On Saturday, May 16, 2009,my family and I went to a flea market to sell a lot of things that we didn't need anymore. A Flea Market is like a garage sale except that a lot of people come to sell things, also. My brother and I sold almost everything. At first, I felt very nervouse and anxious because there were so many people going threw our stuff.  But, after the first hour, the people were not so overwhelming, so I felt better.  We sold all the important things first, then when no one would buy anything, we started to give things out for free. After we got rid of everything, we went and looked around. Our mom gave us $1.50 to spend on something we liked. I bought a foam finger, a coconut monkey, and three pens. Then after we had used all our money, my dad gave us both $5.00 for doing so well at selling things. The most fun part of the day was when our friends came over to help us sell our stuff.  We advertized our merchandise by wearing my sisters hats and ballett tu-tus! Sales increased! Once we got home, we felt like are house was empty.

-Pj

On Friday, May 8, 2009, I went all the way down to LA UNION, the Salvadorian military base. I went with a man named Giovani(a great friend from my church)my dad and my brother. The day started at 5:30 in the morning and ended at 7:30 at night. That morning, we met at the church, got into Giovanis blue land rover, and drove 2 hours to Giovani's piece of land. Once we got there we knew it was worth the drive. His property was on the beach, looking out at the bay and ocean. The ocean and the bay were separated by a natural sand wall . There was a constant sea breeze blowing on his property. However,  only one thing that was pretty torturing, the heat. The weather was so hot that you could cook eggs out there.

On Saturday, April 24, 2009, I went to an indigo farm and made a T-shirt with blue dye. The first thing I did was take a long, tiresome drive. Once we entered the dirt road leading to the farm, my mom said "Five more minutes guys". It turned out to be another forty-five minutes on a skinny road that had dust all over the place. The road was like El Salvador for twenty minutes, Arizona for five, and China for the rest of the ride. Our micro bus has great gas mileage, great turns, but it doesn't have the strongest motor. So when we were looking down the two hundred foot cliffs, we didn't feel so good. Once we got to the farm, we got out kissing the ground. But as we got up from that, we felt like pieces of sizzling bacon on a frying pan.  As I started walking in, I felt like an alien, for my brother and I were the only boys there. There wasn't even a dad! That day was a field trip for my family, but a Girl Scout event for my sisters and all the other forty- five girls. Yikes!!! Once I got in, I felt a little better. Later we took a ten minute hike to see where they grew the indigo and tiki.  Tiki is a big tree that has leaves which release a red dye when smashed.  On the hike we saw huge selva trees and a family of horses roaming the ranch.  Once we got to the destination, we saw the indigo.  Indigo comes from a leaf on a large tree.  When processed the leaf turns into a blue mud like material and then can be made into a dye.  This is a long process.  At the end of the hike we got to pick our own indigo( the indigo was still a small plant.)and smash it on a white handkerchief so that it would make a cool design.  When we got back to the ranch house we sat down and waited for everyone.  As soon as everyone got back, we started to make the shirts. All the Daisy Scouts got to go first , and since my sisters,(who are Daisy Scouts) I got to go first. Once all the Daisy Scouts were there, the owner explained how to do it. It is really easy, you just need to know how to do pony tails. After we had finished dipping the shirts in the dye for sixty seconds and letting them dry for another sixty seconds in the shade...six times, we finished!!!  As our shirts dried in the sun, we ate lunch.  That part was fun because everyone sat together all over the place and picnicked.  After lunch we went and undid all the pony tails and marbles in the shirts.  They hadn't completely dried yet, and there was till a long cleaning process to finish them completely.  My mom took over from there.  As we drove home, I thought to myself that I was sure glad I had gone.

COOL   FACTS

• The dye we had used smelled really bad because it hadn't been dumped for more then 8 years.
• Indigo is green until mixed with oxygen.
• The size of a indigo leave is about 1 cm.
• The Selva is the national tree of Guatemala.

This is a funny blog...

1. I'm not a know-it-all. I am just instinctively always right.

2. I don't have big feet. I just always have flippers.

3. I'm not tall. Everyone else is small.

4. My hair is not in my face. I just have a natural screen for protection from insects.

5. I don't sleep in late. I just forget to wake up.

6. I'm not dull. I just like the color grey.

7. I'm not lazy. I'm just generous enough to give other people the opportunity to serve.

8. I don't bite my nails. I just don't have a tooth brush.

On Thursday January 18,2007, something life changing happened to me and my family. I was coming home from a soccer game at school with my friend, Caleb Jacobson when I saw my other friends playing outside my house.  I thought that my mom had planned a surprise play date for me or something was wrong.   My friends names are Jack, Grey , and Mica Bueno. As Caleb dropped me off, I went to go see what was going on. As I started to play, my mom called me in with a nervous look on her face. When I got inside, I saw Ron Bueno, a good family friend, and my mom looking at my brother and I. Then she told us that my dad had been shot in the neck. My brother started to cry and I just stared into space feeling numb inside. Later Michelle Bueno, Dave Mcgee, and Jenny Mcgee took  my brother, sisters and I to Pizza Hut while my mom went to the hospital with Ron.  As soon as we arrived to Pizza Hut, we saw  my dad in the helicopter that was taking him to hospitable. It was landing up the street from the Pizza Hut.  Once we got into the restaurant, I sat and thought all about what had just happened that day.  When we came home from Pizza Hut our friends, the Barrientos and Dave McGee stayed with us.  My mom came home from the hospital and put us all to bed in her room.  All four of us feel asleep while she sang to us.  I felt scared, yet comforted that my mom was with us.  She left for the hospital after we went to sleep and the Barrientos took care of us.   The next day I skipped school and played with the Buenos the whole day to try to get my mind off what had happened the day before. Our school gave us free hot lunch everyday for two weeks.  We were very excited about that!  After that I tried not to think about it and I haven't thought about that much ever since. But lets thank God that my dad is still alive and only has a voice problem.  

-Pj