Trip 3 Day 5

Today was good. Before we went to the site we went to see the clinic being built by From Houses to Homes. It is about halfway done, and when it is finished it will provide free medical assistance, which seems to be needed very much. We also saw the school that they built. The students are taken from the poorest areas, and one of the goals is to show that even though someone is from a poor family, they can still contribute great things to society through receiving a good education. The school appears to be running very well, but it is far from finished. 2nd grade is currently the highest level, and they are adding one grade a year until 6th grade. The school is also free, but they need donations for supplies. While we were there the Guatemalans were playing around outside. One of them would lay with their back on the ground, and the rest would grab that persons limbs and throw them into the air without letting go until their limbs were fully extended. It looked painful, but I tried it and it was actually really fun.

Fred woke up sick, so we were down one person at the build site, in addition to the rest of us not feeling that great. However, our task today was just to mix up a bunch of concrete and pour it inside the house to make the floor, so it didn't take that long. Unfortunately we did have one casualty. Brittany poked her thumb open on some wire mesh and it got purple and developed a big bump. She's tough though.

We were supposed to go play soccer with the other volunteers after work. However, all of us are sick to some degree, so we didn't really feel like running around in the cold rain.

I don't know if we will be able to go to the volcano on Sunday since it erupted Wednesday night, killing a couple of people and actually shut down the airport with ash. I guess we will have to play our weekend by ear. Monday we will paint the house and put in the door, window, and roof, and Tuesday we will head back to the "U.S. and A - greatest country in the world!" (as Borat would say). Assuming that our flight doesn't get cancelled.

Ok I guess that's it,

Spencer