Cual Gran Es El

I was not planning on updating the blog as I have done absolutely nothing interesting in the past week and a half, but my father Atticus ever so politely reminded me that I should. 

These are the events of consequence that I have accomplished in the past week and a half:
I popped into the hospital for a bit (guatemalan hospitals, while very clean and nice, are quite boring! there was not even a radio in the room)
I helped with vacation bible school at my church (actually i think i did more standing around than helping, but i´m sure my presence was a gift :). )
I knitted a scarf (its purple and blue and kind of ugly, but i wear it all the time anyways)
I started reading five books and have finished approximately...zero 

However, I did have a minor breakthrough this morning as I finally figured out how to shut the water in the pila off! For those of you who don´t know, probably all of you, this is a pila:



This is not my pila, but I borrowed the picture off google..hope nobody minds! Our pila is a bit old and the faucet is broken, so we turn it off using a combination of a plastic bag and a hair tie. My mom calls it ¨modern¨hahah! But today I finally figured out how to turn it off myself. I was so proud! Also, we do laundry in the pila. Which means I postpone doing laundry for as long as possible. 

..Well i think that´s enough for now. I was going to leave you with a picture of my family´s cat, Mininoe (or some variation of that spelling), but I forgot my camera cord. Have a good week!

New beginnings

I have had an eventful past couple of weeks!

I usually use my journal to write my blogs but I forgot it so I will just have to wing it..

I went to my first Guatemalan wedding! A couple from my church got married and my parents were their godparents. The wedding lasted...five hours! It was a lot of fun though and it was good to see everybody so happy. 

Family photo after the wedding

I had never met the couple before..but my mom made me be in the pictures anyways!

After the wedding my brother gave me a guitar lesson. I mentioned once to my mom that I wanted to learn and my brother offered to give me lessons without me even asking. My family is truly amazing.

As most of you already know, we had a major earthquake here. I was at school when it happened so I gathered my little children to me and huddled under the door. Two people in San Mateo died and many more died in San Marcos. My house is okay, there is just a large crack all the way down the hallway. 

The other YAVs, Marcia, and I had our November retreat at a coffee finca (plantation). It was so amazing! We got to pick coffee with the workers, and I actually really enjoyed it. Most Guatemalans can´t afford to buy coffee from Guatemala (we always drink instant coffee) and it makes me so sad. It´s like a New Mexican who can´t afford green chile because it´s all exported.

I honestly did not know coffee was red..the process is quite interesting!

We all went on a hike and explored the finca, we climbed up a cliff using only tree roots, it was awesome!

We had another earthquake, it wasnt as strong as the first one but still did some damage in San Mateo. The large crack in my hallway has grown but the house is still standing!

My host mom celebrated her 50th birthday while I was gone at the retreat. Being the amazing person that she is, she saved me birthday cake. I am going to live with her forever!

Today was the graduation for the kids at Ceipa. I was so proud of my little students! Well actually they are big students as most of them are at least 15, but I am about two feet taller than them. These kids only graduated sixth grade, but that is such an accomplishment for them. These kids have to decide daily whether they will work to support their family or go to school. That is not a decision a child should ever have to make. 

my two favorite non graduating boys, they still have a year left

After graduation!

I´m sure more things happened..but my memory is still failing me. Oh well!

Tamalitos and cookies

I have not really had access to a computer lately, so I apologize for not updating!

I made chocolate chip cookies for my family last weekend, and for some reason they were as flat as a pancake. Like almost see-through. My mom thought I ¨tortilliad¨them. Perhaps it was because I didn´t have measuring cups and eyeballed everything..oops.

I gave my first english lesson! Those poor children... Half the time they ask me what a word is in english but I don´t know what the word in spanish is so I just make something up...

My family does not celebrate Dias de los Muertos, so Annie came over and we went to the cemetary by ourselves.  

Friday was my sister´s graduation and we had no less than half the population of China in our house. We all woke up early and made TONS of food. 

 We made tamalitos, pure maize wrapped in leaves and cooked.

The party after the graduation was really fun, everybody made sure to include me so I didnt feel left out. There is a boy at church that speaks English, and I offered to help him with his english if he helped me with my spanish..he didnt seem too enthused. rude. I´m still working on him though.

There is also this lady at church that is about 402 years old, and is about three feet tall. Even shorter than my grandma! She has half a tooth left and only one eye but she is very cool. She dances during the service when she wants to, she prays outloud when she wants to, she sings whatever song she wants to, regardless of whether the rest of us are singing the same song. She also rocks out when the worship band plays and claps to a beat that only she can here. Everytime I see her she toddles over to say hi to me, I really like her. 

On that note, I must go prepare for another English class today. Hope you all have a good week!