My Final Words

4/11     Words cannot describe what I felt throughout the day. In the past, I thought that saying goodbye to someone you love was a burden. Today felt like saying goodbye to the kids was a beginning for us both. Kevin says that it’s the opportunity that sets us apart from the students. I believe it’s the love you are given daily. It’s to be said that love is the best medicine. These kids go home to where some of them are treated worse than the pigs they own or the dogs on the streets. If you give them some love and a little bit of affection, the negative energy consuming them becomes positive, and so does their love for you. Today I felt the positive love, energy, and force when I was at the party. Yimi goes home every day in the shadow of his mother, looking in to the face of the dark side. At the party I saw way more to him than just coloring and outlining shapes. He was a gentleman, with a big, amazing, intelligent heart. While Yimi and I were dancing I could feel his mother’s eyes sinking into my skin, looking at me as if I was sent here from God himself. When he left with his mother she whispered something in my ear, yet I couldn’t understand because it was in Spanish. Yimi was crying and so was I, in that moment it felt like when we hugged our tears were combined and so was our love for each other. When the bus left, it felt like I should run after them because they took my impacted heart along with them. I was remembering the first day with all the kids and them getting off the bus, with their joy filled faces, looking at us like they have known us forever. Today when they got on the bus they were sad, yet they had our names printed all over their hearts. Douglas, the kid who is scared of flying, gay, and the nicest person you will ever meet, was crying tears of joy and sadness. Joseph had no clue what was going on until I hugged him and said, “I love you and I will miss you so much.” This week will always be in my heart. The students love, strength, and compassion, will always teach me to carry on.

4/9         Today I worked with Nora, and most of the children are Autistic.  I worked with a variety of different students, at different ages and levels.  At first we started out with drawing and coloring lots of different shapes. They got the hang of it really, really fast. After we finished reviewing the shapes and colors, we moved on to learning the vowels and vowel sounds. We played a variety of different games, including an easy competition. On a miniature white board I would write a variety of Spanish-English words and phrases from around the room. I would first say how many vowels there were in the word or phrase and they would say which ones they were and then their sounds. After the students begged me to have lunch with them, they dragged me into the lunch room where an interesting Spanish/English conversation took place. After lunch I showed Yimi and Royner how to kick a soccer ball and we played a little one-on-one game. It made me feel really happy and excited to teach them a great sport to play at the school. We played soccer for about 20 minutes until we were told to stop and go inside. After we went inside we had a play-dough session, where at first I showed the class how to count the dough and add using balls of play-dough.  During the afternoon Ty, Addison, and I went on 2 home visits, the children both looked healthy. The second home visit we attended was about 15 minutes away from the school. Hensiy is 11 years old and she was living with Brain Paralysis, being paralyzed from the waist down, and a valve in her heart is swelled. She was unable to talk, yet understood about everything we were saying. She could eat anything but really enjoyed rice, beans, and cheese. When she was younger she had attended Escuala Especial Maria Romaro but her mother had taken out due to her crying the whole time she was there. We are planning to take her to the party on Friday to introduce her to the students and teachers. Henisy has multiple pills and medicine, including a liquid medicine for her heart. She also takes different pills that cost about 13 American dollars per month. I learned a lot from the kids at the school. I learned to stand up for others, understand what’s right even when no one else is doing it, and always trust myself.

4/10       Today I worked in the classroom with many different intelligent students. They were learning about the same things we were learning at my school in social studies. At first Sophia and I had no clue what to teach, nor how to communicate with the students. We started off with a higher level classroom then moved on to a classroom more at the level of a 4^th grader. At first Sophia and I made the students in to teams and wrote simple 3 digit problems on the white board. Rosa, Juan, and Christina were really nervous to speak in front of us, but by the end of the day we were all communicating in sign language. At 10:00 the students went to lunch, Douglas, Ty, Sophia and I played basketball. I. Was. Ashamed. My shots were off and, I kept falling. Dad you know what I’m talking about. Today, I not only learned a lot from myself but from the students. By the end of the day Christina was teaching Sophia, Jared and I Spanish and sign language. Today I feel like I have so much more to offer the world, much more than my lame excuses and constant attitude. The students I worked with today don’t get to ride in a chilled van, and go home to a hot meal and air conditioned room. I feel like I need to stop whining, suck it up, and  take the frown off my face and put a smile on someone else’s.

P.S Mom and Dad,

I still have lice and have a boyfriend named Larry. He’s a bear.

4/5-4/6      We waited for the cows to come home. Literally, we were in a bus for 3 hours while Tyler peed in a bottle, and Kevin slept on the floor, and everyone else ate HI-CHEWS and sang to Eminem. The only rules were no Jesus no Disney; by the end of the bus ride we broke those rules within a sentence.

            4/6 On the first day at the school we had cleaned everything. When we got there we met the principal and our translators. Then we took a tour of the school so we knew what level and disability the classrooms were. Addison and I started at a deaf classroom with minimal chairs, lots of posters, a bathroom and whiteboard. We started with organizing some of the bookshelves and dusting. Then we moved on to sweeping and mopping the floors. While doing this I had taken a little time to realize how lucky we are to have running water, electricity and many resources in our classrooms. After mopping and sweeping Addison and I went to clean most of the restrooms on the right side of the school. After lunch we went to clean the trash in and around the school. Our entire group picked up about 4 big bags worth of trash. When we were on the bus ride back to our amazing hotel, we were dead silent. While everyone else was explaining how hot, tired, and exhausted they were, I was thinking about meeting the students, teachers, and traveling to the home visits. Questions were flying through my head; will they like me? If they like me, will they respect me?  I was extremely nervous and anxious to meet them.

            4/7 At 5:30 we heard banging on our doors and we were up and getting dressed, prepared, and soon breakfast was in our happy stomachs. Not knowing what laid ahead of us today, we got into the van and began our voyage to the school. Three things that the people of Nicaragua love are gum, bikes, and paint. There are paintings everywhere it seems that whenever-wherever there is room to paint pictures they will. When we got to the school we met the teachers, we explained our lesson plans and got a feel for the classrooms. I. Was. Terrified. If I didn’t make a first impression, a good first impression my experience would be butt ugly. The kids would hate me, not trust me, or not respect me. Walking to the school bus I pushed out all of those thoughts as I saw the kids faces. At first they were grim, sad, and mad, but when they saw us they were full of smiles and happiness. When they got out of the bus they took one non-judgmental look and immediately hugged us. Naturally I cried. I took a moment then jumped right into the lesson. Jesus is blind, but that doesn’t get in his way. He is extremely smart and funny. He had a challenging start with the numbers and letters but as the day went on he began to get much more familiar with them. After awhile I had taught him how to make patterns and make a beat using everyday tools, the teacher had requested that I would sing the cup song. I sang it about 6 times; Jesus’ father and Kevin recorded the whole thing. Jesus loved it so much, at the end of the day he began to learn the English words and the beats. Joshua is about 7 years old and he has two disabilities, deaf and blind, yet he is an amazing child and quite handsome. After Jesus and Joshua left, two boys named Jimmy and Joseph walked in. Joseph walked in not knowing who I was, he pointed to me grabbed my hand and sat in my lap. Jimmy was doing very well until he admitted that he didn’t want to go home. He said that his mother hit him when he did something naughty. When the kids left I had a sudden urge to take them home and keep them as my own.

            4/8 Today Tyler and I had the home visits with Lisa-Marie. We went to 3 different homes but I will only share one amazing experience. The child Roger was at physical therapy with his mother so we could not meet him, but we saw lots of pictures. So we questioned the grandmother, she was extremely nice and sweet. The baby was at the hospital about 22 days ago due to respiratory problems. His disability was poor motor skills, and a growth on the soft part of his forehead. There were 5 people living in the well-kept and newly repaired house. He can walk and talk like a normal baby. After the home visits we went back to the school. I visited all the classrooms with success. Yay! I met all the students that were there that day and helped them. During lunch I played some futbol with some of the kids who are deaf. That is were I met Douglas. He is deaf but that doesn’t get in his way. He is funny, smart, and just overall amazing. He calls me Rosa half: meaning half red, half black because of my awesome hair. When we got to the bus we had many emotions buzzing through our heads. Here I am typing my blog, blindfolded on what awaits me tomorrow, yet I’m quite excited.

P.S mom and dad,

I have lice.

Who are 3 people that inspire me and why. 

    When I first heard of this prompt my mind was racing with famous people such as Abby Wambach, Alex Morgan, Linsey Vohn, and people who I really didn't know if they were really going to be a big impact in my life. I was walking into this assignment blindfolded. Not really thinking deep on what the question is really saying. As I thought more and more about it I found three amazing examples.

-My mother Martha Waterhouse. This amazing woman has showed me almost everything there is to know about life (so far). My mom is a second grade teacher at Brush Creek Elementary School. If you don't know how hard being a teacher is let me tell ya it is a very, very, very challenging job. My mom inspires me because she shows me strength,integrity, compassion, love, dedication, and sacrifice.

~Strength, a good or beneficial quality or attribute of a person or thing. 

    My mom shows me strength because... Martha Waterhouse does many half marathons which is 13.1 miles. This shows strength because you have to be strong not to give up to do half marathons. In addition to while you teach at a school you have to have strength. while you teach a class you need to also be patient. Teaching is a hard job like i had said before, this is because when you teach you have to  know the type of speed and the way to teach because every one learns differently. 

~ Integrity, the state of being whole and undivided, honest, sincerity, and unity 

     My mom doesn't do very much things wrong. But when she does she always is honest and tells the truth. When she sees something going wrong she doesn't just sit and watch. My mom tells someone even when the person who was doing the wrong thing is her friend. Martha will always be honest. 

~ Compassion, sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others.

      Martha Waterhouse always thinks of others before herself. During a soccer tournament in Vegas, we had gone out to dinner one night and there was a man on the street. Instead of eating her leftovers my mother gave it to the man. To me this is more than just giving food, this means giving maybe one more month to this mans life.

~ Love, a person or thing that one loves.

    Not only does my mom show what love is, she is love. I don't think there has been one day where she hasn't said I love you. When I'm sad and don't want to talk she just peeks into my room and says "I love you soooo much!" 

~ Dedication, the quality of being dedicated or committed to a task or purpose.

Mrs. Waterhouse will be focused and (most of the time) there will be nothing that can stop her. When she sets her mind to something that switch can not be undone. 

~ Sacrifice, a loss or something you give up, usually for the sake of a better cause.

       My mother has sacrificed so much for my own needs such as soccer, basketball, skiing, and being with my friends. Just like I said before my mom worries about others before herself, she has sacrificed workout classes, our house, her weekends, and much more.



- My father Mark Cavailero. My dad inspires me because he never gives up. He's funny. Nice. Loving. And overall inspiring.


~ Never gives up, There’s no lack of people who will tell you that you can’t do something, or remind you of how difficult something may be — no matter what it is you’re trying to do. ...

   My dad inspires me because he never gives up. Once he sets his mind to something he can achieve greatness. My dad is also a teacher, therefore he must never give up on teaching the kids what they need to know to succeed life.

~ Funny, causing laughter or amusement; humorous.
    My dad is funny because he doesn't hold a grudge. In your life you just be a boring, old, dark and mysterious person. That exactly what my dad isn't. He makes me laugh when I'm feeling sad. He makes others laugh when there feeling down. He knows his boundaries when he does tell jokes.

~Nice,
   Although all dads are nice my dad just feels especially nice. Even when he pushes you to your limit, after he will always be there for you. If you don't feel good, or in a bad mood, or someone is in need you can always count on him. He always thinks he can do better but quite frankly I think he's done quite a lot already.

~Loving,
Dads are supposed to be loving and caring and sweet. But my dad has always been the kind of guy who looks up to people and sees the flaws or sees the best in you and makes you better. Not only does he know when's a good time but he knows when's a bad time to just say you know maybe I shouldn't.

My best friend karla inspires me because she's smart, funny, nice and strong.

1. ~ smart,
    Karla is not only one of the smartest  people I no she also has street smarts that come in handy all the time. She got the highest TCAP score I the grade for math. She also can figure out things when you think that you can not.
   ~Funny,
    Karla is always making you laugh, no matter what happens she will always be the little sunshine. She knows what to say at the right time too. She also makes you laugh when your feeling really really sad she will always be there for you.
   ~Nice,
   There is nothing that Karla will do to be mean. Sure she an say some stuff in the wrong way but she will always correct herself and put it in other words. She bearly  talks about someone behind there back.and never means to hurt your feelings.
   ~Strong,
   Karla is not only really athletic she also has been through some very traumatic times in her life. Just this past fall her uncle broke his neck while falling in the bathroom. Also part of her family house burnt down in Dotsaro.
   
   
   
   
   
   If I were an animal I think I would choose a bird because I'm colorful, bright, cool, intelligent, easy to work with, and a great leader. Not only do birds show leadership they are very colorful. Birds are colorful. I'm colorful. Therefore I am a bird. I show light to those who are only dark. Show color to those who don't have any color. I'm  also bright, not only am I extremely pale. I inspire people to as bright as me, so do birds. There are hundreds of thousands of types of birds, which really, really cool. Take the peacock for instants the males feathers are bright and colorful to show power and to show off for the females attention. I'm not going to brag and say how I have straight A's and stuff like that I'm just saying that birds show there creativity and intelligence in different forms of defense. Not only do I have school smarts but I have street smarts that will be very helpful during this amazing adventure. I'm easy to work with, if we are doing a project and I have one idea and another person has a different idea I will try my hardest to incorporate both ideas. Much like the myself birds are easy to train and overall easy to work with. Take the bald eagle for example, it's the nation bird for its colorful, bright, cool, intelligent, collaborative, and since of leadership. 

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   My biggest fear going into this trip is breaking out of a shell. America is that shell. It's time for me to wake up, open my eyes, and step outside of that shell and experience sacrifice, hope, and love. During this trip I'm afraid of living the real world. I'm now preparing myself for this amazing experience and preparing to find sacrifice, hope and love in not only the children and people of the school but also in myself. It's time for the turtle to break out of its shell and find the ocean. Diving into the ocean is just like diving into my fears and experiencing the real world. Without my mommy and daddy there to guide me the whole way.
     I think that some challenges that I will face will be just opening my eyes and experiencing the home visits. I think I will learn from that by just helping an elder cross the street, or giving a homeless person my left overs from after my meal. Just the little things that spark kindness around the world. That's what I noticed what this program is all about, finding the goodness down at the very bottom of your heart. The small things for you could be a huge thing for someone else. I also think that a challenge is going to be the blogs. I'm not the kind of person who always needs my mommy and daddy right by my side but I am the kind of person who worries about what's going to happen while I'm gone. While I'm in Nicaragua I think when I'm adding on to my blog it's going to make me feel like since they'll be reading it, it makes them closer. I think I will learn by that is being more independent and doing more activities on my own that will keep my mind occupied with the other things that have to get done not the voices in my head saying, "Did the house catch on fire? Is Kenai (my dog) ok?" Just the simple stuff like that gets me really nervous, but after this trip I will learn that there are other things to worry about at that moment.
   I think that this experience will help me change because I have never been on a trip like this, never been to a disabled child's house or never repaired a school. This will help me change because when I go back home I will realize that the people in where we live are rich, snooty and don't appreciate what they have. I will change and appreciate what I have. Sterling is 7th grader at my school he has a disease called Cereal Palsy, a lot of the kids in my school take him for granted. Kids see him as a messed up kid who doesn't know anything, that's really sad. He's a really nice human being who 
learns just like any other student. Not only do I see him as my friend but I see him as an amazing person. Here is a kid who is going to get bullied for the rest of his life because of his appearance, and the other day I saw him walk onto the bus. He had some help but this boy has had to use a walker for his whole life just moved his legs up the stairs with his hand on the railing. That's amazing. I think when the students at my school saw him do that it changed there perspective on Sterling. While were at the school in Nicaragua and we can help at student do something like what Sterling did, it will not only change the students life it would change my life forever.

I don't really want to pour my heart out about a craft fair, but I will try. 
     My friend Karlina and I were entered into the Minturn Craft Fair. The weekends of the 7th and the 14th. The first day I made $56 the second day I had made $42 for a grand total of $98. I was selling ribbon leis, feather leis, shell necklaces as well as shell earrings. Karlina had a booth next to mine and she was making way more money than I was, I began to get jealous. I kept thinking in my mind that the day will be over and I will be out of the cold. Then a thought came across my mind; I'm going to a third world country to help students who worry about there friends, brothers, sisters dying and I'm here worrying about my friend earning more money than I will. Foolish Kaikea, foolish. 

   Although it was freezing and we were standing talking to random strangers, we at least got to see Santa, and inform people about Children's Global Alliance. I remember a man came up to Karlina's booth and said, "Why on Earth would someone want to go to Cambodia?" I started to laugh then realized is this really what Americas become? A country that one can't even open there eyes a little bit and see the good? 

   Karlina and I were standing in the cold talking to each other about how our leader and chaperone, Whitney, is really cool and we can't wait to go on the trip. I pointed out that she could possibly be behind us, not knowing that she might not even be here. When someone walks to my booth. I point out that everything here is homemade and handcrafted, when the elderly woman walks away unaware that I was talking to her. Karlina looks at me in manner of laughter. She gives a slight smirk and we start to laugh... A lot. We get back to our conversation about Whitney, we look around a then Whitney walks right in front of us. Karlina and I look at each other questioning if that really, truly was her and it was! We desperately start to wave trying to get her attention. And she of course walks to another booth, one with wine. I give up in waving and shortly after so does Karlina. Whitney looks around as if she wants to leave, when she catches her eye on something, someone. She walks toward our booth forgetting about her husband, Mark. We show her around and introduce her to our parents. After about 5 minutes we say our goodbyes and she leaves. To this day I still can't believe how ironic it was that we saw her.

First Post

      My name is Kaikea Cavaliero. I’m a 7^th grade student at Eagle Valley Middle School in Eagle, Colorado. I am participating in the service trip to Nicaragua with Children's Global Alliance. 
     I feel like I have been chosen because of my creative personality and my positive attitude. First, I always think of things in a different way and perspective. I bring color to anything dark. In addition, I will always give everything I do 110%. I won't give up during my fundraising and during the trips. I wanted to go to Nicaragua for the life learning experience. I look forward to creating life-long memories with the children at Escuela Especial Sor Maria Romero. Thanks for reading and I can't wait to write more about the trip and myself.