(Written 7/29/13)

Well. Am I in for an interesting next 6 weeks. I came here with no expectations because I knew it would be nothing like I imagined.

Today was my first day of work and when I arrived at the volunteer lodge was, "oh, this is just like summer camp". I'm currently on the top bunk in a small hut with a few bedrooms, a dining room and a kitchen. We wait in lines to use the 3 bathrooms and shower quickly because there is a long line. Flashback to Camp Friendship, seriously.

Luckily, my first day of work started easier because there is currently a group of 20 high school kids here and they have a set program. Today was their last day working so the second half of the day was spent at the beach. It was a nice way to ease into the work week, but it's clear I'm in for some serious manual labor. Today we did farming and cleared the area of leaves and tree stumps so they could farm on the land. Oh well, I hope I come out of this nice and strong. Side note: the group of kids was the same group from Saturday that sounded like sea lions. I didn't bring it up that I recognized them because I didn't want them to remember how hard I laughed. Oh, but they remembered me. One goes, "Hey! You were the one who couldn't stop laughing because we sounded like sea lions!" Lol oops, and yes, that was me.

There is only one other volunteer here who will be here for only a week. Once the high school group leaves it will just be us two, however I'm sure there will be more volunteers passing through.

The woman program leader for the high schoolers is really nice and is very interesting to talk to. She's a school teacher during the year but has done this program a few summers in different countries. She seems pretty excited to have another adult woman to talk to and frankly, so am I! She'll leave with the group tomorrow, but she has one more session so she'll be back again while I'm still here.

Tomorrow I'll head to an area to clear mora (blackberries) since it is a species that isn't native to the land. It should be interesting. We'll see!


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