Day 112 - 117

A bit of a delayed post but I thought I'd finish off my blog with some closing messages!

I love everyone I met in Guatemala. Life is simple, life is good. I miss it. It's not about how much money someone makes but its about how much love you have in your life. You can have all the money in the world, but can it buy you happiness?

The world needs our help. The kids need our help. But ultimately, everyone I met in Guatemala is happy regardless of what they have.

Are you happy?

I doubt anyone has actually followed me this far....but if you ever come across this post, think about it.

Keep loving...don't ever stop.

Thank you for reading!

Day 103 - 112

Last week, we had a busy week with 3 events and then I ended it with a quick trip to Guatemala City. I have to admit, with all the crazy stories, I was a bit freaked out. I was told to never carry a purse because it may get slashed, to never show off your cellphone because someone may point a gun at you asking for your phone and to not open the windows in the car incase of robbery. So of course I was paranoid! But everything was all good. I got back into Tecpán safe and sound. The city is interesting, Cecilia drove me around showing me some cool monuments, the National Palace, Zona Vida and we ended off the day with dinner at Taco Bell! Yep...and it was delicious! hahahah

Some pictures of Guatemala City.

Check out the latest progress! We have added 12 bamboo roof trusses!! :) Super exciting times ahead! One step closer to bringing kids to live in the homes! And we also made these beautiful candle holders and vases from the same bamboo! I will be bringing these home!

Day 97 - 102

Ack my last 2 weeks. It's sad...but I also have a feeling that I'll be back. I don't know how or when but I know I will be back.

It's been interesting reminiscing the last 10 years of my life. And of course, 2011. I don't know who reads this blog...if anyone. In January, I would have never thought that I would be in Guatemala for 4 months. But the sad, yet happy truth is you lose some, you gain some. And I have gained many. It's bittersweet. I truly believe that everyone enters your life for a reason for a particular time period, whether it be short or long. But this led to my adventure in Guatemala which has changed me forever.

My last 10 years has been interesting...

2001 - moved to Kingston

2003 - moved to Toronto

2007 - moved to Hong Kong

2009 - moved to Vancouver

2011 - moved to Guatemala

I am turning 30 in just a few weeks and I wonder what my 30's would be like. I love adventure, you can't deny that...so it will probably be quite interesting.

Day 87 - 96

How time flies...I'm on my last 3 weeks here in Guatemala and extremely sad about it. I am slightly excited about the next phase of my life. The end of Guatemala also means the end of my 20's. And boy has it been an amazing decade.

This past weekend, I went on a trip to Rio Dulce and Livingston along the Caribbean coast of Guatemala. It was a 6.5 hour drive which is pretty crazy for just a weekend trip, but it was worth it. My favourite was going to Siete Altares which are naturally made pools of water in the middle of the forest. It was gorgeous. Turquoise blue waters. It was also nice to get some sun as it does get quite chilly in Tecpán but I do have to admit, it got so hot and humid that I was grateful to come back to cool weather.

I also wrote my last blog for Ethical Bean last week. It was bittersweet as it also means that the end of my journey is near....but I have learned a lot. And I wrote about that in my blog.

http://www.ethicalbean.com/2011/08/05/hasta-luego-guatemala-by-amy-yeung/

Day 80-86

Exactly 1 month left in Guatemala. I had quite the weekend. Expecting it to be quiet since everyone in the house is gone for the weekend, I ended up entertaining 3 kids, for 2 days for a total of 12 hours. I love them so much, but I am still exhausted and its Monday morning! I don't understand how they can have soooo much energy....

After they left on Sunday, I had one hour to rest until I went off to the cafe to help them out for a few hours. And of course, it just had to be one of their busiest nights!

I had quite the Guatemalan, spanish-speaking weekend! My brain is tired from all this Spanish!

Day 72-79

It's crazy how time flies and its sad that I have just over a month left in Guatemala. It has been amazing. Though I could use a nice, hot shower, I love it here. I've gotten to know two local Guatemalan families who are helping me learn Spanish as well as want to learn English so they can talk to me! I am also starting to really pick up words when I am being spoken to in Spanish...pretty neat! The newest longish word that I just learned is "demasiado" which is "too much".

It's been fairly quiet lately but that also be because I am getting used to the lifestyle here. Thing's don't surprise me as much anymore. But one thing I did learn was if you are a woman driving alone, if a cop stops you, you do not have to stop. Why? Because the police are corrupt and there used to be reports of cops stopping woman and rapping them. Maybe I'm not THAT used to the lifestyle yet...I am learning new facts everyday.

I shall leave you with a picture of my new roomie, Tika. :)

Day 67-71

I just finished a book that is a true story on abandoned children and their emotion struggles. It was hard reading about a sweet, innocent child that keeps getting moved around from orphanages, to foster homes and back to orphanages, making and losing friends and being afraid to love again. The hardest part was reading about how children are treated in orphanages...like prison, they become a number, they line up before their meals and if they do not follow the "rules" then they get hit. In this book, Jennings, the child, lives in 4 different orphanages and in each one, he gets hit and tortured by mean and bitter nuns. It makes me wonder why some people choose to work at orphanages if they hate children so much.

One quote that really touched me when Jennings was asking his friend, Sal, why he should love people, when he just keeps losing them. And Sal said:

The more it hurts, the more you know how special they were to you. If you never liked someone because you were afraid they'd go away, then you'd never know the joy of their friendship. You would always be alone.

So my lesson, keep loving. Even if it hurts to lose someone, be thankful of your time together. And if you love someone, tell them before its too late.

I highly recommend this book - it has changed me.

Also, below are some pictures of the Mayan Ceremony we attended last Monday.

Day 61-65

There's something so sweet about these Guatemalan kids. Last Friday, I found out that my favorite kid, Wilson, asked his mom if I can take him back to Canada because he likes me so much. How sweet is that? Last week, Wilson came over and I taught him how to play Angry Birds on my laptop...hehe...he was hooked for hours!

I have also started helping out at the local cafe with my friend, Mynor, the 13 year old barista. I'm hoping this experience will help me build on my limited Spanish as well as help Mynor learn English! And plus, it's fun to make drinks again. It is also nice (and challenging) to be forced to communicate in Spanish...without my fellow English speaking friends. I can't say that I'm doing a very good job....but I am slowly starting to learn!

Today we went to a Mayan ceremony. It was so interesting! With a firepit and an altar, they decorated it with sweets, fruit, chocolate, bread, herbs, pine needles, candles and probably many other things that I didn't recognize. The purpose of this ceremony was to cleanse ourselves so we can start fresh for the next 6 months before the new year. The ceremony was done in Spanish and the local Mayan language, Ka'chikel. It was neat...I am glad I was able to attend this ceremony!

Pictures of the ceremony will be coming later...

Day 55 - 60

This week we hosted our first Social Enterprise Workshop in Guatemala! This workshop was the reason that I came here - to help Project Somos organize it. Though it was a small workshop (we had 12 people), it was one workshop that I got the most out of. A Social Enterprise is essentially a small business in which all the revenue goes back towards a non-profit organization. I have been noticing more and more that my passion lies in helping others, especially kids in a developing world. I would love to stay in the non-profit world and since I have spent so many years doing corporate event planning, so how about event planning for a non-profit organization that helps kids in a developing world? If you have any connections, please let me know. :)

Day 49-54

I'm sorry I've been lazy! This week we got down and dirty and built a firepit on the land. On Tuesday, we held a memorial service at the firepit for Heather's mom who passed away just earlier this year. Tuesday would have been her 70th birthday. I'm glad that I could have been part of this service. I have gotten to know Heather, Greg and their family so much these past 2 months. Today we also removed the two door frames on the first house! It was exciting and nerve-wrecking as we were just slightly worried that everything might come tumbling down...but it didn't! We also found a bat hidden between the wooden frame and the earthbag!

I really like the blog that I posted up on Ethical Bean so I'm going to cheat and copy and paste what I wrote there on here...

This week was especially significant for me in Guatemala. On Tuesday, June 28^th, I was honoured to be involved in a memorial service to commemorate Heather Knox’s (Executive Director of Project Somos) mother’s 70^th birthday. Susan Knox passed away earlier this year so it was very meaningful that Heather and Greg were able to spend the day with Heather’s dad, Heather’s brother and Heather’s daughter, as they are all here volunteering for Project Somos.

In preparation for the service, all of us went to the land with our work gloves and shovels to build a fire pit for the ceremony. As this will also be a permanent area for the Children’s Village, we consulted our foreman, Antolin, who is a Mayan priest. With his expertise, we built the fire pit in accordance to Mayan tradition, which included the exact size of the fire pit as well as the location of all four flower gardens.

Although the locals working on the land are not related to Heather or Greg, when they found out the importance of the fire pit they were eager to be involved in helping us build it. As this project has become a very important part of my life, I am also grateful for this opportunity to be part of such a special occasion. During the moments around building the fire pit and the memorial I was reminded of the importance of love and family in my life.

There is a lot of love put into building this Children’s Village. Because Heather and Greg have been so gracious and loving, they have built unity amongst everyone that is involved in this project whether it be the volunteers, the community or the locals working on the land. I have now learned that family consists of anyone that we feel is important in your life. For me, that includes my new Guatemalan family – everyone here in Tecpán.

Day 44-48

The days just fly by...it's hard to believe that its the weekend again already! I'm going to be heading down to Lake Atitlan again for the weekend just for some R&R. This week has been nice. We had a good day working on the land and productive days working in the office. This week I interviewed Heather for my Ethical Bean blog so check that out if you want to learn more about the children's village.

These past 2 weeks, we had some volunteers come help us out. One thing I learned is that volunteering abroad isn't for everyone. We had someone that felt like our construction of the house was too slow and he didn't respect the fact that he was here to help us out. In fact, it felt like since he was helping us out, that we were indebted to him. Wrong attitude. Volunteering means doing anything and everything that needs to be done. So yes, if it means picking up garbage on the land, ultimately you are still helping us out because someone has to do it eventually! I respect the fact that this isn't for everyone. But if you choose to volunteer locally or abroad, do it with an open heart and try not to judge. You will gain so much more and the experience is amazing....including picking up garbage.

As promised, below are some pictures I took at Chichi.

Day 40 - 43

The past few days has been great. We had a few parties - one with the kids in the earlier post and a farewell for Parker who has been volunteering here for 6 weeks! It was great chatting, bonding and just enjoying each other's company.

On Thursday, we made Father's Day cards for all the workers on the land with the family photos that we took on Children's Day. We developed the photos, glued them onto a blue bristol board and then wrote a thank you note and pasted it on the inside of the card. To us, it seems like such a small gesture of "Thank you" but to them, it showed that we actually do care about them and their family. Some were almost in tears as this is their first family photo and even said now they want to work even harder for us because we are "good people". It was amazing and touching. We take so many things for granted and I can't even count how many times I have been close to tears from witnessing everything out here.

Today we went to the biggest market in Central America! It was amazing...I bought some great things including a yellow hammock seat! I wanted one last year when I went to Costa Rica but decided against it....and now I finally got one! Pictures from the market will be posted later....sorry but I'm lazy right now!

Firecrackers for Parker!

The Father's Day cards that we made.

Day 38 & 39

The last few days has been busy just catching up with everything (so much happens in a week here!) and today I went to the land for the first time in almost 2 weeks! Before I left for Toronto, the height of the walls were just about my height and now they are waaay taller than me! In fact, they finished all the outer walls!! Crazy how fast things are moving!

I also got a sweet new office with an amazing view...check it out in my photos below!

Tonight we invited our friends, Nicoletta and her kids over for dinner because it was the birthdays of two of the boys! Remember Wilson? It was his bday! They're so cute...so smiley and sweet.

Day 37

I just got back into Guatemala last night! I had an amazing week with my girls! :) One thing I did notice going from Guatemala back to Canada was the culture shock. My first hot shower (with pressure!) surprised me, using the toilet and being able to flush the toilet paper surprised me, brushing my teeth with tap water surprised me....and the list goes on...including how quiet it is in Toronto compared to Guatemala! I heard some dogs barking one night and found it oddly comforting (there are ALWAYS dogs barking at night in Guatemala)!

I also noticed a few changes in myself - the little things don't bug me as much....helping someone and not getting a thank you or a response didn't bother me....I felt more content with myself. It's the simple things in life that are the best things in life. I am being humbled....a lot. :)

Since I don't have any pictures of Guatemala, I will include a few of my girlfriends and I. I am blessed to have such amazing friends.