Monday, June 9, 2025

Birthday and More, by Ford Kormos and Henry Corts

We woke up on June 4th…it was Ford’s birthday. We woke up to happy birthday in Spanish. For breakfast we had eggs, beans, good juice, and of course tortillas. We left for Escuela Oficial Rural San Marcos Pacoc to finish our final day of Eco stoves and presenting posters on dental hygiene. We made good connections with the kids, giving them piggyback rides and playing soccer with them. We also did our best to talk to them in Spanish.

Today, we noticed several differences between MBA and EORSMP. The first difference was the meals. Whereas we have many options for lunch, they only had a few. Whether they liked the food they were given or not, it was they only option they had. At MBA, everyone wears similar clothing, because there is a dress code, but at the school, they were all wearing different things, because there isn’t really a set dress code. Lots of clothing had common cartoons from America (Bart Simpson, Spiderman, Lightning McQueen) and American sports teams (Yankees, Phillies, Longhorns) on it. These clothes were overstocked from America, and either sold for cheaper or donated.

When we arrived at the school, we split off into two groups. One was teaching the class with the posters we made, and the other was helping with the Eco stoves. Halfway through, we switched jobs. We talked about dental hygiene using two made-up characters: Jude and Loco Coco. Loco Coco was an example of not brushing your teeth or flossing and drinking lots of Pepsi (specifically 3.3 liters). The kids were very curious about dental hygiene and very eager to answer questions about it. An example of dental hygiene was Jude, who flossed and brushed his teeth three times a day for two minutes. For the last part of the Eco stoves, we brought the bricks over, dunked them in water to make them less brittle, slapped some cement down, and put the bricks on the foundation. Esvin, the main person helping us, was the reason we were able to finish our Eco stove.

After we finished saying our goodbyes at the school, we came back to the compound and ate pizza and drank Coke provided by San Marcos Pacoc. There was also fish, lime-cucumber juice, and grape Jello. Then, we had a pastry class and learned to bake champuradas, which are a sort of cookie-bread. They were very yummy. A few different shapes we made were a swirl, a snail, a heart, and a circle. There was also one in a churro style. When we left, we saw these very cute puppies. We wanted to take them home, but Mr. Van Citters would not let us. The dogs in Guatemala are usually street dogs not owned by anybody. They are never on leashes and wander around the streets. We cannot pet the dogs without our work gloves because they may carry diseases.

When we got back to the compound, we played some football with Sau (saw-OO) and then had dinner, where there was a special chocolatey surprise for Ford. Ford was feliz. After that, there was another special surprise. It was a day full of surprises. They danced with flags, and the girls did a traditional Guatemalan dance. A group of guys tried and succeeded to do the same thing. I (Henry C.) took Henry Mikos and danced with him. It was lovely. Finally, we had marshmallows and hot chocolate and got signatures on our shirts from Nestor the chef and the crew. Then we went in to settle down.

 












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