Name: Hope Sexton Date: Jun 15
It is getting better and better here in Guatemala! My Spanish is coming much more fluently with the occasional stare and awkward pause from the children. Yesterday was really fun….if you look at the whole day. We took a 2 ½ hour bus ride to a beach that had black sand, so it was incredibly hot. All I can think of when I think of the beach is the battle I had with my swimsuit. The waves took you under and tossed you around so hard, your swimsuit was a gonner. Not my finest moments. And then today we spent just under 4 hours hoeing a field where they will plant corn. Hahaha their technique looked easy and productive, but when I attempted to copy them I made it so much harder. What’s new? So we cleared a huge plot of land for them. And tonight we’re planning on having girls night with the young teenage girls (around 13-15 I think) so that will be fun. I must say that this has been one of my more interesting birthdays…. Oh! And we hung out with Juan Jose more, he’s the guy that’s coming to BSM next year. He drew me a picture that was really good J Es todo. Kelsey gave me your card. Thank you love you guys!!!! Hope your enjoying keeping up with our trip on this blog! Hasta Luego.
Name: Molly Gorrilla Date: 6-15-09
Yesterday was like a vacation day, We went to the beach, on the ocean, which I was so happy about because I had never seen any of the oceans before. It was steaming hot and the sand was black, which made it even more hot. We walked through the little town and got some treats and water. Then, we got to swim at a hotel pool and chill in hammocks on the second floor balcony which was really fun. Even though I had a lot of fun at the beach, I couldn’t stop thinking about the kids. It was a nice break but I kind of felt guilty that we were having a vacation day. At the end of the night we watched 17 again, a movie with Zac Efron, so, basically a good movie for over 20 girls to watch. Today we went into a field with a lot of grass and weeds and used hoes to make 5 or 6 rows in order to be burned so the workers can plant corn soon. It was a long 3 hours and the heat seemed to get to everyone. Even though there were a few fights here and there we managed to finish. We all were full of dirt and it was in our shoes so we went to wash off by the little boys house. After all the hard work we got to hang out with the kids. I finally got to play with the little girls, the youngest besides the babys. They were soooo cute. I attempted to ask them if they remembered my sister who came here the last two years but they didn’t remember. It was one of the first times I wasn’t with Alicia, which was a good because it was a good time for me to practice my speaking without getting help.. Alicia I still love you (; . Again I found my friend Jorge and hung out with him on the jungle gym, it seems to be our play place now. Today has been another good day and the fun just never ends.
Peace and Love
Name: Erin Katopodis Date: June 15 2009!
Post: today is Esparanza’s birthday (Hope) and also our second day or labor after a really fun day at the beach yesterday. The water in the ocean was surprisingly warm and the sand was black…which was new and I was surprised my flip flops didn’t melt. There were so many stray dogs and I enjoyed seeing a small town and experiencing more of the culture here in Guatemala. I still love it here and the days are going by slowly. I’m not complaining. We worked in the fields today and cleared all of the weeds which sounds easy but after three hours, una siesta was definitely necessary. It wore me out but didn’t keep any of us from playing with the kids. I was given un regalo (gift) of a dirty pink teddy bear from Armando, who said that he fell in love with me after only 10 minutes of playing soccer with him. I’m finally realizing how self sufficient they are here at the orphanage and feel fortunate to help them out in any way I can. We’re having a girls’ night tonight with the teenage girls and they seemed extremely happy and excited! Adios
Name: Maura, Kelsey H, Kathleen, Meredith L, Hope, Mariah, Maria Date: June 15, 2009
We had an epic dance party with las chica tonight! We decided that we needed to get to know the girls and so we brought nail polish to their casa. We painted the girls nails and they painted ours, they turned on the music and we had a DP (dance party.) Conga lines, High School Musical, and break dancing were some of the highlights. Aside from the dancing, it was great to see the girls break out of their shells and make an effort to talk with us. The first day we came here they were so quiet and somewhat guarded (which was expected due to their society) but today they were so eager to share their likes, dislikes, and the beginnings of personal experiences. Yep, we bonded through our impersonations of Shakira and belting out “We’re Breaking Free.” It was an experience! We all had an awesome time and we are going back tomorrow night, after we go to Antigua for some shopping J
Name: Melissa Plooster Date: 6-15-09
Hey Mom and Dad! Love you and missing both of you! It is so much fun here. It’s unbelievably beautiful here; you’ll be playing soccer on the field, look around, and realize that you’re surrounded by mountains. Yesterday, we went to Montericco, which was on the beach. It had black sand, which made it unbelievably hot, and the oceans were so strong and tall that when they hit you, they pulled you under. My bathing suit had an issue—it would never stay on. So I decided I didn’t want to die and be sucked under, so I left the ocean. The immediate area around the beach was nice though; you could tell that it was trying to become a tourist area, but it still was small enough to have that “local” feel. Today we cleared land for them to farm on, and after dinner, we hung out with the normally shy girls. We painted each other’s nails, braided hair, danced, and chatted. It was really nice to get to know them, especially two named Maria and Cindy. However, its hot, I’m always sweating, we can’t flush paper down the toilet, and there are bugs everywhere. But you know me: I like to feel rugged like that. Haha—love you! See you soon!
Name: Katie hoesley Date: 6/15/09
hola shell joe will and sarah..today we ho’ed in the field for probably 100 hours…ok actually from about 10:30-1 or so and we cleared a big field for the orphanage. Meredith lawlor and I rocked our over-alls and “hick” hats and looked great…and being distracted by how good I looked I neglected to apply any SPF and am currently suffering the consequences…I have a perfect beader-tan-line on my back…and I wish I could tell you it was tan and I don’t look like I laid on a frying pan for an hour. Im scorched. But other than that today was great- it was the first time we got to hang out with the girls (we usually play fútbol with the 5-16 year old boys in the fields and mess around with them…we usually don’t’ see the girls because they approach us much less) and it was really fun. We talked about typical stuff and although the language barrier is an obvious challenge, and it’s a bit discouraging when girls ½ your age giggle at your attempts to communicate, we pulled through and it was really fun- we went back a couple hours later to their house and played again tonight, we danced and painted nails..one girl named Astrid painted my nails silver with white dotted flowers- needless to say I resemble a fashion icon. Oh and dad, you know how you were concerned about me coming to Guatemala? Well to sooth your anxiety, two days ago we used Machetes, and no I’m not making this up, and we chopped down an entire hill-side field. Feel better J hahahahaha I’m laughing as I write that. ONE WEIRD THING…make sure Will reads this..there is a boy IDENTICAL to him, well I mean he’s Guatemalan..but he looks just like Will and his name is Elemar. I’ve taken pictures, don’t worry shell you’ll be able to relive my entire experience through the zillion photos I’ve taken. Tomorrow were going into Antigua for the day and were all super excited. Miss you guys a lot! Tell the Wayzata kids I miss them, I’m sure they’re dying of with-drawl without coming and eating us out of house and home every day. Xoxo. Check ya later
Name: margo graff Date:6/15/09
hey dad and mom, it’s been four days and it seems like we just got here. Our first day we just sorted all of the cloths and the second day we used machetes!!! I’m a pro and yes your should be scared but kids who are like seven here use them, which is so weird to see but yea we mowed a huge hill with machetes and then the next day we went to the beach. Mcclurg, Annalisa and I road horses on the beach and Annalisa was trying to get her horse to run and she smacked it in the butt and it hiked up it back legs like it wanted to buck her off, it was so funny. We shopped, bought some movies, played on the beach (the sand is black, it is so weird but it is from the volcano ash) I almost got eaten by the waves many of times as well. Because of the huge undertoe, you could berly keep your stance when it as pulling you back. Today we had to hoe a whole field for planting and I was so dirty I turned a different race. Anyways the scenery is beautiful. We look outside your window and see huge mountains and huge grassy hills. On our way to the beach we saw the volcanoes and it is actually serial here. We have been playing with all the kids and the rules for the girls and boys here are so weird, they can have boyfriends at 10 but can’t kiss them till 18 and if the girls want to go play out side they have to ask permission to go outside but their tias or aunts don’t really let them go. Oh and we have to throw all the toilet paper in the trash because the toilets cant handle it so if you accidentally drop it in you have to fish it out-its utterly disgusting because I always forget! Oh and I fell in love with Nutella so looks like we are getting some at home! We are also running out of snacks and it` is going t be a disaster for the girls who don’t eat anything but cookie crisp cereal aka Annalisa. Oh my God! I forgot you are going to me so proud of me! I read my first book that was 445 pages in two days and now I am on my second one and have been reading this for a day and I am half way done, our cabin is called the reading cabin because we all read so much. Oh and lastly we freeze our water bottles and mine broke so looks like I am s.o.l. because I drink about 3 bottles a day. Sorry I didn’t email you yesterday when I was at the internet café Sam was the only lucky one but I miss you guys and love you!!!!
Name: ALLIE FAN Date: June 15, 2009
HOLA, bloggings not really my strong suit so im just going to give a few funny stories and reaccount the rest for you upon my return. First of all, yesterday we took a bus ride down the mountain that the orphanage is on top of but after 3hrs on a hot bus we made it to the ocean. It was amazing! Like nothing I’ve ever seen, seriously. Literally 12ft waves with an undertow that could drown a house. But of course I was too excited to think about that so I ran in first while everyone was putting their stuff down on the beach, which by the way was black sand, and I was brutally thrown into the ground and then swirled around in circles a couple of times before finally finding the surface again. The unfortunate thing was that although the first time was fun and voluntary, the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th times were NOT and it was impossible to get back to land. The other fun thing about going to the ocean was that the small city it was in wasn’t a tourist city at all so no one knew any English and we had to totally rely on our mediocre Spanish skills to get by. Of all our vacations, that was a first for me. Today we hoe’d a field, it was draining but satisfying. More to come...adios!
Name: Natalie LeSage Date: June 16, 2009
Hola from Guatemala!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!! I hope you have a fantastic day!!! But I will fill you in on what has been going on down here!!! Everyday it has be extremely hot (and so far I haven’t gotten burned)! Our first work project was sorting all of the donations and then working in the fields with machetes (of course I got blisters!)! But we got so much work done!!! The next day we went to the beach, which was absolutely beautiful… the sand was black and there were gigantic waves! Then yesterday we worked for 4 hours in a field with hoes…. It was so tiring but it felt so good when we looked at how much we accomplished! And today, we are going shopping in Antigua (I will try not to spend all of my money!!!) As for the kids!!! They are all so much fun and I am definitely starting to improve my Spanish! This was a perfect time to come down here because the kids are al out of school so we get to see them more! The culture it so much different then back home: we never see the girls! One day we went to go and get them to play soccer, and told us we could play in their hilly back yard. But we were like NO we are going to the big soccer field! So we player on the field but they were very careful around the boys! But last night we went to the girls room and painted their nails!!! But anyways I am have the time of my life down here!!! I miss you all!!! And thanks for the many random notes… they always make me smile! Right now Maria and I are going to go sit out side in the beautiful sunny day before we leave!!! And once again HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!! I love you!!!!
P.S. Sorry for any typos I want to go outside!!!!
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