Day 3. I thought it was getting easier when I woke up....

Day 3.  I thought it was getting easier when I woke up….

Sleeping last night was a little easier than the night before, probably because I borrowed a fan out of the room that another volunteer was staying in (she went home yesterday).  I only woke up like 4-5 times instead of every hour.  Today I am covered in bites all on my arms and legs, especially my ankles.  I’ve been layering skin so soft bug repellant and this extra strength hunter bug spray and nothing is working! Today I am going to try essential oils.  On the positive side, no fever or gastro issues from the bites…..yet.

I usually skip breakfast and just eat two granola bars (thankfully I brought them) because they have two tortillas and a scoop of beans for breakfast.  I cannot eat beans for every meal….you would think since they have chickens here at the orphanage they would have eggs. 

In the morning I spent a lot of time in the daycare.  Jaylan is a little autistic boy who is super smart but non-verbal with no attention span.  I could see right away he was going to have an outburst because the teacher took away his crayon after he tried eating it.  I ended up sitting behind him like I used to when I was an instructional aid and we were able to sing all the songs, do hand motions, do ABC’s, 123’s, and color a picture with myself holding the crayon.  It made me very happy to see his improvements in the 3 days that I have been here, that I am excited for Monday when he comes back to daycare to do other things with him.  Were going to try letters when you put paint in a Ziploc bag and seal it.   They want me to stay and teach in the preschool or daycare.

I also spent time with the five year olds and their morning work.  They have zero attention span, but I am trying to get them to realize if you get your work done you can play sooner.  Today Sarah completed her work much quicker than she did yesterday.  The caregivers were surprised when I made the 5 year olds write words (I wrote the word and they had to write it below).  They said they are too young for that, you are never too young to be exposed to simple words. 

After lunch I had a horrible time with itchy skin and started counting the red dots on my skin.  173 later I started to think I had chicken pox or something so I asked to go to the doctor, and he didn’t know what it was.  The deputy director here volunteered here once and then came back to live and work at the orphanage and she had the same issue.  So she took me to the supermarket and my regimen is now to shower, wipe down with green alcohol, layer hydrocortisone cream, then baby oil gel and then put the bug spray on.  This lasts about 2 hours….

When we came home, one of the girls was on her way to the police station.  There was a fist fight over a disagreement and the one girl really went after another.  She gets to spend the night away from here…

In the afternoon I spent some time with Keisha coloring and listening to music.  She talked to me about her whole story and it was really sad and all I could do is promise her that it will get better.  I hope and pray that someone adopts her because she has a lot to offer.  One of the other girls came up and grabbed her glasses and threw them so we had to deal with that for awile.  She gets bullied a lot because she has glasses and the other kids see that as a bad thing, so I have been wearing my glasses more frequently to help her feel better.

One of the boys Calen came and bothered us and decided he wanted to choke me, so I had to scream for help because I physically couldn’t get his hands off of me.  It was a time in my life I was a bit scared because I could not breathe. 

3 days here and I am already feeling anxious and tired.  I miss Dorie’s where there is so much respect and love.  There is none of that here.  I can only try and spread the love so much, but they have to be willing to accept it. 

I feel selfish for saying this, but I am excited to get away tomorrow.  I am going to Caye Caulker to explore and relax.  I am excited to sleep in a room with no bugs, have a good shower, and eat something more than rice and beans.  We are so lucky to live in a world where we are so blessed.  I thought I took things for granted before Guatemala, but I realize it even more now as the conditions here are much worse.  I absolutely love giving to those in need, but sometimes your health and well-being need to come first.