orgullosa.

Orgullosa = proud. Proud = me. Therefore, orgullosa = me.

My students recently completed their biggest project yet. Titled "My Trip to the United States," each student researched a state (Arizona, Washington, Oregon, New York, or Lousiana.. naturally). They then had fun creating a pretend trip using the future tense!

Here is una foto of my kids showing off their finished products!

java java java.

This past weekend, Mark, Sam, Thayer, Francesca, and myself made our way over to Jocotenango to catch our first coffee plantation tour! About 20 minutes away from NPH is the stunning, green location. With a heavy rainy season, Guatemala has ideal settings for coffee growing. It is no surprise, therefore, that it is the 9th largest producing country in the world! We arrived to find horseback riding lessons, a bouncy house, and a multitude of museums to take advantage of. My favorite part was definitely the coffee tour. It was so interesting to see the amount of work that is put into making even just a pot's worth of coffee. Of course at the end of our tour, we were able to sample the finca's coffee. Boy, was it bien rico!

a night with my boys.

Absolutely nothing beats hanging out with a bunch of little rascals before bedtime. The other night, my section was told they could play outside after dinner! This was quite the treat, as usually it is a story and bedtime immediately after eating. We all headed outside in the pitch black. But before leaving the lighted house, Edgar told me, "Tenemos que ser valientes!" or "We have to be brave!" I nodded my head in agreement.. who knows what could be lurking inside a well-protected, fenced home? :)

As we walked towards the schoolyard, all of them surged towards me out of fear. They practically toppled me over! I had at least 3 boys on my left and 2 boys on my right trying to be the one to hold my hand. At that moment, Chris decided he needed to go to the bathroom. Cue the chain reaction and the next thing I knew, there was a line of 5 boys peeing on the side of the road! Needless to say, those 5 weren't able to hold my hand nada mas. haha.

Once we arrived at the schoolyard, the cutest and most impromptu game of basketball ensued. After tiring ourselves out, we headed back home. On the way, chubby Pedro grabbed my hand to say, "Quiero que tu estas encargada de mi, Kristina." or "I wish you were in charge of me, Kristina." Did I mention I love these boys? <3

a week's worth of celebration.

Why did we have special events all week? Two reasons. Tuesday marked the 5th year since Padre Wasson passed away. For those who don't know, Padre Wasson is the founder not only of NPH Guatemala, but of the nine NPH houses throughout Latin America. For obvious reasons, he is loved and adored. Even though he no longer makes his yearly visits, his presence is still very much felt. Employees and kids alike who knew him only have positive things to say. To commemorate the man who started it all, there was a special mass, a competition to see who could make the best memorium altar (see below), multiple viewings of the same Padre Wasson movie, and a beautiful candlelit service. His life is definitely celebrated in this sense.

The second reason was the school celebrated its anniversary. To celebrate school, we didn't have school (logical, right? haha). Of course the kids loved it. Thursday and Friday were spent doing various activities. Thursday took on a beauty pageant/fashion show vibe. It is the yearly custom to elect girls to five different categories. One girl from each grade competed in everything from dancing, to costume changes, to a question and answer portion! It made me smile to see a few girls all dolled up and the rest of the kids mesmerized by it all.

While Thursday was spent inside the sparkly pink cafeteria, Friday was spent outside in the beautiful sunshine! The whole day took on field day activities. Kids could pass the time playing sports outside, competing in a chess tournament, watching movies, and even dancing in the library-turned-discoteca! A few kindergarteners and I played soccer, followed by an epic game of monkey in the middle. Then, as the librarian, I spent a good portion of my time in the transformed club. That morning boys came to remove all the tables and chairs. We then opened every window and started up the music. It wasn't that popular in the morning, but by lunchtime it was bumpin'! As the only gringa in the whole place, I naturally received a lot of looks for my lack of Shakira-shaking hips and for my rojo-like-a-tomato face. Despite this, I had an absolute blast "working" the day away :)

meet: the cho chens and the bolóns.

As of this weekend, I have successfully completed two proyectos familiares! Family projects are a time for those kids at NPH who have siblings to hang out with one another. With each volunteer signing up for two a month, it provides each family about 4 chances each year to do something fun together. From cooking a pizza, to walking into town for ice cream, to playing soccer in the park.. the opportunities are endless! At the end each sibling leaves with an afternoon of memories and a commemorative photo of the gang. Adorable, right?

Yvonne showed me the ropes my first time around. We had the Cho Chen family. Although there are 6 kids in total, we ran into the conflict that the two college-aged siblings had opposite schedules. We decided to make this one during the week and have the next one be during the weekend so that it was an even trade-off. The kids started off the afternoon playing soccer with one another. Once the sister from college arrived, we walked to the park where an epic game of UNO took place. This family truly embodied what proyecto familiar is all about: they were excited to see each other, held hands when crossing the street, and never hesitated to share their guacamole-flavored chips with each other. It definitely warmed my heart.

The next time, I was on my own. I contacted Jose and Maria to see what they were interested in doing. They decided an action movie it was! I met them on Sunday afternoon under the tree (the go-to spot at NPH). With chips and soda in hand, we headed to the library. We enjoyed an afternoon of pouring rain from inside the library as we watched 21. It was the perfect, laid back Sunday afternoon with the cutest brother/sister pair.

on-the-job perks.

One thing I've quickly realized is, as librarian, I receive a lot of on-the-job perks. Why? We have the only TV available to the teachers. Whenever they want to show their class a movie, they bring the students to the library. They usually bring snacks too. A class last week watched The Incredibles while chomping down on hot dogs topped with ketchup, mayo, and onions. They kindly offered me one. A hot dog at 9:30 in the morning? Sure, why not. Yesterday, another teacher decided her class had behaved well enough to watch Chicken Little. These kids got a lot luckier. There was chicken salad sandwiches, the most delicious fruit salad doused in syrup, chicharrones (a local sort of chip), orange jello, and soda! I gladly accepted the offer for some chicken (something that is lacking in my Guatemalan diet) and yummy fruit. I also may have sneaked a couple glances at the movie when I got the chance :)

But that's not all! The classroom downstairs has shared too. The Etapa class was created for those kids who come to the orphanage with little to no education. Thus, it is typically a class of kids ranging anywhere from 11 to 16 who have roughly a 1st or 2nd grade education. They take on a sort of "life skills" approach to the class, which is why they have a kitchen available to them. The other week they made mole! I originally thought this was a dish typical to Puebla. Turns out the salty kind is local to Mexico, but the sweet kind is common elsewhere. The Etapa kids made a sweet mole with plantains and chocolate. Boy, did I say yes to that offer!

Oh, by the way, if you were expecting this post to go beyond just the food perks, you obviously forgot who you're dealing with :)

juegos del mundooo!

Six times a year the volunteers put on Kermes, a carnival-type event for the kids. Yesterday was my first one! The theme was Juegos del Mundo or Games of the World. There were a handful of stations, with everything from a three-legged race to a dueling station to Twister!

I worked Holland's station with Regine and Yvonne. We dressed up to look like the flag and played Spijkerpoepen (pronounced spiker-poopin' haha) with the kids! It was a game in which you had string tied around your waist with a nail dangling from the back like a tail. The objective was then to get your nail in the bottle first. It was quite the sight as kids squatted and bended over backwards as they tried to beat their opponent. Not gonna lie, I even played a few times against my students. Is it any surprise that I won? :)

the fedex sleigh.

Merry Christmas to us? Why yes, if your image of Santa Claus' sleigh is a FedEx truck. That is precisely what stopped at NPH yesterday.

Yami, the other librarian, and I were routinely working yesterday morning. Out the window, the mad dash of children running towards a FedEx truck caught our eye. Then the news crew caught our eye. Then the monton of boxes caught our eye. Inside each box, were dozens and dozens of books! For us! We couldn't believe it. The next thing we knew, these boxes were making their way into our library. It went on for quite some time. Al fin, there were about 60 boxes (I counted them) stashed in our humble, cozy library.

Since then I've had a lot of fun exploring through each box. A good portion of them can definitely be utilized in the library. Another chunk can go to the school, as they are workbooks perfect for the classroom. Another slice can go to the English department, as they are in English. The final group? This consists of books to learn French or Dutch, fashion books from the '80s, and books such as "1oo Things to Do With Your Personal Computer" ha. They will probably be recycled or donated elsewhere. It is very exciting to receive so much new literature for our kids! Now to just figure out where to put them all.

Note: To give you an idea (because I was curious myself), we currently have 6,100 books in our library. This donation alone presented 5,400 books. Holy guacamole.

only aquí.

Only here will one of the two showers in your house emit icy cold water and nothing else. In a house full of 8 girls. Luckily I haven't had to brave the freezing shower in lieu of the functioning shower :)

Only here will both toilets in your house get clogged. And stay clogged. For two days (...and still counting). In a house full of 8 girls. This one's a bit more of a problem haha.

Only here will you hear shrieks and the rustling of furniture in the other volunteer house as they try to kick out their newest roomie, a rat. Eeeeek!

Only aqui :)