One Piece (or bottle) at a Time...

This weekend my friend and fellow evacuee, Evan, and I went to the beach again at Hawaii, Guatemala. Our friend who is a Peace Corps Volunteer down there at a turtle reserve, Trent, is working on building a preschool out of plastic bottles. Trent wasn't around this past Saturday, but Evan and I got to help out the contractor there for a couple of hours doing some construction. Check out the photos in my picassa album soon. We only did a little bit of work, but we could tell the work was much appreciated. It was an awesome experience to be a part of such a big undertaking. If you are interested in this type of thing and feel like giving to a worthy cause, go to www.hugitforward.com and donate to Trent Hodges' project. They only lack about a week and a half in construction. However, I think they could use some more funds for paint and other supplies that aren't recycled plastic bottles.

In other news, I arrived at my host family from training's house after the beach this weekend and found out my host sister who is my age, Xiomara, will be getting married this weekend! It has been a lot of fun around the house the last day or so talking about all the plans. Also, I think it will be a blast going to my first Guatemalan wedding and it being family. Also, I am missing my friend Margo's wedding this weekend in the States so it will be nice to celebrate in the same manner in Guate! Since I haven't been to my site in a couple of months, I don't have a tie or any formal wear with me here. However, my mom deposited some money in my stateside bank account so I will be shopping for that this week, along with a wedding gift. Looking forward to that big fun this weekend.

This week Evan and I decided to donate some time at an NGO near Antigua to help tutor underprivileged kids in math. We went on a tour of the facility and operation today. It is sometimes hard to see so much money and resources going to what some Americans view as the underprivileged people in this developing country when what we experience at our sites is extreme poverty and much worse than these conditions. However, that is not to say that these children and families are not deserving of help/support as well, it is just that we see people who are so much worse off on a daily basis. All that aside, for the second time this week, we were around several 'gringos' or people from the states and a few times received deep gratitude for our service to our country and Guatemala. I think during this hard time of evacuation from our sites, little things like gratitude from other Americans remind us of why we are waiting the "siege" out and anxious to hopefully return to our communities in Alta Verapaz. We are here for a reason and are trying to help others little by little...

While on the subject of our displacement from our sites in Alta Verapaz, we will soon find out our fate at a meeting this Friday as to if we will be able to return or not. Please pray and hope for the best decision to be made in this matter.

Happy Valentines Day to ALL! I just made two kinds of Duncan Hines boxed brownies with my host sister for the family: turtle and peanut butter chunk. We will be celebrating with those and some strawberry cheesecake ice cream. Doesn't sound too shabby...