Wednesday, August 26th

Wednesday was focused on learning more about the country of Mexico and its rules and laws. Before we took a little trip to the US Consulate here in Merida, we had an orientation session with Val and Dr. Webber who is the visiting professor from Central that came down here for the semester. We talked about our options with service learning sites and internships. They both did an excellent job in letting us know what each opportunity had to offer. I became interested in a couple other service-learning sites than what I was planning on, but once Val and Dr. Webber could not stop talking about the site I was interested in, I knew that was the one for me once again. God is so good in putting people in my life that give me direction and have experienced the field I want to go into by checking out the site they were thinking would be a great fit for me. The site that I will be at is called Patrimonio Peninsular which helps children who have physical disabilities, strengthen their cognitive slowness. All of the children and even one adult there, have varying degrees of cognitive disabilities, but it is the mission of the organization to aid and support them to gain confidence and capabilities in all areas of their lives. I am truly thrilled to start going to this site on September 7th or 8th. I know that I want to pursure a career dealing with children that have disabilites of all different kinds. I am also sure that this opportunity will help me look at the children I come in contact with in a deeper and more loving way by being able to aid them not only in their disabilities, but being able to give them a purpose and meaning in life.

This same day, we went to the US Consulate and toured the facility as well as talked to a woman who helps Americans here in the Yucatan with any problems they encounter while in the area. She of course went through their policies and everything, but the thought that kept coming to my head was that this consulate is here for our best interests and even though they are adamant about certain issues like drinking, they are only that way to protect us. But, I did think it was weird all the screening we had to go through prior to even getting in the building! For heaven's sakes, we are US citizens! Why would we want to do any harm to our fellow Americans??? It was kind of odd and awkward....

After that visit, a bunch of us from our group walked about 15-20 blocks downtown to buy hammocks. I picked out an all purple one....we will have to see how I do sleeping in it! I will include a photo in Friday's posting.