When do we work?

So, remember how I said I already wished the trip was going to be longer? Here's some more scoop.

We'll start things off right with a little sleep deprivation. Our group leaders say we will probably not sleep from the morning of Friday, July 24th until the night of Saturday the 25th. This is mostly because we leave Chicago at the stroke of midnight on the 25th. Translation: get to the airport at 9pm Friday night and land in Guatemala City at 6:25AM Saturday. Yeeps. When we land in GC, it's about an hour's van ride to Common Hope. I expect things like my head to be fuzzy.

Once we get to the complex and start settling in, they're going to make sure we resist the call of the bed by taking us to Antigua for the afternoon. There, we'll have lunch and explore for a few hours. After all that, we'll go back to the complex for what I fully expect to be the best nap of my life, revive just in time for dinner, and then turn in early to conclude our first day in the country. Ahhh.

You know that old "save the best for last" rule? Yeah, we're not doing that. Since we can't start work on Sunday, our 2nd day in Guate should be one of the highlights of the trip -- hiking the Volcan de Agua! We'll start at a local farmer's house for breakfast, then he'll lead us up the Water Volcano to his farm. At the top, we'll hear about his family's experiences during the country's 36-year civil war. Afterward, his daughters will make us fresh guacamole and tortillas. Based on last year's trip, the leaders say this is the most amazing guac on earth. Is it bad that I'm going on a service trip just for the dip?

A few details about the work, which they assure us will actually take place from Monday to Friday. The complex follows a pre-fab house-building procedure that allows groups like us to start and finish a house in just 3 days! Once we finish a house, there's a dedication ceremony with the new owners that we get to be a part of. Wow!

Another one of the jobs we might do is shadow social service workers. This may not sound important, but by law, social workers cannot visit homes alone. If there's no volunteer to go, then 2 social workers have to go together, which cuts their productivity by 50%. So having us there is really very helpful. While the visits will take place in Spanish, they say we will have a very unique perspective and most likely will be able to tell exactly what's going on by visual cues and body language. Again, cool.

We also might be assigned to work with the children at the school, or in the kitchen, or doing other operational tasks. We've got some former teachers on the team who are already planning activities for the kids, and of course, I'm looking forward to packing my suitcases full of magic markers and paint!

Our workweek will conclude on Friday and we'll have the 2nd weekend free again. The group leaders are looking into moving us to a hotel in Antigua, to 1) expand our experience in the country and 2) get us out of Common Hope's way since we'll no longer be on the job.

Have I mentioned I can't wait? Have I also mentioned that it's not even a different time zone from Chicago? For some reason that makes me giggle. Until next time...