Good Bye Parties...

Last week was a week of Goodbyes. In Guatemala they go all out when it comes to going away parties. First up was a party for Cheryl. On Wednesday the Guatemalan staff arranged for everyone to go to a restaurant about 20 minutes away from the clinic on the way to Xela. I had the morning off so I went to the coffee shop to finish my bible study (more about bible study at the end of the blog) then I drove up to the clinic with Janet and Cheryl. After spending about an hour at the clinic we headed to the restaurant. It was my first time hanging out with the whole staff outside of work. I still can't speak to many of them, but I have gotten good at faking a conversation. My goal is to learn as much Spanish this summer that once I get back in August I can at least have basic conversations. I don't know why I think I'll learn it in Houston if I didn't learn it here, but maybe I won't be as stressed out trying to adapt to a new country that I'll be able to devote more time to learning it.

Anyways, here is a shot of the whole staff at the restaurant. We had a private room and they decorated the tables and windows with roses stuck into apples. No idea what the significance is, but it was really pretty.

Tomin and Micaela brought their children to the party. Lester Phillipe is in our kindergarten class. He is one of my favorite kids in the school. Tomin is the guardian of the clinic and school, so Lester is always out playing after all the other kids are gone and we are walking to the car to head back to Pana. They have a new puppy named Campero that Lester and I play with often while I'm waiting for others to be ready to leave.

Cute picture with the teachers in the school. I am going to miss them this summer. Mary (the one I'm sitting next to) is the one who came to visit her father in Houston before I moved to Guatemala. She came to speak at my church which was amazing. She has become a great friend since I've been here.

Group picture. I LOVE this picture! Look at all the beautiful traje the women are wearing. Most of them wear traje everyday, but you could tell that everyone was wearing their best to the party. Sonia (in front in the orange sweater) was my favorite. Her belt had all the months on the Mayan calendar around it. Also be sure to notice how Lester who I'm holding was trying his hardest to kick his sister who Heather is holding. :)

Next up was my going away party in the school. I am going to work tomorrow, but Janet won't be there so I won't be working in the school. Therefore Thursday was my last day in the school, and Janet and the teacher's threw a party for me. I noticed that all the kids were going upstairs to the library, but I had no idea why. Janet asked me to go to her desk and grab a bag of beads. Then when I got upstairs to the library when I walked in the kids started singing a song to me. Obviously it was all in Spanish, so I asked Janet what it was about. She described it as a song about "drums and how you're a nice person" which made me laugh. They were all smiling and waving their balloons (and by waving I mean most of them were hitting each other with balloons).

After they finished the song the teachers went around the room and each took a turn saying goodbye to me. They would talk to me in Spanish then Mary would translate for me. I felt so bad having them talk right to me and not be able to understand everything. I could understand about half of what they said, but really appreciated when Mary translated everything. After that Janet told me to close my eyes then moved me to the middle of the room. Then I could feel people around me, but couldn't figure out what they were doing. She then told me I was too tall and that I needed to sit down. They actually were trying to take off the jacket I was wearing and put on a Susanna Wesley School hoodie just like the kid's uniforms. Last week Cheryl gave me her Salud y Paz jacket and now I have a school hoodie. I'm just so official now!

After I got my hoodie Janet had the kids line up and one by one I gave them a beaded necklace and gave them each a hug. It was by far my favorite and also the saddest part of the party. I am going to miss these kids so much!

I have no idea where these necklaces came from, but I loved handing them out. They love anything that sparkles.

Did I mention how I loved hugging each student?

Most of them would come up to me and play with my hair (they are obsessed with my hair... no idea) while I gave them the necklace. Then when I hugged them they would whisper "Te extrañaré" and I would say "Igualmente".

They also gave me this huipil (pronounces wee-pill... yes I just spent about 5 minutes figuring out how to google this to spell it correctly) to wear this summer while I'm talking to groups about Guatemala. It is from Coban and is made out of a lighter fabric than usual. Janet said she chose that one since I'm going to Houston where it will be extremely hot.

 

I really can't even begin to describe how much I am going to miss these kids. I have to keep telling myself that I'm coming back in August. Even though I won't be in the school anymore I'll still be working at the clinic and should be around enough to still play with the kids. I'm pretty sure I'll make time to play at recess with the kiddos. 

Ok... as promised let's go back to Bible Study. I go to bible study every Thursday afternoon at 4:00, so every Wednesday I go to the coffee shop for hours and do my bible study.We are doing the new Beth Moore bible study called James: Mercy Triumphs. I have never done a Beth Moore study before, but I really enjoyed it. I feel like these 4 months have been a roller coaster of emotions and I am really grateful for this group of women. I have really leaned on them and they have shown nothing but continuous support. Our group is made up of Ally (Cute pup), me, Cheryl (Lives in Guatemala for about 4 months every year and volunteers at different organizations), Adele (Mom in the coffee shop family I'm close to), Janet (S y P volunteer), Angel (We meet at her house. Her husband and her and missionaries and are raising their 2 kids here), Cindy (Used to live in Dallas and often wears Texas shirts that make me smile), and Heather (my roommate and a S y P volunteer).

 

Another group that I had to say goodbye to is the "knitting" group. I don't knit, but I do go almost every Saturday (if I'm in town). Every week we drink coffee and spend time catching up on everyone's week. I actually brought a cross stitch project with me that I have been working on there. It's not coming far though since I only work on it for a couple of hours once a week. We used to meet upstairs at the coffee shop, but now we meet at their property. Mike and Adele have been building their house right outside of town for about 10 years now. At first that sounded like an incredibly long time to me, but I've learned that apparently that's as long as it takes to build a house from scratch here. Now they have most of the foundation done and are just waiting for finishing touches.  Every week they say that maybe the windows will come on Monday. Once they get those in they can start moving in furniture and stay there full time. Right now Mike and Adele are staying at the property and the girls are sleeping at the coffee shop. I have slept over there with the girls the last 2 Fridays. I hate to be leaving now because I feel like I'm getting really close to everyone, but again I'll be back in August. :)

 

Tomorrow Heather and I are the only volunteers going up to the clinic. I have to finish up some team information with Jose then I bet I'll spend some time outside with the kids getting more goodbye hugs.  Today I went shopping for souvenirs with Kaisa and Lungi. It's exhausting trying to get everything done in time before I leave Tuesday morning. I'm trying to rent out my room for the summer, so I have to pack up all my stuff into storage just in case someone contacts Heather and wants to rent my room. I have almost everything packed and stored away. Tomorrow I am hoping we will get home from work a little early and I can be done with everything early. I booked a shuttle today to take me to the airport Tuesday morning. It is going to pick me up at my house at 6:00, so I'll have plenty of time to get to Guatemala City in time for my 12:20 flight HOME... YAY!!!!