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And here I am, safely at my house 2 days later suffering through some culture shock. But it is super nice to have some things that are somewhat familiar. Thanks for all your prayers and support through the last 4 months. Hopefully I will be able to see you all soon!

One week!!!

So there’s less than 7 days left now...and the countdown for many has already begun.
It’s definitely a bitter-sweet ending. I’m looking forward to coming home and seeing all of you, but I’m going to be sad to leave this beautiful country and the people that I’ve gotten to know here, in Guatemala. I know that God has begun a good work here in this country as well as in me.

As I look back on the trip and see all that I’ve accomplish and all the ups and downs that this trip has brought, I can say that this is one life experience that I will never forget. I’ve seen suffering, poverty, as well as happiness and joy and a sense of hope. This country is broken and has been broken since their civil war. However, there are positive changes being made. Sometimes I think the changes are difficult to see, but they are there if you just look a little harder. However, this country still has its problems as any other country does. For example, instead of doing something about the poverty in the country, the government decided to work on the main road from Guatemala City to Antigua.

But I see the positive changes occurring every day in my ministry site with the patients and the nurses that I work with. One thing I’ve learned is that things are a lot different than they appear. When we first received a tour of the hospital, where I work, I only saw hopelessness and a sense of despair. However, after working there for nearly 6 weeks, I can see the hope that this hospital does have. Many of the nurses are so good with the patients. I have seen the nurses be able to understand those patients who aren’t able to talk and also help the patients laugh. This is one thing that makes things seem worthwhile: being able to see the patients laugh, smile and have a good time. Sometimes this seems like an impossible thing to do, but generally all they need is someone to talk to, to sit with, or to color with. I’ve been taken back to elementary school with all the coloring and painting I’ve done these past weeks, but hey, I figure that’s not a bad thing. I’ve also acquired the ability to guess or understand what some of the patients want, when they can’t necessarily express to me what they want. A lot of it is asking yes and no questions, but at least they can be happy and enjoy themselves. One thing I learned, especially today is patience. In the afternoons we go to the Cerebral Palsy Unit to feed the children lunch. Some days you get the easy kids who like to eat and eat really fast, but other days you get the hard kids who don’t want to eat or eat really slow. Well, today I got the second. Diego is the name, he loves to smile but he doesn’t like to eat or he just takes his time. He was the only child that I feed today and he didn’t even finish his lunch. And after that, one of other girls in our group asked me if I could try feeding another boy named Alex because she wasn’t having any success. Let me tell you how small Alex is: if you put your pointer finger to your thumb and make a circle, his legs are probably half of that size. He is the tiniest child I’ve ever seen and he is probably around 7 years old. Well, he doesn’t like to eat either and I probably tried to feed him his bottle for 15 minutes and he didn’t eat anything. But his smile is the cutest and most precious smile I’ve ever seen.

Oh and now you might be asking, why are all these children at the hospital? Well, a lot of the children are sons or daughters of the indigenous families that live in the mountains and don’t have to resources to take care of their children with cerebral palsy or other disabilities, so they bring them to Hermano Pedro, where the children live. Their life is somewhat sad. They sit in their wheelchairs all day doing pretty much nothing unless volunteers, like ourselves come and play with them. It is great when we get a smile out of them or a laugh or any response. They all love the attention. For a long while I was just very sad for these “abandoned” kids. But soon I saw, with my own eyes, that their parents do still love and care for them. Some of their parents came and visited them, feed them lunch and then played with them. This brought lots of joy and hope to my heart. It encourages me that they have parents and family who love and care for them.

I won’t lie, this has been a struggle for me. I’ve had to look past a lot of stereotypes that I’ve had about people with disabilities. It’s been hard, but I’m so glad that I’ve been able to work with these patients and learn so much. I never ever thought that I would be working with people of this type, but I couldn’t be happier to be put in the position that I was. It was a lot of stretching in ways that I never thought of, but the end result is the best result. And I’m even more excited to see what I have to learn when I return back home. Thanks for all the prayers that you all have lifted up on behalf of the group as well as myself. Oh and as far as I know, I’m now more or less healthy. And we’re all finishing out our last days in Magdalena strong. Oh and I’m going to a quincenera on Saturday, which is a fifteenth birthday and is a really big deal here. And on Friday we have kind of a closing banquet with the staff that we’ve been working with. Sunday we move to Guatemala City for 3 days of debriefing and then Wednesday we leave at about 12 from the airport or something like that and then around 10 on Wednesday night I’ll be in the Minnesota airport! So I’ll see you all soon!!!

Love you!!!

And the results are in...

Hello everyone, it's been awhile since I last updated this thing, so I figured I would do it now. So what is new in my life...

Well, I'm still in school and we only have 3 more days left!!! It's so crazy how time is just flying by and I'm not even sure as to where the time has went. It's been fun and I really like my teacher. She seems to be more challenging than my previous teacher from last session and she's getting me to talk more, which is better for my Spanish.

But the results that are in is that I have 3 things wrong with me inside my body...

The first being that I have an intestinal infection, which is basically just a lot of bad bacteria inside of my intestine.
The second being that I have gerardia, (I think that's how it's spelled) which is basically another bacteria inside of me that is caused by eating something that isn't cooked well or drinking some water from here. I haven't really done either, so I'm not really sure where these infections came from. But nonetheless, I have them.
And the third and final thing that is wrong inside of me is that I have anemia, which means that I just have low iron in my blood. I'm not sure where this came from because I've been taking vitamins. But I still have it.
Yep, I'm falling apart ;)
So I found all of this out by giving a sample of blood yesterday and then getting the results and then after that we went to Doctora Miara in Jojotenango, where she read my results and listened to my "symptoms" and diagnosed me with these things. So now I have 2 pills to take 2 times a day and then after I finish these pills, one is for 3 days and the other is for 5 days. Then I have some powder to mix with water to build my immune system back up because these pills are going to kill both the good bacteria and the bad bacteria in my stomach. And then after I finish this, I have anemia pills to take for 1 month. How fun, right?

So this is the new news that's going on with me. And my teacher informed me today that I've been tired lately because when a person has low iron in their blood, they are often more tired. So I don't have a lot of energy, but eventually it'll get better and don't worry all of you because my teacher is constantly asking me what I've had to eat...she seems to be taking care of me :)

So other than that, I'm buried in homework and dreading a final on Friday. But I'm looking forward to moving back to Magdalena, which we are doing on Sunday at about 3:00 in the afternoon. So I think that covers it all.
Drop me a line and let me know how all of you are doing!!

Love you and miss you all!!!

Eventful day number, well, I forgot how many eventful days since I’ve been here, but this one I definitely won’t forget this one...

Saturday we woke up really early...why you may ask...
Well, let me tell you

We were to meet in Central Park at 6:30 for an hour or more bus ride to a volcano. Once we were at the bottom, or more like a part of the way up, we piled out of the van and started climbing with 2 trusty guides. The first part wasn’t too bad because we were able to climb in a path that had some what been made for us. However, it was all uphill, so that was a bit challenging for me and also because we were changing altitudes relatively quick. So breathing was a little difficult as well.


Soon we started exiting out of the trees and grassy area and we began to run into volcanic rock, that was once lava but had dried over into black, lava rock. Then we began to climb into total volcanic rock/sand. About 5 years or more, Pacaya, the volcano, had erupted and had deposited a whole bunch of lava further down the volcano. So we began choosing our footsteps very carefully because some of the hard lava would shift underneath your feet. The amazing thing was that the lava rock was still hot or warm. In spots our guide started a fire by moving a branch around in some rocks. I never thought that that lava would still be hot enough to start a fire, but it was. We climbed over those rocks for probably 30 minutes and then we encountered....


Yes, believe it or not, real, live, moving lava. We were probably within 5 feet of that lava!! It was amazing, but it was also really hot! And it was somewhat windy, so the wind blew the hot air towards us, which made it even hotter. Let me tell you, my feet were so warm. Oh and you’ll never guess what the boys from our group brought....that’s right, marshmallows. We ate marshmallows that were roasted over lava. It was amazing! After about 10 or 20 minutes near the lava, we began to make our way back down the volcano.

This was a new challenge in itself because you were moving downwards and had to still choose your footsteps carefully. There were about 5 people, if not more, who ended up cutting their ankles on the rocks because they were sharp. Me, well, I thought I was going to fall to my death a couple times, but nope, I survived with just a blister on my ankle that ended up bleeding a lot. But I’m fine.

So we managed to get off the rock and went to find some shade where we could eat our lunches. After lunch we climbed back down the path to the bottom, which was really quite nasty at this point because they had horses that could take someone a distance if they couldn’t make it up the first part. Well, the horses left their trademark on the path. So not only did you have to control yourself from running down the hill, but you also had to watch out for the presents from the horses. I won’t lie, I experienced a close encounter with one of those presents. I almost fell once and it was almost into one of those lovely surprises, but luckily I caught myself...

Well, we all reached the bottom in one piece, with just some scratches, nothing horrible. And then we made the hour or hour and a half trek back to Antigua. We all fell asleep on the way back because we were so tired.

When we got back to our houses, we all found lovely surprises on our ankles and toes...lots and lots of dirt. Overall, it was a really unique and fun experience that I’ll never forget.

Oh and then Sunday night we were able to go to Fernando’s house, our leader, and eat pizza. There was a group of us who went over to his house before and help make the pizzas. Now you may be thinking, pizza big deal? Well, actually yes, I don’t remember the last time I ate pizza. It’s not too common here. And it was amazing pizza and it was fun to help make the pizzas also. So it was a full weekend, but enjoyable also. I think that just about covers all of it.

I have language school for this week and then next week and then we move to Magdalena again for 3 weeks and then 3 days in Guatemala City and then home...it’s gonna go fast. So now it’s time to focus on making the most out of everyday that I’m here.

Love you and miss you all!!!

So last week, well, there’s a lot to talk about since then and some of it is a little complicated to explain, but I shall try...

Well, I came back from my trip on Monday, last Monday that is. And I was really tired, so I didn’t do anything that night. So for me, Tuesday started the processions and all that “Semana Santa” or “Holy Week” entails.

Since Guatemala is mainly a Catholic region, they have a lot of traditions that come with it. One tradition that is common in Antigua is to have processions, which are like parades, only with out the candy and the floats and all that. People go to the church and pay for a spot to walk in the procession. They pay more or less Q40 which is about $5 to be able to carry in the procession. Everyone has a turn and a certain number as to when they will be able to carry. The people carry an “anda,” which is basically another word for a float, more or less. I don’t think it really translates into English. The andas have different figurines on top of the life of Jesus, especially the last week that he was living. So the processions leave from either a church in Antigua or from a pueblo outside of Antigua and they then come to Antigua carrying the anda on their shoulders. They then walk around Antigua with the anda and there is one anda for the men and the other is for the women. The anda that the women carry has the Virgin Mary on it as a figurine. Each time they have a procession the scene of Mary and of Jesus changed. Many of the processions were for adults but they also had one for kids or teenagers, who were also able to then participate in the carrying. The majority of the time, the men wore purple robes and the women wore black clothing. However, on Good Friday, the men and women wore black symbolizing the death of Jesus. I’m not quite sure where this tradition of carrying a heavy thing one their shoulders started from and what it symbolizes, but I think that it symbolizes the weight of their sins, and it is part of their duty to feel somewhat of what Jesus felt when he went to the cross. I’m not sure if this is the exact symbolism, but this is what I make it out to be. Following the anda is a band playing music and then the anda of the Virgin Mary follows that.



Another tradition that goes along with this is building “alfombras” or carpets or rugs. At the beginning of the week it was more common to see people building alfombras out of flowers, vegetables or fruits. But near the end of the week it was more common to see alfombras made out of dyed saw dust. They would build the alfombras for the people carrying the anda to walk over. So to me, it sort of resembled Palm Sunday when people laid down their coats or palm branches for Jesus to walk over. People put hours of work into these alfombras only for them to be walked over a ruined within minutes. The ones made out of flowers, fruit or verduras were easier to make and often done by free hand. However, the ones made out of the colored saw dust was a different story. People would cut molds out of card board, like flowers or other things and then they fill the holes in with different colors of saw dust. Ah, this is somewhat confusing to explain, so I’m trying my best...
The carpets turn out to be these magnificent pieces of work that you would’ve never thought would be possible to make out of saw dust. Ashley and Becky, 2 people in my group, were invited by their family to help make an alfombra Thursday night into Friday, which is a big deal because it’s mainly a family sort of tradition. They started working about 9:30 or 10 at night and finished the next morning at about 6 or 6:30, just before the procession arrived in front of their house. The end result was beautiful.

I only obtained about 4 hours of sleep Thursday night into Friday because we were walking around, watching all the alfombras being made and then I woke up early and went to watch the procession at Becky and Ashley’s house. After the procession went by I went back to sleep for a couple hours and then got a message that I was able to go help Becky and Ashley’s family build another, smaller alfombra at their house because there was going to be another procession going by their house. So Kristin, Alicia (my professor who was staying at my house), and a granddaughter of my host mom went over to their house to help build the alfombra. It was interesting to watch the whole process and then actually help with it. It was kind of sad to see our work to be walked over and trampled in less than 2 minutes, but it was an experience I won’t forget.

This is just another alfombra that I really liked.

By Friday I had made friends with some of the grandchildren of my host mom because they were there all week. Thanks to Alicia, we had a game to play, Uno. It turned out that some of the grandsons and their fathers, as well as Jose, who works in the house, were going to be in the procession. So Alicia and I found out where this procession was going through and we went to find them. We were doubtful because there were a lot of people in that procession and they would have been walking for many hours...however, we had success. We ended up seeing them and trying to take pictures of them walking in their robes. However, it was really dark, so my pictures didn’t turn out to well. But luckily we were able to get a picture of some of them before they left the house. So that was exciting to see people that we knew walking in the procession.

By the end of the week, I had probably seen over 75% of the processions, which is a lot, because there were usually 2 or more everyday. With that came the smell of incense that people walk in front of the andas with. They wave incense in front of the andas to more or less “consecrate” the area that the procession will walk through. Sometimes it wasn’t bad, but on Good Friday, it was really bad. There were a lot of people with incense and you could hardly see across the street because it was so thick. So by the end of the week, I was ready to be done smelling it.

Saturday was just a chilaxin’ day. But there was another procession that I ended up going to. I saw it go by the Catedral, which is right in front of Central Park. This was interesting to see because there was lots of incense and was just for the Virgin Mary and over 75% of the people were holding candles, so it was like a vigil. It was gorgeous to see, and sadly enough, I can say that my camera didn’t take very decent pictures of this :( But it’ll be a memory that I won’t forget.

Then came Easter Sunday or “Pascua.” This isn’t celebrated that much here in Guatemala. A lot of the people focus more on the suffering of Jesus. However, there was a procession on Sunday that started from Hermano Pedro, the hospital/church that I volunteer at. This was exciting, even though I didn’t see it leave the church. It was exciting that such a joyous and happy procession was leaving one of the most hopeless places of Antigua. To me this says something about the ministry of Hermano Pedro. To me, it means that some of the people that work with the patients and the church do have hope and there is a chance for the patients of Hermano Pedro. This procession had happy music, men and women were carrying the same anda and no one was in any sort of specific robes or clothing. It was a happy and alegre festival, which was fun to watch.

So I think this somewhat covers what I had witnessed last week, or at least I hope it explains Semana Santa. I’m not sure if I hit it all or if I explained it really well. It’s something that one has to experience for themselves. So I hope the pictures fill it in a little more too. There were definitely more people here than I ever thought could fit into one city, so life was crazy, but fun. I was able to spend more time with people from my group because we didn’t have school or anything, so it was a nice break.

Rio Dulce and Livingston

So this past weekend I went to the Caribbean. It was an amazing time. There were just 4 of us who went, so it was nice and calm.

On Saturday we left at 7:00 in the morning and drove there till about 2 or so. We were able to go explore in some ruins, that reminded me of Tikal. Unfortunately, I only have one picture of the ruins because my camera chip is missing in action. I’m not quite sure where it went to, but it’s ok, because I had my other pictures on my computer. Hopefully it’ll turn up. Luckily I had another chip so I could take more pictures.And then we drove by a banana farm or finca is what we call it. We drove by where the chiquita banana finca is so that was cool. It was really warm, we weren’t even walking anywhere and we were sweating. Pretty nasty.

Then we drove for about 30 more minutes and arrived in Rio Dulce. Then we got into a boat and received a small boat tour of some of the Rio Dulce, which translates to “Sweet River.” Then we went to explore a castle named Castillo de San Felipe. We only had 30 minutes to explore, so I’m pretty sure we didn’t get to see the whole area, but it was still fun to see the castle and some areas as to where the pirates slept and what kind of conditions they lived in. And then we went to our hotel, which was like little cabins out on the river. The hotel had a pool and we ate dinner there because the hotel was on an island, so there was no where else to go to eat.

Then on Sunday, we had the grand boat tour. We left at 9 in the morning and got back at 5 in the evening, so it was a long day, but it was also a lot of fun. First we drove around and just saw some homes where people actually live on the river. Of course we didn’t go in them, but we saw them from the outside. Some were larger, some were smaller. As well as nicer and more poorer. We saw a lot of people who live on the river in their canoes that they make out of trees. Then we went to a bird sanctuary, which is just an area, a small island, where whole bunches of birds live.

Then we continued on a went to hot springs. The rocks of sulfur heat the water, so it was like a hot tub with out the bubbles. Then we went and looked through some caves in the same area. One cave hadn’t been explored yet, so we weren’t able to go into it and plus it was basically a vertical drop. However, our tour guide for the trip decided he wanted to go look a little more so he climbed down into it. When he came back up he was sweating real bad because the rocks were made of sulfur in the cave as well, so it heated the area up. After that we went to a school where the Indians of the area attend. They weren’t having school at the time because it’s semana santa or holy week, so they had a break. But in the school, which is fairly new, they are learning Spanish because their original language is quiche, which is somewhat like Spanish, only there’s a difference because it’s their native, Indian language. Then our guide talked to some people and led us through a corn field and down some slippery rocky path that was somewhat downhill. And if any of you know me, I can be an accident waiting to happen just walking, so I was pretty nervous about walking down this area. However, I managed to walk through it without falling or breaking anything. However there were several times where I was really close to falling. We eventually came to a stream or river where there was a small waterfall. However, when we got there, there was another group of people in front of us, but we didn’t follow them on this path. It turns out that there was a different, much easier path that they took. We came to the conclusion that the way we went was usually not part of the normal tour... So we left there and got back in the boat. We traveled down the river for a ways further. I feel like I’m forgetting something, but I’m not sure.So eventually we arrived in Livingston. Or the Carribean. This town is full of African Americans because they were brought over from Africa to be slaves and once they gained their freedom, they just stayed in this place and never moved. So it was really interesting to hear these people talking Spanish because it was more like the Jamaicans talk, only in Spanish. We had about 3 hours to walk around the town and eat lunch. So of course we went to see the Carribean and then we walked around and ate and then left for our hotel. On the way back to our hotel I was pretty sure we were going to die once or twice because the waves were really choppy and weren’t easy for the driver to drive on. However, we made it back safe and no one was injured. From Livingston to R o Dulce it took us about 1 hour or a little more. So it was quite a journey. Then Sunday night we just hung out, talked, played cards, and went to bed because we were really tired.

Then Monday, we checked out at 11:30 and then there was some confusion. We thought the tour guide from the previous 2 days was supposed to take us back to mainland, but he never showed up at the right time. So someone from the hotel ended taking us back to mainland. Little did we know, this was how it was supposed to happen. We didn’t quite get this because the tour guide told us this in Spanish because he didn’t know English. So we were confused for awhile, but eventually we figured this out.

The drive back to Antigua took a lot longer than the ride there. Almost an hour and a half longer because of all the traffic that we encountered in Guatemala City. But we all made it back in one piece and no one was sea sick or anything like that. So overall, it was a really fun trip and I would like to go back one day, but we’ll see about that. So now, I have the rest of this week to do what ever I want because it’s Spring Break. Today was spent doing a lot of homework so I don’t have to worry about it later in the week. There’s a lot of processions and velaciones here this week, which I’ll be able to talk about later once I see what this all means.

Hope you’re all doing well!! I would love to here from you, whether that’s in an e-mail or through snail mail or through a package ;)

Love you and miss you all!!!

No worries

Don't worry all if you don't see me update for awhile or hear from me. I didn't fall of the face of the earth. It's just there's a lot of excitement coming up you see...
This weekend I'm going to the Carribbean...Saturday, Sunday, Monday. And then this next week is Semana Santa, or Holy Week and there's a lot going on in Antigua. I plan to post about my adventures and all, but eventually.

School went fine this week, but I'm definitely super excited for this next week.

Love you and miss you all!!!

Just a little bit about my life....

So after last weekend, this week is going to seem pretty boring...but it really wasn't.

So we had ministry sites again this week. This week was challenging in the sense that I was exhausted from Tikal and was running on a little amount of sleep. But in general, it was a good way to end the week and our last week of ministry sites. In the beginning of the week there was a group of students who came over from Guatemala City and had a pinata for the patients to hit and get candy from. A lot of the patients really enjoyed this. There was one lady who really got into it. They gave her the bat to hit the pinata with and then she gave it back and took off her sweater so she could hit it better. That was hilarious. It was fun to see some of the patients really get into it because some of them never seem to smile or enjoy anything that they have to do. So generally we worked with the special education school in the morning like usual and then at noon we would go to the cerebal palsay unit and feed the children their food. After that we would take a lunch break and then go back and play with the same kids until it was time for them to take a nap.

One morning this week we went and worked with the malnutritioned babies. A lot of these babies are super tiny and have some sort of other problem. However, they aren't able to get surgery until they weigh enough, so they are waiting in the room. A lot of these babies are also neglected, so they just need to be held. So that was a lot of what we did. I held a baby who was one year old, but it really looked about 2 months old. She was super tiny and very fragile and all she wanted was to be held and walked around. So I did that with her for a very long time. Ramon, our site leader told us that a lot of the parents that bring their children to the hospital are superstitious and think that their children have a curse or something along those lines. So there are various reasons as to why the children are at Hermano Pedro. But every once in a while, the parents do come to visit the kids. For example, the little baby that I was holding, the mother and her other children came to visit. That gave me some hope for some of the kids that are there.

And then yesterday, Friday, was another exciting week for the patients. Many of the patients from the special education school were able to attend a "velacion," which is a little difficult to define this. It's one of those words that doesn't really translate into english, so I'll do my best to describe it. Every Friday a different church has one and it's when they make a huge rug out of colored saw dust in the church and there's a whole bunch of fruit is surrounding it and there's a scene depicted in back from the Bible. Anyway, we took the patients, about 25 of them, in their wheelchairs on the uneven cobblestone about 10 or more blocks. It was an interesting time and thank God that we made it to and from the velacion safely. The patients all enjoyed themselves and they even were able to eat things like churros and cotton candy. So it was a special day for them but a tiring day for all of us as well as the nurses who came with. Overall, it was a fun time and I'm glad that I was able to take part in this.

Then last night, Friday night, I went over to the director of the program, Fernando, house and we were able to just relax with his children who are all girls more or less in their teens. So it was fun, we got to watch movies, eat popcorn, ice cream, and cinnamon roles. Some of these things I haven't done in over 2 months. So what may seem to you as boring was relaxing and fun for me. =)
We went to bed around 12, which is late here and then I woke up at 6:30 in the morning, I'm not sure why, but it was annoying. Plus I didn't sleep decent in the first place because I was on a couch. So overall, I didn't get much sleep, but that's ok, cause it was fun. And then this morning we made pancakes and then were brought back to our houses. So today we're just relaxing and I think that it's going to be the same way for tomorrow.

So that's kind of my week in a nut-shell. And on Monday...Language School....we have 4 weeks of that. But it's being broken up by one week of Spring Break, which is during holy week, or here "Semana Santa" And well, I never thought I'd have the opportunity to say this, but....I'm going to the Caribbean for Spring Break. Yep =) We're going to Rio Dulce and Livingstone for 3 days and 2 nights. So that should be amazing and awesome. I'm really looking forward to that and I'm pretty sure that's what is going to get me through this first week of language school. Rio Dulce and Livingstone are located on this map on the right side where the water from the Carribean starts to come in. Antigua is located more or less in the middle of the map. It shows it better on the second map. So we're going to have about a 5 hour drive, but that should be fun to see all the landscape and stuff.
So that's kind of been happening lately. Let me know how all of you are doing!
Miss you and love you all!!!

The Weekend...

So while you were all sitting in Minnesota either doing homework or work or just sitting, I was in the jungle exploring Mayan Ruins....
It was amazing, hot, tiring, and fun.
We took a small 20 passenger plane to Tikal and then we had to drive another hour from there to get to the ruins. We were lucky to be able to take a plane, which only took 1 hour to get there, where driving from Antigua would have taken 12 hours. It was an interesting ride because a lot of people thought that we were going to die because we were in this little, tiny, but we are clearly all still alive. The horrible part of this trip was that we left at yes, 4:00 in the morning. We were picked up from our houses at this ungodly hour. Kristin and I woke up at 3:30 thinking we had a half hour to finish getting our things together and what do we hear at 3:45? A horn honking and soon after that a knock on the door. Needless to say, we shoved things in our bags and left. Now you may ask, well, that's only 15 minutes early, why is that a big deal? Well, let me tell you, Guatemalans are always, and I mean always late for everything. So not only was he not late, he was super early. So that's how the day started out.

This is the plane that we flew in.

The jungle...

So when we arrived in Tikal, we drove for an hour and then we were in the jungle. We walked all day and climbed various temples that are located in the jungle. I'm not just talking a little bit of climbing, but a lot. The first temple we climbed was the the steepest. We weren't able to climb the actual stairs of the temple, but were able to climb some stairs that they had built on the side. The normal stairs were either falling apart, or too steep to be safe for anyone to climb.
This is the first temple that we climbed and you can see how steep the stairs are on the left side of the temple.

I think this is from the top of the ruin in the picture above.

This is a picture of a place where something like a maternity ward was located. There were some rooms where the women gave birth. A couple months or years, I don't remember which, the archeologists found a pair of twins and a mother. They thought that the twins were new-borns because they were quite small. So that was interesting to hear about.

We continued to walk around the jungle and see other ruins and temples that for the most part had been restored and repaired by people so that people could go to the top and see what the Mayans saw every day. We didn't find out anything about what the Mayans did in these places, if that was their houses or their place of worship or a place a sacrafice. What we did find out is that the places where we were at were only for the kings and not where the "normal, ordinary people" lived. We also learned that the Mayans had their own culture and a lot of different things had a lot of different meanings for them. There are some trees that had different meanings and also different plants and animals. A lot of what this culture is known for is their human sacrifices, as well as how many gods they had. Can you guess how many gods this culture had? Well, you probably guessed way too low. They had over 18,000 gods. It's interesting to try and grasp this concept, especially being a Christian and knowing that there is only one True God. If you're interested in this culture at all, Mel Gibson came out with a movie recently depicting the Mayan culture. I haven't seen it yet and of course this isn't all true, but to some extent, I think the movie is true, but I'm not entirely sure. The movie is called Apocalypto and is talked a lot about here and I eventually want to see it, especially while I'm here, living in a culture that has been affected by the Mayans and their traditions.

Here Kristin and I are standing on a ruin that was in an area where there were 5 or 6 other ruins in the same area.

All of the ruins were tall, and gorgeous. It's amazing to think that these people built each one of these ruins out of stone. And I think they told us that there were 38 that people had found so far, but there are still more to be discovered and renovated for people to look at.

So after we were done looking at the ruins, we had a lunch and then went to our hotel for the night. We were able to go shopping in the little shops that were all around and we were on our own to find supper at one of the many restuarants in the town. Then we also had till 3 o'clock on Sunday to wander around the town or hang out at the hotel or basically whatever we wanted to. A lot of people lounged around the hotel and the pool because we were all tired from climbing the ruins and from having to be up at an early hour in the morning on Saturday. But it was a nice little vacation and an experience that I won't forget. I took a couple of videos and I tried to put them on here, but that didn't work :( So pictures will have to do. This last picture is of the first really tall ruin that we climbed.
So other than this trip, nothing too exciting has happened. We're still at our ministry sites and we are there till the end of this week and then next week starts school again. It's amazing how fast this time is going and sooner than you and I know it, I'll be back in Minnesota for a little thing called summer break. It's funny because I'm basically going to have 7 months of summer. Oh the perks of being in Guatemala =)

Anyways, I love you and miss you all!!!

The Middle of the Week

This week has been exhausting in so many ways. During the weekend I was excited to go back to my ministry site to see some of the patients and see what other ways I would be able to help. And now, I'm back at Hermano Pedro with no real routinue yet. Things seem a lot different than last time, but I'm not able to put my finger on it as to why things seem different.

The patients are doing alright, basically the same as last time. The only difference is that there are some new patients, or patients that I've never seen before, so I have to work my way to getting to know them and interact with them, which is sometimes difficult because they don't speak or if they do, I can't understand some of them.

A lot of what I do in the mornings is working with the special ed school, doing the same thing that I did before. Helping them with tasks that 5 year-olds can easily accomplish. Also, some of them do a lot of crafts like painting or coloring or playing with playdough. So either I join in or I just sit and watch them and talk with them a little bit. It just depends who you're talking to or working with and how much interaction they need.

There have been some new things that I have learned at Hermano Pedro. I've been noticing how different their system for dealing with mentally handicapped people differs from that of the States. This is substantially different in that here, Guatemala is somewhat in an institution sort of stage where the patients live there and are given tasks to do and aren't seen as having much potential to accomplish much of anything in life. However, this system is beginning to change in Guatemala because of some of the people that work with these people. There are a couple people who I work with and are great with the patients and do see some sort of value in them. This is encouraging to me because I know that change is coming, just slower than the States. I also have learned that a lot of the patients there have a large mental capacity and for some reason that I'm not quite aware of, they are in the hospital. We have found out that one of the gentlemen there thinks that some of the tasks they have them do are boring and he would rather do something else. Another lady isn't able to speak but can comprehend fully what's going on. However, she doesn't have much of a form of communicating to the workers and nurses so she often doesn't get what she wants, which is a struggle for her.

Some afternoons we go to work in the cerebal palsy unit with the kids. This is a lot different than working with the adults in the morning. These kids just basically sit in their wheelchairs all day and when it's time to eat, they are fed and they get changed and they sleep and that's about all they do. So our role is to just hang out with them and try to have fun with them while they are sitting in their wheelchairs. Well, this is obviously difficult because they aren't able to talk and if they are it's just a few words. It's kind of frustrating because we haven't been really trained as to how to handle these children, so we're kind of just making things up as we go. What we really want to be able to do is take some of these kids out of their chairs and hold them because that's what they're lacking, human touch. So once we find out how to do this, we'll be good to go. Most times, the kids are just happy that they receive attention from someone and well, that's what we're there for, so that's what we do. This can be done through racing around the area with their wheelchairs or talking to them or playing a little ball with them. Basically anything to get a smile on their face is an accomplishment.

Today, I played with 2 kids who are capable of a lot more than what the nurses give them credit. For example they have this little game and one of the kids is able to sit by himself on the ground so there's a tiny tire that you wind up and then he pushes the button for it and then it goes rolling. Another kid goes to retrive the tire because his wheelchair is controlled by his head, so he's able to move where he wants. You have to go with him though because he's unable to pick the little tire up off the ground cause he's in his chair. But they have a lot of fun watching it role across the ground and then fetching it. The little boy who presses the button liked to hide the other little piece from me and then I'd have to find it. He thought this was so funny and he was one of the boys who knew how to talk a little bit so I'd ask him where it is and then he was say I don't know and then start giggling. It's so rewarding to see smiles on their faces.

So this week has been pretty exhausting and everyday that I come back I'm exhausted. This is emotionally draining because you put so much into helping these patients and then you don't really see any results from all the hard work you put forth. But I know that some of our work is really appreciated and some of it isn't, so I just have to make sure that I'm emphasizing the positive and not the negative. So that's kind of been my week so far. I can't really explain all that I'm feeling and experiencing because this is one of those things that you kind of need to experience for yourself.

Love you and miss you all!!!

Another week....

So I just finished my last week of language school for 2 more weeks. It's a good feeling because I don't think I could've taken another week of Spanish school. It was fun, but it was difficult and I'm excited to go back to our ministry sites. This last week was pretty difficult for me because I kind of just felt like I was hitting a brick wall and not really learning anything. However, I've been told just the contrary that I have been learning things and that my Spanish has improved a lot. So your call.
Overall, my class went well because I was learning a lot of the grammar. On the other hand, it was difficult for me because a lot of the other people had the same class and they were able to talk about what they were learning and be able to give each other hints and what not. But I was the only one taking my class and it was therefore difficult for my because I didn't have anyone to relate to. But the important thing is that I made it through. It was one of the most intense things that I think I've ever done. I'm really glad that I did it though and I feel that I have a little more confidence in my Spanish.

So on Monday we start our ministry sites again and I'm excited to go back and see the patients. This time is going to be somewhat different in the fact that we're supposed to plan activities for the patients. We haven't exactly planned any activities yet because we don't know what resources we have and what the rules are or what is against the rules. So it basically sounds like whatever we want to do, we're able to do.

Let's see...I can't really think of what else is new with me. There honestly hasn't been anything too exciting happening. Today I went to the market and bought 2 new shirts because I realized I brought more pants than shirts, which is pretty pathetic. I bought 2 shirts for 20 quetzales, which is less than $3. So I thought that was a pretty good deal. So now I just need to get them cleaned and I'm good to go =)

I keep getting little cards and things in the mail, so that's pretty exciting. From G&G Kuenzel and from Tom and Shirley I just got those today, Saturday. And tonight I'm going to a free jazz concert in Central Park, So that should be exciting. And tomorrow, probably the 2-hour long church service and then who knows after that. This weekend is a lot different because I don't have any homework for Monday so I'm at a loss of what to do. Yes, I realize that I"m in Guatemala, but a lot of things cost money to go do.

But I'm still loving it here and each day I think the temperature rises. So it gets a little hot during the day. But it's fun and awesome that I'm able to be here.

Love you and miss you all!!!

Nothing too new...

Hey all, so there's not too much that's going on with me. In fact, this week and the past week have been kinda boring. Nothing spectacular happening. I've been pretty exhausted lately with learning new things and making my brain think a lot. My body and my brain are just exhausted. Like last night, I went to bed at 9:30 and got up at 6:45 this morning, just in time for breakfast and then class at 8:00. And well, today, I'm still really tired, so it'll probably be another early night.

This week, in class, there hasn't been a lot to do. We finish with class really early. Like today we got done in 1 hour and a half. Super short compared to the 4 hours that we were supposed to take for class. So we have a break from 10-10:30 and then after that we went and explored this super nice hotel named Santo Domingo, which is a 5 star hotel and is super huge and nice. My teacher and I weren't sure if we were supposed to be in certain areas and she thought it was so funny that we were underneath the streets at one point.

The afternoons I generally spend doing my homework and reading or going over to the Students International office where there's free wireless. The only down side about the office is that it's a 30 minute walk from my house. But it's free internet and it isn't a horrible walk from my house. And each week my host family seems to be getting a little nicer, which always makes the stay a lot easier.

And I've got a final on Friday...
So I should probably start studying for that. And then next week, we start our ministry sites again. I'm really excited to go back to Hermano Pedro and see some of the patients. But right now, I need to start making my way back to my house for supper.

Love you and miss you all!!!

An update...

Hi everyone~

Just a little update this time....

As most of you know, I was pretty homesick on Tuesday, but I'm doing much better today. I think I was just overwhelmed with homework and school and not really understanding what I was doing. I think I have a better handle on things now. So thanks for all your prayers and love that you all sent me! It means a lot.

I'm just attaching some pictures that I took awhile ago, but it's just basically what I see everyday, which is pretty incredible that I'm able to see everyday. I mean, how many of you can say that you're able to see 2 volcanos every day?

This is a picture from a different roof, of the volcano, "Agua". This volcano is to the South of the city.
This is the same volcano, just from the roof of the house that I'm living in.

As far as my host family goes, it was a little weird at first. To start, when Kristin and I arrived there was just a guy there who showed us around the house. He basically told us that the house is our house since we're saying there for a couple months. Then the next day we met a lady named "Concepcion" and we were super confused. It turns out that the house is hers and that her nephew, the guy who showed us around, just works for her at the house. The food is always amazing. There hasn't been anything that I haven't liked. We have beans every night, but they're good. So basically, I just eat about anything. The lady is really nice and a good cook. It's taken her a little while to come around, but each day she seems to be coming around a little more. Also, the nephew, Jose, is a riot. He's hilarious, but doesn't live there. He's about 50 and has a wife and a family and lives elsewhere. It's been interesting seeing how our impressions of them have changed from the first day. I really like my house. The only let-down is that there aren't any kids, but I'm surviving.

There are three other students from Canada are staying in this house. To give you a picture of this house, as best I can... there are 8 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, a roof that we can go up on. And here's a picture of the house when you first walk through the doors. Our room is off to the left through that iron gate thing.After the open roof there's the dining room and then the kitchen. Off of the kitchen there are stairs that go up to the roof where there are 2 rooms and a bathroom. So we like our house a lot.

And there's 2 parrots and a canary in the house. This is one of the parrots that stays up on the roof and doesn't fly away. I'm not sure why it doesn't fly away cause it's not closed in, but alas, it stays there. And one of the parrots talks, I'm not sure if this is the parrot or not.
So that's my little update for today. And I've officially been here for a month! How crazy. It seems longer, but it seems shorter at the same time, weird.
I love and miss you all!!!

This weekend...

On Friday night, there was a group of us that went to a cafe, Cafe 2,000. They have movies playing throughout the day and we went to watch one that night. So Friday night wasn't that exciting.

However, yesterday, there was a little more excitement. There was a group of us who went up to "La Cruz." Basically, you climb this hill and then when you get to the top, you can look down and see the entire city. "La Cruz" in english means the cross. The reason it's called this is because there's a giant cross on the top of the hill.

This is the infamous picture that everyone takes from this spot on the hill. The cross, the volcano, Agua and part of the city.

Our group overlooking the city. It was a good time.
Being a little artistic....

This is our group who went up the hill together
Oh you know, just the city I'm living in for the next 3 months

Then last night I went to a bonfire with my leader's youth group from her church. Everything was in Spanish, except for one song that they sang in english for us...
So I'm not entirely sure what was all said, but I enjoyed myself and had a good time.

Today, I went to that same church that the youth group was from. The service was 2 1/2 hours long...and all in Spanish, which is basically my life story now ;)
Almost all the church's here have long services. And then we went out to eat for basically $3, which was for 3 tacos and a water. It was amazing!! And then tonight we're eating pizza, which I don't remember the last time I ate that, so I'm excited for it!

Anyway, that's been my weekend. I've been without a roommate this past weekend because she and a couple other girls from my group went back to the beach this weekend...my guess is that they'll come back nice and sun burnt.

And tomorrow, Monday, starts our 3rd week of language school. It's so crazy how this time has gone by so fast. I can't believe that we've been here for almost a month. It's crazy how time here is a little bit slower and it's not a big deal to be late, but yet the time has seemed to fly by and I'm not sure where it has all gone. Nonetheless, God has been blessing my time here thus far. The only thing that I would like to change now is the fact that I haven't really formed any friendships with the Guatemalans here. So if any of you have any suggestions as to how I should go about this, let me know ;)

Anyway, other than this, I think that's all I have for you all right now...
Oh and keep on reading down this page because this is the second post I've made of the day.

Love and miss you all!!!

Another post referring to the past

So I don't know if any of you remember me posting this, but I'm going to post a little information about it again...

The garbage dump in Guatemala. This was back from the first week that we arrived in Guatemala. This sight changed the way that I see garbage and the people here in Guatemala.

We first went to the national cemetary and were able to see all the graves there, which are a bit different from the states. These graves were above ground...that was interesting to see.


The graves on the right side of this picture are the graves that the people without a lot of money rent. Once they can't afford to rent them anymore, the body and coffin are taken out and a spot for another person is opened.
This is an example of the graves that the people with more money are able to rent or buy in the national cemetary. As you can see, there is quite a contrast from this grave to the others in a row.

Then we walked for about another 10 or 15 minutes and came to the place where the garbage dump comes close to the cemetary. Now here is an interesting question, which came first, the garbage dump or the cemetary? Either way the implications of this are strange...

There were just mounds of garbage for miles. Not only was there garbage, but there were also bulldozers, trucks, and people in this dump. This is difficult for me to grasp, even though I saw it first hand. Scavenging through the dump to find things is some people's jobs. They look for cardboard, plastic, tin, basically anything that's recyclable. This is how they make their money and no, it's not a lot of money. It's usually, if I remember correctly, about 2 or 3 quetzales a day, which in American money is about 15 cents. I think, my brain isn't functioning right now, so I don't think the conversion is right. Anyway, the point is, that it's not a lot of money and the people usually have to feed their family with that. Granted everything here is a lot cheaper. For example, today I ate lunch in a restaurant for 14 quetzales, which is about $2 in American money. But still, this is not enough to feed their family.

However there is some positive results to this garbage dump. First, children, yes children, used to work in the garbage dump. However, this was eliminated some years ago because there were a lot of children being killed. The people who operate the machines in the dump are paid to move and bury the garbage and not watch out for people. So as a result, a lot of children were being killed by these trucks because they would get in the way. Thus the reason for children not being allowed in the dump to help their parents.

Another positive aspect is that there are organizations that are assisting families by providing money, food, school, and sometimes even jobs for the parents. This is helpful because the families are maintaining a better way of life. I mean, what kind of life is it to say that your job is working in a garbage dump. We went to visit one of these organizations, Potter's House, which helps support the 10,500 people that work in the dump. They have a school for the children and also assist the parents with medical care and jobs. This is a non-profit organization that is slowly, but tremendously influencing and changing the dump for the better.

So even though the story of the dump is negative, there is still positive aspects to it because of the changes that are taking place.
Anyway, that's a little more indepth on what we saw at the dump.

I don't think I'll ever forget this experience and my heart goes out to the people whose job is working in the dump. It's hard because I want to be able to do something for these people, but it's hard because there's nothing that will make a substantial difference. Or at least for now, there's nothing I can do to make a substantial difference, but pray for these people who define their life through trash...