Rain, Rain, Rain

So it has been rainy, rainy! A "tormenta" has been the story here in Guatemala for the past couple days. It is certainly not warm. I've been wearing longs sleve under my Camino Seguro t-shirt and then a polar flece on top. I am really glad that I brought lots of warm clothes!! Last night it woke me up at 2am it was coming down so hard! Also as a result of the rain I didn't get to go up the volcanoes this past weekend I am hoping it clears soon! Especially since the house where I am staying is half outside, and it is impossible to dry laundry in the chilly weather. It tough with the kids too, because a little less that the ususal number show up and they are all wet and chilly, and all full of energy at the same time!
Today was really great though, because I got to lead the English class activity. With the older kids I work with in the morning (who can be more challenging to motivate) things went surprisingly well. The usual english teacher was doing evaluations with students one by one in the hallway so I took on the rest. They like to tease and play games, ("Ay Senyo me duele los manos, no puedo escribir... or 'My hands hurt, I can't write" or come up with other excuses.) I still don't want to be overbearing but I don't let them get away with anything:-) I definatly feel a lot more comfortable and confident in the class, and get the students names! They are all on different levels though so it can be difficult to conduct an activity when one student is way ahead of the others and others take much longer.
The girls from the afternoon class didn't get to go to the pool today due to the weather. The challenge with them is keeping them on task and in the class! The number of times we run to the bathroom a day is impressive!.
I am excited because a friend of mine is coming to visit this weekend. Also there are a lot of new volunteers this past week. I'm already a veteran! Some of the volunteers are staying a long while others are just here for a month. Two volunteers are traveling throughout central america by working two weeks at various different organizations in all the different countries. They also own their own non profit organization on the border of Texas and Mexico (they are from Texas) With Camino Seguro they are working mornings in the kitchen (I am done with my week of kitchen duty- YAY!) And in the afternoons developing a more standardized volunteer training guide and procedure. It is funny to not be the only new ones around anymore.
I originally started the same time as two other girls Kharmika and Emma. Emma is from Portland, Maine and studies international affairs at George Washington U, and Kharmika Stuides international affairs, spanish, with a minor in Arabic her school in North Carolina. Its great because Kharmika brought her LSAT prep books too so we have study group times outside of the project.
Right now the executive director is visiting and so tomorrow night all the volunteers are getting together for a dinner with her for feedback, discussion, debriefing, or whatever you want to call it.
Hope all is well in the states!
Love!