Hey everyone! I tried not to wait too long this time before writing another blog. Things are going great! This week is the feria in San Miguel so last week I didn’t work very much because they were practicing and setting up for the fair. They have a ferris wheel, games, dancing, music, and every fried food you could ever imagine. I’ll probably make an appearance one day… but it’s been raining a lot so we’ll see. So last week I visited a couple schools and just hung out in the community. I started a workout schedule of running 3 days a week and walking with Suki and yoga 3 days a week. Last week was week one and it went really well besides the fact that I got a cold and was coughing up a lung trying to run. What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger right?
The other day I went to visit my friend Silvia who lives down the street, and I helped her shuck corn and make it into atol. Atol is what they drink here every day. It can be made of rice or corn and since it’s corn season corn atoll is popular right now. So we shucked the corn and cut it off the cob then put it in a blender to mash it up. Then you strain it and put the liquid in with water, sugar, and cinnamon and bring it to a boil and then drink it hot. It’s actually really good unless there’re chunks at the bottom… then it makes me want to gag. That’s why I like corn atol better than rice atol…. In rice atol all the rice is at the bottom and you have to drink it. Yuck. It’s amazing how much work goes into making the atol… it probably took us an hour and a half to make it from start to finish. I guess that’s why sometimes I get bored in the house because I don’t spend all day making tortillas or atol. It really makes me appreciate the women here for all the work they do in the house. Also, even if they have barely anything to offer, they always offer you something when you’re in their house… whether it be atol or a piece of bread or an ear of corn. It definitely has opened my eyes to how selfish we can be sometimes. Even though I have so much they still offer me basically everything they have. It’s very humbling and makes you take a step back and re-evaluate what’s important in life. Philippians 2: 3-4 says it perfectly: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” This is one of the greatest lessons I have come to learn while being here. Once you let go of selfish needs and thoughts and put others first, life becomes so much richer, so much more enjoyable because it allows you to open your eyes and heart to things and people that we would otherwise overlook. AMAZING!
So rainy season is back in full bloom so everyday around 2 it’s starts to rain, which makes want to just lay in my bed and read or watch a movie and snuggle with Suki, so that’s pretty much what I did last week. It’s nice to have that down time, but I’m ready to go back to work this week. I have 3 talks to give this week in my biggest school of 960 students and 37 teachers. This week I’m talking with the parents so I split them up by grade because talking to 960+ parents at one time would never work. That’s my big project this week…. It’s always difficult talking with parents but hopefully it works out and they take something away from the talk. I also got some girls together to start a girls group. They’re all about 13 years old and the other night a couple of them came over so I could help them with their English homework and then afterwards we played soccer in my kitchen because it was raining. They seemed really excited about the girls group and didn’t want to leave my house! It should be a really fun group of girls and we’re going to plan some fun activities. They love playing basketball so I’m sure they’ll show me up on the basketball court J.
No other news from the Guat! I’ll update you guys next week!
xoxo Maddie
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