Guatemala Taka 2014

After breakfast, I hugged Chelsie and Sarah goodbye – since Chelsie was going on a volcano trip and Sarah was leaving for Nicaragua. I then gave the envelopes with their “tip” and a little thank you and (hopefully inspirational)note I wrote to Lorena and Rosenda.

Since I had some time before the shuttle to the airport was going to pick me up at Olga’s place at noon, I decided to (finally) walk up to the Cerro de la Cruz.

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Then, on the walk back to Olga’s place, I went to a local souvenir shop to buy some things, and went to the market to buy flowers for Olga. I had to haggle a little and was able to get some for 25 Quetzales (About US$3).

As my shuttle came to pick me up, I said thank you and goodbye to Olga, Lorena, and Rosenda. I was truly thankful and grateful for their hospitality and I was sure I wanted to come back to the same place next year – hopefully with better Spanish skills. As I went outside to the shuttle, Dennis came out and said goodbye.

As the shuttle pulled in the airport…. a car with a Georgia Tech sticker in front of us. Whaaaat?

So… entonces… My trip didn’t “feel” life changing immediately after leaving - it felt like it really was everything I expected. It confirmed how badly I wanted to dedicate a large part of my future life to helping others.

But after getting “home” to Atlanta and being slightly shocked at the lifestyle I had been living, I realized that I truly loved and already missed the simple life – which, probably comes from people not being able to afford the “things” we take for granted living in a more developed country. All the materialism, commercialism, and western-style personal competition (like “keeping up with the Joneses” or making sure we have “the latest and greatest”) gives us never-ending clutter, crap, and junk that we somehow feel like we need. “Stuff” that definitely doesn’t help us relax or be genuinely happy.

The trip solidified where I would like to live in the long-term and what I want to do, and ultimately showed me the amount of joy I get from being able to help people – especially the people that not only need it but also have a true appreciation for it. It’s an amazing feeling when you know you can help so many people – and I look forward to putting all the plans in place and being able to go back every year to try to make more of a difference each time.

Thank you Guatemala. I will see you again in a year.

(Sandra and me)

During my Spanish class with Sandra – I gave her a chocolate bar I bought at the supermarket yesterday. And after my class, I had to fill out a survey form for Maximo Nivel and post a “positive only” comment on Facebook to get a free T-shirt. Yes, I asked, and they specifically told me the Facebook post had to be a positive post to get the T-shirt…

Then I went to the supermarket to buy 2 envelopes for Lorena/Rosenda (where I can place their “tips” and a little thank you note). Tomorrow morning, I need to go to the market to get flowers for Olga.

Today, we needed to go to the volunteer project by 4pm because the Holiday party with the kids was going to be at 6pm. So I hung out outside Dennis’s room on the patio trying to catch up on this silly blog, and chatted a little with Dennis.

Interesting that when Rosenda “does” Dennis’s room, she does things like make sculptures out of the towels every day.

To the volunteer project, Ronnie, Corrine’s boyfriend, came along to help today. Corrine was going to come at 6pm since she couldn’t get off of work until then. Noga and I had needed to buy fruit for the party since we had already bought marshmallows yesterday. Ronnie was tasked to buy ice cream for the party.

Once we got to the childcare project, we started out by blowing up red and green balloons to take and string throughout the back yard. Tino also asked me how to upload a video to YouTube, and then post it to Facebook. I had to get help from Noga to make sure I was understanding what he was asking me to do afterwards – he was asking me to explain to him what I did so that he would know how to do it on his own later.

While we were prepping, the local area had a procession for the Virgin of Guadalupe Feast Day.

Before the children came for the party, Noga and I walked to the local park – the Central Park at San Antonio – a few blocks away – so she could eat her own snacks that she had brought (since she’s picky and wasn’t expecting to eat anything during the party). We talked about how she was concerned about how her boyfriend was wanting to not talk as often over Skype because he was “sensitive” about missing her.

Once the children came, Tino had a fire ready for kids to sit around – and we first sat around playing “telephone.”

Then Lesbi asked me to come stand next to her. I realized it was time for her to explain that it was my last day. She started crying during her speech – and in some ways I was lucky that I didn’t understand 99% of what she was saying because it only got me teared up. She handed me a few things, including a certificate, bookmarks for my 3 kids, and a card with signatures from from all the kids. I saw that Corrine was crying – so it was definitely a bit tough for me.

I think I said “Thank you for everything – I hope to be back next year” – Lesbi seemed to be happy about me wanting to come back next year. Then Tino made a speech, as well as another parent, Noga, and a few of the older children. They asked if I wanted to say anything – and I said yes, but I wanted someone to translate what I said in English. Ronnie volunteered to translate what I was saying: I said something along the lines of “Thank you for letting me be here – Lesbi and Tino, what you guys are doing is amazing – and I would love to come back next year.”

While Lesbi started to get the food ready (steak, mashed potatoes, and some kind of sausage), Noga, Corrine, Ronnie, and I split up into 3 stations: 1 stations (mine) made Christmas Cards for the parents(s), Noga had the station that played a game where kids got in a circle, passing around a lollipop behind their backs and one child in the middle had to guess where he lollipop was, and Corrine/Ronnie had the station where they played “tag” using paper tails sticking out of each child’s back pocket.