More randomness!

All the funding for NPH comes from donations (mostly from Germany, Canada and the States). Aside from one-time large donations, we also have a Godparents program where folks can "adopt" a kid here, write letters back and forth with them and get pictures once a year (all for the low price of $25!). All of the money that's collected goes towards the basic upkeep of the kids: food, housing, bills; all the boring stuff. If the kids want to do other stuff during the year they hold fundraisers. The fundraisers pretty much go on all year long and most of the kids mostly sell homemade ice cream, cookies and desserts. Needless to say, I love it when I see the fundraiser kids walking by. This week we've had a few kids in the clinic recovering from various operations so Tia Rosa has been buying up bucketfuls of ice cream to give them (she's really sweet :) She always gets one for each of the staff too, so we've been having a mid-morning ice cream treat almost everyday this week :D

The ice cream is so organic and lovely. It's made by toasting fresh coconut, adding cinnamon and fresh milk from the cows, mixing it all together in a small plastic bag and freezing it. The Guatemalans have integrated plastic bags into their culinary scene; a lot of times when you buy juice or water from a deli or restaurant it comes in a sandwich bag instead of a bottle/cup. They also serve jello and ice cream like that. The way to eat/drink these things is the same: you bite a hole in the corner of the bag and suck out the contents. It took me a while to get used to it (and I still usually manage to look like a slob during the process) but I'm definitely more accustomed to it now.

Anyway, this coconut ice cream is hands down the best ice cream I've ever had before and an absolute STEAL at .15 cents a bag.

Me enjoying my treat :)

Okay, more randomness. We found a cool used bookstore in Antigua. Actually I take that back, it's not that cool because I feel like their books are grossly overpriced ($14 for a book?! What is this, the US?!) BUT they do have a cool policy that guarantees they'll buy back your book when you're done for half the price. They had a cool light in here that I thought my Mom would get a kick out of. It's an armadillo shell!

Turns out my declaration of the start of the rainy season was a bit premature. We haven't had a good storm in two weeks, only a small sprinkle every few days. It's cool though, whenever it's about to rain the sky gets this really pink cast to it. It makes everything seem very clear and crisp.

Here's Gustavo, one of the special needs kids who lives integrated with the other kids. I don't spend a lot of time with him but he liked my hat the other day and wanted a picture with it.

The boys have been playing with my Photo Booth. It's so easy to entertain teenagers.

I don't follow soccer but here its HUGE (please read that in a Donald-Trump-impersonation since that's how it sounded in my head). There was some big game between Madrid and Barcelona or someone else, I don't know. All I know is that all the kids piled into the cafeteria and we played it on the projector. Talk about a loud cheering section. It was funny to watch their reactions though.

I'm still researching Homesteading a lot, especially in terms of small-scale mortgage-free housing. Look at this awesome dude! I want to be just like him when I'm older :)

Taking full advantage of some cuddle time