4’s and tweaked our original plan in multiple ways in order to be able to buy 90% of the materials that we would need.  Everything was delivered to the school after lunch.  We got a laugh out of the rough cut wood.  Rough is an understatement.  The wall requires 8 separate mini walls to be built (~16 feet by 4 feet) and as you lay down the 2x4’s there is up to an inch difference in thickness between the boards and almost none are straight.  We haven't tried to assemble the various walls yet.  Here’s hoping!  Luke, Gabe, Nate, Bobby, Armando and I worked all afternoon until it was time to go for ice cream. (Armando is an engineer who teaches the digital tech classes.  He was my English student here 7 years ago when I came as a substitute teacher.  :) )

Doing what I can to help :)

Casa la Atarraya serves a poor community in northern El Salvador.  When I came for my first time in 1994 there was a Kindergarten and Pre-K.  I taught English for a month and lived with Bobby and Terry and their three kids.  Caleb had just been born and Jacob was still on the way.  The school has grown incredibly since then.  There are now 400+ kids and the goal of the school is to provide Christian education that includes job training and college prep.  A student can graduate with a diploma in auto mechanics (a developing program), construction, digital industrial design, pre-nursing, etc.  The walls are all local brick and the desks are handmade out of local wood.  A family in the US donates WIFI each month and an American boat building company has made the contributions like a 20+ foot wooden boat for the library and technology for industrial design that rivals US schools.  Various churches such as our own and a large mission organization, Missionary Ventures, include Casa la Atarraya as part of their community.

Checking out the tech department

Luke and I had some time this afternoon to check out the digital technology center, with Armando (teacher).  It is quite amazing. They have 3D printing, a C&C machine and a banner and sign maker.  I asked Armando what the limit was on the size of the banners, as Luke is designing one for the rock wall.  He said, with a smile no more than 50 meters. What? Wow.

So with ice cream and taquitos to top it off, we are tired.  Right now we are all sitting in the living room zoned on various devices: blogging, playing chess, texting and designing banners.  I asked the boys for some reactions about the school since the last time they were here.  Luke says that his favorite part is how open everything feels and that it is more like a college campus.  The school is three times the size it was in 2010.  Gabe says his favorite part is the Hamilton’s new home which was designed by Caleb Hamilton. 

Off to bed at 8:18PM.  I’m beat.  Hoping to sleep past 3:40AM tomorrow (2 hour time difference).

Too many walls and not enough bridges...?

 ...Hoping this wall will be a bridge to new experiences and friendships.

At the airport JFK, 18 hours door-to-door

Exploring possible locations for the wall

Saturday

Yesterday on the airplane I read an article about those moments when you take on leadership in a setting that is new to you.  One of the benefits is that you are able to see the organization from a perspective different from those who have been around for years.  You bring a fresh outlook.  And one of the challenges is that a feeling of inadequacy can be crippling.  Part of the human condition, the article called it.  Some people can hide it well but, the author suggested, if we use the feeling to awaken the learner within… we can be a force for good.  The teacher becomes the student who becomes the teacher.  Reminds me of Jesus’s words: “Whoever would lead must be a servant.” (paraphrase)

So here I am this morning 4:39 AM on Saturday, April 22, 2017. I woke up thinking of all I have to learn by 8AM.  We arrived in Ashapuco, El Salvador last night around 7PM having traveled for 18 hours by car and plane.  It was so refreshing to see Bobby, Terry and Jake (Age 16) here at their home on the school compound.  It was already dark when we arrived, but we started our seven day visit with a tour of the school.  The kids and Nate haven’t been here for 7 years (third time for all three of them). I was here with Mom and Dad Tiday last year (this is my fifth time).

Our goal this week is to build a rock wall for the students at Casa La Atarraya school.  It will be part of their gym program.  When we were here eight years ago, this school was the same size as Carlisle Christian Academy (~100), the school where I teach.  Since then it has quadrupled (or more) in size and added numerous programs such as nursing, mechanical, design and technology and construction.  This week the high school students are excited to be adding rock climbing and our team of four has our work cut out for us.

3 hours from now the kids have been invited to come and learn about the sport in general.  Bobby has asked that we have the older students trained on belay/safety and some of the basic concepts of rock climbing by this afternoon.  The challenge is that I, rock climbing team mom (kind of like being a den mother in charge of the camping expedition) needs to decide if the belay system that they have created here is safe, make adjustments and then teach the group using words that I don’t know yet (often translating for Luke and Gabe).  Words like sloper, belay device, and rock climbing hold were not in my Spanish curriculum.  So after writing this brief post… I will begin studying vocabulary and belay safety standards (Praise God there is internet).

A mission trip, at least for us, is a personal challenge.  You never really know what a day will hold.  At this moment I am thankful for being here with my kids and husband.  I am thankful to have something fun and educational to share.  I am thankful for the people at the Climbnasium and my nephew, Ty, who donated materials for this trip.  I am thankful for all those who are praying for us. And I am thankful for what God is doing in me through all of it.

A new Adventure Begins...

End post on Thailand and begin post on El Salvador trip.