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Hi! I hope that you are well. I have had a great week, but I can´t believe that I am halfway through my trip already. It is pretty crazy after all the months and months of planning. It is such a blessing to be here.
This week, another one of Odillia´s students that I met last week took Alisa and I to ¨Refugio Jeremias.¨ This is a lunch program-school(ish) for kids in the area who don´t go to school. The project is based on Jeremiah 2911 to give the kids a future and a hope. We helped there tuesday through thursday. It is at the perfect time starting at 1230 and ending at 3 so we can go right after our classes. It´s a bit crazy because there are about 20 students from the ages of 5 to 14. Still, they are all on similar levels of knowledge. On Tuesday, we worked on math. My group was students about 7 to 9 years old, and they were trying to recognize numbers 1 to 50. On Wednesday, they always read a Bible story with no other lesson, and then on Thursdays, we had a lesson on vowells. This was very difficult because they didn´t really understand the concept of a vowell, and my spanish is in no way sufficient to explain this. Anyway, I really love going because the kids are so sweet. The underlying purpose of the program is to love on these kids and give them some attention. I am so thankful that we got introduced to the project.
Another event of this week is the 500 snack. Alisa thought that of this and talked of it frequently since we got here because we eat lunch at the project at 1230 and don´t eat dinner at home until 730. I really didn´t think it was necessary for a 500 dessert, but we have enjoyed one the past two days. Wednesday it was in honor of Krista´s bday, and yesterday, I guess it was a celebration of a beautiful day without rain. And in honor of Samantha Anne, I ate chocolate covered strawberries for 4Q or 50 cents.
I really love our house and our family. They are really funny people. They remind me of grandparents. Edna says whatever she thinks more or less, and they have four dogs that they are constantly giving table food too just like my grandma and grandpa. Last night, after we ate we sat talking to them, and I think that Vincent got five pieces of pan dulce (delicious sweet bread we eat all the time) to dip into his coffee and give to one of the dogs. Also, there are several apartments in the house. In one, there is a woman from the US and her daughter she is adopting from Guatemala. The daughter is 6, and she has become one of our playmates. This week, we played with make-up one day, and she gave us very beautiful makeovers.
Yesterday afternoon, Alisa and I went to explore one of the ruins in the city that you can explore. I can´t remember the name, but it was a school and church built in the middle of the 18th century. It was interesting, and it had lots of rooms in tact. It looked like the fake destroyed walls that people stand next to in senior pictures. So, Alisa and I had fun taking ridiculous pictures. We also went running before dinner. It was incredible though a bit dangerous on the cobblestone streets of Antigua. I have missed running so much!
And finally, today, Alisa and I and our teachers went to a macadamia nut farm. It was interesting. We also got facials from crema de macadamia. It was fun becuase the teachers are really funny. Now, we are waiting for a bus that will come at 1 to take us to la playa de Monterrico. We are excited for a few days at the beach.
Hope you all have weekends full of rest but also some adventure!
Love, Steffi
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Stephen
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Steffi, I am so glad your taking full advantage of your trip. It sounds awsome! Your the only person I know who goes to a foreign country to learn Spanish and in her spare time does volunteer work for underpriveldged children and seeks out a local church and has dinner at the pastors house. Your love of life is contagious. I'm glad your also taking time to enjoy the beaches and local restaraunts and got to see a live volcano. I'm very proud of you. I miss you and can't wait to see you at Sam's graduation.