Kendall's Visit

Kendall has been visiting me for the past two weeks now and she's been keeping me pretty busy. We went on two scouting trips to the beach together and ate some pretty amazing food. Then after we knew all there was to know about getting to the beach and where to go from there, we wook a group of 6 15 year olds there. They had done a bracelet project with me where we recycled grocery bags and made them into bracelets. I took them back to the states with me and sold them at an elementary school. With the money we made we were able to take our trip to the beach, eat at a pizza hut (which not a single one had been to this beach, nor eaten at pizza hut) and we had birthday cake for one of their birthdays. It was a day that will go down in history for them. They were so excited and happy to be there. And it has drummed up a lot of interest in my projects cause other kids want to be able to take a trip like that as well.

We have also gone to the river quite a few times, we did take our shower there this morning. And were just hanging out and having fun. She has been making me all my food and helping me do all my chores so I really dont want her to leave me!

Back in the life

Well its back to work again after being home for two weeks. Cant really say Im glad to be back...but it'll come. Although, Muñeca sure was glad to see me. Until I ran out of dog food and fed her coconut last night...ooops. Good thing I am going to the store today.

This past week I spent cleaning my house and my lawn, and getting my groups started again. Yesterday 3 kids came to my english class, maybe by wednesday I'll have six! Haha.

Here are some photos. There are lots of new puppies in town. Very cute, I am just working on my saying no to those little puppies.



And here is one for the Bandidas:) My kids got squirt guns for christmas so we had some fun with those.

Dengue Fever

Well it looks like I have finally sucumbed to Dengue. Yesterday I came down with a chill that I just couldnt shake, and then the headache and all over body ache started up. I came into the capital today for some bloodtests, and I will have to stay here until it runs its course:( Wish me luck.

This month has been pretty busy, thankfully. Last week we had our celebration of Thanksgiving and then an All Volunteer Conference in the capital. I was on the sports committee for Thanksgiving so me and another girl organized a Turkey Trot, Soccer and Basketball games. And don't worry, my soccer team won-and I even helped us out by scoring a goal. Mostly I will give the win to our Columbian ringer. Without him, we didnt have a chance. We were all at a Country Club for the Thanksgiving meal and they made us Turkey, mashed potatoes, salad and then we had committees for stuffing and desserts. (Apparently stuffing is not found in this country, so we devoted a team of 4 volunteers to conseguir stuffing from the states and then make enough for 200 people)

I got back to my site on Saturday, and then Judy came to stay with me on Monday. We were planning our experiments for the Brigada VERDE conference. I dont know if its this country or it is us, but I have never had such a hard time doing simple science experiments. I really hope that they go well this weekend. Two of the kids from my community will be meeting up with me tomorrow morning, and we will all go together to our conference center in San Cristobal. There's about 18 volunteers and 50 some kids ages 12-20. This could be interesting!

I finally went horse back riding this week. Some kids brought over horses (really cabellitos) and one of them actually had a saddle, so we went riding. I was lead for a while until they trusted me to walk the horse on my own. I think I did pretty well for myself. And I even tried the riding while talking on the cell phone-I got better service on the horse than anywhere else! Haha. Kendall get ready! Now I only need to find a waterfall and we are all set for your trip:)

We survived!

Well my community weathered the storm pretty well in comparison to a lot of other communities. The river rose about 20 feet, but we were lucky that no one lived close enough to get swept away. Our problems were the houses with no floors, or whose houses were poorly made. They spent the whole week wet and now a lot of people are sick. It has continued to rain a lot since Noel, and all the rain is great for mosquitos...which has created a dengue epidemic. And a lot of animals have gotten sick and are now spreading a new virus that is vaguely like meningitis. Some people are now dying from that. It seems like the problems of this country are never ending.

As for me, I am doing okay. I got a puppy this last week. She's pretty adorable and she protects me at night time. I feel a lot safer now with her around. I also found my first tarantula in my house on Monday. (Again its all the rain) But I ran out to my host dad and made him come and kill it. I am really hoping that the rain settles down a little, cause I dont want to find any more tarantulas in my house. One of my friends, he didnt tuck his mosquito net in all the way and a tarantula crawled into bed with him and bit him. Then on his jump out of the bed to grab his camera cause he didnt think anyone would believe him another tarantula bit him. He handled it a lot better than I would have, so I really hope that the tarantulas stay away from me. And my mosquito net is always tucked in tight. I'm not taking any chances.

I am in the capital right now for Thanksgiving. We are all going to a country club and celebrating together with an american style Thanksgiving. I'm excited, and it makes missing Thanksgiving with the family a little more reasonable.

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!