Today was the first day of our work schedule which we will follow for the next three weeks. Breakfast was at 6:45 a.m., which meant an early wake-up. I got up at 6 a.m, to have time to prepare. At Violetta’s for breakfast, we were treated to waffles with fruit on top drizzled with chocolate syrup. Once we finished, we split into our work groups, which had been assigned the night before. My group is made up of Seamus, Reagan, Vincenzo, and me. Our assigned mentor from Guatemala is Jelen, who will help us get to and perform our assigned tasks at the worksite.. Jelen was welcoming and friendly. She told us she would assist our Spanish and asked if we could help her with her English in return. Jelen helped us navigate our way onto the chicken busses to take us to San Antonio, which is the town where we will work in support of a community center.
Once we got there, one of the staff members gave us a tour of the facility. The kids that were there taking classes were in the 7th grade. We sanded and painted the second-floor guard rails and support beams. We divided and conquered to make efficient use of our time. After we finished painting, we cleaned off the walls that will be painted next.
The Jocotenango group, made up of Hannah, Mackenzie, Nate, and Tanner, helped at a local school for kindergartners through sixth graders, where they decorated and painted a classroom. The school was not yet in session, so they did not get to meet the students. When the staff discovered that Hannah was a trained EMT, they asked the group to do a CPR class for faculty later this week.
The Santa Maria De Jesus group, made up of Morgan, Makynzi, Sean, and Yorlan, worked at a school called Jardin de Amor, Jardin de Amor is run by a nongovernmental organization and provides an education to impoverished local children who are primarily from indigenous populations. The school is located up a steep road on the side of the dormant Volcan Agua. It was a long walk for the group after getting off the chicken bus. Upon arrival, they listened to the students sing the Guatemala national anthem because it was the first day of school. For work, the group performed maintenance and chipped paint to prep for painting tomorrow.
After finishing at the work sites, we made our way to Violetta’s where we had my favorite meal yet. It was called Joćon, and I went for seconds. We then had about 40 minutes to ourselves before Spanish class at the Ixchel Spanish School started at 1:30 p.m. Once it was time to go to class, the entire group met in one of the communal areas of the hostel, and we then proceeded to walk to the school and meet our new teachers. The school is conveniently located across the street from our hostel and each member of our group has a dedicated, one-on-one teacher. To my surprise, I did a little bit better than I thought. However, towards the end of the three-hour session, it was a little mentally draining trying to put the words and sentences together. After class, we met again as a group. Captain Lennon and Professor Cadwalader gave us our nightly meeting. Once let loose, we had our first night going into Antigua to get dinner on our own. Yorlan and I decided to head to the gym and it felt great to get a good lift in for the first time in about a week. On the way back, we went to a restaurant and got fajitas for dinner. They also had the NFL NFC wildcard game on. Afterward, we made our way back to the hostel and called it a night.
Written by: Pablo Hruska-Cleary
