Water, how I love thee.

Ok, so I am just going to warn you right off the bat that this post has a lot to do with water. So if you have to go pee, go now!

One day last week I was rudely awakened by my then roomate Gala yelling at the top of her lungs (or it seemed like the top of her lungs in my sleepy haze) WAKE UP, OH MY GOD KATE GET UP RIGHT NOW AHHH". I woke up, sure that there was a robber or a monkey or something in our room. "WHAT!" I yelled back, but before she had time to answer I heard the splashes on the ground as she ran to the bathroom. hahah no that is not what it sounds like. Basically what had happened was this: where we live, the water turns off at night in the whole city, for what reason I do not know. So Gala had gotten home late that night and had turned on the tap in the bathroom, but of course nothing came out. SO because there was no water coming out, she had forgotten to turn the tap back OFF. So when the water came back on randomly at like 4am, the sink had overflowed, flooded the bathroom, and half our bedroom. Luckily all the floors in the house are stone, and there is a drain on the bathroom floor, so it wasnt a huge deal. We just got our towels and mopped it up, and about 45 minutes later I was back in bed. But man, what a way to wake up!

One thing I will definitely never take for granted again is HOT SHOWERS! Most of my showers here have been either freezing cold, or that awful almost-warm temperature that reminds you how good warm feels but doesn't quite let you have it.

The water and power sometimes randomly go off, which is kind of annoying but in a way I really like it. It makes life more of an adventure! For example, right now the water is off. Meaning there is no water in the whole city. I don't know why, it just is. And that's ok, you just kind of learn to roll with it.


Ok now enough about water and on to my volunteer placement. Sophie and i have been spending a lot more time with the babies lately. I think the nurses and nuns have been letting us hold them more because we are around so often now that its ok to cuddle them sometimes.

Theses babies are the sweetest things I have ever encountered. They are so happy with even just the tiniest bit of attention. Today I was washing the floor outside the babies room and I could see my favorite little guy, Erick, looking at me from his crib. And every time I would wave at him through thw window he would burst into laughter just from that one look.

One thing I am learning from the kids in Guatemala is that children are way tougher than we think. If a kid in Canada fell on grass and hit their head, they would probably start crying no doubt. A kid here will fall and hit their head on cement, and you just put them back on their feet and tell them they're fine and they dont even shed a tear. You would think that an orphange for children with HIV and Aids would be a pretty sad place, but it's actually quite the opposite. Yesterday the nurses in la enfermeria were climbing on top of the crips and out the high windows to collect braches from a pine-type tree to put around for christmas decorations! You rarely hear crying or see sad faces around the orphanage, and if you do its almost always something  a quick hug or tickle can fix.

Anyways I should probably get going, but I will leave you with a few more pictures of some of the kids I've been working with since I've been here! The older kids or the ones from Mi Escualita, my old placement, and the younger ones are at the orphanage.

The two pictures above are a little boy named Angel. That is the perfect name for him because he is honestly the worlds best baby. He NEVER cries or yells, and he is always trying to give everyone his toys. His favorite thing is being upside down, and soemtimes when I am trying to change him he will flip his head backwards off the table and then laugh like he's done something really hilarious. His legs are weirdly flexible, he can do a full split and put his feet in his mouth. Only problem is they aren't very strong and he isn't able to stand up on his own or crawl.

The is Evalyn. She is 5 years old and such a cutie.

Me and Maria looking tough. She's doing a way better job than me as you can see. 

Doris! She was the only girl a lot of days at mi Escualita. Such a funny kid, and really good at singing!

Sophie and her favorite little man Josue. This is the hairy little monkey boy I wrote about last time :)

Me trying to get Erick to walk. He's getting really close these days!

xoxo,
Miss and love you all

Kate

Pictures

Hi Everyone! I have a lot of things to write about but I can only be on the internet for a few minutes so I am just going to dump a whole bunch of pictures on you and I will write sometime later this week :)

xxxoo

Week 3

Hola amigos,

Como estan?

So today was my second day at my new placement. They moved me from la Escualita because it wasn't the best fit due to the age of the children and my lack of spanish abilites. The new place is an orphanage with 60 children between the ages of 3 weeks and 16 years, all of whom have HIV or AIDS. It is run by nuns, or "hermanas", so I feel like I am in the sound of music most of the time, but in the best way possible. The orphanage is so peaceful and everyone always seems to be happy and content, which is such a great atmosphere to be around.

The babys are SO FRIGGIN CUTE it's unbelievable. You walk through la enfermaria and there are just rooms and rooms of tiny cribs and beds, some empty, some with sick children, and some little tiny itty bitty babies. Today me and the other volunteer Sophia took two of the babies out onto the playground. One of them is this shy little girl named Alisa who just stares at you with her giant brown eyes when you talk to her or try to play peek a boo. She is just learning how to walk and it is really funny. The other one is a little boy named Jouse. He is such a monkey boy. He is too little to walk, so he just hangs onto us when we carry him and squeezes us so tight like a monkey. He is also really hairy for some reason and has such a pouty little face, just like a baby monkey. You can tell he is pretty sick because of his swollen belly and laboured breathing, but that doesn't stop him from being one of the most adorable kids I've ever met. There was also this teeny tiny little 3 week old girl who's name I can't remember and about 5 or 6 other babies. The saddest part about the babies is that you can't coddle them or hold them when they cry, because if they get used to that then they will just cry all the time in their cribs, wanting to be held. It is amazing how calm and silent the babies are in their cribs, just sitting and watching you, but they get so excited when you reach out your arms to pick them up and take them somewhere. Then when we put them back in the cribs they immediately start crying and I just want to get them back out and hold them, but the hermanas tell us not to do that because there aren't enough staff for the babies to get held all the time.

Then there are the elusive toddlers. Every time we try to see them they are either no where to be found, or we are not allowed in the room where they are. We're not sure why they're so mysterious, but we've caught glimpses of them and theyre so sweet, I hope we get to play with them tomorrow!

I spent quite a bit of time today hanging up laundry to dry outside (this is mostly when I felt like I was in the sound of music). I also helped feed some of the kids and did arts and crafts with the older ones. A few of the kids are deaf and or mute, and some have big scars on their faces. I assume this has to do with the HIV/AIDS, but I'm not totally sure.

I love this new placement so much more than the other one. Oh ps, the girl who has the pictures of our other placement said she will send them to my this weekend, so you can look forward to those NEXT week. In the mean time I will try to bring my camera to my current placement so you can see what an amazing place it is.

I love reading your comments, so please keep commenting if you so desire!

I thought I had more to say but I can't think of  it right now. If I do I will make another post!

Love and miss you all!

xoxo Katy

Lots of things!

I have been in Guatemala for almost 2 weeks! It feels like way longer than that for some reason. This past weekend I went to Tikal, Rio Dulce, and Livingston with some other volunteers. It was all too amazing for words. And the best part is that everything is super cheap here so the trip didn't even cost me very much at all. We climbed the mayan ruins, took several boat rides, ate at lots of fun places, sat in the natural hot springs where my feet got bitten by some strange biter fish, jumped off cliffs into pools of water in the jungle,  and tons more. Also last week I climbed an active volcano called Pacaya, which was one of the most beautful places I've ever been.

My volunteer placement is going well. As I said in my last post, I am still working with kids in a place called Mi Escualita {My little School) helping kids who are in poublic school but who are failing and or just started their education. Yesterday I was helping a 12 year old boy learn some basic addition and subtraction when the teacher at Mi Escualita pointed to another 12 year old boy and said he wanted to learn the days of the week. I figured he meant in english so I started writing them out for him when the teacher stopped me and said "no. En espanol". This kid was almost a teenager and he didn't know the days of the week in his own language. I wondered how someone could get by for that many years without that basic knowledge, so later I asked the teacher about it and he said that the boy had just started grade one at the age of 12. Before that his life consisted of roaming the streets and playing soccer, without any sort of schedule. He really had no use for knowing the days of the week.

I haven't taken any pictures yet at my placement because it is in poor neighbourhood and I'm afraid it might get stolen. Some of the kids will sneakily feel my bag and if they feel a coin inside it they will start jumping and yelling in spanish begging me to give it to them. It's sad but I know if I gave them any money they would just go buy candy, so instead I have bought them some things like penils, sharpeners, and notebooks which they cherish more than you could even believe. Giving one of these kids their own colourful notebook is almost like christmas to them!

(I just realized that my typing might be bad in this blog because all the lettering on the keyboard has rubbed off so I'm just blindly hoping I hit the right keys hahaha)

One of the other volunteers has taken some picturs of me and the kids at our placement, so once she sedns them to me I will upload them here for you all to see.

The only peoblem with  my placement so far has been the language barrier. It really is a teaching placement so I am expected to teach the kids spelling, englsih words, some basic math etc etc, which as you can imagine is incredibly difficult when you can't properly communicate with them. I told this to one of the administrators at the office for the place I am volunteering with, and she told me to finish up my second week at Mi Escualita and then she may move me to an orphange for younger kids, which would require less spanish ability.

I have seen a lot of shocking things here but I think the worst so far is the hungry puppies. There are so many starving stray dogs, they're just flopped over everywhere because they dont have the energy to walk. Some of them are so thin their fur is falling out and you can see every single bone. They have sores on their body and they just huddle into a little ball and shiver. It is so sad but it seems to just be a part of life here. There are a lot of things that shocked me when I first got here that I am now used to. I never thought I would be so comfortable walking past security guards chillin with two foot long shotguns outside the banks and stores.

I am really and truly loving every minute here. There are so many great people and always something to do. I have found that without access to a tv, computer or iphone on a daily basis I am always going and out and doing new things, having new adventures.

 mayan ruins

 don't feed the crocs!

 jumping off cliffs in the jungle!

 hungry puppy on top of the volcano

Once I get those pictures from my fellow volunteer I will upload them, should be this weekend or sometime next week.

Love you all and I hope you are enjoying the SNOW!! hehehe

xoxoxo
Katy

Hola amigos!

Hola chicos y chicas! Como estas?

So it is my fifth day in Guatemala, and I have to say I'm absolutley in love with this place. The first 2 days I had a bit of culture shock and I got a bit freaked out, but as soon as I spent some time with my host family and the other volunteers I felt much better. I am staying with a family. Jaoquin, Patsy, and their 2 kids Andrea and Samuel. They are so sweet and Patsy is seriously the BEST cook in the whole world *sorry mom*. there are also 8 volunteers in my house and 2 dogs, so it's a pretty busy place but I love it. I share a tiny room with 3 other girls, I am on the top bunk of a bunkbed. Then next door there are 4 guys, and downstairs is another girl.

I think the biggest challenge for me so far is the language barrier. I knew it was going to be hard, but I had no idea it was going to be THIS hard.

Today I went to my placement, and I am basically working in a small room in an alleyway type street, where tons of kids pile in to play games and stuff while their parents work. It's strange because I am so used to summer camps and stuff where we have to keep such a close eye on the kids to make sure they dont wander off, but here it seems the kids are free to come and go as they please. SOmetimes they'll just walk home and get something and come back without even telling us and that is totally accepted. The youngest one today was 5 and the oldest 13. They are all very very small though, they look about 3 years younger than they really are, mostly because they don't get proper nutrition.

I have so much more to say but I am so hungry and Patsy is serving lunch so I should walk home now!

I will try to make another update at the end of this week.

xoxoxoxox

Adios, Canada!

So today is my last day in North America. I am busy packing, phoning the bank, trying to get my bag to weigh less than 70 lbs (oops) and saying goodbye to friends and family. My flight leaves early tomorrow morning.

I made this blog so that all of YOU special people can read about my adventures and hopefully see some pictures of what I get up to in Guatemala.

Stay tuned and I will try to post something in the next few days with an update on my first few days in Central America!

xoxo
Kate