La Vida Guatemalteca

I have been here in Santiago for three weeks now! I feel like I am fully adjusted and I love my life here. Last week I started teaching 2-6 grade English and also 3-6 grade computers! I have three classes on Mondays and four classes every day throughout the rest of the week. Classes start at 7:30 and end around 12:30 and I spend some time after school working on computers or playing basketball with the kids, which I have found to be quite the work out! My only advantage is that I’ve got the height ;) Sometimes the girls and I draw pictures or play games. Last week they drew pictures of me and it was so sweet! They give me bracelets and tattoos and we giggle and have so much fun together.  I leave feeling showered with love! I really look forward to our time spent together at the end of the day. Last week, we had an intense basketball-to-the-face-accident and I walked little injured Veronica to her house with the rest of the girls. I met some of their parents and they were so kind and welcoming to me. It broke my heart seeing how little they have, but I reminded myself that the girls are happy and positive and their parents value education and keep them in school. They are all so bright, kind and talented and I am so proud of them!

I have found that one of the most difficult parts of teaching is creating lesson plans! I spend a lot of time each day preparing for class and thinking of ways to make class exciting. I have used the trial and error method a lot. For example, I did hang man with each class to practice using the English alphabet. I started with 6^th grade and they were not too enthused. I tried playing it with the other grades, however, and it was a huge hit! Even one of the teachers, Candalaria, was whooping for joy when the kids got a letter correct and squealing when a part of the body was added! I swear you could hear the kids shouting letters all the way down stairs. It just goes to show, every class is different. It is really fun teaching such a wide variety of ages though. It makes everything very interesting!

As well as enjoying my time at school, I have been having a really good time with all the people here at Casa Milpas. There are 9 of us living here and it’s so much fun because there is always something going on. Every Sunday night we have girl’s night and watch Sex and the City and every Wednesday one of the girls who lives here holds a girls-only work out class in town. It’s really cool because half the class is composed of gringas and half are Guatemalans. Liz, the instructor, makes it really fun for all of us and who knew I’d be working out in Santiago, but I love it! One night, a few of us even created a band (understandably named Band Milpas). I tried to look cool while strumming a guitar and the others played the piano, sang and banged on the turtle shell (Casa Milpas is random at times). We also make dinners together. Last week we had pizza night and we made pizzas using homemade crust, fresh vegetables and spinach and rosemary from our garden here. It was delicious! We had a huge Chinese dinner for Chinese New Year and for Ebba’s (one of the girls who lives here) birthday we had tapas. Later that night, we went to the tiki bar at the Posada and hired a pickup truck (one of the most common forms of transportation here) to take us all back to Milpas like true Guatemalans! We also have a dog, named Conchita, and a cat, named Misch. I finally get to have the pets I never had! They are both sweet and I love having them here. I have to restrain myself every day from not adopting another one of the numerous street dogs. Two girls are leaving Santiago tomorrow and I’m sad! We love our little Milpas family and hate to see anyone go.

About every other day I go to the market in town and buy my groceries. There are some small shops with food, but for the most part there isn’t a grocery store so we go to the market with all the Guatemalans and it’s a really cool experience. In the states, convenience is a priority and we enjoy having everything we would ever need at one store. Here, it is not quite like that and you have to work for your food, including bargaining and also bleaching the fruits and veggies. In the market and around town, many of the women balance huge loads on their heads. It is absolutely amazing! I also love going to the market because I have the opportunity to go down the gringo street and look at all the beautiful textiles. I swear, everything here just looks like it’s made for me and I have really had to restrain myself, though I have given in sometimes:)

This week, I am going to start teaching two days a week at another school in town called Panul. I am excited to meet even more sweet kids! Hasta luego!