Sam's Blog
No more blogs
There will not be any more posts in this section because this trip is over and I'm concentrating on the next one. You can read all about my next trip on the new page I set up for it.
Posted over 4 years ago | Permalink | 0 Comments
Willy
Well, we got the school painted but that isnīt what I want to talk about today. Today I want to talk about Willy. Willy is a little boy that lives outside the parish. I forget his age but heīs around 5 or 6. Everytime I walk up to the parish he comes out of no where and jumps into my arms. An instant smile comes on his face and we play and play. I throw him in the air and pretend to drop him. Even though my Spanish is pretty limited we find ways to communicate. I have lots of pictures of Willy and lots of pictures that Willy took with my camera.
The odd thing about me and Willyīs friendship is that Iīm more comfortable with little girls. I donīt have a lot of exposure to little boys and in the past we havenīt related as well for whatever reason. Itīs great that Willy and I have established this bond. Itīs really why we came to Gautemala - to establish relationships. All of the people are amazing, but especially the kids. They are wonderful! So full of life and joy. They might be poor when it comes to money, but they are muy rico when it comes to joy and happiness. Isnīt that what it means to be truly rich?
I need to wrap this up because itīs dinner time at the parish. As always I hope everybody is doing well and Iīm sorry you canīt be here. One last note. Iīve also made lots of friends from the US. If any of my friends from Rockhurst are reading this - you guys rock! Adios!
Posted over 4 years ago | Permalink | 0 Comments
Our assignment (should we chose to accept it)
This is probably going to be a fairly short blog, but weīll see where it goes. I think I mentioned previously that the building that we were going to build didnīt make it through customs and so we had no idea what we were going to do. Today, we toured the area where we were going to build the building and informed the town leaders that the building didnīt arrive and couldnīt be built. In itīs place we asked them what we could do to help. They told us that there school needed to be painted and so we decided to do that. The great part is that even though itīs not the original plan, itīs still with the same community and we are building relationships that the next group can continue to foster when they come in with the building.
Today we picked seeds out of a pod. This was just a temporary thing until we get the paint and supplies to paint the school. We are going to paint the school tomorrow. You should see the kids. They are wonderful! So happy and full of life. We are here trying to improve their lives but I pray that the improvements that we bring never destroy the joy they already have. Education and posessions are no replacement for true happiness. We have so much in the states and we always want more. We are always trying to keep up with the jones and it never leads to happiness. Iīm learning more from them than I could ever teach them.
I talked about an admirer last time. Her name is Marta. Well shortly after my last post I found out I had another admirer. Her name is Margarita and we played basketball for a little while. Sheīs very nice, but the language was a little tough. :) Iīm now known as the ladies man, because the second day we were here I had two interested ladies. What can I say. The Guatamalan ladies love me.
Well I gotta run. Becky and Melissa are bugging me to leave. I hope everything is well in the states.
Posted over 4 years ago | Permalink | 0 Comments
Safely in Guatemala
I made it safely to Guatemala! I really shouldnīt be online in Guatemala. Among other things I came here to get away from computers, but I thought Iīd take a few minutes to update people on the trip. For starters we made it safely. We are staying in Casa Blanca. For the non-spanish speakers out there that means white house. Itīs a pretty decent little hotel. I thought somebody stole my TV but I was later informed that they didnīt have TVīs. That explains why I couldnīt find the cable hookups! ;)
We had a little excitement before the trip even started. Sadly, not everybody that was planning on coming was able to come. The building that we were going to put up didnīt make it through customs so most of the St. Mary students decided not to come. This really saddened me, but we are still going to make the best of the trip. We are no longer going to be able to build a building but there is more than enough stuff to do here and that will keep us busy.
Like I said our trip here was pretty uneventful. We flew into Atlanta and had a short layover there before flying in Guatemala City. After we landed in Guatemala City and waited what seemed like FOREVER for out luggage we made the 3 hour trip to our hotel. We ate dinner in the Parish, studied up on our Spanish and then promptly feel asleep. I donīt think I mentioned this but I had been up at least 36 hours at that point. Iīm still tired today and I probably got a solid 10-12 hours sleep last night.
Today (Saturday or Sabado), we got up and ate breakfast, took a few tours of San Lucas and then ate lunch. Iīm pretty proud of myself because Iīve eaten some of everything theyīve served. Most of you know Iīm pretty pick but Iīve always love Latin culture and food so it hasnīt been to tough. The parish here in San Lucas is beautiful. We eat all of our meals there and one of these days it will be our turn to do the dishes. Iīve made several new friends and Iīm pretty sure one of the locals is hitting on me. She invited us to go dancing and wants to teach me how to Marange (I might have spelled that wrong, but Iīm referring to the dance). Her name is Marta and she owns here own business so who knows where this romance might go. ;)
Well, Iīve spent enough time on the computer so Iīm going to stop now. I hope everybody is well and Iīll see most of you soon.
Sam
Posted over 4 years ago | Permalink | 0 Comments
It's getting close!
At the end of this week I will be in Guatemala! I'm very excited and probably even a little anxious. I've been anticipating this trip for a long time and it's nearly here. When I decided to go, the trip was a couple months away and I remember thinking that it would take forever to get here. Boy was I wrong. The time has flown by and I get more and more excited with each passing day. I'm sure it's going to be hard to get much work done since I will be gone for a week and a half, but I will do what I can. Be sure to check back to this page when I get back. I will post some highlights of the trip as well as links to the many hundreds of pictures that we will take. Perhaps even some video! Stay tuned.
Posted over 4 years ago | Permalink | 0 Comments
Helping you, helps me
In my last post I said that I was going to explain why this trip to Guatemala is a vacation. But before I do that let me explain why some people don't see this as a vacation. For starters I am not going to a 5 star hotel with a sandy beach. Nor am I going to Colorado to ski the beautiful snow that I am sure is falling as I type this. There will be few luxuries or amenities. No basketball or beach volley ball. No swimming or shuffle board. To quote Gilligan's Island, "not a single luxury".
So if I'm not doing all those wonderful things what will I be doing on this so called vacation. Well, I will be erecting a rather large building. I will be sleeping in something far less than a 5 star hotel and there's a very good chance my shower will be cold. On my last missions trip I slept with a cockroach that had to be every bit of 2 inches long. The days will be dusty and filled with sweat. The land is different. And I will maybe understand one in 5 words of their language.
Where is the vacation you ask? It's right there! Don't you see it? I am paying thousands of dollars to build a school I won't learn in, speak a language I don't understand, for a people I don't know. I am taking a vacation not only from my cell phone, pager and email, but I'm taking a vacation from my own selfishness! I'm taking a vacation from my consumer minded, marketing driven, lavish lifestyle to help people that I don't know and who don't know me. Can you think of a better vacation? Me neither!
Once you've seen how someone in a third world lives it's hard to be anxious about paying the cable bill or worrying about how you are going to afford the new Lexus so you can keep up with the neighbors. According to George Bray, PHD, volunteering decreases anxiety and stress. Isn't that what vacation is all about?
Posted over 4 years ago | Permalink | 0 Comments
The better life
On an average day I am in front of the computer for at least eight hours a day. Sometimes as many as sixteen. When I'm not at the computer I'm able to send and recieve phone calls, text messages and even email on my cell phone. Just to make sure I'm available 24 hours a day 7 days a week I carry a pager. Why a pager when there are so many ways to get ahold of me? Because I need to be available and a pager is still one of the most reliable ways to do it. What does this have to do with a trip to Guatemala? Keep reading. I think it will start to make sense.
Anybody who is truly connected 24x7 like I am knows exactly where this is going. This trip is about so much more than helping the people of Guatemala. It's about helping myself. It's about disconnecting in a way that you can't truly disconnect in most parts of the United States. It's about the peace and quiet that can only come when there are no phones ringing, no emails to read and no meetings to attend. Some call it the boring, backwards or most commonly the simple life. I'm going to call it wonderful. I'm going to call it much needed.
I haven't had a real vacation in about three years. During my last attempt at taking some time off I had to come into work for a day because a water main break flooded our building and knocked out our internet connection and phone lines. Not exactly a break from stress and anxiety!
Some people say this isn't a vacation and they are sort of correct. It's not a vacation in the way many Americans think of vacation, but to me it's the best kind of vacation. I'll explain why in my next blog post.
Posted over 4 years ago | Permalink | 0 Comments