Home again, home again, jiggity jig!

What a week.... To begin, I am safely home! I arrived home Monday, landing in Reagan at 5 where I was met by my whole family. My flights went well, and I made the connection with no difficulties. My day began at 4 when I woke up to do last minute packing, left at 4:45, dropped off quickly at the airport by Henry, took off at 7:15 for Houston. In Houston I went through customs and immigration which was nice to get it done with before arriving at Reagan. However, I got nervous talking to one man, so when he asked me if I had anything to declare, I accidentally called a customs officer ma'am instead of sir... do you correct yourself after that or just act like it didn't happen??? I chose the latter as he showed no signs of having heard me :)

Going back about a week, Monday I stayed around the house with Mitzye and Julian and Henry's family as Henry and Lorena went to Henry's puesto. In the morning Mitzye and I went to market in Coban with Henry's dad, which was quite an adventure. He walked through asking me if I had tried different foods, if I wanted to try them, and if I wanted to buy different things. Mostly I just didn't know what I wanted and didn't want to make a decision around this. I kept saying "I don't care" to everything, but then he would push me so I'd have to make a decision. We ended up with some delicious foods, I must admit, and I did enjoy trying different things. Later in the week I returned home from somewhere and there was a meat type thing sitting on the table that I was pressured to try. They assured me it was just like sausage and I should just take a bite. Welll... after I took that bite they said it was moronga, look it up. YIPES!

Tuesday it was my turn to go to the Puesto with Henry. We got a ride to Coban with Henry's dad and then took a bus to TacTic where the Centro de Salud is located. We hiked up there quickly to pick up a manikin Henry would use later to give a talk on aiding the birth process to midwifes from different communities. It took a while for a truck to come around to take us up the mountain so we sat in a Panaderia waiting and chatting. The puesto is located on the backside of a mountain, so we were taken halfway down and then walked a little while to the puesto. Henry did a practice run for his speech which I thoroughly enjoyed... half laughing and half being terrified of ever giving birth for all the things that can go wrong. I actually learned a couple things, too, but mostly just enjoyed seeing Henry in his natural setting doing what he does. There were 7 midwifes that came from about 4 different communities, including one woman who had been elected in her community to be the midwife, but had never attended a birth! One woman had brought her 4 year old daughter with her, and when Henry took out the manikin the women quickly shooed her out of the room. Were they afraid she would be tramatized by the demonstration..?? I laughed a little. They all spoke Poqomchi and not all understood Spanish perfectly so at times they would start chatting in Poqomchi and I was tickled that Henry was as lost as I was! Other times they would burst into laughter between themselves and I was never quite sure if they were laughing at Henry for being male and explaining the process to them or what. Afterward we sat out on the front porch of the puesto chatting and I was just enjoying the peace and beauty of the place. There was a breeze and it was just so beautiful...

On Thursday morning we once again went to the bus station to catch a bus to El Rancho. Henry came with us and was dropped off midway for a doctor's conference. In El Rancho we were met by the grandpa and aunt of my host siblings to be taken to Zacapa. We walked a little ways to their vehicle and I was... surprised that we were taken to a tiny little truck. They had put a matress down in back and we loaded our stuff and ourselves in back for the HOUR LONG TRIP to Zacapa. This area of Guatemala is boiling hot, so I of course also got sunburnt on the way... lovely. We also took the long way home as we stopped at several town centers, churches and a museum. The weekend in Zacapa was full of lots of sweating, meeting family of the kids, and soccer! I actually had a really good time there though by the end I was missing good conversations with older people. This was one of the reasons it was much easier for me to come home this year.

Sunday morning we were taken back to El Rancho where Henry met us in his car to drive back to Guatemala City. He had an exam the next day and was borrowing his brother's car so we had a much quicker and much more pleasant drive back into Guate. Much of the day Sunday was spent packing up, relaxing, watching a movie, and in the evening all 11 of us packed into a single van to drive to San Lucas which is located between Guate and Antigua. It was pouring but we went to a comedor area which was packed with small restaurant type vendors and several shops. We had atol de elote, or corn atole, and tostadas thanks to Tio Noe. Afterwards we grabbed a couple movies, the power went out, and we eventually gave up waiting for the rain to let up and just went. I went to bed early as the family seemed to think I needed lots of sleep, but was "sung to sleep" by Lorenita. She mixed up all the songs that had become familiar on the trip, mostly due to the World Cup, and sang about how I'm a crazy person. It was pretty great.

Monday morning I woke up at 4 to wash my hair and pack up my last minute items. At 4:45 I met Henry outside and we drove to the airport. He had never driven to the airport himself so it was kind of an adventure, but luckily there were many helpful signs along the way and we had zero problems! The airport in Guate only lets passengers into the terminal so it was a pull up to the curb and drop everything off kind of goodbye.

One thing that I came back with that I wasn't expecting is a deep peace of sorts. I didn't realize it at first, but after talking to some friends one night I realized how content I am with my life, how thankful I am for my family, and what a great experience I've had. I'm not sure I can pinpoint at this time exactly what happened but I am certain that God was working in some way through my life in Guatemala to give me that peace and contentment. I feel much more at peace than I have in a very long time and feel so blessed with this contentment. I am so thankful for my experiences in Guatemala, and I thank each one of you for reading these and for sharing with me in my journey. Who knows what the future holds, but hopefully next year I'll have the opportunity to do this again :)

Rain, rain, go away

This last week has been full of many goodbyes as my time in Guatemala is wrapping up. These two months have flown, and I can´t believe I only have a week left in Central America before I go back to the reality of a week Master´s class in mid-July.

Saturday I met up with several students from CASAS summer group and we headed to Antigua. We met up with almost everyone from the summer group in the central plaza of Antigua and then split into smaller groups for the rest of the day. I had fun adventures with Joseph and three others going to a convent, climbing to the highest point in Antigua opposite from Volcán Agua which overlooks all of Antigua, eating at Doña Louisa´s and going to the market. Eventually it was time to head home and I was proud of us for surviving a very violent trip back to the city around some nasty curves.

On Wednesday I was left in charge of several classes taking short quizzes as Ninoshka ran to ¨talk¨ with the principal or other lame excuses like that. As I was flipping through a student´s agenda I accidentally came across the note home to parents asking to send money for a surprise party for me that day. oops! Those of you who know me know it´s hard throw a surprise for me cause I usually end up finding out somehow. I must say, however, that the kids did an excellent job of keeping it a secret! They had decorated the main area of the school with banners and decorations and had tostadas with horchata for the refri. The director said a few words of thanks, then students started coming forward with gifts and cards that were either from themselves or from their classmates. I was soon loaded down with things ranging from a t-shirt, flowers, cards and a basket of traditional dulces! Ninoshka said a few things, some kids played a song for me, and then I was even asked to say a few words. Of course I started out by asking them to forgive whatever mistakes I made, and then briefly said thank you. I hate talking in front of so many people, especially in a second langauge and with a microphone! There are always more things to say...

Wednesday afternoon Ninoshka, Ana Cristina and I went to Lucky´s house to celebrate Ninoshka´s birthday together. These three ladies had quickly become my friends at Thomas Alva Edison and I will miss them dearly. They were the ones who constantly made me laugh and shared mangos with me and taught me sayings in Spanish that I don´t want to remember. We ordered pizza, took some pictures, watched a movie and I even drank some coffee! I hate coffee, and this was instant coffee that was probably stronger than usual. I chocked it down to avoid saying that I don´t drink coffee. My stomach felt pretty gross that evening but it was worth it :)

Thursday was El Dia de Los Maestros so we had yet another party. We started off by celebrating Ninoshka´s birthday with the 4th grade students. They surprised her with cake and several gifts before we celebrating El Dia de Los Maestros with the whole school. The middle school students had planned the activities which began with a meal for the teachers. I was not hungry for lunch at 10 o´clock in the morning but... such is life in Guatemala! We ate and then there was a presentation of sorts where students danced, again, and then they presented certificates to the teachers... including me. For some of the dances of the middle school students, which were actually more like aire band performances, I had the lucky priviledge of having my face stroked by a 9th grader and pretty much being FORCED to dance with another 9th grader. I was embarrassed, and I´m sure my face was beat red :) It was fun, and I was only glad it didn´t last too long.Then came the goodbyes. I planted myself by the door as the students left but managed to hold back the tears until one student who was very special to me, Nicoll, broke down and it was a domino effect from there ending with Ninoshka, Lucky and even Ana Cristina crying as we said our goodbyes and I sadly walked away with my hands full.

That afternoon the girls, Julian and I hopped on a bus to San Juan Chamelco... about 15 minutes from Coban where Henry lives. It was 3:30 when we left and sadly Mitzye was sick most of the way including throwing up on herself so that made it even more of an adventure. We finally arrived around 8:30 after convincing the bus driver that it was actually his responsibility to take us the whole way since that was what we had paid for! Henry´s family has a small tienda and a pharmacy run out of their house, and I´ve really enjoyed my time with them so far. However, most of our ¨plans¨ have been ruined by the constant rain that is quite common in Coban during invierno. It also means lots of mud outside of the house and the occasional flood inside the house.

This morning the church service was quite an adventure for me. For those of you who know, religion is something I´ve always enjoyed but struggled with in Central America. Today was another of those experiences. A pastor was visiting from Guate City and after his sermon, which was rather long and I lost his point after the first 5 minutes, there was a time of... passing the peace... or something like that. He would go around touching the heads of members of the church and often this would result in them falling down and sobbing. I really wasn´t sure what to do with this and it became worse as he slowly made his way closer to me. First he touched Mitzye and when she stayed standing, I felt reassured that at least I wouldn´t be the only heathen who hadn´t fallen with the touch of God. The pastor raised my hands and whispered ¨llena de paz, llena de paz¨ or full of peace, several times and then pushed slowly on my forehead. I was glad Henry had warned me to stand firmly before he came around! It was a very weird experience for me, and was glad to find out afterwards that this only happens when this specific pastor comes to the church and Henry doesn´t particularly like it either!

After watching the Mexico vs. Argentina game, a big deal here, we went to Grutas del Rey Marcos. It was absolutely beautiful with a tall waterfall and caves whch we couldn´t enter due to the time we arrived. We got some great pictures and enjoyed climbing to the top of the waterfall and cross bridges over the water fall at several places. At one point I let the four others walk a random path without me as I stood near the mouth of the cave. I enjoyed a light breeze that gently filled me with a peace I had been searching for over the last few days. At Henry´s house I am constantly srrounded by people and I am missing my personal space and time to myself. I needed that short time to recuperate and allow my heart to be at peace for a little while before continuing with what promises to be a full week.

En la tormenta

Today is a wet day. I am currently at my old host family´s house to celebrate Mitzye´s 16th Birthday! After CASAS today we waited for TWO HOURS FOR THE BUS! It started to pour and there was thunder and lightening... not good. We waited for a wihle longer until finally Tio Noe came to pick us up. My pants were wet past the knees and I was rather cold. I was so glad that two others were with me, and it certainly was an adventure! When we got back to the house I luckily could wear a pair of pants from my sister and stayed somewhat dry for the rest of the evening.

Another highlight of my recent activities includes making a new friend in a neighbour within the neighbourhood. Debbie had given Sonia and me a ride to La Fuente one of the first days I was in Guatemala and yesterday I was surprised when she stopped again for me shortly after I had left the house. We chatted on the way to La Fuente, mostly about soccer as that is the topic of most conversations right now, and I found out she also goes to the same church at Sonia and Julito. I almost had the guts to ask if she leaves at the same time everyday to see if I could make this a habit, but I decided to leave that up to fate. This morning I got almost to the end of the road where I take the bus before she came along as I had left a little earlier. She told me the house where she lives and invited me to visit anytime so I hope to get to know her a bit better over the next three weeks. I´ve really enjoyed experiences like this that help me gain confidence in my ability to communicate with few problems and the ease of communication.

Somehow time has flown and I am now left with three weeks. In a week from Thursday I will go to Coban with my host sisters and brother from last year to visit Henry, their cousin who used to live with them for almost a week. I´ve never been to Coban so it will be fun to get to know another place in Guatemala. I have also continued to enjoy spending time with people from CASAS´ summer group including the student who is living with the Tucubal family and Joseph Spory from EMU. It´s been great. This weekend we have hopes to go to Antigua with all the students :)

In the school I have continued to really enjoy what I´m doing. I´ve been teaching a couple times a week with both the elementary and middle school students. It´s amazing how much I don´t know about the English language. It´s much harder in Middle School where they learn more complicated grammar and are capable of understanding a lot more in English. How on earth do you explain English? I´m so used to just talking, but now I have to explain why I use certain words instead of others, or why the comparative for good is better and for bad is worse. Saber... who knows! I can´t wait to put some of these things I´m learning into action. Yesterday I saw a science lesson in fourth grade where the students were replicating the basic parts of a cell using jello and candies of different sizes and shapes. The students then had to label the parts of the cell and it was just fantastic. I´d love to try this. The kids were loving it and also applying their knowledge instead of just memorizing the parts of the cell. Yay Ana Cristina!!!!

I have two day left of Spanish classes! I can´t wait to be done. I feel like I´m at the point where I am not really benefitting from Spanish classes and just need to continue to learn vocabulary and practice the grammar I already know. This will come with continued practice and time! That´s all for now! Love to all

Comida Tipica

Where to start? Usually I have some idea of what I want to write when I sit down at a computer, but this time I`m relatively lost. It seems like a long time ago that I wrote and therefore it`s harder to know what to write. The last two weeks hav gone so quickly, and today is the date that marks a month that I`ve been here, but less than a month until I leave! I`m not really looking forward to saying goodbyes to the kids at school, nor the teachers, nor other people at CASAS or my host families. At the colegio I`ve been teaching at least once every week with both primaria and basico and I`m really enjoying it. With Basico they`re just learning that I speak Spanish so it`s been even more fun. At the beginning when Thelmy introduced me she told them I didn`t speak any Spanish as a joke, but I think they believed her...so now that they know I speak Spanish they`re more willing to ask me questions about how to say things in English. I`m so glad I have this experience now rather than a year ago when I would have really been struggling to understand what they said. It also helps my vocabulary to increase by leaps and bounds as teenagers and children use different words than adults! Today I taught all morning and my highlight was the 5th graders. We`re reading a book called Cloud Company and I asked if they wanted me to read or if they wanted to take turns reading. They opted for reading themselves cause they didn`t want to lose points and did a wonderful job. When I asked questions for comprehension or vocabulary usually I could get responses either by rewording my question or occasionally using Spanish. Their pronunciation is also spectacular, mostly, and it`s so fun to hear. 

This last weekend I slept over with my host sisters from last year and had quite a fun time with them. Saturday afternoon I returned to the Casa Rosada as we call it where Lucy and the gradnma live to help prepare tamales to celebrate Julito`s birthday! It was quite a process, and I was given the job of putting ties on the tamales. I had made a cake on Thursday night for the event with chocolate icing and reeses cups on top and it was sooo good with coconut ice cream... yum. We didn`t start eating until about 8:30 and then after eating we had a time of blessings for Julito. I was quite impressed with my little blessing, though I did make a point to keep it short and sweet as there were about 10 people still to follow me! We got home around 11 but I was wiped out! 

Sunday morning we were supposed to leave to go to Jutiapa at 5 in the morning so I set my alarm for 4, not knowing if we were going to eat breakfast before we left or not. I woke up at 5:07... oops! I threw on my clothes and went out... just as I was called! I`m not sure how but for whatever reason everyone else was a lil bit behind too so it didn`t matter. We went to Jutiapa which is about a 2 hour drive from Guate city to visit a friend of Julito`s from work. He has a dairy farm so I was expecting to see around 150 or 200 cows, not huge but medium size in the US. Well... they had 15 cows. I almost couldn`t stop my mouth from dropping open! Our breakfast consisted of totally organic products, all raised by the family from beans, eggs, milk, cheese y crema. We got to see how they make queso fresco as well as visit a couple of pueblos around Jutiapa and got within 15 minutes or so of the El Salvador border. I got a nice slight burn but it was sooo hot all day. It was fun, and Brittany, the girl staying with Lucy`s family, came along as well. 

Wednesday I made bunuelos de viento with Lucy for my class as we had gone to a museum Monday and seen an exhibit on comida tipica de Guatemala. They`re considered a dulce but are kind of just like little donuts (Except there`s no sugar in the dough) that are fried and then topped with a liquid syrup type thing. I wasn`t a huge fan but it was fun to make! Tomorrow starts la copa mundial and everyone here is crazy for it! Tomorrow at colegio we have the first two periods and then the rest of the morning will be watching the first game of the world cup. Kids get to come without uniforms and there`ll be food and drinks. I`m quite excited to have a fun morning with them and be in the middle of the youth soccer fever. Hope everyone is doing well!! Thanks again for emails and prayers. I`m off to lunch :)

Volcan Pacaya, Lluvia y Viaje a Honduras

My most recent adventures began with my departure from Guatemala City on Thursday morning at 5 to go to Tegucigalpa. the bus ride included a stop in Copan Ruinas and San Pedro Sula where I had to get off the bus as others were leaving and coming only to get back on the exact same bus every time to the exact same seat... lovely. It was a total of 14 hours on the bus, which was much more time than I would have liked! I had arranged to call Pablo and Grazia before the border when my phone still worked to let them know what time we were scheduled to arrive, but when my phone didn't work I was a little worried about arriving in Tegucigalpa with no address and no way to call them without asking someone for a phone. You can imagine my relief when I saw Pablo out of the bus window as I was entering the bus terminal! He drove me to Grazia's mom's house where they're staying and we celebrated his birthday with a couple friends who were also there. It's been really fun to see them interact with their friends here since in Harrisonburg their friends consist of family who are slightly older or people from EMU who are younger.

Friday morning Grazia took me to Academia Pinares, a bilingual school where she used to work, up in the mountains of Tegucigalpa. I met with the elementary principal there and he told me about the school and how it works and afterwards Grazia took me on a tour of the campus. It's beautiful! For those of you who don't know, I first heard about this school from the "Honduran Mafia", as we call them, who had several kids go through this school. After college I've been feeling the call to serve outside of the United States and when this school came up it immediately went high on my interests for post university. I would actually be paid there opposed to doing volunteer work but it would also be a tough transition I think. I still have a lot of time to think about it and for that I am grateful. It was fun to meet more of Grazia's friends and watch the kids playing on the playground and hearing some of them talk English with their teachers as that is required. There are, of course, things within the school that I think I wouldn't agree with but that will be anywhere I decide to teach.

Saturday afternoon we went to Valle de Angeles which is a quaint small tourist area outside of Tegucigalpa. There were lots of stores with artesian work and pottery characteristic of the area. We ate lunch at a little dinner and talked church politics and then walked around the town. The roofs are all made of the clay curved shingles that are often orange, and it was quite quaint. When the rain clouds started rolling in we cut our afternoon a little short and headed back into the city.

Sunday was a day of church, going out to eat, realxing, and church again in the evening. They have Sunday school in the morning and then church in the evening. It's kind of an interesting set up and I think I like the two together rather than separate better. It has rained constantly since I've been in Teguc. And I'm not kidding, I mean constantly! It's rainy season, but the tropical storm also hit making the rain even more... enjoyable. Plus while I was there Volcan Pacaya exploded in Guatemala showering Guatemala City with ash followed by rain. Monday morning at 5:45 I left in bus to return to Guatemala. There were reports of flooding in Guatemala and  Honduras due to the passing of Tropical Storm Agatha but the day was sunny and beautiful. After 14 more hours in the bus I was more than ready to be en casa again. I called a taxi driver who is related to my family and actually really enjoyed my taxi ride back to the house. He filled me in on the weekends activities and I was surprised at how much of Guatemala was still covered in ash. It is essentially black sand. Streets still had piles of sand and piles of plastic bags full of sand that had been cleaned out of houses and streets. Cars still had signs that they had recently been covered with black and some white buildings had a blackish tinge. This morning walking I got to see how much the sand still is around and is still blowing in the air. I was surprised to get more in my eyes while walking towards Novicentro.

This week many schools are closed in Guatemala as these schools have turned into shelters for those who lost their homes due to the volcano and massive rains. I have taken a couple pictures and hope to add some here one day when I´m using a different computer that actually has working USB ports and isn´t from 20 years ago! These week I return to partial routine and am almost thankful for that, though it was very nice to have a vacation in between!

Buenos Días Canche, que le vaya bien

I am not so fond of that greeting. Granted... it´s not always buenos días. I get this morning noon and night. My family lives about 15 minutes from the main road, which I may have said already, but it certainly makes the morning and evening walks to and from the bus stop interesting. Yesterday afternoon I made a somewhat bad gringa mistake. A group of 5 males was walking towards me and made a show of making room for me to walk in between them. I immediately knew this meant they´d say something to me. The ¨leader¨ said buenas tardes and when I didn´t respond he chided me and basically called me rude, which probably isn´t too far off. A simple buenas tardes is expected so I really should have responded but I haven´t made it a habit of responding to the buenos that are said only because I´m white. Interesting.

School continues to be fun. This week is exams so most often I´m doing homework or ¨assisting¨ with giving English exams. When Ninoshka doesn´t have an exam to give we sit in the 4th grade classroom with Ana Cristina´s class. They love me and I rather love them. Ninoshka recently gave them diaries of sorts to record their feelings every day because a bunch of these kids have family issues. I think it´s a great idea to give the kids some outlet for the tough situations some of them face. Ninoshka and Ana Cristina read the entries occassionally, and this morning two of the entries they read and then showed me had to do with me. One boy, Javier, said that he likes me because I have a happy personality and am always smiling. He said ¨le quiero mucho¨ which essentially means I love her. AHHH! Another kid who is kind of creepy already as a 4th grader, Luis Diego, said that he was happy today because I was there. Oh boy.

Everyday at school there´s a recreo, or recess, and Ninoshka the last two days has brought me huge mangos! She found out that I love mangos and they are so delicious. They´re the big ones, not the small ones you just eat off the mango. Ana Cristina taught me the method of cutting and eating one of the big ones, and it´s a little piece of heaven. Mango season is the best!!!

Spanish classes are a little difficult. I´ve put a lot of thought into it and I will share why I think this is. I´m a pretty shy person when it comes to meeting adults and certain people, especially here. Also, I like to listen. So, I don´t mind if someone talks a lot to me and is sharing things with me, and this is a problem in Spanish when I need to be talking more to improve my fluency and vocabulary instead of just soaking everything in by listening. Lucy talks alot but then when she does want me to talk it´s to use the grammar forms that we´ve just learned, which often feel forced and dumb. I don´t want to talk about what I think the president should have done or should do to help the poor kids in the street. It just makes me depressed because no matter what I say it´s not a sufficient solution so I´d rather not try to come up with one. This isn´t sufficient for Lucy. Oh well.

In addition to my Spanish class reading I´m also reading a truely fascinating book called ¨Breaking Out of Beginner´s Spanish¨ by Joseph J. Keenan which talks about how to improve and expand the beginners Spanish. He learned Spanish in a similar way that I´m learning, and I identify well with what he´s saying. It´s so fascinating! He talks about manners in the hispanic culture, adjectives used to describe people, and Spanish ¨tricksters¨ that look like English cognates but don´t mean the same. And that´s only the first 3 chapters. YESSS!

It rains here all the time... The worst though was Tuesday when it was raining in the morning. I woke up to pouring rain and it kept pouring as I went to school. Sonia went with me that morning since she had to go to the university and we occasionally had to run with our sombrillas to avoid being splashed by passing vehicles. The rivers that used to be streets are amazing. Most days it rains either when I´m in class or when I´m already home so I don´t get caught in it, but it´s so unpredictable that you can´t really make generalizations about the rain in Guate. Today is a beautiful day, so far. It´s sunny, and warm, but with enough clouds that it´s not hot. mmmm.

Que Dios les bendiga!

Hora pico

Rush hour, that´s how my life feels right now. But to back up, let me fill you in a little bit on my life this week. Tuesday morning I woke up in CASAS and went with Lucy, the CASAS language program to the school where I am volunteering. We got there, had a 5 minute or less meeting with the English teacher basically presenting me and giving her the dates for when I´ll be here, and then she asked if I´d like to stay the morning to meet the students and attend her classes. Of course I said yes, and off we went. Her name is Ninoshka, and she has quickly welcomed me into her classroom. She´s only 20 years old and is currently studying psychology in university. She took classes in high school for teaching primaria and has been for two years, I think. She speaks online in English with her students, mostly, which is very interesting. Today I was also with another teacher, Thelmie, and she´s older and speaks in Spanish somewhat frequently with her students. Quite a different set up.

The students have quickly captured my heart, which shouldn´t be a surprise to anyone. Everyone morning when I arrive a couple run to meet me and give me hugs. The 4th grade class is constantly hugging me and chanting, ¨Peyton, Peyton, Peyton¨. All the classes are learning dances (SO CUTE AND HILARIOUS) to show to their parents at the end of the month. The 4th graders want me to dance for them, but if you know me, that´s not going to happen!!! They´re also probably the most loving class and they give group hugs constantly which really makes the morning amazing.

I´m also taking classes again at CASAS with Lucy, for those of you who know her. It´s kind of interesting because she gives me a ton of homework everynight, so I´ll talk more about that later. I´m also living with a host family, though it´s only a young couple. Julito and Sonia live in San Cristobal, about 20 minutes from where I lived last year. It´s quite an adventure to get around from there as buses don´t really pass by there to go directly where I need to go so I do a fair amount of walking and catching microbuses.

My host family is just Julito and Sonia. They´re great. They´re still pretty young and don´t have kids yet so at times it´s a little lonely in the house. I have so much homework that I don´t feel like I get to spend a lot of time with them but I did try to teach them 6 Nimt and we´ve watched a couple of the movies I´ve brought which all have Spanish on them, luckily.

This weekend I spent a fair amount of time with my old host family. I went to their house early Saturday morning and returned in the evening before supper. In the morning we went to El Guarda which is a market in Zona 11 where almost anything you can think of is sold. I saw a lots of fruits and vegetables that aren´t sold in our grocery stories as well as many used tools and technology as well as clothes and even live fishes sold by one young man in little plastic bags. We were there for about an hour and a half and I got a nice burn, lovely. In the afternoon Henry came from Coban and us kids played Dutch Blitz and then I had to leave. Sunday morning I went with Sonia and Julito to their church, which is called Elim Central, in Mixco. It´s similar to the Frater where I went last year but not as big... and people are constantly jumping and clapping. I felt a little out of place, more than when I was at the Frater. It`s just such a different way of worshipping than I`m used to! After church we came back to the house where I took a good hour nap, then went to the grandma´s house for lunch.

In Guatemala right now rainy season has just begun. Like since I´ve been here. It rains every day, in the afternoon, and when it rains I mean it pours and the streets temporarily turn into rivers. It`s so strange but also refreshing as afterwards the heat is much decreased. I have yet to be soaking, but I´m sure that will come with time.

To give you an idea of my day, this is approximately my schedule. Wake up at 5:15, shower and force myself to eat the huge breakfast they serve and am out the door by 6:30. I walk 15 minutes to catch the micro bus to La Fuente where I get out and walk 10 minutes to the school where I´m volunteering, arriving around 7:30. I´m helping in English classes until 12ish when I leave early to catch a bus to CASAS. In CASAS I´m lucky to have 30 minutes to eat lunch and be ready for my class which starts at 1:30 and goes until 4:30. Then Lucy takes me to Burger King at La Fuente where I again catch the Microbus (which is always packed and I have issues getting out... usually) and then walk again back to my house. At home I have refa with whoever is home and then do homework before and after supper depending on the day. It´s crazy. I feel like I am always running, but that´s just the way it is. This week should be better as school ends at 11 since they have exams.

Well I´ll stop there as I started writing this Friday, it´s now Monday, and again I have to go to class! Love to all of you, and thanks for the emails I´ve received so far.

The sun is up and so am I

Good morning friends,

Here it is only 6:56 and I have already taken a shower and am ready for the day. I had very uneventful flights yesterday including a layover in Houston where I was dropped off at the same gate where I boarded my connection on the exact same plane about 20 minutes later. Not a whole lot of turn around time as we were already late getting there.  When I arrived in Guatemala at La Aurora my host family was scheduled to pick me up and since I was late arriving, I was hoping they would be on time to pick me up! I scooted through customs and immigration with most of them thinking I didn´t speak Spanish. I slipped through the check point where we were supposed to declare things we were bringing in behind a girl who spoke no Spanish and I think they just lumped me with her. I didn´t correct them. As I went through the first set of doors into the foyer that then went outside I took a moment to gather my bags around me and say a quick prayer before going outside to face the crowds. No sooner had I started to walk again then I glimpsed my host dad outside waving at me. You can imagine my relief at not having to figure out if I should take a taxi, borrow a phone, or wait longer for them to arrive.

We hopped into a car of a friend of theirs, Miguel, and headed to Abuelita´s house in San Cristobal where my family now lives. I was amazed at how quickly my Spanish came back to me. I have been attending a Spanish church for the last school year so I knew my listening skills were great but I was sure my speaking skills were awful. Turns out not so much. Words came quickly and somewhat fluently. I could understand much of the conversation even when I wasn´t participating, and I even conjugated verbs somewhat accurately. My first mistake came at the dinner table at Abuelita´s house where we had a huge feast including 3 HUGE slabs of meat. Pork, beef and chicken. I did my best to eat as much of the first two as I could, not wanting to offend them on their Mother´s Day, and then said ¨Estoy llena. No puedo comer todos¨ translated ¨I´m full. I can´t eat everyone¨. Oops. Take off the s on todos and I would have been correct.

It was wonderful to spend time with my old host family again and especially with the kids. Julian has grown and slimmed quite a bit. Mitzye and Lorenita are exactly as I remembered, and just as loving as ever. I talked with them quite a bit and even went to a Karate class of Julians... very amusing. Lorenita started to cry at one point as she was explaining how difficult their living situation is. Without a house she also has no room and her and Mitzye sleep on thin foam mattresses in the living room with their clothes in cardboard boxes. They have no personal space and no privacy. They continue to pray that a new house will be provided to them by God, but it´s been about 11 months without one now.

After a lovely afternoon visiting with them I was brought to CASAS where I stayed the night. It kind of felt like returning home as I was greeted at the door by Rigoberto, and shown to my room where I had stayed last year on cross-cultural. I even remembered to throw toilet paper in the trash. This morning I am meeting with Lucy, the language class director at CASAS and the director of the primeria, school, where I will be assisting in an English classroom. I´m excited to see what this day holds, and hopefully meet a new host family sometime in the near future! Love to all!

Destination: Guatemala

The day has arrived, el dia ha llegado. In so many ways I'm not ready to go, and yet I can't wait to get there! Details have shaped up for some things and yet there are still many unknowns. However, my suitcase is packed and tomorrow morning at 8:20 I leave from Reagan International. I arrive in Guatemala City early afternoon and will be (HOPEFULLY!) picked up by my former host family. There are pieces of me that wonder if I'll have to wait for them since they aren't necessarily a prompt family and yet, what can I do? I have the address of CASAS and phone numbers just in case :) Taxi's are pretty cheap and trustworthy in the city so I'll hope for the best.

A list of a few things I'm taking:
-too many clothes
-peanut butter, it's expensive there
-glow sticks
-Reeses, yum
-Brownie and cake mixes
-a head lamp
-4 pairs of shoes, ONLY!
-4 EMU shirts for my old host siblings
-pictures of my lovely family and friends
-one lone reading book
-Spanish/English dictionary and Bilingual Bible
-umbrella, it's rainy season there... yipes

I would appreciate prayers for safety and trust as I travel alone tomorrow for the first time. I only have one layover, and I'm not afraid of asking for help so I think I'll be fine. I would ask for prayers while I'm in Guatemala as I meet a new host family, take classes, help with English classes, ride buses and am immersed in the Latino culture that I love so much! I will do my best to update this con frecuencia but no promises.

Two Weeks!

Today marks the beginning of my two week countdown to departure. I bought my ticket what seems like such a long time ago and the time has passed so quickly. I began a list of things to take with me this week, as a way of further avoiding homework. I've been doing that quite successfully this week. As much as I am excited to be there, I've also had the beginning feelings of fear and nervousness. The plans with being in an English classroom haven't fallen into place yet and the longer I wait for those to happen, the more convinced I am that I'll probably end up setting that up when I arrive in Guatemala.

I was in contact quite a bit with my host family in Guatemala this week. It appears that I will not be able to stay with them so will instead live with another host family through CASAS. Though I am very saddened by this, I also know it will introduce me to a whole different set of experiences and that is exciting, too. I look forward to getting to know a new family, a new church, and a whole new set of Guatemalan vocabulary :)

Two weeks ago I met with Pablo and Grazia, friends of mine from the Spanish church I attend. They return to Honduras this Friday for three months to be with family and friends. Grazia used to be a counselor at the bilingual school in Honduras, Academia Pinares, where I am interested in teaching after university. Because of that handy connection I am planning a long weekend trip to visit them while I'm in Central America! It looks like it'll be the last weekend of May and I'll take the long bus ride there and stay with them for the weekend. We're hoping to make it work at a time when I can visit the school when the students are actually still in classes. I'm very excited for those plans to be working out. It will be great to see them in their home culture and have them show me around their city.

I would appreciate prayers for my host uncle and grandma who were in a serious car accident this last week. They both survived with minor injuries but the grandma is quite old and is very sore from the accident. It is a miracle that the both survived but the car is completely totaled. I would also appreciate prayers as I continue to make lists of things to take, buy last minute supplies, and pack my bags to travel to Guatemala. I look forward to passing my blog onto more people right before I go and look forward to writing more entries from Guatemala!

Bridging Cultures

I am currently sitting in a Pittsburgh Hilton Hotel room on the 19th floor looking out onto the river and the city covered in close to 20 inches of snow. Does it get much prettier than this?? Thanks to the snow we are staying another night in the hotel. We're here for the Mennonite Educators Conference; 6 students and 4 faculty plus a lot of Mennonite Educators. I love networking and meeting Mennonites, and singing with Mennonites. Our theme was from Matthew, the story of Peter walking on water. Stepping out of the boat was both a risk and a testimony to Peter's faith. Luke Hartman, now an assistant principal at Skyline Middle School in Harrisonburg, VA, spoke twice. I knew him first shortly after I had moved from Ontario and he worked at EMU with my mom. He still remembers me, is great with names and faces, and I truly enjoyed catching up with him again this weekend.

Luke's first session was entitled Bridging Cultures. He talked about collectivism and individualism and how this difference between cultures is often played out in classrooms. Collectivist cultures account for about 70% of the cultures around the world, yet Americans are rooted firmly in individualism. Collectivist cultures believe in "we", a collective identity, group solidarity, sharing, and particularism whereas individualistic cultures believe in "I", autonomy, emotional independence, individual initiative, right to privacy, financial security and universalism. These stark contrasts between cultures can leave students in classrooms both uncomfortable and unsure of how to behave. Without an understanding of culture, teachers are likely to misunderstand and misinterpret student's behaviors. We tend to only see the concrete levels of culture that include clothing, music, games and food but these are only surface level dimensions, the visible and tangible. If we get to know students on a little bit of a deeper level we might see their behavioral culture such as values of family, politics and gender roles, or how they approach non-verbal communication. This is how a culture defines social roles and includes the languages spoken. And then on the deepest level, the symbolic level, we have the values and beliefs of a culture, the key to how individuals define themselves. Their value systems, customs, spirituality, religion, worldview, beliefs and mores. In a classroom it's important to start to search for and pursue this symbolic level but it can be hard to reach at times.

Luke's full-group session was entitled "Seeing Christ in the Other". He talked about different ways that Skyline is using this coded philosophy to dictate how students are treated. He told the story of a woman in his church who said accepting diversity should not be like work, but should be natural so much so that she "didn't see color anymore". Luke challenged us to reject this notion and instead of dismissing color, celebrate color and diversity. There is so much beauty in that color and it shouldn't be dismissed. We need to have scales fall from our eyes so we can begin to look at others with different eyes, with a different lens. The model for this that Skyline uses is based on research that the affective domain opens the cognitive domain. Teachers take notice of each one of their students... and care. That's what it comes back to. Caring, loving, respecting, and celebrating together diversity. Our world would be so beautiful if everyone would take this approach to other cultures. We need to celebrate diversity, not ignore it!

"Guys, we're so blessed!"

I find it hard to believe that January has already passed and February has begun. The months seem to pass so quickly, and while I'm looking forward to the end of this semester already I also don't want time to pass so quickly! I sent an email to my host dad on Friday asking if they had found a house yet or if he thought they'd have a house by the time I arrive in March. Tickets are staying at the same price right now, but I don't want to wait to buy my ticket for too long in case the prices go up. My host dad responded saying they hope to have a house by March, and that they'd host me no matter what. This makes me a little nervous as they've been house searching for a while now, with no apparent luck. He also said he'd asked my host sisters' school if I could teach. I guess they said they'd be glad to have me, but I'd like to be in touch with them myself instead of just having Jose play middle man.

This afternoon as I was leaving the campus center I ran into Deanna. She is leading another group on cross-cultural next Spring and I enjoyed chatting with her for a bit. She talked about a school really close to CASAS where her kids studied for a while and she thought they might be willing to let me volunteer in an English classroom there. I'll pursue this as an option and hopefully something will work out soon so that I am more certain when I book my ticket!

I've been reading my journal from my time in Guatemala over the last month. Reading my thoughts and entries from my time there on a daily basis makes me homesick for Guatemala, but also reminds me how blessed I've been because of my trip there. When I think about all the opportunities I've had because of my experiences in Guatemala I can't help but see God's work in my life. I've been so blessed. I've connected with so many people and doors continue to open for me. My endorsement in ESL, which I added this fall, has sparked my passion and interest as I love to work with kids and also am interested in working with the many different cultures that are represented in the Rockingham County/Harrisonburg Public school system. As Becca used to say in Honduras and Nicaragua when we were on free travel, "Guys, we're so blessed!"

Tomorrow is Henry's birthday. He was my host cousin in Guatemala and lived with my family as he is studying to be a doctor. I've kept up with him since I've been back in the states, and enjoy talking with him on Messenger and Skype when we can. He will be traveling back to his home town of Coban in two days to spend the next 6 months in a rural clinic working and living at home. He's really excited to be going home to live with his family again, but it will be weird to go live with my family if he's not there. Hopefully I'll have the opportunity to visit him in Coban while I'm there, and maybe he'll get to come back to the city for a weekend as well. It's fun to start planning ideas :)

And planning begins...

Welcome to 2010! In just a few days I mark the anniversary of my first departure to Guatemala with my cross-cultural group from EMU. We studied in Guatemala City for 2 months while learning Spanish and taking culture and history classes as a group. We took several trips throughout Guatemala then said goodbye to Guatemala and traveled for another month and a half through Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador. This experience had a significant impact on me. I spent much of this fall struggling through how I wanted to include my Spanish experiences with my life at EMU. I started attending a Mennonite Spanish church where I made quick friends who include me like family. I added ESL to my studies at the university and had a significant practicum at an elementary school with four non-English speakers.

The next step to my journey is to return to Guatemala this summer. I started considering my return in the summer, and kept thinking about it. Over Christmas break I started to make my first contacts in Guatemala to see if it was possible for me to study at CASAS, a Spanish study program associated with Semilla Anabaptist seminary in the capital city. I plan to live with my former host family again, assuming they have a house by then. They were kicked out of their house shortly after I left in May and have been living with my abuelita ever since. Nine people under one rough with only two bedrooms is not ideal, and they have been searching for a house. Unfortunately the economic situation is bad in Central America too so they have been without work, making the house search even harder.

I would appreciate prayers for my host family as they continue to search for a house, and me as I continue to make inquiries about volunteering in an English classroom and living in Guatemala for two months. I'd leave shortly after EMU graduation and I plan to return around July 5th in time to prepare for a class I am taking the 12th-16th. As for now, I keep praying that God will continue to lead my decisions and prepare a way for me.