coming back home...settling into the everyday

We have been home almost a week, and facebook is alive with photo tags, inside jokes, and memories of the fastest 10 days in all of life.  How did our days go so quickly?

Today I chipped the last of the blue paint that was left on my watch, I felt like this was the appropriate time to close up our Guatemala Blog for the year! 

When you embark on this journey with Teenagers, Inc. you become apart of a community, that no longer sees the world the same way when you started. We often say "Not all young people would do this" or "Giving up ten days of your summer, that's admirable"  There's a famous quote that says: 

Two roads diverged in a wood and I - I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

As 16 (and up) year olds we have picked the road less traveled, we have picked a path that might not lead to 10 nights of celebration, but 10 nights of reflection on how we made an actual difference in a child's life.  Service trips come around more often now than they did 6 years ago, when we first started, many people have completed them and done similar things, but the kind of direct hands on work that the young participants of this team have done are different than anything else, because we built a house, that will last for 40 years, we go back ever year and we develop a rapport, with the children and staff at the Dreamer Center.  Charms hang around our neck to remind us of our 10 days, all the cement that we mixed, all the nails that it took to frame our house, the hot sun and rain that we worked in, and this year the earthquake that we felt. Our charms also remind us that we are so lucky to have had the experience, and we will be forever changed! For the people that have been on this trip more than once, our charms represent the community we have built! 

Coming home for a lot of us has been an adjustment, We are reminded of the things we left behind, and the things we have to do before we head off to college, or for the next adventure, or just complete before Monday. Coming home also means,recounting the hilarious moments, with your families and friends.  It means that we get unlimited, uninterrupted access to Wifi, your cell phone, and email.  It also means that your time in Guatemala is over, and you'll have to wait a whole year, for this to happen again! 

Service Challenge: Keep helping others, be an active member of Teenagers, inc., if your going to college join your community service club, and keep service in your heart all year round, and get ready for GUATEMALA 2015!!! 

THANK YOU! 

Long windy roads, earthquakes, and sickness..oh yeah and we built a house

The title of this post, speaks directly to the last 5 days. 

The trip to Lake Atitlan is always a great experience! Who doesn't love a beautiful place, hammocks, bonfires and shopping! I can tell you that we could probably do without the long windy roads. This was a true test for our group to gel, up until the lake trip we were able to avoid mixing, that is until you put 23 of us in the same van and send us on our merry way! 

The trip up was not quiet it seems that our Guatemalan tour guides were excited to play every American song they knew and our group was more than happy to sing their hearts out! 2 hours later we checked into our hotel, and we were ready to shop til we dropped (or ran out of money...) 

Prior to shopping we went to visit a Mayan Church, as you all know Teens inc. has no religious afilliation however Guatemala is a very religious country, and it is a super cool church! It is also a very moving place, many of the women and men are dressed in tradition Mayan garb, and you can hear then praying in one of the many Mayan languages! After our church visit, we began our shopping quest! Everyone was able to bargain, practice their Spanish numbers, and get items for their family! They are definitely bringing home a piece of Guatemala with them! 

It's always the plan to go to Sunset cafe after our big shopping trip! This is also the time when Teens Inc kids take over the dance floor. This year, these kids did not disappoint! We practiced our salsa moves, danced all over the place and even Walt was dancing!!! It was a super fun night!! When we arrived back at our hotel we had a bonfire waiting for us. Gathering around the campfire, we talked about the 2 best things that happened this week and the 1 thing we wish we could change. Some of the things that were said were the smiling faces of the kids, to I wish would could feed the animals too! And I wish they could have clean lettuce! A range of emotions and feelings led us to talk about worries and so each participant was given a worry doll, Guatemalan legend tells us that if you whisper your worries to your doll and place them under your pillow they will go away! It was cute to see these teenagers and some college students accept the dolls, and talk about their worries! 

On Sunday morning we bid goodbye to the lake and headed back to Antigua. 

Earthquake Monday!!! 

Our Monday was off to a shaky start both literally and medically! We had a few visits to the clinic,some medicine prescribed and we are feeling better and ready for to start building. Unfortunately Arianna and Taylor missed half of the first day of building. Both were ready to go by day two!! Monday night everyone was tired and but good spirits and ready for day two of house building. 

Tuesday we arrived at the dreamer center and bought our daily water supply and went straight to work. Today we put up walls, mixed cement and learned about our strength both physically and mentally. At this point we have now been in Guatemala for a little over a week, and I think we were all starting to feel homesick, walking back to our houses after a day of service with our cemented shoes, and dusty pants, we knew we were making a difference but we also knew we only had a few days left. On Tuesday night we went to the dreamer center for a bonfire, and to present our Guatemala team with their letters from home. There were tears,giggles, and deep sighs heard throughout the group. While thoughts of home danced in their head, Brennan O'Donnell read what he wrote for the OMC collection! He talked about how Guatemala is his everything. We ended with a challenge to keep Guatemala in our hearts, carry your light of service into the next chapter in our lives, and we ended on a positive note and went around and talked about the best thing that happened at service that day! 

Wednesday was our last day of building, or as we like to think of it.. Paint fight day. I promise you aside from us being blue we managed to get paint on the houses as well. This day is bitter sweet, because we have to say goodbye to the families we built the houses for on the bright side we are leaving this place much better, a little bluer, and with a stronger foundation then we found it. 

Tonight promises to be another learning experience as well!!! As some of us are headed to the homeless shelter, to serve dinner to some of Guatemala's poorest. 

As parents you should be proud. Your children have built a house from foundation to roof, mixed cement, used tools that they have never used before and worked in teams, a skill that is life's biggest challenge! 

I hope you are all safe at home and ready to see us!! 

Earthquake in Guatemala

 Last night Guatemala experienced a 7.0 earthquake that lasted for 36 min, it started at 5:30am. The earthquake span was from Mexico to Guatemala. More importantly everyone is ok!! In case you hear anything on the news we are in Antigua, Guatemala. There were no casualties anywhere near us, and everyone banned together to keep each other safe! Some even slept through it!!! How's that for team work :) today we are very tired, but excited to start building our houses. Send us some postive philly vibes, lots of prayers and love and keep the people of Guatemala in your thoughts today. 

I will update our blog tomorrow about all the other exciting stuff we are doing!

Peace and Love
Arianna

Every Stone Has A Surprise

The last few days have been a whirlwind, of travel, time difference, walking on cobblestone streets and getting used to life in Guatemala. We have had an incredible time learning about the God´s Child Project and all of it´s programs that it runs. Our orientation was kicked off by Jose Arevalo the Director or Programming in Guatemala.  He often reminds us that while we are building houses in Guatemala,  Guatemala is also building a house in our hearts, these words couldn´t be more true.  As our first day progressed we took tours, sorted donations, and did a little sightseeing. Including the infamous Hill of the Cross where you can see the entire view of Antigua! We also visited some beautiful areas in Antigua to see how people live, and a rare opportunity to see a Jade factory, where this blog title stems from. Listening to the man who managed the Jade factory, his stories were  filled with passion, and love for what he does.  Hearing him say again and again, every stone has a surprise was in this writers opinion a metaphor for this trip.  While we follow a fairly strict schedule for many of us these experiences are new. They come with tons of questions, unexpected experiences, and special moments.  It has been a wonderful experience to watch a lot of our newcomers react to these ¨"surprises"

As busy as yesterday was, by the end of the day our building teams were announced. This always builds excitement, and a little sense of competition, which can be good.  We have four teams this year. 

Team A

Arianna

Brennan

Taylor

Caroline

Ione

Pete

Team B

Walt

Bobby

Cameron

Colleen

Maisey

Antonio

Team C

Brendan D.

Zaine

Gabrielle

Kate

Liu

Kris

Team D

Mike

Grace

Brendan M.

Rachel

Patrick 

Our house building starts Monday! 

On July 4th, we started our day early at the Dreamer Center with our vegetable distribution, and it also happed to coincide with Field Day at the Dreamer Center. The Dreamer Center is the school/offices for the God´s Child Project, it´s best described as utopia for child, adults and educators. Open windows with lots of natural light, a large space to run around, an awesome playground area, and all the warmth and love of kids, teachers, and the great people that help run God´s Child Project. This also houses the Medical Clinic, the Dental Clinic, and now temporarily housing Casa Jackson.  This facility is where the Dream started for God´s Child Founder, Patrick Atkinson.  As our day continued we worked tirelessly to distribute vegetables, hang out with the kids, run around, dance, and just have a great time.  We brought a lot of joy, to so many kids today. It was wonderful to see so many smiling faces, and while the spanish of our group isn´t that strong, the international language of play brought so many people together.  Parents, be proud! :) This day was also Ziplining day, at Finca Filadelfia. This place is a coffee plantation, serving up some great coffee, and also a ton of fun for our group! The majority of us wanted to zipline, a few of us took the coffee tour, and some of us stayed back to rest of for this evening and it´s celebration. Over dinner, we chatted about the various things we have experienced while we have been here. It was agreed that many of us don´t miss our phones, and love that we get to meet new people! 

While we can´t celebrate with fireworks, we undoubtedly make fireworks wherever we go! Tonight, we are at Monoloco or in english...the CRAZY MONKEY! It´s an American restaurant, a great place to hang out, chat, socialize and talk about our day.  Tomorrow morning we head to Lake Atitlan to no doubt have some more fun, and excitement before we start building our house in Guatemala, and Guatemala started to build more it´s house in our hearts! 

We Have Arrived Safely in Guatemala!!

Hello Parents and Friends:

    We have arrived safely in Guatemala!! We are sitting down to lunch at Pollo Campero a popular fast food place! 

  Our airport experience was smooth sailing, and we were able to check 45 bags into Newark and into

Guatemala! 

We will update more tomorrow, but everyone is safe, happy, and chatting away! 

Best,

Arianna 

in the wee hours of the morning

We have arrived...

 In just a few hours we will get on a bus, with our personal bags, a bunch of suitcases filled to the brim with donations, and our love of service.  We are excited! 

For the last 6 months, we have worked together to fund raise, plan parties, team build, figure out the massive tetris game of packing our suitcases, and helped continue the legacy of Teenagers, Inc. by embarking on this incredible service project with God's Child Project.

(*editor's note* This is the most creative group of young people, they created multiple fundraisers, got a ton of clothes donated,wrote incredibly tear jerking speeches about how important this project is to them and some of them were even published in the Chestnut Hill Local (our published article).) 

As we step on to that plan to Guatemala tomorrow, we will be filled with love and light from our community members that have supported us all the way from start to finish. As you know we really couldn't of done this without you! 

So follow our journey, enjoy all our moments, and join in on the experience of Guatemala! 

To give you a sneak peek of our service check our video from last year!   Guatemala 2013

Chaperones: Kris and Antonio give the thumbs up...this is going to be a great trip!