by Mya Mailloux and Garret Schinkel

We woke up early today to eat our 6:30 AM breakfast of eggs and beans and begin our day. We began by walking up the famously steep hill to get to CCAF (the school). As soon as we arrived we went to our assigned classrooms and learnt about the names of the students before following them to the chapel to begin our day with worship and devotion. We were very stunned and in awe of the kid’s excitement and passion towards the worship. As soon as we finished worship, we served the kids a breakfast of rice and beans and visited with them before they went off to class and we started our work for the day. Our project for the day/week involves a lot of painting. Today, we focused on painting the large wall encompassing the soccer field sunshine yellow. During recess time, some of us occupied the kids by spinning them on the merry-go-round, as they screamed, “Rapido! Rapido! Rapido!”, which appears to mean faster.

After we finished up at the school, we went back to the compound. We played a few games and went off for lunch. Now some of our lunches that we are having here in El Tizate are a little special. For some of our meals we are splitting up into groups and going to the homes of local Guatemalans who have been taught how to serve and prepare Guatemalan meals safely for foreigners. Some of the homes that we went to served Pasta, Rice, Carrots, Soup, and Beef. One of the homes that we went to, had their 5-year-old son, Mario running around, and their 2-month-old, Hope, being constantly cradled in Meghan (Mrs. Mailloux)’s arms. Some were taught how to sew, and others were told stories about the homes and how they were built. After lunch, we went to the top of our compound to discuss plans for the future…

Stories With Garret

So, after their morning time of worship, the elementary students are served a breakfast before heading back to class. During the school’s breakfast portion of the day, I, Garret, was attempting to socialize with the younger students, knowing absolutely zero Spanish. One of the teachers came up to me and began speaking in Spanish. I had no idea what she was saying, so I just stood there blankly, until she said ‘sea’. Since that was a word that I did know I responded with ‘Sea! Sea!’ and I found myself serving the class their breakfast. It wasn’t until after that I realized that she said ‘Si’ (meaning ‘yes’) not ‘Sea’.