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Published: June 28th 2006
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6.27.06
Well, it’s been one week, though it feels to me like a continuation of the three months last fall. I’ve taken this blog into my own hands for the week as Merry has been sentenced to Nina’s infamous initiation of spending several days out in the villages alone with the project’s health promoters. I think she planned on attending Spanish school this week, but as Nina has deemed her comprehension sufficient, she has instead been put to use. Not only does she have to survive the week, but she is supposed to be taking pictures and notes about the godchildren (the children who have independent sponsors/ ‘godparents’ who support them) so that she can start writing reports sometime soon. Speaking from experience, as anxious as she was about it all, I am certain that this will be a good week for her in retrospect.
We obviously have arrived safely and we did have a relaxing first few days repairing some serious sleep deprivation problems and reading. One day I woke up and didn’t even get out of bed. I just reached over, grabbed my book, read for two hours and thought, “This is what I dream of doing
ALL school year!” Other than the canary that flew past Nina’s head and into the door to her house about five minutes after we arrived, things were pretty normal for several days. Over the weekend was the annual festival in the village that Nina lives in outside of Antigua. This included bands (all day and all night of course), fireworks, dances, fireworks, decorations, fireworks, parades, fireworks and a carnival. Nina, Meredith and I had a nice dinner and conversation on Saturday night and then decided we should check out the festivities. We watched the bands for awhile and were just walking around when Nina came up with the fabulous idea to put Merry and I on the hand cranked ferris wheel for a ride. I think this is the most danger I have been in during all of my time in Guatemala. The little wooden benches and the metal gate that closes you in and locks with a tied wire were not promising to either of us. We backed away from the ride as Nina pushed us toward it saying, “Oh, just go!” in the meantime entertaining a good part of the village. I will just say that two ‘gringas’
were not meant to ride on that contraption and as it convulsed forward and backwards in fits, the two little Guatemalan men cranking the whole thing by hand, Nina laughed her head off on the ground as Merry and I said our final prayers. It was the longest carnival ride I have ever been on and though we obviously lived, I’m not sure we have forgiven her for it yet.
I have been staying at Nina’s house outside of Antigua this week as I’ve completely lucked out with my thesis research. Three dentists from the states are in town volunteering at a Catholic-run clinic where patients from the project come for dental work, malnutrition crises, etc. beyond that of the services offered by the health promoters and the doctor who visits the village clinic once every week. The three dentists have so generously offered to see more than two times the number of patients that the project normally can bring in every two weeks each day for the whole week. The promoters have gone out of their way to last-minute gather up as many children that need to see the dentist as they can. Therefore, by the end of
the week I should have at least 60 of my 100 subjects seen by the dentist already. I figure this isn’t so bad considering I will have been in the country for only ten days. Never the less, I have somehow assumed the roles of translator and secretary or something aside from the notes I’m trying to take for my research as well as for my general dental knowledge. It makes for very fast and busy days despite working for over six hours straight… and I’m not even doing the dental work!
I am currently typing from my bedroom where a box is lying next to my bed filled with blankets, rags and a puppy no more than four weeks old that Nina encountered on her walk this afternoon with the six dogs that she already has. My job for the night is to wake every two hours, or whenever the thing squeals, to feed it from a syringe and then tuck it back in. So, I am going to get to sleep before this creature demands more baby formula.
We hope all is well at home. We are going to the beach this weekend. I’m so excited
for Merry to see it… it is such a beautiful and unique place. We will try to post something every week or two to try to keep you all as entertained as we are down here!
Erin & Meredith
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