THE END.

Well, I have been back in the United States for almost a month now. While it's a big change, so far everything has been really nice. I'm just slowly adjusting, settling in, and figuring things out. It's been amazing to see family and friends. I do miss NPH, but right now I'm where I need to be and it feels GOOD to be home.

Thank you to everyone who read even one post from this blog. It definitely provided the necessary motivation to keep writing. I hope this blog has inspired a few would-be NPH volunteers. If you're thinking about doing a year of service with NPH, I would definitely say to go for it. As one fellow volunteer told me, "We only regret the things we don't do." So do it!!! ;) A HUGE thank you to family and friends for walking the journey with me... I could not have done the year without such great support from so many wonderful people back home. Seriously.

I would like to apologize for a total lack of blogging during my last few months at NPH. I guess you could say I was too busy having the adventures and making the memories to find the time to write about them. There really was just so much going on at the end! To give a taste of what was happening... (Basically, all the blog posts I never got to- sorry!)

• Touring Granada in Nicaragua at the end of the NPHI Medical Services taller/workshop

You gotta Granada.

• Proyectos familiares (family projects), proyectos familiares, and more proyectos familiares
• Climbing Volcan Tajumulco to watch the sunrise from the rooftop of Central America (one of my favorite moments)

  

  4222 m- highest point in Central America

• A visit from a dear friend from America, which included...
• Renewing my visa in Belize

not tooooo shabbyyyyyy

• The Caribbean side of Guatemala- Rio Dulce and Livingston

hot. humid. but nice.

• 4 day hike in the mountains of Guatemala from Nebaj to Todos Santos

Guatemalan mountains. Powerful.

• Quinceañeras

Volunteers can look nice on rare occasions.

• Visiting Honduras to use the last of my vacation days, where we saw...
• Copan Ruins

world traveler Jess

• Roatan of the Bay Islands

really great ferry ride over...

• Cayos Cochinos

Paradise FOUND at Cayos Cochinos. AMAZING.

• NPH Honduras

Yay NPH homes!

• Despedidas! (goodbyes)
• With my section, Santiago

me with one of my kids :)

• With the whole home
• With the clinic
• With other volunteers
• With other children
• With other employees
• With places
• With routines
• EVERYONE/EVERYTHING.
• FIESTAS.
• Spending time being with people. (You know, what really matters.)
• Packing up...
• And of course, constantly working on medical school stuff and preparing a little for life after NPH. No one wanted to think about it too much, but it had to be done.

Like I said, there was a lot going on. Sorry again about choosing sleep over blogging! ;)

I thought I'd share the testimonial about my experience I wrote at the end of my year. It expresses a lot of what I would like to say.

My decision to do a year of service with NPH Guatemala after graduating from college has easily proved to be one of the best ones of my entire life. I cannot imagine a better thing to have done with my first year out of college than this. While that time is generally one of growth and change no matter what, spending it with NPH Guatemala exponentially increased that process. Something was always challenging me and the experience was ever changing, but the difficulty and diversity pushed me to grow even more. At the same time, my memories are overrun by countless moments of joy, laughter, and love from the year.

For my job, I worked at the home’s on-site medical clinic as the Clinic Assistant. I had to act as a sort of hybrid pharmacist-accountant, which meant I gained many new skills since I had studied neither pharmaceutics nor accounting! Working alongside local Guatemalans presented enriching cultural differences that could both frustrate and humble me. It was also a joy to walk alongside some of the children on their medical journeys as they received operations that would truly change their lives. As I pursue my own career in medicine, I will constantly draw upon the experiences from my year in the NPH Guatemala clinic.

My favorite part of the experience by far was accompanying my section of kids. I spent several evenings each week with a section called Santiago, which was a large group of boys ages 12-15. A handful in the best way, they could always put a smile on my face. It was such a pleasure getting to know each one in a deeper way as the year went on. I can now tell you how Jaime’s character calls him to protect the weak and that Rosman loves to write songs in English. I also really enjoyed the little moments with kids from outside of my section, such as holding sweet Gerson’s hand and listening to him whisper a prayer on Christmas Eve. Such moments were surely gifts from God.

Even beyond my job and my kids, there were still so many other wonderful aspects to this year. Living in community with other volunteers from all over the world made me more considerate and globally aware. The obligation to speak Spanish both at work and at home forced me to vastly improve my language abilities. A simple lifestyle and witnessing poverty challenged me to ponder bigger themes in life, such as suffering, materialism, faith, and my values. Central America became my playground as I traveled around it when I had vacations. This year was such an ADVENTURE in so many ways and provided many incredible, once-in-a-lifetime experiences.

My year of service with NPH Guatemala has changed me for the better. Never have I been called to love so unconditionally. I learned to measure my success at the end of the day not necessarily by how much I got done but rather by how patient, positive, and kind I was. I would like to thank NPH Guatemala for welcoming into their home and making me feel like a part of the NPH family in a way that was greater than I ever could have imagined. The beautiful memories, experiences, and lessons from this year will stay in my heart forever. I am overcome with gratitude for the huge blessing that was my year of service with NPH Guatemala.

So yeah, that's that. In my first blog post (GAME TIME.), I talked about wanting to come back as Jess 2.0. That has definitely been done. NPHI is a wonderful organization, and Guatemala is a fantastic country. Don't pass up a chance to visit it. There is an infinite more amount of things I could say, but I'll just close with one more giant... THANK YOU!

"Keep the earth below my feet,
For all my sweat, my blood runs weak,
Let me learn from where I have been,
Keep my eyes to serve, my hands to learn."

NPH Nicaragua

The NPHI medical conference I attended took place at the NPH Nicaragua home, which meant I got to check off a bucket list item of visiting another NPH home. Woohoo! It was different, yet the same. Like NPH Guatemala, they have a big comedor (cafeteria), but ours is enclosed while theirs is open and called the "ranchon". They served a lot of gallo pinto, which is a traditional Nicaraguan dish.

el RANCHON

gallo pinto. yay culture!

One thing that was really different was the set up of the sections that the kids live in. At the Guatemala home, we have large, two-story buildings for the boys and girls and a large, one-story building for the babies. Sections for the children are divided within the larger building based on ages. However, at NPHN, they have these little, individual casitas for each section, which were super cute and created a homey vibe. As much as I love NPHG, I did really like that aspect of NPHN.

an adorable casita

The NPHN school classrooms also had a cool aspect to them that we don't have at NPHG- gardens inside each classroom!

sweet gardens!

The NPHN buildings were great, but let's not forget the reason we were all there in the first place- the pequeños, the kids! Nicaraguan kids are the same as Guatemalan kids who are the same as American kids. Kids are kids. Good thing they're always cute! :)

chicas swinging the afternoon away

found a sleeping angel

It was a good experience to see a new NPH home. It made me think about a few ways we could improve things at NPHG yet at the same time appreciate certain aspects of the NPHG home. Overall, I felt grateful for NPH in general. It's a great organization doing awesome things for many, many children. Thanks for welcoming us into your family, NPH Nicaragua!

<3

NPHI Medical Services Taller

I was incredibly fortunate enough to be able to attend NPHI's Sixth Annual Medical "Taller" (workshop/conference) at the NPH Nicaragua home. Don't ask me how I got so lucky- the stars just lined up! I was so excited in the days leading up to the conference, and it turned out to be even better than I was hoping for. I got to meet clinic representatives from each of the NPH homes except Haiti (dang visa problems!). Each home gave a presentation about their medical clinic, so I learned a lot about how each NPH clinic operates. Additionally, each home gave another presentation on one of their "special case" kids, a pequeño who presents an interesting and/or challenging medical condition. I got to present the NPH Guatemala special case with our clinic doctor, which was definitely a great chance for professional development and the most important Spanish presentation I've ever given! Aside from the presentations, we did a lot of training on the new electronic medical records system currently being implemented in the 9 homes, talked about treating swallow disorders, discussed rational use of medicine, and reviewed vaccine protocols. There were many inspiring doctors and nurses that just blew me away with the great things they are doing at the NPH clinics. So much compassion, love, and dedication!

It really happened! :) :) :)

Co-presenting the NPH Guatemala special case!

Overall, everything was very interesting and a wonderful, new experience for an aspiring pre-med! I really enjoyed the week and am so incredibly grateful that I was allowed to attend. Of course, getting a completion certification at the end of the week topped the experience off. First medical conference: check! :D

It's on the fridge, no big deal.

One of my favorite parts about my volunteer experience in the NPH Guatemala clinic is all the incredible people involved with NPHI that I've had the pleasure to meet and get to know over the year. At the time, I thought I would probably never see each person again, but I was wrong! It was like a big, happy reunion at the conference. All the cool kids were there :) Among many pictures with great people, here's one with Pilar Silverman (Executive Director of NPHI Medical Services- the BIG BOSS) and Marta Garate (Regional Medical Coordinator for the NPH Guatemala clinic). These two ladies have been a large part of my experience in the clinic and gave me the green light to go to the conference. THANK YOU!

Role models :)

At the end of the conference after a week of hard work, the NPH Nicaragua home was kind enough to throw us a little "despedida" (goodbye party). The gesture was very sweet and thoughtful. The NPH Nicaragua home has a real great dance program for their kids, and a big group of them performed cultural dances for us wearing traditional costumes. They even had kids playing in a live marimba band! I was REALLY impressed. It truly was awesome!

SNAP.

tapping my feet and I don't even like marimbas

As I have now said multiple times, I am so incredibly grateful that I had this opportunity.  I still can't believe I was lucky enough to go. A chance to grow as a medical professional, see a new NPH home, visit a new country... what more could a girl ask for? Thank you, God! An impacting experience, it is one I will remember and carry forward with me as I work my way into the medical profession.

If you'd like more information, you can check out NPHI Medical Services blog post on the conference!

Semana Santa: Working as a Tía, Round 2

The local employees get Semana Santa (Holy Week) off, which means the volunteers step in as tíos and tías. Even though this was my second time being a tía after having worked in the sections in December, I was still a little nervous going into the experience. This time, I was going to be caring for the teenage boys from the section that I normally accompany rather than the younger ones from Christmastime. I was worried the boys wouldn't listen to me, but overall it ended up being really... easy! I think there were a few factors that made the difference this time around. First, I did have experience on my side- I'd already worked as a tía! Secondly, it was only for a few days, a long weekend really, rather than a full month. The kids were relaxed, we were relaxed. It was like when your cool aunt comes over for the weekend to care for you while your parents are out of town. Things don't have to be quite as strict as they normally would be. Finally, all the kids were there at NPH together. December was hard because some kids got to go their homes, while the ones that couldn't (or didn't have anywhere to go) were obviously back at NPH and a bit sad at times. This time though, everyone was there together and no one was sad, yaaaay!

Smiling, happy pequeños. SUCCESS.

So yeah, overall it was a very "thumbs up" experience. It took me a bit to get used to the long days, but after that it was fine. We played A LOT of Bancopoly in the section, which is the Guatemalan knock-off version of Monopoly. The boys also played a fair amount of soccer while I cheered them on from the sidelines.

Bancopoly: LIVE!

frolicking fun on the futbol field

One day we took a nice little walk to Parramos and hung out in central park... The mango snack pretty much topped off the outing. SOLID. I was grateful that the days were so relaxed and just chill.

chilling in the park

mango mania nom

Even though Easter wasn't as bad as Christmas, it was still a hard to miss another big holiday at home with my family. Thus, I really appreciated it when the volunteer community got together Easter evening and did a DELICIOUS fondue dinner (the perks of having volunteers from Switzerland- cheese and fondue know-how!). It was a bit nontraditional for an Easter meal, but hey, why not?

yummy yummy yummy!

Of course you eat fondue on Easter...

The days were long, but before I knew it, Easter week has passed. It was a little sad knowing that I would never again work as a tía. I guess you call it "the first last". Luckily, I got to end with a very positive experience and it was a great opportunity to spend a lot of quality time with my own boys as my time with NPH winds down.

Semana Santa: Easter Eggs at NPH

As a likely result from years and years of foreign volunteers in the NPH houses, many NPH homes now have a tradition of doing an Easter egg hunt. NPH Guatemala is one of those homes, which meant we got to have fun during Holy Week decorating Easter eggs! Rather than using a dye kit like I would in America, we prepped our eggs like they do in Guatemala. You break off the top end of the egg, empty it out, paint the shell, fill the egg with confetti, candy, a small amount of money, etc., and then seal that baby up with tissue paper! Then, when the egg is found, you have to smash it open to see what's inside. Kind of awesome, right? Decorating Easter eggs in a way I had never done before was really fun. Here's some photos of the process!

literally PAINTING the eggs

eggs waiting to be filled and sealed

DONE. Finished products ready to be hidden.

For our egg hunt, we has special "grand prize" eggs filled with pretty significant amounts of money. I thought our gold, silver and bronze eggs (one set each for the boys, girls, and babies) were so pretty!

Even at 23 years old, glitter still captivates me.

Easter morning arrived and it was finally time for the egg hunt! After the kids impatiently sat through Mass, they got to run outside and see what they could find.

RUN, CHILDREN, RUN.

I had to laugh when it seemed we hid the golden egg for the boys a little too well... It took them FOREVER to find it, poor guys :(

"It's there somewhere, keep looking..."

Since I know you were all desperately wondering about the Easter egg situation down here in Guatemala, I'm glad I was able to clear things up. Both the kids and the volunteers had a great time decorating, hiding, and hunting the eggs. HAPPY EASTER! :)

Semana Santa: Processions and Alfombras

Holy Week, or Semana Santa, is a huge deal here in Guatemala, especially in Antigua. People flock from all over the world to take in all the festivities, and there is certainly no shortage of processions, displays, etc. It is QUITE the ordeal. Us volunteers were busy working as tías again in the sections for Semana Santa so unfortunately we didn't really have time to see the celebrations during actual Semana Santa. Luckily, smaller events were still happening on the Sundays of Lent leading up to Easter. So, taking advantage of my non-tía freedom while I still had it, I set out for Antigua one Lenten Sunday morning to be a tourist and see what all the hype was about.

I almost immediately regretted my decision to leave the house hahaha. Apparently, everyone else wanted to see this stuff too- the streets were pretty dang packed. I can only imagine the level the mayhem must get to when it's actually Semana Santa! Following the throngs of tourists, I tracked down the procession that was passing through Antigua. While the wall of people prevented me from getting too close, it was still neat to see the giant float being ferried along by scores of men hooded in rich, purple silk robes, chanting and swaying. Pretty different than what we do in the States, that's for sure!

people. and also a float.

MAXIMUM zoom

I couldn't handle the crowds for too long, so I wandered away fairly quickly. Fortunately, celebrations during Lent and Semana Santa take place all over Guatemala, even in my own little town of Parramos. I was really pleased a few weeks later when Parramos held a procession during Holy Week that we got to take the kids to. I got a lot closer to the "action" than I did in Antigua. Check out the floats and purple robes, really cool!

CULTURE.

Stations of the Cross

My favorite part about the Parramos procession was the famous alfombras (literally, "carpets") the residents of Parramos created. The alfombras are beautiful works of art on the street made out of plants, saw dust, fruit, flowers, and more! There are more elaborate alfombras in Antigua, but I still was really impressed by the ones in Parramos.

crafting the alfombra

CAUTION: Alfombra- making in process!

oooo so pretty!

The craziest thing about the alfombras is that the procession and crowd falling it just walk right over them and DESTROY them as they go!

Wait, no, stop, what are you doing?! That's BEAUTIFUL!

aaaand there it goes... *sigh*

Guatemala and Antigua in particular are AMAZING for Easter. Semana Santa and the weeks leading up to it during Lent are just bursting with culture. If you ever get the chance to come down here during that time of year, don't pass it up. It will be crazy but you won't regret it. I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to witness even a small part of it.

Chichicastenango Market Trip

The town of Chichicastenango (or simply "Chichi") is famous for its market on Thursdays and Sundays, and I had been wanting to check it out for awhile now just for kicks. It was another little item on my bucket list. Then, a couple of my best volunteer friends and I wanted to do something fun before working as tías in Semana Santa. Thus, we decided to do a little day trip to Chichi on the Sunday before Semana Santa. Lucky for us, Chichi is just a few hours away on the bus and before we knew it we were piling out into the sunshine and crowded market stalls of Chichi!

One of the fist things we saw was the Iglesia de Santo Tomás. Chichi is known for its intersection of indigenous and Catholic beliefs, and this church is kind of the face that. While obviously a Catholic building, many Mayan rituals occur on the famous front steps of this church. There are also a lot of Mayan offerings within the church. Standing on the steps, you can see the market spreading out in front of the church and filling the town square.

Iglesia de Santo Tomás

el mercado famoso de Chichi!

On the other end of the market is another little Catholic chapel church called the Capilla del Calvario. It's basically the same as the other church in form and function, just on a smaller scale.

Capillo del Calvario

Chichi continued to surprise us with one hidden gem after another. After the churches, we turned a corner and caught a glimpse of one incredibly colorful cemetery. I don't know much about this cultural tradition in Latin America, but from my uneducated perspective it sure seems like a wonderful way to view death- more of a focus on celebrating life instead of the loss.

wow, what a cemetery!

now that's a rocking (and really beautiful) tomb.

We wandered around the cemetery for a few minutes and then moved on. While strolling through the streets, we stumbled upon the brightly painted Arco Gucumatz. I was seeing all the things on my Chichi "wish list" faster than I could check them off!

After all the sight seeing in the sun, we took a lunch break to recharge and gear up for a few hours of SHOPPINGGGG. When I left NPH that morning, I wasn't particularly looking for anything in the market. I just wanted to go to experience it, to say I had been there, you know? BUT, by the end of the day, I found myself walking away with my arms full of an incredible quilt. Here's the back story. One thing that I absolutely love about Guatemala and will always remember are the amazing, vibrant fabrics with their cool patterns bursting with color. I think the fabric here is so incredibly BEAUTIFUL and different than anything we have in America. Awhile ago I had decided that I wanted to buy a blanket made out of a bunch of these fabric pieces as my "big" souvenir for the year. I knew it would be something really special to me. Okay, end of back story, back to Chichi. While I hadn't been looking to buy this said blanket/quilt in Chichi, I couldn't say no when I found a handmade one I liked for the (in my opinion) amazing steal of Q400, or about $50 USD. The sentimental value and memories this quilt will bring me for years to come made the purchase absolutely worth it! I was a little shocked by how many Q's I had just dropped when I had intended on spending ZERO. Ultimately though, I was really happy with my purchase. Now, every time I look at it, I love it more! I had to laugh when all the other girls made similar impulse and splurge purchases. We all ended up spending a lot more money than we had intended to that day, but it was for beautiful souvenirs and gifts that are going to be really special for the recipients. By the end of the day, we were all basically sprinting away from the market so we would stop spending money. It was a classic "girls' afternoon" with some of my favorite ladies and I loved it! :)

my quilt. yep, definitely worth it.

I am so glad we did the Chichi day trip! It was a wonderful, successful day in so many ways. Lots of laughs, lots of memories, even a beautiful souvenir... I was back at NPH by 5 PM. What more can you ask for form a day, seriously? I'm grateful for these little adventures with incredible people and hope more are in store for me during my last few months in Guat <3 :)