Traveling Adventures: Wednesday night and Thursday day :)

Teresa:

I had a rough start to the morning when the guest next door left early. He started his truck and then let it run for about 10 minutes. Unfortunately, the bottom of our door has a grate, so within a minute, all of the exhaust had filled our room. Bleh. I have no problem waking up early, but I don’t think my system was quite ready for that morning dose of carbon monoxide.

Yesterday in El Yalu, we spent time bringing materials to a new home. Every time I think we have done some great feat of carrying bricks and sand over tough terrain, we find a new, even more difficult spot to carry to! The walk was not long, but it was up an incredibly steep hill. The view from the top was gorgeous. The mother of the home was very sweet and appreciative of the work being done for the family. Our first stove was being completed by just a few people and we also had the chance to see that project near completion. We went to the village center and saw the church there and some vendors. And lo and behold, behind one curtained room, there was a bunch of young boys playing arcade games! Otter quickly jumped into the room to watch the games being played. Our friend Kristi bought some yummy snacks and candy from one of the vendors and we worked our way back to the medical center (after prying Otter from the arcade games).

One of the homes we visited had a handful of little kids standing around a sister. She had apparently broken her legs or hips and was just lying outside the front of the house in a cast. I could only imagine how difficult it must have been to get her to a hospital, get the materials for casting, and then transport the child back home. The other day I had seen a woman with a sick child who must have been 6 or 7. She was coming off the bus at the very top of the hill and was carrying the child in a wrap (similar to the one I carry Indie in). There have been a few children in the village I have seen with eye problems (2 or 3). We were told that services at the medical center cost 10 quatzeles (about $2) per visit. The medical center has very basic supplies – some diabetes monitors (I’m thinking for gestational diabetes), a few bottles of antibiotic pills, and basic First Aid Care. The doctor keeps a record of all those who visit.

When we were headed to another home, I saw a large crowd of kiddos circled around something. As I got closer, I saw a ginormous snake. Bleh Bleh Bleh. Apparently, the snake was headed out of the hill and some of the kids got him with a rock. I am very glad I saw this towards the end of my trip rather than the beginning because I would not have been walking around so freely in the village. Now, every noise I hear I am sure is a snake tracking me down. I don’t mind the bugs, spiders, or even a rat or two, but snakes! BLEH! Not only that, but these are a common problem here in the villagers’ homes. What’s interesting is it has been difficult for the doctor to convince the villagers that sleeping in beds is safer than sleeping on the floors. I don’t think I would have to be told twice about that after seeing that snake.

We had the chance to walk to the top of one of the hills and saw an incredible view of the area. You could see 2 or 3 of the small villages and the city of Sumpango (or what we thought was Sumpango) from the top. There were cocoa plants growing (coffee beans! YEAH!). There was also some top of hotel or something like that, which was gated off for everyone else. It had a sign about price per person, I’m still not sure what it was. What I am sure of though, is that once behind that gate, the quality of the road improved 200% and the buildings were immaculate compared to the village surrounding it.

Our English lessons at night continue to be just as much a learning experience for us as it is for our students. My favorite part of the evening is when our class is done teaching and we get to see the students we had the first two nights. On Wednesday, Tony had spent 20 minutes with us teaching us Spanish. Last night, Otoniel spent the same amount of time teaching us Spanish. He is one of 9 kids and had 2 of his younger sisters with him for the EFL lessons. He also had a niece and a cousin. I learned a lot of Spanish words just from him describing his family. When I asked him where he learned English, he told me he spent his evenings reading the English dictionary they had at home. Wow. He also let me know I should do the same J I also had the chance to speak a bit to Alvaro and learn that he worked downtown in a laboratory studying blood. Even further, I was able to learn that he studies glucose levels and enzyme markers for heart disease. Alvaro did not speak English and I did not speak Spanish, but we both spoke science. That was pretty cool.

Karla, Oscar’s wife, has been making me vegetarian dishes of whatever meals we have. What a sweetheart! She is so warm, kind, and loving. The meals are such a highlight to my days not just for the food (because we all know how much I love food!), but for the time we get to see Karla and sit with our teammates. I have learned so much from the other team members here. I have met a cattle farmer, an electrician, an agriculturalist who works for Monsanto, a physical therapist, a carpenter, a dental hygienist, an electrical engineer, a volunteer for Kids Around the World, the registrar of deeds for Dane County, a mental counselor, and a software developer; not to mention all of the younger adults and kids here. I have learned from each of them a bit about the work they do. It is so incredible how we can “know” each other by names but here have been given the opportunity to really get to know each other and what their lives are like. They have all also been so very kind (and tolerant) of the younger boys, teaching me how to let go a bit and let Otter be a 10-year-old boyJ It has been such an experience to see him develop relationships with everyone on the team as well. During the mealtimes, I have heard great stories of families we miss and the work everyone does.

Today is our last day in El Yalu. How sad it is going to be to say goodbye to the little faces I have seen, laughed with, and played with each day this week. It will also be sad to say goodbye to the women in the kitchen. Though I was not able to communicate much with them, I loved the days I had just to be there with them. Each of them have such beautiful smiles!

Ok, we are at Oscar’s and it is now time for one of my favorite meals of the day – breakfast!!!

Otter:

Each day it gets harder to wake up. After I woke up, we headed up to build the oven. This time, it was really hard work. We had to carry one hundred and thirty-five bricks over a mile one a very bumpy and hard to walk on “road”. I got to bring the wheelbarrow. It could carry a lot of bricks, I took fifteen, but some people helped me by grabbing two each. I ended up with five.

Once we were done working, we headed over to where the snake was killed. As we got closer, I noticed the large crowd of villagers crowding around it. It was a very large snake.

When we were heading back to the feeding center, we decided to take another route. This one led to a game room. Inside it, strangely enough, were only boys. There were games inside like football, metal slug, metal slug two, golf, and a bunch of others. The game room was actually very small. Only one game was being played and paid for, and it was metal slug. Almost everyone was crowded around it.

Once we were done looking at the game room, we all walked back to the feeding center. As soon as we got there, I grabbed a soccer ball and played a one on one with Sam. I used a soccer ball because all of the basketballs were flat. When he was done playing, I just shot hoops.

Pretty soon, we got lunch, then dinner, and then taught English. Our days go by super fast.

The smoke from one of the fires used for cooking. That's all inside the home as well.

Otter with one of our amigas, Caroline, and her hermano, Kevin Manuel.

This is the great big hill we had to carry 135 bricks, 4 bags of sand, and 3 bags of gravel up. I did not even attempt the gravel. Kristie and Matt were the rockstars who did that.

Kristie sporting a lovely bag of sand.

Matt helping finish one of the stoves while Otter supervises. Our mason, Leonardo, was incredibly patient and tolerant of all of his extra "helpers" in the building process.