Day 7 - Moving Day!

Hey everybody! Happy Army Day!

So today entailed an early morning meeting for my online Humanitarian Engineering class. Then I savored the wifi in the hostel for as long as I could before I had to check out to move into my new place.

The apartment is great, with running water, a fridge, and a stove. It somehow seems tucked away though it’s just a short walk to the bustling streets of Pana. The commute to work is hard to beat; it takes about a minute on foot.

I think I spend at least half of each day here sighing over gorgeous views, and today was no exception.

If I wasn’t concerned about getting caught in the rain I might just sleep out on the apartment balcony every night.

The family that lives underneath us is very friendly, trumped only by their very VERY friendly dog, Puncho.

This post may come slightly delayed as I am writing it in my apartamento bonito, and there is no wifi here. Hopefully, I’ll figure out something, but hasta luego for now! My first day of teaching is tomorrow! Wish me luck!

Day 3 - Work, Old Friends, and National Holidays!

It's officially Day 3 in Panajachel!

My first two days of work have been better than I could have imagined! I was pleased to find that Mayan Families provides their long term interns with Guatemalan cell phones to use during their stay. Work is 9-5 each day with an hour for lunch. I won't officially begin teaching until next week, but there's always something around the office to do. I even have my own desk now, name tag and all! 

(...Until the desk's original occupant Terry returns in a few weeks.)

After only one day of apartment shopping with another intern, I think we found a place, and it'll be ready as soon as the paint dries! I certainly will miss my current view, but I am excited stop living out of my suitcase...s.

Though it's rainy season, it hasn't rained very much at all since I arrived. Some people that I've talked to say they prefer the rain because without it it's getting rather hot, but I really don't mind the clear view of the volcanoes.

I've already met some old friends from our trip here in May. Our first and foremost shoe shine boy Samuel even shined my boots the other day. He caught me yesterday morning in a restaurant and recognized me as a girl from the group he met in May. We chatted for a while, and then I really couldn't refuse the shine since I actually was wearing shoes that could use it. He kept asking about mi papa, Kevin. I can't seem to convince him that I was travelling with my professor and other students, not my father and siblings. We seem an unlikely family in my opinion... then again we did manage to have a lot of fun together goofing off, as siblings do.

Samuel told me that he is twelve years old. He started working as a shoe shine boy four years ago, when he was eight, and he hasn't gone to school since then. He can't be more than five feet tall, most likely from poor childhood nutrition. But he loves to play soccer, and he and the other shoe shine boys play together whenever they can and when they have a ball. He told me today that I could be their goalie for only 10 Q (about $1.28). I may have to consider it. 10 Q would be worth it to see Samuel smile.

I must away; there's work to be done tomorrow! But after that I have a long weekend to look forward to. No work on Monday; it's a national holiday! Happy Army Day everyone!

A Trip in Two Parts

May 17, 2014 - Fly to Guatemala with professor and three other Ohio State engineering students to assess several organizations to partner with for an OSU engineering service trip for Summer 2015.

June 24, 2014 - Fly to Guatemala for two month internship with Mayan Families Organization in Panajachel.

As you can imagine, a lot happened between those two dates.

Originally, my summer consisted of the usual: classes, research, and skydiving. (Ok, skydiving is not the usual, but for one credit hour I said why not!) But working extensively with Engineers for Community Service (ECOS) during Spring Semester introduced me to Professor Kevin Passino, who first suggested to me the idea of a Guatemala trip in May. He had several groups who were interested in starting service trips catering to their specific skills, and Guatemala had come up as the ideal location. The next step was to send a group to Guatemala to assess some organizations and locations there to make the potential trip(s) a success.

I jumped at the chance! My volunteer work with ECOS, WiE, and countless other groups had started me thinking on how I, as an engineer, could apply my knowledge to solve real world problems in areas that would not otherwise encounter people with engineering experience. This Guatemala trip seemed like a great opportunity to see firsthand the technological needs people living in poverty in a third world country. As my father used to tell me, "If you want to save a life, become a doctor. If you want to save the world, become an engineer."

So we, along with three other engineering students from the university, headed south for eight days to find where in Guatemala engineers could be the most useful.

The trip was quite a success. On our third day there, after struggling to find a fit with the other organizations that we had met with, we entered the Mayan Families Organization. They are a growing, well-run organization with numerous programs to help some of the poorest communities in the Lake Atitlan region. We discussed a number of programs that could strengthen and grow with the help of engineers from their education to construction departments. Though they have a strong organization, they are in constant need of more volunteers, and it was on this day that they first told us of their internship opportunities for volunteers willing to spend two or three months in Panajachel working on programs that matched their skills and interests.

When I got home - after an extensive discussion with my mother of course - I submitted an application for the internship with a strange feeling that nothing would come of this wild dream. Just a few days later, I received my acceptance email!

And that is why instead of sitting in a classroom in Columbus on Tuesday, June 24 as expected, I will be boarding a plane to Guatemala City, Guatemala. During my time in Guatemala this summer I hope to pilot a STEM Education program in Mayan Families preschools and middle schools using experiments from the STEM Education Outreach Program run by Prof Betty Lise Anderson so successfully in Columbus area schools.

I am excited to see what the future holds! For now, skydiving will just have to wait.