Guatemala Slide Show... as I wait in Charlotte

Guatemala Slide Show


I hope that you enjoy the slide show! I am stuck in Charlotte overnight because the weather and cleaning a plane caused me to missed my connection! I guess I should have taken Odie's advice!

Sorry Odie, but I must go!

I think Odie wants me to stay! He has found his place on my bags!

Almost HOME!

I am home (well almost, I am in Charlotte), but I am in the USA!! I had a wonderful trip with Beau. Here are a couple photos!! I just wanted to say hello!

Birthday- GUATE STYLE!

So I spent my first birthday out of the country with a bunch of 8 year olds, 3,000 of my closest friends, and a couple amigas who love to dance!!! On Thursday, my class threw me a surprise party after lunch at school. I knew they were up to no good when they came in asking “why are you so happy today?” And when I replied, “because it is my birthday”, they all looked surprised and said “oh no, we forgot!!” It was really cute because they planned the entire event including who would bring what food item. They then talked to the Spanish teacher and Jamie (another 3^rd grade teacher) and had them type of the list to send home. I played along perfectly and returned 5 minutes after lunch had begun to a door closed and a quiet classroom (which never happens). When I opened the door they all yelled SURPRISE! And sang to me. I immediately gasped and they were so tickled!! It was great! We had cake, chips, drinks, candy! They even decorated my room.

*Side note- all of the kids call the teacher either Miss or Prof here. It gets sort of annoying and we are trying to teach them to say our full names. So… as a joke, when they say Miss, I respond mis (my)… camisas (shirts), pantalones (pants), zapatos (shoes). They think it is hysterical so they have started calling me Miss Zapatos to be funny! That is why they wrote it on the white board!

After school was Noche de Luces, which is the annual holiday even complete with food, carnival games, and fireworks! The event was to raise money for Habitat for Humanity here in Guatemala and was AWESOME!! Local restaurants and businesses set up booths of food and items for sale. The children had carnival games, face painting, cookie decorating and story times. At about 8:00 the fireworks began. Because we did not want to fight all of the people leaving after, we returned to my apartment and watched from the rooftop! This was a great decision because we were eye level with the lights and we did not have to listen to “My Heart Will Go On” over the loud speakers!

To finish the night off, some gals (and a couple guys) went out for drinks and then dancing. Our first stop had wonderful couches and free beer, so it was pleasing to all. We finished the night at another club/bar where we danced to “untz,untz” music (that is what we call it here! Just try to say that out loud and hopefully you will understand what I mean!). It was a blast and we got some good aerobics in to this music because we were the only ones dancing!!

Overall it was a great 26^th birthday!! I am excited to see all of you in December when I am home!! Beau comes to visit on FRIDAY! YEAH!! Merry Christmas!

I'm an elf!!

My friend Jaime and I elfed ourselves today!!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1117522456

It is pretty funny!!

Finish the Race!

I have begun the race to finish these last week and a half of school!! The weather is beautiful again today after two days of clouds. Normally this time of year is full of bright sun and cloudless skies. I look out my window each night hoping for those killer sunsets that I have seen in past weeks. Some days I see them, and other days are too cloudy. Regardless, I can’t complain about the view from my porches and roof. I hope that each of you could make it down to experience one with me some day soon!

We have just finished our first trimester of school and my students are doing great. Academically, I have no real concerns (unlike many of the other classes), so I am very pleased! My students love to be outside and I do too, so we get along great. We actually spent about an hour today reading and working in the grassy area by my room. Sometimes I think they work better in the fresh air.

These last two weeks have been much better than my difficult one. Brittany and Taylor are still recovering from their losses, but I know that the Lord will heal them in time. Kimberly is well out of the hospital and back to teaching after a week off for Christmas. Evan is still trucking! He is still in and out of Scottish Rite, but we are still praying and trusting in a full recovery!
Thanksgiving week was wonderful here! I spent Thursday at Nathan and Claudia Hardeman’s house. We had turkey, dressing, casseroles, pies, the works!! It was wonderful! We ate, laughed, talked about our friends and family in the US, and of course watched football!! On Friday, my roommate Rebeca and I visited Santa Teresita Thermal Pools in a town called Amatitlan about an hour from the house. The pools were heated very specifically and we had a package deal! We had a ½ hour massage, full day at the pools, and smoothie for Q105 (about $14!). It was incredible! We then returned home, ordered pizza, rented movies and were sitting down to a glass of wine when a friend called from school to get us to go dancing! The main catcher is that our water had been turned off for repairs, but off we went with our greasy selves!

Saturday and Sunday were uneventful and exactly what I needed. I watched some Christmas movies, played Sequence with Rebe, got the play by play on the football games via Beau and messanger, and napped on the couch! I am glad that I did not travel like the other teachers during this break. It was great just to take some Kelly time!

Now I am doing my best to make it through these next 5 ½ days!! Then it is time to “descansar” (relax)!! I hope that you are enjoying your holiday season and please listen to some Christmas music for me!!

Una Semana Dificil

What a hard week to be away from home. I have felt like so many thing have happened and all I have wanted to do is hug these lovely people pictured. Instead, I post their picture in hopes that you pray for each one of them with me. Brittany and Taylor Fletcher lost their puppy to a bleeding ulcer and Brittany's grandmother this week.


Kimberly Burns was in the hospital for a 25% collapsed lung. She has returned home and will recover, but this is still very hard news to receive over email.

Evan Smith (the little guy on the left) has been diagnosed with leukemia. I began babysitting for Ev, Mary Ford and Mark when Mark was just a few weeks old. Evan was not even two. Nolia and Brian (Evan's parents) became more than just parents that I babysat for, but close friends. Nolia always opened her home to me and all I had to do was hold a baby or read a children's story. Please pray for this family as they fight together. If you want to keep up with him please check out this website Evan Smith.

The view from my apartment!

Rebeca and her brothers, Joel and Pablo

Special People Teach Internationally

You have to be a “special person” to teach at an International School. You leave everything and everyone you know behind and move to an environment when they may not speak your language. It is obviously a completely different culture. Laws may not be the same. Social norms are not the same. It takes a special person! Here are some of these special people!

Mom's BLOG!

Mom sent this out as an email to some of her friends and I thought it was so great we should BLOG it! We had a blast and I can now post pictures!!

Hi everyone! As many of you know, we went to Guatemala to visit Kelly this weekend! It was great to see her and experience a very small part of her life there. We had Chamber of Commerce weather with sunny blue skies and perfect temperatures. Kelly says we brought the good weather as they have just finished a very long rainy season and she's ready to put her umbrellaaway for a while! On Thursday we were able to visit the school where sheteaches. It is a private American school - that means it's all taught inEnglish - and is very nice - with its own Jr. Olympic size swimming pool andnumerous soccer fields. The school is K-12 grade with a university adjacentto it - 55 acres in all. About 80% of the kids that go there are the wealthy Guatemalans and the rest are other nationalities. She lives about a 10 minute walk from the school and walks there every day. We spent Thursday night in her apartment which has amazing views of the city and three volcanoes and had dinner with one of her roommates. We also went to the home of the Guatemalan family that she is very close to and another young American family who runs the Young Life Christian group. They were all so warm and hospitable and we feel so much better knowing that she has people she can turn to if she needs something. Early Friday morning we began our trip to Lake Atitlan and the village of Panajachel about 90 miles away. We made it in less than 3 hours which is very good considering the conditions of the roads. Kelly was just able to purchase a car there - it's quite an ordeal - and I hope she's saving some money for new shocks and numerous wheel alignments for her 1999 Opel Astra! She has mastered the art ofGuatemalan driving. Rules? There are no rules! No one ever stops at stop signs - you just look and go. Sometimes red lights mean stop -sometimes they don't! But everyone's horn works, don't worry!!! At one point, she and Bobby just pulled in their side mirrors and trucked on through so close to two parked trucks I was sure we were going to scrape the side of her car!Once we got to Panajachel it is was well worth the drive - an unbelievably beautiful crater lake surrounded by active volcanoes. We walked around the village and then went to our hotel. The Hotel Atitlan is just magnificent and we all could have easily spent more than one night there! We met another American couple and the five of us rented a boat for an hour onSaturday AM and went on our own tour of the lake. Many villages and hotels there are only accessible by water so that was neat to see. Later that morning we left to spend Saturday night in Antigua, the old capital ofGuatemala. We checked into the Hotel Santo Domingo, a Colonial monastery that was turned into a hotel in 1989. It has 97 rooms built around theruins of a convent. We walked the whole city of Antigua - visiting thecathedral, central park and the market areas. Kelly had spent a week inAntigua with a family this summer attending Spanish school so she really knew her way around there too. She is quite the Spanish speaker now and wascomplimented numerous times by the Guatemalans on her ability! Saturdaynight we walked Antigua again and at dinner met a couple from Colorado in the process of adopting a baby girl, Isabella. They told us this was their third trip to Guate and they had hoped to bring her home this time but there was something wrong with the paperwork - again - and they didn't know when they'd get back home. They've rented an apartment in Antigua and have the baby with them now - she'd been living with foster parents. They're hoping to be home before Thanksgiving or Christmas but have not been given any timeframe. Kelly said the government there is making it harder and harder to adopt Guatemalan children. In fact, she told me not to take any pictures of people - especially children - unless she asked them if it was alright -they get very upset and think you're trying to sell their children over theinternet. We had two families on the flight home Sunday afternoon with baby girls. I hope it works out for Isabella soon.

It was a wonderful trip and Kelly took us to all the right places! The country is the richest as well as the poorest in all of Central America andwe saw just a very small portion of both, although the poverty level is muchmore apparent. It's a bit disconcerting to see military with machine gunsbut knowing that your daughter is living on a gated street in a gated building with nine apartments and its own private guard is of some comfort. She feels comfortable down there with her command of the language and she knows when and where to go places. Even though the environment is so different from what we're used to I can truly say I never felt concerned about our safety any more than I would walking around downtown Atlanta at night.

And everyone was very friendly to us - even the policeman at theroadblock who stopped us to make sure the car wasn't stolen!! I guess maybe an Opel Astra is a hot vehicle there!!

Kelly will be home for a week at Christmas and we're looking forward to having her here! Bobby and I have already decided to go back down there sometime in the spring for another visit. Here are a few pictures of the trip. One is Kelly with her car in front of her apartment, Kelly relaxingin the hot tub at Hotel Atitlan and three Bulldawgs on the streets of Guatemala on a Saturday during football season!!

Love to all,Kathy and Bobby (and Kelly)

Multiplication

We have started multiplication this week in the 3rd Grade!! It is incredible how motivated the students are to participate in math class. We have just begun introducing the 2's and 5's times tables. The students beg me to work extra on the practice packets and even will work during thier free time to complete the work! I just never realized how exciting multiplication really is!!

conferences and the beach!

Friday was parent conferences for me at CAG. I had to meet with the parents of 20 of my students every 20 minutes from 7:30 to 3:00. My fellow Spanish teacher and I had a little cubicle in the library to meet these parents and they came pretty much on time!! It was a very tiring day, but it all ran smoothly. This was the first time that I have had to have parent conferences. At Morgan County I was normally the one translating conferences for other teachers, but I did not have too many conferences myself. Rumor has it, parents here are more nervous than the teachers. I really didn’t have many negative things to say at all about my class or students, so my parents did not have too much to worry about. I have a pretty good group of kids both socially and academically. When I returned to my room, the students had covered my white boards with messages about how they missed me and that I was never to leave them for a whole day again! HA!! They are such cuties!! It made my day! By today I was over that cutie
phase and they were back to their normal selves!

To reward myself for finishing the conference I went to the beach. It was Roblans, Beth, James, and myself. I must have said “me gusta la playa” a hundred times!! Saturday was Revolution Day, but I decided not to parade or protest and instead play in the ocean. It was less than 2 hours from the city and was a very easy road (although I was not the one driving, but rather riding shotgun!). My car made it to and from in one piece as well!!

The beaches are black sand and the surf was too rough for any real swimming, but it was great to just sit and relax with the cool breeze and sounds of the waves. We went to a place called Aqua Magic. It had pools, water slides, playgrounds, sand soccer fields and beachfront! It was well worth our $8!! You definitely need the showers to clean all of the black sand off your body. I am so glad that we were able to go to the beach. Be sure to check Beth and James’ blog because I know they have posted pictures and better stories!

I have a car!

I have a car! I have a car! I have a car!! I am so happy!

Visitors and Trip Home

Good morning!! I am still working on this whole picture addition thing! Get excited because when my mom and dad come down in November, I have asked them to bring the necessary card reader for my camera and then we will be able to see my life again!! I will start taking more pictures so that I actually have some to put up of the blog!!
So mom and dad are coming on November 1st (All Saint's Day) and are staying until November 4th. We have been invited to eat with my Guatemalan family here for lunch on Thursday and then we are off to Lake Atitlan and Antigua. The rainy season should be ending by then so I have my fingers crossed for BEAUTIFUL weather. It will be great to have them come and see life here in Guatemala for a couple of days and more importantly just to see them!!
Beau is coming down December 14-21. We are going to have a full week to explore. Unfortunately Hilary will not be able to make it down on this trip due to how close it is to Christmas and how busy work will be, but that only means another trip for them will be planned in the future. I have nothing planned yet for when Beau comes, but the church may be taking a mission trip that first weekend so that would be AWESOME! Beau, start practicing all that Spanish you know!!
Finally I have bought my flight home for Christmas. I will be arriving late on Dec 21 and staying until December 28th. Dad has already informed me that it is too quick, but in all honesty, I know that if I stay much longer it will make my returning much more difficult. Plus I start back to school on January 3rd, so I wanted to be back here and settled for New Years! So I hope that you each will be around sometime during that week. I will not have car so that means that yall might have to come and chill at my house with me and the fam!! I know that we will be in both Atlanta and Athens because that is where my family is now- I am excited about that!
In the mean time, please continue to cheer on the Bulldogs even though they played terrible against Tennessee. I have to know that people are at home cheering in my place! I take some blame for the score on Saturday due to my futbol game and the fact that we have orange jerseys. It was not by choice, but with my game during the whole first half, I was forced into subliminally cheering for the other team. On a better note, WE WON! 4-1!! Adios and have a wonderful day!

Futeca

Futeca is a local soccer organization in which I am now involved. I play on the Zuca Shooters who are sponsored by Zucaritas (Frosted Flakes) and we are made up of ladies from the Colegio. We are the "non-competetive" team and there is another moere competetive team from the school. We had our first game last Saturday and WE WON!! 4-1! I never thought that I would ever play soccer, but it turns out that I am not terrible at it. We just play 4 on 4 plus goalies on small turf fields. If you want to keep up with the Zuca Shooters(we heard Tony el Tigre gets to come to our games) please follow the link. Click entrar and then Zone 14. We are in the Femenino Moviestar in the D league! Our next game is this Saturday at 10:00!

PS- Check out Wayne's crazy posts from the last blog! Who is gonna beat that!?!

Latin American Idol!!

The Latin American Idol finale was tonight and Carlos Pena of Guatemala won!! YEAH!! So for all you Idol fans, Guatemala is now the proud winner!! I am standing on the porch watching fireworks erupt from all areas of the city!! Just another fun night in GUATE!

45 Baptisms

Today at my church here in Guatemala (Iglesia Bautista Shalom), 45 people were baptized. We have just finished 40 days of prayer for the church body, specific persons and the community. The goal was for 40 people to be baptized and we exceeded that by 5 people!! Praise God! Just thought I would share how God is working here!

Independence Day, Zoo, Birthdays, and CAR!

Independence Day in Guatemala was a blast!! Friday at school was a special day where all the students were allowed to dress in blue and white (the colors of the flag) or in clothing tipica (for women this is a long skirt and hand woven blouse and men where hand woven pants and shirt). They had a special tiendita (snack store) at recess for everyone to try delicious foods! The students were each given 3 tokens for a sweet, salty, and drink.

On Saturday, I headed to Antigua with Rebeca, Laura, Rebe’s family and our friend Maly. We went in the late afternoon because at 6:00 in the evening there was a large ceremony in the Central Park and a desfile (parade). The desfile consisted of local high school drumlins all parading around the park playing music. The crowd basically stayed in one spot and the groups rotated around the park. It was so much fun! We joined in with some of the troops by dancing behind them. We also bought elotes from the local venders on the street. Elote is corn on the cob, grilled to perfection and covered with butter, salt, and lime! They cook it right there on the open flame! It actually tasted just like popcorn with lime!! Overall it was a great Independence Day!

On Wednesday I went to the zoo with my students. I am the Science curriculum coordinator so I planned the trip (with the help of some veteran teachers) and it was very successful. The zoo was very fun and the students were great! I was surprised to see how well behaved they were in a place that was so open. The best part was actually the bus ride. One of the Spanish teachers started a song with the kids on the way there. It went “ Kelly robó pan de la casa de San Juan.” It was just like who stole the cookie from the cookie jar! It was great and we continued to and from the zoo. The kids LOVED it and it kept them under control for the 40-minute ride!!

Friday was my roommate Laura’s birthday! So we had a FIESTA! It was a blast! It was another friend Carole’s birthday too, so we combined parties and had a big one here at our apartment. We grilled out (in the terrible rain) and danced!! Laura has tons of music and she was in charge of the music for the event and she did a great job! It is always fun to have everyone over and it was another successful gathering here in Guate!!

Finally, I think I have found a car. It is an Opel Astra. The car is from Germany and no we don’t have any in the US. Just keep praying that it all works out and that if it is the right car, all will continue to work out!!

Happy Sunday!

Elections and a long weekend

I am feeling SO much better! Sorry it has taken me so long to write. I feel like a lot has happened in these last couple of days.

This past weekend was a three-day weekend due to the elections. I decided to not go out of town because I figures some extra relaxation time was in order. The weekend started off on a bit of a tragic note. Rebeca’s best friend Melissa was in a very severe car accident here in Guatemala. I thought that both Laura and Rebeca had forgotten about our plans to get together on Friday night because neither would answer their cell phone and no one came home to get me. It was not until I finally spoke with Laura that I found out where everyone was. I felt horrible!! Because I don’t have a car yet, I was limited to walking down to some neighbors (The Greene’s) to play with their four boys (ages 2, 4, 5, and 7). The family is on staff with Young Life and so Brady was at the hospital with Meli.

On Saturday, Laura and I ran to PriceMart (Our Sam’s Club) to get pizzas for everyone at the hospital. Melissa was still in the ICU and the hospital waiting room was packed with family and friends. That night I made dinner for Rebe, her brother, and Melissa’s sister and mom and watched the Dawgs lose to South Carolina (all Raymond’s fault because he did not cheer loud enough from my seat!).

Sunday was Election Day here in Guatemala. Normal Sundays have very little people out and about, but this past one was CRAZY!! I got to be a part of it first hand (although my finger did not show the ink mark like everyone elses). After going to church, I went with my friend Iris and Ingrid to vote. It was an incredible experience! The buses are free on Election Day so there are people everywhere. Plus there is a specific location in which each person has to vote. Almost every school is a voting site and the roadways were packed. It took us almost 40 minutes to go about 3 kilometers. So while we waited in the traffic we sang Spanish pop songs at the top of our lungs!! After voting (which only took about 10 minutes and by they way Colom and Perez Molina will be in the run-off if you are interested) we returned home to pick up their brother (Roblans) and mother (mama) and we headed to another sister’s house for lunch. (I have basically been adopted by this family so they take me in for family meals or random adventures). It is always great to spend time in a family setting when you feel like you are all alone in a place!

I hung out with the Mejia Rosales family until about 4:30 when I headed straight to the Greene’s for their son Guille’s 4th birthday. It was a fun time of pizza, Sprite, cake, and presents. All the boys were so excited to try out Guille’s toys. He got one of those binoculars in which the round disk shows pictures. I remember them from when I was little. You pull the lever on the side and you see the image! It was a hit. I bummed a gift off Laura because I could not get to the store!

I thought Monday was going to be my relaxing day. I went to go and look at cars (though it was unsuccessful and now I am getting anxious). Then in the afternoon I as going to Paraiso where I had been working over the summer with Roblans because he had soccer practice. About an hour before he was going to come he called and asked if I wanted to go with the family to Antigua instead. I, of course, said sure as I always do when it comes to going places. Mama, Ingrid, Roblans, Madelyn (Roblans’ daughter) and Katy (another little girl) went to Antigua to hang out instead. We walked around and ate at POLLO CAMPERO! It was nice to get away and see Antigua from locals’ eyes. On our way back they asked if I wanted to come over for dinner and then they would run me home. I answered with an affirmative OF COURSE and of we went! I finally returned home about 9 p.m. that evening and promptly went to bed.
Now to this week! Independence Day is Saturday here in Guatemala. It has been such an exciting week of activities here at our school. We have seen folkloric ballets, made typical candles and other crafts, and tomorrow is dress-up day!! I have heard the Guatemalan national anthem (and it is extremely LONG) song by 3rd graders. I am excited to see what I will get to do on Saturday. I am hoping that there are fireworks involved. They use fireworks to celebrate everything else, so I expected it for this too!!

I know this was a bit long, but I guess I had a lot to say! Hope you are great!

PS- My students are still doing great and they are super cute! Oh yeah, I am here to teach :)

Hurricane, etc...

Hurricane Felix has now reached the city of Guatemala and is dropping a slight drizzle. Fortunately we are all safe in this part of the country from the heavy down pours thus far. The city is well protected by the mountains and therefore we do not get as heavy of rain as other areas. Just thought I would keep everyone in the loop during hurricane season.

On another note, I have been sick! Yes, I officially caught the bug! Luckily this has not happened to me in MANY years. I was unable to go to work on Tuesday (Open House was that night, so I staggered into school to say hello and was actually encouraged to go directly to the hospital. I, thankfully, decided to give it another night because sleep is what I really needed). I returned to work today, but after finally trying some chicken soup this afternoon, I think it is going to be a bit slower recovery than desired. I am just going to load up on Saltines for a while (don’t worry they are VERY cheap here) and stay hydrated. Please just keep me in your prayers as I am recovering.

Also please pray for the Presidential elections that are taking place on Sunday. There are around 30 candidates so there is almost guaranteed another vote later in the fall, but please just pray everything remains peaceful and that the right people would come into power here.

Sorry it is not that exciting, but I promise to write more when I am feeling better....

Go Dawgs!! Sic 'em!

Thank you everyone who thought of me on Saturday when it was opening day for the Ga. Dawgs!! I really apperciate that you miss me because I MISS YALL TOO!! When the games are on ESPN 2 there is really no way to watch the game, so I have to stick with calling my family after to hear how it ended!! As long as I get to watch the GA/FLA game I will be happy!!! Please cheer on the dawgs for me (Hilary that means you- even against Tennessee!! :) )

Love yall and it was great to see each of your smiling faces!

PS- I can't wait to see Ansley at Christmas time! Mom said she is just a doll!

Me gusta Guatemala!

There are many things I really love about living in Guatemala City and so I thought that I would share some of these things with you! They are in no particular order…

1. The weather! The weather here is incredible! Many days stormed are trapped on the far sides on the mountains and so you can see that they can’t pass into the city. From a distance you can see the lightening and hear the thunder. Beau got a view from that from my web cam yesterday. The other thing is just how cold it is. I wear a long sleeve shirt everyday to school and I don’t need to take it off. The high here is around 73* right now because of the rainy season. I should have packed more cold weather clothes!
2. Prices of fruits (and vegetables)! I know, I know… if anyone has ever lived with me, you would know that I don’t eat vegetables but I am learning to here. The prices of produce are incredible. Pineapples are less than a dollar. You can buy bananas on the street for $.50. Everything is incredible. Even the chicken is about $3.00 for over a pound!!
3. Going to the airport! I love the airport because I love to fly and because it is so cute to see people returning home to loved ones! Here everyone is cattled (probably not a word, but you know what I mean!) out of the airport through one gated exit. People stand along the gates waiting for family to return. I could watch them for hours. There is a mix of business, indigenous, gringos, and more! Watching children running to great their mom or dad is always adorable.
4. Driving! I swore that I would not drive in Guatemala when I was here last summer, but that changed quickly. It is really fun to drive here. There is a good amount of traffic, but it usually moves. To get through it you must use the right hand signals and just force your way in! It is always easier to drive when there is someone in the passenger seat, but regardless, I am much more confident!
5. Shalom Church! It is wonderful to have a church family here that is VERY different than my life at school. I can walk in and familiar faces and many hellos greet me. Although I normally sit up in the “gringo section” (I call it that solely because two gringo families normally sit there), it is all in Spanish and it really challenges me to keep learning the language (and grow in my faith!).
6. Haircuts! Last Saturday I went to the Rosales Salon to get a haircut. I am not one who really cares much about my hair because you really can’t mess it up! My mom can do a great trim when I get impatient and want some length off immediately. Fortunately for me, my Guatemalan family here owns a salon and I received my first Guatemalan haircut. She said it would cost Q20 ($2.75), but I giggled and gave her Q40. It as well worth it because she did such a great job!
7. Waking up! I am never upset when my alarm goes off because that means that I get to peak out from my bed to see if I can see the volcanoes. Yes, that is plural. I lift my head up every morning to see if the volcanoes (3 to be exact) are in clear view or not. Just this morning there was cloud cover about halfway up the tallest one, but the cone was in full view! It is really a great way to begin the day!
8. My roommates! I really love my roommates! Laura has just returned from the States yesterday (hence my continued trips and love of the airport) and I feel like we are finally settling in together. They are both wonderful and I am so blessed to have found them!
9. Beth and James! I know I have already talked about them (and they devoted a blog to me, HA!), but it is just so great to have them here. I enjoy all of the time we spend together. Now that school has started, we don't see each other as much, but hopefully that will change soon!!
   
10. My job! I can’t complain about that either! Each day is new and exciting. I never realized how difficult it was to be a homeroom teacher. Props to all that have done this for many years. It is time consuming to organize 4 subjects a day and find the time to teach it. Luckily, I have a wonderful team of teachers who have helped me along the way!!

Well, that is all for now!! Have a wonderful week!

Back to school...

My first day of school in Guatemala!! Today began early as always, but instead of waking up to the beautiful volcano, all I saw was rain clouds! This was not the way that I wanted to start my first day, but sometimes you can’t control hurricanes (wait can we ever control them?). I jumped out of bed a bit before six and came to the kitchen to see my smiling roommate Rebeca. She is teaching English classes at a bank every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so I will get to see her. She helped me pick out my outfit (Ann Taylor Loft brown and white skirt and brown polo!) and wished me luck on my first day. 4 students greeted me at my door to my class at 6:55. School does not start until 7:30, so who knows why they were already there. Luckily I was over prepared and had work for them. I will not start teaching each day until 9:00 because the students have Spanish in the morning, but the Spanish teacher did not arrive until 7:10.

Each kid had to bring a HUGE bag of supplies and a HUGE lunch! Lunch is the biggest meal of the day in Guatemala and that does not stop kids even when they have school. I brought a peanut butter sandwich and granola bar and I had kids warming up leftover steak and potatoes. Each classroom is equipped with a microwave for this reason. The kids eat in our room and so one of my class jobs in CHEF so that I don’t have to stand there and warm up food.

My class is 12 boys and 11 girls. I have some pretty famous kids! (I am not entirely sure how and why their families are famous, but the local teachers know.) We went over all of rules and procedures. I had the kids write me a letter so I could see their writing skills in English. These letters were so cute and they are great writers! We then made a class puzzle. I had each child decorate a puzzle piece and then we all put it together. They turned out very cute and I stayed after to put them on the wall. Speaking of staying late… I have not left before 5 all week. It is great that I can walk to school, but as a brand new homeroom teacher I don’t know what I would do if I had to leave at 3! Some other teachers are jealous because they have to leave when the buses leave or call a taxi. I just walk my 5 minutes and I am at home! I would not have traded riding with Christa and Wayne (I mentioned you!) to stay late last year, but I had did not have quite as big of a load. I am more and more thankful for my house each day!

All in all it was a great day!! I survived my first day and I really think I am going to enjoy my kids. They are a bit chatty, but everyone says that is just the culture here. People are just more relational. I am chatty, so I think I will make it fine! I will try to post pictures when I can download them from my camera.

FYI- I have found Internet in my kitchen now too. So, I am currently sitting on my counter and my computer is resting on my toaster. Just thought I would let you know!

Happy Birthday PAPI!

Today is my dad's birthday! So if you see him or even know him wish him a happy day!! I am not as cool as Tatum who makes collages for her family on their birthday (sorry fam), so this will have to do!

I have officially finished my first week of pre-planning at my new school here in Guate. I did not realize that it was going to be quite as intensive as it has been, but nevertheless I will learn everything in its time. We are definitely in the rainy season now and so I am sitting underneath my overhang in my apartment because for some reason, when it is cloudy, I can get the internet from the Universidad del Valle. Now I am not one for stealing internet without asking first (my neighbors last year laughed at me when I asked if they wanted me to pay them for the use of their internet), but because UVG is part of my school I feel like it is just a perk for living close!! So back to the school talk....
Things I have learned about my new life at CAG:
1. I have a planning period everyday! Not just one, but multiple depending on the day. There are days when I can plan for 90 minutes straight! Now that is incredible.
2. Some of my students have body guards. Now that is a HUGE change from Morgan County Elementary! The only sign outside of the school is a firearms sign because of this. The body guards will spend the whole day outside of the school just in case "something" were to happen.
3. The emergency manual includes what to do in the case of an earthquake. Now we don't have that many earthquakes in GA, but we seem to have quite a few tremors here (don't worry mom, I just feel like I am shaking a bit. Nothing to scary!)
4. I have never known so many cultural differences among people from the same country (and i am talking about from the US). I am the lone Southerner in the group of new teachers and it has been a culture shock to learn about my fellow colleagues. I am sure that I am a culture shock to them as well. Country Kelly (Brit, Al, Bridget- yall know what I mean) has not reared her head to much, but man do they laugh about me saying y'all. My Principal said I can use the word, but I can't allow the children to use it in their work! AHH!! That means I can't write it on the board!
5. Beth and James Mildren are the best! These are my new married couple friends from Kansas! They have been a God-send to me here! Although they are from the Midwest they are trying to understand me and my Southern ways. I love how they want to hang out and they will just ask me if they can come over. My roommie Rebeca loves them because they just make themselves at home. They even let me sit between them while we watched a movie (I did this so that I did not have to call a hand check in the middle of American History X). They are just fun to be around.

All in all, Guate is great!! I don't feel like I am as far away as I really am which is wonderful. I call home whenever I want to (mom likes that). And I have/had incredible roommates to keep me energized (A-Train, Josie- Enio called looking for you!). Please let me know how you are doing and comment if you have read this far. Sometimes I feel like I am writing to myself (which is good too).

The Mayan Ruins of Tikal

Tikal was quite a trip!! Jessa and I had to leave on a 6:30 a.m. flight to Flores Guatemala. So the alarm went off at 4:30, but I had been awakened about 10 minutes earlier from a bad dream. In my dream, Jessa and I were frantically trying to get to an airport but people kept stopping us and so we could just not make it. I think I was a bit anxious about the flight. The taxi came at 5 to take us to the International Airport for our flight out. Upon arriving at the airport we found out that OUR flight left from another airport because it was in country that was located “just around the corner.” We were told not to walk so we jumped in another taxi to get us there. This taxi driver asked directions from the security guard and about 5 others along the way. He had to ask directions so many times we began to wonder if he even lived in the city or let alone spoke Spanish! Jessa and I were getting nervous that we might miss our flight because it was approaching 6:00. I was in my dream!!! I had mentioned the dream earlier so we had to laugh at how it had come true. We finally made it to the airport and were the LAST to arrive. The plane held 33 passengers and two flight attendants. I was considered a flight attendant and therefore sat facing the other passengers on the flight.

We arrived in Flores, Guatemala and were met by Nixon, our tour guide, to take us to the Tikal Inn Hotel and the park. ** Side note- Guatemalan names- People in Guatemala are named so very funny things. For instance, Nixon is not a Spanish name at all. Some of my other favorites are Wellington, Estephanie and Hazel. These names are very hard to figure out when speaking Spanish. My name is a whole other ballgame.** Tikal Inn is located within the Tikal National Park and is one of 3 hotels in the area. It was about 1 ½ hours from Flores and we were brought directly to the location. We dropped our stuff, used the restroom and immediately went into the park. It cost 50Q to enter (for foreigners) and only 15Q for locals. I tried to convince them I was a local, but they did not believe it, so I paid my money (about $7) for the day.

The park was incredible. Nixon took us to many of the temples. We were able to climb to the top of some. We explored through the Gran Plaza and saw the locations of many sacrifices. The Mayans had carved many symbols throughout their temples. The magnitude of these buildings was indescribable. People looked like ants when looking down from the top. From the top you could see out as far as the horizon and it was above the tree line. We were really blessed to have an extremely clear day because it is rainy season here in Guate so the chances of rain daily are fairly high.

One of the most interesting parts of Tikal was the other people that were visiting as well. Jessa was in heaven because most people spoke French!! I, on the other hand, was quite confused. We actually spent most of our time exploring with 2 girls and a guy from Quebec, Canada. The two girls, Gabrielle and Stephanie, had been working in some hospitals in Honduras as an exchange from their medical school in Canada and Felix had just met them to travel. It was great to met new people and it was really funny to see how we would communicate. It was an interesting mix of French, English and Spanish! The five of us returned to the park after lunch on our own to explore the sites one last time. We saw the sun begin to set from the tops of the temples. We heard the howler monkeys scream is ways that sounded like Jurassic Park. We saw the spider monkeys jump from branch to branch. All in all it was a LONG, but EXCITING day!

The plan was to get up and watch the sun rise from Temple IV the next morning, but the Tourism Dept of Guatemala changed the prices of park entrance from Q50 to 150 overnight for us extranjeros! So instead Jessa and I relaxed by the pool and had a lunch with the Quebecians (??) before returning on the flight home at 5:00. The only other mishap that occurred on this adventure was that a girl on our shuttle from Tikal to Flores lost her passport. In the end, she was able to switch plans and she had her passport to leave the country the next morning! Yet again, another amazing trip in Guate for me and "little miss lucky"!

The Real World- GUATEMALA

My three and half weeks of traveling the country of Guatemala are coming to an end, which means that real life must begin. I have been very fortunate to have plenty of time to meander around the country of Guatemala with friends before starting my new teaching job at Colegio Americano. We start pre-planning next Wednesday and our students come Aug 22^nd. Since I last blogged (is that a word?), I have traveled to Coban and Tikal Guatemala. Cobán is located north of Guatemala City and Jessa and I took the bus to this location. This little Mayan town was bustling with people due to the annual festival that took place the day Saturday before we arrived and continued through the day (Wedensday) that we departed. We actually had to march through the parade to get to the bus station on our final day because the sidewalks were clogged with people. It was hilarious to see this two gringas and our new friend from Amsterdam (blonde hair and blue eyed- gringo) acting as though we were supposed to be walking in step with the locals!

Back to the reason we visited…. Just outside of Coban (2 ½ hours because the roads are TERRIBLE) is an incredible 30m-limestone bridge with swimming pools on top and a rushing river underneath. The Rio Cahabon rushes into a cave and above this cave is series of pools leading to the other rivers exit and a fierce waterfall. It is very hard to describe and even more difficult to capture in pictures, but it makes you realize how big God is and how little we as humans are! The river is set in a slender valley between huge mountains filled with lush green trees. You cannot hear a road or even see a power line for miles.

Just outside of Semuc Champey are the Cueva Kam’ba or Kam’ba Cave. This is a 4 km long cave filled with chest deep water flowing from a river. Although the entrance to the cave had bats, once we were deeper inside, there was nothing (not even light) but the sound of the rushing water and the echoing of our voices. With a 9 inch candle and nothing but our swimsuits, we trekked inside of this cave to explore. We came upon rushing waterfalls, sharp rocks to dodge, and thankfully, metal ladders to help us climb. We only made it about 700 meters into this cave before timed forced us to return. Although I had no camera to capture this experience, the memories of exploring a cave via candlelight were unbelievable.

This trip was one FULL day and was a package deal from our hotel. We were placed in a shuttle with 13 others for the adventure. Our group is what made it so much fun. Jessa kept saying that she thought we were on an episode of MTV’s Real World! 13 strangers, picked to drive in a shuttle, and have an adventure together! We were all between the ages of 25 and 30, plus we were a good-lookin’ group from ALL over the world. It consisted of a couple from London, a couple from Spain, a couple from Virginia (but the boyfriend had been living in Honduras with the Peace Corp for 2 years), a gal from Canada, 2 Swedish girls, a guy from Amsterdam, a guy from Israel, Jessa and ME! We really bonded on the way home when the guy from Israel pulled out his Ipod and speakers and began spinning some tunes. It became quite the sing along. We started with the Beatles. We sang some Lynard Skynard, Dire Straits, Mamas and the Papas, Coldplay, Green Day, Queen (which was an flawless performance of Wayne’s World Bohemian Rhapsody) and so many more that the 2 hour return trip felt like 30 minutes!

Although this trip had to come to an end, Jessa and I next traveled to Tikal, the Mayan city in northern Guatemala. I don’t have time to blog that yet and my pictures are still on my camera, but I will get to it as soon as possible! It is another place worth visiting!

Antigua Guatemala

Emily and I spent the last week at language school in Antigua Guatemala. It was a wonderful experience. It was great for me to study the language again and refresh myself on all the grammar that I had forgotten. We lived with a host family and four ladies from Kentucky. It is always neat to leave with the locals. This family was great about helping us with our Spanish and speaking VERY slow for those who needed it. Along with taking language classes, I was able to take private Salsa lesson, climb a volcano and experience Antigua Day. My salsa teacher, Julio, said I was a natural, but there was nothing natural about making my hips move like that! My hips did not lie! I am a GRINGA! But it was very fun and I am so glad that I splurged and took the classes.

The volcano was INCREDIBLE! Volcan Pacaya is still very active and we were able to walk up to the flowing lava. They would have never allowed for this in the States but as dad would say TG- Typical Guatemala! No one really cared. It actually erupted last August and you could still see the hardened lava. We roasted marshmellows in the heat from the lava rock we were walking on.






Finally Antigua day was great! The whole city shuts down and there is a big parade, fireworks, and festivities. Each city has a Saint and for Antigua it is Santiago de los Caballos. So last Wednesday was the day to celebrate him! It was great to be in town for this event.

Lake Atitlan

I am very happy to have my friend Emily Ashford in town until next Saturday. She arrived on Tuesday and so we went on a mini-adventure to Lake Atitlan before leaving for language school in Antigua. There are a couple of major cities located on Atitlan that include Panajachel, Santiago, San Marcos, and San Pedro. Santiago is where the mudslide occurred from Hurricane Stan in October of 2005. I visited Santiago last October to give shoes, toothbrushes, toothpaste, toys, candy, and other items to the kids who lived in this devastated community.

On this trip, Emily and I stayed Wednesday night in Panajachel. We were both pretty tired from traveling because of the winding roads. The Pan-American Hwy is closed right now between Guatemala City and Panajachel because they are widening the road. So we had to take a route that could make even the strongest stomachs sick! On Thursday we decided to go to a hotel called Casa del Mundo. It was a little piece of heaven. It was located on the side of a mountain and had steep staircases leading up to rooms and down to the water. It was gorgeous! Unfortunately we were not able to stay two nights here because Emily was allergic to something in our room, so we headed back to Panajachel for another night in the “city.” We were able to watch television on Friday night (I have not seen real TV since I have arrived because we don’t have cable). I was even able to watch the Atlanta news on the satellite. It was nice just to relax and veg out. The next morning we went to the pool and got some sun before returning to Guatemala City on Saturday. Our driver offered us door-to-door service for about $6 more, so we took it! Otherwise we would have had to get a taxi. So that brings us to today… we were supposed to leave this afternoon after church for Antigua for language school but things did not work out quite liked we planned. But that is okay! We are leaving tomorrow morning at 6:45 a.m. instead.

Sadly Emily is leaving me on Saturday about 9:30 a.m., but my other friend Jessa arrives that same day at 11 a.m. Lucky me!! Let me know when YOU want to come visit!

Tecpan- Mayan Ruins

I was able to go with the mission team to Tecpan- a Mayan village outside of the city. We spent the morning walking around this structures and actually seeing a group of indigenous people holding a sacrifice. See the burning flesh of the chicken was a bit unsettling, but it was still an experience. The Mayan name of this village is Iximche. It contains numerous plazas and, but much of the village remains underground or at least under the hills.

Los Grados de Paraiso

Left-before




Below- after











When I arrived in March with the team from Watkinsville First Baptist there was not even a hint of seats, but wow how that has changed! We thought that all we accomplished was digging the initial ditch, but look at what it became!

Paraiso!

Here are finally some fotos of the school that I have been working at in Paraiso. We held a soccer camp an elementary school in the morning and middle school in the afternoon. These pictures were just from the elementary school because it was not as safe to have a camera in the afternoon. We worked basically with the 4th graders and they were a blast! Below is the "cancha" or field where we held our instructional time. We shared the gospel with the kids and many learned the memory verse (Jeremias 29:11-12). To the right is a classroom.






















Below is my favorite little girl - Hazel. To the right is Don Victor (our driver) with some other ninos.

my roommates!

I have the most wonderful roommates in Guatemala. From top to bottom-Laura, ME, Rebeca, Josna and Alana! We have a great more time, but sadly are final days together as a complete group have come and gone. Rebeca is in theDominican Republic and Laura leaves Saturday for 6 weeks. Josna and Alana are only herethrough August 10th... so the cinco amigas will soon seperate! I apologize about not postingpictures, but I currently have no way to download them to my computer. My connector islost or I forgot. Hopefully that will change soon. Thanks for your prayers, things are AWESOME!