March 20th 2013 Day 5-Tecpan

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After a long night filled with singing and laughter, we were all exhausted. Never the less this morning we all awoke to the bustling traffic of Tecpan. We got ready, ate breakfast and headed out the door for Project Somos. Similar to yesterday, all of us were assigned different tasks, some including, preparing lunch, sanding bamboo, varnishing bamboo, digging holes and building ecobrick walls. Today I was scheduled to help prepare lunch. Although at first I thought this task was menial compared to working outside in the scorching sun, I soon learned otherwise. We had to chop and peel vegetables, wash many dishes and broom the floors. The language barrier also added to the difficulty of the task, however with hand gestures and our broken Spanish we were able to communicate. I can honestly say that after this experience I can truly appreciate the hard work others put in to make sure we have delicious meals. After lunch most people went back to finish up their tasks. I helped varnish bamboo, which consisted of painting long pieces of bamboo with oil to give them a glossy finish. After a long day of vigorous work we were given some free time on the land before the buses arrived to pick us up. We took this time to play soccer and get to know Kevin, a six year old local boy. We had all been waiting to meet Kevin as we had heard so much about him from our peers who visited Project Somos last year. Although he was a bit shy at first he soon began to embrace our company as we got to know him better. Later that evening he came to the Tecpan house with us where we showed him pictures of students who had visited him last year. When he saw the pictures, Kevin was thrilled. He immediately wanted to see more pictures and the impact they had made on his life was evident. As a group, this is the kind of impact we would like to have on the lives of others. We want to contribute to society in hopes to make a difference. After our visit with Kevin we went out for choco mangoes (fruit covered in chocolate fondue and nuts), another occasion that we had all been eagerly awaiting. We had a choice to have either mangoes, pineapples, bananas, or papayas covered in chocolate. They were as scrumptious as we had anticipated them to be. Today was a day full of new experiences and I can’t wait for all the adventures we will have here in the future.

Iksha

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