Confessions of Eva's Mind

believe it or not I'm still alive

2012-01-24T22:22:00.000-08:00

hey there blogland, it's midnight and January has a few days left, my english has gotten too rusty I think since I don't have nearly a bit of the time I used to spend reading other blogs or whatever I found interesting in the web to practice, or even translate for my friends or just write blog entries here. It's all about working and trying to learn as much as I can at the hospital right now, my life made a 360° turn and though it was really hard to adjust at first I can't see myself doing something different. I have changed in many ways 'cause I actually entered the real world and reality slapped me in the face. I wish I could share so many experiences and stories, but time goes fast, tiredness is always present and most importantly, I don't own an iphone of whatever technologic device with internet connection that could help me share with you these things, so thanks for the ones (if you're out there) that still come around to check on posts. Keep the good attitude and the good vibes around you and you'll bring the positive to your life! ;)

This is a report on my... VACATION!

2010-04-01T11:29:00.000-07:00

Exactly, I've been on vacation since last friday, and somehow I managed to stay away from the computer until last tuesday, a new record for me... WOOHOO! I came back to find a few post on my facebook wall asking where I was and if I was still alive or away on a trip hehe that is not a good sign... means I spend too much time there.... it's just so much fun! haha
Well.... though we had planned going to Petén or Panajachel (lake Atitlán), it hasn't happened yet! both places are probably full of people, but hey... you got to get out at least for a bit right? we all want to go to Pana though, we've been to Petén way to many times and just to imagine how hot it must be there makes me start sweating! ugh!
Anyway... we've been relaxing at home... cleaning (my mom freaks out because the puppy its messing with her clean floors... it drives her crazy... as you might have guessed he's not 'potty trained' yet and every morning there's poop and pee somewhere, exactly why I kept telling my sister a dog was not a good idea for this small apartment, we adore him anyway, he's just sooo cute and funny!) visiting grandma, having fun with my little cousins Diego and Mariana, speaking of them, they are both such big kids, they look older than what they are and incredibly intelligent! it's amazing.
We haven't gone to see any procesions, maybe this weekend, every time we try to leave the house it's like hell because most of the streets and avenues are closed, either because of the procesion or people making rugs! a drive that usually takes about 20 min or less can take about an hour if you're lucky.
I haven't read anything for school... I really don't want to right now... hehe
We got an email from Angelina's mom saying my baby girl has been asking for us! How sweet is that???? AND my mom had just had a dream about Angelina that same day, she was very emotional about it. We think about her and her family everyday but it's hard now to get on the computer on time for the skype call with school and all! We'll figure out a way to talk to her this week!
Weather has been great, a little bit too HOT, but still nice, blue skies and flowers everywhere, what a nice time!
If we do leave, I promise I'll take a lot of pictures!

Meet the new babies in the family!

2010-03-22T22:55:00.000-07:00

Hey! so.. I'm still alive! hehe it's been very busy as you can imagine, but... I think it was about time to write a post and even add some pics!
As I mentioned in the previous post, baby Marianna joined the family last January and she is now 2 months old! she's a big and precious curly girl, seriously, it might be that I have weak arms again since I haven't hold a baby for quite a while now, but Man! she is heavy!
And now... for a big surprise, we now have a new and furry baby! It's a puppy! Well, it's my sister's puppy... her boyfriend brought it home during one of his visits. I have to say that I am not a pet lover, I mean it's not that I don't like pets... it's just that I know they are a big responsability and I realize we live in a small apartment and spent most of our time out!
Anyway... my sister kept making comments about how she wanted one, of course... she got one.
Goodness, the puppy is so cute and tiny!! I am now drooling for him, he's our new baby now. I guess we needed something like that. Though is a lot of work because he needs to be potty trained, and meanwhile that happens we have to clean all of his messes (you know what I mean :s ) and try not to spoil him too much. He's already a brat, a lovely one by the way!
In other news... there were several protest today, bus drivers around the city joined to close most of the roads and obviously very few busses were working... meaning that.... We all had a day off! and that... violence is becoming too much to bear and things can get wild. This fear we live with is turning people into savages. At least that's how I see it.

Let's see how the coming Holy Week goes... concerning me... I can't wait for some vacation and family time, not to mention all the hours of sleep I will recover! And I will actually have decent breakfasts, no more chips, cookies and peanuts because I didn't have time to eat cereal or fix anything to eat later! That diet is not helping at all, even if I have to climb four flights of stairs both to get home or to our classrooms.

Now, on to the pics... (it's late and I need to get as much sleep as possible and a mosquito has eaten most of my leg!)

Meet Toby, the puppy!! isn't he adorable??

Me and my mom holding Mariana, I think she was 1.5 months then

This is a birthday party, from last saturday, here I am with four of my bff's!
Monica and Ana Jose in the sides and Ana Lucia and me in the middle

This is a cute pic of Diego (age 5) and his baby sister Mariana (2months old) they both look alike and they are both big!

This is Diego holding the puppy, we named him Toby, though everybody seems lo call him different names!!

This is me, holding Mariana, it's hard to notice her curly hair in this one.

By the way, school is going great! ;) Oh and I can't forget to mention that we haven't seen Angelina and her family for a little while now and that kills me but really free time is really narrow these days. I have to figure out a way to see her SOON! I miss her!

yep... school has kept me THAT busy

2010-02-15T16:24:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been... many weeks? I have no idea, but one thing I know for sure, it's been BUSY!
I have the biggest dark circles under my eyes, and almost every day I get a comment like... "you've been really busy don't you?" or "you sure didn't get much sleep last night", it's a little annoying but then I think of the time when I have to stay for 36 hours in the hospital (next year!) and wonder what will the patients think when they look at my pretty face lol!

I have learned a lot, done and touched so many new things. Every day I marvel at how perfect we are made, there is a God out there and he loves us SO MUCH! and man! there are some nasty diseases out there, so lets keep everything clean, lets have a healthy lifestyle and hope for the best. So far so good, grades are good, in fact, I have one of the best grades of my group in the last Pathology test! Woohoo! Now, I have a Microbiology test next Friday so I'm working on that, though it makes me nervious to know that it's one of the most difficult ones according to the teachers!

We have a new member of the family, little Marianna was born January 20th. She is just the cutest baby girl and she has curly hair! Diego is now a big brother and loves his sister to death, he's so protective of "his baby girl". She is one month old now and getting prettier by the day!
Speaking of months... that's how long it has been since the last time we skyped with Angelina and her family. I miss her so much!! sometimes I think I am over the fact that she is gone but we all miss her so much. She marked our lives in a big way, specially for me and my mom, and it's not easy to let go of the strong feelings towards that little girl, 'cause she is no longer the baby we took care of. School has kept me busy even on the weekends, that or we just use that free time to go out together as a family, or simply rest! The girls are so beautiful, and I just wish I could hold them in my arms and kiss their chicks and tell them how much I love them in person, but that just seems so far away... I keep thinking that I won't have much free time as the years go by and this dream is not looking any closer to reality :'(

Ok, it's late and I better go to bed, I might not sleep at all tomorrow, to end up this post... we had two earthquakes on Tuesday, one at 5:00 am and the other one around 10:00am, the second one was the most scary, it was 5.7 degrees in the Richter scale, how I hate earthquakes... I freak out everytime and it's just awful, specially after what happened in Haiti, we had one like that in 1976 and it was just as terrible. Anyway... I'll try to post more often... won't make any promises but next time I'll try to post pictures as well!

back to school!

2010-01-18T16:53:00.000-08:00

so everything is going back to the routine, let's say the weather is almost back to normal... it's still a little chilly for my taste hehe though it's sunny now, traffic jams, early wake ups, spending most of our days out, oh and I must not forget.... the earthquakes!
it was my first day at school today as well as my sister's and we were all welcomed by a 6 degree earthquake in the Richter scale! Man! that was scary! specially since I was in a crowded class in the fourth floor of the building!
As I see it I will have less and less time to write here because of school and just living life, I don't want to stop though I wish I could write about so many things going on here. But I need to set all my energy into becoming a doctor, a very good one.

My little cousin Marianna will be born on wednesday, my aunt has a c-section programed for that day. We are so excited, in my mom's side of the family me and my sister, we've been the only girls for sooo long!

There is and unbelievable twist to the Rosenberg case, aparently he planned his own death!! What in the world?? That's what the CICIG found out after about a year of investigations.
Plus... the awful earthquake in Haiti... the images are heart breaking, this is the time when we have to show our brothers our support in every way.
Lot's to say about these subjects but not enough time... need to read an article about innate inmunity... see ya next time!

I'll leave you with a pic... just because I love my brother and sister

C O L D !!!!

2010-01-11T21:10:00.000-08:00

we broke a record today, it's incredibly cold here! I mean, it even snowed in the top of the Tajumulco Volcanoe, one of the highest of the continent. We are hitting the 39ºF this morning at 8am in Guate City!! and they said the temps could get lower tonight and tomorrow!
Man! this is not my type of weather.... It's hard to move my fingers! I mean... we could have snow!! something I would never even dream of.
And just to cope with it all... we had an earthquake! It wasn't very strong though.
My brother starts school tomorrow, I'm going to miss him :( my days of glory are almost gone, I start school on Monday, I'm excited though.

brrrrr! that's all for today... I need to warm my hands!!

Holiday Pics, as promised

2010-01-07T20:15:00.000-08:00

Ok, they are not in a chronological order but anyway... this is from a little trip to the coast, where my grandpa works, he couldn't be with us to celebrate the new year so we brought the party to him hehe

New Year's Cuties, we had an awesome time

ROCKIN' 2010

Can you tell we were having fun? Peace everyone! haha

Me and my daddy, I look so much like him!!

The boys enjoying the fireworks on New Year's, it was not as big a display as Christmas but it was still cool

Happy New Year mommy!! We love you so much!

Lil' bro

Family!!!!

Bro and cousin before San Silvestre race, Dec 31st, this is a big tradition for us, my grandpa and uncle have run it since they were really young, this was the first year grandpa couldn't be there but he was real proud to see his grandsons running it

Molly's bday, Dec 29, she had chocolate and cheese cake and grandma did some delicious empanadas! Happy Bday Sisi!

Sibling's Love

Mommy recieving her present from grandma, you can feel the love in this one haha

The boys, Christmas day

This one's from Christmas celebration with my dad's family, here we are with most of the girls, including the newest adition, my niece (!) Ariela.

My little sweetie, Diego, he's not into picture taking but I managed to get him to pose to "show his new Optimus Prime action figure"

And last but now least, Christmas cuties, check out the bag full of karaoke cd's!

A belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

2010-01-04T08:56:00.000-08:00

I think I have written several posts all with differentholiday titles and I never get to finish writting them!
Well, we had a very nice celebration at both Christmas and New Year's Eve. We always have such fun together, the food was delicious, my grandma cooked for Christmas and my mom did all the New Year's menu. Now it is definitely time to start a diet but we still have Diego's 5th birthday, which was last monday (they are having a bday party on Sat)! and then my mom's bday, which was yesterday, Jan 6th. We had pizza and a delicious tres leches cake, yumm!

see? now diet is a necessity.

I can't believe 2009 is over, it was a good year overall, I am thankful for all the blessings upon me and my family, for Guate... let's say we opened our eyes to many things and there were a few steps forward, though there are many others to regret and be sad for. Hope 2010 has some good things for us, but so far so good. I'm confident there are great things ahead.
I am excited for this new year at school, I have to work very hard to move forward and make that light at the end of the tunnel look brighter than ever!

Now, for you to have a better picture of how much fun we had celebrating the start of 2010, I'll leave you with some pics

here I am with my sisi

ok, for some reason blogger won't let me upload more pics so I'll try again tomorrow!

Luces Campero

2009-12-23T08:45:00.000-08:00

Well, again I'm way late on my posts, there is just so much to do these days... shopping, shopping, oh and more shopping. I think I haven't gained any extra pounds because of all the walking in the malls! We are almost done with presents, thank goodness, and we also bought a 20lb turkey for Christmas dinner, the thing is huge!
Holidays in Guate start with La Quema del Diablo, I didn't post anything because I was working and spent pretty much all day there, when my mom picked me up after work it was all over. Plus this year a youth organization started a program to recycle paper instead of burning, I really like this idea because the planet doesn't need thousands of people burning stuff right now and also because they were going to sell everything they gathered to a recycling company and use the money to buy food for families in need.

Well, on the 12th we had the infamous Luces Campero, it has been this way since I have memory. Family comes to my grandma's house, which is like having honor seats to watch the show. So many people comes to watch them that the traffic police has to close the streets, all for a half hour firework and music show.
Little Diego (almost 5yo) really enjoyed it this time, in the past he was too scared of all the noise and the exploitions. I have some video of the highlights of the show, you can hear him in the back squealing with joy haha. The show is called La Noche de los Deseos (the night of wishes) so he thought every firework was a chance for a wish, wanna know what he asked for? "MUCHO DINERO!" (LOTS OF MONEY!) haha he can crack us up. We had a great time.
Like many other countries, it has gotten cold here, very cold, it rained for a couple of days but we are having sunshine again which is great, otherwise all the fireworks joy at midnight would have been ruined!

Now, on to the video and pics! It's a bit long but it's worth it

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

p.s. This is post # 100! finally!!

had a crappy fist day at work

2009-12-15T10:26:00.000-08:00

yes, it was awful! I had NO IDEA of what I was doing!! I kept getting calls I didn't know what to do, I was in panic, I wrote down everything and said I was going to send their money back, redelivery, whatever the system told me to, but have no idea if I actually did!?
I scored a 100 in all the training tests, but those where nothing compared to actually taking calls!
I left the place horrified, I felt like a big failure, and the worst part is that I am dreading the time to go back for another 5 hours of hell!!
I might be exaggerating , but I feel like I dont need to go thru all that but I don't want to be a quitter though by this thoughts I already am!! It never crossed my mind that it would be so hard!
Jesus!!! Help me!!!!!

Ok, I took a little time while writing this post, and decided I'm going to face my fears, at least for today, maybe it will be better right? (please God make it better!!). I don't want to feel like a loser and regret the fact that I didn't try. (big sigh...) Let's do this.

And for a personal record... Silvia Navarro my fav actress inspired me not to give up on this kind of issues.

This blog neglecting girl has a job

2009-12-09T22:20:00.000-08:00

Yes, this was my 3rd day. I am on training for 1-800-flowers.com, did my interview last wednesday, another interview on the phone with a new yorker (that went very well, I had compliments on my english!) and I was hired on friday. They are offering temporary positions since it's a high season for sales and costumer service, so instead of the 3 week training we are going to have 1 week and they we are thrown to the "platform" to recieve calls from all over the world, especially the US.
I will probably work there for 3 weeks, at least I can earn some money to buy my books for next year, and maybe, just maybe some clothes and shoes?
I am not aware of many things happening outside since I will sit for 8 hours (2 to 10pm) in front of a computer and talking on the phone, but we are having very nice weather, traffic is starting to be a problem with the holidays getting closer and we set our tree and Chirstmas stuff until today, it looks really pretty...
I feel bad because my mom has to stay up until 10pm to pick me up, I will have to work even on sundays and probably Christmas day or New Year's Eve! :s

Happy Thanksgiving day

2009-11-26T19:20:00.000-08:00

To all my american friends reading this blog, we don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Guate but what better day to be thankful for friendship and all the blessings in our lives?! Of course we have to be thankful everyday.
Well, the days when we stuff ourselves with delicious food are coming so I'm just going to be patient... I already have a few more pounds on me so...

We had another earthquake today... God! It was soooo scary!! I know I always say that but this one was really terrible! My mom was so close to a panic attack, I was on the verge of tears and we were about to run down stairs and out of the building when it stopped.
According to the news it was 6 degrees in the Richter scale and happened in El Salvador, though we could feel it in many places here.
There were reports of material damages in houses and buildings but no one got hurt, thank goodness.

My grandma is back from her trip, she's very happy, had a great time and came back with lots of funny stories to tell, believe me they are all very special. It's great that she got to be with her brothers and sisters, she hardly ever sees them, specially sinces my great-grandma passed a couple of years ago. We've got to make this kind of reunions more often!

We got to skype with "sweetpea" (Angelina decided that is her new name) and her family. We got to meet her aunt and uncle, her grandma and our dear friend Joan were there too. Andrea and Angelina are so cute! Andrea showed us her pink skates and Angelina just wanted to sing the "monkey's song" and jump in her trampolin. Truly adorable.
I am thankful for Angelina, for her wonderful family, for getting to see her grow up and just know how loved she is and how happy she is with her family. We sure miss her a lot, and think about her everyday, but we know she is doing great. And that brings peace to our minds and hearts.

holiday season!

2009-11-18T13:10:00.000-08:00

Yes, holiday season has officialy started in Guate, Christmas decorations everywhere, the Arbol Gallo lights up every night and Avenida Reforma too, it has been like that for 24 years now, its a tradition that started in Guate City and now is done all around the country. We even have a Chirstmas parade today, not that we are going to watch it, it's a little bit far from home.

We are having GORGEOUS weather, and I can't believe how fast time passes! It's my grandma's birthday today but she went away in a trip to her home town, to celebrate with her twin sister, more sisters, nephews and nieces who live there and we hardly ever see. It's hard for her to leave like this, she doesn't like to leave her house and the students living there are still going to school and she doesn't have a rest until they are gone. Anyway, I will have to stay at her house until she comes back, that's next wednesday, I am the only one who doesn't have anything better to do :s haha Oh well... I am armed with my laptop and books and TV and that will have to do.
Oh and cousin Brandon's 14th birthday was yesterday, we didn't see him all day but we sent him his present and they (his brother and my brother) headed to the mall to buy more Yu-gi-oh! (or however that is spelled?) cards for their collection.
We had pizza and ice cream cake last night, it was yummie and we had a good time. I have no picture since my sister took the camera :(

BUT... we got pictures from Angie's mom a few days ago, their 09 Christmas pics, both girls looked beautiful in their dresses and hair bows! Goodness I love them to death! I'm leaving you with my fav pic of the bunch!

I LOVE YOU BABY GIRL!

p.s. I have a new nephew! he was born on wednesday o thursday, not sure :s he's name is Javier (everyone calls him Javi!) he's really big and and beautiful! When did I stop having cousins and start having nieces and nephews??!! (sigh...)

feeling the winter

2009-11-06T20:26:00.000-08:00

winter is showing its face around here. It's been a few days now with rain, cold, clouds, you know, that kind of day when all you want is to stay in bed all warm and cozy. Not my kind of weather really, this year has been pretty hot, the rainy season is coming waayy late. It means we are using sweaters, scarf, boots or sneakers, I even wore gloves yesterday... GLOVES!! and I am Miss I.Always.wear.Sandals for Christ sake!
Anyway, we did have a couple of hours of sunshine today, then the rain came back :( , this is all because of a hurricane near Nicaragua that is now heading north. They said in the news the rain will be over by the 10th and then we can expect more cold. Great! ¬¬

I got a call from the call center I was trying to work for, they wanted to hire me!! too bad the schedules they were offering were way different from the times my mom can drive me. And as dangerous as it has been around lately, I rather stay home with no money but safe. I mean seriously, there have been attacks to police cars and 17 to 20 people are killed every day due to violence. I had to say no.

News from the US, little Angie, my sweet girl, it's going to school now with her sister. Her mommy told us that according to her teacher, Miss Megan (she has mentioned her on skype talks), she is the smartest in her group and is really good paying attention in class and follows instructions very well! Believe me she is sooo smart, I mean she had words at 9 months old! and at age 2 she has 4 and 5 words sentences! God I love this child to pieces.
We get to see both babies every friday now, which is great, though within a week there is not much to talk about, our life is not that exciting. lol!

Have a great week!

xoxo

the pics... finally

2009-11-03T15:33:00.000-08:00

I am so sorry it took me so long to upload the pics, I've been using the laptop lately and I have no pics or anything there yet.

I'll let the pics do all the talking and show the fun. I'm doing a double post and I'm adding pics from my night out last week and some from November 1st, when we celebrate "Dia de todos los Santos". Families gather, visit the graveyards to put flowers to their gone loved ones and eat Fiambre a delicious dish with all kinds of ingredients and it's yummie!!
For some reason some pics are a little grainy but I think they do the job...

Now, here are some pics of November 1st at my grandma's. I have no pics of the graveyard because my sister took the camera, we went there on the 31st because it gets way too crowded on the 1st, even if it was a day before the holiday there was a lot of peoples and flowers where everywhere, pretty nice! Abuelita Mary made a beautiful flower arrangement for my uncle's grave.

we had a little photoshoot right before eating, we are all so grown up! He looks so proud!

Abuelito Tuti ROCKS!!

Grandchildren

a close-up to the Fiambree! DELICIOUS!

we really enjoyed the time together, we bought this Fiambre from my uncle's mother in law. My grandma used to make it herself but it takes time and money to accomplish this.

with our bellies FULL!

NIGHT OUT WITH FRIENDS!!!

"little" Max being funny ¬¬

sipping some "playa azul" - those were good!

MARGARITAS!!

I don't know about you but I think the waiters shirt's were AWFUL!!!

I think we look cute in this one, I love the blouse I was wearing (thanks daddy!)

Can you tell we were having fun??!!

cute gurls!! Those drinks are "sex in the beach"... what a name!

After four rounds of drinks and food, we headed (well not all of us, just me and 3 more girls) to Ana Lucia's house for a sleep-over night. I wont post any pics of that since all the glamour was gone and we just chatted until 3 am. My mom showed up at 8:30 am when we were just waking up... the woman can live without me lol... we are inseparable.

Hope you liked them!

xoxo

wondering what happened?

2009-10-30T19:08:00.000-07:00

Well, no job, my guess is that they didn't like the fact that I am a med student and I am most likely to quit after a couple of months. They didn't want to give me neither the full time nor the morning part time schedule! arghh! They did point the fact that my english and accent is pretty good and that if I stayed I could be promoted quickly... anyway what they were offering did not work well for us, the whole idea was to drop both me and my sister in the morning and then pick us up at night... Anyway... I don't know if you picked it from the last post but I didn't really want to work! (don't tell my mom! and...was it really obvious?) Oh and please don't think I screwed up my own interview, Im just not that kind of person, I gave my best, they didn't want me.
It was a call center for a Texas Energy Company, basically they answer calls from people who has trouble with their electric bills, whose energy service was cut or whatever... my sister said you get yelled at all the time and people are very rude. As soon as she noticed what account it was she said "This account sucks! don't take the job".... my answer? ¬¬

In other news, I opened a facebook account for my mom today, a lot of her childhood are showing up and they all ask for a fb account, she had to have one! we spent over an hour searching picture files and picking pics to upload to her profile! she picked 8, she wanted more but I was starting to get exasperated, seriously we have tons of pictures!

It's little Andrea's Birthday today so a BIG

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY!!

for her, she is such a beautiful child, inside and out.
We love her so very much!

I'm sorry I will leave the pics for tomorrow, this thing just won't upload them and it's making everything go super S-L-O-W!

xoxo

Night out , Update & New Job??

2009-10-28T19:21:00.000-07:00

I got my grades today and I am oficially off of school for this year, I am on vacation (finally!!!)
I was really longing for some free time and so I thought this next two months I would be home with my mom and brother and keep feeding my internet addiction as long as I could until it was time to put full focus on my studies again... WRONG!
I have a job interview tomorrow, if they hire me I'll be working full time for the next two months doing costumer service in a call center getting calls from all over America... this call center has several accounts that provide different assistance of which I have no idea. I have to go under a training period of time and then I'll start answering calls. Not my idea of a vacation to be honest but at least I will have my own money for the first time, and I can even get Christmas presents for my family and some clothes for myself which I really really need! Ooohh! and save money so we can get our visas! I HAVE TO SEE MY BABY GIRL!!
I'll let you know how the interview goes... I got the call like an hour after I sent the email, so now can you tell how much the fact of speaking english can help you when you want a job??

I so enjoy seeing Angie and her family every friday night, I guess that will have to change. Angelina is getting so big, she's going to school now with her big sister. They are both so smart! I love the fact that she knows who we are and that we love her beyond words.
She is quite the dancer let me tell you, and LOVES her mommy, she gets prettier by the day and her temper is the same than when she was here with us. Little Andrea on the other hand is full of energy, she never stops but is the sweetest little girl, LOVES her mommy and sister and has a crush on my brother LOL she goes wild every time she sees him. They are both super cute!

Oh I went out with some friends yesterday, we went to this place called LaPlaya (the beach) they pull this thing on tuesdays and thursdays where all the drinks are 4x1 for women!! we had to take advantage of that! LOL we were celebrating we are on vacation and free of school for long enough, next year will be rough and only to get even more rough in the years to come... living in the hospital and stuff... (sigh).... long and hard road ahead. Lets pray for the best.
Pictures are to be posted tomorrow! stay tuned!

xoxo

I am not alone! :D

2009-10-21T11:51:00.000-07:00

A friend posted this at Facebook and I loved it, seems like I am not alone in this world, even with people older than me, I agree with what she says in a lot of ways, even if it doesn't really have to do with my religion or lifestyle (which are very different by the way). And it's my choice to stay this way, I know I am not missing anything too great. It's just not my time yet, and if the time never comes I won't need anything from anybody to be happy and have a fulfilling life!

27 year old virgin

P.D. I know, I know... long time no post... its been kind of crazy around here lately, it's not that there are no posting themes, I actually write posts in my head all the time, just not enough time or energy to do it... plus I am a huge FB junkie :s!!
Now that my finals are "over" ¬¬ I might have more time to post or take pictures to post or whatever... (did I sound mad or sarcastic?... that's another post... ha!)

more pics & video!

2009-09-21T14:16:00.000-07:00

I made this slide because it's easier to upload them and I also added a couple of videos from the independence parades we witnessed while we were in Flores, Petén.
Watching the parades brought so many memories to me, I used to be one of those children and young men and women, wearing my costume or uniform or holding the school flag or the guatemalan flag, well the videos in the slide were taken at night but there are also parades at noon, which are terrible for the kids, I remember losing my skin from the sun burns! ugh!
Anyway, it's amazing how much work and thought they put into the costumes and the dancing and acting shows they present at the park or wherever they end up.
Oh how I wanted to be in those little shows, or play something in the school band, but I was too shy and small to carry any instrument! lol!

Hope you like it, though I warn you it's a little long :s Sorry if there are some pics that I had already posted!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

also, we've been having some hot weather lately along with some rain. I am actually glad the rain is coming back, since this has been the driest year from the last 30 years and is causing serious trouble with the harvest all over the country, and at the same time leaving whole families with literally nothing to eat, I hate to see children and parents pleading for food and help. Thank goodness this has brought generosity out of a lot of people both here in Guate and internationally. This independence day really showed how we want to make this a better country and that we are starting to show how much we all love Guate.

we are back!

2009-09-16T13:46:00.000-07:00

We came back home on Monday evening, to be honest we could not stand the HOT weather any longer! We felt like we were melting, it got better after the sun went down, but still it was really hot. This has been a very hot year, even here in the city!
Don't get me wrong, we had a great time, lots of beautiful sights, and we got to see some friends and family that we hadn't seen in a long while.
I think that the best thing of all was spending time together, we had a lot of that in the road. It took us 9 and a half hours to get to Flores, a ride that would usually take about 7 hours. That's because it was raining heavily in some parts of the highway and then we got stuck in a trailer/truck wreck. Anyway, we were laughing and singing the whole time in the car, and thank goodness for the A/C!

We had a good time at Flores, even with the hot weather and all, it has changed a lot since the time we used to live there, there are a lot more hotels and nice things like a new levee, which is not finished yet but almost...
The opening of the stadium was really fun, lots of family members, good food and an astonishing view of the Petén Itzá Lake. Seems like my uncle has helped that little town a lot, it is really nice.

Well, enough yapping and lets get into the pictures, I know that is what you're waiting for

Here we are... having a photoshoot while we waited in the road

This is one of the sights on the way to the stadium

The sights of San José, Petén... this is another soccer field in the town

The sight from the new stadium, we used the view to strike some poses, my sister is a natural...

Here's my brother sporting the family futbol uniform, they played twice that day

The team, all uncles and nephews got their uniforms

Mom and Dad showing some love lol!

The levee (is that the right word?)

Nice! I think we look cute in this one! We stayed there for about 15 minutes and that was it... it was 10 am and it was about 100.4º!

This is the island's church, it was way too hot to be inside with it full of people so we waited outside and just listened to the sermon

Here we are, sitting in the park infront of the church

Ok, I will include more pics in my next post so stay tuned! I have a LOT!

RoadTrip!

2009-09-11T08:20:00.000-07:00

Oh Yeah! we are going on a trip to our home town, well, my parents hometown. There is a big family reunion there and luckily we all have vacation, which is pretty rare. We leave today at noon and will be coming back probably on Monday.
We are going to Flores, Petén. A little island that has changed a lot from the time we used to live there and it's pretty nice and most important... it's HOT! I mean the weather is super hot there which is one of the reasons we left.
Anyway, we are determined to have fun and enjoy this few days together, on the road for 7 hours if we are lucky and don't have to stop many times on our way :s
I'm looking forward to see some old friends and family that we haven't seen in a while.
It's been a crazy week, my dad's bday last wednesday, aunt Sofi's bday on thursday and we are leaving today!
Promise to take a lot of pics to share with you when I come back! It truly is a beautiful place!

P.S. in other news I got my grades from the last exams.... I did Great! Oh my goodness I am proud of myself; I got my hands into a female corpse to check the reproductive organs; Independence day next tuesday, September 15th! Lots of parades and flags around. I love Guatemala!

August Birthdays Part 2

2009-09-05T14:36:00.000-07:00

That's my brother's birthday, he turned the big 16!
He is such a good boy, I love him so much, I don't know if it because he spends so much time with us girls but he is really a good boy. He is so into sports, seriously he is all about training, playing soccer or whatever sport he finds.
I love how responsible and how caring he is. Oh and he is so handsome!
Well as most birthdays we celebrate, we just ordered pizza (that's because my brother wanted, cause my mom had cooked dinner already, he insisted he deserved to have something else...) and had some cake. Then we just talked and had a good time together!

By the way, I am soo late in my post, I have a couple of drafts waiting to be finished!

This is my little brother, Jose Antonio, but we call him Tonito! I love him sooo much!

The birthday cake! Yumm!

I love my brother and sister!

The girls!enjoying the pizza, you can see my dad and my sister's boyfriend in this one

August Birthdays part 1

2009-08-19T15:23:00.000-07:00

August 12th is my uncle's birthday. I have to admit I have no idea of how old he is but we sure love him a ton! He is my mom's brother, the only one since uncle Byron passed away a few years ago :,(
Tio Marito (as we call him) has a great sense of humor and it's a great dad, they are now expecting their second child (fingers crossed hoping it's a girl! My sister and I are the only girls in my mom's side of the family).

Ok, his mother in law cooked a very special dinner for him, so they invited the rest of our family and tia Sofi's family, well... enough talking let's get to the pics!

first of all, the kids! can you tell they love the Power Rangers?

The Family of four

Birthday boy and his pretty nieces! ;)

after the fabulous dinner!

If you know anyone who is still in process

2009-08-14T10:11:00.000-07:00

(I just found this in an adoption forum, hope it helps anyone out there... Praying for all of you to get your babies home!)

I just got this information from the Guate900 organization. If you know anyone who is in-process, please pass it on.

The US Department of State is now requesting contact information from ALL of the Guatemala 900 in-process families. If you are an in-process family, please email them immediately at AskCI@state.gov . In the SUBJECT line of the email put: "Guatemala 900 families with pending cases". Include your name, email, phone number, City and State.

Dept of State is apparently planning a conference call with the Guatemala 900 families on Friday, August 21.

Semillas de Amor, Casa Quivera, and Santa Lucia families should NOT email again, as there will be a separate conference call for these families.

This new request if for all OTHER Guatemala 900 families.

Looks like Dept of State is aware of our pending congressional letter to Hillary Clinton. Instructions for that letter will be coming soon.

Thank God for Skype!

2009-08-13T13:05:00.000-07:00

(First, I am sorry to be away for so long... school and life are keeping me busy and this post has been actually hanging since almost a week ago!)

That's right! Thanks to skype I got to see my baby girl and her family LIVE!!
OMG!!! we were sooo excited! as usual I had tears in my eyes, Angie is getting soo big! she's talking and now she can do and say so many new things. If talking with them on the phone was incredible seeing her LIVE and hear her saying "I love you" and blowing kisses was the best thing on earth!
Now, we have been using skype for about 5 days straight and you might find it odd but sometimes it seems like there is not much to say but to stare at Angie with a huge smile on our faces... I mean... the fact that I am pretty much the only one talking in this side of the screen doesn't help much, but it's awesome!
At least now Angie actually knows who we are again, not only and pictures or from what her mommy tells her about us or from the phone calls.
I wish I could get thru the screen and hold her! and her sister is the most adorable little girl!
She is sooo active. I find it unbelievable how kids show their personality at such early ages, Angie is the same girl we met at 3 days old, so calm, smart and loves to cuddle.

Now, if I could only get to visit them!! I have high expectations on that!!

Missing this sweet little face :'(

2009-08-04T07:34:00.000-07:00

Girls Night Out

2009-07-31T13:14:00.000-07:00

A few fridays ago, I had a night out with my friends from high school. I have known them from 6th grade, when we moved to the city. I was eleven years old and now I'm 21! We've been friends for 10 years!
We don't see each other very often since got out of school, but every time we get together for a birthday or whatever we have a blast... It is very very hard to get our whole group to be in the same place at the same time. Luckily my friend Fallon offered her house (she calls it house... we call it mansion) for the meeting... so we could stay over to sleep... her parents and most of her siblings are away in Spain!
0ne thing I know for sure... we are BFF!!

We talked about a lot of things, like who has kids.... who's married... (OMG! can you believe that?), our teachers, boyfriends (I am not included in that but still like to hear about it lol)... school... anyway, girl talk. We had a LOT of FUN!

on to the pics!

Here I am, pretending to play the guitar... and loving it!

Yep... there were cards games and music and drinks and pizza!
(don't worry... all of those bottles where there just to be looked at!)
Oh and Rita and Nadyesdha are not in this pic...

Meet our friend... Mr. Chile! The only "man" around!

Jumping in Fallon's trampolin in our PJs after breakfast... So much fun!

The view from the house' backyard. Lovely isn't?

Update on the sick family

2009-07-25T14:26:00.000-07:00

Well, guess what? they are all feeling better now!

My mom did have some very bad couple of days where she didn't even leave her room for more than 10 min and then head back to bed. She even said her sight was blurry at what point, probably from the fever... poor mommy.

Meanwhile I had to catch on with all the chores around, even cooking, something in which I have no talent at all, well my sister did help with the food, though she dissapeared the minute I mentioned dirty dishes. (typical!)

Well, my mom and brother do have a little cough still, Oh! and I remain virus free! woohoo! the least of things I need now is a cold... especially one like what they had. They had "influeza A" and not the H1N1... thank goodness!

Mom is back and so far we put ourselves into sterilize the house. Bad news is my dad is home and not feeling so good, aparently he catched a cold in Xela though it's not near to what my mom and brother had.

We read in the paper that a lady who's daughter had the H1N1 took her to one of the national hospitals to get her treatment and the guards in the front door didn't even let her in because their are not treating the virus unless the patient had another serious health condition besides the H1N1!! I mean.... what??? They say there is not enough medicine... then we are lucky that we haven't had rain lately... I can't even imagine what is going to happen when rain comes and the disease increases!

UPDATED: I just heard in the news that there are 7 people death from the swine flu in the last few days. There are 458 cases in Guate, and over 200 cases were reported in Guate city.

Swine Flu???

2009-07-22T12:23:00.000-07:00

last weekend, I met with some friends from high school for a sleepover. I had a blast but was completely exhausted by the time my mom picked me up. After I ate some lunch my mom informed me my brother is sick with a bad cold and has been running a fever and shows signs of a developing cough, even feeling that bad he insists he has to go to the movies with his friends t0 watch the latest Harry Potter movie. (which in his opinion sucks... I haven't seen it so I can't say)

We picked him up from the movies and his cough is a lot worse and he is NOT feeling good. We got him some meds and went to bed... next day he has a very HIGH fever and all of the symptoms are still there plus a headache! Now, all of this is not any good since his school suspended classes for a week after they found out there was a kid infected with the A H1N1!!!
Next thing we know my mom is sick too.... headache, her throat hurting, cough, fever... she didn't let the cold to throw her in bed, but I can tell she is not feeling very good.

Then today, while my mom was taking me and my sister to university (my sister started just a couple of weeks ago and we are thrilled!) she complained of a bad headache! 3 hours later she called asking my mom to pick her up as soon as possible because she was feeling miserable with a headache. She vomited twice, fell asleep as soon as we got home and woke up with a fever. (yikes!)

Me?? So far so good. I don't have one sigle symptom as for right now... we'll see tomorrow morning.... I know I am going to get it... no matter how far away I stay from them or how many times I wash my hands.... (sigh)..... at least my lab is done already (and I think I did very good!)

My brother is feeling better though he feels a little weak and still has a cough. My sister... is in the living room chatting with her boyfriend.... typical Molly...
Everyone seems to have this kind of flu or knows someone who has it. I think it's a variation of the A H1N1 virus, equally infectious but not as strong as the actual virus is... I hope.

blog slacker!

2009-07-16T15:36:00.000-07:00

I have been such a slacker this past few weeks!
I'm supposed to post at least a picture or comment now and then right?
Anyway, it has been a little busy at school but I think I am handling it pretty well (I hope I am guessing right!). Lab this week went well, not great but well, it's my groups luck that we keep getting the harsh drs! I think I did a very good impression this past week! :)

So... what's going on 'round here?
We finally have my mom's car back! It took almost 3 weeks to fix it, the mechanic told my mom the car had a brand new engine, with all new pieces... hope it's true... having to stay home for more than 3 days straight is not fun. and I missed my Abuelita Mary (my granny) soooo much! It's an almost everyday thing to visit her... anyway.. so far so good

P.S. This post has been saved as a draft about 5 times now so I am posting it even when it doesn't have one interesting fact! lol I do have some interesting post to come though... so stay tuned!

They finally got the dresses!

2009-07-01T21:11:00.000-07:00

Remember the pretty dress we sent for my baby girl a few weeks ago?!
They finally got them! I was seriously starting to think they would never get them but I guess our mail does work! ... kind of in slow motion but works!
Her mommy sent us some super cute pics of Angie holding her dress with a huge smile on her face!
And in one of the videos she says "Thank you.... pretty dress.... love you.... byebye!"
She can melt my heart every time!

Oh and I did great on my lab today! Wohoo! I was kind of worried about that because about midnight my eyes started to hurt so I decided to take "a half an hour nap" that lasted until 5am!! LOL
I should have learned by now that those naps never work... well hardly ever work.

School officially started today for everyone, I never had any vacation except for the official holidays. Swine flu is still around there, still spreading but it doesn't seem to be a priority.
No news in the Rosenberg thing, the CICIG is working on it despite every obstacle.

Happy Bday to ME!! & Blog's 1st Anniversary!

2009-06-27T21:51:00.000-07:00

So, it was my 21st bday last friday, and as I mentioned before I had planned a dinner out with my friends from school. It was suposed to be a mexican food restaurant with free margaritas but knowing a lot of people would not be able to show up I decided to go to TGI Friday's.
I had a great time with my closest friends, I had some yummie food and... there was a lot of gossiping and laughing oh! and zero alcohol just a lot of iced tea ha

! They made me dance on my chair! LOL! I had really high heels so at one moment I thought I was going to fall off! haha!

Next day, my actual bday was pretty normal, we had the cake at night because we waited for my dad to come home from Quetzaltenango, my mom's car broke (that really sucks!) so that means we are going to stay home unless it's too necessary (yikes!) because it will take abour a week to fix the car! we'll see how that goes :s especially with the big storms, thundering and lightening we have been having lately.

I had a ton of walls posted at my facebook, phonecalls and texts and I appreciate each and everyone's good wishes. Thank you so much!
(We had a call from my baby's mom but we were not home! She is just so kind to us, I love her so much for sharing her babies with us and for loving my sweet Angie so much!)

And last but not least...
HAPPY 1st BLOG ANNIVERSARY TO CONFESSION'S OF EVA'S MIND!!!
And once again Thank you everyone who has followed my adventures thru this year!
Enough said, now on to the pics!

oh oh! and RIP Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett! How sad!

My birthday is coming!

2009-06-24T10:29:00.000-07:00

It's my 21st birthday next friday, June 26! Oh my Lord how did that happen??
This is it, from here I am starting to be a grown up, I'm getting old! :( LOL
At least I am an adult everywhere in the world now, and some day I will get to VEGAS! haha
My birthday also means its the first anniversary for my blog! Wow! I didn't even hit the 100 posts but I really enjoy writing here. And I made some wonderful blogger friends! I that is just GREAT, I love it!

My friends and I are planning a dinner out tomorrow to celebrate since tomorrow is Teacher's Day and is an official holiday we have NO SCHOOL! and that doesn't happen very often.
We are going to a mexican food restaurant with FREE margaritas for the girls! (yikes!)
I'll post how that goes... it's not easy to get my friends all together in a place at the same time but we'll give it a try.

Also, it's sunny again! I hope it stays this way at least for a few days, rain sucks! haha

Now we are getting some winter... & Happy Father's Day!

2009-06-19T21:39:00.000-07:00

Ok, since last Monday it's been rainy and just a little bit chilly. We are going to be having rain, thunder and lightening for a while. It's worst in some places around the country and it sucks if don't own a car and have to go out being splashed by cars or having to use the city bus :s

Last year 97% of all the roads in the country had severe damage because of the nonstopping rain. They did repair most of it but as usual they didn't use the best material to fix things so we are already seeing some of the huge holes again! ugh! As a plus we have more traffic and a lot of car accidents and believe it or not 2 little girls and 2 women died after a mud slide went over their house!
Last year 69 people died this way. These people live in very dangerous places, near cliffs or inside the cliffs, an awfully dangerous place to live. They just don't have any other option.
Also the rain has already destroyed some bridges in Escuintla and only God knows what is to come :s And all of this without mentioning the earthquakes that increase during this season, we already have had enough of them if you ask me!

Well,
Let's talk about happier things now....
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! to all the wonderful daddies out there
This is actually a late post for me since we celebrate father's day on June 17th though I know it is father's day in the US.
We had a great day with my dad, he is working out of town but managed to stay in the city so we could spend some time together on his special day. As it was wednesday and we all had things to do, he picked us up to go out for dinner. We had lots of hugs and loving words in the morning, no present since I am a penniless student so it was all hugs.
I love my dad so much, he is such a great man and I have learn a lot from him.
I love how he's so good at his job, how he is always willing to help others, how he knows almost every corner of this country, how he gives me supportive words when I'm not doing so good at school, how he holds his gilr's (my mom, my sister or me) hand when wherever we are walking, how he gets emotional about things that not even I get emotional about, how he doesn't like to watch horror movies, how he's so loving with little children, how he always says yes to everything we ask him for even when it never happens (my mom makes it happen at the end lol).

Believe me there are not enough restaurants in this city to hold a ton of hungry people on a holiday!
It was the same thing for mother's day, it felt like it was Christmas Eve with all the traffic and crowds everywhere and parking lots full.
He drove to about 5 different restaurants and they were all full! So we ended up going to this place called Arrin Cuan where they serve all kinds of typical guatemalan food, in this mix of old-modern house turned into a restaurant. The food was yummie and we had a great time together!

In other news, can you believe we have over 200 cases of swine flu! Just a week ago we had not even hit the 100 cases! I think there is a lot more people with the disease out there and the government just doesn't want to tell that to the media and they refuse to claim a calamity state.
At least most of the kids are off school... but even now I have not seen anyone wearing a mask to go anywhere!

Winter?

2009-06-13T19:03:00.000-07:00

Well, we have been feeling some very HOT days lately, even when the winter season oficially started las May 20th.
And when I mean hot I mean really hot. It's really hard to believe since last year it started raining very early and it only stopped until late October. Actually 97% of all the roads in the country were severely damaged. And now this? I guess we are really feeling global warming around here....
As for right now, we are having our first June storm, after a particularly HOT day.
God knows we needed this! Though we don't need too much rain right now either, my mom's car A/C system is not working very well and having to drive around the city in the crazy traffic is not fun at all. We'll see how it goes...

Also, this post goes to try out my new signature I did all by myself!! ha! Isn't cute??

swine flu finally hit us!

2009-06-13T13:49:00.000-07:00

There are currently over 74 cases of swine flu in the country.
Which is huge since our first 3 cases reported only a few weeks ago.
As I posted before I never saw anyone wear masks to go anywheres, I guess that is something to think about now that we are getting close to a hundred cases.
Even when the amount of cases started growing extremely fast there were no signs of people wearing masks or any other kind of preventive actions.
Of course, in hospitals and all kinds of health places people are wearing masks and gloves.

In a desperate action to prevent the spreading of the disease the Education Ministry fast forwarded the 'middle year' vacation coming in just a few days for all the children in the country because most of the new cases were taking place in public and private schools.

We as med students cannot show up at the hospitals unless we have something very important going on. We are being saved in case the flu goes out of control.
A 12 year old boy died last week. He was thought to have died from kidney failure but after the doctors runned some test the A H1N1 was confirmed.

If you are out there, keep washing your hands and avoid touching your face, eyes, mouth before washing your hands. Oh and stop going to places with big crowds and kissing and touching other people's hands!

update 2

2009-06-03T19:20:00.000-07:00

Well, a lot has been going on since my last update.
I apologize for being soo off date with my posts, but I have been really busy and some other times too tired to write a post!

Anyway, the past protest got together over 6000 guatemalans, seeking for justice and the end of violence. Of course if wasn't even near to the amount of people in the first protest, but just the fact of that much people together means a lot here.

Tomorrow another protest will take place, I know in my heart this one will be bigger than the last one. From the awakening that Rodrigo Rosenberg did with his video, a lot of young guatemalans have started a fight, a fight for our human rights to be finally respected, to stop the death of hundreds of innocent people.

I will be there of course, along with some other family members. I just cannot see myself hanging out in my home leaving the task of making my country a better place to somebody else. Guatemalans truly need to stick together now more than any other time. We cannot let this horrible situation fall in the oblivion and keep standing the same taunts any longer!
Even when the leaders of the city movements supporting this cause have had their lives threatened, they refuse to abandon it. Why should the rest of us abandon it then?

Since the start of the investigation of Rosenberg's death, the CICIG has found not one new prove against anyone, on the contrary, it seems like the ones behind his murder have been trying to sabotage the investigation and keep coming out with fake traces. Which can only make the CICIG waste more time. It has been more than a month now, and in my opinion if there was anything to be found it has already been destroyed and if there was any witness or someone with any kind of info has already been bribed.

The protest have caused a positive impact, even if it is small, in the past weeks.

Several new laws have been finally aproved, one of them had been presented to the congress by a congresswoman known for fighting the system to break the corruption cycle, this law pretends to force the members of the judicial system to actually make a prior investigation to whoever starts working as a judge or any other spot in the judicial system. Isn't unbelievable they don't even do that? It means that any person with links to drug traffickers or God knows what kind of influences can actually work there and decide on the worst kind of human beings.

The other law, is about the motorcycle drivers. Since most of the murders commited in the country come from men driving motorcycles, the new law states that now can be only be ride by one sigle person, who is also supposed to wear a vest with flourescent stripes and the cycle's plates both in their vests and helments. There were several protests about this law, motorcycles have become very popular in the country because they are cheaper and people actually drives their whole families (wife and 2, 3 or more children) to school of wherever they need to go.

Besides a lot of them drive like crazy so there were a lot of accidents.

Other laws are the one that forbides the smoking anywhere surrounded by walls, which means you are not allowed to smoke unless you are outside wherever you are. Great idea if you ask me.

There is another law that I might post about some other time 'cause this post is getting way too long! ha!

Happy Birthday Angie!!!

2009-06-03T13:13:00.000-07:00

It's my baby girl's 2nd birthday today!!!!

I can't believe it! Time sure flies!
I wish I could be with her to hug her and kiss her happy birthday :(
But I know she has a wonderful family, she's happy and healthy and I pray for her life to be full of blessings and good things. And I also pray for her birth mama wherever she is, I guess she did what was best for her child and God bless her for that.
I hope she gets her present and hope its the right size :s
I love my baby girl sooooooooooo much and I miss her. She is growing up into a beautiful little girl and no matter how much it costs me I will get to see her some day not too far from now.

Happy 2nd Birthday sweet little princess!!!

FFF - MEMORIES!

2009-05-29T15:46:00.000-07:00

So... this is a perfect timing for this post, since my baby's 2nd birthday is coming next week!
I have a ton of pictures from baby Angie and I lost another ton when my desktop computer broke, so even when I was the one taking her pictures most of the time, and she was the one looking gorgeous and I was the one looking awful or just waking up in the morning... I will try to find the better looking ones :)

These are some of my favorites:

She was about 3 months old here, look at that tiny little thing, how I miss those times :'(
And look and her hair! It took a long time to get it down xD

She started making that wrinkly nose right before her mommy came for her and it was all her and her happiness.

This is christmas 2007, with matching hats

She used to loved those bells so I used to take her to the door and make them sound for her.

visiting grandma and hanging out with cousin Diego

Here's my cutie

I think I look like a momma in this one lol!
I miss my baby!!

I'm Back :)

2009-05-28T09:07:00.000-07:00

So... we got some pictures from my baby girl's mommy last sunday.
We love her so much for keeping us updated of how my baby is growing up. We appreciate it so much and thank God everyday for giving my sweet Angie such a wonderful family.

My sweet baby's birthday is coming next week, June 3! I can't believe she's almost 2 years old!!
I wish I could be there to hug her and kiss her!
Well, even being so far away we always manage to send her a little something. This year my mom and I went to the Mercado Central, a place were you can find ANY kind of handcraft and got her and her sister the most beautiful hand embroidered dresses! Perfect for summer!
We love the Mercado Central, a lot of things at my home come from there and are just beautiful. We go there pretty often, sometimes just to look around lol!

We are crossing our fingers that we picked the right sizes :s but I think we did.
The little box is already in the mail, hopefully to reach them next wednesday.
Angelina is getting a big birthday party next saturday. We are eagerly waiting for the pictures and video!

Now on to the pics....
I have to mention that my camera is dying... :(

Both dresses have different designs, this is Angelina's

And this is Andrea's

In other news, we had a BIG earthquake today, at 2:24 am! It scared the hell out of us.
It was very very looonnnggg! We were ready with sweaters and shoes to run when it stopped.
It actually happened in Honduras but it was also sensitive in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala.

Here we go again

2009-05-23T16:27:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow another manifestation will take place, same place, same time, hopefully a lot more people!
The manifestation from last weekend was historical, never in the history of Guate so many people has gather demanding justice even when we have lived in the same impunity situation almost since democracy started.
And so we went from bad to worst with the same attitude we've been having for centuries. Bending our knees and turning away our heads unless violence hits very close to our hearts and homes. All of it is finally ending and in the past week we have since at least one protest per day!

Seems like we finally had enough! People is rising, specially the youth.
This makes me sooo happy! I know this thought has been in a lot of minds here, we want a better Guatemala, for ourselves, for our children. We are now fighting for it.

I truly enjoyed last Sunday, I felt truly happy and just watching those thousands of people united for our beloved Guatemala. I had tears in my eyes when we sang our national hymn, more than 35,000 people singing their hearts out! Unbelievable!
We were sunburned and we are still pealing off some skin but we are sooo there tomorrow!

Not so Wordless Wednesday! :s

2009-05-20T07:35:00.000-07:00

This are just a couple of pictures of Last Sunday, as you can see a Big protest took place, we were all asking for justice, no more impunity, no more murders, no more corruption, we want PEACE!
That is the reason we are dressed in white. We were more than 30,000 people.
But this is not it, another protest just like this one, and hopefully with more people, will be taking place next Sunday, May 24th.

This is completely unusual here, it takes a LOT to make guatemalans gather like this. It means we are tired of having to live in the middle of so much violence.

Now, guess what President Colom did... he brought a similar amount of people from all over the country to protest in his favor! Believe me he and all his government did it.
Some of the people there even said they were offered Q.60, a meal and some others said they were there because they were threatened saying that if they didn't show up they were going to lose their jobs or wouldn't recieve the government's help anymore!!!
The press says the government spent around 1 MILLION DOLLARS bringing all those people and feeding them. Where do you think all that money is coming from???

Please Sign the Petition!

2009-05-15T17:53:00.000-07:00

Petition to ask Alvaro Colom his resignation from the presidency.

Go here to sign the petition

http://www.petitiononline.com/gtRemove/petition.html

To: Guatemalan Congress and all international comunity -

Preamble:

In Guatemala City, on May 9, 2009 the lawyer Rodrigo Rosenberg Marzano was despicable and cowardly murdered. After his death was released a document and a video recorded by himself, which explains in detail why Alvaro Colom Caballeros, the current President of Guatemala and his senior aides are responsible for his death.

Counsel Rosenberg was a father with a wife and 4 children for whom and by ensuring that he certainly had reason to live.

Considering that no human being would give his life in exchange for a political scandal as the government has been speculation in the propaganda that is currently airing on all media in the republic of Guatemala.

Lawyer Rosenberg Video is in YouTube and other websites. The journal "El periódico" has published a note with the transcript of the document and the link to the videos (all in spanish) at http://www.elperiodico.com.gt/es/20090511/pais/100336/

Petition:

Mr. Alvaro Colom Caballeros to be removed from office as President of the Republic and the withdrawal of the immunity currently enjoyed by constitutional mandate, to go to the courts for the serious accusations leveled against him.

The same way, everyone involved in the facts by lawyer Rosenberg Marzano to be removed from their public charges and submitted to the courts.

The people of Guatemala do not want to break the institutional order, it is requested that Dr. Rafael Espada, current Vice President of the Republic takes office as President, while Alvaro Colom resolves his legal status.

We also ask to the international community to lend its support, through established channels, to be conducted independent and thorough investigation of the facts until the very end.

It is suspected that, at this stage, the material perpetrators of this crime have been eliminated, so that they can not incriminate the accused to be the intellectual authors of this crime. We calls to embassies and diplomatic missions accredited in the country immediately and publicly offer to provide a asylum for these people, so that if some of them are still alive, can give their testimony to help clarify this.

In the same way we ask to withdrawn entry visas to their respective countries and not be given political asylum or any other assistance to those involved in this crime.

I found this in facebook and I don't know for sure this will truly help my country but my people is finally rising all together and figthing for our rights to be respected, please sign the petition and help the guatemalan people to finally be able to live in Justice!
In this country 98% of all the murder cases remain UNSOLVED!
Last year 6,200 guatemalans died due to violence and this year, just a few months ago a 2 month old baby boy was killed in a shooting in a city bus. We want the Rosenberg murder to be the last one! (Add to the mentioned number the already hundreds of people killed this year).
I am adding a couple pictures of the protests taking place in front of the National Palace. This is a group of people already fighting for the president's resignation. A massive protest its being organized for next Sunday and many national organizations are getting together to make thousands of people to join this cause.

update

2009-05-14T14:02:00.000-07:00

This is an update from my previous post, since the release of the Rosenberg video the news has gone around the world. The video is now translated into various languages and has been post to many newspaper's websites.
The International comission against the impunity in Guatemala, CICIG, is now in charge of the Rosenberg investigation. Though the CICIG director has recommended the president and everyone else directly accused in the video and the written declaration.
To this, the president has responded that he would only leave the presidency dead.
This can only show his lack of good sence and dignity. If he was truly innocent he would have any problem with his innocence to be proved.
Everyone else involved says they are innocent. International and national opinions lead to the thought that to have a clear and believable investigation, the president, his wife and the presidency secretary must leave their spots in the government at least for the time the investigation takes place and the CICIG finds the truth. Their staying there can only obstruct the path to the truth.

The Ministerio Público looked for the people who distributed the video in Rosenberg's funeral first instead of the assassins!
Then the national district attorney had an almost secret meeting in the president's house!

Since Monday, the family of the Musa's and the attorney Rosenberg organized protests in front of the National Palace to ask for the president resignation and for Guatemala to finally see Justice and to stop the death of so many innocent people everyday due to violence.
The government response was (as it has always been everytime they have a problem or someone protesting against them) to move a mass of people in buses, planes and helicopters to the same place, but the difference is this people are defending the president and his government. They say this is the only government that has remembered the poor (yeah right!).

No one believes this things anymore, there have been cases of journalist asking random people in the crowd why they are protesting and sometimes they just don't have any idea, sometimes they say they were offered some money or a meal and sometimes they say they were threatened saying he government was going to take away the little help they have given to their families.
You can tell these people are poor and illiterate, they have no choice but to show up everytime they are asked for.
We all know these groups are brought by the same government, how else would anyone be organized to move hundreds of people away from their jobs and homes? Believe that just doesn't happen in Guatemala.

The fact of gathering these two groups of people in the same place can only be meant to create disputes, and make everything worst.
Every day the group of the ones against the president grows and so does the group of the ones in favor of the president. And it seems like this will continue for a few more days with more and more people joining the cause.

I truly hope the death of this honorable man doesn't go innoticed. It is time for Guatemala to wake up and finally fights for the JUSTICE we need so desperately!

And I totally believe him!

2009-05-12T07:51:00.000-07:00

This is the latest news, this video and his written declaration was distributed by every media in our country, websites even crashed from so many visits in order to watch and read his words.

This was a very important attorney assassinated last Sunday, May 10th while he ride his bike in las Americas Avenue, he worked for an important business family, Khalil and Marjorie Musa, who were both assassinated a few weeks ago. This man knew the truth behind this murders and as he knew his death sentence was already signed didn't surrender by the same fear all guatemalans feel and made this two declaration to shout the truth that we all know but refuse to do something about.
This has turned into a big scandal and I believe every word he said and wrote. How many other good guatemalans are going to have to die until we rise and stop these filth trying to take our country. The national TV channels didn't show any of these Big News (wonder why?), except for Guatevision and in the radio.

This breaks my heart, I can't even imagine what his family must be feeling. It fills me with shame and indignation. People has been asked to dress in black today to protest for Rosenberg's death, so he won't become another statistic.
I truly hope every man guilty rots in jail.

Attorney Blames President for His Assasination

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q...

Rodrigo Rosenberg's Declaration, prior to his death

If you are reading this message, it means that I, Rodrigo Rosenberg Marzano, was murdered by the President's Private Secretary Gustavo Alejos and his associate Gregorio Valdez, with the approval of mister Alvaro Colom and Sandra de Colom.

The reason for which Gustavo Alejos and Gregorio Valdez have ordered my death, and for which the President of the Republic Alvaro Colom has approved it, is because until the day I was killed, I was the lawyer for two incredible Guatemalans, Mister Khalil Musa and his daughter Marjorie Musa, and knew exactly how Alvaro Colom, Sandra de Colom, Gustavo Alejos and Gregorio Valdez were responsible for this cowardly assassination, which I made known to them and to anyone who could and would hear me.

I was a 47 year old Guatemalan, with 4 beautiful children, with the best brother one could ask in life, with wonderful friends, and with an overwhelming desire to live in my country, but I could not have lived with myself without rebelling, arming myself with valor and denouncing before all Guatemalans who have principles and values the real reasons for the deaths of Mister Khalil Musa and his daughter Marjorie Musa, without regarding the consequences, and understanding that my life was in danger, I wanted to leave behind this testimony, should something come to happen to me, as it unfortunately did.

It was Alvaro Colom who, through Gustavo Alejos and Gregorio Valdez, asked for the collaboration of Mister Khalil Musa to form part, Ad honorem, of the board for Banrural, without Mister Khalil Musa being aware of the illegal, million-dollar business transactions taking place daily in Banrural, which range from money laundering to the deviation of public funds to non-existent programs belonging to the President’s wife, Sandra de Colom, as well as the funding of paper firms employed for drug-dealing.

It was Alvaro Colom, in agreement with Gustavo Alejos and Gregorio Valdez, who withheld Mister Khalil Musa’s already signed appointment, without his knowledge, for over three months, for in reality they had no intention whatsoever of granting him this post, but were using his good name with the argument that if new quotas of power were not distributed, Mister Khalil would denounce the corruption with which Banrural’s General Manager Fernando Peña operates this bank at his whim, for the service of Mrs. Sandra de Colom, as an associate and financier with the funds of the bank and of the businesses owned by Gregorio Valdez and Gustavo Alejos, without the bank’s president, José Angel López, doing anything to stop Fernando Peña from turning Banrural into the dwelling for thieves, drugdealers and murderers which it is now.

With the impunity with which Guatemalans in recent years have granted to thieves and murderers, José Angel López, Fernando Peña and the cowardly Gerardo de León directly threatened and intimidated Mister Khalil Musa a few weeks before his assassination, so that he’d give up his post and Mister Khalil Musa, as a true gentleman, told them he had no problem with his appointment being canceled, as it was Gustavo Alejos and Gregorio Valdez, in agreement with our most splendid President Alvaro Colom and his perennial shadow, Sandra de Colom.

Mister Khalil Musa let Gustavo Alejos and Alvaro Colom know that he’s decided not to take part in the board of Banrural to avoid troubles, but they asked that he give them time, as all was getting resolved, without Mister Khalil Musa having the slightest idea that once the thieves and murderers had everything settled, they would kill him along with his daughter, Marjorie Musa (whose only crime was to be an exemplary daughter who always accompanied her father), as he’d served his purpose, without caring for anything or anyone and with the utter leisure of knowing that good Guatemalans would once more do absolutely nothing, justifying their inactivity in the impotence which always pervades us, or simply saying “Most likely, they were involved in something…”

Boasting lack of moral principles or values and of the vaguest sense of shame, Gustavo Alejos, after trying to invent other theories who nobody accepted on the grounds of the moral virtue of the victims, personally told Mister Khalil Musa’s family that he’d regrettably been assassinated for the horrible problems which exist in Banrural, reaching the point that the very President Alvaro Colom invites one of Mister Khalil Musa’s political relatives to his office to confirm what’s been said by his Private Secretary.

Now you can understand why neither Alvaro Colom and much less Gustavo Alejos publicly declared what they told to the family of Mister Khalil Musa and his daughter Marjorie Musa, and ordered the corrupt and incompetent Secretary of the Interior and the nonexistent Attorney General to let this assassination slide, as always occurs with the murders, thefts and violations which have thrust Guatemala into its darkest depths.

Day by day this horrible story repeats itself and fills with grief one more of our Guatemalan families, while good Guatemalans decide to look the other way and pray it’s not our turn.

It’s enough! Let’s rescue our country from thieves, murderers and drugdealers, and once united, let us reclaim our Guatemala, our values and our faith in justice, and let us kick out the current puppet we have for president, and let us imprison the thieves and murderers, starting with Gustavo Alejos, Gregorio Valdez, Fernando Peña and Gerardo de León, among others, and once and for all, let us demand the resignation of all the current members of Congress, all of who, with very few exceptions, are a bunch of thieves, and let us start all over again, for the love of God and our country.

Surely the cowards will try to defend themselves by staining the memory of Mister Khalil Musa or his daughter Marjorie Musa, and will try to convince Guatemalans that this is all a new ploy, but in the end, the one and only truth that matters is that if you are reading this message, it’s because I, Rodrigo Rosenberg Marzano, was murdered by Gustavo Alejos and Gregorio Valdez, with the approval of Mister Alvaro Colom and Sandra de Colom, for refusing to allow the vile and cowardly assassination of two incredible people like Mister Khalil Musa and his daughter Marjorie Musa to become another statistic, thus continuing to hand over my country to the killers, cowards, thieves and drugdealers who currently govern it.

Rodrigo Rosenberg Marzano

PS
I remind Mister Vicepresident of the Republic, Doctor Rafael Espada, that he who’s silent, yields, and that you are neither a thief nor a murderer, and should be the first one to head the movement to recover our Guatemala, and make the law be carried out with the help of all the good Guatemalans who support it without reserve.

FFF - Mommy!!

2009-05-08T12:46:00.000-07:00

So I scanned these old pics from me and my mommy just for this special post!
I so love my mom, she is the greatest mom ever. I have mentioned my love for her in previous posts but I never get tired or saying it and hugging her every chance I have.
I thank God everyday for sending her to be my mommy and my brother and sister's mom of course. She rocks!
Oh and HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all the mommies and grandma's around the world! You definitively deserve more than one day a year.

This one is from my baptism, I think I was 6 months old :)

This was taken by my uncle Byron (rip), he was the official photographer lol
I was about 18 months old.

And the next couple of pics are from our past Holy Week vacation.

At my uncle's house for a BBQ

Showing some love :)

Swine Flu is Here!

2009-05-07T13:37:00.000-07:00

We heard on the news early this week the first case of swine flu hit Guate!
To be honest we are all kind of bewildered because being so close to Mexico we hear about the first case until now, when the disease has spread all over the world!
Anyway they say the 11 year old girl who brought it from Mexico is already in her home feeling well and so is her family. More cases are about to be confirmed on Saturday, since the samples have to be sent to Atlanta.
As I was talking today with my school mates, if we have only ONE confirmed case of the A H1N1 virus... why did the alarm go from zero to ORANGE?! and then to a Calamity State along with some gossiping about everything being shot down? That is causing people to be over worried and the masks are already sold out! Anyhow, I haven't seen anyone wearing them to go anywhere.
It seems like there are a lot of other issues in this country to be worried about...
I will be praying and praying that this thing won't explode and that they don't find any more cases, and that they are not hiding any info from us, so we can be prepared.

If the flu spreads here... it could be really really bad...
People doesn't seem to understand well what the illness is about, they said in the newspapers that a lot of people stopped eating anything comming from pigs so they would not be infected??!
And some others just don't trust the system and rather die in their homes than send their relatives to a hospital or whatever. Sad huh?

Hope this stops very soon and that they find a vaccine soon.

Sticking with the dear friends theme

2009-05-03T20:18:00.000-07:00

Last week I got to meet two dear blogging friends that happened to be visiting Guate City to see their baby girls. They are Pam and Brittney, they are really wonderful people, loving mommies, courageous women and a lot of other good virtues.
Lucky me, I got one of my labs at school cancelled and so I dropped by their hotel to chat a little and get to meet them in person after following their stories via blog.
I truly had a wonderful time with them and beautiful Kinsey (I LOVE her curly hair!).
I definitively would love to meet with them again in another visit and take them to really know GC at least :) and also I'll keep on praying so they are able to take their beautiful angels home to their forever families VERY VERY SOON!

Party with dear friends!

2009-05-02T21:20:00.000-07:00

Well, it was my best friend Rita's birthday on April 16th. She turned 21 so her parents let her throw a little party in her front yard on the 25th.
She invited some friends both from high school and from university, so we had a lot of fun and it ended up being some sort of reunion for me since I hadn't seen some of my old high school best friends since we graduated. We laughed and laughed and really enjoyed our company and all the school stories.
Let's move to the pics!

Here I am with my dear friend Rita, we are friends since I started in Bethania School in year 2000, when we moved from Flores, Petén to Guatemala City. We are so alike, maybe not fisically but we share so many thoughts about so many things we call ourselves "sisters".
She is such a nice girl.

Here's one of my high school friends, the one in the glasses is Mimi and the guy by her side is her boyfriend, then on her other side with the funny face is Fallon, she is a very very SPECIAL girl... kind of CRAZY but I can tell you she has a BIG HEART (see how I exagerate those words?)
Then comes Nadyezhda (weird name huh?) she is like the smartest person I know.

Yes, we had some tequila shots in honor of the birthday girl, 'cause you know... Doctors party too! lol! We were a little extra happy when the party ended... :s
*note to self: do not mix vodka and tequila EVER!

And here's the last one.... just so can have and idea of how much we laughed!
Happy Birthday Rita!

p.s. I am craving for a new cameraaaa! + we had and earthquake while I was writing this... that or I am having some serious palpitations :s

It's been a while huh?

2009-04-30T10:21:00.000-07:00

I am such a lousy blogger, sure it gets crazy around here some times but some others I just don't feel like writing a post, some other times MSN or Facebook keep me too busy to turn to blogland :s

Believe or not, we are enjoying a very rainy SUMMER!! It's been raining every evening for about 3 days now. It's that kind of weather that makes you feel all gloomy and want to stay in your bed 24/7. It can also make you want to die if you are far away from your house or stuck in traffic, Oh and this doesn't mean it isn't hot at noon. Go figure...

Anyway, it has been a while since my last post and a few events that I'm going to separate in a few post to make up for the lack of attention to my blog. lol!
The main event for today is....

We had a Call from my baby girl's family!!!

I mean what could be better than that??? We got to talk to her mommy and even hear her on the phone saying "I love you Eva" "i love you Molly" and "I love you Samara" (my mom) and her prayer! aaaaww! her little voice melts my heart!
we only got to hear a little bit of it since she was only saying a few words when she left.
That really made my day :)

Favorite Foto Friday - WET!

2009-04-17T12:00:00.000-07:00

What a perfect timing for this theme, we are enjoy some nice summer time here in Guate. Man! its HOT around here!
Here are some pictures from our recent vacation to El Puerto San José, on this past Holy Week.
We went to this pool in the military base and airport my grandpa works for. He is a meteorologist there. So you can have fun in the pool area while yo see some planes landing or some soldiers during their parachuting training!

Now on to the pics...
We were not exactly all wet 'cause we decided to take some tanning time by the pool after we swam a little :)

can you see that belly pouting out? I gained 2 pounds that week... :(

I could not Believe it!

2009-04-05T15:46:00.000-07:00

Last wednesday and went out with my mom (since I am on vacation!) to drop my sister to work, traffic was horrible and on our way back we called my dad to see if he would like to go and eat lunch with us, his office is in the way so it sounded like a good idea. Too bad he wasn't there so we headed to my grandma's whose house is near there too.
She invited us for lunch and after a couple of hours we headed home. For some reason I ended up with a bad migraine, took and aspirine and went to sleep for a little while.

About an hour later my mom wakes me up and says "you have a call from the radio", I was half asleep and my head still hurt but I managed to answer the phone and a guy tell me that they need me to show up at the radio to pick up my "prize".
As you may remember I participated in a radio contest like a week ago, and then I got and LG bag with some gifts that I totally thought were my so called PRIZE.
I said I was going to be there the next day to pick it up. I was not feeling nevious at all like the first time because I had already been there before and I guessed I wouldn't have to sing again.

Turns out I couldn't be more wrong, I showed up a little late and they get me in the radio cabin and started broadcasting right away, I was there to compete against a girl who had won the week before I did!
Gosh! as soon I got in there I felt sooo nervious! I guess I just wasn't ready for that, I had to pick a song and sing it in the next 15 minutes! :S (I am so lucky to have a mom that would love to see us performing in a stage and made me practice about 4 songs just in case the final contest took place anytime soon!)

So I sang my song, meet another famous guy who participated in a mexican reality show representing Guate (he is a cutie! ;) and guess what??
I WON AGAIN!!

They gave me a LG cell phone! with camera, FM radio, MP3 player and Voice recorder.
I know it is not such a big thing but my current cell phone its soo simple compared to that!
(I keep loosing them so my dad refused to buy something better for me, besides it's so common to be robbed around here)
I couldn't be more happy and thankful! I have never had such a phone and though it doesn't have all of the top technology it's good enough for me :)

Now on to the pics!

The Reign of Chaos

2009-03-28T13:22:00.000-07:00

Chaos is the perfect word to describe the situation we are currently living in Guatemala City.
Just in the past week so many horrible things have happened that its hard to believe we have to keep on standing.
The things we hear, see and read every single day are just enough to make anyone feel helpless and vulnerable and simply frightened.

Impunity in this country has reached a level that seems unbelievable. This has become a city were around 15-17 violent deaths are reported EVERY DAY. Now any day can be your last day, you just pray the Lord to keep your loved ones and yourself and leave your home with the huge weight of worries hoping to see them all safe when you come back.
Since the start of year 2009, more than 30 bus drivers have been murdered, that is without counting the victims of the lost bullets in the shootings. Amongst these innocent people we can now count a 2 month old baby boy that was hit in the abdomen by a lost bullet and died that same day in a national hospital. I am happy to say at least one of the men that caused this deaths were captured. But here that can't be much of a consolation since most of the criminals are released 1 or 2 days later. After paying a certain amount of money they remain free on bail.
What kind of sick authorities do we have? Allowing murderers, rapists, drug dealers, thiefs and kidnappers walk out of jail as if they had done anything wrong?

We have heard so many times of people calling the police to report a robbery, a kidnapping or any kind of criminal activity and either the police never shows up or if they do they come too late. We all wonder if they actually care a tiny bit about the safety of the nation or are they as the rest of the people in the government just worried about how they are going to get their pockets filled with money?

All of this has left us living a collective psychosis, we are afraid to drive our cars with the windows open or even ride a public bus because there reports of 200 robberies EVERY DAY.

We no longer trust anyone else besides our family members because we no longer know if that person is going to kidnap you later or break into your house to steal or if you can get into a fight with they could send assassins to kill you or somebody else in your family. Could they do that? In a place were they have found entire families killed and women chopped in pieces, teenagers shot dead when they were going home after church... with no suspects... I think they could.

A couple of weeks ago a teacher was brutally murder by his students, he work in a detention center for teenagers. They were pissed off after an inspection and the teachers always waited a couple of days so the interns would calm down, but this time some of the teachers decided not to wait and entered the place to do their jobs. After a few minutes they found themselves trapped in the middle of a riot. The prisoners had said what they were capable to do and under the lens of the media they chose their victim, first they hit him to death and then opened his chest, took his heart and intestins out and they threw them against the gratings... and that is not it, after they did this they DANCED around the body!

The police later said that the ones that comited this atrocity are 20 year olds that belonged to some of the worst gangs ("maras"). What are this men doing among 13 to 18 year olds? What are they learning from those psycopaths?

What kind of savages are we raising? Aren't they supposed to be rehabilitated in these places?

How can this be happening? How much longer are we going to have to take it?

Then the president shows up on tv and in the radio blamming the past governments and saying there are organized crime groups trying to destabilize HIS government instead of offering reassurement or at least one good plan to stop this horrible violence.

Believe me we are not going to stand this for much longer. Guatemalans are used to be stepped over by the ones with power but we are being pushed to our limits and we can not stand watching 2 month old babies or anyone else dying victim of drug cartels of whatever it is that is causing this chaos.

Pacific marches are being organized and everyone is finally starting to raise their voices in the hopes of PEACE for Guatemala. We are not giving up, we are not going to bend because of the fear or intimidation anymore.

If you are reading this PLEASE pray so Guatemalans can finally find some peace and hope and for the ones whose lives were taken.

Karaoke Contest!

2009-03-16T17:16:00.000-07:00

So it all starts last week, last Monday to be exact, my mom and I were coming back from my grandma's house so I was changing the radio station and a karaoke contest came on but it was just finishing, as you might know I LOVE TO SING! My mom told me we should call and I said yes. On tuesday I did the call and sang... and a few minutes later I hear the radioman saying my name! I was the winner of the day!!
Men! I was so excited! you should have seen me jumping around in the living room LOL!
So I was supposed to go to the radio station for a live karaoke contest with all the winners from the rest of the days. And that was not it... there was going to be some special judges to pick out the week's winner... it was a national group (VERY FAMOUS IN GUATE AND MY FAVORITES!)... MALACATES TREBOL SHOP! OMG!!! I couldn't believe it!

On Friday, I dressed up nicely and though I was nervious I really wanted to win a new LG Karaoke system with 1800 songs!!!
So my mom and I were the first ones there. Then 3 other girls showed up, (I have to mention they were so young! it was a little bit embarrasing but I didn't care, they were very nice).
We had to sing 3 different songs each, Malacates was there (well only 2 of them because the rest of the guys were not in Guate... the singer was there and that was enough for me HA!), not many people in my family were listening but I was so happy and excited to be there, it was one of my dreams coming true.
And at the end.... I WON!!!! Jesus Christ I was sooo happy! I made my momma and my family proud and that felt so good!
Now ... on to the pics and video!!

this is me, when I found out I was the winner of the day! :)

these are the other contestants and the guitar man of Malacates Trebol Shop

My turn to sing!

I think my mom was even more excited to meet him than I was! LOL

And this is me! the proud winner with her favorite Guatemalan Band!
They are sooo nice! and Páez (the one in the stripes shirt, he's the singer) is sooo handsome :)

One Year Ago...

2009-03-11T14:28:00.000-07:00

Around this time of the year...My mom and I headed to the Westin to place my beloved Angelina in her mom's arms.

I remember it just as if it was yesterday. My heart was in pieces, the day before I just couldn't stop crying! As I didn't want to scare the hell out of Angie I hid in my bathroom crying for a long time but then it was bedtime and as I always put her to bed she wanted me there, she wouldn't go to sleep with my mom. So I came out and I hated that she had to see me like that. Seriously I COULDN'T STOP CRYING!

Anyway, we had already planned to meet with my dear baby's mommy before the actual date of the pick up, so Angie would have more time to know her new family and it would not be so traumatic. Well, dr. montiel gave us a little extra help, and everything turned out to be not so much of a secret as it would have had to be. He actually advise the agency to do exactly what we had planned to do, because according to him, Angie didn't manage new experiences very well. He said she got stiff and cried a lot.
Well, the truth is Angelina is a very smart baby and every time she had a dr. appointment she knew she was going to get a shot or a not so pleasant time with him. In little words that man scared the Hell out of her every time! Of course she would react like that! + She only did that when she was around him and not with any other person.

At the end, everything went incredibly well and Angie bonded great with her mommy and there was not one tear in the first day, that day she came home with us, the next day was the hardest of all, she would have to stay with her mommy forever.
And guess what? She did GREAT! She didn't cry at all, stayed with her mommy and played with her in the pool and eat very well. My heart was hurting but I was so happy because now I knew for sure she was going to be ok.
Somehow my mom and I managed not to cry (too much) in this whole time. To me it was truly God's hand because we were devastated.

In the third day, I had to leave due to a field work in a remote village in Puerto Barrios, I know, that came in terrible timing and of course I didn't want to leave.
This is another reason I believe God was right with us, otherwise it would have been just way too much for me to handle. I still called the hotel room everyday to check on my sweet baby. And yes, I did cry in those times but anyway Angie wasn't looking at me. Every time she was calm and just being her perfect self and that made my family feel a lot better.

To this day, we miss her as if we had to say goodbye just yesterday. And we thank her mommy sooooo much for letting us have some updates and pictures. That is just priceless and it can fill our hearts with joy.
My mom and I are determined to get our visas somehow and visit her as soon as possible. We really want her to know how loved she was here and that in our hearts she is and will always be our beloved baby girl forever.

In this one we were waiting in that little living room in the lobby for her mommy and Marielena to show up. (Did you know the agency or maybe just Marielena doesn't allow the foster mother or foster families to be in this area? Man! You could get some very bad stares or words if you were there). Can you tell we have some very fake smiles?

This is my beautiful baby girl just before we left the house. We picked this dress for her on that special day. She looked so darn cute! The shoes stayed off until the last minute lol

p.s. it took me almost a week to be able to post this. At first the tears wouldn't let me and then it was hard to find time to sit and type and look up for the pictures :s

Living in the city of FEAR

2009-03-10T16:08:00.000-07:00

Well, once again I must say what a lousy blogger I am.
The past days have been chaotic, lots and lots of things to do, places to be... just so many things there is not enough time!
First of all I had two big exams for this week (yesterday and today) and so I became "book face" once more and along came the lack of sleep which can make me really fussy.
Good news is that as far as I know most of my answers where right and I will have some decent grades.

On other things, I want to say a belated Happy Women's Day! to any wonderful women reading this post anywhere.
This past weekend was nothing but heartwrenching, there where so many people killed! The police found 2 young girls dead, one was found burned and the other was cut in pieces and the body parts where in plastic bags in a large area.
3 bus drivers were shot and died. I have to mention this is something that has become somehow common in GC. Only in the first 3 months of 2009, more than 20 bus drivers have been murdered in the same circumstances. So everytime you get on a bus or someone close to you gets on one you can only pray and pray that he gets to wherever he/she is going safe and sound (though they might get safe it doesn't mean they didn't get robbed while in the bus!)
It is very frightening to live this way. Robberies happen everywhere now, we are literally afraid of driving in our cars with the windows open because the robbers now drive motorcycles and use the red lights to point guns to the drivers and take their stuff away!!
There were also 5 police chasing incidents all over the country the drug cartels are trying to get the control of the country to pass drugs! There are dozens of people dead because of this, there have been several masacres in the past months.

Besides all of the mess we have to live with here, summer is here and that also means that fires are a threat in many parts of the country. AND from sunday to this day we have had 3 earthquakes!! (I HATE EARTHQUAKESSSS!!) According to the newspaper there have been 17 earthquakes since sunday but only 3 where sensitive all over the country.

Anyway, I just keep praying and praying that this violence ends very soon because it can't get any worst than what it is. When there are teenagers killing people just to be accepted in a gang or just because they are going to receive a meal or clothes in return something is seriously wrong with the society.

Year 5125... the Marimba and Tecún Umán

2009-02-23T13:14:00.000-08:00

(ok, this was meant to be posted yesterday but I just couldn't finish it :s sorry!)

Today is the start of the year 5125 in the mayan calendar. As you may know mayan people had an almost exact calendar as the one we use nowadays. The difference was that every month in their calendar has 20 days and then came 5 days in which they thank their Gods for the blessings and made reflections.
As it is such a special ocassion, many mayan priests and priestess (they are called "tatas" and "nanas") came from all over the country to celebrate. They all made their altar to greet the sun in the first dawn of the year. The altars included resin from many trees, plants, food and candles.
The ritual took place at the sacred city of Iximché, in Tecpan, Chimaltenango. This is a very old mayan city that was abandoned in 1524 when the Spanish people came to conquer this city, one of the last ones standing. The ritual also has a special dance, la Danza del Venado.
They say this year will be ruled by "Iq", the Wind. And I think they are totally right 'cause that is exactly what we had today, WIND!

Also last week we celebrated the day of our national instrument La Marimba an instrument with great cultural value, represents the art and tradition of Guatemala.

Nowadays, some people listens to Marimba music when they are having luch (cuando están almorzando) and during each town celebration, among a lot of other activities.

It was also the day of our national hero, Tecún Umán, they is a great leyend about this man. They say he was one of the last mayan kings, they say he and his army fought against Pedro de Alvarado (the man who supposedly conquered the mayan people), during the fight Tecún Umán was hurt by Pedro de Alvarado's sword and died, the leyend says that a Quetzal was flying above the fields were the battle took place and when Tecún fell to the ground the Quetzal posed over his chest and stained its beautiful green feathers with blood and since that day on the feathers in every Quetzal's chest are red.

Antigua: Best City of 2009!

2009-02-18T14:17:00.000-08:00

The English magazine "Wanderlust" designated Antigua Guatemala as ' the best city of 2009 ', when the " Destinations Travel Show " of London finished. The colonial city was praised by the first place over Kyoto in Japan and Boston in the United States and other 600 destinations around the world.

Antigua Guatemala was seen as the most beautiful colonial city of the world, it's innumerable temples and buildings from a time of great historical and architectural value, along with it's Bohemian environment.

This shows that Guatemala having a small geography has great inner richness in the tourism offers and so it makes us competitive world wide. I could be nothing but proud of my beautiful country and it's many many stunning and interesting places.
I wish I could go to Antigua more often it is so nice specially at this time of year. We are really starting to feel the summer lately.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

2009-02-13T15:23:00.000-08:00

Hope you all have a wonderful day filled with LOVE

Here's a picture of sweet Angelina, she is getting prettier and smarter by the day.

For sweet Abby! - Laughter Lives Tuesday!

2009-02-10T16:57:00.000-08:00

This post is part of "Laughter Lives! Tuesday" on the Riggs Family Blog. Check our their blog to read everyone else's "Laughter Lives!" posts.

Well, I want to make this post for sweet little Abby, so more people start praying for her and for her to get better as soon as possible. She and her family really inspires me and make me work harder to be a doctor and help children soon.
I hope she gets better and it's able to come back to Guatemala and maybe I can get to meet her and take her and her family to some of the beautiful places we have here.

On to the pictures...

this is the first time we feed Angelina with rice cereal... I think she just wasn't very sure of what to think of it LOL! She just kept pushing the food out as every baby does but it was super funny to watch!

February's weather

2009-02-09T19:24:00.000-08:00

Yep, february's weather has always been crazy, we even have an old saying here that I have no idea how to translate unfortunately, but a few days ago I posted about the awful cold we were having, there were articles in the newspapers and some people died in accidents caused by the winds! but today it was soooo HOT! I went to school with a big jacket and a scarf, got in the car and 10 min later and couldn't take it!
Then in the evening it started to get cool again!
We just take a good sweater with us at all times because you never know it will be freezing or super hot! LOL!
I have to say that the sky was so beautiful today! no clouds and all blue!

Guatemala: One Year Later

2009-02-06T11:57:00.000-08:00

I found this publication from the JCICS that pretty much resumes everything that has been going on in adoptions in the country, I find it pretty accurate unfortunately, and makes me incredibly sad to say that the press is not showing this reality as much as they showed all of those stories of corruption and theft before the Convention started working. However, I personally find the newspaper Nuestro Diario as not the most professional of newspapers in the country and actually find odd that no other newspaper has published a big amount of stories about children being abandoned alarmingly by birthmothers. Are the authorities waiting for that to start happening? Why won't that really start doing their job and realizing that there are lots of people out there waiting and praying for a child to love and care for and just do something to take these children out of terrible places and placing them in a family? Why are other countries worrying for the sake of our children when they are not showing any concern?

Joint Council Position Paper

On January 1, 2008, under significant scrutiny and amidst allegations of corruption, child trafficking and unethical practices, Guatemala implemented the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption. Guatemala’s participation in the Convention was applauded by the many governments and NGOs who had insisted on changes to the practices in Guatemala and vigorously supported Guatemala’s participation in the Hague Convention. The implementation was seen by many as the answer to corruption and unethical practices.
Now, 12 months since its implementation, has the Convention truly been the answer? It appears that one year later there are more questions than answers, more needs than funds, and for the children in need of a family, more despair than hope.

Since the implementation of the Convention, Guatemala has in fact seen an end to allegations of ongoing corruption in inter-country adoption. Children now have strong protections against child trafficking. Birth families are free from the unethical practices of unscrupulous practitioners. And a Central Authority governing all adoptions has been established in Guatemala.

Over this past year, in addition to these protections, has the Convention’s implementation in Guatemala also served children? Has it enabled children living in institutions to find a family? Unfortunately the manner in which Guatemala implemented the Convention has not resulted in an ethical intercountry adoption system; it has resulted in no intercountry adoption system. The implementation of the Convention has indeed succeeded in adding protections. But it has also failed in its role to serve children. Despite an estimated 6,000 institutionalized children and few domestic adoptions, not one child has found a permanent family through the Convention.

When the Convention was implemented the law stated that the estimated 3,000 adoptions that had been initiated would be completed. One year and countless investigations by the PGN, MP, CNA and Guatemalan courts later, over 1,000 children have yet to have their adoptions completed. Joint Council supports efforts to ensure that each and every adoption is done in the best interest of the children, and recognizes that investigations are a part of that protection. But the cost should not be born by innocent children. Joint Council calls on the Guatemalan government to swiftly bring each pending adoption case to a final resolution and there by end the deprivations of institutionalization.

Protecting children and families from harm is one of the primary roles of the Guatemalan government and their efforts must be recognized and supported. However, much like the scrutiny and attention by the international community exposed the corruption of the prior system, this same community must now refocus their attention to bring to light Guatemala’s ineffective implementation of the Convention and its subsequent impact on institutionalized children and Guatemalan families.

As recently published by Nuestro Diario, a leading Guatemalan newspaper, children are being abandoned to the streets at an alarming rate. With few government institutions to provide care and the closure of many private institutions, some birthmothers are simply leaving their newly born children in trash dumps. Nuestro Diario reports that in Guatemala City alone, 91 children were found abandoned with 70 being new born infants. Twenty abandoned children in Guatemala City were found after they had already perished. What is being done to build a social service system which not only protects children from corruption but also from a tragic death?

The lack of services to children as a result of the poor implementation of the Convention has yet to be addressed by those who supported its premature implementation. With prior knowledge that Guatemala lacked the capacity to properly implement the Convention, why were alternative reforms not considered? Who will assist the Guatemalans in replacing what was the only effective means of finding families for children? Who will help preserve families? Who is building an effective and safe domestic adoption program? Again, one year later there are more questions than answers.

The reform of the previous adoption system and the implementation of the Convention required the collective efforts of many governments and NGOs, including the U.S. and European governments. Building an effective child protection system in Guatemala will necessitate another, similar effort. Given the many challenges the Guatemalan government and its children are facing, no one entity can accomplish this task alone. Joint Council calls on the U.S. and European governments along with UNICEF, the NGO community, and The Hague Permanent Bureau to provide the necessary technical and financial assistance needed to appropriately serve the children of Guatemala. After 12 months and little progress it is apparent that only a collaborative effort can create the full range of desired services.

The formation of a spectrum of services including Family Preservation, Kinship Care, Domestic Adoption and Intercountry Adoption is desperately needed to ensure that children retain their right to a family and are protected from the detrimental effects of institutionalization, or even an unnecessary death. Joint Council calls on all stakeholders who previously asked for reforms to move with speed in order to provide these much needed services.

Some efforts have already begun. UNICEF and the governments of Chile and Brazil have provided limited technical assistance, and USAID is planning two pilot programs focused on family services. These efforts represent a start to services but are clearly not enough. In the past 12 months less than 60 domestic adoptions have been completed. Zero intercountry adoptions have been initiated. And significant family preservation is only in the development stage. When a child protection system results in more children being abandoned and less children finding families, is it not obvious that more needs to be done?

It has been one year since the implementation of the Convention; the children of Guatemala await our answer.

It's finally here!

2009-02-05T12:59:00.000-08:00

Oh yes, we just started to feel the COLD! In Guate, January is always cold but this year it was different it was a little cool of course, but this week brought us so major cold, there are very strong winds and the temperatures are low low low! A few weeks ago I read in the paper it had snowed in Quetzaltenango! (we call it Xela). It also said the winds have been causing several damages in a lot of deparments over the country. :s
I want to send a prayer of all the people living in the streets and has nothing to keep themselves warm.

Strocked by memories

2009-01-29T15:44:00.000-08:00

that is exactly how I felt today, it happens quite often actually, it's just that a ton of memories from Angelina and our time together come back to my mind and I just feel this huge urge to hold her and hug her or just hang around her as I used to. And all this tears come running to my eyes, it's hard not to cry. I am a very emotional person so... I just can't hide my feelings!
It hit me hard today, after we turned on the digital player and seeing all of her pictures.
Angelina was my joy, I remember when she was here I just didn't want to spend my time with anyone else. Anything else seemed as special as being there just watching her grow up and learn.
Especially because I knew that any day she would be gone and only God knows how much time it's going to be until I can see her and hug her again!
It is going to be a year since she was taken to her forever home next March. I can't believe it's been that long... I still miss her so much!
I am sorry for being so corny.... It is just that... I can't help it! that's what is in my heart

They Ask Protection for Over a 1000 Children

2009-01-28T15:09:00.000-08:00

This article came to my sight today in one of the national newspapers (I am adding a link on the title so you can track it, though it is written in spanish), I translated it so here it goes:

The CNA requested the Children and Adolescents Courts protection for over 200 children whose adoption files were not presented during the verification process done by PGN. In the past few days 832 similar requirements were made.

Elizabeth de Larios, CNA's president, commented the institution's worry for the safety of these children, so they came to several courts.

There is total of 1032 children that were not presented to the authorities by the attorneys in charge of their cases in 2008, when it was required the presence of the child and the birth mother to prove their familiarity and the mother's desire to give her child for adoption.

The CNA is still evaluating another 122 cases before requiring the placing of the minors. Among other things they have to verify if there is any duplicity in these files registers.

The judges recieved the addresses contributed by the attorneys to locate the children, who might be in danger.

A co-chairwoman from PGN, Florencia de León, informed that her unit's registers say they identified 43 children that were not presented for the verification process, for 27 of these cases they opened a judicial file.

She assured that those minors are located in particular homes or with foster mothers.

She also exposed that they are a process to purify their information to stablish why there is so many difference among CNA's cases.

Yesterday, about 30 adoption cases were filed to PGN to be evaluated in order to their approval, they all correspond to previous requests from 2008.

Nidia Aguilar, from Child Defense, hopes this year adoptions will be fast forward, so the number of completed adoptions increases.

I just think it is awful for these people to continue to manipulate children this way! How can they just keep doing this as if they didn't notice all of these terrible things happening, do they think that just because they are so young it doesn't affect them?? And how come they don't even know were children are located???? in the rest of cases I am almost a 100% sure that they HARDLY EVER check the orphanages.

I also found this other Registers:

In PGN there are still authorizing cases under the old adoption law.

3,033 Children were registered in CNA in 2008.

1,403 adoption files were verified by CNA and PGN.

598 cases were approved before their verification.

1,032 children and birth mothers were not presented by the attorneys in charge of their cases.

932 files are still waiting for the attorneys to fulfill all the requirements from the old adoption law.

30 adoption cases were filed to PGN yesterday, to be checked, evaluated and authorized.

1,846 children have been institutionalized currently and are in need of protection.

1,259 adoptions were authorized by PGN between May 8th 08 and Jan. 27th 09.

I am dreading my first day of school :s

2009-01-18T18:51:00.000-08:00

School starts tomorrow and I really really don't want it to start :s... Last week I was dying to start but right now.... I am dreading the things that come with school starting, though I know this year I will have a lot of free time unlike last year.
The thing I am dreading the most is having to wake up so early, since we are dropping my dad at work, I know for sure my eyes will be looking swollen and I will be yawning all day... anyway... I am sure I am going to start liking it once I am there and get to see my friends again. I was a total loser this vacation and couldn't get together with them not once.
Hope you have a great monday!

Almost potty trained!!!

2009-01-18T17:40:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness! I actually cannot believe I am doing this post! My babygirl's mommy wrote to us this past week and said both Andrea and Angelina had been visiting the toilet! Not even the potty but the BIG TOILET!
Angelina went poopoo 3 times and cute miss Andrea went peepee! Wow!
I just have to say that Angelina is 19 months old! She is just so young! And Andrea is 26months old. I think we all know it can be really hard to potty train kids and it is even more advisable to teach them to use a potty first before taking the big step to the toilet.
They are both doing so great! And their mommy is doing a great job too. We have to give her credit, I will ask her advise when I have my own kids for sure. As the babies mommy will have a 4 day weekend, the girls will be in toilet training camp.
I am so proud of both girls. They are sooo smart. Oh I wish I was there to give them big proud hugs!

Bye Bye Cédulas

2009-01-08T12:39:00.000-08:00

That's right, the government started the year with what I think is a great step forward, getting rid of the Cédulas.

Cédulas are what americans call an ID. They are being replaced with the new DPI (Documento Personal de Identificación). I think in english it would be Personal Identification Document or something like that.

Cédulas have proved to be a pain, they are made with a certain kind of paper that can be damaged very easily. I have had my cédula for only 2 years and hardly ever take it out and the outside its already very damaged. It means that you have to replace it very often. Besides it is very easy to get fake ones.

Every guatemalan or foreign person living in guatemala, registered in RENAP should be able to get their DPI's. This will be the only document for civil, administrative and legal acts, or in any other thing were it is required by law. The new document allows the citizen to identify and gives you the right to vote.

The DPI has several safety methods to avoid duplicity and its made of polycarbonate. It has a chip in it that saves the person's fingerprints and has 3 levels of security.

For every case there will be an Unique Identification Code, this number won't change until the person has died. This code will be the base from which the society and the State identifies a person for all effects. It will be adopted obligatorily and progressively for all the dependences of the State. This number will be joining all the identification systems and public records in a term that must not exceed 5 years from the start of Decree 90-2005.

Hope at least this one does work, or will it be like the adoption decrees, it's true they had much more shorter terms but, they usually are not fullfilled no matter how much time they were granted.

Here is a glimpse of how the DPI will look (I took it from RENAP's webpage... I wonder if it's illegal?...)

Feliz Cumpleaños Mamita!

2009-01-07T18:54:00.000-08:00

It was my mommy's birthday yesterday. I so love my mom with all my heart, she is like the best mom in the world. She inspires me to be a better person every day and pretty much everything I know in life it's because she taught me. She has always been a stay-at-home-mom. So she has ALWAYS been there for us.
She is always there no matter if we did good or bad, she is always there cheering and clapping and just there to support us when you need it the most.
I remember back in high school, I had to do an essay for my literature class, it was about "My Hero", when I first heard about it, I thought " I guess I'll write about Mother Teresa or the Pope" but when I finally sat to write the paper I realized that they were good people, almost saints but who was my real hero the one I truly looked up to? And I could only think about my mom, and everything she has done for us and most important of all, how many things she has turned down for us. I so I wrote my essay about her. I was really inspired and wrote about 3 pages when it had to be 1 and a 1/2.
Like a week later the teacher was giving back the papers and I was waiting for mine, I was really proud of it, I think no one else picked the same theme. So the teacher calls my name and at the same time he called for everyone's attention and said: Most of you struggled with this essay, for the ones that have to repeat it, you may ask Eva to borrow her's, her essay is so good it could be publish in the newspaper!". I was shocked! I worked hard on mine but I never expected something like that!!! I will never forget that moment and the moment I gave the essay to my mom so she could read it and the red letters on it saying "Congratulations! This should be publish on the paper!"
I thank God everyday for having such a great mom and grandma. And all and all the family I have.

So yesterday, we had a small dinner at my grandma's (as usual) for my mom. We had some delicious Chuchitos con salsa y queso, cake and nachos. It was supposed to be like a small reunion but at the end there were cousins, uncles and aunts there. We had lots of fun.
There was no singing but we girls talked and gossiped for hours! She had lots of phone calls and was just happy.
My mom can't speak english YET, but still here it goes:
I LOVE YOU SO MUCH MOMMY! YOU ARE MY BEST FRIEND EVER! I PROMISE I WILL BE THERE FOR YOU AT ALL TIMES JUST LIKE YOU ARE THERE FOR ME ALWAYS.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

The New Adoption Law has been working for a Year now

2009-01-03T14:06:00.000-08:00

I read this in the newspaper today. It makes me sad these people are hardly doing a thing for thousands of children waiting in horrible orphanages for a family to love them, meanwhile they earn thousands of Quetzales and spend MILLIONS!

I will try to translate it just as is written in the paper, I also added a link so you can see it, it's written in spanish though. (I apologize for any spelling or grammar mistake.)

The New Adoption Law has been working for a Year

"Mery de Garcia it's about to close the Hogar she runs. She, along with some friends founded "Nuestra Señora de la Piedad" 10 years ago, but this year things have got so difficult they probably won't be able to continue. Only 2 of the 50 children she shelters were adopted, meanwhile the children grow up without a family. Today makes one year since the New Adoption Law started working and only a little over 50 children have been adopted with a budget that goes around Q. 10 million.

This years number is not even close to the one last year: 5 thousand adopted children. "That's because children's theft is over", says Elizabeth de Larios, CNA's president, "before they could get children to sell them and that doesn't happen anymore", explains. Nevertheless the orphanages are full. According to an adoption report from the Haye's mission in 2007, there are over 500 private orphanages in Guatemala, sheltering over 10 thousand children with no parents. CNA has other number: 136 orphanages. "Those are the ones registered in the SOSEP if there are more they must be clandestine", says De Larios."

We can't know an accurate number of private orphanages in Guatemala because the CNA still does not keep a record of them. The article 58 of the Adoption Law granted them a term of 30 days to check and authorize them. It was not fulfilled, none of them is registered. "We are on it" states Jaime Tecú from the CNA.

Also, they haven't finished the Adoption Regulation, that should have been finished at the longest of 60 after the new adoption law started working. "It's getting its last reviews. We have already sent one version to the president" says Tecú.

"The CNA doesn't want older children, I have children of 10, 11 and 14 year olds and I asked them if they could find a family for them, they didn't even answer my question." states García. "A guatemalan couple is not going to want an older child but an American couple would"." With this new law they just cut our wings to place them in a family in a foreign country" adds. García's orphanage kept working thanks to donations from foreign adoption agencies. "They would pay for legal things and sent us food" now they cannot relate to international adoptees.

Without showing up in the Congress

The congresswoman Annabella de León has stayed waiting three times for the CNA to arrive to the different citations she has set for them. There has been no way, previous commitments have stoped them. "We had a UNICEF workshop, it was impossible for us to show up, but we did excuse ourselves" said De Larios. De León hopes that during January they find a moment to visit her, "I want them to bring the vouchers from the representation expenses" she says. The CNA president earns Q.20 thousand every month that have not been justified infront of the congresswoman. De Larios requested an opinion from the National Accounting Controler about whether it was against the law for her to charge that amount of money and they said it was not.

"I think there are less than 54 children adopted, if they are saying the truth I want them to bring the files and prove it to me" says the congresswoman. There are 54 children living with their new parents, but only 27 have finalized their adoptions, the rest of them still have paperwork to do.

"Not one talks about the children that stayed with their parents, those are our biggest achievements" explains De Larios, "we got 28 mothers to keep their children, we have helped them with pshycologic help, you can't see that but it does count".

Yes, they might have got some parents to keep their children but what will happen when this families find themselves with not enough money to feed their children and have to find terrible ways to do it? Sending them to beg or work in the streets?

And what about the older children? they deserve a family too. Guatemala is not a country with a big adoption culture, it is just not near the minds of every guatemalan. And even if they were, most of the people are trying to keep their own families fed and safe under a decent house.

Getting all the pictures together

2009-01-03T10:53:00.000-08:00

Well, the holiday season is not officially over here, we are still waiting for the Dia de Reyes, the day the three kings visited baby Jesus bringing beautiful presents, it is also my mom's birthday so we wait until that day to take all the Christmas decorations away.
Also, tomorrow is my little cousin Diego's 4th birthday. My aunt and uncle organized a birthday party at a place called Mariscal Zabala, it has a big park and big areas for kids to play. I am in charge of the music and games for the kids, I am excited about it, I want to wear sneackers to play around too! LOL!
I uploaded the pictures we took over the holidays for Angi and my aunt Cynthia, so I thought I would share it here as well, since it turned out great and shows a little sneak peak of how we celebrate in my family and I guess most families in Guat.
It includes Campero fireworks(2nd week of Dec. its a tradition here), Christmas day, My Sister's birthday, San Silvestre race (also a tradition my grandpa and uncle have raced it since they were young and this is my brother's 2nd year) and New Years Eve. Enjoy!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

2009-01-01T15:55:00.000-08:00

Bye bye 2008 and Welcome 2009!
This was a great year. It had its ups and downs of course, but it we just see it from the positive side and learn from all the obstacles and mistakes in our lives this past year, it makes you a better person and really apreciate what you have and work harder for what you want.
I thank God for everything that happened.

We had a very nice celebration at my grandma's house, it got a little wild at some point but we really enjoyed it. The food was good, we were together and just had a great time.
I love my family and if you are reading this my best wishes for you and your family in this year to come.

Happy Bday Sis!!

2008-12-30T11:40:00.000-08:00

yes, it was my sister's birthday yesterday- Dec. 29th. She turned a big 18 years old, which means she is no longer an underage girl ha! She will become a guatemalan citicen in a few days when she gets her id.

We celebrated it last sunday at our house. We had pizza and some delicious strawberry icecream cake! yummie!!!! My grandparents and my uncle's family came to the aparment and we all had a blast. She had lots of phonecalls and post at facebook ha! and of course birthday presents.

My dad was not around because he is in Petén, taking some vacation on his own.

Little cousin D. had lots of fun playing with T's gamecube and it was hard to get him out of the house.

Pics will be posted soon!

p.d. we were actually trapped in the house since our car would not start and as it is automatic there was no way to move it, adding that my dad is not here it was up to my mom and I to do something, we walked around the neighborhood and found the right place to fix the car. It took three hours but it finally worked. I think it was close to die but we rescued it ha! my mom and I learned a lot too. I say we were trapped because in this country, taking a bus is not an easy thing to do... when you get on one of those you just pray you can come back home alive. They get robbed all the time! :s sad but true.

Just like my mom said...

2008-12-27T23:01:00.000-08:00

there is no Christmas like Christmas in Guatemala.
it is just such a special time. I dont think any other country has such a beautiful Christmas time like we have here. The food, the spirit, people, fireworks. Its amazing, I wouldnt change it for anything!
Pictures soon!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

2008-12-23T15:06:00.000-08:00

So I just want to wish everyone who read this a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

I am not even so sure if anybody reads anything from my blog but anyway... It's christmas time and everybody should have the best of times.

Well. tomorrow as every year we will be meeting my dad's family for a Christmas lunch, it is actually the same food we all have at Christmas dinner so we have a double super meal that day.

This year this reunion almost doesn't happen, some of my dad's brothers and sisters are not in Guatemala. We never have had the party at my house (though my dad would die for it) because we live in a small apartment and in the fourth floor, so obviously there would be no room for the almost 30 getting together to eat and "share".

To be honest we have never got along very well with them or we never felt that way. Most of the times my family and I sit by ourselves in a table until it ends. Of course once in a while someone sits with us asks how we are doing and leaves. It is not really fun. I guess the reason is that we hardly see each other during the year. And so we don't have many things in common.

They all are wealthy people, really like to party and travel with their wealthy friends.

We are not poor but just don't have that much money. We party but just differently, it doesn't haveinvolve alcohol :S theirs do. Most guatemalans think that parties MUST have alcohol or otherwise it just won't be good. It is sad. Of course you can have fun without being drunk! I guess it's a cultural thing and usually rich people parties have lots of alcohol. Sad thing isn't?

Well after that my family and I will be heading to my grandma's house and spend the rest of the evening there. Singing karaoke!!! yeah!

Anyway have a great day with your loved ones!! Merry Christmas

I'm adding this picture of Angelina on Christmas day with my dad's family last year. My mom and I picked a special and beautiful dress for her and she looked sooo pretty! Everyone said so. And she was soo good! Though she didn't know anyone and it was so late at night.

This other picture is the next day at my grandma's house, this is my mom and my cousin C. She is a year younger than me and we always have a great time singing and just girl talking! ha! As this was the Real Christmas day we got Angelina this gorgeous red dress. She looked so beautiful! She was tired that day and went to sleep at 8pm. I was constantly checking on her because I thought she would wake up at any time because of the noise of people and the fireworks. But she was sound asleep! My sweet perfect baby!

Just a little late...

2008-12-23T14:46:00.000-08:00

I know TOMORROW its Christmas day but I decided to place a christmas background in my beloved blog... nice isn't?

happy birthday B1!

2008-12-18T18:40:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, 12/17 was my cousin Byron's birthdya, he turned a big 16 years old!
It is unbelievable how much we all have grown, i still remember when my sister and I were toddlers and he was just a baby and we would make him sit in our doll's stroller and would give him rides in my grandma's patio. Sweet memories! :)
I wish the best for this boy. He has had some struggles on the way, since his dad passed away a few years ago but I know he has a very sweet soul and will be someone important someday. I ask my dear Lord many blessings for him and for his brother B2 (who recently turned 13! see post from a few days ago).
We had cake and pizza and just had fun.
I forgot my camera at home so i have not one picture! :s

p.s. we have most of our christmas shopping done! wohoo!!

So True

2008-12-16T20:38:00.000-08:00

I found this in some other blog and I stole it :S
I think it is soo truth and I thought I would love to write it and give it to Angi and Angelina some day, so here it goes:

"We witness a miracle every time a child enters into life. But those who make their journey home across time and miles, growing within the hearts of those who wait to love them, are carried on the wings of destiny and placed among us by God's very own hands." ~ Anonymous

Luces Campero!!

2008-12-16T17:32:00.000-08:00

This is a fireworks show a famous restaurant "Pollo Campero" throws every year.

As it is organized in a big park near to my grandma's house it looks like the show is specially for us. We all set in the terrace at 7pm and just look up. I guess its kind of the firework shows americans have in the 4th of july.

We expect this show every year. We have seen it since we were babies...I think, we have seen it for so long that I can't even remember the first time!

It is also a nice time because most part of the time a lot of family members come too and we have a great time. Well, this year there was not as much people as years before but lets say that the ones that are really expected did show up. :)
My grandma did her famous Christmas punch and we had Bollitos Peteneros!! Men those are delicious and only people from Petén (where my family is from) get to taste!

I didn't take any video or pictures of the fireworks this year but I did take some of us! haha

here they are:

In This is one, my aunt Dacia, my cousin Cristina, my mom and my grandma, me of course in the green shirt.

Las Primazazas!

haha thats how we call ourselves.

We alwaays have a great time together... singing!

This three... I love them so much!!

Before leaving for today...

2008-12-12T21:17:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to say that.... I miss Angelina sooooo much...

I think about her every day... and remember all the wonderful times we had. I love her so much!!! She is my little Angel.

I never thought it was going to be so hard to get over the fact that she had to leave and left more than 9 months ago. I just miss her and wish she was here or at least that I could she her and hug her and kiss her like I did for 9 months of her life.

I know she doesn't remember me anymore but I won't NEVER EVER forget her. None of us will.

Hopefully I will stop crying when I remember her some day soon :'(

TE EXTRAÑO MUCHO ANGIE!!! TE AMO BEBE!!

The last few days have been really hard for us. Last year on Christmas Angelina was here and we set our Christmas tree and decorations since early November because we didn't know how long she was going to stay with us and we wanted here to see all of the nice stuff, she loved to play with the tree decorations. This year while my mom and I set the tree, we remembered all of those sweet moments and could not help to get teary eyed.

Happy B-day Abuelita Mary & Brandon

2008-12-12T20:20:00.000-08:00

It is almost a month after their birthday but we had such wonderful days, my cousin Brandon's birthday is on November 20th and my Abuelita Mary's birthday is the next day November 21st.

Brandon is now a teenager, he turned 13!! Unbelievable!! I am sooo old! I still remember when he was little and got mad all the time at everything... and he would only talk to me :')

I just hope the best for him in the future... he is still very quiet but a really nice boy... and SO HANDSOME!

He lost his dad (my dear uncle Byron) when he was 6 years old. And his mom has not been the best, so we try to give him all the love and care he probably doesn't get at home.

Here is a picture of Brandon with his b-day cake, also in the pic my cousin Byron (Brandon's older brother) I love them SOOOO MUCH!!!

Also we cellebrated my grandma's birthday... to be honest I am not sure how old she is so... We just gave her lots of love and love and love! and as usual my mom bought her flowers... because she LOVES flowers and a delicious cake!

Here's a pic of her and all of her grandchildren... well the ones living and Guate.

We sang in the karaoke both days and had a blast! We love that thing.

I love my family to death, I spend most of my time with them and it's just priceless.

Such a lousy blogger

2008-12-12T19:32:00.000-08:00

I am still trying to catch up... it seems like I am taking this vacation time very seriously because in the last week I have been waking up around 10 am!!! Seriously that is a record for me! Usually the latest I wake up its around 8 am but my mom has been really good to us and just lets us sleep as much a we want... well after 10 seems to be more than enough, then she just comes around the room "talking to herself" saying all the things and chores that need to be done.
As every vacation of my life... or better said... all my life! we are visiting grandma almost every day, I think my mom does go every day, if she doesn't we will probably get a phone call asking if we are showing up... if not we get around 3 or 4 call during the day just to check out or just gossiping! ha!
I'm afraid I'm going to get just too lazy to wake up when I have to go back to school :S
I know I should use that time to exercise or do something productive!!!
Anyway... this Christmas time is going fine... we haven't done much of shopping but I hope I get some new clothes! I am waring rags! Its just sad! I hate the fact that my sister won't even borrow me a blouse! >:( Is not as if I am going to stretch it out or anything I am smaller than her! That always makes me mad because I borrow my clothes to her and never say a thing about it but if I even dare to try one of her blouses she goes crazy and gives me dirty looks!!!

First job...NOT

2008-12-05T22:05:00.000-08:00

Well as I said in my last post, I started looking for a job.... like almost a month ago, and I did actually send my resume to 6 different places, 3 of them didn't work because everytime I e-mailed it, it just kept coming back, so I just gave up with them... the other 3, one of them didn't call back but I did have 2 calls back from the other places, (they were all call centers by the way).
I sent my resume after giving it a lot of thought and because as usual I was very busy. Everything seem to be doing very well, with those two they were actually the ones I thought were the best and the most likely to hire me. My english seems to be good enough for them, my english interviews went really well and they seemed interested in meeting me and to be honest I had practiced in my mind many times before my speech. HA!
At the end the schedules were just not what I was looking for, just too many hours and though I will have much more free time next year doesn't mean that I can neglect my studies. I have had a couple of bumps in the road to becoming a dr. but neither of them has stop me and nothing else will.
My mom and I decided we should leave the job thing for later on in the year 'cause we might be having a vacation trip in a few weeks! yeiiii I am really looking forward to go to the beach!! white sand! the sea.. the sun...(sigh) :)

quest for my first job

2008-11-19T23:21:00.000-08:00

since i will have free time next year I am trying to find a job to help out my family and to finally become a little more independent from my mom and dad... i feel like this is a must for my right now because i failed and that means that not only i failed myself but i failed to my parents, to my family and they are the most important thing in the world to me,
So in a way to redime myself and to be finally able to buy some stuff for me without asking my dad for money will be a tremendous step for me.
This year has been rough on my family and me starting to work could be a huge help for all of us, so i will do my best to find something.
I am trying at call centers because they are the new thing in Guatemala, there are lots of them and they dont ask for much to hire people, i think my english is not bad so im giving it a try. If I make it i will be earning aroun Q.4000 a month and believe me that its waayyy more than I ever expected to have in my hands!
Wish me luck if you are reading this and if you can leave a comment about my english it will be truly appreciated!

Belated Halloween

2008-11-18T15:56:00.000-08:00

I know it is kind of late and I didnt even do anything to cellebrate it because I had an exam two days later.... but Angi did send us some pictures of her babies Andrea and Angelina in their halloween costumes and I just have to share them.

This was Angelina's first halloween in the US, and from the pictures I can see she was having fun + she was looking sooo pretty in her pumpking costume. I wish I was in TN with her... I miss her so much!

Now on to the pics

Yes Andrea we are the cutest pumpkins ever!

It seems like Angelina enjoyed her candy!

little miss Andrea! congratulations on your 2nd birthday sweet baby!

On to the fun! Trick or treating!

Finally I'm Free

2008-11-18T15:14:00.000-08:00

yes! finally I am off school! This has been like "the year" for me. Lots of things happened... i learned a lot but it seems like though there is a ton of new information in my head, it was not enough :(
Due to some mistakes a made that at that time didn't seem as important as they look to me NOW, I won't be able to go ahead with my career and will be losing a year!
That TRULY makes me sad, I know I am a smart person but it seems like I didnt make the big effort I should have. I am getting delayed for 2 them subjects because I needed 2 more points at the damn final exams!
I still can't believe I change 2 or 3 or my final answers before giving the answers to the dr. I they were the right ones!!! arggg! I always do that! I pretty much of the times screw it up!
NOTE TO SELF(AND TO ANYBODY ELSE READING THIS): DONT YOU EVER CHANGE YOUR FINAL ANSWERS! THE FIRST THING ON YOUR MIND IS MOST PART OF THE TIME THE RIGHT ANSWER!

Now I know that! All of that information was somewhere in my head but sometimes I am just ssooooo nervious that I just block it! It is frustrating and I know it happens to a lot of people but in the circumstance I am, med school and the university itself, just doesnt allow me to deal with this! My university just wont help you a little tiny bit even if you are 0.10pts away from the winning grade!

Well... I know I need to get over with this.. I am planning to star working FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE! and learning new lenguages... like.. italian, english and portuguese maybe? haha

And I would like to add this since it really means a lot to me and I just can't say it enough... Thank you God for the loving and understanding parents I have!! I love them sooo much!
im adding this picture of myself... to remind me of how i look now, a fresh 20 year all.... and like my sister says... I'll never be as young and pretty as we are now.

I suck at blogging!

2008-11-13T19:34:00.000-08:00

it is unbelievable how bad I am blogging?
It's been forever since my last post! And there are so many things going on... not on the love part of my life... but in every other way!
I promise I will find some time to catch up with everything
maybe even post some pics of myself! haha

catching up 2nd part - Going Wild!

2008-10-11T16:42:00.000-07:00

so... last september I had my first real kiss ever... I know its lame that I am 20 years old and experiencing a first kiss. I am unique what more can I say and I should add that if I wanted I could have had a kiss before but I just didn't think it was the right time for me... sadly the time I chose to be THE ONE, was not quite as special as I always dreamed it could be. It was with one of the school's hotties but we both had drank a little bit too much punch. I had only spoke to him a few times before, I am not even sure he even knew my name. I felt stupid after it happened. And it is sad it just confuses me that most part of the girls do it that way and it seems just like normal but I think going out and making out with as much boys as they ask u for a kiss is not right.
And the next day... my second kiss ocurred, in a pool with a boy who I had known for 1 day, he was kind of cute... I know it was a wild weekend. I must say that I am not proud of what I did but to be honest I think it was about time that I take a break from trying to be perfect all the time and just be a girl my age!
The friend who drove us there in his car crashed the bumper onto a light post, yes he was drunk too, a lot more drunk that all the rest of the people in the car now that I think of it, he freaked out and left us (me and 2 other girl friends) in Antigua! ('cause it all happened in Antigua)
I had to call my parents so we could get to the Guatemala City again, thank you Lord I had enough common sense and told my parents the truth. The other girls told their parents a whole lot different things.
If my parents had found out I was lying and all... believe me... I would have lost all the credibility I have earned for years, I know how that is... it happened to my sister :s
I love my parents, they are just great... and that's all I have to say about this

hmmmm... since this is the place I can tell anything I want... I can confess that... with the boy of the first kiss... I was not just a kiss... but it was not sex itself either and it could have been better. Maybe it is a little too much information but... LIBERTY OF SPEECH AND DEAL WITH IT HAHAHAHA

catching up 1st part - School

2008-10-11T16:34:00.000-07:00

so from the 100 pts post, there has not been a lot going on, so i will only post the highlights of this few weeks. First of all I have been studying hard for the last points I could get, believe me even a 0.1 can mean that your whole year was a waste and you will have to repeat that class another time.
I have a hard task ahead, and I am willing to do anything I can to beat it and get to my 3rd year in med school, I know I repeat this in almost every single post but it is the most important thing in my mind right now!
And talking about studies I did great in my last Anatomy test, well in my last 2 labs and in the big test. It took me and my lab partners to buy and expensive cake and take one of the drs. to drink as much beers as he wanted.
I have to say that at the end he was kind of hiting on all the girls of the class but well, we did get our 2 points. God bless him and his drunkness hahaaha

waaayyy behind

2008-10-10T19:37:00.001-07:00

it has been so long since my last post... there is also lots of things added to my history haha I promise I will catch up as soon as I have some free time 'cause right now I am like super busy studying for the final exams and I have some subjects Im kind of worried about... I just cannot lose a year for only 1 subject so I need to swallow my books or something to have the great grades I need to get to the 3rd year of med school!! hahaa

New pictures of Angelina!!!

2008-09-21T16:50:00.000-07:00

Angi sent new pictures of my sweet baby girl.. men I wish she could see how are faces lighten up whenever we see her videos and pictures... she just makes us so happy... Angelina is truly a blessing in our lives, since the day she came to our home she brought so much happiness and everything seem to be more beautiful, she also taught me so many things, like was is like to be a mommy and opened my eyes to so many things that I just didn't want to see or refused to.

Well, even though Angi doesnt read this blog, we will write to her tonight to thank her a thousand times as everytime she sends pictures. ha!
And... I LOVE YOU ANGELINA.. AND I PROMISE I WILL SEE YOU AGAIN AND HOLD YOU AGAIN AS I DID FOR THE FIRST NINE MONTHS OF YOUR LIFE!

I got a 100!!

2008-09-21T16:41:00.000-07:00

omg!!!!
i got a 100 in my hospital practice exam!!!
i could not believe... it is true, i stayed up all night reading that book but i thought the questions were going to be a lot harder.
And I was lucky enough that I got the patient we had seen the week before in another floor, she had been transfered 'cause she was a whole lot better than the week before.
I guess I did good, my clinic chart had a good grade too!
there is no doubt...I ROCK!!

by the way.. the rest of my classmates did not do very good, only me and another girl got a 100;
I wonder if the doctor liked me and was not very hard on my, I work hard every class at the hospital so I guess my hard work paid off.
WOHOOO!

:S Hospital test tomorrow!

2008-09-16T15:44:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I have a test at the hospital... I need to study a whole book for it!!
I have no idea what am I doing posting this... but I need clear my mind before starting and I thought that letting this out would help.

I am praying to God that the dr. will be nice and won't ask me to do something too hard... and I hope I get asigned a patient who doesn't have such a bad attitude... I know being in a public hospital in Guatemala is not the most pleasant thing so I totally understand when their not helping us students.

Please Lord let me do good... I will be studying all night long today or should I say today and tomorrow but... I swear sometimes I am just so tired I feel like I didn't even open the book.

I did good today in my last fisiology presentation wohooo! I got the whole grade a big 0.75!!! haha isn't it just miserable? haha

Siblings

2008-08-31T19:46:00.001-07:00

I made this slide of me and my younger brother and sister, Tonito and MOlly.
I truly love these two, though they can drive me crazy some times.
I picked my favorite pictures from the last days.
Here it goes...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

My 2nd date...FAILED!

2008-08-31T19:20:00.000-07:00

yES.... it was my 2nd date ever...and it failed
fortunatedly I think it is the best thing could have ever happened.
This boy... I have been talking with him for months now, he's nice, good looking...not
I am a good looking girl and have lots of virtues, to be wasted with someone that I have serious doubts of his interest in me PLUS he has serious vices that I absolutly dont share.
So yesterday he texted me asking if I wanted to go to the theater with him, i was excited I have to be honest... i was... but I also had doubts, which I think is something that should not happen in this kind of situation.
Oh and I also have to mention that it was incredibly HARD to convince my mom and grandma to let me go... since I have not seen this boy before, only talk to him through the internet and cell phone. You should have heard them... they were like:
"don't go! we probably won't see you ever again!"
"what if he is a psyco?"
"your sister has to go with you and watch you from a proper distance at all times"

I mean... I am 20 years old! 20!!!!!!!
its true...Guatemala can be a very dangerous place but... I don't hang out with crazy people!

Anyway... he texted me around noon today saying he is going to have to babysit his sister and nieces... whatever!!!!
I showed my mom one of his pictures in Facebook, these were her words:
"you are not going out with him...never ever"
I guess the can of beer and the cigarrete in his hand didn't help at all. I already knew he wasn't the best guy for me... but I really like him...well... the way he talks to me...
I guess I am starting to feel really lonely
Thank God I have this journal to get this weight off me.

My baby Angelina can stand all by herself!!

2008-08-31T19:08:00.000-07:00

wohoooo! my baby is standing!!!!!!
man! that makes me soooooo happy and sooo proud!
I remember when she came home... such a tiny little peanut... and I loved her to pieces since the first time I saw her. She is learning to do so many new things, it is really sad to be so far away from her and not be part of her everyday life. I miss her like crazy!
I thank Angelina's mommy so much for keeping us updated, she is so kind! even sharing 1 or 2 minutes of this baby with us makes us so excited!
So here goes the last video of my baby girl standing! she is the cutest child on earth!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Now I know why!

2008-08-31T18:36:00.000-07:00

Now i know why my pictures would not upload to my post! haha I really need help with this

computer issues!!

Well here they are... it is funny after they left I really missed having to feed and clean them. I

really hope they are doing just fine with the rest of Maco's pets.

I, Hate & You... I promise I will always remember you... and I am sorry for naming you with those ugly names hehehe...

Oh! and you were so brave everytime I gave you those testosterone shots. I hated to do that.

Though it was really gross the way you pooped every 3 minutes....

My little chicken

2008-08-29T16:09:00.000-07:00

So.. here is a few pictures of my chicken... they were really good pets... sure they pooped a lot but at the end they dealt very well with the daily shots and everything.
By the way I forgot to say in my last post that.. at the begining I really hated having to feed them more than 3 times a day and having to clean all of their messes, so I named them I, HATE and YOU. I know they're really bad names but... those were my feelings at the time...ha! oooh! and they are going to become beautiful roosters some day... they were boys.

Well... lets get to the pics

:( i could not upload the pics ...
i will try later....

In memory of I... HATE...and YOU

2008-08-29T10:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I want to make this post to remember my three little ones... I, HATE and YOU... my three little chicken who I took care for 9 days.
It all started with an experiment we were asked to make in as part of the Fisiology class (I have no idea if it is called that way in English... anyway) all of the members of my group own dogs, cats or other pets... even ducks. We are about 15 people in this class, 12 of us are in the same group, half of the group were smart enough to choose the gold fish we also had to experiment with... I forgot to mention this was even before the exams week came... so everyone in the group said their pets were going to kill the chicken... to be honest I am not an animal lover, niether is my family plus we live in a small apartment in a fourh floor so... believe me there is not enough space for any kind of pet here PLUs we are barely home and everyone is just so busy with their own concerns that we even eat at different times.
At the end I could not find a way to convince them and I had to take care of the chicken for a week that could turn into 2 weeks... and give two of them daily testoterone shots!
Let me tell you people this chick ate all the time and pooped every 3 minutes!
I took care of them fairly well... they were fat and strong by the end of the week and every one in my family was in love with them... I kind of ended up loving them too.
I had to let them go... but we missed them the first few days. They are with other farm animals now. I might post a picture of them later.... by now I have to go to a mom and daughter day out! finally! a break from school which i skipped today! ha!

Yesterday....At hospital training

2008-08-29T10:09:00.000-07:00

I am such a lame blogger! ha! im always so busy it is so hard to find time to keep up posting... as usual there has been a lot going on in this busy family and study life
Soooo... first of all... another week of test gone, they haven't released those grades but im praying to God they are better from the last time.
Me and my friends have been working on calculating our scores for the finals and checking if we get to the 41 points we need to have the right to get our final tests.
This is getting really scary!!! I am so afraid... if I can make it, it means I am going to be another year behind! I know I have been a little lazy but I promise I will be better there is no way back now.
I even have a good place among all of the students in the same year as mine.
GOD PLEASE LET ME GET TO THIRD YEAR IN MED SCHOOL!!!
I am learning so much! but sometime it seems like my brain thinks it is waayyy too much! ha!
Yesterday I spent around 4 hours at the hospital... I made a fairly good clinic chart to the patient I was asigned to. Though she didn't talk much. It is hard to get words our of them sometimes.
Thank God the dr. teaching us loves me! ha! when he was asigning patients and it was my turn he said..."lets see... I like you so lets find an "easy" patient for you"... at least he tried... all of the "easy" patients where taken! :s
My mom took so long to pick me up I even had to wait outside! IN THE STREET!!
Believe waiting alone outside of a public hospital in Guatemala City is not an easy thing... there is a lot of violence out there PLUS I am an overprotected child!
haha