Searching for Fernando

La Cultura, Revisited

2008-09-24T18:26:00.003-05:00

In the few short weeks of being back in Guatemala, I have come to realize how new many parts of this culture still are to me. It is not that I didn’t have the full experience last year; it’s that the depth and the extent of a culture can never be fully realized after only 10 months of living in a place. The last few weekends have been full of “cultural” experiences that are both brand new and repeats of things I did last year.

La feria (the fair) for example was one of my favorite “Xela experiences” of last year. During the two weekends surrounding Latin American Independence Day (September 15), the world’s scariest, ride-at-your-own-risk, most enjoyable fair comes to Xela. The Ferris Wheel here goes faster than most of the “fast” rides at a fair in the States. It is also the one ride I refuse to ride here (I don’t actually want to put my life in danger). The second visit to la feria was even better than the first. I rode all the rides I could convince people to accompany me on (the number of riders in our group was diminished because the only other female rider is pregnant). We ate a large array and quantity of gourmet fair food; and then my friend Marcela and I beat all the boys at foosball. That’s right. We beat 6 guys in a tournament; all are friends of ours that were quite embarrassed at the outcome.

Independence Day here is quite an ordeal. People travel from all over Central America to come to Xela. In addition to the fair, there are beauty pageants, concerts in the park, parades every day (or so it seems), and a large celebration to bring in the actual Day the night before, called the grito. They close off an entire main street the night of the grito and have vendors and stages set up all along the road. There are thousands of people, and concerts the whole night long, all culminating to a speech by the mayor at midnight, officially welcoming the Independence Day. As last year, the grito was an incredibly fun, entertaining night to mingle with all people from Latin America who have all come together to celebrate this day.

For the first time (because somehow I didn’t go last year…??) since I’ve been here, I also visited the Fuentes Georginas a few weekends ago. Fuentes is one of the places that is recommended by travel books. It is a set of naturally fed hot springs located at the base of one of the volcanoes. After having an incredibly relaxing day sitting in the pools feeling hot, yet cooled by the intermittent rain showers we got, I am saddened I just now discovered this place. Locals believe the pools to have some sort of healing power. I suppose if I daily carried loads on my back that weighed at least my body weight or more, or daily bent over tending my crops growing on the hillside for hours at a time, I too would think the hot pools that relieved my sore, aching bones and joints had healing powers. And the best part—Fuentes is only a gorgeous 35 minute drive from Xela.

This past weekend, a few teacher friends and I went to a little beach town on the Guatemalan Pacific coast named Tilapita. The organizers of the trip own property on the beach, and help sponsor a turtle hatchery on the little island. The official purpose of the trip was to search for turtles nesting on the beach, to recover their eggs, and put them in the hatchery to eventually help repopulate the turtles in the area. After two nights of looking, however, we only found one turtle egg, but no turtles. Lastima. However, my personal goal was to lay on the beach (check), read a book (check), and return relaxed and ready for the upcoming week (check). So I’d call it a successful weekend trip!

So while it’s nice to be the “old teacher” who has supposedly been through it all already, everything still seems new to me; I have only begun to scratch the surface on seeing and knowing Guatemala.

Transition to the Next

2008-08-31T14:09:00.001-05:00

After an incredible summer working at Wilderness Trek in June and July, August has proved a month full of transition from one thing to the next. I closed out my summer at Trek in time to attend the wedding of one of my good college girlfriends. Incidentally, it was the first time everyone from our college “group” had been back in Nashville since graduating and splitting ways. It was a beautiful time of celebration; we all were thankful for at least 12 hours all together before we went back to our respective homes. Personally, I was especially thankful for a week of hanging around family and friends and relaxing prior to my transition to Guatemala to begin working again in Quetzaltenango.

I left Nashville rejuvenated after a summer of Trek, and excited to finally be heading toward a routine. As much as I was able to do and see this summer (including a family reunion, a few weddings, a summer hiking mountains, a few weeks of catching up with friends, and many other things), I was too busy to look forward to returning to my life here in Guatemala. I knew however, that I did not regret my decision to return, and was in fact excited about all the prospects a new school year in this country brings. Once closing out all of the other areas of life from the States and from the summer, nothing but joy has come from my return to, and beginning of, life in Xela.

My trip here was basically uneventful, unless you count learning that the Schnyders are pregnant in the airport in Fort Lauderdale, seeing another teacher at customs in the airport in Guate, having our bus break down 45 minutes outside of Xela, and returning to an empty house that still smelled like dog despite the absence of the dog for the entire summer!

School began two weeks ago. It seems like an entirely different year. The students, while much the same, are changed—hopefully for the better. The teachers/staff have changed also—while many old faces are missed, it’s been great fun getting to know the new faces that we see around. They are the newest part of the “family” here, and much like last year, only time will cement the relationships that we form. My job has changed, and much for the better. After all the time and effort spent last year reading textbooks, taking notes, and planning classes, I am able (finally) to relax in the afternoons. Classes are more fun and easier to plan because the ground work is already laid out from last year. And of course I have also changed. A summer in Colorado always serves to strengthen and rejuvenate me in a way that few other things can even hope to achieve.

So it is with fresh perspective that life continues here in Xela. We teach, walk around in the rain, and enjoy the culture of this beautiful place and the people we have come to love in it.

Rubber and Running On the Bank

2008-02-10T17:19:00.001-06:00

Last weekend, it was my privilege to get to visit one of the rubber farms owned by the Director of our school, Martin Brodbeck. We spend Saturday riding in the back of a tow wagon turned tour wagon (complete with benches for sitting) as Marty showed us all about the process of growing rubber. It was incredible to be able to see every step of the process starting with the little tree seed and finishing with watching the men "tap" the trees. First they pick, germinate, and grow seeds of the plant they use for the roots of their cloned rubber stock. Once to a certain height, they plant these seedlings in bags and "graft" a new seed to the trunk of the seedling. Grafting involves cutting the bark of the seedling and TAPING the seed inside the cut. Over time, the seed grows into the seedling's bark and root system, eventually taking over the tree. The trunk of the seedling is cut off, leaving the original roots and the new tree. This clone (with the roots of one tree and the above ground part of another tree) is planted in a field and left to grow to maturity. Once reaching maturity, the tree is tapped to collect the precious rubber. Tapping involves cutting the bark of the tree in a chute that allows the rubber to seep out (much like blood runs out of your skin when you are cut). The rubber is collected in bins that are attached the bottom of the chute on every tree. The rubber is then dried, collected, and shipped to a buyer.

My thought leaving the rubber farm was, "Who came up with this? I imagine someone practicing knife throwing against trees, and one day he hits a tree that seeps white stuff. And he says to himself, hmmm, I can melt this, purify it, and mold it to create products that fulfill numerous needs and wants of the human race." That guy is now a millionaire.

The second major event of the week makes me feel like a character in Mary Poppins or It's a Wonderful Life. Never in the States have I felt insecure in putting all of my money in the bank. In fact, some people even use online "banks" that do not even have an actual building; they only exist virtually. It does not even cross our minds that one day our money may be unavailable or that the bank will close down and you could lose everything you have saved. I know in the times of my grandparents that kind of thing happened, but never have I feared the security of that system...until last week, living here.

As told on several occasions by several friends who were here last year, several major banks went bankrupt in Xela last year and many people lost all of their money. Even at our school, several students were personally affected. With this in memory, I was sitting at our bible study last Wednesday when Tiffany (one of my roommates) received a call from a Guatemalan friend saying our bank was rumored to be closing that night at 8pm, and not opening the next morning or any day after. The time was 7:45pm. We jumped up immediately and ran out of the restaurant, heading toward downtown to the closest ATM. Most of us are first year staff and therefore don't have much Quetzales (the currency) saved in the bank, however a select few have been here many years and have been able to save a significant amount of money (considering how much we get paid). When we reach central park, the ATMs are locked, our bank has closed 15 minutes early, and Tiffany's friend has called again to say the lines outside another branch of the bank are huge, and they just locked half the people outside without giving them their money. None of these actions inspire confidence in the stability of the bank.

On the edge of panic, and somewhat driven by adrenaline, we run (spring more like it) to a less popular ATM we know of a few blocks away. Lucky for us it is open. Even more fortunate, there is cash inside and it is working. Much to our chagrin, however, there is apparently a limit on our accounts as to the number of Q that can be withdrawn in one day's time. Q2000, is all we can take out. All of us take the most we can and quickly run the machine out of cash. All the other ATMs are out of order or empty. My only thought is, what if we all get stuck with no money in Guatemala? The school is completely run through that bank, and many of our adult teachers who live in Xela conduct all their finances through the bank as well. Most of the stability that we know would be erased by the crashing of our bank. What would happen to us?

Sadly, a better question that came to mind later is, what happens to the Guatemalans who are completely vested in that bank? They have no friends and family in the States to support them, much less bank accounts in the States that are secure and stable that they could draw support from. As we all arrived back at the house and had a good laugh at ourselves for panicking and running around the town (some in pajamas, some in heels, some with slippers on) taking our money out, my heart went out to those who do not enjoy the security that I do. I knew several people who waited outside in the lines outside the bank to withdraw their entire family's savings from the bank. That is their entire livelihood, without it, they are stuck with nothing.

In the end, we learned that the bank is actually very stable (or so their representatives say) and that the police are pursuing the people starting these rumors. However, my perspective on banking has changed as a result of this. I now understand why many of the indigenous in this country do not use banks. They keep all the money they own in cash hidden either under their mattresses or in their bras. I know what it's like to run on the bank, because that's essentially what we tried to do.

God also used this instance to teach my friends and I the meaning of "storing your treasures in heaven." I may have all my money in a bank that goes down, but that's not where my treasure lies in the first place. I want to store my treasures in heaven where nothing can soil or take them away. Now I understand this in a more personal way than ever before. And it's a choice that I can consciously make, to store my treasures in heaven and not here on earth, be it in a bank, a mattress, or hidden on my person.

Paper Cutters are Dangerous Machines

2008-02-03T15:23:00.000-06:00

January has flown by. I arrived back in Guatemala with smiles and a sense of homecoming after spending a wonderful Christmas vacation with friends and family in the States. Second semester of school started back without problems and has passed more quickly than I could have imagined, especially considering I haven't done anything extraordinary on the weekends or during the week. This weekend (from Friday to today) however, has provided many interesting stories. And it is actually those events that have prompted me to finally write a new post on my blog.

Friday, about 12:30pm, there I was in the new media center of our school, supervising some research by my Chemistry class for a project I had just assigned them, when I remembered I hadn't yet finished cutting out some game pieces for an activity in my last class of the day. My chemistry class is fairly well behaved and stay on task well, so I left them to their independent research and went to cut some paper for my game. Well, if you haven't already put together the last sentence and this post's title, I had some technical difficulties with the paper cutter. In order to save you gruesome details, I'll just leave it at this: during my last swipe with the blade, I accidentally put a finger in the wrong place and effectively "circumcised my thumb" (as one student later put it). Fortunately, many other teachers were in the staff lounge, eating lunch and were able to assist me in cleaning and bandaging my wound, saving the piece of thumb (skin and fingernail) I cut off, and showing the entire rest of the school my detached piece of thumb in a plastic bag.

Well, as interesting as that must have been for all the elementary and high school classes (to see my piece of thumb in a plastic sandwich bag, leaving the rest to imagination), it must have been even better to see the actual person who is so good at cutting with the paper cutter. I know this because soon after the incident I went outside to serve my lunch duty, and at once the first and second grade teachers told their students, "there she is, Ms. Johnson, the science teacher." I was swarmed(they literally RAN over to me) by 20 little 1st and 2nd graders who wanted to see for themselves. Being the responsible teacher that I am, I took the opportunity to remind our impressionable young students the importance of safety when handling sharp objects:

me--"And what can we learn from this?"
young girl (yelling)--"Don't run with scissors in your hand, and carry them like this!"
me--"Exactly, now go back to class, show and tell is over."

When finished healing, I have a feeling my poor thumb will never again have the same shape as the other hand's thumb. At least the defective thumb is on the same hand that already has a deformed finger!

End, Semester 1

2007-12-19T08:32:00.001-06:00

Today is the last day of finals for this semester. Tomorrow night I will be in Nashville!

The past two days have been crazy busy, full of last minute Christmas present shopping, packing (last night starting at 8pm), and grading finals in order to turn in grades before I leave school this morning. Looking back I cannot believe that one semester is already over! Time has flown by, and I find myself already happy that this is not the end. I still have at least one more semester of living in Guatemala and from what I hear it goes by even faster than the fall semester.

Regardless of what happens next semester or even next year (if I decide to return), I'm looking forward to a wonderful Christmas break with family and friends in the States. See everyone soon!

Dia de Accion de Gracias

2007-12-02T18:04:00.000-06:00

Hard to believe, but one week ago, I was in El Salvador on the beach, tanning, sleeping, and reading non-textbooks. It was incredibly fun! Seven friends and I traveled to El Salvador for our five day weekend to spend Thanksgiving on the beach. We ended up staying at a small little beach/surf resort named something 'horizonte'. It was an incredible vacation! We literally relaxed, swam in the ocean, boogie boarded (my personal favorite), layed-out, played cards, and ate good food for the entire weekend. We also got to see a little bit of another country. FYI, in El Salvador, they chop the 's'es off their words so it's a harder to understand Spanish (or as my spanish teacher would say, a "less pure" spanish) than here in Guatemala.

We also visited the Capital of El Salvador, San Salvador for a day. They have the nicest and biggest mall in Central America there. We walked in and it was like culture shock. I didn't even end up buying anything because I just wandered around in awe, looking at all the stores gathered in just one place, and being bumped to and fro by the huge throng of people that were shopping at the mall on a Saturday evening. It was crazy! I expect that going back to the States for Christmas will be at least that bad in terms of culture shock with materialism, big crowds, white people, people who speak english with a good accent, no trash in the streets, no stray dogs, throwing trash in trash cans, being able to drink the sink water, christmas decorations that aren't all guady, etc. (I think you get the picture).

Anyways, I came back from Thanksgiving vacation in El Salvador tan, relaxed, refreshed, and ready to finish out the last three and a half weeks before Christmas. Now that one week is down, all we have left is one week of regular classes (maybe one and a half for some of my classes) followed by a week of review for final exams, followed by three days of final exams and then HOME! I am beginning to get very excited about getting to see friends and family over the holidays and to go to Walmart and get everything I need all in one place. Yes, I support the convenience of Walmart and Target.

Time Flying Away

2007-11-18T15:53:00.000-06:00

Time is flying! In planning my classes for the next week or two, I realized how quickly this semester has gone. It feels as if I simply blinked back in August and have now opened my eyes to find that 3 months have passed. Although we are in Guatemala, our school follows American system, curriculum, and even some holidays. Tomorrow begins a two and a half day long school week. Wednesday, after a half day of classes, we will have a Thanksgiving meal provided by mothers at the school and then I am headed to El Salvador for our Thanksgiving holiday with some teacher friends. We are headed toward warm weather and beaches! I cannot wait! After Thanksgiving vacation we only have three weeks of classes, three days of exams, and then I'm coming home for Christmas. See what I mean about time flying?

Two weeks ago I assigned one of my classes their big project for the quarter--a flour baby project where they each will become single parents of a homemade four baby for two weeks. It actually goes along with the chapter we're studying right now on controlling population growth. Perhaps being single parents will act as a sort of contraceptive in their lives, at least in high school. It also gives me an opportunity to introduce a little bit of sex ed into the curriculum since these kids get no kind of sex ed in any class at our school. In explaining the flour baby project, I made the teacher quote board again saying, "we're making babies in class tomorrow." Of course, for fourteen years olds who are already obsessed with sex, changing bodies, changing hormones, and trying to be cool high schoolers now, that was met with hysterical laughter. It's been quite funny watching my 13 ninth graders tote their babies around every day at school. Some will make incredible parents when the time comes. For example, one of the guys carries his baby around on his shoulders all day long, holding his hands and bouncing him up and down in a loving manner. This same kid also brought a stroller, crib, and baby carrier to school the first day of the project! Many other students still need time to grow into good parents; for example, the fourth grade class was horrified when one of the flour babies was put on the roof of the school right outside their window. Needless to say, stunts such as that are met with decreased grades for the project.

During this two week time of the project, I'm am amazed almost daily at the opportunities we've had to discuss parenting, hormones, changes, contraceptives, sex, etc. in this class. Kids have questions, and it's been rewarding to provide a safe environment for objective, non perverse questions and answers to questions every teen wants to know but doesn't know who or how to ask without being ridiculed. Also, one of my students will make the teacher's student quote board on Monday for a comment made on Friday in reference to girls on their periods swimming in pools. Essentially he asked if when girls on their period go swimming get in the pool, and then all of a sudden around them (pssshhhh sound effect) "the red sea?" It's hard not to laugh at that!

Last night Xela had a town celebration for the lighting of the "arbol de gallo" or Gallo Tree. It is a HUGE christmas tree that is completely decked out in christmas lights and little Gallos (roosters). Now, understand that Gallo is a beer company that I'm convinced owns this country...not many would argue that point. So picture the hugest tree you've ever seen all alight with christmas lights, roosters, light up words "gallo", and on top, not a angel or a bow, but a large rotating light up GALLO sign. Of course, in front of the Gallo tree is a light up nativity scene. Once again, the irony is hilarious. Pictures will be coming of this great event. I arrived late, when the festivities were ending--the live music was almost over, the tree was already lit, and most of the people were leaving. But most incredible was that they ran out of Gallo at the lighting of the Gallo Christmas Tree--how does that even happen? Asi es la vida en Guatemala.

Maybe more has happened in the last two weeks, if I remember more, I will post more. But if not, I'm sure we'll have stories to share after El Salvador!

Vacations and Holidays

2007-11-04T14:30:00.001-06:00

As an extranjera living in Guatemala, we entered the country with only a 90 day visa. Crazy to think it, but I have been here almost 90 days. Therefore the school pays for a trip to Mexico for the teachers who need to renew visas. The past two weekends were the renew-visa-trips to Mexico. I went last weekend with a van full of other teachers. The border is only about 3 hours from Xela. We go to a border town called Tapachula, spend one night, and come back to Xela the next day. It was a short, but a good trip. And when we reentered we got a new stamp for another 90 days. Being in Mexico really put the Guatemalan culture in perspective for me. I had almost forgotten what a little box I live in in Xela, and it was fascinating to be able to compare and contrast Guatemala, Urugay/Argentina, and Mexico. A few things I realized from our short trip to Mexico:
1. Quetzaltecos are really short. (even the Mexicans looked tall compared to the Xela-people)
2. Xela has a real mountain climate--Mexico was gloriously hot compared to our weather in Xela.
3. Mexicans speak an extremely more abbreviated and faster Spanish than Guatemalans. Mexicans cut words short when speaking and the pace is way faster.
4. There are a lot of gringos living in Xela--we didn't see a single gringo other than our group while in Tapachula.

While in Tapachula, one of my friends finally came up with the perfect group costume for Halloween, after many weeks of thinking--a Mariachi Band. So, six of us girls bought sombreros in Mexico to wear for Halloween.

This past week was Halloween, which although a lot of Guatemalans do not celebrate this holiday, you can still find a small section of Halloween costumes and decorations at the big grocery stores. Four teacher friends and I spent Wednesday afternoon after school making our Mariachi band costumes to wear to a friend's costume party Wednesday night. It was a hilarious night! We named ourselves "Las Flour Tortillas" For those who might miss the joke, the whole band was a bunch of gringas (white girls), the name was half english and half spanish, and here they eat corn tortillas instead of corn tortillas...get the irony? Anyways, we got looks (and laughs) everywhere we went from both Guatemalans, Gringos, friends, and strangers. While walking through the marketplace on the way to a costume party, We were getting whispers, stares, catcalls, and looks from as far as 2 blocks away...and it was even ngihttime! Several cars passed us, slowed down, stopped, waited for us to catch up, and then rolled down the windows to take pictures of us, or let their kids take pictures of us. It was funny, and a very memorable Halloween!

The day after Halloween was a holiday from school because in hispanic cultures they celebrate November 1 as el dia de los muertos...or day of the dead. It is a day for families to spend time together, eat fiambre (a mixture dish that everyone makes for their family, and everyone's mom makes the best fiambre of course), visit graves of deceased relatives, decorate the graves, etc. In the park by my house, there was a special fair/market where they sold kites for kids to fly, and plastic flowers to decorate graves. One of my favorite things that is cheaper to buy here is flowers. Flowers here are extremely cheap, and they're beautiful! Anyways, flowers were everywhere in the days leading up to el dia de los muertos and now the cemeteries are full of them. It's a sight to see.

Other than a half day of class this Tuesday for teacher "professional development", we don't have another vacation until Thanksgiving. Time is flying here, Christmas will be here soon!

In the Classroom

2007-10-22T17:27:00.000-05:00

It seems like an eternity since I last wrote on my blog. And when I look at the date of the last blog, I realize it has been something of an eternity. Many things have happened between then and now, some of which are minute, some of which still stand out in my mind. So, here are just a few highlights from October.

Let's begin with two events that took place in my classroom a few weeks back. First, someone was shanked in the middle of my classroom. And not just any kid got shanked, but the loudest, most talkative student in the class who always has at least 2 questions to ask...perhaps that's why God gave us two hands. For some reason he was sagging his britches that day. I, too, noticed he was sagging when normally he did not (at least I had never noticed it before). Perhaps he got new pants. Perhaps he wanted to be cool. Perhaps he just felt like it. Regardless, one of his good friends reaches over and pulls his pants down right when they were all getting their stuff together to leave. However he not only got the pants, but the boxers as well. So, as I look up to see what all the commotion is about, I see this boy hunched over in the middle of my classroom, looking at me with wide eyes, one hand pulling his shirt down to cover everything, the other hand clutching at his pants that are down around the ankles.

The second major occurrence that week actually involved me and my inability to think before speaking. During my first period class one day, we had a short lesson and then I planned on going over answers to a quiz I was going to return to my students the next day to work on for another half class period. However, after the lesson they begged me to let them teach me some Spanish words and phrases. I gave in, so we spent 5-10 minutes learning slang Spanish. After they taught me all the vulgar words they knew, I turned to the board to begin writing the quiz problems on the board. As soon as I turned my back, they all started laughing hysterically. I just thought they were still rowdy from the Spanish lesson so I turned around and quieted them before turning back to the board to continue writing. As soon as I put my back to them, they begin laughing hysterically again. I turn and say, "what is so funny?" They proceed to convince me that I have a hole in my pants. Now, to my credit, there is a nail that sticks out of my board that I have often snagged pants on. And I remember rubbing past the nail, so when they said I had a hole in my pants, it wasn't all that unbelievable...it could happen. Needless to say, I immediately face the class and do not turn around again. Needless to say, they continue making comments embellishing how big the hole is, how they can see everything, etc. Try as I might, I could not for the life of me feel the hole in my own pants even though I kept looking for the hole with my hands (essentially rubbing my butt). So, I tried, unsuccessfully, to get one of the two girls in the class to come up and just point out the hole. They refused. I even told them they could even use a pencil to just point it out to me; they didn't have to use their finger. The boys told me, "Miss, Jona will use a pencil to show you where the hole is" (rumor has it Jona has a big crush on me). I said no, I want a girl to come show me. They refused. Meanwhile, my brilliant students realize that I haven't given them any answers yet, so they ask me to continue writing on the board. I replied that I was going to write on the board anymore if I have a hole in my pants (not unreasonable, if you ask me). They continued to plead for answers. And I said, "I just want someone to come up here and stick a pencil in the hole." At this, as typical perverse seniors will, they fell out on the floor laughing (literally some of them fell on the floor from laughing so hard). Jona stands up holding a pencil as if offering to come stick his pencil in the hole...at which the laughter gets even more hysterical. The next week someone posted a quote board for teacher's quotes...guess who made it on there. Turns out I did not have a hole in my pants.

Unpredictable Sickness

2007-09-22T18:56:00.000-05:00

All the time of being here in Xela, most of the new teachers, including myself, have tried to be extra careful not to eat dirty food or drink dirty water. All for the sake of avoiding sickness, right? Well, I seem to have caught something despite all the precautions. Not a stomach bug, but a sinus infection, cold type thing. Here they call everything the "gripe" literally translated though, you learn that it means the "flu" in spanish class. Hispanics call every cold the "gripe" though. It's pretty funny.

Anyhow, the week after the fun independence festivities has proven to be not quite so fun. I had a fever most of the week, and am only now (Saturday) feeling remotely normal and well. Still congested, but not shivering or hot or achy any longer.

To recap the week, we had school pictures on Tuesday. I got my individual picture taken, a picture with my homeroom, the senior class, and a whole school picture. Unfortunately neither the homeroom nor the whole school picture will be featured in the yearbook because my homeroom students, bless their dirty little souls, decided to all flick the camera off in every single one of their pictures. Naive me didn't even notice...neither did the principal who was watching the pictures being taken. They all received detention for punishment. Perhaps more punishment is coming, I'm not quite sure.

Our house got a pet today also...a little puppy that is on the verge of death. She has not been named yet; we're not quite sure she's going to live so we don't want to get attached if she's going to die soon. She came from the farm of one of my roommate's boyfriend. Two of her littermates died already, and one is doing just fine, very healthy. She was needin some tender lovin care, so she came to live with us.

I'm looking forward to teaching without fever next week!

Independencia de la Escuela

2007-09-15T17:28:00.000-05:00

Gracias a Dios that we only had four days of school this week. So while the rest of the country had the whole week off for Independence Day (September 15), we only got one day...lousy that we didn't get more, and yet so good to have a break from school.

In celebration of Independence, there have been parades, bands, concerts, marching in the streets, fireworks ALL DAY long (as opposed to just fireworks in the morning or at dusk when they usually fire them pretty much everyday around here to celebrate someone's birthday), and the best thing of all...the world's greatest nightmare fair, complete with a farris wheel that goes at least 3 times the speed of any farris wheel in the states. We had a fun time eating fair food, riding rides (but in opposite order so we wouldn't get sick), and just walking around enjoying the fair atmosphere.

All of our students claimed they would see us out at all the independence things this weekend, and sure enough, I think we've seen them every night so far. Thursday, at the fair, we came across two freshmen girls who were walking around the fair together. So, they joined our group of teachers and rode 4 rides with us, the last of which was a bit of an embarrassing experience for one of the girls and one of the teachers. A ride called the Zipper, rumored to be the best ride at the fair, was the last one we rode. One of the girls said, "I want to ride with Miss McCormack." So she rode with my friend Carrie (McCormack), I rode with the other freshman, Gaby. They were right, it was a GREAT ride. When we got off, however, Carrie was white from head to toe. She walked up to the rest of the teachers after getting off the ride with her arms out in front of her, saying "I can't move my hands." Well, she literally could not move her hands, they were cold and stiff. We tried to massage the stiffness out and put some warmth into them, but she felt terrible. She hadn't eaten anything since lunch and it was now at least 10pm. So, we got her a sprite and went to begin our eating-fest of fair food, where each person took turns picking what course of fair food we all had to eat next. Carrie could not even look at the food, much less smell it. After the first course, I looked over and tears were streaming down her face as she sat staring straight ahead, completely out of it. Well, another girl took her home, and she didn't feel any better until the next day after sleeping and eating some. I think she went into some kind of shock at the fair because of the ride coupled with not having any food or energy in her body. The poor student she rode with felt terrible about it though.

Last night was the "grito" or "yell" that they have the night before independence day; it's kind of like ringing in the new year only they ring in the independence day with a midnight concert series in the street. It was great fun, however there were tons of people. Like body to body, packed in almost everywhere you go. Our group of teachers and Guatemalan friends went straight to the back to hang out and be a little less crowded. However, Carrie and I decided we wanted to get to the front of the concert, working our way as best as possible through the crowd. It was CRAZY! We got a ton of dirty looks, and a lot of touches, but eventually we made it right in front of the stage. We felt as if we got the "real" experience of the grito, as opposed to everyone else who did not brave the crowd. The people at the front are very hard core about the music, and they jump and move and shove. The whole crowd basically moves as one because you are so crowded together that when one person moves even a little bit to the right, all the people to their right also sway right, sending the whole crowd to the right. Same with going forward, backward, or left. So, when someone pushes, the crowd moves a LOT in that direction. You have to be careful not to fall because if you fall, you'll get trampled. We basically relied on our neighbors to keep us upright. Carrie almost fell once, but the guy next to her pulled her back on her feet. It was EXTREME being at the front of the crowd!

All this in only the past two days, and there are still two days left of celebrating independence, I'm sure something else interesting is bound to happen!

2007-09-08T17:14:00.000-05:00

Finally, a routine of some kind has developed in my life. I get up, go to school, teach, work, leave school, and then spend my limited income on food in the afternoons and evenings. The weekends are generally spent exploring Xela or other places in Guatemala.

However, this weekend is a little different than most. Guatemala is having elections tomorrow, Sunday. I'm not exactly sure how many years they have in between elections, but most of the teachers have never been around for elections before. Ever since we came here, there have been candidates campaigning in the streets, the parks, signs are up everywhere, they hold rallies...all the usual political things. But they had to quit campaigning right before the election. So traffic on Thursday was terrible because everyone was having one last parade to spread their name. And when I say parade I mean a 100+ car parade that stretches many, many city blocks and moves very very very slowly, if it moves at all. For this reason, it has taken a LOT longer to get anywhere by car/taxi/bus this past week. All the streets are blocked by standstill parades. This weekend is also a dry weekend. There is a mandatory dry period the few days prior to elections that prohibit any establishment from selling or serving alcohol. The Military are the ones who police this, so we were warned to stay mostly inside, doing nothing this weekend, and to be sure to FLEE from any place where alcohol is present because the military would come around and take EVERYONE into custody...even if you weren't drinking alcohol. It's actually very exciting to be able to be here during elections. Part of the culture and country that we get to experience...from a distance of course.

Felix missed us, thankfully. He was all the talk for the entire past week, not because of the rain (which we're used to getting at least once every day) but because the mudslides and damaged roads the rains from hurricanes almost always bring. And once the roads are damaged, they FOREVER to repair, and travel is extremely limited within the country. One day he was predicted to go north of us. The next day he was predicted to hit us directly on. Then two hours later he dissipated just to the south/east of us. All of the teachers at my school have decided to pursue careers in meteorology after leaving IAS, where you get paid to say "I don't know" and where being right 30% of the time is worthy of promotion and more money. Kind of like baseball.

September 15, next Saturday, is independence day for all of Central America. So we only have a four day week coming up, gracias a Dios. It should be another awesome cultural experience because apparently Xela is home to the biggest independence day party/festival. Everyone from Central America will be traveling here next weekend.

Until then...

The Longest Yet

2007-09-03T19:08:00.000-05:00

My goodness, I haven´t posted on here since school started. There is lots to tell.

First off, school is going fairly well. I am getting better at being a teacher: being able to prepare in a timely manner, write lesson plans, learning what works for each class and what doesn´t, etc. I became the bad guy the first full week of classes...I gave a detention out and took up a cell phone in my homeroom the first two days of last week. I think they got over it. But then they all failed a quiz from Friday. Perhaps they hate me right now. But I can hacky sack and they did invite me to a concert with them last Thursday, so I guess their memories are short. It is funny to me that the high schoolers always try to invite the teachers to party with them...being a high schooler here is very different from the States. They begin drinking when they´re old enough to hold a bottle (Yes, I´ve seen a picture of one of my students drinking her first beer at 1.5 years old). So partying is a very openly discussed topic. We sometimes have to avoid our students on the weekends when we go dancing. I don´t think it´s exactly appropriate to dance with your students...HA.

After only four weeks here, I moved to a new apartment last weekend. It was just fine and dandy living with a family, however I lived on a side of town all by myself. Anytime I wanted hang out after dark, someone had to walk me home for safety sake--which gets a little burdensome for my friends. Plus, I had little privacy and very little space at my house, and I didn´t speak Spanish to them very often (which is the only reason I wanted to live there in the first place). Some other teachers had a room they needed to fill at their apartment, so I decided to move last weekend. And it was a WONDERFUL decision! Already I´ve had more privacy and more friendship all at the same time. Plus the girls in the apartment have lots of Guatemalan friends/boyfriends, so the opportunity to practice spanish is still there.

The funny story of the weekend is how we started a bar fight last weekend at a dance place. There was a whole group of us who went dancing together...one girl was going for her first time. She, of course, has very long, long blonde hair, which attracts a lot of attention down here. So, of course, she is aked to dance, and, of course, we tell the guy she doesn´t want to. (Not only is she new to the whole dancing thing, but she is married.) Well, the guy gets mad because we box him out of our circle and tell him we don´t want to dance with his drunk, old, 65 year old father. Well, he´s not happy about that so he starts telling us how we´re ¨bad for business¨in very broken english. At this point, some Guatemalan we don´t even know reaches over and shoves the old man out of our face...props to him because we don´t even know him. And, to make a long story short, a fight ensues. The 2 men who wanted us to dance are very drunk and therefore easily irritated. They begin to fight people, other men try to calm them down, they yell at the ¨Yankees¨some more, and we grab our coats and leave. No one at the school has ever been around for something like that. So needless to say, that´s been all the talk for the past couple of days amogn teachers at our school. OH, and the girl got a grand total of about 20 minutes of dancing. She still wants to try and go again. Yay!

There is more, but I´ll wait till later because this is long already. I´ve decided I need to post more often so all of them are not this long!

Si era independiente...

2007-08-20T17:40:00.000-05:00

Reflecting back on the past week's activities, I can see how we are finally starting to develop a routine, and for that, I am finally starting to feel like I live here and am not just visiting.

Hard to believe I lasted so long without, but I rode my first chicken bus Friday after school. It was quite possibly the funniest experience I have had in Guatemala to this day. I became one of those people I mentioned in the last post that were packed in all the way until hanging out the door of the bus...yeah, that was us. Only we were somewhere in the middle, not out the door. It was loud, noisy, crowded, and surprisingly funny, particularly the way all the Americans towered over the Guatemalans who were also standing in the aisle (at least a head taller in all cases), or the way the people at the back of the bus either yelled to keep the bus stopped as they wove their way to the front door or just opened the emergency exit back door to hop out. My favorite moment on the chicken bus was when the loud salsa music popped on randomly at one point during the ride. It was so loud it sounded like we were on a party bus in the States, the kind you have to rent out to have such loud music and so many people on it, standing/dancing while driving down the street. And to think I got all that for less than 15 cents!

I went to church for the first time on Sunday. The church was called "Palabras en Accion" (words in action). The three Guatemalan ladies who work as the business managers and secretary for the school all go to this church. One of them invited me and another girl; she picked us up and took us there with her family. As soon as we walked in the door, a lighter skinned boy (not quite white though) beelined straight for us, introduced himself, and then offered to translate the sermon for us...he would just run and get headsets so we could listen. Yes, that happens everywhere we go...it takes less than five seconds to be identified as the Americans. At least at church we weren't talked at rudely and called "mamacitas" (as we are while walking down the street).

The most difficult part of living here right now is not adjusting to the culture, or making friends, or even the whole job aspect. Although I had expected all of those to take a little time to adjust, the worst adjustment for me is living with a family again. I am used to being on my own time schedule, eating when I want to, sleeping when I want to, having a TV, being able to dictate when and where I can go and how, at my own whim. All of a sudden, I have set mealtimes in which you have to be home or you have to spend money and eat out. Not a bad option, except I've already paid for meals at the house, so essentially I'm paying twice for the same meal when I eat out! Several of the other girls living with families express similar difficulties, and are already moving out to an apartment. I'm trying to stay strong, afterall I wanted to live with a family to improve my Spanish skills, however, it's difficult to think about how much money I would be saving by living in an apartment with other teachers.

I am once again the last teacher left at school. Perhaps it's the perfectionist in me, or the fact that science requires more prep and planning for each class (and I'm teaching 5) than other subjects because there is both lecture and lab to prepare, or maybe I am the biggest rookie to teaching in the group (also true). Whatever the case, I am usually the last one to leave, and it is time to do that now.

WOW

2007-08-14T17:21:00.000-05:00

Yes, wow is definitely the word of the day, or really, the week. I have been in Xela for 9 days now, incredible to write that seeing as I feel as if it's been about 9 weeks (maybe a little exaggeration).

Many things have happened in this first week:

1. I have learned to use the public transportation very effectively. It cost about 15 cents to ride a minivan type vehicle that sits 15 people (yes, 15 people in a minivan), but can actually hold at least 20 (as I found out yesterday while going to the supermarket). There are also school buses that are very brightly painted and go everywhere you need to go as well. They're called chicken buses...probably because you have to sit 4 people to a seat and people will squish all the way down the aisle until they're hanging out the door.

2. I have survived my first earthquake...ever. It just so happened, unbeknownst to me, that we had an earthquake last Saturday night. Apparent everything shook enough that you could feel it pretty good: things rattled, you could see things moving, etc. Well, I believe I had just gone to sleep about 20 minutes before the earthquake happened, and did not even know about it until at least the next evening (For anyone who knows how I sleep, this should not be shocking). My host family had a nice laugh at the shock on my face when they told me there was an earthquake.

3. And of course, I have survived my first XelaJu futbol game. Not only did I survive it, but I learned several new words that I can never use...the inappropriate kind...and we won! The stadium here is not as big as the one in Uruguay, so the fence is someone in the way. You can see through it, but it is annoying to me.

4. Montezuma has not yet visited me. This one stands alone.

5. I survived my first experimentation with street food without seeing Montezuma (see number 4). We tried a local dish called Ceviche from one of the guy's favorite places. It is basically finely chopped pico de gallo (American style with onions, tomatoes, and lots of cilantro) served with boiled shrimp. It's a cold dish, and you eat it with tostadas. We were told to be careful because not all seafood is safe, but Oohh boy is it good! I'll be going back for more.

I guess those are the highlights of my first week. We're really busy getting ready for school. For me, that means I am really busy trying to figure out how in the world to write a lesson plan, plan out my entire year in each of the 5 classes I'm teaching, how to not smile the first few days of class (because according to grandma, that's how it's done right)--basically, how to be a teacher.

The returning teachers are coming to Xela tonight, so it'll be cool to get to meet them all. Pray for sanity...school starts in 1 week!

Empieza the adventure

2007-08-06T14:03:00.000-05:00

So, I arrived with little to no hitches in Guatemala City Saturday afternoon after spending Friday night at a hotel in Chicago. My bags all made it on my flight, which was great because one of my fellow new teachers wasn´t quite so fortunate. I walked out of the airport not knowing how exactly I was going to find the men from my school who were supposed to pick me up. I assumed they would have my name or theirs on a card so I exited the airport, scanning the crowd and pushing my luggage cart very, very slowly so I could read all the name. I was almost to the end of the line, to the parking lot, and still no sign of them when someone called my name. They could somehow tell it was me, the fact that I looked lost, was American, had way too much luggage, and was scanning very intently into the crowds probably gave me away.

Mr. Brodbeck, the director of the school, Michael, the new principal, and myself were the only ones who arrived Saturday. So we spent the night at a nice hotel, the Best Western. And then picked up everyone else Sunday morning. We then drove, in the pouring down rain for 4 hours to reach Xela (pronounced Chaylah). We didn´t get here until night time so we couldn´t see anything of the city or the two volcanoes surrounding the city. They immediately dropped us off at our houses, and then left!

My house mom is Luisa and her family: Allan (her son), Alberto (her nephew), and Cesar (her husband). They are very lively energetic people, and we actually laughed a lot my first night. The whole language thing makes me uncomfortable, but it was for that reason that I chose to live with a family instead of in an apartment, like most of the other new teachers did.

I unpacked my things and settled my room, it is small but comfortable. They actually have a very nice house compared to the houses I went in last time I was in Guatemala. There is a living room, a kitchen, three other small bedrooms, and one bathroom. I am about to be late for lunch so I will write more later!

The Dawning of a New Day

2007-08-01T23:46:00.000-05:00

I am recently returned from Colorado where I have spent a wonderful, however short, summer working at Trek. My heart remains there as I am now in the Homeland (Nashville) getting ready for my big move to Guatemala.

It has been difficult already to say goodbye to people who I've shared the last six months and the last 5 summers with, however I am excited for the next chapter in my life..."adult life". Although some may not yet call my life the real adult life, I maintain that it is. I have just chosen to begin my real adult life differently than most. I choose to spend it teaching and learning in Guatemala rather than working or continuing on in school in the US. And while the past week has already been difficult (and tearful) enough, the next few days look to be even more so as I say goodbye to my friends in Nashville, my family, and move on to a strange, yet exciting mission in Guatemala.

For my own personal benefit, and for anyone else who chooses to read, I hope to document and record the many workings of God in my life and the wonderful (and not so wonderful) experiences I will have this year in Guatemala in this blog. So welcome, and keep in touch.