I woke up at seven o clock and I had eggs for breakfast 🍳. Today was presentation day for typical desserts and everyone did it.

Here’s some videos and pictures from the presentation…

3 hours later… and I got my certificate from the school because I finished. Today was my last day.

Here’s some pictures of my certificate

We’re done with school and the sad part is that my teacher will never see me again because she wants to become a nurse so she can make money for her family. That’s super sad 😭🥺😢😔☹️😞😕😥😪😓😞😕🙁😥😟😿. But away from that, we went to cooking lessons and we all made tamales and a Guatemalan dish called Pepían and I didn’t really like it but that’s okay because I tried something new.

Here’s some pictures from cooking

And we were trying to fit in the tiny car as that was our transport home. All the girls were asleep and I was wide awake so I had to be super quiet 🤫. I called ady and Emi and Dillon and all of them asked me about Guatemala 🇬🇹. Then, I wanted to blog so I went on the roof and I took a selfie 🤳

Then I had eggs for dinner and cereal so it’s a breakfast dinner I guess but anyway that’s all they had so I ate it. Then I took a shower and went to bed

That’s the end

I have sisters yay!!! And also, I have sisters like almost every day so they are basically my actual family.

They play with me sometimes 😆 but they play nicely and kindly and with respect and also fun 🤩! And Elissa is teaching everyone the piano lessons and I’m actually getting really good at piano now so that’s really fun.

That’s the end and thank you for being so kind and caring to me.

I woke up tired but still I ate breakfast 🍳 and I had scrambled eggs for breakfast. And then I walked to school with the whole group. And you might be wondering, why am I all prepared again Well I’ll tell you, I’m doing another presentation but this time is different, I’m going to make helados de chocolate. What it means in English is chocolate ice cream! So I went to the kitchen and made the chocolate ice cream. How I made it was I boiled the water 💦 and then I put the chocolate in the pan 🍳 and then the chocolate melted and I mixed it and it smelled so good. And then we poured the chocolate water in those plastic cups and put some sticks in the chocolate water and then I put them in the freezer and tomorrow it will be ready.

Tomorrow it’s my teacher’s last day at the school because she will become a nurse so that’s super sad😭🥺😢😔☹️😞😕🙁😪😓😟😿. 2 hours later… and it’s break time and we went to a different place where it had delicious chocolate chip cookies and I ate 2 and Kayla ate 1 cookie 🍪. 3 hours later… and we’re finally are done ✅. We walked back to our mansion house. Then everybody was relaxing but me I was going crazy with some things. We also went to salsa lessons and I did the warmup with everybody and felt bad because I thought I would mess up so I sat alone but I wasn’t really, I was just feeling alone just thought of it. I was playing Minecraft with Aunt Laura because she called me so why wouldn’t I answer duhhhh!!!! After salsa we walked back home and ate dinner and I had Chipotle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Anyway mom told me that I had to go to shower so I took a shower and then went to bed.

That’s the end of the blog

Many things have given me pause while being here.

I am in awe of the natural beauty amongst which these people live and call their home. I revel in the simplicity of the life I am experiencing here, and fully acknowledge this is a false sense of life in comparison to most of the women born here.

Today, walking through the Mercado, feeling grumpy with little sleep, an achy lump on my foot and without my morning coffee made a friend from works “first world problems” statement that he often says come to mind.

Here, there is no room for complaints. No room for ailments. No room for lamenting. No room for laziness. No room for mental health days.

Here, if you are not industrious, you are nothing.

Children peddle fruits and vegetables, candy and homemade jewelry to feed their families.

Elderly men and women tend meat, produce and supply stands, all day, without easy access to running water and restrooms.

Men and women deliver crates of produce on their heads, or atop their shoulders without so much as a grimace.

Here, people work. Sun up, to sun down.

And, they do it politely and with a smile.

So much effort is made in our current day to account for people’s internal struggles. And while I am not discrediting the importance of having sound mental health, I do feel that our current vantage point for many Americans could use a healthy dose of this “suck it up and push forward” attitude.

I know that pushing forward too hard, without pause for self reflection is damaging. The majority of the world does not recognize mental health as a priority. Talk therapy and psychiatric medications are not seen as valid necessities. Michele struggles with this on a daily basis with her kids from immigrant families.

First world problems allow us to lament our achy foot lump and lack of coffee. Third world problems, do not.

Somehow, I hope I can find balance. For myself, and for Luca.

I am grateful my parents instilled in me a good work ethic. Neither of them complain, ever. They have busted their asses for myself and my siblings and I will forever be grateful.

I hope I can do the same for Luca. I try to do what my parents have taught me and help him reframe when he has a self doubt or disappointment. To redirect his thinking by remembering his blessings; a body that is strong, a mind that is healthy, a roof over his head, food in his belly, and being surrounded by people that love and support him.

I hope that this learning, combined with him being exposed to different ways of life helps him to become a man that is somewhere in the middle; aware and protective of his mental health, but with a strong work ethic and a gratitude for his blessings.

I read an article recently about not complaining, ever. About reframing every thought and statement from a place of directly asking for what you truly need and from a place of gratitude.

I have tried in my adult life (however difficult and unsuccessfully) to not outright complain. I make light of my complaints, turn them into jokes thinking that they are in some way less negative.

I want to change that, and walking through the Mercado today solidified that desire.

So, here’s to self growth. One walk through the Mercado at a time.

I woke up at about 7:00 o clock in the morning and I was feeling so good and I had cereal for breakfast. Then the girls woke up at 10:00 o clock so that’s late. Meanwhile… the 7 of us walked to eat breakfast and I had eggs and bacon for breakfast. It took so long to just get our food. It felt like a hour to get the food ready. Then we walked back to our mansion house. About 4 hours later… and it is time for the fun part of the day. We go to the ruins!!! but first, we went to a different ruins,the cathedral ruins so we went to that one first and here is some pictures.

then we walked to the second ruins and it was the best because I got to climb up the biggest rocks.

Here’s some pictures of the second ruins.

I couldn’t find the rest but here’s one of them 😄. When we got back home, we relaxed and I looked for bugs. Then, we ate dinner with everyone and it was delicious 😋. Then the girls were on their phones so I had nothing to do but watch them look on their phones 📱. Then it was chill for the rest of the evening. Then I got in the shower and went to bed 🛏️.

That’s the end

I woke up at 6:30 in the morning and we ate breakfast and I had eggs for breakfast. So we went in the car so we can go to the volcano called Pacaya. When we got there I had my horse named Muñeco and we rode up the volcano 🌋. When we got there, I played with the volcano rocks and I threw them all around.

Here’s some pictures from the volcano.

When we rode back, Elissa and Tia’s horses were running so fast that Elissa’s stuff in her backpack fell out on the ground where all the horses poop 💩 eww 😷. I had the best time riding my horse. When we got down from the volcano we got down the horse, we went in the car and rode back. The girls went to the market and mom took a nap while Me Tia and Kayla went to a coffee place called Fat Cat and we played cards together. When the girls got back from the market, me and Tia and Kayla walked home. I found 4 blind snakes and 3 of them were babies and one was a adult. Then Tia made what aunt Laura and grandma makes, spaghetti and hamburger meat sauce. It was so good in fact that I ate 4 small bowls of it. And then the best thing of the evening was a instrument dinner show

Here’s some pictures and videos from the dinner show

Then we tried to get ice cream for me but they had sorbet flavors I didn’t like.

But then there was a light show on the castle!

Then we all walked home and I had to go in the shower and go to bed because it was 10:00 o clock here but in Florida, it’s midnight so I was very tired.

That’s the end

Watching the kids be creative and put on a show for us after dinner made me feel like the days of old.

When our siblings, cousins and friends would goof around, create, imagine, play, and entertain ourselves without digital aides.

A world with limited use of technology.

Another simplicity of being here that I love.

This will be a short blog but I was riding down the volcano with a horse 🐎 and I saw a leaf on the corner of my eye and I grabbed it and when I saw it, I was amazed by the look of it so I kept it for the rest of the ride and when I was done I took a picture of it on my horse 🐎.

That’s the end

This will be a short blog, but what happened was that mommy felt something shaking and felt like a little earthquake! But it wasn’t a big earthquake, it was an earthquake that was in El Salvador 🇸🇻. I hope the people are ok in that area.

That was crazy!!

That’s the end

I woke up for the big day and I had eggs for breakfast 🍳. And we walked to school with the nerves for the big day. 2 hours later… and for break, it was the presentation about fruit and I chose tomatoes 🍅.

Here’s some pictures and videos of my presentation.

I was very proud of myself by doing the presentation on my own. I ate the fruits of the presentation and I had my own personal option, the tomato salsa and Lychee fruit and that was kind of like my lunch.

3 hours later… and we’re done for today and it’s the weekend yayyyy!!!! I looked for bugs but instead I found 2 blind snakes! And the craziest thing happened, I saved a bee from drowning and it couldn’t fly so I actually put him in my box thing and I made all my bugs a habitat in my box thing. I called Granny and she answered and I tried to show her some things that I can do on the phone but she couldn’t figure it out. I also showed her how to make her see my background and she didn’t know how so I did it and she was surprised that I could do it so I did a basketball game and I won 50 to 17 and she was surprised because how much points I won by. I also told granny about a snail that Tia caught on her papaya tree and I showed it to granny and she thought it was pretty cool.

I said goodbye and I had dinner and I had fried pork and guacamole and I kind of liked it.

I went in the shower and went to bed .

That’s the end