The past couple weeks have been a mix of busyness and relaxation. My mom arrived two weeks ago and spent her first week volunteering at the project. The original plan was to have her volunteer in the guarderia with the young children, but she decided that she wanted to spend her time with my class (5th and 6th grade girls) so that she could see my daily routine and meet the kids who have become such a big part of my life. The kids were thrilled to meet her and the language barrier did not stop her from connecting with the kids. The week was bittersweet for me because it was my last week at the project and as the week progressed so did the kids insistence that I stay longer. It was especially hard since for the first time I wasn't leaving because I had to get back to school or do anything incredibly important, but rather, it is time to move on if we are going to make it to all the countries that we want to visit this year. Part of me is tempted to just stay here the whole year, but I'm also very excited about visiting friends in Mexico and Nicaragua and also going to countries that I've never been to before.
Friday (the 16th) was my last day at the project and both my morning and afternoon classes enjoyed breaking the piñatas that they worked so hard on throughout the week. They were especially happy to find chocolate inside that my mom had brought over from the states. My afternoon class threw a party for me that was unforgettable. They all chipped in to buy the ingrediants to make tostadas with guacamole and pasta. After dancing and playing a few games we went to the playground to play soccer. I will miss the kids a lot, but luckily I'll be back to volunteer for a few more weeks in May.
Leah and Rachel had one more week at the project while my mom and I went to Lake Atitlan for four nights. We stayed at a beautiful hotel called La Casa del Mundo and had a wonderful time. We spent the days reading by the lake, playing cards, swimming, and eating and every evening there was a candlelit four course dinner for all the guests. The food was delicous and it was a nice chance to meet people from all over, though interestingly enough, on our last night we sat across the table from a father and son from Raleigh. We also had the chance to go in a hot tub one night after dinner in a hot tub that was heated entirely by wood. There was a wood stove of sorts in the middle of the hot tub and it took the staff the better part of the afternoon to heat the water. It was very hot and at one point I jumped in the lake to cool off.
We got back to Antigua yesterday afternoon and after going to the market for some last minute shopping, we met up with some friends from the project and went out to dinner at a fancy Japanese restaurant. It was fun and the owner was very accommodating (he made wheat-free tempura and attempted to make to make fried ice cream even though it wasn't on the menu; unfortunately it doesn't work very well with homemade ice cream). My mom left this morning and my friends and I are leaving Antigua tomorrow. We're going to stay with friends in Guatemala City tomorrow night and then we'll head to Mexico on Monday morning. The plan is to take a bus to Tapachula (about five hours), have an eight hour layover there, and then take a bus to Puerto Escondido (about 16 hours). It's going to be a long ride, but once we get there we'll make up for it by spending a few days at the beach.
xoxo
p.s. I had hoped to post some photos, but unfortunately my camera disappeared last weekend at a birthday party we had for Leah at our apartment. I'm sad not to have the camera, but the worst part was losing my memory card with about 500 pictures. I'm glad I had already uploaded some of them online so at least I didn't lose all of them from the whole trip.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Guatemala
It hardly feels like Leah, Rachel, and I are on a one year trip since we have gotten so settled in Guatemala, but soon we will be packing up and heading back to Mexico. I only have one more week at the project and it will be bittersweet since I'm looking forward to going back to Mexico and I won't miss the 3+ hours on the chicken buses everyday, but at the same time it will be hard to say goodbye to the kids.
This past week at the project felt really long, but I think it is party because everything was turned upside down on Monday by a visit from Laura Bush and Wendy de Berger (the wife of Guatemala's president). The week leading up to the visit was filled with preparations to make everything look perfect and background checks on all the volunteers, teachers, and staff. My classroom was the model classroom so everything got moved around and huge lights were brought in by photographers. The room was also carefully inspected and dogs were brought in to sniff the entire building. While I wasn't very happy to have Laura Bush visit the project, it was very interesting to see all the work that went into planning a one hour visit. My kids were given art projects to work on, but they had to sit around for about an hour working on the projects very slowly because they weren't supposed to finish them before our visitors arrived. Once Laura Bush and Wendy de Berger arrived, they came into our classroom for about 15 minutes and I chatted with them a bit while they tried to fold paper flowers. The kids had no idea it was going to happen until they arrived at the project and I think the girls in my class felt a little bit uncomfortable by the 20 or so people from the press that came in and flashed photo after photo, but the kids were surprisingly patient and did very well. After leaving my class they visited a few other rooms and then had a press conference in the library and then after a photo with all the American volunteers, they were on their way. On her way out, Laura told us that she was very proud of us for volunteering and that all the hard work we do is very sweet. I was very glad to have everything go back to normal on Tuesday.
Tonight I'm going to the airport to pick up my mom and I'm excited that she will finally be here soon! Tomorrow my sponsor kid (Hector) and his family, along with Leah and Rachel's sponsor kids and their families, will all be coming to Antigua and we are planning on having a picnic in the central park and then hanging out and playing sports with them. Hopefully I'll be able to post some more pictures soon.
Best wishes to everyone!
xoxo, Katie
This past week at the project felt really long, but I think it is party because everything was turned upside down on Monday by a visit from Laura Bush and Wendy de Berger (the wife of Guatemala's president). The week leading up to the visit was filled with preparations to make everything look perfect and background checks on all the volunteers, teachers, and staff. My classroom was the model classroom so everything got moved around and huge lights were brought in by photographers. The room was also carefully inspected and dogs were brought in to sniff the entire building. While I wasn't very happy to have Laura Bush visit the project, it was very interesting to see all the work that went into planning a one hour visit. My kids were given art projects to work on, but they had to sit around for about an hour working on the projects very slowly because they weren't supposed to finish them before our visitors arrived. Once Laura Bush and Wendy de Berger arrived, they came into our classroom for about 15 minutes and I chatted with them a bit while they tried to fold paper flowers. The kids had no idea it was going to happen until they arrived at the project and I think the girls in my class felt a little bit uncomfortable by the 20 or so people from the press that came in and flashed photo after photo, but the kids were surprisingly patient and did very well. After leaving my class they visited a few other rooms and then had a press conference in the library and then after a photo with all the American volunteers, they were on their way. On her way out, Laura told us that she was very proud of us for volunteering and that all the hard work we do is very sweet. I was very glad to have everything go back to normal on Tuesday.
Tonight I'm going to the airport to pick up my mom and I'm excited that she will finally be here soon! Tomorrow my sponsor kid (Hector) and his family, along with Leah and Rachel's sponsor kids and their families, will all be coming to Antigua and we are planning on having a picnic in the central park and then hanging out and playing sports with them. Hopefully I'll be able to post some more pictures soon.
Best wishes to everyone!
xoxo, Katie
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Guatemala
We've been volunteering with Safe Passage for 6 weeks now and time has been flying by! I've been having a great time with my class and I'm sad that I only have three weeks left. This past week a volunteer from New York brought down a lot of knitting needles and yarn and a lot of the girls have gotten really into it and are already talking about all the different types of things they want to make. I have to admit that I'm having a lot of fun with it also and have a hard time putting my knitting down!
Even though I haven't written an entry in a few weeks, I don't have very much to report because we don't do very much besides go to the project and sleep. Arnie left about two weeks ago and Ruben (Rachel's boyfriend) arrived around the same time so there are four of us living in the apartment now. We've all been sick off and on over the past couple weeks and a lot of the kids have been sick as well. The pollution is so bad here (it seems much worse than Mexico City) so once you get sick it is really hard to get better. One thing that has been making me feel better is going to yoga class. Today was my third class (it happens every Saturday morning) and it feels so good to relax and stretch after a long week.
In two weeks my mom is coming to Guatemala and I'm looking forward to showing her Safe Passage since she has been hearing about it for the past five years. She is going to volunteer with the babies for a week and then we are going to take a mini vacation at Lake Atitlan. After that, Leah and Rachel and I are going to head back to Mexico to visit the places we didn't get to (and spend some more time in Mexico City because we could never run out of things to do there).
I guess that's all for now...I posted my photos of the trip so far on Kodak Gallery today so if I didn't send you an invite and you would like to see them, post a message or send me an email and I will send you one.
xoxo,
Katie
Even though I haven't written an entry in a few weeks, I don't have very much to report because we don't do very much besides go to the project and sleep. Arnie left about two weeks ago and Ruben (Rachel's boyfriend) arrived around the same time so there are four of us living in the apartment now. We've all been sick off and on over the past couple weeks and a lot of the kids have been sick as well. The pollution is so bad here (it seems much worse than Mexico City) so once you get sick it is really hard to get better. One thing that has been making me feel better is going to yoga class. Today was my third class (it happens every Saturday morning) and it feels so good to relax and stretch after a long week.
In two weeks my mom is coming to Guatemala and I'm looking forward to showing her Safe Passage since she has been hearing about it for the past five years. She is going to volunteer with the babies for a week and then we are going to take a mini vacation at Lake Atitlan. After that, Leah and Rachel and I are going to head back to Mexico to visit the places we didn't get to (and spend some more time in Mexico City because we could never run out of things to do there).
I guess that's all for now...I posted my photos of the trip so far on Kodak Gallery today so if I didn't send you an invite and you would like to see them, post a message or send me an email and I will send you one.
xoxo,
Katie
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