Mi primer dia de classe...que bien

Today was my first day of class. So good. We started out with some history of Guatemala and how Xela, the city we´re in, was highly active in the recent civil war. We were told that one of the purposes of the school 20 years ago was to raise money for the families of two students who were drug out into the streets, tortured and murdered. The income from the school was to pay for lawyers and help support the families. Since then the school has had a hang in many of the social justice issues of Xela and Guatemala. Right now they work with an after school program for children, reforestation up in the mountains, the one and only local women´s shelter, and with different indigenous people here securing their rights.

After a brief overview we met our teachers. Aparently, my teacher is one of the best in the school and kinda badass. She fought as a guerilla in the civil war for 25 years, helped out during the war as a nurse and is barely 5´foot tall. She also might be the cutest thing I´ve ever seen. I can´t ever look at her and think she ever fought in any war. I´ll tell you more about her once I find out more.

I got hooked up with my family on Sunday afternoon. An older couple with12 grandchildren. Two live down the street and met up with us for some lunch. They little one, Emily, is almost one and the older girl, Melani, is 6. We played some bingo today after lunch but she called it loteria like lottery. We had some amazing noodle chicken soupy thing that tasted like gormet top ramen with veggies. So good!

My week looks awfully packed with some incredible trips (like the one to the midwifery in a rural village and the one to the largest market in Central America) and a lot of studying. Looks like I´m going to be learning a lot here especially regarding the social issues facing the Guatemaltecas. It´s so good to be around people passionate about learning more than just the language but the culture as well.

Here´s a picture from one of the streets here in Xela. We were looking for a used book store but we found a good photo op.

Here´s a graffiti stencil from one of the polictal patries running here in Guate. I don´t think this is the good one but I should find out.

I can´t figure out how to arrange my photos so here´s a cool building and my bedroom. oh and Erin finally got here too... los tres amigas!

I´m here.
After a gruelling long day of traveling, I´ve finally made it here. I made friends with the woman travelling with me on the bus so she gave me a ride to the school. By made friends, I mean she talked a lot while I smilled and nodded my head. She told me all about her kids, husband going in for surgery, friends she has in Boston, and how to make dulces. It was good practice for me as I listened to her speak with an accent different than I´m used to. When I finally arrived at the school it was pitch black and looked like we were in a dark sketchy alley. Turns out, all the streets in Xela look dark and sketchy and like alleys at night. They aren´t, but they look it.

Ruth and I spent the day walking around Xela today. Breakfast at a small cafe over looking the Central Park then off to but some probiotic yogurt and a cell phone. No trip is complete without a cell phone.

So far it looks like our weeks will be filled with lots of viajes and mercados, trips and shopping. I´m also looking forward to some good eats. That´s it for now. Ruth is kinda blogging for the both of us so check out her blog for some good pics.

Also... mom I want you to know that we´re talking to eachother in spanish about 75% of the time. It´ll get better once we´re not so frustrated looking for the right words and know more vocab. Love you all... adios

ahh Mexico City

After a three hour flight, I arrived in Mexico City. I slept next to a limo driver from Oakland. He claims to have driven around "50 cents." It was hard not to laugh at that. I think I missed the dinner they served. I figured sleep was more mportant. After my 7 hour layover here, I still have a two hour flight to Guatemala City 4 hour bus ride. Long day ahead of me with only 3ish hours of sleep.

On a positive note, my backpack is breaking. I bought one of those travel pillows that you wear around your neck but it´s super bulky. I had it in my backpack for a while until it started ripping my zipper at the seams. Whoops. It´s still dark outside here (6am) so I don´t think I´ll be leaving to find a mochilla but hopefully can find one here in this ginormous airport. If not I may be pressed to buy a Nacho Libre wrestling mask and use it as a patch. They have enough here to sew a whole new backpack and I have the time to do it... we´ll see what happens.

By the way, while I´ve been at this internet cafe, I´ve heard almost every 90´s blockbuster hit theme song. For example, Don´t Wanna Miss a Thang by Aerosmith, Celine Dions Titanic theme song, ... that´s enough for me. The best part is that of the five people, including me, in here, four of them are singing along. Can you guess who isn´t?

Okay. I´m all done. I should go look for a backpack so all of my belongings don´t spontaneously drop onto the floor...which would be hilarious. Now Sweet Child of Mine is on so I might have to stay a bit longer.

maatiam

I just found this website that makes donations to the nonprofit of your choice with every online purchase you make.  (if the company is participating)

I think it's crazy. It's like the (RED) campaign but better cause you don't have to shop at GAP. 

The only purchases I make these days are for cheap text books  but... I can use that website for them too. They take a cut from the donation which is understandable. Otherwise,  it seems legit. 

So if you're shopping online and feeling bad about your purchase, go through this website and maybe you'll feel a little better cause you're giving to a nonprofit at the same time. 

maatiam

I feel like I don't know of many non-profits to give to. Maybe you can comment with some of the ones you  support. 

Here's my very short list. 

Rise Up Inc.  (Bend OR)

Kiva Microfund

Africa Aid

Venice Family Health Clinic

World Vision

Habitat for Humanity

 

i really like this

"It is our routines and our comforts that allow us to ignore social issues. For some of us, it is our privilege to be ignorant. This video tells the story of social issues challenging our privileges and entering our routines making them impossible to ignore. Social injustice cannot be ignored when you are forced to deal with them. That is the idea behind this video.

What would happen if you were forced to deal with something that you may think has nothing to do with you? If suddenly the world's problems came into your
own home? You would have to realize that you are connected to everything and everyone one earth." -brett dennen

love it

It's official. I love nursing school. My first clinical has been at a Catholic all women nursing home. A lot of the women that stay there are nuns and the other's are always giving praise to God. 

At first, it was the most frightening thing ever to introduce yourself to a complete stranger and then two seconds later, you're taking their clothes off to start bathing them. They trust you. Completely. I'm not even sure I'm worthy of the trust they give me. It's my first time doing any of this. How can they trust me? My first patient was completely dependent. Couldn't even eat so she had a tube coming out of her stomach that feeds her. My second patient swore and was very hard of hearing. She was a riot. This week I worked with a woman that has Alzheimer's, dementia, and Parkinson's. She's an artist. She's beautiful. I gave her a coloring book so she could color a bit while I was doing other stuff. When I came back to check on her, I realized she could color better with a tremor in her hand than I ever could with a steady hand. 

I've cleaned these ladies butts, washed their bodies, cracked jokes they don't really get, broken up an almost fight, and picked out 95 year old clothes and yet my favorite part has been with a woman who doesn't speak. At 12 they get their lunch. We sit with the ones who maybe can't feed themselves or don't want to eat. I sat with a nun. She's sleeping most of the time with her eyes closed and no real muscle strength to do anything for herself.  She stirred a bit as I sat next to her but still had her eyes closed. As I placed food near her lips she would smell it and open up her mouth to receive it. I feed  her lunch for about an hour and she was still then she was only half way done. She would fall asleep in the middle of it so it was hard to keep a good rhythm. As I sat and fed her I thought about all the good she had to have done in her convent. I couldn't imagine the stories she could tell me about the children she worked with and the people she got to love. I dreamed about the life that she had lived and quickly became sad at how she had no family to visit and love her in her most vulnerable state. I guess I just felt honored that I could serve a woman that spent her whole life serving. It was kinda amazing to be needed. 

I hope everyone could feel needed like that at least once. 

It's a rare treat but I have a few minutes before I hit the sack and so much has happened. 

school... amazing. super difficult but amazing. Tomorrow morning I have orientation at the nursing home where we'll be learning the basics. Vitals, butt washing, and diaper changing on people larger than 20 lbs. and older than I can imagine. I'll be working at a nursing home for old retired nuns. I'm so excited to hang out with nuns. I mean really how often do you get the opportunity to serve someone who spent their whole lives serving everyone else? 

When I started school, I thought that nursing would basically be everything we have already learned in the last two weeks. Now I'm figuring, what do they have to teach us, we know everything we should know. I'm in for a treat! Had my first midterm yesterday (two weeks into nursing school they give you a midterm, crazy) got 92%. Hope we can keep this business up.

my new macbook air... I don't even remember life before her. She's a beauty. Super light, easy to use however, doesn't work for 5 real hours but more like 2-3 solid. 

risen... I just signed up to be risen's mission advocate. Basically I'll be kind of in the know about what people are doing missionally and helping them out. I think right now more than anything we need a bit of encouragement with our mission dept. I'm excited to hopefully be that person for our community. 

food... I'm a vegetarian right now. It's wierd. It's also a little difficult. I figure that if Pamela Anderson can do it, so can I :) . There are many reasons why I've decided to change this about my rhythm of life. Maybe I'll post about it soon. 

well kids. that's it for now.

moving forward

My brand new baby is on it's way to me. My MacBookAir has been shipped out to my apt. and should be arriving sometime next week. I've never had a brand new laptop and this one looks real fragile so I hope I dont break it. I'm pretty sure I'll spend a couple days emersed in it's awesome features and trying to figure it all out. My first new laptop. My first mac. My new love.

I also start school on the 11th. I kinda can't believe it's really happening. I decided to go to SMC which is nearer and much much cheaper. Again, shocked that it's actually happening.

My life is in the midst or renewal. It's painful at times, beautiful at others. Change is usually good so... I'm eating healthier thanks to some good reads, shocking videos and good conversation. I'm moving forward. I'm simplfying my life in hopes I can see some true value in the things I do. I'm attempting to consume less (minus my new laptop). And the hope is, that I will be blogging a bit more regularly. Who knows though. I've made this promise before.

I've been waiting for almost five years for this and now it's here. I finally got accepted into a nursing program. One and a half actually. You see, I'm the third alternate for Santa Monica City college's program. I'm counting that as a half. I was however, full on accepted into Mount St. Mary's program. I'm torn though. St. Mary's starts mid January and Santa Monica starts mid February. Santa Monica could tell me the day before class starts if I'm in or not. By that time I could be a month into school at St. Mary's paying an arm and a leg and driving an extra 30-45 minutes each way. But... it's a for sure thing. Regardless, I will rejoice because I have waited and been patient, and now I will begin freaking school already. Merry Christmas my friends!

free rice

kinda cool. makes me feel real dumb though.

free rice!

generous?

Today I was reminded of how short I really do fall.

I was driving through a parking structure here in Santa Monica and a well dressed foreign man with a slight accent stopped me. Highly apologetic he asked for some money while holding car keys and looking rather lost. He said something about "not enough gas" "I'm stuck" "can you help?" Of course I could help I said. I smiled as I reached into my wallet and gave the man the four dollars I had left in my wallet. I was all I had but I figured it could get him out of the parking structure and to a gas station. Either way, it was all I had. He asked if I was sure and thanked me deeply with a smile. As I drove away happy I've been of help to someone in need, I remember the woman I walked by this morning. She was leaning against a newspaper vending machine with a Starbucks cup in hand and a dirty wrinkled cardboard sign. She wasn't as well dressed as my foreign parking structure friend nor did she smell as good. As I walked by she kinda wiggled her cup at me and I smiled back at her. I didn't give her anything but a good morning smile. Now here's the problem. Why was I generous to a man who's more nicely dressed and asks more politely, and probably has a bunch of money? Why couldn't I have give the four dollars to the woman this morning? Why is it that even when I do give money away it's not in increments of four dollars but maybe one or some spare change? Why don't I always give everything I have instead of only giving away enough to not feel the effects of the sacrifice?

I'm bothered that when I start to think I'm generous, I'm reminded of how short I fall and how insignificant even those four dollars are in the grand scheme. I'm bothered that I have way too much crap that isn't getting used. I'm bothered that I let myself believe that this life is supposed to be comfortable and painless. I'm bothered. I'm bothered that I rarely feel the pain of sacrifice. This week, I'll make sure that I do.

curacao

we're here.
we finally made it to the island and are totally loving it.
some highlights...
we're staying in this hotel that overlooks a beautiful canal. we've been walking around all day in the hot hot heat sweating like crazy only to be cooled by the intense winds coming from every direction. This is probably the windiest (?) island ever. we ate dinner last night at a place called hooks hut that sits right on the beach. We got to put our feet in the water before dinner and after dinner went to an outdoor club on the beach. it was incredible. today we shopped around for a bathing suit. who forgets a bathing suit when going to a beautiful island? I do. we headed over to the curacao distillery today too... got to taste me some liquor...delish.

aisea's chillin upstairs in the room while my bro and i are looking for somewhere to eat dinner.
tomorrow we're moving to the marriott, the nicest hotel on the island. We'll have our own private beach, snorkling right outside our door and some good ol' AC.

until then... or until i get to another internet cafe.

hope

i watched the movie "the fountain" with a couple of friends last week and there's a quote from it that i can't quite get out of my head. the movie deals with this guy seeing death as a disease you can cure and goes around trying to fix death and possibly find the fountain of youth in the process. there's a part where the queen is being threatened by an enemy and while trying to encourage her soldier says this (or something close to this cause i can't find the exact quote.)

"the deepest darkest shadows are always threatened by the morning light."

the movie is confusing and maybe a little too intense for me but this quote hit home. I sometimes find it hard to be hopeful in a hopeless world. A world that has maybe forgotten what hope looks like. I guess i just wish to be a part of that morning light bringing hope to a dark yucky nasty world. Sometimes it feels like the darkness is overpowering and might be too much to handle but i know that the beauty in the dark will never be seen if the light never shines.

that's all.. just an awesome quote in a crazy movie that has changed the way i think and the way i see jesus.

my week.

got my wisdom teeth taken out.
looked like a chipmunk for a week.
forgot what happened this week cause i was drugged up.
hung out a bit with he cobalt season.
got taken care of like a queen by a big strong tongan man.

it was a good week.

goats pigs and fishing lures

My birthday was this last month.

I hear that when you get old you stop celebrating your birthDAY and start celebrating the whole month long. I like this idea and since 24 is older than I've ever been, I decided this would be my first birthMONTH.



The celebration started on one of the best days I've had while I've been here in Santa Monica. Aisea and I headed to the beach for smores, football and a bon fire with our high school kids. A fabulous time. On our way home Aisea told me we had to hurry. We arrived home to some of my closest friends waiting to give me my birthmonth present. I opened three different envelopes each holding something more meaningful than could ever truely fit in an envelope. The first was a goat, the second a pig and the last was a fishing kit. Each of them were given through World Vision from my friends to a family in another country. As soon as I had realized what they all were, I began crying.



You have to understand something. For the last four years during Christmas or my birthday people ask me what i want. This isn't uncommon because you usually get presents on the day you were born.... or the day (not really) Jesus was born. Well, for the last four year i've been asking for a goat or a pig or a fishing kit or SOMETHING through world vision for a family and not myself. To finally have people in my life who understand that about me and know what's really important to me was incredible. i wept as soon as i realized because i never knew when i would get a gift like that.

anyways. it's good to be heard and hopefully i can do a good of a job at listening to my friends as they did for me. thanks family.

back

i'm back
it's been a good break but i'm back.

airborne

we're off. we'll be leaving sydney in a matter of hours. we just got back from watching an opera in the sydney opera house. it was rad. We finished some last minute shopping today and still have the airport for those lastlast minute gifts. we'll be seeing you all soon!!

land

we're back on solid land. It feels so good. We stayed onboard a boat for four days and three nights scuba diving. It was incredible. We saw some real cool stuff... the picture above is of a cuttlefish. That was probably one of the cooler things. It changes color to camoflauge itself into the enviroment. We also saw a ribbon flatworm swimming, white tip reef sharks, turtles, parrotfish, a ray... and on and on. It was beautiful. We're still rocking a bit like we're on the boat. Walking in a straight line has never been so hard.
We'll be here in Cairns for today and tomorrow and then we're off to Sydney. There's lots and lots to do while we're there so that will be heaps of fun. Hopefully I'll get to update you on that while we're there too... Sorry about the no family pictures in australia corie, when we get home we'll post some i'm sure.

miss you all..
christina

here and safe

so we're here. we've been here for a while now but thihs is the first chance we've had some extra time. We've been super busy these last few days. We headed out to a wildlife sanctuary for the day and got to do some amazing things. We watched koalas pertched in branches sleep for days... fed kangaroos as they slept on the ground... and fed a dingo out of our hands. It was incredible. After a long day at the sanctuary we walked to a honey factory and a chocolate factory. This chocolate is all hand made and probably some of the best stuff i've ever had in my life.

Yesterday we traveled through the Tamborine mountains and wine tasted. It was fun and we met some pretty interesting people on our voyage. Today has been great so far. We took Surfing lessons from Michael "Munga" Barry today. He's supposedly a great surfer. We all were able to get up and stay up for at least a while. We're off to bake on the beach for a little bit of a calmer day before tomorrow.

Tomorrow we're gonna drive four hours to rainbow beach, a beach were there's all different colors of sand and then take a ferry to fraiser island. Fraiser island is the largest sand island in the world. We'll probably do some 4 wheeling swimming and... napping on the sand.

We leave the Gold coast on saturday and then it's off to Cairns for some scuba... until then mate!!

australia

I'm headed out to the land down under. I've been there once before so I'm excited to go back and visit. I'm leaving tomorrow with my two older brothers and my dad. We'll be gone for about three weeks and headed to three major cities, Brisbane, Cairns and Sydney. As often as I can, I'll be posting updates of our adventures. We're going to try to do everything from surfing to scuba diving to wine tasting. For right now, I'm gonna try and pack...an adventure in itself.