I'm tired after my first day of work. All of the travel and the hustle and bustle is starting to take a slight toll. We got up at 6:30 this morning to get ready. After breakfast we all piled into the cross cultural solutions van (all 10 of us) and headed off to each of our placements, dropping us off one by one. I got to my placement and the director showed me around the facility a little, telling me there was a class of students with special needs, a very small class that needed an English instructor, and the nursery. He asked me where I wanted to be, and I told him that I wanted to work in the nursery. There were about 10 kids up in the nursery with rows of beds right next to one anther, and several cribs packed next to each other. They were watching Curious George on the carpet when I walked in. Immediately a little girl named Iris ran over to me and jumped into my arms and started asking me questions. She is 5 years old, and extremely attentive. It was fun talking with her and being able to ask questions, especially how to say things in Spanish. I don't know if there is someone in the room, or if there were other children that needed help and it seemed like I had things under control, but once I walked into the room, I saw another adult about 3 times in the 4 hours I was there. I'm not quite sure what's expected of me in the placement. They just got a new director and CCS hasn't had volunteers in that placement for over a year. It is the placement that I was hoping for though. Children's smiles and laughs are the same everywhere and it is the most rewarding thing to see one of them giggle. They loved attention, hugs, to be tickled, to be spun around, to dance, and to just sit on my lap. For a couple hours of the time I was there, I only had 2 little ones, both crawling around, Mariarita y Oliver. At one point, Maria had a poopy diaper so I asked the other women where the stuff to change her was, and they all looked shocked and asked if I wanted to change her. I said yes, so they got the things out and left me too it. They only had toilet paper and baby powder, so needless to say, she wasn't very happy! I didn't want to take pictures on the first day, but I think that there will be plenty of opportunities to take pictures of the little ones. It was a tiring first day though of just getting adjusted to the timing of things and continually trying to understand the language around me.
After work we had Spanish lessons, which weren't the most productive. I'm going to be taking one on one lessons on Wednesday which I think will be a more helpful, but we'll see. We then went on a tour of the city where we saw the central municipal buliding for Xela, a beautiful cathedral, and the parque del central where a lively market was going on, and a house that was a gift to someone related to the president of Guatemala that now houses different art shows. Tomorrow, we're going to an indigenous village nearby which should be unique and exciting as well.
It rains here everyday in the afternoon, and gets cold in the evening, but the house is always bustling with conversations and laughter. Another good day...looking forward to tomorrow. :)
Here are a couple pictures of Xela and our adventures thus far!
The Xela Futbol team playing the team from Guatemala City (they're big rivals) with one of Xela's volcanos in the background.
Overlooking Xela from Cerra de Baul.
Overlooking Xela from Cerra de Baul.
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