Somos voluntarios

Hi everyone! I hear it’s been dropping below zero in Indy lately, I guess we left just in time. I hope you’re all keeping warm. I find it so funny to see how much people wrap up in fifty-degree weather. The wind chill drops the temperature a bit, but you would think we’re in an arctic blizzard. I know it’s been less than two weeks, but it already feels like we’ve been gone for such a long time. I can’t figure out why it seems so long, maybe it’s because we’ve already been so many places and met so many new people. Or possibly just not having the same daily routine of wake up, work all day, come home, sleep, and repeat where time seems to blend together. We wake up excited, not knowing what the day will bring, yet taking it as it comes and enjoying ourselves. Whatever it is, time just seems to slow down a little bit around here.

Here are a few more things I’ve noticed that make being in Guatemala different than being home. Everyday things are celebrated with fireworks, things like waking up; there’s no better alarm clock on the market. Milk is only served warm to hot. Water pressure and heat are not features of a shower; they are choices you have to make. Roads come two ways Cobblestone or dirt. There aren’t many regulations for pollution. Taxis are run without meters and the drivers’ just charge what ever they estimate. There are twenty-seven different languages spoken just in Guatemala; most of them Mayan. And, almost everyone drinks coffee.

This week has been has been an amazing one; I never thought I could get attached to a place so fast. I’ve been taking Spanish classes in the mornings, participating in different activities at lunch, and volunteering with the kids in the afternoon. As Angie may have mentioned the organization provided us with a home stay that includes three meals a day, but what also great is that we’re staying with the cooking teacher.

The Spanish classes are incredible. In the many years I’ve spent in school I’ve never had a teacher sit one on one with me, assess my current knowledge on a subject, and then tailor each lesson plan to my personal needs. My teacher would also change the lessons when needed, adapting to anywhere I needed improvement. We worked through every subject patiently until I fully understood it. I learned an incredible amount of Spanish in just one week, I’d recommend it to anyone; I think it’s the best way to learn another language.

   The volunteers and staff at El Nahual. . .as of Jan. 2009

There were eight other volunteers, Isabelle (Germany), Chris (Seattle), Creed (Kansas), Lindsey (Minnesota), Renee (Australia), Anna (New Zealand), Sarah (Canada), and Eva (The Netherlands). They are great group of people, all with big hearts, great stories, and with their own reasons for being there. As volunteers we’ve assisted in teaching the kids English, health, math, art, and also help out with their organic garden. Angie and I also thought a few Latin dance classes to the volunteers and students. Dance class with the children went as well as it could have considering that most of the children are still in the phase of boy germs, girl germs, and cooties. As for the volunteers, I think we’ve recruited some new salseros. It’s hard not to fall in love with the kids, especially when they’re so loving and happy that you are there. After telling the children we were leaving one girl cried and held on to my legs for five minutes before letting go. In other news, Angie figured out that gardening isn’t her calling; or at least working part. We have been having a lot of fun. 

Angie mentioned that the kids have been learning about brushing their teeth in health class, she also wrote about how due to road construction the school is without water. This turned out to be a terrible equation. Anna, a volunteering nurse/health teacher, used her Christmas money to buy over seventy toothbrushes and tubes of toothpaste so that every child at the school would have some; she is a very caring person. The rough plan was to use a bottled water to wet all their toothbrushes and rinse out their mouths. We also had a bowl/dish for everyone to spit into that would later be pitched somewhere. And to set a good example we volunteers would brush our teeth along with them. Simple right! No. Sadly, for most of the children it was their first time brushing their teeth, and they just played with it like a new toy. A lot of the other kids had strange reactions to the toothpaste; you’d think it was burning their mouths the way the spit it out in disgust. Not knowing how hard to brush, a few brushed hard enough that their gums began to bleed; their faces looked foamy and red. Midway through brushing a few discovered the fun of flinging spit at each other. The worst was when they all tried to spit into the very small bowl at the same time; spit and backwash was getting all over everyone. Anna finally lost it when she tried to spit into the dish and one of the kids accidentally spit into her hair. It was one of the grossest happenings I’ve ever witnessed. In the following days we switched to a ” one at a time” system while brushing our teeth and things weren’t quite as bad.

On our last day we got all most all of the volunteers and coordinators from El Nahuel to come out salsa dancing with us. We went to a local club called “La Rumba”. It was exciting finding out that Guatemalans dance Puerto Rican style, I felt right at home. The salsa, however, didn’t last long. This place was crazy. I really think the DJ was had multiple personalities, was schizophrenic, or something. The total percentage played of every song was less than forty. The song were all mixed together, and the music would jump from salsa music to country square dance music, to old school gangsta rap music, to swing music, to reggaeton music, to Elvis music, and so on. At one point, within the span of six minutes, the song selection went from a Bachata by Adventura to the “Super freak” by Rick James, then to the “La Bomba” song, then to a swing melody, and after that “Billy Jean” by Michel Jackson; this is the kind place we were at. I got used to the randomness, however, the only thing that continued to bother me is that they never ended a song; they just kept blending each song into the next. When the songs don’t end you get stuck dancing with people for long periods of time because it’s rude to leave someone while that song is still playing. As a result there were awkward goodbyes, and awkward situations.  All complaints aside though, we had a super fun evening. Everyone got to know each other better, everyone loosened up, some acted like fools, and even though the goodbyes were sad they were filled with fun and laughter. I hope life is wonderful for all of you. As for us…our journey continues….