Day 3 - Machetes in Hand

Name: Maria Cass y Natalia LeSage Date: June 13, 2009

FYI: We now know how to use machetes! We cleared brush from a hillside for about 3 hour and the rest of the time we played soccer and baseball with los pequeños! Day number 3 was perfect, except for the fact that we currently can’t find the key to unlock a room, which contains our suitcases. We wake up SUPER early, definitely the first ones everyday…we get the cold showers first which is a plus (sort of…) Iramos a la playa mañana!

Name: Erin Katopodis Date: June 13, 2009

So…using the machetes was an interesting sight. My right arm is officially stronger than the left and I have the scratches and darker tan lines to prove my three hours of work. Today was Antonio’s cumpleano and I gave him a Twins hat (he wouldn’t take it off). I would write all about how we couldn’t understand a word of their mass this evening, how the girls started to finally interact with us, how we are all pro bracelet makers, and how we are slowly able to form complete sentences with the kids (with them laughing at us of course), but I learned from Melissa to keep these blogs short and sweet. Tomorrow we go to the beach for a break and Monday we are going to continue to work on the area we tore down today with the machetes. Buenas Noches.


Name: Mariah Date: 6/13/09

The third day was a lot of fun. We learned how to cut brush with huge machetes the size of my arm! It was hard work but a great way to relieve your anger. Also because there are so many of us we got a lot done. It would have taken the volunteer at the orphanage weeks. Then we had free time, which was a lot of fun because I got to talk to Jose who will be coming to BSM next year. He knows some English so he helped me pick up more Spanish. It has been really hard because everything sounds different than it is spell, so I understand when it is written but really hard to speak it. I am picking up a little each day. Tomorrow we are going to the beach, which I am really excited for. Love you mom and hopefully I will remember to blog again.


Name: Sra. Prentice Date: 6/13/09

Parents should know that your girls are absolutely wonderful. They are working really hard at their chores and projects and are so enthusiastically playing with the kids here. The kids are in love with these girls. By the way, their Spanish is great—they’re putting it to good use! Even the Latin and French girls are hablando!! Today we met Juan Jose, one of the orphans here, who will be a BSM student next year if everything works out. He’s a very courteous, industrious kid who will be a great addition to our community and he’s learning all about snow tubing, winter clothing, and life at BSM!! Everyone’s having a great time!


Name: Kelsey Jacobson Date: 6-13-09

Well hey friends and family! I still miss you all so much! Hmmmm let’s see, what did we do today? Well, apparently I was really tired because I was the very last one to wake up this morning. I woke up to Melissa whispering in my ear that if I wanted any breakfast at all, I had to wake up now. Then, we headed into the “jungle” with machetes to chop it down to make room for planting trees. It was very buggy and very hot! I think I discovered about 100 more bugs today that I never knew existed. Surprisingly, we didn’t have an injuries due to the machetesJ I did cute myself with the end of my blade on my leg, but it was just a tiny scrape. Then, we ate breakfast and played kickball with the kids! The kickball started when Borer asked a boy named Willy if he liked soccer, and he said no (this is considered a sin in the Guatemala world). He told her that he loved baseball, so she decided to start a baseball game but the bat broke on the first hit so we played kickball instead. Then we went to church and unfortunately didn’t understand a word of the mass:(. Finally, we ended the day with more soccer and teaching the kids some fun games. And of course, we all met out on the grass to do abs with Ms. Leahy. I’m having so much fun and can tell that us girls are getting closer, and I just love all the kids! Tomorrow, we go to the beach and fiesta!!! xoxoxo

Name: Molly Gorrilla Date: 6-13-09

Well today we got to use machetes in the forest, to clear it out in order to plant trees. It was a long 3 hours but the results showed how much we accomplished. After we had lunch. Alicia, Natalie and I went and ate with a couple kids outside since they needed the cafeteria to stay clean for mass later. Then we got to chill with the kids. I met my new friend Jorge. He is such a cool little kid. I noticed that he had brace thingys on his ankles, he struggled a little when he walked. He clinged on to me like a magnet throughout the entire day. Sometimes when we would go up stairs I would pick him up, he was very happy about that. I have become very close with him and I am so glad because yesterday I struggled to create good relationships with the kids. Today was a big step in forming bonds with Jorge and a few other kids and I am soo happy about that. Alicia and I seemed to create a “meeting” spot with our new friends on the blue bleachers today. Every time we had free time, Alicia and I would walk down to our spot and our friends from the first break remembered and came down to visit with us. By the end of the night, we had about 15 of us hanging out, which was really fun. One of the kids by the “meeting” spot showed us amazing break dancing moves from movies like Stomp the Yard and Step Up, which are two great movies that I love. Also, Alicia and Natalie and I went into the little girls house and got them to come out and play soccer with us, which was such a big step since yesterday we didn’t see much of the girls. Tomorrow, our new friends said they would teach us some salsa, hopefully all will follow through. O yeah, the beach is tomorrow too…which sounds so good. So despite the sun burn and tiredness, today was so fun and so far it had been the best day.
Peace and Love



Alicia Vertin Date: June 13, 2009

Hello =) well today has been amazing. We got up and ate very yummy pancakes and fresh fruit. Sunny blue skies. Then… we all got ready to go work for the first time It was hard work using that machete in the fields. I got a little dehydrated though so I need to make sure that I keep drinking water. Poor Meredith got stung by bees ahhhhh that’s scary. Yesterday though Molly, Natalie, Kathleen, Allie and Maria and I got invited to lunch by a few kids it was so nice. We thought we would follow though with that and we dicided to go eat lunch with them but… they were no where to be found. We found out later it had something to do with the mass we went to. Like Molly said we have a new meeting place which was fun because we would sit down and every one would flock to us. We tried our best to break the language barrier and talk to every one. They were full of energy, and they liked doing cart wheels and summersalts in the grass with us. We had a blast. Today was really fun, and tomorrow we go to the beach so yay!!!
Hasta Luego
alicia

Name: ALLIE FAN Date: June 13, 2009

So today molly almost killed me when she lost her grip on her machete and threw it off the cliff down the drop off and into the thick part of the field that we hadn’t cleared yet, so sure enough I had to climb down stabbing my machete into the weeds and descending into the weedy abyss. Luckily I conquered the steep hill and returned to safety, using both of the machetes to hack my way back up. Please don’t think that this was all I did today, im just way to tired to fill u in all the way, so I hope u enjoyed my brief story but other people are better at this blogging thing than me, so read theirs. Adios!