Crossing Cultures

Traditions

Crossing Cultures, Family, Holidays, Life in El Salvador, Third Culture Kids, Transitions -

Traditions are the things that bring families together, that give them a common identity, and that give them a reference point for “the ways things always are.” We get traditions from our culture, our families, and our friends. They make us who we are, and they give us a place to touch base year after year. One of the strange things about living outside of the U.S. is that our children have a hard time “touching base” with the traditions that were part of our lives growing up. Everything is just different from what we knew as children. We can’t pass down certain things, because they just don’t fit in El Salvador. Instead, we find ourselves making new traditions, unique traditions. This Christmas we had a lot of fun celebrating Christmas in […]

My Top Ten Biggest Things I’ve Learned in the Last Two Years

Crossing Cultures, Family, Life in El Salvador, Third Culture Kids, Uncategorized -

Today I was chatting with another mom while we were waiting for Ian’s Kinder class to be dismissed. She asked me how long we had been in El Salvador. I thought for a minute and realized it’s been two years today! November 16, 2009 was the fateful day where we arrived in El Salvador with a lot of ideas, a little bit of  Spanish, and a whole bunch of unknowns. But two years changes a lot. So I decided to list “My Top Ten Biggest Things I’ve Learned In the Last Two Years”. Okay, that was a long title, but I promise the list only has ten things.  By the way,  if you’d like to read another really lame top ten list I made, you can visit this link. Okay, here we go: […]

Feliz Cumpleaños El Salvador

Crossing Cultures, Family, History of El Salvador, Holidays, Life in El Salvador, Third Culture Kids -

September 15th is Independence Day in El Salvador! We are so grateful for this beautiful country that has welcomed us so warmly. This is how we celebrate El Salvador’s birthday… By dressing up in traditional Salvadoran clothes… …marching into a special assembly with the “big kids”… …waving the Salvadoran flag… …marching with classmates… …looking cute and happy… …proudly displaying our handmade Salvadoran flag… …acting goofy on the day off from school… …and sporting Salvadoran football jerseys. Happy Birthday El Salvador! We love you!

Lucky Duck

Crossing Cultures, Family -

I’ve been a little jealous because Jon just got back from a trip to the States last week. I’ve been missing that place lately so as he left the house for the airport, I had to fight down the angry green monster. In the past, I may have been jealous because I wanted to go there and STAY. But not now. No, I just want to visit. I just want to walk down the street and not see anyone with a machine gun, eat a bunch of peanut butter cups, visit a public park on my own with the kids, be able to say easily everything I want to say, and flush toilet paper down the toilet.  Just the little things. Alas, it was not meant to be  this time…but I’m glad […]

I’m Not a Gringo!

Crossing Cultures, Family, Thinking About God, Third Culture Kids, Transitions -

For those of you know my son Ian, you know he doesn’t talk a whole lot. He’s a quiet kid, and nowhere near as outgoing as his big sis.  But when he does speak, he makes it count for something. Today a man stopped by the YWAM base. Ian went with Judy, one of the other staff members, to answer the front gate. The man asked Ian where he was from. His response was classic Ian, “Yo no soy un gringo, soy salvadoreño!” The English translation is, “I’m not a gringo (that means American by the way) , I’m Salvadoran!” Because in his mind he is. And of course he had to be forceful because he’s sick of people thinking he’s American because El Salvador is his home, darn it! Anyway, […]

Summer Break is (Kind of) Here

Crossing Cultures, Family, Language Learning, Life in El Salvador, Third Culture Kids -

Summer vacation kind of started today at 5:50 am when the kids woke up. I say kind of because Ian still has a few more weeks to go. And I say 5:50 because that’s when Tori was up, despite me having to drag her out of bed at 6:15 for the last nine months. Ironic, isn’t it? So, here we are. Tori finished up the school year yesterday and she had a great year. This year was such a turning point for her. She hates change, and moving here was probably tougher for her than anyone else in the family. She was still not really confident in her Spanish when the school year started. But, last week she received second place in her class Spanish spelling contest. It seems that somewhere along the […]

Confessions of a Type-A

Crossing Cultures, Thinking About God -

I like a good routine. Structure. Order. Control. These are the things that make my heart sing. I tend to be a little Type-A and I like it. Nothing makes me so happy as when I check an item off of a to-do list. I’ve even been known to write things I’ve already done on a list just so I can check them off. I know, lame. Moving to Central America has completely messed me up in this respect. The words “culture shock” are not strong enough to express some of what I’ve gone through trying to release my perfectly crafted agendas from my grasp. I continuously fall into the never ending cycle of measuring who I am by the tasks I complete. The jobs I do, the things I accomplish..all […]

Easter in El Salvador

Crossing Cultures, Family, Holidays, Life in El Salvador, Third Culture Kids -

I miss the U.S. on Easter. It’s just different here. It’s interesting, and colorful, and full of tradition…but different. During Holy Week most things shut down and many people head to the beach for a vacation. Absolutely everything closes down on Good Friday and processions wind through the streets demonstrating the crucifixion. Colorful alfombras (“carpets”) made of salt, sand, and sawdust line the streets showing depictions of scenes from Jesus’ time on earth and His death. It really is a sight to see. But on Sunday everything is opened again. Churches don’t make a big deal out of the Resurrection. Sunday worship is joyful like every other week but there’s nothing really different about Resurrection Sunday. Please don’t misunderstand me, I am not criticizing my church. I am grateful to be a part of […]

Trip to Morazán – Part Four – Río Sapo

Crossing Cultures, Family, Holidays, Life in El Salvador, Places to Visit in El Salvador -

After eating in one of the best pupserias in El Salvador for dinner Thursday, we woke up on Friday for one last excursion before heading back to San Salvador. We spent the morning exploring the Río Sapo (meaning “Toad River” or according to Tori, “Frog River”…honestly not sure which is correct…still working on the Spanish). Anyway, the Río Sapo is a beautiful river that runs down from the mountains and cascades over rocks of all different shapes and colors. There are several swimming holes in the area, and the water is said to be turquoise. It didn’t look too turquoise to me, but we are in the last few weeks of the dry season so the river wasn’t running too deep and I think that may make a difference in […]

Trip to Morazán – Part Three – Memorial at El Mozote

Crossing Cultures, History of El Salvador, Justice, Life in El Salvador, Places to Visit in El Salvador -

On December 11, 1981 a horrific event took place in the town of El Mozote located up on a mountain in the department of Morazán. The government troops decided to repress the guerilla movement by killing around 750 men, women, and children in a terrible massacre in the town square. The people were systematically killed. The men were interrogated, tortured, and shot. The women and young girls were raped and then machine gunned. Children were locked in a church, shot, and then the building was burned to the ground. After leaving the town square more people were killed in the surrounding communities. In the end,  1,000 Salvadorans were dead. It was a human rights atrocity of the worst kind. A cover-up followed as the government insisted this was a false claim by the […]

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