Community Lovin'

Things have been super busy, but really quite enjoyable the past week. Our month of camp came to an end last Thursday. We met so many wonderful people through that process, particularly through the many volunteers we had from both communities.

As a thank you to them, we had all of our volunteers from both camps over to our house for lunch last Friday. Sarah, our resident chef, cooked a scrumptious lunch of salad, toasted rolls, roasted garlic, and pasta. Everyone stayed and chatted for a few hours, and we had a great time laughing and getting to know each other even better. Here's a picture of all of us after lunch:

Tuesday through Thursday of this week, each of the four of us lived with families in the community. All of us had a great time, and it was cool to see how all of us had a pretty unique experience. Jess and I stayed in Cooperativa, while Ja and Sarah were in Central. Jess and Sarah stayed with large families, while Ja and I stayed with smaller ones. Some of us picked beans while others learned artisan crafts like beading and sewing. I think all of us learned how to "tortillar," or make tortillas.

I can say for certain, though, that all of us fell in love with the families we lived with. Not only did we have the eye-opening experience of living the daily lives of our community members, but we were able to form deep relationships with many different families in the communities. We are all so glad to have had this experience, and I look forward to seeing how it will affect our future programming efforts.

In case all of these beautiful community experiences weren't enough, we have also been invited to Willy's house for dinner tonight. Willy is one of the Primaria Central teachers, and we have been to his house in Sololá for dinner once before. His family is always so much fun to hang out with :)

Suffice it to say, it's been a great past week or so. I have gotten to spend time with so many wonderful people, and I feel blessed that this is my job.

Next week, we have our second MPI retreat to San Marcos La Laguna, which is one of the Lake towns. We will be discussing future programming options, as well as assessing our personal strengths and weaknesses. After that, we'll only have a few more days until we're all headed back to the States for winter holidays!! It's crazy how the time flies!

Until next time,
Nicole

PS- If you would like to read more about my personal experience in my home-stay, check out my personal blog.