about to leave

The trip has been amazing. Though I´m glad to be going home tomorrow, and even though we´ve had our ups and downs, these three weeks have been really really unbelievable, and I will never forget all of the things we´ve done here in Guatemala. Today we said goodbye to the kids, which was really hard to watch. They went from really happy, dancing, smashing the piñatas, to crying and hugging...If anything, that is a sign that we have made a difference in their lives, and hopefully they, like us, will never forget these three weeks.

It´s going to be weird going home too, I´m going to have to re-adjust to my life in America, the culture, food, etc.

I´m really glad I went on this trip, it´s opened up another part of the world to my eyes, a part that until now I knew little about. I´ve also grown a little stonger with speaking spanish, and I think I´ve learned a lot here, much of what I´ve learned I have to thank my wonderful teacher Cristy for.

If all goes well, and Junior Journey continues strong next year, I wish the upcoming juniors the best of luck!

Cambios...

yo sabia que los niños en San Pedro ment alot to me y tambien sabia que saying good bye was going to be hard but I never knew how much i meant to them until today... Throughout this trip i have experianced many things one that i am most greatful for would be teaching these kids. Y le doy gracias a dios por guiar me por este camino porque ha sido en realida una gran felicidad y un gran placer tomar parte de las vidas de estos niños. Sabiendo que el tiempo que tomamos todos los dias enseñandole lo mas que podramos en ingles les abrirara puertas en el futuro. Y la semilla que cada uno de ellos han sembrado en mi corazon nuca se borara y seguira cresiendo con los años que vienen.

I MISS POPEYES CHICKEN

I really miss chicken like really really badly lol I'm dying for some chicken I wish I had some chicken "MUMMY" can you bring me to POPEYE'S as soon as we get the chance lol!!!!!!!!!

SO I CAN GET SOME CHICKEN

FFF (front flip fear)

Oh god!!! I am the biggest CHICKEN when it comes to doing front flips into a pool. i feel like i might bang my head on the side of the pool or something. And I dont know what got into me but i saw the boys doing them and i thought to myself "Hey why dont i give it a shot!!" And then it happend i got rid of all my fears and did the first girl front flip into the pool. I gota say for my first time it wasnt bad, it was even better than Andrews. After the first one they just kept coming cannon balls, front flips and chicken! We had a blast...

La Playa

Yesterday we took a day just to relax and have fun at the Pacific coast beach at the port of San Jose. It was one of the only days since we´ve been here that we weren´t on a tight schedule and didn´t have much of an agenda except to play. The beaches here have black sand from all the volcanos around, and the water is the warmest ocean water I´ve ever touched. We also got to spend some quality time in a pool at one of the hotels on the beach. I think these pictures pretty much speak for themselves - a good time was had by all.

The guy in the hat with the little girl on his shoulders is Milton, our fearless guide through all of our adventures. The little girl is Damaris, his daughter. Hey, she looks like someone I know. Shoot, where can I get one of those umbrella hats??

Gordito!!!

Spending time with the little kids in San Pedro has been such a great experiance on this trip. Sabiendo que, lo que nosotros hasemos va a tener un impacto tan grande y bueno en las vidas de estos niños me tray mucha felizidad. But then theres this one kid in my class named Wilber aka GORDITO! This is special... El es tan travieso, y siempre buscando una manera de cojer atencion. con el se nesesita mucha pasiencia. At the begining i just didnt understand! Why this kid was so active. It would take me atleast 3 pages to explain all the things he does in class from keeping coins in his mouth to doing heads knees and shoulders while standing on a chair. Then there was this one time when i asked his to sit down and he didnt listen so i told him he wasnt my favorite anymore. He started crying his eyes out, he was on the floor crying and yelling. I walked over to him and spoke to him at first he said he didnt want to talk to me because i was the only one who liked him and now he wasnt my favorite anymore. It was so hard for me not to get emotional while i spoke with him because i realized that Gordito life is really hard and he needs all the attention he can get at school since at home he doenct get much. I LOVE MY GORDITO!! I know that if any of you where to meet him you would too...

Niños make me dizzy

Every day after teaching, we spend about a half hour playing with the little kids. The other day while I was standing around, little girl ran up to me a demanded "Dame vueltas. Dame vueltas." Unable to say no, I picked her up and started to spin her around. Before we had done two spins, a crowd of kids had already gathered around me with their hands raised pleading for me to dar vueltas to everyone. By the time I had given ten kids a spin I was dripping sweat and dizzy, but it was worth it, because this picture is how happy they looked afterwards.

We Real!

Who you know hotter than us Junior Journey people?! Whaaaaaat?! Volcano was definitely intense. Never seen lava before in my life, nor a volcano, but why not start aqui en Guatemala. We got mad close to the lava, I got my own personal souvenir, I like to call it my "Burned Junior Journey Shirt". Yeah, thats right i got close enough to burn my shirt. It was beast. All of us got up close too. None of us chickened out, naw that is not us. Like I said, WE REAL!