A Time to Give Thanks

As it has been coming into the holiday season (one of my favorite times of the year!), starting off with Thanksgiving, it really made me reflect on why this is one of my favorite times of the year and what I am really thankful for in my life.  Being here in Guatemala gives me a new and different perspective.  Being away from the usual traditions and my family and friends gives me a new and different perspective.  When going around the table saying what we were thankful for at one of the Thanksgiving dinners I attended here in Guatemala, I decided to sum up my thankfulness in “I am thankful for the support and encouragement I have gained through the strong relationships in my life.”  For me, everything I have reflected on this season has come back to my strong relationships that are full of support and encouragement – whether that is my relationship with God, family, professors, friends, or co-workers.  I have been blessed with being surrounded by amazing people who have supported me, encouraged me, challenged me, cared for me, listened to me, laughed with me, and loved me for my whole life – in all my steps of life.  I have been raised in a loving and faith-filled family that has raised me with values that I cherish – my parents have been witnesses and consistent role-models for me – my siblings have been my best friends – my extended family has been encouraging and present.  I have been blessed to meet a wide variety of people from all different places, with different backgrounds, different personalities and ideas…and from this large pool of people I have found some of the most treasured friends, who have taught me so much…who have brought me more joy then I could ever know…who have trusted me with their stories, ideas, and questions as I have done the same with them.

Education.  I am thankful for the education I have received throughout my life.  I am thankful for the easy access I have had to this education.  It was never a question in my mind if I would finish the 6^th grade, if I would graduate high school, if I would go to college – I knew I would and knew I could.  I was supported in every way up to my entrance into St. Kate’s and every day I was there as well.  I met some of the most intellectually challenging and inspiring people in my professors and classmates.  I found a community that I loved and in which I fully belonged.  I was exposed to new ideas and information – I was able to grow as a person – I was able cultivate my talents, discover new ones, and form my own educated ideas and opinions.  I was engaged in many exciting opportunities within my four years that have prepared me very well for where I am now and where I am going in the future.

Travel. New places and people.  I am thankful for my ability to travel…for my ability to see new places, to meet new people, to live in new cultures.  I have been blessed with being able to travel to many places already in my life along with the opportunity to live in two different countries other than my home country for extended periods of time.  I love that I have been able to learn Spanish and use it to travel, to connect with other people and to connect other people.  I have been able to leave my house, my town, my county, my state and my country – by my own choice – to see and explore new places, but always knowing that I would be able to return home and be welcomed with open arms.

There is much more I am thankful for of course, and much more I am even more aware of because of my time here in Guatemala, but these are a few of the items I have been particularly focusing on this season.   It all comes back to my relationships…the support and love that has made everything I have done and experienced possible.  I did have a good Thanksgiving this year, but really it was not a true Thanksgiving for me…I was surrounded by good people and good food…but for me, Thanksgiving is what my family was doing back at home…being together with family and friends – being together with people that are very close and important in your life…soaking up the moments together and remembering how important the moments are together.

I am thankful I am here.  That doesn’t mean I don’t miss moments back in Minnesota, but it does mean that I know that I am right in being here and excited about what I am doing.  One thing that Jeff (one of my colleagues at Common Hope) said at our Thanksgiving meal on Sunday for volunteers and friends was that he was reflecting about how thankful he was for this job at Common Hope – how he was thankful for the opportunities it gave him to help others.  He said something next that was interesting to think about…he said, he was thankful that others trusted him and us to do this work.  There are people who donate and support Common Hope and by doing this they are trusting us, the staff, to use their money to make a difference.  It really is a cool thing to think that those who are able give their money to a cause – our cause – and with that they are trusting us to make a difference.  I am part of making that difference…and I am thankful for that.

Sofia

Through the crazy busyness of the week, there was a little light that made me pause and smile and reflect.  Her name is Sofia.  Sofia, a seven-year old niña, will be going into first grade this next year and is struggling in lectura (reading) so she has started coming to Club de Estudios (Study Club – the tutoring we do on Monday, Wednesday & Fridays) to get extra help.  The first day she came, it was a busy day in the office and all I knew from her older sister is that she needed help in reading and that her big sister would be back at 5:00 to pick her up.  Well, as I had many students to attend to, I started her off with a children’s book and asked that she read the first page to herself and I’d come back and ask her what it was about (this was the suggestion of Rigo…as I was unsure what I should be working on with her and as I said, I had other kids that needed my help as well).  When I returned in a couple minutes, she told me that it was difficult for her to put the sounds together to make the words.  So, I sat down with her and we started on the first word…I quickly realized this book was too hard.  I had asked her when I gave her the book if she thought it was too hard, but she replied that it was okay....I now feel that was probably just a response to please.  I decided we needed to go back to the basics so I could see where she was at.  I wrote out the alphabet and started by asking her what the name of the letter was and the sound it makes.  Guess what.  She didn’t even know all the letter names and sounds!! No wonder reading was hard for her.  We spent the next two hours working on letters and sounds in different forms while I also tried to keep the other students busy.  She never stopped working…never go frustrated…just kept trying and trying.  There was a spark in her eyes and a smile was never too far off :)  After my first day with Sofia, I just had this feeling that something wasn’t quite right…I just got this sense that her struggling with the letters and sounds was more than just lack of practice or good teaching.

The next time that Sofia and I worked together, we went over the letters and sounds again and then started on short words.  After practicing that for a little while, I decided to write out five words and then draw five corresponding pictures on the other side of the paper so that she would have to draw a line from the word to the matching picture…I thought it would make it fun for her and be a way to check that she was reading the words correctly.  We did the first word together and then I left her while I checked on another student.  Within 2 minutes she was at my side with the piece of paper and a smile.  I checked and sure enough everything was correct.  We sat down and I had her read the words to me…for some it still took a little bit to get them out, but when she did the beautiful spark in her dark brown eyes shown as the precious smile of pride spread across her face.  We did exercises like this a few more times and even tried some simple sentences with corresponding pictures.  She never failed to finish each activity perfectly and quickly, yet when I asked her to read them out-loud, there was more trouble than you would expect.  I started to realize she was often mixing up the placement of the letters…”dyslexia” kept popping into my mind.

Sofia is a quiet girl, she doesn’t say much with words, but when she walks there is an obvious joy in her step.  She seriously bounces which is emphasized by the spring of the curls of her dark hair…you just have to smile when you see her.  On Friday afternoon she was in again, but I had several tasks that NEEDED to be completed that afternoon which meant I was not able to sit for the whole afternoon with her…and Karen also had work she needed to complete that afternoon…so we decided to trade off with Sofia.  Well, at one moment I was working on a necessary task and Karen was being asked for by someone who had just come to the door, so one of our youth leaders Mynor (a great young guy – I should write about him sometime) offered to help Sofia.  Well, we were set after that…Mynor worked diligently with Sofia with such care and patience you almost just wanted to stop your work just to watch them! :)  Sofia’s joy is contagious…you could see the joy spread to Mynor and to Karen and I when Sofia was successful in a sentence or word.  We were able to compliment Mynor on his great work with her which hit a special spot for him and that same special smile we’ve seen on Sofia so often spread across his face.  Even the next day when I saw Mynor on Saturday with the youth leaders he brought up Sofia and how happy she left on Friday after working so hard on reading.  Precious.  One little girl, changed the afternoon of three people…and continues to have a lasting affect beyond that afternoon.  Such joy, such happiness, such dedication to keep trying…Sofia.

The thought of dyslexia is still very present.  On Friday Sofia continuously kept reading the word “la” as “al”.  We did a “game” for her where she had to look at a paragraph and every time she saw the letters “el” together she had to color them yellow and every time she say “le” she had to color them purple.  Well, Mynor played this game with her and consistently she mixed up the colors (even though the “el” and “le” were written out for her in the corresponding colors).  When I asked Karen what we can do, she said we should talk to the psychology department at Common Hope and see if Sofia can be tested.  Though, when I asked Karen if the school will do anything special for her if she is diagnosed, Karen said no.  She would have to attend a special school for those with learning disabilities.  Hmm..this means more work – the parents need to be on board, possible changing of schools (is there even such a school near her?).  I do not know the answers to these questions.  But first things first, we need to see if she can get tested and if it actually is the case that she has a learning disability such as dyslexia.

I wish you all the joy of Sofia in your day today.

“Good morning! What is your name? My name is Teresa. How are you? I am fine thank you. And you?”

[This post is from last week Nov. 4-10...I meant to post it Monday but my internet at work wasn't cooperating...so here it is now! I'll try to write another for this week soon and hopefully it will get up in a more timely manner :) ]

This week was the beginning of a particularly busy time at work.  We began Pre-Básico classes which I’ve been mentioning in earlier posts…classes begin at 7:30am and go until 12:30pm.  There are six 40 minute sections with a 20 minute “recess” in the middle.  I am the English teacher and have a wonderful student teacher with me named, Angela.  All of us are paired up with student teachers who are in their 2^nd year of diversificado (our junior year equivalent) but the big difference is in diversificado you are on a career track.  Therefore, when these students graduate from high school they will be licensed to teach primary school (elementary school).  Angela and I work very well together which is just wonderful.  I laughed on the inside the first day when we were going to start classes and we were talking about how we were going to split up the day (taking turns teaching, etc.) and Angela said to me “Is it alright if you go first so I can see how you do it and everything?”  Of course I agreed, but on the inside I was thinking: “See how I do it?!  I am no expert in teaching – haha! Of the two of us, you are the only one taking classes for this career.”  But of course I do have some skills and knowledge that I was able to put to use in this position.  I especially reflected on my summer camp counselor position and my teaching assistant positions at St. Kate’s.  I was actually surprised at how easily I fell into the role and how comfortable I feel.  I’m sure it helps that the topic is very familiar. :)  Even though I’m still pretty sure teaching is not my calling, it has been fun teaching the classes.  It’s funny to reflect back to when I first found out that I would be doing this, back in September.  I was still very new in the office, unfamiliar with exactly how everything worked, and definitely not as confident in my abilities to run programs and activities in Spanish…I can literary jump back in time and be sitting at the table during the meeting when I heard we were giving these classes and I was told I would be teaching the English classes – my mind was thinking “What?! Can I do this?! This is going to be kind of scary…” And now I can’t imagine why I was nervous…I am very comfortable doing this with no nerves at all.  It’s amazing how much I have grown into my position in just a few months.

My students have learned basic conversation skills and also how to say what things they like or don’t like to do in their free time.  Now we are starting in on pronouns, direct and indirect object pronouns, and eventually the basics of the verb “to be”.  It’s fun to see and hear them get excited about different phrases they have learned.  Every day at the beginning of class when they walk in, we say “Good morning” instead of the typical greeting “Buenos días” in Spanish.  I have name cards that we hand out every day and they need to answer the question “What is your name?” with “My name is ___.”  There are other little things we do throughout the class to use English and it always puts a smile on my face when one of the students initiates the English such as saying “Thank you” instead of “Gracias” when I hand them something.  I have to say that it is a little confusing for my brain to keep switching back or forth.  Sometimes I have to catch myself and make myself use English for particular phrases because I am so use to using Spanish with the kids and other Guatemalans.

One quick funny-ish story.  On Wednesday of this week, two new guys came to class in one of the sections who turned out to be the two “trouble-makers”.  They are a little older (they didn’t pass their grade last year) and very confident in themselves.  Well, I didn’t know about them beforehand and had asked Angela to start the class without me while I helped another student teacher with something.  When I got to the room about 10 minutes into class, the students were copying down something from the board and Angela came over to me and said to me, “I think I’m going to need you to help with these two new guys that came.  They are talking all the time and giving me trouble.”  I promptly agreed and went over to check on how they were doing (as one was already talking to the other when they were suppose to be copying down notes from the whiteboard).  Now, I don’t know if I walked in with a strong presence or what, but they really fell into shape when I was around.  I’m not sure how to explain it, but I could tell that they respected/were slightly intimated by me and my presence.  Who knew that I could be the intimidating teacher?! Haha!  I was never rude or angry with them.  I just told them what needed to be done and they did it.  I tried to emphasize to Angela during another break when they were copying info down in their notebooks that it’s important that we don’t change our attitude when teaching (to appear more angry or anything) for a couple reason: 1. It gives them the power because they can see that they have affected us  2. We have other students in the class that do not deserve an angry teacher  3. It’s no fun for us to be upset either.  The rest of the class went well, and sadly they have not been back since.  It’s such a loss for them.

As I said in the first sentence, it has been VERY busy at work.  I am at the site by 7ish every morning (an hour earlier than the normal work day), classes are all morning and then it is lunch time.  After lunch I have always had plans for all the things I need to get done (many involving my new programs and prepping for the upcoming classes) and most afternoons I have literary gotten NONE of it done!  We have had many youth in the office in the afternoons needing help on homework (recuperation work so they can still pass their grade) or those who are on a schedule to come for tutoring to go over math or reading as they need extra support in this area.  We are also down two staff members in our office because one is working in another part of the foundation this month for the afternoon and the other injured himself during a soccer game a couple weeks ago and can’t come back to work until the end of the month.  Therefore, a lot of the tutoring has fallen onto my shoulders…which I don’t mind in the sense that I like working with the kids – but I haven’t had time to get any of my own work done!  It’s very odd to be so busy and working so hard that you don’t get any work done.  Haha! I mean, I am getting work done..just not my specific items.  Between classes, tutoring kids, and translating (as we had a lot of different visitors this week)…I have come home pretty tired all week.  At least it’s good work!

This week was particularly special as we celebrated graduation at Common Hope on Saturday.  Therefore we had about 40 sponsors visiting to see their sponsored children graduate.  On Friday when I translated visits, it was for sponsors who were visiting their new child they were going to begin sponsoring since their current child was going to graduate and thus end their sponsorship.  On Saturday, I was very involved in the graduation activities and had a blast!  First, we had a picnic lunch for the sponsors with their graduating student and family.  Therefore I was one of translators for this lunch.  I just love the variety of people and families I am able to meet and connect…it is truly amazing and special.  After the lunch, I was involved in the fun chaos of distributing caps and gowns for the graduates.  Common Hope rents (or has?) caps and gowns for the graduates to use for the celebration and then they turn them back in at the end of the day.  Well, it is quite a fun process handing them out.  Each person has a size for the gown and hat that was premeasured earlier, so the process consists of finding their name on a paper list, telling their two sizes (gown and then hat) and then getting the correct size gown on them along with the cap.  At one point I was handing out caps and the next part I was putting on medium size robes.  What fun and excitement throwing on graduation robes and smashing on those funky hats on their well gelled hair :) !!!  I do have to say, I had a bit of a cultural conflict at one moment.  It was definitely obvious that we were in a hurry to get all these robes and caps out in a timely manner so that they would be ready for the ceremony…yet, within the hurry there was also “laid-backness”.  There were moments where I wanted to hurry things up or make changes to make it more efficient; yet another part of me liked the friendly, relaxation amongst the rush.  For example, when the students were let in by twos, they would casually make their way to the table with the lists…a part of me was thinking “why don’t they move faster?”  There were two people with one list (2 lists would have made it faster) and even though they were often going quickly, sometimes people would come up and they would have side conversations (that meant no one was looking up names…which meant the flow stopped) or if they knew one of the students they would not hesitate to greet them, ask them how they were doing, and a few other things.  Again, cut all this and everything goes faster…BUT what do you lose?  Shouldn’t you take the time to properly greet someone you know?  Isn’t a little laughter and calmness amongst a rush good?  Yet, what if you are on a schedule, you have a huge line of students waiting, and even more people waiting in chairs for a ceremony to start?  It was just interesting to observe.

My duties did not end there.  Once everyone had their caps and gowns, I was one of the ushers showing the graduates where to sit when they walked into the ceremony.  Therefore, I was up in front indicating where row to enter and making sure they filled in every chair.  What fun!!  The decorations for this ceremony were just BEAUTIFUL (it looked like an outdoor wedding to me).  And then to see all the different students in caps and gowns…ahhhh just so cool!!  Now, this wasn’t just a ceremony for those graduating for high school.  We were also celebrating those who “graduated” from 6^th grade and 9^th grade in San Rafeal (one of our sites which is a very indigenous community and reaching these grades are great successes), 9^th grade in San Miguel Milpas Altas (our newest site), and university degrees.  Therefore there was a wide variety of ages which made it all the more fun.

After the ceremony, I was also in charge of organizing the different group photos (group photos of the students from our different sites) as two other people snapped the photos…basically it was a lot of: “2 lines please!!; move a little this way; look up; big smiles – bigger smiles!”

Last but not least were the clean-up items.  I have to say, I loved being so involved and a big reason I was so involved is because of the office I work in.  Great fun…just great fun.

Since we have Pre-básico classes going on, this means I am working Mondays along with my usual Tuesday-Saturday work…6 day weeks with extra long days since I start earlier.  As I said…good work, but very tiring.  Sunday very much is my Sabbath – my day of rest.  This Sunday I did as little as possible after Mass - only the minimum food shopping that I needed to do for the week.

I should probably quickly mention the earthquake.  Wednesday, there was an earthquake in Guatemala.  The center being Champerico, at 7.5 grados.  We did feel it though here in Antigua, but it was much less.  The funny story with this is I did not feel it right away.  I was walking around my classroom just starting to hand out the name cards when a different student teacher who happened to be in my classroom said, “Teresa, está templando.” (It’s trembling/shaking).  Though, what I heard him say is “Está temprano” (It’s early)…so I thought he was saying I was starting the class early.  Therefore I responded, “No, es la hora.” (No, it’s time).

“No, Teresa está templando.”

“No, es la hora.”

“Esta TEMPLANDO.” …and then I felt it.  OH!  But then what?  I’ve don’t know the drill for an earthquake…I know what to do if there is a fire or a tornado…but an earthquake?  Thankfully one of my colleagues who was right next door was already at my door telling the children we needed to walk downstairs (we are on the second level) and out into the open yard.  I now know that is the meeting point for our building.  It lasted maybe a minute or two and then it was done.  We were fine; Antigua was fine…but sadly this was/is not the case for those closer to the center.  There was about 52 deaths (the numbers I have seen in the news are not consistent) including a six-year old boy and a complete family of ten.  MANY houses were destroyed or are un-inhabitable and power outages.  Just on Sunday, there was another earthquake in the same area, this time of the size 6.5 along with an aftershock.  I don’t think there were any more casualties, but as you can imagine, the people of that area of very shaken up.  Apparently the last time Guatemala had a significant earthquake was about 36 years ago…and I overheard that they are suppose to have one about every 30 years…so here we are.  Please keep the Guatemalan people in your prayers.

Thank you lunch with the youth leaders!

Graduation at Common Hope

All dressed up for graduation!

Good news and big kites and cerro de la cruz - Oh My!

If my week was a newspaper, the headline would read NATALY AND KEILA PASS THEIR GRADES!!!  This was the best news I received all week.  Nataly and Keila are the sisters I have been working on math with for the past two months…and I found out this week that they passed their exams and their grades – they are moving on!  WHOOT!!  I am so proud of them and happy for them!!  It is very nice to see successes like this to see that the work we are doing is doing something. :)

This week seemed particularly busy in the office…I had (still have) many things to be doing, several colleagues had personal days throughout the week so there were less of us in the office, and when the youth were there – there seemed to be a lot of them or at least many who needed personal attention (with homework or prepping the snack or something).  Therefore, the time went VERY fast and I was pretty tired once 5:00 rolled around (more like 5:10…5:15…5:20…) It was hard to get out of work on time because of how fast the time went and all the little things that were going on.

Thursday was Día de los Santos (All Saints Day) which is a bigger deal here then Halloween.  We had work off.  The tradition here is to go to the cemetery to visit those in your family who have died (bring flowers, pray, etc.) and then to also fly kites.  The tradition behind flying kites is to be closer to those who are in heaven.  Well, beyond just flying the usual kites, there are also kite festivals in some areas where huge kites are made and presented.  Every kite is very detailed, made completely of tissue paper, and has a message or story behind it.  Some of these large kites are even flown a few days after the presentation!  I was able to go to one of these kite festivals in a town called Sumpango with some friends.  We left Antigua at 6:30am (Sumpango is about 30-40 minutes away) so that we could see the kites being put up and even help pull them up!  There were all different sizes…they start by putting up the smaller of the kites first and work their way back to the largest.  I was super impressed by the beginning kites, not evening knowing what was in store as we kept moving back.  The detail in the kites was incredible!!  They can work on these kites anywhere from 1 month to 1 year!  The largest kite there was 20 or 22 meters in diameter – the largest in history!  Incredible.  I helped pull up one kite and watched many others be put up…very impressive!  Many of the themes/messages of the kites included protecting/maintaining the tradition and culture of the native people (Mayan), life and death, and protecting nature.

On Saturday we were off site with the youth.  We climbed up to El cerro de la cruz (The hill of the cross) that is in Antigua to fly kites.  It was actually Jovita who met the youth in Antigua and climbed up as I met earlier onsite with the leaders who were in charge of the snack that day.  We had to stop and buy bags of water (these are pouches filled with purified water…cheaper than bottled water…you just rip open a corner and drink out of the bag).  We were gifted with a ride up the hill (it’s quite a hike) by one of the drivers from Common Hope since we had all the snacks for the youth (juice boxes, bananas, and wafer cookies).  At el cerro de la cruz we had a kite flying contest, ate the snack, enjoyed the view and outdoors, and ended with some soccer games (as per usual on Saturdays).  It was an enjoyable morning into the early afternoon.  Though, I do have to say…it was quite interesting to step back and look at the situation…40-50 youth with just two adults (Jovita and I) climbing up and hanging out on this “hill” (VERY large hill) and then hiking back down.  We expect the youth to be responsible for themselves and put a lot of trust into our youth leaders to help ensure everything goes well.  When I was talking to Jovita about this and how this set-up would probably never fly in the U.S., she told me how it’s very common for the children here to go off on their own without their parents.  Therefore, they are use to not having as much adult supervision and needing to be responsible for themselves.  She said that if there is an activity where there are a lot of adults, they tend to be uncomfortable because they are not use to it.

Well, this week begins Pre-básico classes, which means I will be working Monday-Saturday (instead of having Monday off)…busy busy, but good stuff.  Send prayers for lots of energy! :)

Guillermo, Andy and I in front of one of the first kites to go up in Sumpango!

Look at that detail!!

We helped to pull up this kite - so we had to get in on the picture with the guys who put it up! :)

The biggest one: 20-22 meteres in diameter

There were some small children flying kites - SO CUTE. This little boy is a little bummed that his is not in the air...

A view of all the kites - so amazing!

The view of volcan agua from el cerro de la cruz

Jovita and I with two of the liders - we all wore our shirts from the fogata that day



Most of the youth with us that day...not everyone wanted to be in the pic



Just another day at the market :) I LOVE this moment when I get everything washed up and lay it out...makes all the walking and time worth it.