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!