it's the little moments.

Sometimes las cositas make your ENTIRE day..

Like when you're vacuuming in the library, and Antonio and Juan Pablo walk over saying they want to help. This "help" then translates to them giving each other mile-high mohawks with the vacuum hose.

Or like when you have the opportunity to play Red Light, Green Light with the special ed students during their library time. They've gotta learn the stoplight somehow, right? :)

Or like when you receive a short but sweet email from raspy-voiced Yocari saying, "In the moment that I was with you, I saw that you're a great person. Continue succeeding in your work and never give up." Why thanks, girl!

dia de visita.

There are two kinds of kids at NPH: those who have family elsewhere and those that don't. Of course, we are a family here at NPH, so every kid has family somewhere. Those kids who do have outside family are allowed to receive visitors four Sundays a year. This usually translates to grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, or even parents who are not financially capable of caring for their children. As you can imagine, these Visitor Days see an array of emotions. The kids who don't have any family are reminded of this fact, as their fellow section-mates rush past them to spend the sunny day outside with family. The kids who receive visitors have a blissful morning full of music, food, and loved ones. Once over, they slowly head back abajo to their section with the hope that those memories will last them the next three months.

Since families come from all ends of Guatemala, communication is near impossible. If a child has family, he or she will dress to the nines and hope beyond belief that today is the day they come. You can thus imagine the heartbreak if no one shows all morning. I had heard from other volunteers about the dificultad of Visitor Days. They told me it can be hard to observe, but is even harder for the kids we are observing. Even though I tried my best to prepare myself, there were both moments of happiness and of sadness in which I found myself teary-eyed. If I was reminded of anything yesterday, it is that I must share my heart as best I can this next year with kids who deserve to be loved, no matter what sort of home they came from. <3

hello, lago!

Just a short drive west from NPH is Lake Atitlan. Known as the deepest lake in Central America, it is also arguably the most breathtaking lake in Central America. Surrounded by three large volcanoes, it is a stunning find. It even caught the eye of Mr. Aldous Huxley. He famously wrote, "Lake Como, it seems to me, touches on the limit of permissibly picturesque, but Atitlan is Como with additional embellishments of several immense volcanoes. It really is too much of a good thing." Well said Aldous, well said.

This past weekend, our salida de voluntarios swept us away to a house right on the water. Karla's boyfriend generously offered up his stunning lake house. We left on Friday morning and stayed until Sunday midday. Each day would start off with a cup of tea and a beautiful view. This would be followed by laying out on the expansive dock, pleasure reading (Harry Potter, thank you very much), chowing down on delicious meals, playing a myriad of card games, and just enjoying each other's company. As you can imagine, us 22 volunteers don't often receive the chance to all be together. Lake Atitlan gave us the perfect opportunity to escape.. together :)

"rawr!"

Remember those sponge capsules from our childhood? You know, the capsules that, when put into warm water, expand into fun-shaped sponges? My Mom recently sent me some in a care package. I knew immediately that it would be a great afternoon activity with my boys. When we didn't have school at the end of last week, I took advantage of an afternoon libre to head down to their house with that and my camera in tow.

Once there, I told them I had a surprise for them and that they should sit down at the dinner table. "Are we going to eat something?" they asked. "No, but you do need your mug." "Are we going to drink something?" "No. You'll just have to wait and see!" I responded. With a little help from some older kids, we soon had 11 boys sitting and 11 mugs prepped. I then whipped out the packet of dinosaur capsules and said, "We're going to make dinosaur sponges!" They went absolutely crazy.

The next half hour was spent picking which color they wanted, screaming in excitement when their dinosaur would start to grow, asking what type of dinosaur they had, and splashing water all over the place as they ecstatically showed me their full-grown dinosaur. It was so adorable to see the joy on their faces and the brotherly interaction between them. At the end of the afternoon, each boy was bounding around the room making "rawr-ing" noises with dinosaur in hand. Thanks $1 section at Target for providing a wildly fun afternoon!

floats, relays, and parades.. oh my!

Happy Independence Day! This whole week has been chock full o' events commemorating Guatemala's 190th year of independence. Here's the rundown..

Monday: Float Preparation

The primary school teachers, English teachers, and librarians (aka yours truly) were in charge of decorating the NPH float for the San Andres Itzapa parade. After a last-minute meeting that took place on Friday, we decided our inspiration to be the famous Tikal ruins. On Monday, we all joined up to decorate heaps and heaps of paper flowers. While we took over one half of the library, the two education coordinators whipped out their artistic talent to paint an impressive mural on the other half of the library.

Tuesday: Torch Relay

It is tradition every year for schools, companies, or really any group of people to take off running as part of a torch relay. The lighted torch signifies freedom and is typically carried while bystanders supportingly throw bags of water at the runners (it's an act of affection, I promise). Our students, as well as us, had the opportunity to be part of a torch relay in the afternoon. We hopped on a bus and drove for a good 40 minutes before arriving at our starting point. Once there, we were off! We may have been running in pouring rain, up steep hills, and alongside a congested highway, but the smiles on our kids' faces proved just how much fun the event could be.

Wednesday: Town Parade

On Tuesday afternoon, we were told that everyone was to arrive to work at 6am to help finish the float before leaving at 7:30am. As someone who enjoys crafts, I did not particularly mind waking up an extra two hours early. That is, until no one else showed up at 6am. haha. The thing Sam, Thayer, Molly, and I were swiftly reminded about is that Guatemalan time does not function in the same fashion that US time does. We ended up waiting until 7:00/7:15am for another soul to show up. It then became crunch time to finish painting the mural, place roses on the float, and tape posters of typical Guatemalan symbols. Luckily, we made it to San Andres Itzapa on time.. phew! The parade ended up being one full of sunshine, marching bands, and surprisingly organized rows of our kids proudly parading through the local town.

Thursday and Friday: No work! Disfruta!

las elecciones.

Every Guatemalan headed to the polls this past Sunday. Since my arrival, it has been clear that this day was to come. Posters, billboards, banners, and even mini-processions made it evident that each party wanted your vote. Similar to the states, a president is elected every four years. He or she then takes office in January, after the final vote in November. The vote that recently happened was to determine the top two candidates. This is necessary, because there are more than a dozen political parties! La Prensa Libre, the local newspaper, has been tracking at least eight of the presidential candidates on the daily. This even includes Rigoberta Menchu (definitely check her out if you don't know her).

The two candidates to surface were Otto Perez Molina and Manuel Baldizon. Neither received the 50% necessary to make the cut after this round. The two will go head to head in November. Molina is part of the Patriota party and intends to counter the nation's violence with his military expertise. As a former general, he takes the "Mano Dura" or "Firm Hand" approach. Baldizon, on the other hand (catch the pun? haha), is an attorney and businessman with the Lider party. He prefers to address poverty, education, and other prevalent issues. Only time will tell which approach Guatemalans want. Stay tuned for updates..

march two, three, four.

This past week, NPH excitedly welcomed the chance to hold this year's local marching band competition! It became clear that our own marching band intended to impress, as they practiced almost every afternoon for hours at a time. I can pretty much recite the tune note by note at this point haha.

Once Wednesday arrived, so too did the parade of bands. With ours leading, each band marched confidently onto our basketball court. After all gathering around, each band was then allotted the limelight for their selected song. Everything from local pop music to the classics were thrown in there. To top it off, each band had it's own coordinated wardrobe. Some bands were Michael Jackson-inspired with a white glove accessory, while others were Justin Timberlake-inspired with a fedora hat accessory. Our band kept it traditional with celeste and white uniforms. I even spotted two of my English students, Marizon and Paola, among our band (below). While it was not a judged competition, you could tell our kids walked away feeling as if they had taken first place :)

monte-rrrrico!

This past weekend, half of us volunteers decided to make our way to the Pacific coast for a little bit of paradise. About two hours away is Monterrico, a cute and quaint beach town. It is known for its black sand and gigantic waves. We arrived on Saturday morning after taking quite the adventurous shuttle ride (complete with the driver using a 2 liter bottle of soda to pour gas into his tank!). Once there, we quickly changed into our suits to run down to the waves. And, let me tell you, we literally ran as the black sand is super hot on your feet. haha.

For the rest of the weekend we enjoyed delicious licuados, fresh fish, hammocks, and the ocean breeze. Another highlight was making our way to the local bar for a night full of dancing. It was the perfect getaway. Even though my camera got pummeled by a wave and is now on the fritz, I definitely plan on returning to Monterrico muy pronto :)

happy two months!

Today marks two months that I’ve been here in Guatemala. I can hardly believe it! Time seems to go fast and normal at the same time. After two months, I can finally say I’m getting comfortable with our book collection. You see, there’s something significantly different about the library system we use here compared to the one I’m familiar with back home. Instead of the kids themselves having free range to the books, every single book is behind the counter with Yami and me.

So what happens when a kid comes in wanting a book? They walk straight up to me and say, “Me gustaria un libro de terror.” “I’d like a book of terror.” Sure.. let me just think real quick which of the 6,100 books would be best for your personal interests and reading level. In the afternoons, when the kids come to do investigations, they’ll tell me, “Necesito un libro de taxonomia.” “I need a book about taxonomy.” Coming right up! Cue the search on my end to hastily find such a book before helping the next student in line. Needless to say, this system has gotten me accustomed to our collection much quicker. While at times I do wish the kids had easier access to the pages of adventures that await them, I understand the desire to maintain the condition of thus said pages :)