it's friday night. of my third week here. which means that i am nearly half way through my time here. unbelievable. it's gone by so fast. seems like i just enjoy my sunday off, get ready for the week ahead, and then before i know it, the week is already over once again. time is a crazy thing.

things here continue to be so great. i continually look around at where i am, and what i'm doing, and am so thankful for it all. i can't help but feel like i'm doing what i'm supposed to be doing here. when i wake up, i'm excited to go to work, to meet new people, to learn more spanish. and el salvador - it's just a pretty awesome place. in many ways, it reminds me a lot of africa - the smells, the traffic, the friendliness of the people. but in other ways, it is very different. i love it though.

yesterday i went on a campaign for the first time. FUDEM does campaigns in villages, provided as a free service to the people. but they also do campaigns in san salvador, where they go into schools and businesses and provide eye exams for a small fee. the money raised from these campaigns helps FUDEM to continue doing what they are doing. yesterday, i went on one of these city campaigns. we went to an american school in the city, and did eye exams for several staff members. maria (the optometrist i am living with) and i were the optometrists performing the exams, and there were three other people from FUDEM, doing the pre-testing and selling glasses. we were there for about 5 hours, saw about 45 patients (which means that I probably saw about 20). it was busy, but a great experience - and i was exhausted at the end of it! i hope that i get to go on more of these while i am here. today i was back at the main clinic, and probably saw about 15 patients. the amount of people that they see everyday still boggles my mind - but it sure is helping me to become more efficient.

not sure exactly what this weekend will hold. i'll be at work tomorrow morning, and then in the afternoon, i think we will head to a craft market, where i will pick up a thing or two. sunday we'll probably do something fun, but i'm not sure what that will be just yet.

all in all, life is good here. definitely no complaints from me. hope it's just as good for you!