Goodbyes

It was a wonderful and bittersweet last week in Guatemala. 

Sunday, we went to Rio Dulce--took a boat ride to Livingston, a Caribbean city on the east coast of Guatemala with stops along the way at a castle/fort, hot springs and a waterfall. We went swimming and jumping at the waterfall despite our swearing at the beginning of the trip that we wouldn't go in fresh water--so far so good :-)

Monday was our last day of placement. They made me a giant card with all of the kids handprints and coloring:

Then three of the organization leaders said such, such nice things and I bawled like a little baby when they asked me to say a few words! Estefani ran right up to me and gave me a huge hug. Jadira, one of the other volunteers, swore my Spanish still sounded good but I'm pretty sure sobbing and Spanish don't mix too well for me! 

Here are some more pics of the last day:

The whole group :-)

Gladys-I couldn't understand exactly what she was saying but she held me for such a long time and it seemed so heartfelt it made me cry even more.

Ah Bryan my awesome, sweet, energetic guy!! Miss him already!

This is Eduardo-remember him because he is going to do awesome things in this world! He has an intelligence mixed with a giant heart that is so rare in an 11 year old boy. He helps the other kids so selflessly, especially the one boy who is deaf-Eduardo is learning signs to help him communicate. Literally if given the opportunity, this boy could change the world.

We also went on a garden field trip :-)

The little girl got a ride so Felipe wanted one too haha. Felipe is 12, he's never been to school until this program because he works all morning every day chopping wood on a farm help provide for his family. This program is crucial to him remaining a sweet boy rather than getting involved in the street life.

Growing onion 

Tuesday and Wednesday morning we spent enjoying Antigua and shopping!! We market shopped for about 6 hours (that might be a low estimate) and learned a fundamental difference between Steve and me (I was going to write besides him being obsessed with a bargain but actually this is VERY related to that)---he LOVES bartering, loves it like a competitive sport. I would leave a tough barter and say "that was so horrible, I need a rest" and his response would be "that was awesome! I'm on such an adrenaline high right now, lets go again!". Phew, glad I had him to do the tough work for me :-)

Wednesday afternoon we went to a coffee plantation for zip lining, horseback riding, feeding baby cows (yup sorry mom!), and of course coffee. Our last dinner was delicious crepes with some friends. It was the perfect ending to a great trip!

Overall it was such an amazing trip and I loved sharing it with Steve. Some of the perks of traveling with him:

1. He's a boy so you're always safe walking.

2. He always carries his awesome camera so you can sit back and enjoy.

3. He always carries a backpack for your rain jacket, bug spray etc

4. He is literally the best person at bartering ever-I would have spent way more without him!

5. He's super nice to me even when I'm being crazy!

Heading back to the US, I'm most excited to:

1. See Paul!! (And my family and friends!)

2. Not have to throw my toilet paper in the trash.

3. Drink and brush my teeth with tap water.

4. Not have to sleep in a bunk bed!!

Leaving Guate, I'll really miss:

1. My placement and the kiddos!!

2. The relaxing mornings spent in coffee shops.

3. The beautiful sites and amazing adventures!

Well, that's all until next time!

Besos!

Valerie

 

 

Luxury, Tikal, and Roughing It

So it's Saturday night and we're 2/3 through our Tikal weekend trip. For the most part it has been AMAZING! Let's start with that :-)

Friday we drove all day and then spent the night on a little island called Flores, cute place, good dinner and the most amazing shower I've had since I got here...like seriously I'm having dreams about that shower.

A little dark but this is Stephen and Devon on the patio last night. This morning we woke up and ate breakfast there overlooking the lake, beautiful.

We then headed to Tikal...one of the largest Mayan ruin sites. It was INCREDIBLE. I can't wait to see all the pics on Stephen's camera! Here are some from my phone:

It was honestly one of the most amazing places I've ever experienced. It's so phenomenal to think about when the Mayans actually lived there-it blows my mind. They are also still digging more temples out of the jungle. The bottom picture above was just discovered in 1979 and the excavation finished in 2003.

After Tikal we headed to Rio Dulce...that's when things got a little less "amazing". We stopped off at our hotel before dinner---bugs by the door and these insane screeching birds outside. The lady from the hotel lit firecrackers to scare the birds away...weird, loud but effective. We took a boat ride to a yummy place for dinner--cute vibe, delicious burger, funny bathroom sink:

After we got back to the hotel we realized that the ants "by the door" we're actually ants "crawling all over Devon's bed". We asked the guy at the desk and he came and sprayed........GLADE SPRAY. At this point we literally could not stop laughing, even he was laughing a little bit. We were hoping it was some Guatemalan trick like how Greek people use oil olive on everything ;-)....no such luck but at least our ants smelled nice.  At this point we decided we'd just share the other double bed away from the ants. While I was busy taking a cold shower, apparently the guy came back with per Devon, "a spray bottle that looked much more legit-there were no flowers on it"...so at this point we have dead ants but may die of fumes. As Devon showers, also cold, and I air out the room, I decide ok maybe now that the ants are dead I'll sleep in that bed. As I'm moving around the sheets killing the last stray ants, a brown thing falls out of the sheets...hmm maybe a leaf. Then, the leg falls out. 

Dead cockroach=back to sharing the other bed. 

So now we're all snuggled up away from the window with some major cases of phantom itching. Ready for tomorrow adventures :-)

Besos!

Valerie

After One Week

So we've been here a whole week already--it's crazy how fast it had flown by but also how quickly I've gotten adjusted to being here. 

I feel like I haven't written in forever so this might be a long one for the sake of my own journaling. 

Since I last wrote, we've celebrated 4th of July and traveled to Lake Atitlan, as well as having some more Spanish classes and days at placement.

As far as my Spanish classes, I actually think I'm getting a little bit better...still nowhere near perfect but I should at least have motivation to keep practicing once I get home. After Spanish class we usually get a delicious coffee and study before placement.

I'm still absolutely loving my placement. I've been able to do speech therapy every day and am making a binder with memory/go fish games for artic and language to leave when I go. I've learned that you can do a LOT of speech therapy with just index cards and some markers/crayons! I've also been helping translate some things--for example all the books that are donated are in English...makes sense I guess but not super helpful if no one speaks English. So I spent some time last week translating DORA into Spanish-it was kind of a fun game of clues/charades for the words I didn't know...like "rocket boosters" ;-) it went something like this:

Me: "el vehiculo que va a la luna" -the vehicle that goes to the moon.

Saul*: "el cohete"-rocket

Me: "si y las partes abajo con fuego pshhh"

Saúl: "pulsores del cohete"

Check! :-)

*Saul is one of the teenagers in the reciclarte program( Oh i haven't even talked about that yet! Another time but its an awesome program!) who is always stylin', his nickname is Galleta-Cookie and he kind looks like Luigi :-)

Some pics of speech:

Ok now on to our weekend--we went to Lake Atitlan which is about 2 1/2 hours from here. Steve and I went with a girl named Devon who lives in our house with us-she's awesome and she has a younger brother as well so she fits in perfectly with us-we had a really great time!  Steve has some AWESOME pics on his camera. I got a couple on my phone to share (the first is a market and the second is an incredibly colorful cemetery-both in Chicastanango where we went today):

On saturday, we went to a nature preserve to hike for around an hour and a half and we saw very active spider monkeys and got to climb across like 7 rope bridges by a waterfall. It was so much fun! We also took a boat ride across the lake to two towns which was georgeous with all the volcanoes around the lake.

Ok time for me to head to sleep--I have a little but of a cold so hopefully I can sleep well tonight :-)

Besos!

Valerie

Our Education is a Privilege

I'm continuing to really enjoy my time here in Antigua, Guatemala. I've now had two Spanish lessons and one more day at my placement. I'm amazed at how much I've learned in such a short amount of time. 

First, I've learned a ton about "special education" here--basically if a child falls outside of the "typical" bubble, they don't get an education. Period. The only exceptions are non-profits organized by churches, primarily the Catholic Church here, or volunteers that provide services to these children. My placement is run by young guys (probably in their late 20's and 30's) that provide the service from the good of their hearts-they work different jobs in the mornings and then volunteer at the organization in the afternoon. This type of "school" is basically unheard of here--in fact when o told my Spanish teacher what type of place i was volunteering and where it was located, he did not believe me. His wife is a teacher so he knows a lot about the education system and he said "no, no those types of schools don't exist in the pueblos". My placement is very new, it's only existed for a year and we are the first "voluntarios extranjeros"-foreign volunteers. It began to serve children with Down syndrome but when they opened their doors they saw the need was much greater so there are kids with a variety of needs, including some street children that simply don't have any other place to go. So in a way it's kind of like an inclusion class ;-) Another insane fact I learned is that children with ADHD, behaviors problems, etc can also be kicked out of school right away--and therefore they fall under the special education umbrella that doesn't get an education. INSANE! I can't even imagine if all our impulsive, behavior kiddos in the US weren't allowed an education.

One of the little girls there is partially deaf--completely deaf in one ear and partially in the other. Daniel, one of the founders of the project, was explaining to me that they could possibly find a sponsor to supply the hearing aid (maybe) but she would need to be evaluated by an audiologist first which would cost much more than they have (approx $250 plus transportation to Guatemala City-$40). It's so hard to wrap my head around her not having a heading aid--I gotta figure out a way to get that girl an evaluation...anyone wanna help? ;-) 

I have so much more to say but it's time for lunch and my placement :-) we get to see some break dancing this afternoon by the local kids!

Besos!

Valerie

Oh Canada

4 awesome things about today:

1. I didn't fall off the bed last night! one night down, 13 more to go. ;-)

2. I placed intermediate in Spanish, which means I get to take private lessons and work on IEP Spanish.

3. I LOVE LOVE my placement already!!! It's a school for children with disabilities run totally by local volunteers because "schools" do not exist here for that population. I already did Speech Tx today!! Sooo much more to say about my awesome placement later!

4. It's Canada Day :-)

Besos!

Valerie

Ready, Set, Cultural Shock

We've arrived safe and sound and Antigua is truly beautiful. The high altitude and surrounding volcanos make it quite majestic. Here is the view from our roof of one of the volcanos:

  The weather was nice today and Stephen and I were able to explore the city a bit. We even spoke Spanish to each other the whole time...we'll see how long that lasts haha :-) 

Honestly, I'm feeling pretty out of my comfort zone already. Im sure i felt the same in Ecuador and Tanzania, i just cant remember--or maybe as i get older my comfort zone grows more engrained. A lot of the people here have been here for awhile and have formed their groups -but I'm infinitely thankful to have Stephen with me! Wish we were sharing a room--as it is I'm sharing with three girls and got stuck on the top bunk. For those of you that know me well, you know this is my nightmare and crazy anxiety producing. Crossing my fingers for a night of no sleep talking/walking or falling off the bed :-/

I'm looking forward to orientation tomorrow--not sure if that will help my comfort zone but it may at least force me to hold my breath and dive right in :-)

¡Besos!

Valerie

¡Nos Vemos!

Sitting in the airport about to head out on my next adventure-Guatemala! I feel so blessed and lucky to once again share travel adventures with my brother, Stephen. It won't be the same without Matt, but since we still have to go hike Kili together, I'll settle for knowing that must happen in the future :-)

As I reflect on my hopes for this trip, I am well aware that "volunteer vacations" always do more for me than I do for those I'm helping.  I've gone back and forth on my emotions with regards to that--guilt "maybe it'd be better to just send $", sadness "I wish I could do more", trust "but I think I will be of some help", and happiness "the gift of opening my eyes and hearts to others is priceless". In the end, I settle on Hope. Hope that through my experiences, I can make one day brighter or open someone else's eyes to how others live. Mostly, hope, that I can come home and live more gratefully and with an even more open heart and mind to all people.

On that note, I'm off to practice my Spanish, have some adventures, and hopefully be of as much help as I can in these two short weeks. 

¡Besos!

Valerie

p.s. thank you to my amazing, loving husband, Paul, for supporting me in my decision to go on this trip (and not killing me for missing our anniversary ;-)) Love your compassionate heart!!