12 to go...

I have 12 days left in Guatemala and the more I´m hearing from friends who have already returned the more hesitant I am to return myself. Such descriptions as: restritive, boring, uneventful and HOT keeping coming up in emails and posts online...who wants to go back to that?

Here, I can freely ride in a minivan cramped with 25 people for $.20.

Here, I can eat from Xela Pan just about any minute of the day for less that $.50 and it is so so good.

Here, random people, whom I don´t even know their names, hand me food out of their windows that they´ve prepared in their kitchens...again, for less than a $1.

Here, I can hike volcanoes.

Here, I am greeted by just about every single person on the street, whether friendly or slightly weird...I´m still greeted.

Here, I can live and survive knowing conversational Spanish.

Here, I can have wild, rabid dogs chase me on the weekends.

Here, life is slow and sweet, where everyone can Salsa dance, eat picante till their blue in the face only to ask for more, where the food is ALWAYS fresh and the people (well...most of them) would give you their shirts on their backs to help out...

But...Xela doesn´t have good BBQ sauce and doesn´t have hot wings...that I will eat....therefore, I must return to the States to fix my cravings only to return another summer to do it al over again.



I had a relatively uneventful day yesterday..finished City of God, but am not going to see the movie as the book was enough violence for my imagination and I couldn´t imagine seeing it. I recommend the book to anyone and everyone. There were far fewer kids yesterday and my guess was it was due to the ¨discussion¨ the director, Guadalupe, had with the kids about stealing from us volunteers. As it turns out, 15-20Q per day has been stolen from various volunteers out of wallets and bags. Very little students have access to these as we diligently lock them up, therefore, giving suspicions to some of the older students who ¨help¨ out with the younger generations. The kids played dress-up of all sorts and we painted their faces as anything from the Devil to a butterfly. They loved it. After their faces were nicely covered, they turned to us and asked to paint ours. Karen covered my entire face in individual desigs ranging from tiger-stripes to flowers....someday those pictures will surface. Afterward...hung out with Corinne, who has taken to start helping the school in the morning and working and studying elsewhere in the afternoons...flipping our schedules. We usually meet up now after ¨work,¨ chat and make plans, if any, for the night. Tonight: Kokoloko´s. This ridiculous bar that has a reputation for gunfire, good drink specials and salsa. Should be fun, right?

I realized my feelings towards being a teacher and my students have changed dramatically. For most of the year, I had a feeling that these kids were headed in directions that wouldn´t help them in the future. They (or so I thought) have very little respect for teachers and appreciate very little the education they are receiving. Yeah, they were good kids, but for the most part, admittedly, they bugged the hell out of me. Now, after working with all types of kids both here and there, I have so much more appreciation for having a job, working with kids who actually do care (I completely ignored it) and have more respect for their teachers than most. I am actually, for the first time...ever, looking forward to teaching them again and hope to do it bigger and better this time around. The kids here have motivated me for the kids back home.

Ummmm....my bumming in the mornings has not gotten old yet and I hope it never does. I plan to hike the volano this friday and Corinne and I are headed to the hotsprings on Saturday and Sunday, I plan to sleeeeeeeeep....much more than I already do.

12 more days!....

¨Work¨

Was off to Cara Allegres today for my first day of tutoring with the kids...

Got the times mixed-up and therefore did not show up on time...therefore didn´t tutor today, but got the schedule for this week and next!

Children in the school have now stolen almost Q60 from the volunteers, someway some how out of their bags (mine has since been spared) and into their pockets. The director of the school gave a speech indicating the seriousness of these implications and I hope, for the future of this program that the students will keep their hands in their own bags!

On a positive note, this week seems much more up my alley than organizing arts and crafts hour for the kids. That was VERY VERY difficult, in my opinion, for Corinne and I. But this week, I get to count, repeat, alphabetize, synonym, add and subtract with the students! Today I played baseball, endless soccer, jump rope (my arm is numb), jenga and pick`-up sticks with the kiddos...I´m wiped.

Had an excellent lunch today..I love the vegetables here.

The weather has gotten much weirder for the month of July ---very very hot and then very very cold.

I am reading City of God by Paulo Lins and it is BEAUTIFUL, if you don´t mind endless chapters and dialogue of gun fights, rape and murder. Besides that, he makes Rio de Janiero the next place I want to visit.

I am literally obsessed with the papas fritas at North/South Bookstore. I have them daily at 11 a.m.

I still, as much as I hate to admit it, hate riding microbuses.

I still, as much as I hate to admit it, love the cost of riding microbuses (Q1).

I cannot believe I only have 1 more week here. I realize that too often I have fallen into the habit of appreciating what I have here much too late for my own good!

I miss dearly Rachel, Sarah, Ned and Joaquim. I hope you 4 are doing very very well!

Last night, Corinne and I watched Goodnight and Goodluck. Even though I have seen it many many times before, it was the best with veggie burritos at Blue Angel.

On Sunday, I quenched my cheese craving with an excellent margarhita pizza from Tecun. So far, I´ve had really good pizza and Indian food here.

Today, in Spanish, I had a great conversation with a local about my life here. Not only did I understand everthing she said, but she understood me as well. AWESOME!

I finished another book yesterday, Museum Pieces, and it made me homesick for AZ. Hard to believe though that I´ll be there 2 weeks from today. Where did the summer go?

I am going to hike Volcano Santa Maria on Friday. I am THRILLED! I think I am going to head up to the Fuentes Georginas (natural hotsprings) on Saturday as a reward. I will...as soon as I can...post pictures, but that is becomming increasingly hard with the technology gap here.

My health has returned to somewhat normal....as much as it could be..lol. No more parasites or viruses..I think.




Tomorrow I start teaching....in espanol... Wish me luck...

observations...

The weather is gorgeous...most of the time.

I have seen more Guatemalans with their fly down than I have ever seen persons in my life. Just today: 4

The traffic system is baffling and everyone seems to know it and I STILL can´t figure it out. Between the cobblestone streets and the incessant honking when one is approaching a 4-way crossing, it seems nightmare-ish to me to try and navigate. Corinne wants to rent bikes for a month. I haven´t told her yet that I think that will be suicide.

My host Mom has enterted a phase in her life in which I think it would be good for her to branch out and make new friends. It makes for interesting conversation at the dinner table.

I really like corn products...especially homemade ones here.

I am continuously impressed by Corinne´s willingness and want to help those around her. Inspiring.

In some ways I have come to discover that I will never truly fit into Guatemalan life as well as a Guatemalan could. Something or other about blonde hair and blue eyes....oh and having really fair skin. But! This has presented me with a unique opportunity to shatter any and all stereotypes about blonde women from the States.

Stray dogs are scary...especially when they are chasing you and your American friends in the dark, on the way to the bar.

I am obsessed with the Menonite bakery. This place is only open for 2 days a week: Friday and Tuesday. I am headed there after this post to by a chocolate donut and bread for breakfast this Sunday. Thank you Menonites.

I love love love the time I have to relax.

My roommate back home is truly amazing for not only bringing decorating surprises to our apartment before my return, but for taking care of a devil of a cat who eats through her computer cord every other month or so. Thanks Brit!

I like my new housemate here! Her name is Rachel and she is extremely friendly!

I have an ever-increasing urge to eat hot wings and bbq chicken pizza with goat cheese in the states...watch out ladies....it is out of control.

I miss my parents and my brothers.

I think I want to live abroad very soon after teaching.

Guatemalan children never stop smiling, no matter what age or living condition they have.

My health has improved considerably thanks to the Pina Colada nightmare.

I think I have changed in considerable and unique ways since coming to Guatemala....

I am HAPPY!

thanks ms. A for making my day!

This is a special shout out to Colleen who posted on my last blog. Before leaving, she informed me of her own experience in Mexico where a parasite attacked her bowels leaving her family with no running water for a day...due to excessive flushing. Thanks lady for your insights.

I went to have my feces examined yesterday. I finally brokedown. It was a complicated process of sticking a plastic cup (thanks Corinne for the purchase) under my butt and waiting. Fun. I dropped off the cup to a clinic, waited 10 minutes and found out that I have an infection in my white blood cells = virus, in which there are no medicines and no antibiotics that can cure me. :(

Went to Marta´s house last night for typical Guatemalan food. Marta is a maestra at Celas Maya (Corinne´s first teacher). It was so good!!!! We had rice and green beans and a sauce of some sort. We´re cooking them Italian next time. mmmm.

The keychains for the kiddos at the school was a BIG hit. We couldn´t even pry them away to have bread and lemondade when the time came. It was nuts! Today: jewelry.

I am now drinking pina colada flavored drink shit that is supposed to help with my virus. It is a delicated powder that swims in my 1.5 ltr. bottle of water. I hate it.

My host mom sort of officially reached annoying (just a bit) this morning when she tried to convince me (and wouldn´t let up) that Coca Cola and water are the best medicines for a virus. She, apprently, swears by it. I wasn´t buying it, nor did I care at 7:25 in the morning.

Corinne and I are considering a cheap bus trip to the beach this Sunday. Stay tuned for details.

I have come to enjoy very much papas fritas in Guatemala. Something about the way they make it is amazing. ...and cheap.

I traded 3 books today for 2: City of God and Just Peachy. One is absolutely absurd fiction and the other is amazing realistic fiction.

I love my Guatemalan...feces-free (whenever that happens)...life.

Feliz Cuatro de Julio!

While all in the States are enjoying BBQs and fireworks, I am here, enjoying the sun and more diarrhea! So great! At this point, I don´t know what to say about my body here. I can´t tell if it´s because of yet another diet change in a new household or I have more amebas, but it is attacking and attacking muy fuerte.

Otherwise, the mask-making workshop with the kids went really really well yesterday. They seemed to love the project, although, I find it much much more difficult to wok with these kids than I do my own in the States. In my classroom, there are rules and order, and here, the kids literally grab supplies out of the teachers hands for their own purpose. Admittedly, this annoys the shit out of me! But, I am learning, slowly, to remain calm and let the kids do what they want.

Which, for me, begs a question: These kids, literally, have almost nothing that they possess besides this school and there smiles, therefore, should we allow them to grab, fight, kick and run around crazy because they don´t otherwise have parents, or should we give them structure and rules and planned activities to benefit from? Sometimes, I find that I feel so sorry for them that I let them do whatever they please, no matter if it´s not in the best interest of the group. Is this right? In my opinion...absolutely not, but then again, I am borrowing the classroom and the time with the kids!

Afterwards, Corinne and I had a break at Blue Angel, in which we tried to study, but I wasn´t really into it. After all day of navigating life with Spanish, sometimes it´s nice to sit in silence and read.

Otherwise...life is as it should be an I¨m planning my next week. Not sure, what I´ll do or where I´ll end up, but I like it :)

Vacation!

I would call this week, definitely, for the first time in a considerable time, a vacation. Literally, all I have to do is set my alarm on time for breakfast to have conversation with the family and then I can retreat back to my room for reading and more sleeping. I sleep on average 12 hours a day....which is much more than I can say for the amount I get back home. My diet here is much better as I eat fresh, homemade food, without meat. My exercise here is better as I´m walking constantly up and down hills and streets without a car and in a higher altitude. I would LOVE to keep up the regime in AZ, but find that my weeks are slowly becomming numbered here and I am learning to take advantage of them.

I went to EDLAC yesterday with Corinne and we had a hell of a time (in my opinion) getting there. Against our better judgement we used a microbus that was stuffed to the gills...literally 25 people in a minivan. Because we were the last to jump on, my ass and back were hanging out of this minivan as it coasted down the road to where we needed to go. Behind me, a young Guatemalan gentlemen who collected our money rubbed all up and down my ass as we went down the road no matter how hard I tried to stuff myself into the car. From then on, I told Corinne we are taking another bus route, one where I can eithe sit cramped or stand cramped...no more minivans for me. Because of the chaos of finding and riding the microbus, we ended up arriving a few minutes late. The kids were everywhere!! It was not their regularly scheduled classes as it was a time for celebrating all the birthdays of the kids. Caras Alegres (Happy Faces) is a Dutch organization that was started 2 years ago at the school and they are the ones I¨ll be helping in the afternoon. They had 4 rooms filled with 4 different games for the kids. Corinne helped out in the musical chairs room and it was INSANE from what I could tell. They loved it! I worked with Anneloes, a girl from Holland who has been volunteering at EDLAC and Caras Alegres for 7 months now. She was surprised that I was there to help out as she said it took her at least 6 weeks in Guatemala before she felt comfortable volunteering anywhere. Which brings me to the near panic attacks I was feeling at the school yesterday. It was a lot like learning to teach--having this feeling that I´m not good at speaking Spanish yet (or as good as the others), and these kids are in such a great need that i want to help in any way I can. It´s a feeling of kind of wanting to hide away and forget the opportunity exists because you´re too scared to take on 120 children. Oh yeah....there are just about a million of them at the after-school program. I´m so looking forward to helping and hanging out with them. I begin teaching next week on Monday and find this week to be a good starter for me. As it turns out, this week they are doing a series of workshops that Corinne and I were recruited to help with. We are heading up the handicraft area and have to design 4 different projects for each day for the kids. On Friday, they will present their final projects to the whole school and there are 4 different areas: handicrafts (presented by yours truly), sewing and making clothes, woodshop and cooking. Each day, the classes will go on for about 2 hours or so until Friday, which is only an hour, due to presentations. *Hopefully, my Spanish will improve as the days go on this week. I need to brush up on my vocabulary so the kids know what the hell I´m saying.

After time at the school, Corinne and I grabbed a drink at Tecun (gin and tonic were on special...mmmm) and went to our respective homes to eat dinner. I had a delicious (and my favorite) dinner of friend platanos, frijoles and some sort of queso de vaca. I found that I have a new housemate, who is also a teacher in the Bronx. She is not with TfA, but she said all of her colleagues are affliated. She seems awesome (her name is Rachel) and she´ll be here for the exact amount of time I will (she leaves 2 days before I do). I´m actually really really excited about having another person to talk to and hang out with in the evenings. She has been travelling for the last 48 hours and seemed really overwhelmed, but nonetheless excited about her opportunity to come!

Ummm....today...nada to talk about. I (think) I´m parasite free, but am not sure my pooping (honestly) will ever return to normalcy after the attack last week. It´s like forever altered my abilities. Nonetheless...I am now capable. As far as news...that´s it for today! I¨ll blog tomorrow about the ¨mask adventure.¨ yikes.

Familia Nueva

I moved into my new home on Sunday with my new family and I really enjoy their company and conversation. Admittedly, Senora seemed as though the arrangement we had was sketchy and I shouldn´t tell my teachers or other students in the school of our arrangement, but after our conversation this morning at breakfast, she seemed comfortable with her new house guest.

Apparently last week, she had gone to Celas to ask for more students in her home. Celas had said possibly in the next few weeks. Rumor has it the school will be extremely full the week of July 12. Corinne is continuing her studies while this week I have stopped. I have found it has its advantages and disadvantages as I really enjoy the vacation time and solitude, but I just returned from ¨morning announcemnts¨ at the school to see what activities they had in store and I missed the student/teacher learning environment.

I have a much smaller room in the new house and Senora does not fix food that is typically traditional. Something I missed this morning was huevos and frijoles negras. Ah well, I had toast and jam with papaya...just as good.

I was worried that with this new arrangement I was going to have miss lunch with the family because EDLAC needs me at 1-1:30 in the afternoon. Senora usually serves at 1:30 for her family who return for lunch from work, but she agreed to cook lunch for me at 12:45 (very early for Guatemalans) so I wouldn´t have to spend extra money in other places. Also, I feel admittedly strange eating the food that we prepare for the kids, considering I have enough money to buy myself something to eat and they do not. I would rather continue this arrangement and find my own means and keep the resources for the students and the staff who work there day and night.

Ben left on Sunday and I was very sad to see him go! I enjoyed our chats and experiences here in Guatemala and I was glad he came to visit Corinne and study. Him and Corinne went to the hot springs on Saturday and stayed in one of their bungalows for the night! I think Corinne and I will do the same for her birthday before I leave Guatemala on the 23rd. So...by myself, while on a transcontinental phone call to T...I ran into friends from the school at which point I took them to La Luna for some tea and chocolate pura. So good! There we met another friend from the school and chatted for a few hours. I left early to eat dinner with my family one last time. They made me my favorite indigenious food: platanos y frijoles negras y tomalitos. I went out just as I had come in! I got a phone call from David, a guy Corinne and I met who works for Habitat here in Xela for the summer, asking if we wanted to come make dinner with him and some friends at his hostel. Because I was solo, I was definitely down to meet new people and eat some good food. David made cilantro rice and mango salsa and Megan (someone staying at the hostel) made green chicken curry. Everything was AMAZING (i didn´t try the chicken, but I heard it was good) and we had chocolate pura with Kahluha (sp?) for dessert. David walked me back to Tecun where I met up with other students. I usually try and meet up with people who live close by so I can have others to walk with. This was one of the benefits of my move as now I live literally 1 block away from her on the same avenida.

On Sunday, I got up early to find that every 1st weekend of the month (similar to the art walk in Phoenix), the locals have a handicraft fest in the parque selling their goods and handicrafts. I wasn´t in the market and didn´t buy, but took long looks at what they had. I went to the monstrosity of a Catholic church that is in the parque for Sunday morning mass. I wanted to try it, but found it to be somewhat emotional for me. I sat in the back, as I noticed that when I was walking in the aisle way I was attracting a lot of attention and therefore decided the back of the church would be best. I stayed through till the reading of the gospel and really enjoyed the experience. Not sure I will return to the same one, but I want to find one to try.

I am forgetting my time on Friday! On Friday we had our weekly ¨graduation¨ that the school puts on for the students. There were a lot of us graduating this week from the school. Before the celebration the school offered a cooking class on typical Guatemalan food for us to try. The food we cooked was served at the graduation and was awesome. I loved making the tomalitos, which are small tomales that do not contain a filling and are steamed in corn leaves that grow on the stalks. It has become tradition to drink a lot at these celebrations and this evening was no different. I found myself drinking quite a bit of whiskey (of all things). When my name was called, they insist you give a speech at which point I said maybe 3 sentences. I was not a fan of the speaking Spanish deal in front of others. After the graduation a very large group of us went to Baja Luna, which is La Luna, but underground (seriously cave-like), where they serve wine and cheese. You can get a liter of wine for 50Q at which point 9 of us shared 3. It was awesome! Ryan and Courtney (students) live near me and they walked me home...safely.

Sunday morning, after church, went to Bavaria for a not-so-great breakfast, but has a GREAT conversation with my Mom and Dad. I was happy to talk with them. Wendy (another student) came into Bavaria and we shared breakfast together. On Saturday, before Ben and Corinne´s departure, we had all gone to the cemetary here in Xela, which was amazing. Right now I can´t figure out how to download my pictures onto the blog from the new computer site I¨m using, therefore, stay tuned, but these graves were incredible. As such, I took Wendy there as well on Sunday...the most time, admittedly, that I have spent in a graveyard. The way in which these people take care of their dead was incredible, if they can afford it of course. Ben said it reminded him of New Orleans. I don´t have any experience with the area, but apparently it´s very similar. I had Indian food with David, Adei (girl from his hostel) and Corinne at the Indian place...it was so good! Corinne and I went home and crashed.

This morning I had a great conversation with my host family about retirement practices in Xela. Apparently it´s very bad, which I¨ve come to notice among the workers here. It was great to practice the conversation as much as I could with Senora and the others. She will always correct me when I´m wrong and help me with my vocabulario. A brief description of my new family: 5 persons/Cleo and Cesar are the parents/Lijia, Alexis and Cesar II are the kids. They have 2 birds and a turtle and their dog of 2 years just recently ran away (so sad!). Lijia is an accountant, Alexis works at a bank and Cesar II is a computer engineer...I think. Cesar I is currently in the process of retiring but has been filing paperwork for Social Security for 2 years now...they are still waiting. Cleo works around the house!

That´s it for now as I must get back to bumming around the city. Today is my first day at Escuela de la Calle helping the kids and employees out. I´ll blog about my experiences later!