First week at "Work"

Hello again from Antigua!
This has been a much better week. I started working and am a lot more busy. I am a bit confused however. Everyone here says this city is very tranquil. Next to NYC, this city is the craziest place I have ever lived! Maybe it's my choice of living locations, but I am remembering how it is to live in a dorm...remember chaos?! Next door to my hotel is a club called Personnaje or Homeless in Spanish. This club has sandwiches named after the homeless people who live or have lived around the restaurant, and if you buy one, the homeless get a cut. Nice, huh? Well, it is also one of the most "happening" places in Antigua, shutting down around midnight most nights, 2-3am on Thurs, friday and Sat. When a Guatemalteco won Latin American Idol, the country, and oh yeah, the club next door, went NUTS!!!

Then there is the rooster. Did I mention THE ROOSTER??? The club shuts down at 2am, and the rooster, who evidently has no problem sleeping through the music, wakes up, and wants everyone else to wake up...at 4:30!!! I keep having this song run through my head...you may know a little different version..."Kill the roooooster, kill the roooooster, kill the roooooster!" I wasn't feeling good by the end of last weekend, had a bit of fever, sore throat, and REALLY needed to stay near the bathroom, so I was not in the mood for all of this fun. I just wanted to sleep. So....I called a cab, went to the city, and got a room on the 16th floor where there were no roosters or clubs. I literally slept all weekend, and was fine Sunday when I came home. (OK, not all weekend, there was a GREAT pool and hot tub)

This a scene from 5th ave. when I got back Sunday. This weekend was the weekend of the Dia de los Ninos, and there was all kind of stuff going on on the Ave. The lady in the center is dancing, and what you can't see is the crowd of locals cheering her on!


To tell you the truth, I don't know which church this is, but when I have a break at school, this is the kind of scenery I get to look at. This city has pockets of beauty everywhere.....

The other day I was wandering around (I do that regularly here!) and I found this absolutely beautiful Italian restaurant. It was straight out of the movies, with tables set around a beautiful courtyard. The food was great too, but wow! what a location. Hollywood NEEDS this place! Below is the courtyard....
Random picture here, but here are some of my classmates. I think this was after the salsa lesson. I have told them that I love to dance, but dancing does not love me! Actually, the truth is I'm awful at salsa....there are too many steps to make in too little time! The girl in the center at the end of the table pointing a pencil at her head is Hannah. She and I are both working at the God's Child project.

The rest of the pictures are from the school/clinic where Hannah and I are volunteering. It is an amazing place. There is a clinic, dental clinic, school, food and clothing distribution, all located on an city trash dump. When you see what they have created you will be amazed. The foundation, called in Guatemala " La Asociación Nuestros Ahijados" has a little different policy than most organizations. At this school, only one child per family is given free education. That child is paid, based on grades and scholastic accomplishments to stay in school. This gives the family the income that child could possibly bring in elsewhere, and gives them reason to support the child in school, since the better he/she does, the higher the pay. The theory is that the one successful child will then support the others, lifting the family out of what is, by any standard, abject poverty! Their graduation rate is good, and many of their students go on to university, something unheard of in the poor families here. When I say this used to be a garbage dump, look at the pictures below and see what can be created from nothing!!! The first is a walkwa from the front to the school. Beauty is everywhere. Everything is clean, neat, and gives those participating in this organization something to work toward, and an understanding that this is possible!

This is the main hall. It is so like the American school in Trinidad...

My first day was the school's celebration of La Dia de los Ninos. The hall was full of children, teachers and volunteers as we all lined up to play games (don't ask, just know that lots of mud was involved and I decided early on that "Grandma" was going to hold the watches, telephones and anything else that didn't need to crawl in the mud or climb a tree!) We also had pinatas, food and a great time!

A funky trash can! This is the school. Currently there are around 150 children in school here...

The entrance to the school...so pretty!

Artwork on the clinic building...

Just one of the pocket gardens around... The main offices where the clinics and the volunteer coordination are located...

The entrance to a small chapel. Even though this organization is primarily a Christian organization, the family and children's beliefs are respected...

My first week at work is going OK. It is frustrating not to be able to understand, but it gets a little better each day. The first day la doctora told me to go make a copy, and I just stood there having no clue what she said. She finally said it in English, but it is frustrating not to understand the instructions for something so simple. I get weights, BP's, and temps on people. The BP's are manual, good thing I taught it for so long or I wouldn't remember how! Today was a good day...I got to give a shot! Any day with a needle in it is a good day! On that note I'll close.

Love you all,

Earline