First, I just want to thank everyone for all of your birthday messages and e-mails! I can´t tell you how much they mean to me and how happy I am to hear from all of you. I´ve been really lucky and have had a wonderful birthday. It all started yesterday when my friend Kyle wrote ¨Cumpleañera¨or ¨birthday girl¨with an arrow pointing to me on the dry erase board that we use for Spanish classes and carry to wherever we´re going to have Spanish the next day. It was embarassing but also really sweet to get lots of ¨Feliz Cumpleaños!¨wishes from people in my town.
This morning, I then woke up and my host mom gave me a bunch of really pretty roses for my birthday. I didn´t have much time in the morning because my Spanish class was going to an organic macademia nut farm that´s not too far from us. At the farm, we learned all about the medicinal qualities of macadmias and got to try lots of free samples. My friend Erin and I even got facials with oil from macademia nuts. They promised us that it would take 15 years off of our skin... I´m not so sure about that but it was definitely very relaxing. I bought some chocolate covered nuts to take back to my host family and they are delicious.
We then came back to Magdalena for lunch and my Spanish class came over for birthday cake and coffee. It was a banana bread type cake very, very tasty. It was just my friend Mark´s birthday on Tuesday so instead of Cuerpo de Paz we´ve decided we might have joined the Cuerpo de Pastel (cake in Spanish) instead-- and we´re okay with that!
Then we had a meeting in the Municipal Office about the Annual Operating Plan we´re helping them write for the park. I finally feel like we´re getting somewhere in this project which is a really good feeling. So far, I´d say being 22 is off to a good start.
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Hey Becca
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday! I found your blog on the Peace Corps Journals website. I am invited for April and was wondering if you could give me any packing tips, or any general tips! I would greatly appreciate it.
my e-mail is robina.king@yahoo.com
Thanks!
-Robin
Hi Becca, my name is Amanda Sheldon, and I am the Director of the Guatemala Children's Education Fund - a non-profit organization I began with a friend in the States two years ago that provides scholarships to children in farming communities in Guatemala. We also support other education oriented activities such as furnishing a community library and working on the construction of a computer lab. Our work right now if focused exclusively in small fincas west of Escuintla. I have a friend who just returned from the Peace Corps 9 months ago (he was in the Gambia) and recommended that I get in touch with Peace Corps volunteers in Guatemala to share development strategies, as well as discuss some of the country specific problems/barriers we most likely both face. I am going to be in Guatemala this Thursday, 2/19, and will be there for 9 days. I'm not sure where you are located, but is there a way we could possibly meet for coffee and chat? My email is sheldona@guatemalaeducation.org, and my phone number in the states is (916) 316-3326. I hope we are able to get in touch sometime soon. Buenas suerte en tu trabajo!
ReplyDeleteAmanda