first experiences at the casa

not much time to write as i´m on the office computer at casa guatemala. that´s starting to be a theme... there weren´t enough people signed up to take the boat to town on wednesday so it didn´t go - if it´s not worth the gasoline then it doesn´t happen and that´s pretty much a rule of thumb around here.

my first days at the casa have been expectedly difficult and exciting. i finally got my work assignment and i´m happy with it. i am an orientadora for the niñas grandes - girls from 10 to 17. i live in the dorms with another orientadora, jasmine from australia. we get great help from a third orientadora, chini from españa, who doubles as a nurse in the clinic and sleeps there. we wake the girls up at 4.45 in the morning. it´s still dark, but we are lucky enough to get electricity in the mornings from then until about 6 - the lights begin to go off every 23 seconds for the last 40 minutes of breakfast, chores and teethbrushing. without the lights we would never get the girls out of bed - or ourselves either! they do full chores before breakfast on a rotating schedule - bathrooms, bedrooms, living area, terrace, front office, laundry area, front porch. they also take (cold!) showers and help prepare meals in the kitchen all before 6 a.m. it seems like a pretty intense life to outsiders but it´s a typical schedule for girls their age in guatemala. we have a break once they go to school from 7-ish to 10.45 when we quickly eat our lunch. seems early for lunch, but believe me, we´re hungry by then! we are around for their lunch and break before it´s back to school at 12.40. then we´re on break again from 1 to 4 when we get them for activities before dinner at 6. other volunteers do activities after dinner until 7.30 when we get them to shower and in bed by 8. trying to get 32 girls in bed and stop chatting is not easy...

the meals since i´ve gotten here have been stellar compared to what i hear is normal. they butchered some chickens and had a green bean harvest the day before i arrived so we had diced green beans with shredded chicken twice, with black beans and tortillas tortillas tortillas! also, they recently increased the number of eggs that go towards the kids´meals so we´ve had fried and hard-boiled eggs for several meals. also white rice and spaghetti in a tasty red sauce, and one day a desert-like dough in sugar syrup. we did run out of food one day before everyone got seconds. one of the volunteers had a benefit in his home town in france. he raised $1800 dollars and asked that they buy fruit and vegetables for the kids each week. we haven´t heard anything about it for two and a half weeks and we´re all a bit worried. i should say hopeful. optimism is always a plus here. turn that frown upside down.

the young kids are instantly loving and adorable which makes everything easier here. it´s interesting though, to see how 20-something people differ on child-rearing. almost always, the discussions are about safety versus guatemalan custom. should the kids have to wear sandals in the river for safety when most guatemalans have no problem walking everywhere without shoes? should they be allowed to have knives when lots of kids grow up using machetes and even guns? big questions with myriad opinions from volunteers hailing from españa, germany, australia, portugal, south africa, and the u.s.

i´ve been so busy adjusting, learning, being super-sassed by teenagers in spanish (i´m sure i don´t know the half of what they´re calling me - always my response is no me importa), that i completely forgot to be excited about my first descans (rest). i leave for costa rica to see my brother´s mom and my friend ms. lacey on the 24th. a six-hour bus-ride to guatemala city and an hour and half plane to san jose will be made much easier by my guatemaltecan friend pepin driving me in the city between the bus and the airport both ways. i´ll return to guate on the 2nd of march. i realized a few hours ago how exciting it is that i´m going to costa rica!!! if i were in the states living my normal life i would have been coming out of my skin with anticipation. instead i had to actually remind myself to go on vacation... totally different life!

having trouble posting pics but hopefully will be able to put some up when i´m at the internet cafe in town on monday night. also will be on skype sometime that afternoon - misshess38.

no time to edit this - con permiso - activities are starting and i need to take a group of our girls to the park while the others swim in the river

paz a tí!

s