August 3, 2006

Right now I'm kinda feeling tired and wanting to go home. I miss my family. However, there are still a few nice vacation days ahead for us from what I understand. My knee swelled a bit yesterday.

Anyway, I put my backpack underneath my mattress to elevate my bed. That helped. We just watched a parade. In Latin America, when a girl turns 15, they have a party for her. Apparently, only one girl per year here wins a parade in her honor though. Wendy says it's based on votes. The parade was really neat. We waved to a lot of the kids and some of the girls asked John to take a photo while they hammed it up. Several of the boys came by and hi-fived us or shook our hands. They like to make fun of the way we talk. They make their voices deep and say "Hey, you" or "goodbye, you" They get a kick out of it. This place has been a little hard on my asthma. I've had to use my inhaler a few times. Usually after that, I feel better though.

I still can't believe how awesome it was to stand next to that lava. I was like a foot from molten freaking lava! It was hot. Duh!

Right now, as is the case more and more lately, I am doing nothing at the site. There are also two new local guys here who I guess are going to take over for us after we leave. I still feel like we have accomplished a lot here, especially with the "grunt" work. Plus, Shannan, the Global Village Coordinator for Guatemala, says that there are other important parts to us being here, like the cultural exchange with family and the locals, and also it's good for getting the word out about the foundation, both here and back in the States. It's important for people to see that the foundation does what it says it does. And they definitely do. They are also extremely frugal with their money, which is great for a charity.