Sunday

The way we travel around town.

Today . . . was hot, hot, hot . . .
Church 10-12
lunch
siesta
cribbage
file more windows with help from house 3 girls
Rosemery stung by 3 wasps
Wade caught a lizard
James caught a gecko
soccer with Santos
many conversations with various campus dwellers
made more salsa
Santos over for dinner - more long conversations
headed to bed.

Typing with Guillermo

!Hola Senyoras! ?Como estas?
I found out my name in Spanish is Guillermo, interesting.
It was campus work day Saturday, and we didn't get attacked by bees this time. 
After campus work day, we decided to go into town to get some groceries.  We drove the car into Maxi-d, then took a bus too Fancy's, then walked to the market, then took the bus back to Maxi-d, and drove back the the campus.  It went smoothly!  As we were walking out of Fancy's to the market, Sarah gave her salad to a old homeless women in the street, she also gave her $7.00 in American Money.  Mom said it would give her some thing to do.  James also gave his enchilada to a homeless man who didn't have any shoes.
Now we are about to walk over to the Bells house to help them make Gigi's home made salsa!
We will hopefully be having dinner with their whole family soon.

Paster Hermon (left) Hosua, (right)

I don't quite know how to spell their names.

The pool we went to go swimming at. One of 4 pols there.

Soda machines are over-rated, instead, use beer machines!

This is one of the kids in house 3, his name is Edwardo.

I hope you guys liked the video!  I am hopping to take another video of the market for you guys, stay posted! 
Type to you guys soon,
Wil

Video with Wil

Hey guys it is Wil, just thought you might like to see the house.  Sarah, Wade, and James put this together for you. Hope you like it!

Type to you guys soon!
Wil

hello again

(David) Hi it has been so fun down here.  It has not been too hot so far I actually woke up cold today.  I have been busy sanding windows the whole trip so far.  Today I am going to go to Mich (a small city out side of HOH) to give some candy away.  I miss every body back home.  Good by

going to the market, with wil (video)

(wil)
Today we decided to try and go back to the market.  Only this time we were not going to drive.  We took the bus, sort of.  On the way to Lafragua,  (we were walking there)  We ran into Greg Miller.  And he took us to the post office.  Check!  We delivered the letters and picked up the mail for HOH.  But as we were leaving mom wanted a picture of the lady putting the stamps on the letter.  The lady looked annoyed, but she couldn't tell us so.  So now we have a picture of a lady (she doesn't even look Guatemalan) putting a stamp on a letter.  Whatever.  So we stopped at Fancy's, ate lunch, talked to our friend the waiter.  On our way back, we went through the market, tried to buy a hammock from a man who couldn't read or write.  That was interesting.  We came out of the market and ran into a taxi/van, the driver was going to Lafragua, so we hopped on.  As we are turning onto the street that lead into Lafragua, he asked us where we were going, (in English)  And we told him Oasis.  He knew right where we were talking about.  Turns out, he used to take Rosemary to the campus all the time and he is very well known through out the campus.  He took us there and would have given us the ride for free, but we tipped him double what he would normally charge.
We made it home with, a mop, two shirt for Rosemary, some vegetables, and some bread from a  bakery that mom likes.  Rosemary, Wade, and James, finished 2 whole windows.
And that's all, not much.  But we had a successful trip into town, still 100%.
I included a video for you guys, hope you like it.

This is the market, a different part than the last picture.

Some more grain.

Fish sitting out in the 96 degree sun.

Oops the sidewalk.

A street in Zacapa.

A van like the one that took us back home.

A merchant selling the "best" parts of a pig, feet, tongue, and guts.

some more chicken, sitting out side.

Some fish sitting outside in buckets.

Some more fish.

The lasagna I ordered at Fancy's.

Chicken caesar salad at Fancy's.

Herbs, by the bags.

ventanas (windows), avispas (wasps) and espejos (mirrors)

Yesterday, (4/25/12) we stayed on campus all day.  A small amount of schoolwork accomplished early in the morning and Daveed ran "the loop" here on campus to train for hockey season back at home.  Speaking with his Dad last night about the hockey camp going on in Frisco has reminded him that he does actually live in Texas not in Guatemala :).   Most of the day was consumed with the window project.  We filed and filed and filed.  Rosemery came down to help too so all seven of us worked about 6 hours and we got 2 1/2 windows finished.  So, a little clarification on this window project . . . I think we have been posting different numbers on here . . . there are 23 windows but each window is in 2 halves and each half has 14 glass panes and each pane has 8 edges that have to be filed. That's 5, 152 edges that have to be filed.  So, technically we finished 2 1/2 windows just yesterday but really that is 5 windows which is 70 panes which was 560 edges that we filed.  In total, so far, we have finished 10 windows.  I think everyone is wearing a band-aid today.  Those window panes are razor sharp before we file them. 
The screen guys came back.  I think that I forgot to blog a couple of days ago that they had returned
and re-installed the doors that they had put in wrong.  Yesterday they installed the mirrors in the bathrooms.  Up until then we had been living without mirrors - which actually is very liberating.
My kids attended "English" class here on campus which actually works very well at teaching them Spanish.
Daveed found a complete skeleton of some type of carnivore.  He conducted a complete excavation of the area and we are quite sure that the entire skeleton is now safely transferred into the house  . . . 
Guierrmo (translation for William) worked on his table that he is building for this house.  He wanted to bring it up here from the woodshop.  Daveed helping.  Somehow translates into Daveed slicing open the top of his foot.  More band-aids.  While Wil was working on his table with the electric sander he was swarmed by wasps from the nest above his head.  Raul to the rescue, he burned the nest (I'll post pics).
Sarah and Rosemery made tortillas.  It's official now, we no longer walk to town for our tortillas.  Sarah is our tortilla cook.  She had been learning from the girls on campus and now she is confident enough to manage that duty.  She can cook them on the wood fire stove or on the indoor stovetop.
Rosemery had dinner with us.  Church 7:00 - 9:00.  Skype with Steve.  All in bed by 10. 

Burning the wasps nest

Santiago helping.

Tortilla cooks

Mott-Motts outside our door.

Today, after 7:00 a.m. all campus devotions, we are going to finish one side of a window and then head into town to try and find that correo (post office) again.  Also, we have started making our own salsa to go with our beans and rice in the evenings so we have been burning through the fresh tomatoes.  Just when we learn how make our own tortillas  . . . another thing crops up to draw us into town  frequently.







 

Pictures with Willi

This is Tony with all of the candy he got from Kevin's Birthday.

In the market, they sell the "best" parts of the chicken, feet, head, and guts.

This was the least crowded part of the market.

This is the grain one lady was selling.

We don't know what this is?  We think it is chicken?

Here is the hand drawn map mom was telling you about.

The restaurant with the nice waiter.

The streets out side the market.

Type to you guys soon,
Wil

mercado dia

Last night, the plan for today was to go to town and find the correo and the market.  Gigi had 5 birthday cards to the states that she needed to mail.  And, we needed to buy a mop, chili cobinero, tomatoes and pick up a couple things at the Maxi Despensa.  No problemo . . . last night we took our hand drawn map, instructions from about 5 different people and planned our day and went off to bed.
Today started at 4 a.m. with shot gun blasts from Llano de Piedras (the village next door).  Why do they shoot their guns off in the night?  There were at least 6-8 blasts from 4 - 5 this morning.  Un-nerving.
Sweep the interior/exterior of la casa.  All campus devotions at 7.  Clean up from breakfast.  Start out on our outing.  Wait, the water delivery guy shows up.  Water transaction eats up about 45 minutes. 
Start out again.  Wait, "if you are going to town, would you pick up a pinata for the birthday party this afternoon?"  Sure!  Explaining all that takes another chunk of time.  So, we don't actually start out until 10.  Hand drawn map in hand, and more instruciones en los manos and off we go.  5 minutes out, have to make a safe bano stop - sigh - this is going to be a long day . . .   but while there we run into Javier - still at  100% for running into people we know when we leave campus so it's all worth it!
We drive into town and find the market, park where we think we were told to park.  Start the hunt for the post office.  It's like a game of warmer, warmer, colder.  We have to stop at every block and ask directions.  One block this way, one block that way, up this street, down that street.  Find a correo, unfriendly clerk and we are sent away to find the "El Correo Nacional"  apparently she doesn't deal in gringo mail.  The day is beginning to get hot . . . James says he is going to throw-up . . . hmmmm, where is this correo?  We cat and mouse this place all morning, walking.   During our hunt, we found "Fancy's" a restaurant that is recommended by some of the missionaries here.  Time for a regrouping anyway.  It's a nice place and guess what?  Our waiter is a graduate from the english school in town!  yippee!  Except that he graduated 5 years ago and hasn't been practicing but between his English and our Spanish we have a delightful time.  Great food, great rest in a great restaurant that is a sanctuary from the chaos outside.  Luis is our waiter's name.  Service is slow in Zacapa but in this instance it is welcomed.  James is able to rest and perk up some.  And, Luis volunteers to take us to the correo!  Done.  After lunch, 6 gringos and 1 waiter take to the streets.  One bus and several blocks later Luis takes us to the first post office with the unfriendly clerk and the place is closed for lunch - oh well.  Time is wasting and we have to be back at campus with a pinata by 2:30 so let's go look for that.
Off into the bowels of the market we go.  Among the vegetables, chicken feet, spices, herbs, bootlegged videos, knives, and pantalones we search for pinata's.  Too bad we are not searching for jabon because everybody sells that stuff.  Finally, find the lone pinata selling lady.  Make the deal.  Buy the giant soccer ball pinata and 5 lbs of candy for $145 Q ($20 and some change).  Good grief - we gotta hurry to get back for the party.  Where is the car?  Let that search begin.  Campus now calling worried about us - reasonable.  Kevin and Christine are here in town looking for us but we don't even know where we are so how in the world are they going to be able to find us.  And, we are not actually parked where we were supposed to park. Find the car, drive the wrong way down una via.  Couple more wrong turns and viola, we find puente blanca which is the bridge back into La Fragua.  Yeah! we know where we are!  So, home we go.  No letters mailed.  Still no mop.  No chili cobenero.  No items from Maxi Despensa.  The whole day and all we managed to accomplish was to buy a pinata for somebody else.  And, that's how it goes in Zacapa.  Time is slow, the language barrier is shrinking and we are learning our way around town.  Maybe tomorrow we can do it all again.  We will post pics later.  Off to a birthday party - Feliz Cumpleanos Kevin.

Pictures with willi

We found a stick bug on the window out side.  Haven't seen one of those in a long time.

The sunset in the mountains.

Some of the kids in house three caught a rabbit.

Santos getting rid of the bees.

All of the honey and things that were pulled out of the bees nest.  All of it was poisoned so we couldn't eat it.

Pictures with Willi

If you know how to play cribbage, you can see how badly I beat GiGi and Mom!

Geckos seeking shelter inside the house from the sun.  (sideways)

Wade's bruised lip from falling off the swing.

One of the many coconut trees on campus, along with some mango trees, rice plants, bananas, and lemons.

Sarah and Ruth cleaning house one getting it prepared for the baby's.

The garbage men.

Ruth waving at us from House1, before the bees.

More girls cleaning house1

Rosemarry, Wade, and James eating a coconut from the tree.

Tastes like chicken, said wade.

I was also going to tell you guys that we can now read your comments, but we can not reply.  Keep commenting.  We like to hear from ya'll!

Hot water?

Sorry, this is sideways but you gotta check this out.  There are no hot water heaters in Guatemala.  So, they hook up these little electric water heaters right to the shower head.  Can you see how the electricity is hooked from the light bulb?  And the ground wire is just a wire hooked through an eye hook screwed to the ceiling?  If you accidentally touch the device while you are showering it electrocutes you.  Personally, I prefer the cold showers here . . .

Ruth working on House One during campus work day.

Continuing mishaps from yesterday.

Gigi filing window glass

More than just bee mishaps yesterday . . .
The screen guys came yesterday to install the screen doors.  We were so happy to finally have screen doors due to the rorroni's (june bugs).  First door went on no problems.  The double back doors, well, they installed those upside down.  Now, in the states a homeowner would throw a tremendous fit because they have now drilled holes into the concrete house and floor.  Not really patchable.  And, now not in the right place.  I'm not exactly sure how this is going to end.  The screen guys left with the doors and we still have rorroni's coming in at night.
While cooking dinner we ran out of gas.  Gas guy will not come until possibly Monday.  Thank goodness we had purchased a microwave for this house. Our beans were done but not the rice.  So, my first attempt at cooking rice in the micro ended in a steam burn to my left hand.  Then, while preparing a plate of dinner for Noe-Noe the guard, the top of the verde sauce bottle popped off spilling that sauce everywhere. Sigh.  Big clean up with a burning hand.
But, the biggie for yesterday (at least equal to getting swarmed by killer bees) a pipe burst in the back bathroom.  Sarah was in taking a shower when she heard what she thought was the shower next to hers being turned on.  Odd, she thought because that shower does not have a curtain hung yet . . . she heard the water running and running.  She thought someone was in the bathroom with her (wouldn't be that unusual given the construction of this house - if we were in the states she would half kill any bathroom intruder - see how flexible we have become)  anyway she started talking to the assumed bathroom visitor - no reply.  Finally, after some time she peeks out the shower curtain to see a deluge of water spewing from under one of the 3 sinks in that bathroom.  She starts hollering for me.  I knew immediately from the sound of her voice and frantic calling that there was a big problem.  My first thought was - a snake.  We all started running into the back of the house only to be met by literally inches of water pouring out - already out of the bathroom, out of the bedroom, and flowing into the hall.  Honestly, preferable to there being a snake but a terrible mess anyway.  We got the water stopped.  Thankfully they installed those water cut off valves under the sink.  We have 3 brooms and no mops - (it's a side story that I have been on a quest for a mop since I got here)  we swept the river of water through the house and out the door.  The force of the water caused some damage to the concrete walls but otherwise a near disaster was averted because we just moved into this house 4 days ago.  (We had been living in house 4 and just working over here during the days) Had that pipe burst prior to that or during one of our outings this house would have flooded and the well on campus would have been drained dry.
So, those were yesterdays mishaps . . . .  but, so much went well yesterday . . . we did get one screen door installed, all the windows in house one got washed, house one yard work was accomplished, laundry was finished, the kids all made it to bible class, one more window on house six was filed, and we made a successful trip into town complete with ordering and receiving the correct (and reasonable) amount of tortillas from the tortilla tienda, and the floors in house six received an excellent mopping despite my lack of a mop!
The biggest prayer request right now:  House One (Casa Pappilla) is now ready for the babies to come.  We pray that the government/legal documentation and procedures will supernaturally be swiftly cleared up.  The 20 babies that are to be rescued from the population of over 300 at the government orphanage need to get here so we can start to love and nurture them.  Thank you for your prayers. 

typing with willi

(wil)
Today was work-day-Saturday.  So for work day the girls were cleaning inside house 1, while the boys were mowing and cleaning out side house one.  But when Tony started the mower, all of the bees in house 2 came out and attacked us.  And WOW! you have not experienced the full wrath of bees until you have been attacked by them!  I was only stung once, but wade was stung 3 times, and Edwardo was stung 4 times!  Two in his left arm, and two in his head.  And almost every one inside house 1 got stung.  now every time we walk near the houses we get attacked.  We looked up on the internet on how to get rid of bees, and it said the only way to get rid of them is to call a professional.  (it is a certain type of bee, I don't know how to spell it)
It is 99 degrees right now!

One of many birds that live outside our door.

Well that is our day so far.
here are some pictures.

they said that this was a weed.

A baby on campus.

Some more kids on campus messing around.

A school room on campus: English class.