Hello everyone! We are still alive and kicking down here in Guatemala! We posted some pics of what we have been doing the past week so enjoy! The clinic we initially were volunteering in just had no work for us and we felt the Lord could use us elsewhere. Joe had read about another clinic that has an associated language school with it so he went to talk to the director who was pumped to have us! Joe went on Friday morning while I was in class to the clinic and he said it was awesome! And...Joe was the pharmacist! There are a bunch of med students, a resident, and one legit MD all from MCV in Richmond who are taking classes at the language school and volunteering at the clinic. It's completely free for only indegenous people including all meds, exams, etc. Way cool! I am super pumped to help out next week there and watch Joe be the pharmacist!
We also visisted an orphanage this past week that our host family goes to every week to play with the kids. It was awesome but really sad! The kids were dirty as well as the facility but some of the happiest kids I have ever seen. We had a blast playing with them but it was hard to just leave without trying to change things there! We might be bringing home about 3-6 kiddos at Christmas!
Last but not least, we decided at the last minute to do a full moon hike last night. A guy who is living with us warned us how hard and cold it was but we thought no biggie! Oh it was a challenge though! We hiked straight up for 4 hours last night starting at midnight and then hung out on top in the freezing cold until the sun came up which was beautiful! There's 2 or 3 active volcanoes within 2 hours of where we are and you could see all of them erupting on top of Santa Maria. We were extremely close to one and could clearly see the huge crater and then the explosion that happens every hour. Needless to say... tonight we are home relaxing and recovering from the hike and getting some sleep!
We miss everyone like crazy but appreciate your thoughts and prayers!
We love you!
The Kidds
Saturday, September 5, 2009
More from XELA!!!
Joe playing with some kiddos at the orphanage
On top of Santa Maria-we did a full moon hike last night which was pretty brutal! We got to the top around 4am and hung out for about 2 hours where it was about 32 degrees!!! Holy cow it was COLD! In the background, there's a volcano that goes off every hour so we got to see it explode twice while on top of Santa Maria. Our legs are hurting tonight from the little 'walk'!!!
More fun with the kids at the orphanage...so adorable!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Julie es bilingual!!!
Howdy folks!!
We have been in Quetzaltenango (nickname-Xela) now for a week and a half and will be here until the 11th. Xela is Guatmala´s second largest city. Its an old colonial city, pretty high up in the mountains and has a large indigenous population. It also has a lot of great Spanish schools without feeling very touristy at all. Thats why we´re here!
We both took classes last week and just Julie will be taking classes this week and next week. Classes are 1 on 1 for 4 hours a day so they´re pretty intense! We have homework and everything. Julie is doing awesome with her espanol! Its a tough, long process but she is coming right along and isn´t ever afraid to jump right in with what she knows, which is so very important in learning a language. I mean this professionally, not just as a sappy husband :)
Before or after our classes we´ve been volunteering at a clinic which serves underpriviledged and indigenous communities. Last week were were taking classes in the morning and volunteering in the afternoon. This wasn´t too great because the clinic normally has the vast majority of their patients in the morning and is pretty dead in the afternoon. We offered to help out with anything we could, which pretty much consisted of playing with the doctors´ and pharmacists kids´ and dusting the storage room. Also Julie tutored me on pretty much every drug in the pharmacy. Fot the remaining two weeks we´ve had the class schedule switched so that we can go to the clinic in the morning. This morning was much better, Julie helped out in the lab looking at blood samples and entering information and I asked patients a bunch of questions for a survey the clinic is doing to try to improve services. I asked a lot of questions and got a whole lot of who-the-heck-is-this white-guy looks. We´re looking forward to getting more of those and helping out over the next few weeks!
In other news, I haven´t wasted any time getting some Latin American sickness. I´ve had plenty of bacteria and even a parasite before, but this is my first time getting some kind of stomach fungus. Its not been too bad though, could be lot worse (bring it on lacking disinfectant system!!). I´ve just been really dizzy and not eating too much. A couple of times I´ve been stuck in bed and Julie has ventured out and used her Spanish (some fun medical and potty vocabulary) in some ways I´m sure she wasn´t expecting to so soon.
Also, today is our 1 month anniversary, so holler to that!!
Thanks so much for your support and for your emails! We appreciate them!
Love,
Julie and Joe
We have been in Quetzaltenango (nickname-Xela) now for a week and a half and will be here until the 11th. Xela is Guatmala´s second largest city. Its an old colonial city, pretty high up in the mountains and has a large indigenous population. It also has a lot of great Spanish schools without feeling very touristy at all. Thats why we´re here!
We both took classes last week and just Julie will be taking classes this week and next week. Classes are 1 on 1 for 4 hours a day so they´re pretty intense! We have homework and everything. Julie is doing awesome with her espanol! Its a tough, long process but she is coming right along and isn´t ever afraid to jump right in with what she knows, which is so very important in learning a language. I mean this professionally, not just as a sappy husband :)
Before or after our classes we´ve been volunteering at a clinic which serves underpriviledged and indigenous communities. Last week were were taking classes in the morning and volunteering in the afternoon. This wasn´t too great because the clinic normally has the vast majority of their patients in the morning and is pretty dead in the afternoon. We offered to help out with anything we could, which pretty much consisted of playing with the doctors´ and pharmacists kids´ and dusting the storage room. Also Julie tutored me on pretty much every drug in the pharmacy. Fot the remaining two weeks we´ve had the class schedule switched so that we can go to the clinic in the morning. This morning was much better, Julie helped out in the lab looking at blood samples and entering information and I asked patients a bunch of questions for a survey the clinic is doing to try to improve services. I asked a lot of questions and got a whole lot of who-the-heck-is-this white-guy looks. We´re looking forward to getting more of those and helping out over the next few weeks!
In other news, I haven´t wasted any time getting some Latin American sickness. I´ve had plenty of bacteria and even a parasite before, but this is my first time getting some kind of stomach fungus. Its not been too bad though, could be lot worse (bring it on lacking disinfectant system!!). I´ve just been really dizzy and not eating too much. A couple of times I´ve been stuck in bed and Julie has ventured out and used her Spanish (some fun medical and potty vocabulary) in some ways I´m sure she wasn´t expecting to so soon.
Also, today is our 1 month anniversary, so holler to that!!
Thanks so much for your support and for your emails! We appreciate them!
Love,
Julie and Joe
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