Slow down you're moving too fast...

Who can believe that I've already been home almost a week?? THIS IS RIDICULOUS!! I've been having a wonderful time catching up on family time, Glee, HIMYM, pizza, and the like... Unfortunately that means that I'm only home for another 3 days...good thing Halloween is in the middle to keep me from getting down - CAN'T WAIT FOR MY FAVORITE HOLIDAY!!

America the Beautiful

So it has now been roughly 2.5 days since I've been back in the US...and it's been NICE. The leaves are starting to change, pizza and deli have been DELICIOUS, carpets are EXTREMELY comfortable, and I think hot water from all sinks is the best invention EVER. I've spent a lot of time being a lazy bones at home, hanging with Jon, and enjoying catching up with high school friends. All in all a pretty excellent few days. Looking forward to the rest :).

HEADING HOME!

In roughly 15 minutes I will be walking out the gates of NPH to head to NY. WORDS CANNOT EXPRESS MY EXCITEMENT!! See you in the states ;-)

I guess Christmas is sooner than I think??

Wednesday was el Día de Religión, and as such, there was no work :) (I’m definitely getting used to this not working thing…) Anyhoo! Corinna and I headed down to the section around 11 to do an art project with the kids :).

Around Christmastime, Corinna’s church in Germany does a lot of fundraising projects to raise money for all kinds of organizations…so why not for NPH? She got the idea that if the girls created Christmas cards to be sold at her church with the help of her family back home, we could have a fund day of coloring with the girls AND raise some money, hopefully for a future outing with everyone :). Unfortunately, that meant that we had to decorate Christmas cards in October, but I don’t think the girls minded one bit :-P.

Their beautiful artwork!


All the girls holding up the cards they made :)

Disgusted.

I thought Christmas was starting to come a little too early in the States...I mean, it’s already impeding on Thanksgiving. But here in Guatemala, I heard Jingle Bells on the radio yesterday. YESTERDAY. OCTOBER 20. Now to be fair, Guatemala only has one more National holiday between now and Christmas (Dia del Muerte – Day of the Dead) which is celebrated on November 1...and that holiday doesn't really have musical attachments. But even still…I was just not mentally prepared for this!

Mi Amor

So as you know, we have several itty bitty babies who live here at NPH with us...all equally as adorable as the next. Over the past few weeks I've been spending more time with the babies and well...I think I've found mijo (aka mi hijo. aka my son.) He is 4 years old, his name is Tony, and today he confirmed that he is the love of my life (sorry Jon...)

Around 2 pm Nicole received a phone call that Jose Luis aka JJ (pronounced "yay yay" - how adorable is THAT??) received new glasses! Nicole and I immediately ran up the stairs to find the adorable little 2 year old (who just happens to be Tony's brother) and his new, plastic, bright green, glasses. HOW CUTE! Anyhoo! As we came to the top of the stairs, I immediately saw Tony, and as soon as we locked eyes, he came CHARGING towards me to give me the world's biggest hug and then refused to let me go :) I think it's a good thing that NPH doesn't allow adoptions because I would be coming home with two little babies in tow...

It's true. I'm in love.

Things that I REALLY miss…

Before embarking on this year long journey to the middle of nowhere, I composed a list of all the things I THOUGHT I was going to miss. While some of them were spot on (chocolate chip cookies – thanks to everyone for the packages!), I was pleasantly surprised to see that I didn’t NEED to miss some of these things, since we already have them here – for instance, ice and Doritos. So I decided to compose a REAL list of things that I miss and cannot WAIT to have when I’m back in the states on FRIDAY!! Only 5 more days – but who’s counting!
- NEW YORK DELI – I am soooooo looking forward to a pepperoni and mozzarella sandwich as soon as I step off the plane (thanks hunny!)
- FAST INTERNET – words cannot express.
- FACEBOOK – for those of you who don’t know, the house has put a hold on facebook for some unknown reason…as such it’s a little hard to keep in touch…
- Phone calls that don’t cost me $30…that will be nice…although it will also be nice to be in the same place as most of the people I call on a consistent basis :)
- Not being afraid to eat vegetables – let’s be real – I still EAT all the fruits and veggies that are sold in the market, but it will be INCREDIBLY nice to not have to worry that eating something is going to make me sick!
- Ethnic food in general - I could REALLY go for some Pad Thai or Lo Mein...
- My slippers – shockingly, it is VERY cold in Guatemala beginning in early October and with absolutely NO insulation in our houses, I’m NOT looking forward to November and December!
- The changing colors of the leaves/Autumn in general – can’t wait!
- My cat…kind of. Ok a lot.
Now unfortunately, none of these things can be wrapped up and sent in a package…I understand that…which is why I’m so excited to take my first real vacation to come to the states – see you on FRIDAY New York!!

Oh to be a little girl :)

After getting back from our workshop, I headed with Corinna to our section for a surprise nail-painting party for the girls! Now, painting nails has kind of become my thing. I’ve gotten VERY good at giving French Manicures, and enjoy doing flowers and decorations too – how lucky for our little 10 year olds! I had already talked to the tia who was in charge of the section for the weekend and she had said that since school was over, it would be fine to have a party for the girls :). We got to the section around 7 and immediately went into full swing – picking colors, painting nails, and decorating with flowers :). Below are some pictures Enma took with my camera…not bad for having wet nails!


with my pretty gold nails :)


INTENSELY painting Ana's nails


the girls showing off their wonderful flowers :)

WAAAAYYYYY too much togetherness…

This past week all of the volunteers had a taller (workshop) to talk about problems that need to be addressed amongst the volunteers and to try to improve our communication and problem solving as a team. Aka it was WAAYYYYY too much time spent together. Regardless, while at first I thought the workshop was going to be a load of BS, it wasn’t all that bad. We talked, we explained, we communicated…sure I wish I didn’t have to sit in the same chair for 9 hours a day, but hey – it happens sometimes. In addition, we got to play some fun games such as “Red Rover,” (which is totally NOT meant for adults) where I found out how my roommate, Bridget, REALLY feels about me…meaning she kneed me in the shins as I charged towards her. What roommate LOVE! So what was the best part about the taller? All the bonding? 10 people sleeping in each room? All the sharing? No. The food. I don’t think I’ve eaten that much since arriving in Guatemala…and I don’t know if I’ll ever FIND that much good food again. Then again I’m pretty sure it’s a good thing I don’t see such food on a daily basis as I think I would explode! Oh well, now that we’re back at NPH I guess it’s back to black beans and tortillas…

Charlie

This blog post is dedicated to Charlie, my first real pet, aka my beta fish. I received Charlie roughly 5 years ago as a Christmas present from my boyfriend. He was called a “Baby in a bottle” as he was still a baby beta, roughly ½ an inch big, and without a tail. I loved Charlie from the time he was a toddler and I did my best to take care of him. However, unfortunately, after almost 5 years, Charlie has joined the big fish bowl in the sky. He was a wonderful pet and I will miss him dearly. So here’s to my first ever pet – you were a wonderful fish and a wonderful friend. RIP Charlie.

You learn something new…

Every time I go down to my section, I’m AMAZED at the things I can teach my girls :). Last night, after dragging my boots to go down there, I headed down only to help all the girls fold their clothes and organize their lockers for two hours. WOO! Right as I was about to leave I went to kiss Kimberly (Kiki) goodnight and noticed that she was doing origami. I immediately got too excited to go home :-P. Instead, we made fortune tellers and big balloons (thanks Aunt Patti for teaching me that when I was Kiki’s age!) After finishing our creations, she took out her colored pencils to decorate them. That’s when the REAL magic happened and I taught her all about primary and secondary colors! She was COMPLETELY awed. She then began to pull out alllllllllll of her colored pencils to try every color combination she could. It’s amazing how happy it makes me to watch my little girls learn something new :).

Passport: CHECK

So after an AGONIZING 5 days (for my mom, anyway) without my passport, I have finally relinquished it from Immigration AND without being an illegal immigrant in Guatemala!! Yesterday, I tried my luck at getting on a medical transport from NPH to the capital, and for once – it worked!

We left around 7:45, arrived at immigration at 10 and, thank GOD it was NOTHING like my first trip, this trip lasted approximately 80 seconds and made me not mind immigration so much…for now...

Earth Lodge

This past weekend was the volunteer’s “salida” aka “going out,” a time designed for the volunteers to simply BE in the same place, without anything else to do and nowhere else to go…basically being trapped with your co-workers for 72 hours. After much deliberation, we decided to head to Earth Lodge, a beautiful avocado farm on the side of a hill about 20 minutes outside of Antigua with an AMAZING view.

We arrived in 3 different shifts between Friday and Saturday. Through a series of miscommunications (in Guatemala? NEVER!) we missed the transport to take us there by a good 30 minutes. NEVER FEAR! That’s why there’s McDonald’s in the middle of Antigua :). After eating the MOST delicious chicken/bacon/lettuce/tomato/cheese sandwich EVER (and of course a McFlurry...), we received a call that the transport was coming back for us – hooray! We arrived around 8 pm that night riding in the back of a pickup truck. It was about 20 below zero and a pretty rough ride, but when it came to an end we were literally in the middle of nowhere. The driver told us all to get out of the truck and pointed towards a dirt path “follow the lower path and you’ll get there…eventually…” Bewildered, we all began the trek down the dirt path. Needless to say I was QUITE happy I had remembered my flashlight! After walking down about 100 very treacherous yards, we came across a sign that said “Earth Lodge 250 more meters.” It was a good thing too, because at that point we had all been ready to call it quits, head back up and go home! We continued walking the ridiculous dirt path further down, down, down, until we FINALLY came upon the lodge.

Situated in the mountains surrounding Antigua, the Earth Lodge has an AMAZING view of Antigua, as well as 3 volcanoes. Built in 2003, it was started by 2 ex-pats who had decided to move to Guatemala and purchased over 40 acres of land with almost 400 avocado trees! They harvest and sell the avocados twice a year, but the rest of the year they make their money through their hostel style rooms include REAL tree houses and cabanas :). VERY cool.

The weekend, which I was convinced was going to be the same as at NPH, just in a new location, turned out to be a BEAUTIFUL weekend away with perfect weather, fun games (including an indo-board – woo!), lots of board games, reading, and DELICIOUS vegetarian food – what more can anyone ask for? Enjoy the pics!


playing a ROUSING game of Trivial Pursuit


the beautiful view from Earth Lodge


annnnddddd again :)


what beautiful view would be complete without a jumping picture??
Carrie, Leeah, Katie, me, Sam, and Nicole :)

WHY are they so freaking good??

I would LOVE for someone to explain to me why McFlurry’s are so much better in Guatemala than they are in the states. Now, in general, I’ve always been a McFlurry fan – I mean, what’s not to love about vanilla soft serve and m & m’s…nothing, that's what. But for some reason, the McFlurry’s in Guatemala take the cake…and unfortunately their deliciousness makes me completely unable to resist. Also unfortunately, they cost 15Q a piece (almost 2 dollars – WHAT?) Regardless, I just can’t keep my hands off…

Not Again!

After being here for over 3 months, you would think the illnesses would begin to subside. After all, I got parasites after about a month here, then got a cough/cold that quickly turned into pneumonia/bronchitis/we're still not really sure WHAT about 3 weeks later. After that, I had pains in my side that lasted me about 3 weeks (and which are FINALLY almost all the way gone).

Unfortunately, maybe Guatemala doesn't love me as much as I love Guatemala. Yesterday I woke up with shooting stomach pains and the sudden urge to vomit. Always a wonderful start to the day. Today, a trip to the clinic revealed that, surprise surprise, we're pretty sure I have parasites. AGAIN. I was TOTALLY mentally and emotionally prepared for my move to Guatemala, however, apparently I wasn't so physically prepared. While my head was in the right place, my stomach and the rest of my body still can't seem to get there.

Here's hoping my health improves before my trip to the states in TWO WEEKS! WOO!

BOOSH

Yesterday when I was sitting outside with my students, two of them were studying for an exam in their next class. The girl, Lucia, kept turning to Jorge and saying “BOOSH – que tienes por numero…” – aka “Boosh, what do you have for number…” After a few minutes of hearing this I turned to ask them what “Boosh” meant, as I had never heard it before. They both sat there laughing for a while without explaining. I asked if it meant the same thing as “Vos” which the kids here use to mean “you” but in a VERY relaxed way (think – only use it with close friends and siblings). Regardless I was confused.

After another few minutes of laughing, Jorge finally turned to me and said “you know, like your president…” again, me = confused. “My name is Jorge, your old president’s name was Jorge BOOSH, so some of my friends call me Boosh.” Well that was NOT the answer I was expecting! I wonder how George W would feel about that one...

Last Day of Classes

Yesterday was the LAST DAY OF CLASSES!! WOOOOOOO – how exciting not to teach for another 3 months! For the last day of classes, we did a lot of movie watching, some soccer playing, and some brownie eating :). In addition, apparently all of my students feel like I have no rhythm (SUCH a lie) AND they laughed at my attempts to dance. Oh well, what can I say! Anyhoo, 2 of my students took it upon themselves to teach me the native dance, duerenguense…and I don’t think I’m half bad! As for the rest of the day, it consisted of taking inventory of all our electronics, CD’s, movies, and the BEGINNING of our thousands of books…while part of me is excited to be done with classes, the other part of me feels like inventory is going to be a painful and miserable process…should be an interesting two months…

Up, up and Away

This has been a BIG week for the kids here at NPH! In addition to it being the last week of classes, NPH’s very own orquestina left yesterday for a whirlwind 3 week tour in the United States! After weeks and MONTHS of planning – receiving passports and visas for all of the 20 or so kids, buying plane tickets, and mentally preparing, I don’t think anyone can believe that they’re actually gone! The kids left yesterday around midnight to catch their 5 am flight to Minnesota. While in the US they will split their time between Minnesota and Wisconsin, a trip that has been organized with help from our fundraising office in the States.

While there, the kids will be performing at churches, giving concerts, and having a special “Friends of the Orphans” Fundraiser to raise money for the home. It is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the kids and we wish them all the best of luck while they’re there! If you’d like to read more about the orquestina and their trip, you can find it here: http://www.nph.org/?page=page.php&lang=en&page=page.php&path=news/archive/2010/guatemala/orquestina.php

So much to learn…

Last night at my section the girls were doing there “aseos” (chores) and one asked me for help hand-washing her socks. “I would love to help but I have no idea HOW to properly hand-wash ANYTHING.” Enma proceeded to show me the correct form for using a pila while demonstrating proper hand-washing techniques for clothing.

After washing all of her socks she told me to wait outside for a minute. (Did I mention it felt like 10 below 0 outside??) She came back with a dirty rag for me to wash. “Primero, necessitas enguajar la cosa” – first you need to wet the object. “Next, rub the soap all over it.” Sadly, THIS was where my horrible form started to show. Apparently I’m not capable of using enough soap to even wash a dish towel rag. Perfect. After Enma had fixed my mistakes, she showed me how to rub the clothes on the ribbed pila to clean it. I was quite scared I was going to rub the skin RIGHT off my fingers, but she was an EXCELLENT teacher, taught me the ropes, AND kept my fingers intact :) – good lesson, but it made me VERY happy that we have working washers and dryers here…

3x the projects, 3x the fun

Sometimes, I’m not the brightest bulb. Like when I cancelled one of my projects last month because I thought I had pneumonia (ps. Turned out to not be true – just a cold? Still not quite sure…) REGARDLESS. Ok, maybe it wasn’t a bad idea. But cancelling that project and rescheduling a week later meant that in the course of one week I was going to have 3 projects. WHAT THE HECK WAS I THINKING???

Projects aren’t really a stressful thing – in fact, I think they are a LOT of fun, and an excellent way to get to know a bunch of the kids here on a more personal level. And I really like that :) I’m still trucking through learning names, but when there are 350 of them and one of you…it can be a little difficult.

Anyhoo! The time came for me to plan 3 projects at once. Now it’s hard enough to think of something for a group of kids to do together based on their ages and genders, but doing it 3 times in 7 days is a FEAT! Especially with very little input!

Project 1:
Project 1 was with Zulma and Johana – two girls in their early teens. Pretty adorable, yet pretty quiet. We spent a lovely evening making popcorn, watching “The Prestige,” and eating food from the comedor. VERY low key. And a perfect beginning to my week of projects.

Project 2:
Next came the Guitz-Tian Family – MargaritA, MargaritO, Mercedes, and Marta. Also the only family that told me pre-project what they wanted to do – bake a cake and watch a movie. When asked why they wanted to bake a cake, two of the girls told me that it was Margarito’s birthday during the month of October and they wanted to be able to celebrate it together as a family. HOW ADORABLE ARE THEY! Sounded good to me!

Now Margarita, the oldest, lives in the Bachillerato in Chimaltenango, roughly 30 minutes away. I made sure to call A WEEK ahead of time to make sure she was fully informed about our project…and again the morning of…but that didn’t seem to matter. At 10 am she was nowhere to be found, and her brother and sisters were slightly restless. We decided it would be a good idea to bake the cake and start the movie without her…good thinking. I kept look out at the window to the English room which faces NPH’s entrance, but it was no use. No one showed up. Every time they heard screeching tires each of the kids would jump up and run to the window…I kept trying to call the bachillerato again, but to no avail :(.

After an hour I began to lose hope. She must have forgotten. I took one last glance out the window and saw 2 girls talking. One was Yecenia, the Ano de servicio in my section, but the other I couldn’t distinguish. Trying not to get the kids hopes up, I turned and told them there was a girl standing on our street. They immediately pushed all their chairs aside and flew to the window. “ES ELLA ES ELLA” – that’s her that’s her! They screamed for her to come to the English Department and 5 seconds later all the kids were immersed in a sea of hugs. Did I mention how adorable this family was?

The rest of our project was fantastic (with the exception of me watching “Fame”…again) and the kids were just SO excited to spend time together. It was definitely one of my favorite projects since I’ve been here :).

Marta, Mercedes, and Margarito hard at work


What an adorable fam! Marta, Margarita, Mercedes, and Margarito


...with me!

Project 3:
My last project of the week was with Georgia and Annllie Perez. Care to guess how you pronounce “Annllie?” Well, if you said it like ANGIE – you would be correct. Go figure!

Our project started yesterday at 5pm. I was informed 2 hours prior that at 4:30 the orquestina was going to be having a dress rehearsal for their trip to the states (more on that later…) and that all of the sections would be there. I showed up at 5 ready to go, but the girls wanted to stay for the performances. SO! We watched the orquestina until about 5:40, then headed to the comedor for dinner. After that we dropped our things off at the English Department and headed into Parramos so the girls could buy a little something for themselves with their 5Q each. I did NOT realize how long walking to Parramos with two teenage girls was going to take! They bought bags of chips, lollipops, and what could only be described as “Valentine’s Day Cards” but for every day purposes. Oh dear. Afterwards we went to a panaderia so I could buy a small “pastel” for one of the tias in my section to celebrate her birthday. That turned out to be an awful idea. All I had to buy the cake was one bill - 100Q (roughly 12 dollars) but the cake only cost 3…and of COURSE they didn’t have change. HOW SILLY of me! I had to go to 4 different tiendas (shops) before I could find a place that would give me change for my 100, THEN we had to walk back to NPH and THEN we started a wonderfully horrible movie, “Sky High.” Needless to say it was the LONGEST project ever at almost 4 hours, but still, quite fun. The girls were VERY talkative and seemed to have a great relationship :).

Georgia and Annllie :)

So what did my week FULL of projects teach me? That projects are one of my favorite things about being at NPH and that a little spontaneity can be a lot of fun :) although I don’t think I’ll be scheduling 3 projects for the same week again anytime soon.

Fun with Onomatopoeia

Since the arrival of October, it’s been QUITE cold here at NPH. Wait a minute. I LIVE IN GUATEMALA. Shouldn’t it just be hot hot hot??? False. I may live in Guatemala, but I also live in the MOUNTAINS of Guatemala. Aka – It’s cold.

Last night I went to my section to hang out with my girls. One of them asked me for help washing dishes so we headed outside to the pilas (sinks) where I proceeded to say “BRRRRRRRRR” about 800 times. EVERY time – it made her giggle. I guess I would find it funny too to see a foreigner shivering up and down and saying a made-up word I had never heard before.

Tell me something I didn't know...

Every day in my Tercero Basico (the equivalent of 9th grade) my students write in their journals. They are allowed to write WHATEVER they want in English, I correct it, and give it back to them. For the last day of school, I asked the students to write whatever they wanted, either in English OR Spanish, telling me what they liked and didn’t like about the class, what they would change, and what they would keep. Most of the entries were very sweet and about how the children really enjoyed this class, how they felt they learned a lot, etc. And then there was Ever’s. He didn’t have much to say and some of it WAS nice…some of it…

One of the smartest kids in my class and a member of the Liderazgo (leadership group), he wrote: “tienes que aprender más español porque casi no entiendes el español o lo que hablamos.” Translation? “You need to learn more Spanish because you almost never understand our Spanish, or what we say.” I thought I WAS learning more! As if I didn’t know that I hardly ever understand you. THANKS EVER – I’M WORKING ON IT!

This looks familiar…

I have seen WAYYY too many bad movies WAAYYYY too many times in the past few weeks. In the past week, all of my classes have watched at least one movie AND I’ve had 3 projects which all included movies. In addition, I had to watch them BEFORE my classes/projects because I wanted to make sure they were children/age appropriate. I mean, we’re talking: Fame (4th time this week…), Sky High (2 times), etc. Basically, that means that I’ve seen tooooooooo many horrifically bad movies this week to count.

Roman Numerals are HARD

This week is the last week of school (WOO!) so all of the kids are in the middle of their final exams. Last night I went to my section to help my girls study for their exams. What I learned (or rather remembered) is that Roman Numerals are REALLY hard. I mean…what were these Romans trying to pull? If there’s a 4 or a 9 you need to subtract the lower number from the bigger? I mean come on. How is a 9 year old supposed to get that?? I barely get it now. Why can't you put 4 of one symbol on there?? Why couldn't they just add all the symbols together?? And why couldn’t they just use NUMBERS? Que ridiculo.

Fumigation

Last night at dinner we beans, cheese, and tortillas…and cookies AND cake! How exciting! The only problem was that for some strange reason ALL of the delicious goodies smelled and tasted vaguely like paint…or gasoline… and that’s when we all realized what had happened. FUMIGATION.

Last week the fumigators came to fumigate the home. The ENTIRE home. Around 9 am on Thursday I was minding my own business, sitting in the English department, when all of a sudden, the head of the department comes in and tells me they are about to fumigate our room. I didn’t think anything of it until I heard a RIDICULOUSLY loud whirring sound outside of the window…after which I IMMEDIATELY grabbed my laptop, water bottle, and purse, and sprinted for the door!

I got out JUST in time. As I was leaving the room, a man carrying what could only be described as a “ghost busters” spray gun ran into the room and filled it with fumigation gases. WHEW. While I kept my distance a good ways away, ALL OF THE CHILDREN (who SHOULD have been in classes) ran after the guy with the spray gun, following him from room to room. Just imagine: a ghost-busting fumigator, spraying potentially harmful gases, while 300 kids sprint after him. Let me further mention that it was about 50 degrees and raining outside. Let me also add that all classes were then cancelled between 9 and 10:45. I know…you’re SHOCKED.

Here are some questions that were raised in MY mind: 1. Why couldn’t they fumigate 3 HOURS later so classes wouldn’t have to be cancelled? 2. Why couldn’t they fumigate 1 WEEK later when there WILL BE no classes to be cancelled? 3. Why didn’t anyone stop the hoards of children running INTO the gases? All valid questions without answers… So instead, a few of my girls and I sat outside of the classrooms and listened to music and looked at pictures on my computer…good use of a school day.

Needless to say…fumigation does not lead to the making of delicious cookies…quite the contrary...in case you had any doubts...

It’s already been 90 days?!?

So yesterday was my 90th day in Guatemala. SERIOUSLY how have I already been here for 3 months?!? Anyhoo, what it means is that it was time to renew my Visa to be in Guatemala. You are free to stay in the country up to 90 uninterrupted days before you’re required to go to the capital to renew your Visa or you must leave the country. Unfortunately, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador have an immigration agreement, so these countries (and thus my vacation last month) don’t count as actually “leaving the country.” Silly? Why yes. Quite.

Yesterday we left for Guatemala City for our visa renewals at 8:15 and arrived at the immigration office around 10:30. One of the other volunteers, Mona Lisa, and I were the only 2 volunteers left to renew our visas, so we had a LOT to do. First, we entered the immigration office to make photo copies of our passports and credit cards (which prove that you have enough money to leave the country when your time comes…what does it actually prove? That you have a credit card with your name on it…). Next, we went to the Photo center to take the most specific “passport style” photos in the world where: you must show your forehead and your ears, your hair must be pulled back, you cannot wear glasses, you cannot wear makeup, you cannot smile, and they MUST be in black and white, not to mention the correct size. REALLY? While we were waiting we took a detour to Burger King. Don’t worry – fast food is SO much more legit in Guatemala than in the states…either that, or I just forget what a normal hamburger looks like…

After an hour we picked up our ATROCIOUS photos and headed back to immigration. At this point it was roughly 12:15 and we were grateful to be able to hand in our things and head out. Unfortunately that’s not how things happened. Instead, we stood on line for a solid 30 minutes without a single person helping us. Around 12:45 we finally asked for some more information and were told that we needed to continue waiting. Then, around 1:05, we were told that the reason why they couldn’t take our things (when ALL we wanted to do was hand them a few pieces of paper) was because a machine that they needed was broken, and wouldn’t be fixed until 2 pm. Great. Let MORE waiting commence.

At 1:45 we decided it would be a good time to start the line for “extranjeros” (literally strangers) again and so we began to wait some more…but now while standing. We stood there for another 45 minutes without being told ANY more information. At 2:30, the woman behind the counter (who I was now beginning to loathe) told us that the machine would be fixed “en un momentito” (in just a quick minute). LIAR. After another 10 minutes we asked again – “Are you SURE someone is coming to fix this machine?” to which the response came “Well, there’s actually only one working machine…you need to be in THAT line,” which was said while pointing to ANOTHER line that had formed at ANOTHER window, that already had 20 people on it. SOMETIMES I HATE GUATEMALAN INDIRECTNESS!!!!!!!!!! We then proceeded to switch lines and wait some more. By the time I made it to the window, handed in my papers, paid my fees, handed in my receipt, and received my slip to pick up my passport next week, it was 3:35 (the offices close at 4). After 5 hours of RIDICULOUS waiting, really atrociously awful passport style photos, angry fist shaking, silly Guatemalan indirectness, lots of miscommunication, and a few games of Sudoku, we were no longer illegal immigrants.

Needless to say I’m NOT looking forward to my next trip to immigration – luckily it won’t be for at least another 6 months…

Organizing the English Room…

So now that classes are winding down for the year (SERIOUSLY where did the last 3 months go???) Sam and I are in charge of taking care of things in the English room and preparing everything for next year. While it would seem that with classes being over we would have a lot LESS to do, the opposite could not be more true. Over the course of the next 2 months we need to: CLEAN the entire department (MUCH more easily said than done), create course curriculums and binders for all of the 10 grades of English that are taught in our school (when together we’ve only taught 6 of them – this should be enjoyable…), and inventory EVERYTHING that we own – English reading books, teacher’s books, games, materials, electronics – you name it. Not to mention the fact that Sam and I are both going on vacation during the next two months…we could definitely use some luck with this one…

My notebook…

When I first arrived in Guatemala there were very few things that I wanted/needed to buy – I’ve already been to Guatemala, how many woven things in pretty colors can I possibly own?? Regardless, first on my list was a notebook so that I could keep track of important information such as: words to learn in Spanish, Spanish verb conjugations, my girls’ birthdays, etc.

Every day that I would go to the section the girls would always ask me if I brought a few things with me: books to read to them (which is next on my list), Uno (you know how that one turned out…), playing cards, and a pencil and paper. The latter are things I ALWAYS have in my bag – who knows when I’m going to hear a useful Spanish phrase or two! Anyhoo, the girls figured out that I always had my pen and paper with me and have been borrowing my notebook every day since then. They always tell me to wait until another day to read the messages that they write me, but I can never help it – they are just too adorable and usually include a picture or two :). Below is my favorite thus far (with the Spanish and the English version).

Para: Jessica De: Mariela
Hola! Como te encuentras bueno. Yo solo te quiero decir que tú eres muy buen onda con nosotras y compartes tus momentos con nosotras. Gracias por toda tu amistad que nos das y tu amor. Yo se que tú has dejado tu familia para poder visitarnos y ensenarnos todo lo que sabes y todo y espero que tu sabes que cuando te vayas nosotras siempre estaremos esperándote en todo momento. Y cuando quieras venir a visitarnos aquí estaremos esperándote. Tenemos gracias que dios nos permite vivir la vida. Nunca dejes de sonreír porque no sabes quién pueden enamorarse de ti y porque una sonrisa vale más que una palabra.
Att: Dios y yo
Nunca olvides que dios te ama.

For: Jessica From: Mariela
Hi! I hope this finds you well. I only want to tell you that you are a good person with us and you share your time with all of us. Thank you for all of your friendship that you give us and your love. I know that you have left your family to be able to visit us and teach us all that you know and all, and I hope you know that when you come to the section we are always waiting for you in that moment. And when you want to come visit us, we will be here waiting for you. We are grateful that God permits us to live life. Never leave behind your smile because you don’t know who can love you for it and because a smile is worth more than a word.
Attention: God and me
Never forget that God loves you.

Día del Niño

So after waking up at 4:30 to sing Las Mañanitas and going back to bed and sleeping for another 2 hours, it was finally time for Día del Niño! Now, NORMALLY Guatemalan time is approximately 30 minutes to an hour and a half BEHIND the time that things are scheduled for. If you have a meeting at 10 am – you can bet that your meeting won’t start until AT LEAST 10:45. But I had a feeling that this day was going to be different. We were instructed to be in front of the office to get on the buses at 8 am. I showed up at 8:05 and the buses were fully loaded, ready to take off! By 8:15 we were on our way – it was like some parallel westernized universe!!

We took the buses a little bit past Antigua (a rather large, touristy town about 30 minutes away) and headed to a farm for the day. The day started off raining rather hard. Eventually the rain subsided and, while it was still pretty cold, the weather didn’t seem to deter any of the kids from all the fun activities surrounding them.

The “farm” as it was called had lots of open space, 3 swimming pools (VERY cold yet FULL of kids), a trampoline, around 5 or 6 games to play with TONS of prizes, not to mention delicious snacks (each of the kids was given a chocolate and vanilla popsicle, a bag of cotton candy (!), a bag of chips, and a can of coke – they were a little cracked out to say the least…). The kids were then given free rein to do whatever they wanted from 9 am until 4 pm.

I spent a lot of the day learning more kid’s names and being quizzed by Leeah and hanging out with BABIES!! I must say I LOVE hanging out with the baby’s house – they are just SO freaking adorable! We tried to decide who the cutest baby in the house was, and we couldn’t make up our minds – they are just that cute. We also spent a solid 20-30 minutes putting the babies on the trampoline by themselves and watching them fall down and laugh and smile – absolutely 100% adorable.

Besides all the games, trampolines, snacks, and pools, the tios also began an awesome game of jump rope (don’t worry, I was totally in the center of the action for that…), there were tons of soccer games, and of course, delicious carne asada, potatoes, and refried beans (SO much more delicious than whole beans…I can’t even tell you…). In addition, all the trabajadores (workers) from the office dressed up as clowns (kind of…) and offered face painting! I thought it would be really sweet to get my face painted to I asked for a mariposa (butterfly). What I got was a HUGE heap of red paint on my face that was INCREDIBLY itchy and looked ridiculous. I kept it for a while but eventually couldn’t take it anymore and HAD to get rid of it. Only one problem. I’m fairly certain they used “crazy super ridiculous, never come off, indelible ink” face paint. Smart choice for a kid’s carnival…

Lucky for me, one of the tias in my section had brought toilet paper and body lotion with her, but after 20 minutes of scrubbing I had exhausted all of my patience and, while the butterfly was no longer visible, instead I was left with a bright red face! (Of course there was no soap or mirrors anywhere so I had to rely on other people to tell me where to scrub…) Anyway, another 30 minutes later, my face was left only a shade or two pinker than normal and I could get away with not looking like a tomato. Problem solved. And good thing too, because the volunteer’s dance was the first presentation of the day!

Our dance went off with only a few minor music glitches (mostly just lack of communication – OH MY that NEVER happens here!) Anyway, after the music situation was worked out, it was PHENOMENAL (at least from my point of view!) I had a blast dancing and I think the kids really enjoyed the effort we put into our show. After our presentation came one from: the office, the baby’s house, the girl’s house, the teachers, and finally the boy’s house. Unfortunately not every group stuck to the 10 minute limit that we were given, but the whole show turned out really well and the kids seemed to really enjoy it…and that’s what it’s all about :). Feliz Día del Niño!


A bunch of the kids swimming in the pool...


Bryan and Auri hanging out on the picnic table


Tony and the other babies jumping on the trampoline!


Christy from accounting (aka the wonderful lady that gives us our money...) doing facepainting :)


All of the tias in their costumes for their dances

Las Mañanitas

On Thursday we started the annual celebrations for Día del Niño a tad bit early…aka at 4:45. Every year it is a tradition for all of the tios, tias, and volunteers to wake up SUPER early to sing “Las Mañanitas” (a traditional birthday song) to the kids. The thought process behind it is that not every child gets to have everyone sing to them on their birthday – normally their sections will sing to them, but not EVERYONE – so the idea is that once a year, all of the kids get to celebrate this tradition. Las Mañanitas is an adorable little song to sing to children on their birthdays to wake them up – I’ve printed the lyrics and translation below :).

Español:
Estas son las mañanitas
que cantaba el Rey David
y hoy por ser dia de tu santo
te las cantamos a ti.

Despierta (el nombre de la persona) despierta
mira que ya amaneció
ya los pajaritos cantan
la luna ya se metió.

Que linda está la mañana en que vengo a saludarte
venimos todos con gusto y placer a felicitarte.
El día en que tú naciste, nacieron todas las flores
y en la Pila del Bautismo, cantaron los ruiseñores.

Ya viene amaneciendo
ya la luz del día nos dio
levantate de mañana
mira que ya amaneció.

English:
These are the “Little” mornings
That are sung by King David
And today is the day of your saint
And we will sing to you

Wake up, Wake up
See that the sun has already risen
Already the birds are singing
And the moon has gone away

How cute is this morning that has come to greet you
We all come with pleasure to congratulate you
The day that you were born, all the flowers were born too
And in the waters of your baptism all the nightingales sang

The sunrise is already here
Already the light of day has been given to us
Wake up this morning
And see the sun that has already risen.

Dia de Visitas

Last Sunday was my first “Dia de Visitas” here at the home. Once every 3 months we have a day where visitors are free to come and roam about – whether they are padrinos (Godparents) from Guatemala or elsewhere, family members or friends. For those kids who have visitor’s (and know it) the weeks leading up to visitor’s day are full of anticipation. For those kids who don’t have family or aren’t expecting them to visit, the days and weeks prior can suck. A lot.

On the day of, it is the volunteer’s job (and other various jobs like teachers) to make sure the kids who don’t receive visitors are entertained…aka we watch movies all day (…3 Men and a Baby, 13 Going on 30, and She’s the Man – QUALITY choices!) All of the kids from each of the 3 different houses (girls, boys, and bebes) are put together in 3 separate rooms to await their visitors. As their guests arrive, kids’ names are called and they race up the stairs while the rest of the kids hang out and watch movies. Fortunately, a lot of our kids DO receive visitors (out of a house of around 80 girls, there were only around 20 left), however, it doesn’t make it any easier to watch the kids who know no one is coming for them. Overall visitor’s day seems like a big mix of emotions and is emotionally draining, but it’s nice to know at least as volunteers we can be there to spend some time with the kids and be their visitors for the day.