Today's activities succeeded in extracting me from my sometimes-routinary life. All the guys and girls from FJBG (Fundación Juan Bautista Gutiérrez) were getting together for breakfast today at 7:30
AM
at Capistrano's. I woke up at 5
, got up at 6, left at 6:20 on the Acura
, picked up Bidkar and El Maestro at the Resi, and got at the restaurant with half an hour to spare. We were the first ones there, so we reserved a whole room for the 20 or so people who were coming. The other guys
(and girls
) began to appear, and miraculously, ALL of the "Becados" got there! I think it's never happened before, so this little fact is quite worthy of mention. Doña Isabelita and Don Edgar appeared too, of course, and we all started to chat and stare around while we ordered breakfast.
AM at Capistrano's. I woke up at 5, got up at 6, left at 6:20 on the Acura, picked up Bidkar and El Maestro at the Resi, and got at the restaurant with half an hour to spare. We were the first ones there, so we reserved a whole room for the 20 or so people who were coming. The other guys (and girls) began to appear, and miraculously, ALL of the "Becados" got there! I think it's never happened before, so this little fact is quite worthy of mention. Doña Isabelita and Don Edgar appeared too, of course, and we all started to chat and stare around while we ordered breakfast.Yesterday Bidkar and some other guys made a PowerPoint presentation about the social project thing we're doing at Fundaninas (see www.zorpia.com/antoniojl). The whole presentation consisted of a bunch of slides with a picture on each one
and some background music
(Nobody knows it, but you've got a secret smile...), but Doña Isabelita liked it so much that she cried
. I took the presentation time to talk to some of the Fundaninas leaders (mostly girls) about some ideas for the project I had and had received.
and some background music (Nobody knows it, but you've got a secret smile...), but Doña Isabelita liked it so much that she cried. I took the presentation time to talk to some of the Fundaninas leaders (mostly girls) about some ideas for the project I had and had received.Well, I ate my Yogurt & Fruit and drank a cup of coffee
while everyone else ate eggs and bacon and beans and nachos. The prices were, in my opinion, outrageous, but it was all paid for by the FJBG
. The restaurant must've gotten at least Q1500
for feeding us all. After breakfast, Don Edgar asked us if we could go help pack lots and lots and lots of food
to take to the people who don't have any because of the Stan tropical storm (here's a piece of news: http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,20281,16863387-5001028,00.html). I readily agreed, and took Bidkar, El Maestro, Henry, and my own self there.
while everyone else ate eggs and bacon and beans and nachos. The prices were, in my opinion, outrageous, but it was all paid for by the FJBG. The restaurant must've gotten at least Q1500 for feeding us all. After breakfast, Don Edgar asked us if we could go help pack lots and lots and lots of food to take to the people who don't have any because of the Stan tropical storm (here's a piece of news: http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,20281,16863387-5001028,00.html). I readily agreed, and took Bidkar, El Maestro, Henry, and my own self there.The place was like a big big storage-sort-of room with lots of tables, piled-up boxes, some plastic trash here and there. Once I got there, I rushed in to see where could I help in any way I could. The first thing I saw I could do was help some guys near a truck with some people inside and lots of people on the outside, on two lines that went on all the way to some tables where some girls and women were packaging lots of food into plastic bags with the FJBG logo.
near a truck with some people inside and lots of people on the outside, on two lines that went on all the way to some tables where some girls and women were packaging lots of food into plastic bags with the FJBG logo.The truck was FULL with thousands of Can-Can cookie boxes. Each box contained 24 dozens of little packages, each containing 4 pairs of small round cookies with some sort of cream in between. I got in one line and helped pass the boxes through the line. The boxes weren't so heavy, and they weren't going so fast, so it seemed easy, although tedious work. But the speed steadily rose til we were doing 2 boxes per second. And then some people in the line began to sweat a lot, drop the boxes, rest, and even quit
. And even though I could handle it most of the time, the guys receiving my boxes frequently couldn't, and the boxes began to pile up in between him and me. But then the guys inside the truck began to call for help INSIDE the truck, so I got inside, and saw the reason for it: since the boxes were all neatly piled up, the more boxes we discharged, the longer the distance was from the boxes to the line. I got in the line and kept doing the same I did outside, while trying to organize the people in an efficient manner. We went from passing cookie boxes to throwing cookie boxes to sliding cookie boxes on the truck floor. During one of the speed bursts in the line, the guy in front of me couldn't receive my box, so I wasn't ready for the one flying towards me from the back. The box hit me right on the left side of my nose. Luckily it didn't break (the nose).
. And then some people in the line began to sweat a lot, drop the boxes, rest, and even quit. And even though I could handle it most of the time, the guys receiving my boxes frequently couldn't, and the boxes began to pile up in between him and me. But then the guys inside the truck began to call for help INSIDE the truck, so I got inside, and saw the reason for it: since the boxes were all neatly piled up, the more boxes we discharged, the longer the distance was from the boxes to the line. I got in the line and kept doing the same I did outside, while trying to organize the people in an efficient manner. We went from passing cookie boxes to throwing cookie boxes to sliding cookie boxes on the truck floor. During one of the speed bursts in the line, the guy in front of me couldn't receive my box, so I wasn't ready for the one flying towards me from the back. The box hit me right on the left side of my nose. Luckily it didn't break (the nose).I have no idea how much time did we take, but we finished the cookie truck pretty fast, and then we all went to help to carry Nixta Masa, to make Tortillas. Each plastic bag had about 12 1-pound bags, lighter and softer than the cookie boxes, so it was pretty easy work. After that, I saw lots of people carrying FJBG bags with sorted-out and packaged food into a big big big truck. The food included some bread, canned beans, dried noodles, cookies, Nixta Masa, and water. Just as before, the people were carrying the food in a line. So I got inside and tried to help by speeding the process a little. While I was passing bags, it became very obvious to me that most bags were different from each other. Some were heavy, some were small, some had cans, some didn't, and some of them were already ripped, with dried noodles falling from them.
the process a little. While I was passing bags, it became very obvious to me that most bags were different from each other. Some were heavy, some were small, some had cans, some didn't, and some of them were already ripped, with dried noodles falling from them.The rest of my work there was passing bags in the assembly line, changing posts, trying to organize people (some people in the line were 2 inches apart... they should've been at least 1 meter apart to make it faster). When there were too many people in my area, I backed away from the line so they'd do it faster, and tried to find some people having a hard time. I passed food bags, stashed food bags, carried food bags, threw food bags into large mounds, counted food bags, until the truck was full.
After all that, my white shirt and hands were drenched in sweat and covered in dirt. I went with Romina and Guillermo to drink some water. Later on, we were given LUNCH! (Pollo Campero lunch: chickenburger, french fries, and a soda). We ate heartily, and after that, well, we left. I gave Romina and three other guys a lift to their destinations, and finally got myself home.
and Guillermo to drink some water. Later on, we were given LUNCH! (Pollo Campero lunch: chickenburger, french fries, and a soda). We ate heartily, and after that, well, we left. I gave Romina and three other guys a lift to their destinations, and finally got myself home.Well, here in my house, I didn't do TOO much. I finished reading Gulliver (YES!!!), picked Rosa and the weekly market-stuff up in the car, typed my first two or three semantic rules into my EBNF C- Grammar, talked with Marcelo (Garza) with a video/audio conversation through MSN Messenger (that was just a few minutes ago), and now I write this blog. Well, it's Monday already, and I think I have to go out now... Bidkar asked me to return a movie to Blockbuster before 10 AM today, so I'd better hurry.
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