This trip to Berlin started out as a spontaneous idea, when I was looking at flights going to Ghana. I thought hey, they go through Germany, why not stop for a week? But it is already turning out to be so much more than that. I just got back from my Tante Miechen's, where we had about a 5 course meal, haha. My great-cousin Andreus was there too and we went to see his apartment afterwards. He is living in the apartment that my Onkel Reini, my Tante Miechen, my grandma Happerger (mom's mom) and 6 other siblings and their parents [View Full Entry]

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Hallo, wie geht's? Yesterday after a long, jet-lag inducing flug (flight), and then a domestic flug, (flug is just so much cooler to say, ok?) I am now in Berlin! I'm getting used to this German keyboard so this entry might take a while, haha. I tried to get some sleep on my way to Frankfurt from Ottawa but it's not so easy in economy class.. although I did get a pillow and blanket, which I kept, muahaha. I sat next to a one-eyed man named Steven who was on his way to Athens on business. We got to Frankfurt around [View Full Entry]

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Hi! It's been a little crazy the past few days, doing last-minute things before the next leg of my journey, but now I'm all packed up and ready to go, again! In a couple of hours I'll head to the Ottawa airport, waking up in Frankfurt tomorrow after an overnight flight. Then, I'm taking a domestic flight to Berlin where I'm staying until next friday with my Onkel Reini and Tante Christa (my mom's uncle and his wife). Apparently it was snowing there yesterday, ahh. It's not even snowing here! haha. My feelings at this point are reminiscent of that moment [View Full Entry]

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Ok! here's an update of the last 3 days, as I have been depriving the blogosphere. On Wednesday morning, we packed up and made our way to San Pedro, a beautiful but very touristy spot on the majestic Lake Atitlan. Along the way we stopped at a displaced village (the people had to relocate after their homes were destroyed in the mudslides of hurrican stan in 2005), so Paul could visit his sponsored girl, Marta. The rest of the group got out to stretch their legs, and I bought lots of little bags of chips and things to snack on, once [View Full Entry]

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Today was a long day, but a great one. It was our last day of stovebuilding and Louise, Barkley, and I met up with our local mason, David, back at the house we left yesterday. David was there overnight, as he usually likes to do. We met the man of the house and he got each of us a bottle of pepsi (in the glass bottles) and it was just what we needed in the heat and dust. I gave his kids some stickers and crocheted dolls, they were really cute. Where we were working became somewhat known as "the black [View Full Entry]

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Hola! Yesterday we had a free day, and it was quite eventful as I had my first experience on Guatemalan public transit. I was on a mission to find contact lens solution because I ran out and couldnt find anything like it at any of the tiendas around downtown. Barkley had told me about how there's a whole different area of Xela that if you hop on a bus you can get to a more ritzy area where there's a mall and something a lot like Wal Mart. So I did just that, with him, Jeremy, Louise, Paul, Sue, Vivian, and [View Full Entry]

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Ok so I just realised that when I type a blog it says its for the following day.. therefore yesterday's says feb 14 when actually TODAY is the day of cheesy cards and candy hearts. Today was a busy day for most of us, who decided to go to to Tak'Alik'Ab'Aj, which is Mam for Standing Rock. (Mam, and K'iche', by the way, are 2 of 26 different Mayan languages and dialects). It is an archeological site of ancient Mayan and Olmec ruins from different eras. We walked around the excavation site which accounts for only 5% of the entire ancient [View Full Entry]

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I'm having trouble trying to begin this entry.. what we experienced today was so moving, and I wonder if I can do it justice in my account of it here. Today we went to a very isolated community called Panimaquim, which was a long drive along treacherous roads that nonetheless provided postcard-worthy landscapes.. the country is so beautiful. We were brought there by Clara Colop and her daughter Ishim. Clara is the ex-wife of Jose, the head of CEDEC, and since their separation she has began projects on her own, mainly focused on women's issues. When we arrived at the little [View Full Entry]

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I´m soo happy to report that I´m feeling considerably better, and went stovebuilding again today! The volunteers this year have been amazingly productive, with most groups finishing a stove and getting halfway through another in one day. I started out in a group with Barkley, Louise, Pierre, and David, and went to a house where they got 3/4 of a stove done yesterday. I got to work sifting sand, putting mortar on the stove for the countertop area, and parging the sides (like icing a cake!). Pierre and Barkley went up on the roof to make a hole for the chimney, [View Full Entry]

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I was going on about how I was so happy to be healthy before the trip, but now here I am, popping pills like it´s my job, nursing a cold that came out of nowhere! I think I must have picked something up at some point on the way here, as I did get pretty worn down from the day and a half in transit. I´d almost prefer a bit of Montezuma´s Revenge because that at least is moderately predictable. I stayed back today and yesterday and missed out on stovebuilding, but Ive still been quite productive. Yesterday after the group [View Full Entry]

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