Green Day!

Hallie and Lauren here. Writing the blog again tonight because the boys have declared themselves lazy...

To start off the day we went to the ghetto for the last time. We saw many of the kids we had been hanging out with all week and were very sad to say goodbye. After a long, long prayer we broke into three groups; dishwashers (Eman and Jennifer H.), kid helpers (Lauren, Nate, and Dean), and paint removers for our big project of the day (Hallie, Tanner, AJ, Caroline, and Jen C.). Todd was overseer of all.

Dishwashing for almost two hours, Eman and Jennifer talked LOTS about the ghetto and how the future of its inhabitants will unfold. A myriad of dirty cups, bowls, silverware, buckets, and even the kitchen sink were washed by these two incredible dishwashers! Eman felt like an old man with gray hair and wrinkled fingers afterward.

Lauren, Dean and Nate hung out in Lucia's classroom for the morning class. Lauren hung out with Diana and she showed her all her school work that she had accomplished. Dean played matching bingo with two Limon students. Nate played "Where's Waldo?" with the rest of the students.

Tanner, AJ, Carolina, Jen C., and Hallie were assigned to start the project that would eventually take all the students help to accomplish; painting both Limon's door... inside and out and the rod iron bars on the window. To begin the painting we had to scrape all of the old paint off first. This task was tedious and a lot of work for little result. We spent an hour scraping before giving up and wiping the door down with water.

Finally the morning class let out and we grabbed the BRIGHT lime green paint and began the two hour paint job. Caroline and Jen C. went upstairs to Miarita's classroom to paint shapes in the bathroom and stripes on the outside wall of the bathroom. Hallie, Lauren, Tyler, Todd, and Tanner were painting the first door and the window. AJ, Nate, and Dean started scraping the second door. OIL BASED PAINT WAS A BAD IDEA!! Quick drying, thick, and permanent (especially in Tanner's beard), it proved to be a real challenge to get it all done. Hallie and Todd were on the inside of the first door, with it shut, painting the back. They knew they had been exposed to the fumes too long when Todd exclaimed; "I think I smelled it drip!" and they both proceeded to laugh for 10 mins while everyone else looked at them like they were high...

We finished painting the first door and Aj, Nate, and Dean had finished scraping the second and began painting. The window was almost halfway done.
We finally got the job done eventually and felt very proud of our work.

We ate lunch in the car on the way to Campo de Marte to play futbol (soccer) and basketball with the muchachos and Shorty :). Gringos (White people) and Chapinos (Guatemalan guys) tied the game of basketball. For soccer, they Chapinos gave us a break and made the teams equal (some of both on each). Team 1: Shorty, Eddie, Todd, Hallie, Dean, Eman, and Tyler (sub). Team 2: Tanner, Nate, AJ, and the rest of the chapinos. Team 1 won thanks to Eddie, chapino numero uno! Afterward Todd bought all the amigos, including us, Shucolos (dirties). mmm delicioso!

We got home, showered, ate refried beans with eggs and tomatoes and got ready to go to Cafe Barista. The coffee was very good and we learned about the guys with the guns in every parking lot... :) dont worry! they are for OUR protection!

That's all for tonight! We will write tmrw after Antigua! We love you! And Dios los bendiga! Translate THAT!

P.S.- View our pics from the week so far!