A change of plans

Today I received my placement information for my project in Mexico. As it turns out the care home I was going to be working in is no longer taking volunteers. I'm not sure if this is because they have closed or for some other reason. While I am a little disappointed right now I think after some time to think about it I will be happy with my new placement. I will now be working at a rehabilitation centre for young boys (ages 10-18) who have had problems with drugs or have been living on the streets. The centre aims to provide a safe place where they can receive attention in order to help them readapt to a more healthy family and society life. I will be working under Dr. Karla Frias Zuñiga and my job will be to help out with the maintenance of the facility and to organize activities for the boys (painting, singing and sports). The centre is called Centro de Integracion Juvenil (Centre for Juvenile Integration) and is located in Ciudad Guzman which is a small city 2 hours from Guadalajara. Ciudad Guzman is located in a valley next to a lake and is surrounded by mountains. Apparently it is quite gorgeous.

I'm actually quite happy to be going to Ciudad Guzman instead of Guadalajara because I will now have to opportunity to see life in a little city and a huge metropolis (I will still be studying Spanish for 5 weeks in Guadalajara). My homestay family consists of Sara Loya Hernandez (my homestay mom) and her 8-year-old daughter Maria. They tell me Sara loves to cook and bake so I'm REALLY excited for some proper Mexican cuisine! She also paints so perhaps I will get a chance to do a little of that too! I'm getting more and more excited about my new placement even as I'm writing this. I think this will be a great experience!

Art Sale pretty good

Well I have to say the art sale was not as big of a success as I anticipated... I had a profit of somewhere between $50-100... I never calculated the exact total as I didn't really want to know the exact amount. It was far more effort than it was worth in any case. I would actually put on another sale another day to sell everything I didn't sell yet, but I am simply far too busy with school now to take a whole day off... maybe I'll do one in the fall just for fun. Thanks to everyone who donated work and to everyone who bought stuff. And I want to thank Dave Staples and family for their recent personal donation. As for those of you interested in my Mexican Fiesta Dinner Extravaganza... I will be starting to sell tickets at the end of March. I will be selling only 50 tickets so buy them early if you want to come! $10 for students/seniors, $20 for adults, kids 10 and under free.