Today we had a meeting to determine in what sections we would be working during Christmastime. Volunteers at NPH are asked to work as tios/tias (uncles and aunts who live in the sections with the kids) during the 3 weeks leading up to Christmas, so that the locals can go home and celebrate Christmas.
So where am I going to be spending the next 3 weeks of my life (starting on Friday)? With "The Luceros" - the 6 little babies between the ages of 2-4...of course including mijo, Tony :) I don't exactly envy the life of a tia - LONG hours (we work 2 days on, 2 days off), having to watch LOTS of little kids at the same time, lots of rules to follow...it's gunna be rough...I'm a little scared, but I'm also pretty excited!
Monday, November 29, 2010
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Turkey Day ;-)
Yesterday we had sort of a “staff appreciation lunch-in,” Guatemala style. The ENTIRE staff of NPH rode the bus to get to a fancy restaurant in Antigua for an AWESOME lunch of pork, gravy, mashed potatoes, and mixed veggies…I think only the volunteers actually enjoyed the food, but it was INCREDIBLY delicious :). After eating, we received raffle tickets and had the chance to receive some sweet prizes including items made by the kids (candelabras, pencil holders, cabinets), outdoor folding chairs, loaves of bread (those people weren’t too thrilled with their prizes…), bags of candy, flip flops, and appliances. When my number was called I really had NO idea what to expect. And then I received…an electric mixer! At first I was really confused…then, when my confusion subsided, I was THRILLED! It’s gunna be sooooo much easier to make delicious baked goods having a mixer :). Well, what I mean to say is, it’s going to be a million times easier for OTHER people to make ME baked goods using MY electric mixer – calidad ;-)
Adventures in Utila, Honduras (or) Fact: Scuba divers have more fun (or) I swam with a WHALE SHARK – have YOU??
Soooooo after a FANTASTIC and VERY tiresome week in Honduras I’ve FINALLY made it back to NPH in one piece! AND…surprise surprise…the reason for our impromptu trip across the border was…to get SCUBA DIVING CERTIFIED!
One of our fellow volunteers, Jonas, and some of his friends had gone to Utila to get scuba diving certified about 2 months ago and had HIGHLY recommended it. When Sam told me about it, it definitely sounded appealing, but also VERY expensive and SCARY! What to do, what to do? I thought about it for a solid 3 weeks before deciding it was something I shouldn’t miss out on.
We left for Utila last Thursday morning (the 18th) at 3 am to get to Antigua for our 4 am shuttle…that didn’t show up until almost 5 – hooray for Guatemala time! We boarded the bus and were literally on bus after bus after bus from 5 am until 10 pm, when we arrived at the coast of Honduras, a town called La Cieba. We spent the night there and caught the first boat out to the island of Utila at 9 am. I think none of us were too happy about catching the boat, as we could literally see the 10 foot waves crashing over the windows…luckily none of us got sick, but we definitely thought long and hard about it…
When we arrived on Utila, we knew exactly what we were looking for – someone holding a sign for “Cross Creek Utila” aka the dive center. We found them in a matter of seconds, they took our bags, and we made the pleasant 5 minute walk to the dive shop. From there, we were told to grab a quick lunch and put our suits on as we’d be getting in the water in about an hour. WHAT??!? AREN’T WE SUPPOSED TO WATCH VIDEOS OR LEARN SOMETHING BEFORE WE’RE THROWN INTO THE OCEAN WITH SCUBA TANKS?!??
We went across the way to “Big Mama’s House” to get the most delicious chicken wraps for lunch and then headed to our own private little house to get ready…
Our awesome little house (even if it was cockroach infested!)
Mangrove trees that grew at the back of our house!
The dive masters house at sunset – note the awesome paintings
Our instructor, Tina, (who was consequently from Huntington, NY, graduated the same year as us, AND we had friends in common on LI – go figure!?) assured us that it was perfectly safe to get in the water without first having the introductory lessons…so we thought – well, here goes nothing! We went out with 2 trained dive masters Tina – our instructor, and Steve – an Aussie who had just gotten certified and liked to play a LOT of practical jokes underwater, and then Isaac, who was in the middle of his dive master certification, as well as 3 others getting dive certified - David and Tonya, a couple from Switzerland, and Sam, a girl from London – overall a very awesome group of people :)
Me, Sam, and Carrie with Steve-O!
Me and Carrie in the water (I’m the idiot with the mask still on…) with Steve, Tina, and Isaac
The first time breathing through a regulator under water was well…scary…and new…and interesting…but mostly just scary! Our first 2 times out, we were in “confined water” (aka REALLY shallow) and we practiced all the basics such as: filling our mask with water and emptying it, breathing with a buddy, taking our mask off and putting it back on, taking our gear off and putting it on, taking out our regulators (what you breathe through) and finding them again, swimming without a mask, etc, etc. COOL STUFF.
Nicole, me, Sam, and Carrie ready for our first dive!
Over the course of the next few days, we went on 6 dives and became PADI Open Water Certified (which means that we can dive down to 18m). Not only that but we saw a TON of cool stuff! We saw: lobsters, crabs, a WALL of squid (seriously like 60 of them – think “Finding Nemo”-esque), lionfish (which was bad because they’re actually an invasive species that’s destroying the reef…booooo), trumpetfish, cowfish, drumfish, angelfish, parrotfish, Moray eels (SCARY looking fellas), an entire FIELD of garden eels (the little guys that look like snakes sticking up through the sand on the ocean floor), and TONS and TONS of beautiful coral. Utila is actually located in the Caribbean Sea in the middle of the Mesoamerican barrier reef system, which is the second largest in the world…that being said, I think it’s gunna be hard to go scuba diving after seeing so many beautiful things so clearly on our first adventure!
Look at how CLEAR that water is :)
Me, Sam, Nicole, and Carrie ready to get in the water!
With my awesome new log book!
SPEAKING of…so while we were out, our AWESOME boat driver, Cookie, got a call to say that there were dolphins swimming around and did we want to go snorkeling with them. WHAT KIND OF A QUESTION IS THAT?? Even though at this point I was keeled over on the boat COMPLETELY seasick – how could I say no? I jumped in with the rest of them and got to swim around with some bottlenose dolphins for a bit :)
DOLPHINS!
After that, Cookie got another call – there was a “boil” in the water and people were looking for whale sharks. We proceeded to the boil (which is when there is a lot of plankton and krill on the top of the ocean, so lots of little fish come to eat it, which brings bigger and bigger fish, and eventually whale sharks…) after an unsuccessful trip, we were a little discouraged. Oh well, maybe another time…
The next day we went out for a BEAUTIFUL day of diving and in between dives, Cookie got another call – a whale shark had been spotted! We headed out to the boil and watch as its tailfin sliced the water and Cookie yelled “GET IN GET IN GET IN GET IN – YOU AIN’T GOT NO TIME TO PUT ON YOUR WET SUITS JUST GET IN GET IN GET IN!!” So here we were, scrambling on the bow of the boat to find our fins and snorkeling gear, so that we could jump into the ocean with a shark. Granted, whale sharks aren’t carnivorous, but still….WHAT WERE WE THINKING???
What were we thinking?? That this would probably be one of the coolest natural things we would ever get to do – swimming with the world’s largest fish in the middle of the ocean – a once in a lifetime experience. While I must admit that I was terrified, I wouldn’t have stayed on the boat for anything. Watching that beautiful creature (who was small for her size at only about 12-15 feet long) swim in the ocean was an incredible sight that I won’t soon forget. When we got back to the island after our second dive, Nicole and I headed to the whale shark research station on the island and told the guy what we had seen…I think he was more excited than we were! He also told us it was the first whale shark sighting in over 2 months on Utila (which is usually known for being a good place to see them) – and we were the lucky ones that got to spot it! How AWESOME!
WHALE SHARK (look at that tail slicing the water! CRAZY!)
Carrie and Nicole standing in front of a painting of a WHALE SHARK!
After coming back from our last dive, we headed out to dinner with everyone for some pizza and then the 4 of us went to a bar called “Treetanic” which Jonas had told us about…boy were we upset that we only got to see it at night. What Jonas described as a “really cool bar” turned out to be one of the coolest places I’ve ever seen in my life. It turns out that this tree-house bar was started by a local somewhere between 15-20 years ago, and he has just continuously built in and around it. You walk up a set of stairs and find yourself in a magical fairytale land where EVERYTHING has been turned into something sparkling and beautiful with seashells, colored glass, and recyclables – incredible….the pictures could never do it justice, but here’s an attempt…
Decorated stairs at “Treetanic”…
Sam and Carrie under a decorated archway at Treetanic :)
After a FANTASTIC, yet quite fun packed and incredibly tiring week, we slowly made our way back to the border (where we celebrated Thanksgiving (kind of) with pad thai and saying things like “I’m grateful we saw that WHALE SHARK” and “I’m grateful we didn’t die while scuba diving!” and “I’m REALLY grateful we saw that WHALE SHARK!”) and then back to Guatemala (with LOTS of return travel pitfalls – buses not running at the correct time, taxi drivers wanting to charge $70 more than they said, full shuttles that force us to leave HOURS later than planned). We arrived back in Antigua on Thanksgiving night around 8 pm. Having missed my awesome prize with my aniversario team (they had gone to see Harry Potter – and I missed it! Que lastima!) I was a little bummed, but we got a ride back with an NPH bus who had gone to McDonald’s with some of the other winning teams and enjoyed the adventure of watching all the teenagers sit wayyyy too close and having to have the volunteers sit between them :-P.
Through all of the terror, shock, awe, and crazy sightings, my week in Honduras turned out to be a fantastic adventure with some awesome friends :).
Sunset off Utila :)
One of our fellow volunteers, Jonas, and some of his friends had gone to Utila to get scuba diving certified about 2 months ago and had HIGHLY recommended it. When Sam told me about it, it definitely sounded appealing, but also VERY expensive and SCARY! What to do, what to do? I thought about it for a solid 3 weeks before deciding it was something I shouldn’t miss out on.
We left for Utila last Thursday morning (the 18th) at 3 am to get to Antigua for our 4 am shuttle…that didn’t show up until almost 5 – hooray for Guatemala time! We boarded the bus and were literally on bus after bus after bus from 5 am until 10 pm, when we arrived at the coast of Honduras, a town called La Cieba. We spent the night there and caught the first boat out to the island of Utila at 9 am. I think none of us were too happy about catching the boat, as we could literally see the 10 foot waves crashing over the windows…luckily none of us got sick, but we definitely thought long and hard about it…
When we arrived on Utila, we knew exactly what we were looking for – someone holding a sign for “Cross Creek Utila” aka the dive center. We found them in a matter of seconds, they took our bags, and we made the pleasant 5 minute walk to the dive shop. From there, we were told to grab a quick lunch and put our suits on as we’d be getting in the water in about an hour. WHAT??!? AREN’T WE SUPPOSED TO WATCH VIDEOS OR LEARN SOMETHING BEFORE WE’RE THROWN INTO THE OCEAN WITH SCUBA TANKS?!??
We went across the way to “Big Mama’s House” to get the most delicious chicken wraps for lunch and then headed to our own private little house to get ready…
Our awesome little house (even if it was cockroach infested!)
Mangrove trees that grew at the back of our house!
The dive masters house at sunset – note the awesome paintings
Our instructor, Tina, (who was consequently from Huntington, NY, graduated the same year as us, AND we had friends in common on LI – go figure!?) assured us that it was perfectly safe to get in the water without first having the introductory lessons…so we thought – well, here goes nothing! We went out with 2 trained dive masters Tina – our instructor, and Steve – an Aussie who had just gotten certified and liked to play a LOT of practical jokes underwater, and then Isaac, who was in the middle of his dive master certification, as well as 3 others getting dive certified - David and Tonya, a couple from Switzerland, and Sam, a girl from London – overall a very awesome group of people :)
Me, Sam, and Carrie with Steve-O!
Me and Carrie in the water (I’m the idiot with the mask still on…) with Steve, Tina, and Isaac
The first time breathing through a regulator under water was well…scary…and new…and interesting…but mostly just scary! Our first 2 times out, we were in “confined water” (aka REALLY shallow) and we practiced all the basics such as: filling our mask with water and emptying it, breathing with a buddy, taking our mask off and putting it back on, taking our gear off and putting it on, taking out our regulators (what you breathe through) and finding them again, swimming without a mask, etc, etc. COOL STUFF.
Nicole, me, Sam, and Carrie ready for our first dive!
Over the course of the next few days, we went on 6 dives and became PADI Open Water Certified (which means that we can dive down to 18m). Not only that but we saw a TON of cool stuff! We saw: lobsters, crabs, a WALL of squid (seriously like 60 of them – think “Finding Nemo”-esque), lionfish (which was bad because they’re actually an invasive species that’s destroying the reef…booooo), trumpetfish, cowfish, drumfish, angelfish, parrotfish, Moray eels (SCARY looking fellas), an entire FIELD of garden eels (the little guys that look like snakes sticking up through the sand on the ocean floor), and TONS and TONS of beautiful coral. Utila is actually located in the Caribbean Sea in the middle of the Mesoamerican barrier reef system, which is the second largest in the world…that being said, I think it’s gunna be hard to go scuba diving after seeing so many beautiful things so clearly on our first adventure!
Look at how CLEAR that water is :)
Me, Sam, Nicole, and Carrie ready to get in the water!
With my awesome new log book!
SPEAKING of…so while we were out, our AWESOME boat driver, Cookie, got a call to say that there were dolphins swimming around and did we want to go snorkeling with them. WHAT KIND OF A QUESTION IS THAT?? Even though at this point I was keeled over on the boat COMPLETELY seasick – how could I say no? I jumped in with the rest of them and got to swim around with some bottlenose dolphins for a bit :)
DOLPHINS!
After that, Cookie got another call – there was a “boil” in the water and people were looking for whale sharks. We proceeded to the boil (which is when there is a lot of plankton and krill on the top of the ocean, so lots of little fish come to eat it, which brings bigger and bigger fish, and eventually whale sharks…) after an unsuccessful trip, we were a little discouraged. Oh well, maybe another time…
The next day we went out for a BEAUTIFUL day of diving and in between dives, Cookie got another call – a whale shark had been spotted! We headed out to the boil and watch as its tailfin sliced the water and Cookie yelled “GET IN GET IN GET IN GET IN – YOU AIN’T GOT NO TIME TO PUT ON YOUR WET SUITS JUST GET IN GET IN GET IN!!” So here we were, scrambling on the bow of the boat to find our fins and snorkeling gear, so that we could jump into the ocean with a shark. Granted, whale sharks aren’t carnivorous, but still….WHAT WERE WE THINKING???
What were we thinking?? That this would probably be one of the coolest natural things we would ever get to do – swimming with the world’s largest fish in the middle of the ocean – a once in a lifetime experience. While I must admit that I was terrified, I wouldn’t have stayed on the boat for anything. Watching that beautiful creature (who was small for her size at only about 12-15 feet long) swim in the ocean was an incredible sight that I won’t soon forget. When we got back to the island after our second dive, Nicole and I headed to the whale shark research station on the island and told the guy what we had seen…I think he was more excited than we were! He also told us it was the first whale shark sighting in over 2 months on Utila (which is usually known for being a good place to see them) – and we were the lucky ones that got to spot it! How AWESOME!
WHALE SHARK (look at that tail slicing the water! CRAZY!)
Carrie and Nicole standing in front of a painting of a WHALE SHARK!
After coming back from our last dive, we headed out to dinner with everyone for some pizza and then the 4 of us went to a bar called “Treetanic” which Jonas had told us about…boy were we upset that we only got to see it at night. What Jonas described as a “really cool bar” turned out to be one of the coolest places I’ve ever seen in my life. It turns out that this tree-house bar was started by a local somewhere between 15-20 years ago, and he has just continuously built in and around it. You walk up a set of stairs and find yourself in a magical fairytale land where EVERYTHING has been turned into something sparkling and beautiful with seashells, colored glass, and recyclables – incredible….the pictures could never do it justice, but here’s an attempt…
Decorated stairs at “Treetanic”…
Sam and Carrie under a decorated archway at Treetanic :)
After a FANTASTIC, yet quite fun packed and incredibly tiring week, we slowly made our way back to the border (where we celebrated Thanksgiving (kind of) with pad thai and saying things like “I’m grateful we saw that WHALE SHARK” and “I’m grateful we didn’t die while scuba diving!” and “I’m REALLY grateful we saw that WHALE SHARK!”) and then back to Guatemala (with LOTS of return travel pitfalls – buses not running at the correct time, taxi drivers wanting to charge $70 more than they said, full shuttles that force us to leave HOURS later than planned). We arrived back in Antigua on Thanksgiving night around 8 pm. Having missed my awesome prize with my aniversario team (they had gone to see Harry Potter – and I missed it! Que lastima!) I was a little bummed, but we got a ride back with an NPH bus who had gone to McDonald’s with some of the other winning teams and enjoyed the adventure of watching all the teenagers sit wayyyy too close and having to have the volunteers sit between them :-P.
Through all of the terror, shock, awe, and crazy sightings, my week in Honduras turned out to be a fantastic adventure with some awesome friends :).
Sunset off Utila :)
Friday, November 26, 2010
Vacaciones
Sooooooooo I FINALLY arrived back from Honduras last night around 8pm after a LOT of travelling…it’s gunna take me a little while to write about my vacations… so for now, here’s some things to keep you interested…
SCUBA DIVING CERTIFICATION
SWIMMING WITH DOLPHINS
EELS/LOBSTERS/CORAL
WHALE SHARK
For now, ponder all that…more to come VERY soon!!
SCUBA DIVING CERTIFICATION
SWIMMING WITH DOLPHINS
EELS/LOBSTERS/CORAL
WHALE SHARK
For now, ponder all that…more to come VERY soon!!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Honduras
For those of you who don’t know, I’m being a TOTAL slacker and taking yet ANOTHER week of vacation…this time to Honduras! I’m leaving on Thursday morning around 2 am to head to Utila for a sweet relaxing week at the beach in the Bay Islands ;-) See ya on the flip side!
Movin’ on Up
Tomorrow is a big day. Tomorrow I move approximately 30 stairs up that BIIIIIGGGG hill I live down, up to house 6. A few weeks ago we were told by our volunteer coordinator that we have 2 new volunteers coming, Nathan (a Canadian who is going to be leading a lot of the construction here at NPH) and Elisa (a German who will work as an occupational therapist.) Because Nathan is coming and he must live in my house (since mine is the only co-ed one) our coordinator asked us to be flexible and for one of us to move up to the next house up. While I’m sad because it means I will be moving into Katie and Leeah’s room (my 2 friends who are leaving to go back to the states), it also means I’ll have a LOT less stairs to climb every day :). Wish me luck with my move!
The chaos that was...
Aniversario. Probably 24 of the craziest hours of my life. Complete with more water games, dirt (and mud) and PAIN then I could ever possibly express in one blog post. I suppose we should start at the beginning…
I don’t think anyone could have properly prepared me for what exactly aniversario entails, no matter how hard they tried. I’ll say one thing, I definitely understand why the kids look forward to it so much – a whole weekend of dances, partying, staying up late, games, entertainment, sports, competition, and fun…oh, and did I mention MUD??
Right before the night begins we all had our last practices…which lasted from 10 am until the dances started at 6 pm…it was QUITE the long day but at least I got some cute pictures…
Our awesome Banner featuring Pique
Jesus, Tony, and Roger with their Pique hats
Leeah and my favorite little guy ;-)
Friday night was a night of competition to judge our previously prepared skills: aka el baile y los purras (the dance and the cheers). Having already practiced (hahahaha) for WEEKS ahead of time (hahaha) they should have been good to go! The night started off with a big rally where all the kids joined in a circle, everyone waved their banners and ran in circles, and then we kicked off with some fireworks :) AWESOME.
Setting up for the dances and purras
Lots of the teams' banners
Running with banners...
Then began the process of choosing the order of dances…which was decided by picking a color off a huge television screen – Pique (my team) chose 3rd – we were ready to go ;-)
All the teams danced their dance, showed their mascots, and then chanted their cheers…my favorite of ours went something like this:
El equipo tricolor tiene mucho corazon
Y en la cancha lo demonstrara
Adelante compañeros
Este copa va a ganar
El equipo mas audaz – PIQUE
Translation?
The three-colored team has a lot of heart
And on the court we will show it
Come on now companions
This cup is going to be won
By the team with the most audacity ;-)
One of the teams during their purras
Italy's mascot - BLOCK MAN!
Pique during our dance (i'm in the middle in the white ;-))
Anyhoo, Friday night felt YEARS long because all 12 teams had to go…we ended up standing on “la cancha” (the court) from 5 pm until 11pm! CRAZY!
NOW on to the real stuff…SATURDAY! Saturday was a day for los juegos (the games) and it was 1. AWESOME, 2. EXHAUSTING, 3. PAINFUL, and 4. FUN. The games started at 8 am with a rally to get everyone spirited up and then we literally played games from 8:30-1:30, then had lunch, then played again from 2:30-5:30…it was a LOOOONNNNGGGG day!
Fernando with our Pique flag :)
Here is a list of some of the more awesome games we played:
1. An obstacle course consisting of tire runs, crawling through a pipe, climbing ginormous stairs, wading through a pool of mud, and then army crawling back to the finish line
2. Your team sitting in a line passing a HUGE wet sponge over everyone’s heads to dump it out in a bucket.
Sponge races
3. Volleyball with water balloons
4. Race against the clock on stilts about 3 feet off the ground
5. A HUUUUUGGGGGEEEE pole to climb, probably 40-50 feet in the air where money was attached at the top…
THE POLE
6. Trivia time using facts about Guatemala and famous people from Guatemala
7. Find the jewels in the mud pit…where 5 people from your team have to literally swim in mud and find as many of the 200 pieces of fake jewelry floating in it as they can…
In the mud pit searching for jewels...
8. Another obstacle course consisting of a potato sack race, running, frog hopping, and then ROLLING in mud while water is doused on top of you
9. Wheel of death: aka spin a wheel for 20 minutes and every time it lands on something you’re given another activity (anything from running around the entire soccer field TWICE to doing an entire obstacle course in a mud pool 2 feet deep to passing water filled cups with holes in the bottom over your head – you name it.)
There were another few, less exciting games thrown in there (a game sort of like ultimate Frisbee, another water balloon toss over a net game, etc., leading up to the big, one…culminating with the one, the only tug-of-war in a POOL of mud, where my team came in third – not bad stuff ;-)
TUG OF WAR
After all of the games ended there was a huge dance for all the kids, tios, volunteers, well…everyone! Although we were all exhausted and couldn’t bear the thought of moving a muscle, we all still headed upstairs to bust some moves and have some fun…and to hear the announcements of the winners of this year’s aniversario!
Our sweet Dance, NPH style
We ended up with 6 overall winners – top 3 for dances and cheers and top 3 for games…and my team…Pique….won 2nd place in games!! Woooo!!! What does it mean exactly? It means that on Thanksgiving Day, while all you wonderful people in the states are feasting on turkey dinners, I’ll be eating a kick-ass meal of Pizza Hut with my awesome aniversario team and getting to watch a movie at the theater in town – needless to say, we’re all pretty excited :)
HAPPY 14TH ANIVERSARIO NPH GUATEMALA!!
I don’t think anyone could have properly prepared me for what exactly aniversario entails, no matter how hard they tried. I’ll say one thing, I definitely understand why the kids look forward to it so much – a whole weekend of dances, partying, staying up late, games, entertainment, sports, competition, and fun…oh, and did I mention MUD??
Right before the night begins we all had our last practices…which lasted from 10 am until the dances started at 6 pm…it was QUITE the long day but at least I got some cute pictures…
Our awesome Banner featuring Pique
Jesus, Tony, and Roger with their Pique hats
Leeah and my favorite little guy ;-)
Friday night was a night of competition to judge our previously prepared skills: aka el baile y los purras (the dance and the cheers). Having already practiced (hahahaha) for WEEKS ahead of time (hahaha) they should have been good to go! The night started off with a big rally where all the kids joined in a circle, everyone waved their banners and ran in circles, and then we kicked off with some fireworks :) AWESOME.
Setting up for the dances and purras
Lots of the teams' banners
Running with banners...
Then began the process of choosing the order of dances…which was decided by picking a color off a huge television screen – Pique (my team) chose 3rd – we were ready to go ;-)
All the teams danced their dance, showed their mascots, and then chanted their cheers…my favorite of ours went something like this:
El equipo tricolor tiene mucho corazon
Y en la cancha lo demonstrara
Adelante compañeros
Este copa va a ganar
El equipo mas audaz – PIQUE
Translation?
The three-colored team has a lot of heart
And on the court we will show it
Come on now companions
This cup is going to be won
By the team with the most audacity ;-)
One of the teams during their purras
Italy's mascot - BLOCK MAN!
Pique during our dance (i'm in the middle in the white ;-))
Anyhoo, Friday night felt YEARS long because all 12 teams had to go…we ended up standing on “la cancha” (the court) from 5 pm until 11pm! CRAZY!
NOW on to the real stuff…SATURDAY! Saturday was a day for los juegos (the games) and it was 1. AWESOME, 2. EXHAUSTING, 3. PAINFUL, and 4. FUN. The games started at 8 am with a rally to get everyone spirited up and then we literally played games from 8:30-1:30, then had lunch, then played again from 2:30-5:30…it was a LOOOONNNNGGGG day!
Fernando with our Pique flag :)
Here is a list of some of the more awesome games we played:
1. An obstacle course consisting of tire runs, crawling through a pipe, climbing ginormous stairs, wading through a pool of mud, and then army crawling back to the finish line
2. Your team sitting in a line passing a HUGE wet sponge over everyone’s heads to dump it out in a bucket.
Sponge races
3. Volleyball with water balloons
4. Race against the clock on stilts about 3 feet off the ground
5. A HUUUUUGGGGGEEEE pole to climb, probably 40-50 feet in the air where money was attached at the top…
THE POLE
6. Trivia time using facts about Guatemala and famous people from Guatemala
7. Find the jewels in the mud pit…where 5 people from your team have to literally swim in mud and find as many of the 200 pieces of fake jewelry floating in it as they can…
In the mud pit searching for jewels...
8. Another obstacle course consisting of a potato sack race, running, frog hopping, and then ROLLING in mud while water is doused on top of you
9. Wheel of death: aka spin a wheel for 20 minutes and every time it lands on something you’re given another activity (anything from running around the entire soccer field TWICE to doing an entire obstacle course in a mud pool 2 feet deep to passing water filled cups with holes in the bottom over your head – you name it.)
There were another few, less exciting games thrown in there (a game sort of like ultimate Frisbee, another water balloon toss over a net game, etc., leading up to the big, one…culminating with the one, the only tug-of-war in a POOL of mud, where my team came in third – not bad stuff ;-)
TUG OF WAR
After all of the games ended there was a huge dance for all the kids, tios, volunteers, well…everyone! Although we were all exhausted and couldn’t bear the thought of moving a muscle, we all still headed upstairs to bust some moves and have some fun…and to hear the announcements of the winners of this year’s aniversario!
Our sweet Dance, NPH style
We ended up with 6 overall winners – top 3 for dances and cheers and top 3 for games…and my team…Pique….won 2nd place in games!! Woooo!!! What does it mean exactly? It means that on Thanksgiving Day, while all you wonderful people in the states are feasting on turkey dinners, I’ll be eating a kick-ass meal of Pizza Hut with my awesome aniversario team and getting to watch a movie at the theater in town – needless to say, we’re all pretty excited :)
HAPPY 14TH ANIVERSARIO NPH GUATEMALA!!
Monday, November 15, 2010
Well this is new...
This weekend was the Aniversario of our home here in Guatemala. I'll write A LOT more about that later. But all I have to say for right now is I'm. in. pain. A LOT of pain. In places that I didn't even know could feel pain. You'll see exactly why when I write about aniversario later. But for now all you have to know is: it's intense, it's dirty, and I'm in pain.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Project and Despedida rolled into one
Last night I had a project with a set of cousins, Adele and Edgar. I left to find them around 4:45, had NO problem finding Adele...and then couldn't find Edgar for a good hour and a half...In the meantime, Adele and I made our pizza and put it in the oven and then went out to search for Edgar again in the comedor at dinner time.
All of the kids were standing in formation, receiving their nightly news and then I suddenly remembered...that last night was Katie and Leeah's despidada (going away celebration).
When volunteers leave every six months there is a HUGE celebration to end their time here...but when volunteers leave in the middle, like now, the celebration is a much quieter and more somber affair...Jan, our director at the home, and Erika, our volunteer coordinator, both said nice little speeches about the girls and presented them with wall hangings made by the kids here...I'm not ready for them to go...I'm going to miss them both a lot.
Katie and Leeah on our trip to El Salvador
Moving on! After the despedida Adele and I FINALLY found Edgar in the comedor, and the 3 of us headed back to the English room to enjoy our pizza and a movie...again...Hitch - yes that makes 3 times I've seen that movie in the last 4 days. AWESOME. Unfortunately our pizza didn't turn out even HALF as good as my last pizza had...I forgot the butter to grease the pan and so we really just ended up with a sticky, messy disaster of a pizza. However, even thought it didn't look amazing, it tasted pretty wonderful (especially knowing everyone else was eating beans for dinner!) I think I'm gunna have to start making pizzas more often...
All of the kids were standing in formation, receiving their nightly news and then I suddenly remembered...that last night was Katie and Leeah's despidada (going away celebration).
When volunteers leave every six months there is a HUGE celebration to end their time here...but when volunteers leave in the middle, like now, the celebration is a much quieter and more somber affair...Jan, our director at the home, and Erika, our volunteer coordinator, both said nice little speeches about the girls and presented them with wall hangings made by the kids here...I'm not ready for them to go...I'm going to miss them both a lot.
Katie and Leeah on our trip to El Salvador
Moving on! After the despedida Adele and I FINALLY found Edgar in the comedor, and the 3 of us headed back to the English room to enjoy our pizza and a movie...again...Hitch - yes that makes 3 times I've seen that movie in the last 4 days. AWESOME. Unfortunately our pizza didn't turn out even HALF as good as my last pizza had...I forgot the butter to grease the pan and so we really just ended up with a sticky, messy disaster of a pizza. However, even thought it didn't look amazing, it tasted pretty wonderful (especially knowing everyone else was eating beans for dinner!) I think I'm gunna have to start making pizzas more often...
Who doesn't love SpaRkLeS??
This past weekend I finally gathered up all my 4th grade craft knowledge and created the most awesomest t-shirt I have in a good long while. Everyone on our aniversario team, Pique, had to make one - I hope all you WaM-ers out there enjoy all the green and gold sparkles :).
Sweet Pique t-shirt ;-)
Sweet Pique t-shirt ;-)
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Practice makes perfect…sort of
Today, yes Sunday, we had anniversario practice from 9-12. At least it was scheduled from 9-12. What it ACTUALLY meant was that not a single kid showed up until 10:30. Oh Guatemala. So Leeah and I sat around in the wonderful sunshine and talked about life :). After a few slight mishaps with music (one of the kids had made up his own music after we had made up the dance…no worries – we’re going to combine them…) we got things sorted out. When the kids showed up, we spent almost 2 hours teaching them the dance we came up with around midnight last night (I think the kids think I’m crazy for my outlandish dance moves and terrible “dance lingo” Spanish…) and much to our surprise – 15 of our 26 kids showed AND we were able to learn the whole dance! Needless to say we’re feeling MUCH better about the current dance situation…Friday here we come!
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Proyecto Amistad
This morning I was SUPPOSED to have a project with 3 boys – 2 from here (Maykol (Michael) and Marvin) and 1 from bachillerato (Melvin). I called the bachillerato on Tuesday to confirm that Melvin would come to the home from the bachillerato and ended up having a VERY long conversation with the (extremely confused) gentleman who works there. After explaining we would be having project here, I hung up, satisfied that I had done my job.
Today I woke up and headed upstairs to find the boys. Normally a fairly difficult task for project (sometimes they’re in the section, sometimes they’re working, sometimes their hanging out in another section, or cleaning the comedor, or in the farm…you name it) it took me only about 5 minutes to find the 2 of them. I then proceeded to call the bachillerato to make sure that Melvin was on his way. I called the SAME man I had talked to on Tuesday who told me “Melvin? I don’t know what you’re talking about…we don’t have a Melvin here, but when do you want to go to Antigua?”
WHAT??? When did I EVER mention the words “bus”, “going”, “transport”, OR “Antigua” in our first conversation!??? My Spanish might still need SOME help but this was ridiculous!! After another (much more unsuccessful) phone conversation with Profe Julio, I hung up and decided there was no way Melvin knew about the project. Que lastima. Instead, Maykol, Marvin and I headed to the English room to make a pizza (ham, pepper, and onion with red pepper flakes and fresh basil – SO delicious!) and watch a movie (Hitch). While I went downstairs to put the pizza in, the boys found the only 3 videos on my computer – Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” (the full 13 minute version), “Beep” by the Pussycat Dolls, and “Don’t Tell Me” by Madonna…when asked what was their favorite?? “ugh…the one with the pretty girls!” shocking.
Anyhoo, after quite the tumultuous start, we ended up with a delicious pizza and an excellent movie :).
The boys working hard :)
Our DELICIOUS pizza!
Marvin and Maykol
Today I woke up and headed upstairs to find the boys. Normally a fairly difficult task for project (sometimes they’re in the section, sometimes they’re working, sometimes their hanging out in another section, or cleaning the comedor, or in the farm…you name it) it took me only about 5 minutes to find the 2 of them. I then proceeded to call the bachillerato to make sure that Melvin was on his way. I called the SAME man I had talked to on Tuesday who told me “Melvin? I don’t know what you’re talking about…we don’t have a Melvin here, but when do you want to go to Antigua?”
WHAT??? When did I EVER mention the words “bus”, “going”, “transport”, OR “Antigua” in our first conversation!??? My Spanish might still need SOME help but this was ridiculous!! After another (much more unsuccessful) phone conversation with Profe Julio, I hung up and decided there was no way Melvin knew about the project. Que lastima. Instead, Maykol, Marvin and I headed to the English room to make a pizza (ham, pepper, and onion with red pepper flakes and fresh basil – SO delicious!) and watch a movie (Hitch). While I went downstairs to put the pizza in, the boys found the only 3 videos on my computer – Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” (the full 13 minute version), “Beep” by the Pussycat Dolls, and “Don’t Tell Me” by Madonna…when asked what was their favorite?? “ugh…the one with the pretty girls!” shocking.
Anyhoo, after quite the tumultuous start, we ended up with a delicious pizza and an excellent movie :).
The boys working hard :)
Our DELICIOUS pizza!
Marvin and Maykol
JUST DANCE
Last night I went to my section fully prepared to watch a movie with my girls. I arrived at the section with my laptop and 3 “movies” – Hitch, and 2 of Jon’s sister’s dance videos from past recitals. Once there, I went to go ask the tia, Janna, (aka another volunteer) if we could watch a movie – but she was nowhere to be found! So, while waiting for her return, I showed the girls TONS of pictures of my family and every SINGLE picture I had of Jon on my computer (they couldn’t seem to get enough – QUE GUAPO (how good looking!) they all kept saying ;-).
Upon Janna’s return, I asked the girls which video they wanted to watch and there was a pretty resounding “DANCE” from everyone. They were ENTHRALLED by the fact that Jon’s sister, Alexandra, someone that I KNEW, was in the video. They responded to every new dance with “IS SHE HERE?? IS SHE HERE??” and every time she WAS in the video it was “where is she now?” “and now??” “and how about now???” and then came “CALIDAD” (which means “quality” aka “cool”). It was definitely interesting to see the girls experience something they never had before :) – calidad :)
Upon Janna’s return, I asked the girls which video they wanted to watch and there was a pretty resounding “DANCE” from everyone. They were ENTHRALLED by the fact that Jon’s sister, Alexandra, someone that I KNEW, was in the video. They responded to every new dance with “IS SHE HERE?? IS SHE HERE??” and every time she WAS in the video it was “where is she now?” “and now??” “and how about now???” and then came “CALIDAD” (which means “quality” aka “cool”). It was definitely interesting to see the girls experience something they never had before :) – calidad :)
Anniversario practice...
Boy am I glad that I’ve missed 6 out of 11 anniversario practices. Yesterday marked my 3rd practice and it was BRUTAL. This year’s theme is “World Cup” and so all of the teams have been assigned to different world cup winning teams from years past. All the groups are required to have two coordinating outfits, make a dance, make a bunch of cheers, and THEN compete in 10 straight hours of games and competitions…only a little tiring and time consuming…
My team is “Pique” from Mexico circa 1986. I spent yesterday’s practice making a sombrero out of cardboard and tissue paper and learning a 30 second long dance (that Leeah and I now have to finish before ANOTHER practice tomorrow (yes SUNDAY) at 9 am… After sufficiently learning the 30 seconds of the dance, I spent the rest of practice playing with Tony and letting him “fly” by holding him with my feet up in the air…gosh I love that little man :). Only one week til anniversario!
My team is “Pique” from Mexico circa 1986. I spent yesterday’s practice making a sombrero out of cardboard and tissue paper and learning a 30 second long dance (that Leeah and I now have to finish before ANOTHER practice tomorrow (yes SUNDAY) at 9 am… After sufficiently learning the 30 seconds of the dance, I spent the rest of practice playing with Tony and letting him “fly” by holding him with my feet up in the air…gosh I love that little man :). Only one week til anniversario!
Ten again
Bobo = silly. “Bo bo ski waten taten” = awesome hand clapping game to teach 10 year old girls :). The other day Enma asked me if I knew any hand clapping games. My response – “I was 10 once too, so OF COURSE I DO!” I proceeded to teach her “Bo bo ski waten taten” (say that 5 times fast…) and she couldn’t get enough. I came back the next day and she remembered the entire game and had even memorized some of the words! So freaking adorable! The next day, not wanting to be left out, the rest of the girls begged me to teach them. There we were, hand clapping, for hours – fun times being 10 again :).
WOO!
Happy 100th Post! Who can believe that I’ve actually been keeping up with this thing??? I CAN’T. Hooray! Here’s to another couple hundred more in the next 8 month :)
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Fully connected
There is something to be said about life without internet.
While I was home, one of the other volunteers informed me that our internet was upgraded. HECK YES. Instead of having shoddy, never REALLY functioning internet where we were cut off from all important forms of communication with the exception of email, we have now received the code to the office internet. Aka heaven.
We now have internet ALL DAY LONG. AND that includes skype, facebook, and youtube, which we are allowed to use between 6 pm and 8 am everyday, and all day on the weekends. HALLELUJAH!
However, having the internet does come with it's drawbacks. For instance. During lunch times, which used to be filled with talking, laughing, reading, and just hanging out with other volunteers, everyone is now on their computers, emailing, blogging (don't judge me...), etc.
So yes, while it's nice to be fully connected to the outside world once again, it was also really nice to be TRULY connected to the people in the same room as me.
While I was home, one of the other volunteers informed me that our internet was upgraded. HECK YES. Instead of having shoddy, never REALLY functioning internet where we were cut off from all important forms of communication with the exception of email, we have now received the code to the office internet. Aka heaven.
We now have internet ALL DAY LONG. AND that includes skype, facebook, and youtube, which we are allowed to use between 6 pm and 8 am everyday, and all day on the weekends. HALLELUJAH!
However, having the internet does come with it's drawbacks. For instance. During lunch times, which used to be filled with talking, laughing, reading, and just hanging out with other volunteers, everyone is now on their computers, emailing, blogging (don't judge me...), etc.
So yes, while it's nice to be fully connected to the outside world once again, it was also really nice to be TRULY connected to the people in the same room as me.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Home again home again jiggidy jig
I can’t believe my whole week in the states is already over. I knew it was going to fly by, but I guess I was assuming I would have time to stop and just…do nothing. Clearly that didn’t happen. While it was a VERY fast trip – it was WONDERFUL being home: TONS of delicious foods that were never the same (can’t tell you how much I miss bacon…and hot chocolate…and my mom’s pasta sauce…), hot water that comes from a sink – what a novel idea!, carpeting (but seriously.), and obviously lots and lots of people who I love. I didn’t think it was going to be this hard to go back to Guatemala…I mean – I LOVE my job, I LOVE my kids, I LOVE living in Guatemala…but nonetheless, yesterday was hard. I already dearly miss all the aforementioned things…good thing I’ll be back home at the end of December! Very much looking forward to my next visit :).
Halloween!
So for those of you who may not know…Halloween is my FAVORITE holiday. Free candy, carving pumpkins, scaring the bee-gee-bees out of little kids, autumn leaves and weather, dressing up like idiots – WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE?? While this year’s festivities were slightly overshadowed by my return to Guatemala, we still went out to celebrate in style :).
Our *fabulous* pumpkin that was quickly devoured by vicious squirrels...
Now I have 4 rules about Halloween costumes: 1. You should ALWAYS use things that you already have. 2. The costume is in the DETAILS. It’s ok to buy little pieces that will make your costume POP but NEVER the whole costume. 3. You should always dress comfortably for where you’re going and the weather. 4. NEVER EVER EVER dress like a whore. Now I know that a LOT of people like to break all 4 of those rules and buy costumes from the store. But NOT ME. In addition, my costumes usually have a kid friendly theme (in the past few years I have been Minnie Mouse, a troll doll, a piñata…you get the idea…) SO. THIS YEAR I decided to go as a marionette doll…a COWGIRL marionette doll. Jon helped me gather all the supplies I needed between our 2 houses and after a LOT of string and pipe cleaners, I was ready to go!
Jon’s costume wasn’t so easy. We threw out a BAJILLION ideas – pumpkin? Crayon? Gangster? Jelly beans? But all to no avail. We headed to the Halloween store and well…here’s what we ended up with…
Looking a little creepy...
Looking cute as always...
Jon and I ready to head out for the night!
Using our friend Chris’s pants, his own t-shirt, and a vest owned by my brother (it makes sense I promise – he used to work on a cruise ship…) Jon was able to pull together his look using only a few accessories AND following my rules :).
After getting all dolled up (haha doll – get it??) we headed over to Greg’s and then out to Finnley’s. Even though a few tears did creep in there every now and then (I mean, come on – I was moving back to a foreign country…) it was a pretty good night.
Our *fabulous* pumpkin that was quickly devoured by vicious squirrels...
Now I have 4 rules about Halloween costumes: 1. You should ALWAYS use things that you already have. 2. The costume is in the DETAILS. It’s ok to buy little pieces that will make your costume POP but NEVER the whole costume. 3. You should always dress comfortably for where you’re going and the weather. 4. NEVER EVER EVER dress like a whore. Now I know that a LOT of people like to break all 4 of those rules and buy costumes from the store. But NOT ME. In addition, my costumes usually have a kid friendly theme (in the past few years I have been Minnie Mouse, a troll doll, a piñata…you get the idea…) SO. THIS YEAR I decided to go as a marionette doll…a COWGIRL marionette doll. Jon helped me gather all the supplies I needed between our 2 houses and after a LOT of string and pipe cleaners, I was ready to go!
Jon’s costume wasn’t so easy. We threw out a BAJILLION ideas – pumpkin? Crayon? Gangster? Jelly beans? But all to no avail. We headed to the Halloween store and well…here’s what we ended up with…
Looking a little creepy...
Looking cute as always...
Jon and I ready to head out for the night!
Using our friend Chris’s pants, his own t-shirt, and a vest owned by my brother (it makes sense I promise – he used to work on a cruise ship…) Jon was able to pull together his look using only a few accessories AND following my rules :).
After getting all dolled up (haha doll – get it??) we headed over to Greg’s and then out to Finnley’s. Even though a few tears did creep in there every now and then (I mean, come on – I was moving back to a foreign country…) it was a pretty good night.
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