Guatemala blog: la ultima parte

Well folks, this is my last and final blog about my Guatemala trip as I am currently sitting in the basement of my parents house in Doniphan, NE. But I thought I would do one last wrap-up post. Also, be patient for my photos-there’s just so many of them-give me a week or two to get them all organized before I put them on facebook.

So, my last week in Guatemala was very nice. However, it was incredibly hard to say goodbye to everyone at the Scheel Center School, especially the kids. On my last day, the teacher that I had been working most closely (Claudia) with had her students all make me cards. They all stood up and said something (only half of which I understood-mostly thanks for your help and support, etc, I think…) and then gave me the cards and a hug. Now if you know me, it usually takes a decent amount to get me emotional, but there were definitely some tears forming from that adorable escapade. That day I got a lot of hugs and we took a lot of fun pictures during the kids recess time. It was hard though, I felt like just as soon as I really started getting to know the children well was when my time there was up. But, asi es la vida (roughly-such is life). I had a lot of awesome experiences with the kids. I’m not sure who taught and helped who more-I have a feeling I might have been on the receiving end of that one.

My last weekend in Antigua was nice as well. Saturday I finished up some souvenir shopping and went out for a bit to celebrate Claudia (the teacher)’s birthday with some of her friends. Then, Sunday was an amazing experience; last minute I decided to join a few friends-volunteers and workers from God’s Child-who were climbing up Volcan Agua, one of the three big Volcanoes that surrounds the Antigua area (Acatenango, Agua, & Fuego). I just looked up information on Agua and its 3766 meters (12,356 ft) high. For this adventure, we got up around 4:30am and met our guide around 6:30 in the pueblo (Santa Maria) near the base of the volcano. We had heard it usually takes around 4 hours to summit this volcano and 3 hours to go down, so we were expecting something decently intense. Well, the pathway wasn’t super difficult, just very long in duration. My legs were starting to get pretty tired after just a couple hours, but if you know me, you know I love a challenge.

One of the most hilarious things is that we kept asking our guide Edgar “how close are we?” or “How much farther” just to get a gage on things, and literally every time he would say “oh about an hour more (una hora mas)”. Well, after about two hours of getting that answer 5 or 6 times we realized we probably should stop believing him exactly. This must be some sort of a strategy to stop people from getting tired/frustrated/discouraged, so we just started joking around with him about it.

The weather was holding up quite well for us for most of the way, just a little fog coming and going. The scenery was still amazing though. However, when we were about 30 minutes from the top it started absolutely pouring on us, and this was a pretty cold rain since we were so high up. We all had ponchos or umbrellas, but still, our legs were getting soaked and muddy. There was some wind and fog too-not ideal weather when reaching the peak of a volcano and hoping for a beautiful view of the surrounding area. Bad luck, but it makes a pretty fun story to tell in retrospect I suppose.

When we did finally get to the top, we see several really tiny buildings and also several big reception towers. We had heard rumors that they sell soup at the top so our guide showed us to the little “casita” where they sell this alleged soup. At this point, we were so cold and wet that we were happy for any sort of shelter. This building was super “or should I say souper” tiny-maybe half the size of your average dorm room-and it had 2 sets of bunk beds, a tv, a stove, some random little cabnets, and a small stash of food, drink, and snacks. The guy who was working there told us that he stays up there for 2 days straight and then gets 4 days off. Can you imagine having that job? Anyways, it turns out this soup was just Ramen noodles which they sold for 10Q (about $1.25). But let me tell you this: Never, ever, ever, ever in my entire college career has Ramen tasted anywhere near as good as it tasted in that little casita on the cold, wet, rainy day on the peak of a volcano in Guatemala.
Anywho, after we warmed up awhile we headed back down and it kept raining some for awhile but it really wasn’t too bad and I warmed up again on the way down. It was a long trip down again, we had to go a little slower being careful because of the mud/slippery rocks. My legs were pretty tired but once we were finally done it was the most rewarding and awesome feeling. Overall we had spent over 10 hours climbing up and down this volcano. My muscles were sore for several days. Pretty amazing though. Even though we had bad luck at the top, there was still a ton of beautiful nature and wonderful views of the area surrounding the volcano on the way up and down. Worth it.

Then Monday it was back on a plane to the U.S. It was a nice feeling to be back on American soil, but it was sad to say goodbye. Who knows when I will have the time or money to plan a trip back there or to another place. But, this experience was absolutely incredible overall! I learned so much about myself and the world in general. Literally everything impacted me in some sort of a way-whether big or small. It’s so hard to describe even a small percentage of my thoughts and feelings. The people of Guatemala, their stories, the lifestyle, meeting so many other volunteers and travelers, seeing how the organization functions…everything. There are so many wonderful things about this country to appreciate-but it also makes me appreciate the wonderful things that we have here in our country and that I have been blessed with in my life. As much as I wish I could say I went to Guatemala for a month and changed the world (though I hope I was able to make a small impact), I think that the world of Guatemala made a much bigger impact on me. ¡Gracias Guatemala! ¡Ojala que nos vemos otra vez prontito!

Thanks for reading everyone! Watch for pictures to be posted on facebook within a week or so!

Guate blog part 2

Hey everyone!
I have so much to catch you all up on, but I will try to make it relatively condensed again. Let’s hope I succeed more than last time.

Okay, so I got to do something totally different last week at the Scheel Center school. Randomly, (and this is pretty darn random!) a group of medical students, doctors, and pharmacists from KU Med came down to the Antigua area to do a bunch of mission medical work for a week. They send a small group (one doctor, a few med students, and a pharmacist) to our school for the week to give free medical consultations, vitamins, and medicine out to the kids, their families, or anyone else in the area who came in. A few of them knew Spanish to some degree but several knew very very little, so…they were on a shortage of people to help translate, so I actually got to help translate medical Spanish all week! It was a really awesome experience. It was definitely challenging at times, but I learned a lot as the week went on and they were grateful for anyone who could help them to any degree. I still did quite a bit of charades/hand motions, but was able communicate decently for the most part. Also, I had taken a medical Spanish class last summer so that helped some.

So, after a tiring but rewarding week I went on a fun weekend trip with my volunteer pals Kari & Philip to Petén, the northernmost departamento (like a province/county/etc) of Guatemala. We took a 8 hour overnight bus ride there and back, but it was worth it! The main reason we went there was to visit Tikal, a national park of mayan ruins, which was really cool. It was a big area where you could walk from pyramid to pyramid (and other random ruin buildings too, not sure what you call them?) and even climb up some of them. They also had some hiking trails and such. We also spend some time exploring some of the nearby towns which are located on a lake. It was really interesting to see this other area of the country. It had a lot of similarities but also differences. The people seemed quite similar, but it was less populated, a little more jungle-like, much hotter and more humid. Ummm…okay one funny about this trip. So, about 30 minutes into our bus ride there (which was on a charter bus, not super fancy but decent especially for Central America) we picked up a few more passengers, though all the seats were already full. Hmmmm, how do you suppose they solve this problem? Well, quite simple. They just pulled out a bunch of little plastic stools to set in the aisles for these people. Seriously, plastic, and no backrest. Just stools. So, I think to myself, okay these people probably live nearby and are just hopping on the bus for 30 minutes or an hour or so and then get off. But nope, they rode the whole way, all 8 hours on those little plastic stools. Well, compared to this I definitely couldn’t complain about MY seat being a little uncomfortable to sleep in. I hope they got a discounted price at least. Man, ya never know what you’re going to see next in this country. I’ve learned to just never be surprised. We travelers often find ourselves saying things like “Only in Guatemala” or, “Ohhhh, Guatemala.” Oh yes, we also enjoy the expression “When in Guatemala.... (do as the Guatemaltecas do).”

In other news, Happy late 4th of July!!!! I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday back home! Don’t worry, I found other Americans to celebrate with here. One of the long-term volunteers with the organization had people over at his apartment for awhile that evening. There were 20 or so of us, including 3 nebraskans (wahoo!) and we all wore and ate red, white, and blue things, played games, and swapped favorite 4th of July stories, etc.

So this week it’s back to helping out with the kids, library/reading activities, classrooms, the lunch duties, and other random things. I’m really going to miss this school  After a couple weeks I’ve slowly built stronger and stronger connections with the kids and teachers/staff, and right about when it gets to that good point I’m headed home. Bummer. Interesting though how many travelers/volunteers return to Guatemala. You don’t realize it’s that cool of a country until you try it out. Also, interesting how many people end up staying longer than planned. Call it Guatemala fever or something like that I guess. Tempting, but nope, I’ve got things to get back for unfortunately. Part of me is ready to go though. But the other part of me can’t believe how fast it has gone and is just trying to savor every last minute/hour/day here. It’s tough, I know life’s going to get busy so who knows when or if I’ll ever get to return. Hopefully, hopefully, someday I can come back here or check out a few other Latin American countries...

Okay now, for the fun part. But first, thanks for reading, hope you all are doing well, can’t wait to get back and be able to catch up with everyone on my American cell phone! Okay, now here’s the good stuff.... I’ve finally finished composing my list for you all. Drum roll please....

Top 10 (or so) things you didn’t know about Guatemala(ns):

• In comparison, they make me feel tall…… Call it genetics, excessive coffee consumption, whatever you’d like really, but they are definitely a bunch of shorties. So, for all my tall friends out there, I wouldn’t advise a mail-order husband from here.
• There is no such thing as a personal bubble here. Although, sometimes it’s kind of cool how people aren’t afraid to have touch contact with each other, like we can tend to be in the states. Teachers can hug their students without lawsuits, etc, etc.
• Sleeping well at night can be a bit of a challenge here. All kinds of noises go on during the night from dogs barking to kids crying to fireworks at 3am to animals walking on the roof to heavy rain to birds making noises including this rooster who crows every morning. Luckily, after two weeks or so I started to get better at sleeping through it all.
• There is quite a bit of American influence in clothing. They seem to wear a lot of shirts made in the US. I’ve seen Cubs tshirts, university hoodies, American eagle clothes, etc. etc. My favorite was a teenage boy at the school here wearing a shirt that said “I (picture of shovel)=dig Cowboys.” Doubt he knew what that meant. Doubt he really digs cowboys.
• There are two classic Guatemalan greetings: The common polite one is to hug & kiss each other’s left cheek; the other more man-ly one is “slap & tap” which involves a sideways five and then a “pound” (or puña in Spanish) AKA bumping fists.
• PDA is pretty big here, especially among the adolescent and young adult population. You’ll see them holding hands everywhere in public, kissing on benches in ‘el parque central’ etc. Evidently it has a lot to do with it not being very accepted in homes with more conservative value parents, so they just bring it out onto the streets.
• Breastfeeding is not nearly as private as it is in the United States. Okay, actually it’s not private whatsoever here. Woman basically breastfeed at anytime in practically any situation. When baby is hungry, baby is hungry I guess. I’ve even seen several women walking down the street breastfeeding. Call it the ultimate multitasking skill I suppose?
• Hair gel is a HUGE trend here. Pretty much every guy with hair gels it every day. And the habit starts young, like 11 or 12 years old. You see big family size tubs of hair gel being sold everywhere.
• La gente (the people) here are extremely resourceful in general. Prime example….who needs traffic cones, they just use rocks. Another example, if you can’t afford a barb wire fence, just glue broken bottle pieces to your wall or roof with sharp ends sticking upward so that no one will want to try to get into your property.
• Their zippers are afraid of heights. Seriously, I guess their pants are poorly made here or something. Everyone’s constantly having to check their zipper.
• No one refrigerates their eggs. Evidently it’s not necessary? I’ve eaten a lot of them so far and haven’t gotten sick.
• Speaking of huevos, in the US when we see two guys riding around on a motorcycle, we might tend to point, laugh, or make jokes about their manhood. Not here. Perfectly normal and quite common. Many people own little scooters/mopeds/”motocicletas” instead of cars and drive their friends around. Also, Guatemalans appear to have some sort of contest/game of “how many people can we fit on one little motocicleta?” 3, 4, 5?
• Finally, despite all the differences; people are literally the exact same here as they are in the US on so many levels! We really have so many commonalities with other races/countries, it’s amazing. People are people no matter where you are in the world.

Mi Viaje a Guatemala! part 1

Hey everyone! Things going well here in Guatemala-my trip is at its halfway point already-I can’t believe it! I will try to make this blog informative but not take up fifty pages-though I’m pretty sure I could easily write fifty pages about everything that’s been going on since I left.

Coming down here was my first time flying alone! Turns out traveling alone is actually quite fun because there are always lots of other interesting travelers to talk to and learn their stories. And everyone’s very friendly and in a good mood, we’re all out looking for our own version of some adventure or another ya know.

The organization I’m working for is called the God’s Child Project, or in Spanish Asociación Nuestros Ahijados (try saying that 5 times fast-I can barely do it once. Often times we just refer to it as “el proyecto” instead). It was started 20 years ago by a guy from Bismarck, North Dakota. In the past twenty years it has absolutely exploded into a pretty large organization in this area of Guatemala (in and around the city of Antigua) that provides lots of different services including 2 schools, a homeless shelter, a malnutrition center for babies, dental and medical services, psychological services, and they also build houses for area families. They also provide some funds in several other countries around the world that I believe go to helping keep kids in school. It is a really great organization because they focus a lot on involving the whole family and educating them, so they truly ‘teach people to fish’ instead of just giving them fish. They have something like 80 full time workers-pretty much all Guatemalan people I believe-between all the sites. Then they also have ‘long-term volunteers’, which are mostly young 20-something year olds from places like USA or England who agree to be down here for 2+ years and only receive a small stipend for food/living expenses. Then there are some other volunteers like me who just come down for a couple weeks or months to help out. Some people come alone and others might come in groups, such as the service teams who construct the houses. It has been a lot of fun meeting lots of people in the organization, both Guatemalans and travelers alike here.

Okay, so now about what I’m doing. I am living with a very nice Guatemalan family in Antigua, which is a really nice city-actually fairly small and easy to navigate around. It is quite beautiful with old colorful buildings, a beautiful central park, pretty old churches, etc. It is pretty popular touristy place, so there are fun restaurants and shops, and I often run into other ‘gringos’ like myself who are here for various reasons-maybe just traveling through, maybe doing volunteer work like myself, and/or studying Spanish as there are lots of cute little Spanish schools here. Every day I ride the local bus (they are called chicken buses-not sure why-they are basically colorfully re-painted school buses, probably brought down from the US), which costs 2.25 Quetzales, roughly 30 cents if we’re talking dollars. Other volunteers and workers take the bus too so often times I will find myself on the same bus as them, but even if not the local people are quite friendly. After about a ten minute ride I get off in Jocotenango-a town just outside of Antigua, where I am working at the Scheel Center (yes, actually named after the sporting goods store family-they donated a lot of money to God’s Child I believe), which is a fairly small school-just 140 or so kids in 7 different grades. The kids have many different background stories, but this school is actually an accelerated program so that they get through about 2 years worth of schoolwork in just one year. Many of the kids are re-entering school or started school late. For example, a fifth-grade class has students from anywhere from 9 to 14 years old. The Scheel center also has a dentist and psychologist who work at this center and provide services to the kids and to other members of the community. I’ve been helping out in lots of different ways, it’s different every day really. I’ve been helping out some in classrooms, with the reading/library program, distributing new uniforms to the kids, and lots more random tasks. Getting to know and working with the kids and teachers has been really fun-and at times challenging since Spanish is my second language (I’ve gotten a lot of practice with communicating through hand motions and charades), but it’s been a really awesome experience so far. I thing that slowly but surely my Spanish is moving from “being able to survive sometimes” towards “being able to function at a moderate level”. But it’s a blast really! And there are other volunteers around at the school to help me translate if need be. It is quite a humbling experience really though: For example it is not uncommon to see a 22-year old college graduate (me!) trying to communicate with a ten-year old Guatemalan child, who just stares at her with a confused face simply because she’s not exactly using the right words/phrases to express what she’s trying to communicate. Or you might see the 22-year old staring blankly at the Guatemalan child, teacher, or staff member who is speaking way too rapidly or using words unknown to her. But, then you can just chuckle and give an ‘oh nevermind’ wave with your hand. No worries. But the kids are really fun and I am developing some special relationships with them.

I’ve also gotten to see some of the other areas of the God’s Child Program. I’ve seen the other school and main campus (the Dreamer Center) and I did one shift at the malnutrition center (Casa Jackson) just a few days ago, and I think I’m going to be doing one or two more perhaps.

So then, evenings and weekends I am pretty free, and I’ve been exploring Antigua and surrounding places with other volunteers. The first weekend I visited a beautiful lake (Lago Atitlan) with 3 other volunteers and this past Saturday a few of us went on a guided trail up a nearby volcano one morning.

Lastly, I will answer two questions that I might anticipate you asking: What’s the weather like and what’s the food like? The temperature here is quite nice right now, typically in the 65-75 degree range all day. At night it drops to maybe 55 or 60. The only little issue is that it’s the ‘rainy season’ here right now, which means that most days it will rain for several hours (usually in the afternoon, but sometimes morning or evening). The rain is sometimes strong but usually it is light or medium, so bringing a little umbrella along every day is a handy solution. Its hard to stay completely dry though, as the rain tends to collect on the streets and sidewalks during those several hours. Now onto la comida: The food is good! But you know me, I eat just about anything. Like with any touristy town, you can go out and get different kinds of food if you want. They even have McDonalds and Burger King here. Wait till you see picture of the McDonalds, it’s so incredibly fancy and aesthetically pleasing, you can’t even imagine it. However, I don’t eat out much as my meals are provided with my host family. Breakfast always consists of fruit (cantaloupe, watermelon, and papaya), and then usually either cereal, pancakes, or eggs. We usually also have bread and often times black beans with breakfast. Sometimes we might get fried sweet plantains too. My “housebrother”-he’s from Virginia and does construction with God’s Child-and I both take our lunches with us so that’s usually a couple of sandwiches with an apple or banana maybe. Dinner varies quite a bit but is always delicious, might be soup and some sort of cooked or fried vegetable, might be meat, we’ve had spaghetti, tostadas, sometimes accompanied by black beans and bread is always on the side.

Okay that’s all for now! I hope everyone is doing well in the States, I am having a great time but I miss you all as well! The nice thing is that I have quite a bit of internet access so i'm not completely disconnected from my world back home. I will try to post pictures on facebook but it might not happen till I get back since I have quite a few already. I’ll try to post again once or twice. I’m working coming up with a “top 10 things you didn’t know about Guatemala(ns)” list so maybe that’ll be my next blog! Adios for now!

Thanks for reading!

Hello all,

This will be my last post for Rockhurst. I am officially "retiring" from my duties. It has been a lot of fun to write all about my life weekly, and I hope that someone out there has found it useful; that it has helped them learn more about Rockhurst in general.

I might bring up this blog again sometime if I have some sort of an adventure that my friends or relatives will all want to hear about. But for now, I must say "adios" as I begin my senior year, which I hope will be very memorable and wonderful. Good luck to all of you out there! Thanks for reading!

~Jaycie Jane

Change is....?

Good, bad, confusing, healthy, difficult? For me, change is reflective. "Wait, what are you saying?", you ask me. What I mean is that it seems as though I reflect the most on life in general whenever I change locations. I went home to G.I. this weekend just for a day and a half or so, since I had a small break from working with HETRA in Omaha. I really do love coming home; it is always very refreshing. I find that I appreciate it so much the first day or so that I am back. Just spending time hanging around the house, talking to the parents, eating delicious food, sleeping in my wonderful, dark, cool basement room, playing with my brother's laborador puppy, spending the evening with friends.



Yes, home in G.I is absolutely wonderful.








But equally wonderful is home at Rockhurst. With such a small campus and student population, Rockhurst really does feel like my home. I'm not even sure where to consider my primary home. Summer has flown by so fast, and just a few days ago I was really sad to see it be over so soon. But, suddenly, I am absolutely itching to go back to Rockhurst. Suddenly, it can't come soon enough. I miss my friends and the atmosphere in general so much. Though I am pracitcally in denial that I only have one more year left of undergraduate school, I am also SO EXCITED to make the most out of senior year. Just to cherish every moment I can with friends, with tennis, with this stage of my life in general.

Funny how change affects me. Throughout my past 3 college years, I feel as though i have been constantly changing back and forth between my two worlds: Home in G.I. and home at Rockhurst. Since I branched out and went to a univesity where I knew no one else from my hometown (and pretty much no one in general), my two worlds really are completely separate. For many students who go to college nearby, their worlds overlap. I think that this experience of having two separate worlds really has helped me grow as a person. I can't fully explain it, but, I think it has something to do with all this reflecting I end up doing. Each and every time I change locations for new semester or a break from classes it seems as though I reflect, appreciate, and cherish the little things. So I guess, change IS good. At least this type of change is good for me. :)

Neigh neigh, neigh......

This summer is flying by! Faster than any other summer I think. Though I am excited to get back to Rockhurst for senior year, I am also really enjoying what I am doing right now.

I have had an awesome two weeks so far at my volunteer internship at Heartland Equine Therapeutic Riding Academy (HETRA) in Omaha. In case you don’t remember what I am doing, I was accepted for the Miller Family Service program, in which I provide 5 weeks of 40 hours per week of volunteer work at a non-profit company that I chose and was approved by the scholarship program. Then, I get a small stipend of a scholarship towards my tuition for next year from the Miller family’s fund in place of my free work at this organization. Pretty cool huh? It helps out HETRA because they get my work for free, but my work isn’t totally free from my end because I get a scholarship.

So, you are probably wondering what in the world is HETRA? It is a place where they do Hippotherapy (therapy using horses) with disabled children and adults. It is a really awesome place. They have 2 different barns (one in West Omaha, one in Valley) where they have 16 different therapy horses. The kids just absolutely LOVE the horses and they are so proud of the fact that they get to do something cool and different than most of their peers. It is good for the kids physically because the therapists can work on strengthening muscles, stretching out spastic muscles, and working on balance and coordination. It is also good mentally because the therapist might work on getting the child to talk and to interact better. Also, by counting objects or playing games on the horse they can improve their cognitive skills, or just to improve their overall confidence as a person.

The first two weeks that I have worked at HETRA we have been doing summer horse camps with some of the more functional kids. The take short break between normal therapy sessions this time of year due to the heat, but they will start up again next week. The horse camps have been really awesome to work with the kids and get to know them. We had a lot of really special and awesome kids attend.

I have also been learning a lot about horses. I’m a big animal person, but really didn’t know much about horses at all before this. I’ve had to chuckle to myself sometimes, because at the horse camps I have been both helping the kids with the activities, but also simultaneously learning about things like parts of a saddle, breeds of horses, and different types of grooming tools right along with the kids. I’ve also been learning how to feed the horses at one of the barns too. Right away I just felt like I was in the way because I didn’t know how or what to do, but now I am getting the hang of a lot of things and it’s really fun! I think I might have become a horse girl by the time this is over. Here’s a picture of a few of the horses outside the barn (Trixie, Jesse, and Rainbow).

Back in the good 'ole USA!

Well I’ve been back in the states for a little over a week now, and I’ve had a whirlwind of activities. Flying in to KC, driving back to Grand Island, unpacking, repacking, visiting my dad’s side of the family in North Dakota, going to the lake for a weekend in South Dakota with my mom’s whole side of the family, then coming to Omaha to start my internship. Yikes……busy, busy, busy. And, not much time or access to the internet to post a new blog. Seeing my family was super awesome! I’m also excited to be in Omaha, but I will talk more about my internship in my next blog. First, a wrap up of my Peru trip:

I’m going to miss a lot of things in Peru: practicing Spanish, joking around and having fun with my awesome host-mother and my random host siblings from all around the world, getting to know the 26 other Rockhurst students better, and much more. It was really sad to leave Cusco, especially my host-family there. A few days before I left, my host-mom taught my how to make Chocotejas, a delicious treat of chocolate filled with manejarblanco (similar to caramel), so I could bring some of the final product home to the US with me. Here's a picture of me in the middle of that baking adventure:



I would definitely want to return to South America again if I had the opportunity. There are so many more countries that I would love to visit: Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, Chile Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands, pretty much everywhere. Also, several countries in Central America are very appealing to me such as Mexico and/or Costa Rica. Hmmmm, I guess I’d better start planning if I want to accomplish all that! While in Peru, I realized how much easier it is to get around when you can speak their native language. Awesome, because there are so many Spanish-speaking countries in this world!

Before this trip, I never realized how common it was for young people to volunteer for a month or two in a city in Central or South America. I never realized there are organizations that set it all up, and even provide families for the volunteers to live with. I’m thinking how that would be a really awesome experience sometime soon, maybe next summer or during a vacation/break during Physical Therapy school. I think I would love that.

Rockhurst offers service trips during breaks, but unfortunately I cannot sign up for any of the ones that go to Spanish-speaking countries, because they are all during Spring Break and we have required things with the tennis team for Spring Break since it is during our season. This thought makes me sad, but now that I realize how easy it is to set up your own volunteer project, I feel much better. I don’t feel like I have lost this opportunity-it is still out there for me. I also think I will try to go on one of the January service trips with Rockhurst next year-either to New Orleans or the Bahamas is where they usually offer them.

Adios for now, I will post again soon!