This is our website which has our updates and pictures of our trip abroad during 2004-2005.
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Tom and Ronit Ricoy
Friday, December 10, 2004
Ricoy Update No. 3
Hi All!
We are in Pana for a few hours before returning to San Marcos. Lots to be thankful for! We´ve been blessed!
What a beautiful welcome we had to San Marcos! The lake was smooth and the boat ride over was wonderful. Almost every time I get to that lake, I get this silly grin that is just me bursting with happiness at the experience of being here.... the last couple of years some of the school issues have been so stressful it affected that, but I felt my joy return. In San Marcos, the familiar faces and hearing my name over and over again in the way the locals pronounce it made me smile. It´s hard to walk anywhere without hearing my name and having to stop to talk. And then there was the beautiful welcome Madeliene, this year´s school volunteer, and her husband Earl gave us. They found us a little house to rent while we are in SM for Q300, which is about $40, per week. Madeleine had a card, flowers, candies, and all kinds of little welcome treats for us, then they had us over for dinner. It was so sweet! And yesterday´s meetings with the director, subdirector, Madeleine, and the parents all went well. The meetings with the director were quite smooth and productive, almost eerily so considering his past behavior, but I´m cautiously optimistic. With the progress the school has made and all that Madeleine, the current volunteer, and Quinn, the subdirector volunteer, have done, there´s no need for 14 hour work days or my workaholic mentality of the past, which is really, really nice, but there are still lots of problems to tackle, but so far so good. Please pray for all of us as we try to address these. We could also still use prayer for health as my knees are very swollen and even with our mattress topper the small foam on wood is not much of a bed, so back and neck pain are keeping me up most nights, and Tom´s shoulder and hip are bothering him. However, we´re both feeling positive. Tom worked on the school´s computer lab during our meetings and, though he has his work cut our for him, he was pleased with the current state of the lab, given that it has sometimes needed quite a bit more work. Tomorrow is another meeting, a town meeting of sorts, and then Madeleine and I will work on the curriculum she is developing. Monday we all meet with the mayor. And so on. We also have cleaning days scheduled in prep for painting the school. They´re trying to get the mayor to pay for the paint, but if he doesn´t, it will be purchsed with donations. Please keep praying for the right volunteer for this coming year, ideally someone who will stay two years, but even one year would be great. Gotta run!
Ronit
We are in Pana for a few hours before returning to San Marcos. Lots to be thankful for! We´ve been blessed!
What a beautiful welcome we had to San Marcos! The lake was smooth and the boat ride over was wonderful. Almost every time I get to that lake, I get this silly grin that is just me bursting with happiness at the experience of being here.... the last couple of years some of the school issues have been so stressful it affected that, but I felt my joy return. In San Marcos, the familiar faces and hearing my name over and over again in the way the locals pronounce it made me smile. It´s hard to walk anywhere without hearing my name and having to stop to talk. And then there was the beautiful welcome Madeliene, this year´s school volunteer, and her husband Earl gave us. They found us a little house to rent while we are in SM for Q300, which is about $40, per week. Madeleine had a card, flowers, candies, and all kinds of little welcome treats for us, then they had us over for dinner. It was so sweet! And yesterday´s meetings with the director, subdirector, Madeleine, and the parents all went well. The meetings with the director were quite smooth and productive, almost eerily so considering his past behavior, but I´m cautiously optimistic. With the progress the school has made and all that Madeleine, the current volunteer, and Quinn, the subdirector volunteer, have done, there´s no need for 14 hour work days or my workaholic mentality of the past, which is really, really nice, but there are still lots of problems to tackle, but so far so good. Please pray for all of us as we try to address these. We could also still use prayer for health as my knees are very swollen and even with our mattress topper the small foam on wood is not much of a bed, so back and neck pain are keeping me up most nights, and Tom´s shoulder and hip are bothering him. However, we´re both feeling positive. Tom worked on the school´s computer lab during our meetings and, though he has his work cut our for him, he was pleased with the current state of the lab, given that it has sometimes needed quite a bit more work. Tomorrow is another meeting, a town meeting of sorts, and then Madeleine and I will work on the curriculum she is developing. Monday we all meet with the mayor. And so on. We also have cleaning days scheduled in prep for painting the school. They´re trying to get the mayor to pay for the paint, but if he doesn´t, it will be purchsed with donations. Please keep praying for the right volunteer for this coming year, ideally someone who will stay two years, but even one year would be great. Gotta run!
Ronit
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