Today, we got to sleep in a little bit more than usual. We went to breakfast at Xelapan, which is a pasteleria-breakfast place. There, we had different types of eggs and smoothies, which were really good. Then we packed up and headed to Pachaj, which was a fifteen minute bus ride. We met our new homestay families, and settled into our homes for the next two days. Brynn's and Bella’s house is right next to a cornfield, like most of our houses. There’s a new baby in Brynn’s family, and a few other children that she hasn’t met yet. My (Sophia's) family is super sweet. There is a grandmother, who lives with her daughter and granddaughter. The father of the household works in LA to help support their family, and they have lots and lots of interesting farm animals. We also get to have a partner with us in our homes for this part of the trip, which is really fun. After lunch with our homestay families, we headed to the Chico Mendes reforestation project base, where we spent the afternoon shoveling, mixing dirt, and stuffing plastic bags with dirt. Those are some of the first steps to planting trees, and we really enjoyed it, even though it was hard work. We spent about two hours total, then had a discussion afterwards about what service and service learning means to us. Some ideas that stood out to Brynn and me were that on the one hand, service learning is about the personal growth that results from doing service, whereas service in general is about the impact on others and the community in general. Tonight we are having dinner with our homestay families (praying that the Warriors win — perhaps we’ll get to watch) and hopefully going to get a good night’s sleep. Stay tuned!
— Brynn and Sophia
