Guatemala Blog (Eagle's Nest Orphanage) January 1, 2014

After a long and tiring day, it feels wonderful to sit in front of the warm fireplace in the dining hall to write this blog post. The past 24 hours have been very interesting. Guatemala doesn't have any regulations on fireworks (that I know of), and they were set off every six hours, starting at midnight and ending at 6 p.m. The orphanage is located high on a hill surrounded by villages and there was a constant stream of fireworks going off from all the surrounding areas every six hours. It will be nice to get a chance to sleep well after all the noise from last night!

Because of the limited sleep last night, we continued with the work project in the morning to allow the kids a bit more time to sleep. We continued sanding and varnishing the school desks, as well as painting the desk legs blue. 

We did classes with the children in the afternoon. I had a wonderful time in the English class we had with the 2-5-year olds. I sat at a table of three children to help them with the crafts we were doing. After doing the craft that fit in with the theme of the day, Good Manners, we had sticker sheets for the kids to use. I was sitting next to a 4-year-old boy named Gabriel, who is deaf and struggles with his finger dexterity. He was so excited to use the stickers, and after he successfully peeled off a sticker and placed it on his paper, I gave him a big high five. After the high five, he held his hand up for a fist bump, and I happily obliged. After every subsequent sticker, he looked at me with a look of pure joy and held his hand up for the high five and fist bump. It was fun to work with all the kids and to see how much they enjoyed the simple things!

Stay tuned until next time!