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6 July 2006

Diane and I met up this week. Monday, we met at the school and she took me with Sarah and the parent group to look at the land theyīre thinking about buying. Right now itīs a coffee field and is at a really steep inclination. Supposedly the parents will help make it level in order to build the school. Sharing the Dream (or someone) has to buy the land in order for the government to pay for building the school. I hope that all works out; they could sure use some real class rooms. In the afternoon, I went over to Chonitaīs and listened to them talk about the elderīs program and then some scholarship programs. Chonita took me and Sarah to visit a few elders and some of them sure need the help. I met some of the scholarships kids too. They came over to get some presents and to write letters to their sponsors.

I spent all afternoon at Chonitaīs so Diane took me, Sarah and some people that work with Mayan Hands out to La Posada for dinner. Since I was the only “bilingual” person there (if you can call me that) I got to do some translating. Thatīs sure different than just listening to understand. It was still kind of fun to try. Iīm supposed to thank Ed for treating me to dinner, so thanks, Ed. I appreciate it. By the time we were done, it was way past my bedtime (almost 10 pm) so I went back and went to sleep.

 

Tuesday, I met up Diane and Sarah a bit but I had returned late from school so really I simply took advantage of them and let them take me out to dinner again. This time, we went to San Lucas with Chonita and her family. Again, I did some translating. Diane and Sarah speak a few words of Spanish and they would clearly get along okay without me but I guess I just made it a bit easier. And itīs good practice.

This was a big week. Also on Monday and Tuesday, a missionary group from Florida came to San Antonio Chacaya in order to put in cement floors. I also convinced them to paint the only cement building. They painted the outside blue (as requested by Armando) and the inside yellow (as requested by me because Armando made me choose). They finished the floors on Monday with the help of the 3rd grade boys and so dedicated most of Tuesday to painting. I think it looks really great and I think the students and teachers all appreciate it. The missionary group also held a medical clinic each morning and bible school in the afternoon but I mainly stayed by the school and helped paint a bit.


Boys playing memory at the med clinic

The group gave the teachers a ton of clothes and school supplies to give away. The only bad thing about that is that they only had 35 backpacks for 54 families. The teachers were worried about how the parents would react so yesterday (Wednesday), the parents came to a meeting at 1:30 Guatemalan time, i.e. 2:30 is when they all showed up. We let the kids out at 10 and the other teachers and I put some school supplies and clothes in each backpack and in other bags to hand out. For lunch, Rosinda bought a fish and tortillas from a woman and a can of refried beans from the tienda across the road. She shared the fried fish (head, tail and all) and everything with the rest of us and Iīll admit that it tasted pretty good, though I still donīt like eating things with the heads still attached.

The parents showed up and Salvador, from the parent group, spoke first, then Armando, then they made me talk a bit to 50 parents that Iīve never met. That was fun. Then they handed out the bags and gave a pair of shoes to each kid. As far as I could tell, it went pretty smoothly. Then again, they were speaking in Tzutuhil so I couldnīt really tell. People always sound angry in Tzutuhil but there was some laughter too so I think it was okay. By the time we left and found a pickup it was 4 so I didnīt get back into Santiago until 4:30. I promptly ate (crab, for the first time) and took a nap. Woke up, again and basically went right back to sleep until this morning.

Today, I had the kids make thank you cards for the group from Florida. Nothing special, but the 2nd graders drew something and the 3rd graders actually made cards. I think the group will appreciate it.

Theresa

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