1. Worshipping God with people in a different language.
2. Losing my passport for 4 days and almost wishing I had not found it ;)
3. Driving through the Jungle.
4. Helping Dr. Tito do an ultra sound.
5. Seeing howler monkeys.
6. Climbing ancient Myan temples.
7. Getting eaten alive by mosquitoes.
8. Walking the streets of Guatemala unattended.
9. Losing complete track of what day it is, what time it is, and what's next in the day.
10. Not even turning my phone on for 3 weeks :)
11. Learning that in 2012 the Earth will flip like a tortilla....I will explain later;)
12.Watching my friends swimming in an inlet that we later learned had crocodiles in it...oops.
13. Drinking habenero hot sauce....and still having a sore throat 2 days later.
14. Working hard every day. Performing each task, no matter how small with excellence.
15. Realizing that I will never again go on a vacation. If I travel it will always have a purpose because changing someone elses life in any way, no matter how small is so much more rewarding.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
The JUNGLE
¡Hola!
So this week I got to go to the jungle. Now when I say go to the jungle I mean hang on for dear life in the back of a little mountain truck for about 2 hours as we go up and down roads ( that are more like trails) that are as close to vertical as you can get. I was so excited for this there are just trees and flowers everywhere, and the people that live in the jungle are so far from modern day events. They do not have running water or any possessions. They also do not even speak Spanish, but instead the ancient Mayan language. Working in the clinics was kind of sad because so many of the little kids have rotten teeth and scabies. I worked in the clinic the first day, but then the second day I helped out with the kids. This was fun, but I really had to put my fear of getting sick aside because majority of the kids are sick. Many of the younger ones have huge bellies, but it is because they are malnourished. I did enjoy making bracelets with the kids though and telling them Jesus te alma - Jesus loves you. Today I worked in dental for a little bit. Mom - you know how you said that you could not handle the smells, well turns out I can;t either so I went back to the pharmacy. I asked Dr. Tito today if I could shadow him when he is with the patients and what an experience that was. One of the families that Tito sees has quite a story. There are six kids and the father is an alcoholic. When Tito first started seeing them the kids were starving to death beause the father spent everything on alcohol. The mom looks like she has been abused and I saw fear, resentment, and pain in her eyes. It was really sad to see this, but at the same time I felt like it opened my eyes to a lot of things. Tito taught me how to check for ear infections, and liquid in peoples lungs today. I guess that one of the little boys had had pneumounia really bad when he was little. Tito brings food to this family and almost acts like a father figure for the kids when he can. Working in the jungle is a lot of hard work we drive 4 - 6 hours each day and have to haul everything in then see around 100 patients a day. I;m pretty exhausted by the end of it. It is also very humid here so I have been sweating bullets, and my legs are basically one big mosquito bite. One of my favorite people here is Makko. He is my Guatemala dad. He takes such good care of me and is very protective of me I have learned so much from him with his kind heart. He has total faith in God and gives up EVERYTHING to help other people. I am very thankful for him, and he is letting me drive tomorrow. This is a very big deal not just anyone gets to drive through the Guatemalan jungle so I am excited, but also nervous. Tomorrow is our last day in the jungle and then we are going to Tequal where we will get to see the ancient mayan ruins.
Thank you everyone for keeping in touch I can;t wait to show pictures.
Love,
Kasey
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Palencia
Buenos dias everyone!
I'm sorry that I have not updated this more often, but this past week has been very busy. This week we went to Palencia, where we had our first round of clinics. Palencia is about 1 - 2 hours from where we are staying now. We left on Sunday at about 11:00, it takes a very long time to get the van all loaded up with the dental supplies, medical supplies, pharmacy meds, and the lab supplies. The first couple of days in Palencia we worked on the school there. We painted and rebuilt desks and did a lot of cleaning. We stayed at the school there, which was very nice except for the spiders the size of my fist! Finally we got to do clinics. I was assigned to be the lab girl. My job consisted of going back and forth between the pharmacy getting meds ready and doing blood tests as well as urinalysis. So basically I poked people with needles usually to determine if they had high blood glucose, which would mean diabetes, and I had to check for leukocytes to see if they had a bladder infection. It was really cool to interact with the people even though every day I am reminded of how limited my spanish is. In the evenings we play volleyball, basketball, and soccer. I kind of feel like I am in middleschool or highschool again when we start playing the games. Its basically my ideal lifestyle :) God is doing wonders in my life. We have been doing Bible studies and I feel closer to Him than I have in a long time. It is amazing when you are surrounded around people that are seeking him and have prayer in your life how clear some things become and how much the little things mean. I wish I could write more, but my name is being called. We are leaving at 4:30 tomorrow morning to go to the OCEAN YES! I guess that we are headed to a 5 star resort right on the white sandy beach that just so happens to have a beach volleyball court it just keeps getting better! There we will do clinics in the morning and then drive back to the hotel everyday which is about 2-3 hours away. These clinics will be much busier because this is in a remote part of the jungle where people rarely get medical care. This will probably be the most remote area that we go to and I am so excited to not be gated in and be free to explore the jungle! I hope all of you are doing well. Dad - I usually tell at least 2 of your stories a day everyone really wants to meet you and see your gun collection ;) I love and miss you guys and hope to be able to update again soon, but know that I am having an amazing experience there are no words to express the joy that I have in my heart right now.
Love,
Kasey
I'm sorry that I have not updated this more often, but this past week has been very busy. This week we went to Palencia, where we had our first round of clinics. Palencia is about 1 - 2 hours from where we are staying now. We left on Sunday at about 11:00, it takes a very long time to get the van all loaded up with the dental supplies, medical supplies, pharmacy meds, and the lab supplies. The first couple of days in Palencia we worked on the school there. We painted and rebuilt desks and did a lot of cleaning. We stayed at the school there, which was very nice except for the spiders the size of my fist! Finally we got to do clinics. I was assigned to be the lab girl. My job consisted of going back and forth between the pharmacy getting meds ready and doing blood tests as well as urinalysis. So basically I poked people with needles usually to determine if they had high blood glucose, which would mean diabetes, and I had to check for leukocytes to see if they had a bladder infection. It was really cool to interact with the people even though every day I am reminded of how limited my spanish is. In the evenings we play volleyball, basketball, and soccer. I kind of feel like I am in middleschool or highschool again when we start playing the games. Its basically my ideal lifestyle :) God is doing wonders in my life. We have been doing Bible studies and I feel closer to Him than I have in a long time. It is amazing when you are surrounded around people that are seeking him and have prayer in your life how clear some things become and how much the little things mean. I wish I could write more, but my name is being called. We are leaving at 4:30 tomorrow morning to go to the OCEAN YES! I guess that we are headed to a 5 star resort right on the white sandy beach that just so happens to have a beach volleyball court it just keeps getting better! There we will do clinics in the morning and then drive back to the hotel everyday which is about 2-3 hours away. These clinics will be much busier because this is in a remote part of the jungle where people rarely get medical care. This will probably be the most remote area that we go to and I am so excited to not be gated in and be free to explore the jungle! I hope all of you are doing well. Dad - I usually tell at least 2 of your stories a day everyone really wants to meet you and see your gun collection ;) I love and miss you guys and hope to be able to update again soon, but know that I am having an amazing experience there are no words to express the joy that I have in my heart right now.
Love,
Kasey
Friday, January 7, 2011
I'm Here!
Hello!
Well this post will be kind of short. There is no way to describe everything that has taken place in the last couple of days, but here's some of the highlights. When I arrived in Guatemala City I had been up for over 36 hours so that first night was very overwhelming when we arrived! The traffic here is crazy everytime we get in the car I feel like someone is going to rear end us. Motorcycles are also popular here, but I would not dare ride one. The food is good so far I have not gotten sick, which is nice. When we stay at the doctors house we are right in Guatemala city and it feels like we are the only gringos(white people) here. So Tito's house has a gate that locks, which makes me feel safer. The first two days we alphabetized intake forms for Palencia. On Monday we will be going to Palencia to organize the school and then set up a clinic. We also organized the farmacia and sorted through about 20 boxes of prenatal pills. The team I am with is so great! We get along so well I love it. The other night we played would you rather and I honestly can not remember the last time I laughed so hard. Yesterday we assigned eachother animals and one of the workers here Kokee says that I am a cobra porque yo peligrosa (b/c i am dangerous). He thinks I am dangerous b/c I accidentally said that I am very flirtatious instead of very caring in Spanish wooooops! I am excited for Sunday we get to go to the church with Tito's family and then play futbol-soccer. Basically we are going to lose very badly. It is nice and hot here so strange to be warm in January! The people are very kind I love their sense of humor and how dwon to earth they are. I can not wait to set up the clinics and actually interact with them and help them! I will let you all know how Palencia goes it is in the middle of nowhere ! Adios i have to go with kokee to run some errands or something, and he will be teasing me in spanish the whole time so i can't defend myself!
Well this post will be kind of short. There is no way to describe everything that has taken place in the last couple of days, but here's some of the highlights. When I arrived in Guatemala City I had been up for over 36 hours so that first night was very overwhelming when we arrived! The traffic here is crazy everytime we get in the car I feel like someone is going to rear end us. Motorcycles are also popular here, but I would not dare ride one. The food is good so far I have not gotten sick, which is nice. When we stay at the doctors house we are right in Guatemala city and it feels like we are the only gringos(white people) here. So Tito's house has a gate that locks, which makes me feel safer. The first two days we alphabetized intake forms for Palencia. On Monday we will be going to Palencia to organize the school and then set up a clinic. We also organized the farmacia and sorted through about 20 boxes of prenatal pills. The team I am with is so great! We get along so well I love it. The other night we played would you rather and I honestly can not remember the last time I laughed so hard. Yesterday we assigned eachother animals and one of the workers here Kokee says that I am a cobra porque yo peligrosa (b/c i am dangerous). He thinks I am dangerous b/c I accidentally said that I am very flirtatious instead of very caring in Spanish wooooops! I am excited for Sunday we get to go to the church with Tito's family and then play futbol-soccer. Basically we are going to lose very badly. It is nice and hot here so strange to be warm in January! The people are very kind I love their sense of humor and how dwon to earth they are. I can not wait to set up the clinics and actually interact with them and help them! I will let you all know how Palencia goes it is in the middle of nowhere ! Adios i have to go with kokee to run some errands or something, and he will be teasing me in spanish the whole time so i can't defend myself!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Here We Go!
Hello Everyone!
I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and safe travels! I want to thank you all for being so supportive of this adventure that I am about to head out on. I am really excited to share this experience. For those of you that do not know I will be leaving from Seattle at 12:30 a.m. January 4th - right around the corner! We make a quick stop in Houston, and then Guatemala it is.
I do not think that it really hit me that I am doing this until about 5:00 this morning, when I woke up and everything that I need to pack and get ready flooded my mind. I have the majority of everything organized now. My backpack is sitting at about 22lbs, and it can hold 50 so I think I'm on track! Now, I am working on having the right mindset going into this experience. I have to make sure that my flexible, easy going side is ready to go. Nothing too exciting in this post, but I wanted to get it started so that you all know when I'm headed out and can see where I'll be keeping in touch. I will try to update it when I can.
To those of you that are worrying about me already (Mom and Dad especially!) please don't! :) I promise to keep my drive for doing irrational things at bay ;) - basically I will follow the rules and all that jazz. I guess that promise is for you as well, Natalie! Haha :) I also just want to say thank you to my parents for helping me with all the paperwork and some last minute planning that went into this, my wonderful brother, all my family in Oregon ( thanks again Tim!), and my wonderful roomies for putting up with my craziness (I decided to sum it up as craziness because otherwise this post would be much longer;). This Christmas break was very busy and I did not get to spend time with everyone, but I hope that you can understand. I hope that everyone has a wonderful New Years eve tonight, happy 2011! I can't wait to see what God brings into this next month for me, and this next year for all of us. I will be in touch soon :P
Kasey
I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and safe travels! I want to thank you all for being so supportive of this adventure that I am about to head out on. I am really excited to share this experience. For those of you that do not know I will be leaving from Seattle at 12:30 a.m. January 4th - right around the corner! We make a quick stop in Houston, and then Guatemala it is.
I do not think that it really hit me that I am doing this until about 5:00 this morning, when I woke up and everything that I need to pack and get ready flooded my mind. I have the majority of everything organized now. My backpack is sitting at about 22lbs, and it can hold 50 so I think I'm on track! Now, I am working on having the right mindset going into this experience. I have to make sure that my flexible, easy going side is ready to go. Nothing too exciting in this post, but I wanted to get it started so that you all know when I'm headed out and can see where I'll be keeping in touch. I will try to update it when I can.
To those of you that are worrying about me already (Mom and Dad especially!) please don't! :) I promise to keep my drive for doing irrational things at bay ;) - basically I will follow the rules and all that jazz. I guess that promise is for you as well, Natalie! Haha :) I also just want to say thank you to my parents for helping me with all the paperwork and some last minute planning that went into this, my wonderful brother, all my family in Oregon ( thanks again Tim!), and my wonderful roomies for putting up with my craziness (I decided to sum it up as craziness because otherwise this post would be much longer;). This Christmas break was very busy and I did not get to spend time with everyone, but I hope that you can understand. I hope that everyone has a wonderful New Years eve tonight, happy 2011! I can't wait to see what God brings into this next month for me, and this next year for all of us. I will be in touch soon :P
Kasey
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