Email journal: June 24, 2005, Guatemala it has been wet for the past 48 hours. I am grateful for the breaks in the sky, and people here worship the sun for good reason. I cant believe we have been here a week tomorrow. The time has flown and I feel like there is so much still to do. I am well adjusted to life here, and could get used to eating wonderful food, having great conversations and enjoying the culture that surrounds this place. My spanish has come along so nicely, i am confident in my ability to speak, and though my grammar is terrible, and i have the accent of a gringa, i can communicate with most people; pending their ability to speak slow enough for me to understand what they are saying. We have played soccer with a wonderful group of kids. They wear the clark tshirts around the city, and i see many working as shoe shiners or venders, proudly wearing what was once a white tshirt. We play again in a few minutes in a small patio area in the neighboring school. It has been an amazing experience to get to know a group of kids, and be able to say hello to them as we see them on the streets. In that sense, this project is going nicely, a small community of people who love soccer now know each other. We are going to start a new group this afternoon at the school for children with out homes or stable families. They live in a residence supported financially by a local adventure group, and range in age from five to 15. We are sure we will get our butts kicked at soccer, but we will proudly take the beating as two of the only females they know who play soccer. Women, and girls are simply not able to participate in sports here. Even in a liberal city like Xela, they are barred to watching because of cultural stigmas. tomorrow, we travel to local villages to see the markets and indigenous culture. Peace, and sun. Rebecca