New Adventures

This was a week of many new adventures.  It started out with a memorable trip on Tuesday with my office to visit our colleague, Francisco, at his home with his new baby boy.  This trip involved three chicken buses (these are the public buses here…old school buses painted various colors) and a tuk tuk ride (the tiniest vehicle like object that has cloth “walls” instead of metal).  Our final destination was a village called Zaragoza, but we needed to take a bus from the foundation to Antigua; another from Antigua to Chimaltenango; and one more from there to Zaragoza…straight, it is about a 1.5-2 hour trip.  When we arrived in Chimaltenango, we went and bought some food to bring for lunch and a cake.  It was raining quite heavily…we had one umbrella (Jovita and I shared) and Rigo and Karen had jackets…we didn’t know where the food and dessert places were…or the next bus for that matter…we were laughing and walking.  It was so much fun!!! (for real! That is not sarcasm).  I loved how even though it was raining, we were figuring out where everything was.  Even though it was a long trip – there was no stress…there was no worrying.  It made me reflect how this would go if I was in the U.S.  There are some people in my life in which it would go quite the same, but I feel like in general there would be more stress…that is more our culture.  We are on a time schedule; we like to know where we are going; we don’t like getting stuck in the rain.  Yet, this was for me, a fun adventure – full of bonding and laughing and traveling.  Oh, I didn’t tell you about the chicken buses.  Not only are they a little rickety and the drivers drive a little too fast…but they is no capacity limit in the eyes of the workers.  Even when you are sure there is no way anymore people can fit in the bus (3-4 are in each seat and the aisles are full of standing people) you still hear the money collector boy yelling “Antigua! Antigua!” as he motions for people to enter.  Let’s just say, you get very cozy with whoever is around you.  The buses are not always large sardine cans; it depends on the time and destination…but with these longer trips they tend to be fuller as there aren’t as many buses going the long distance.  Again, my thoughts drifted to how most United States citizens would handle this…haha…I’m glad that I’ve had previous experiences like this before and grew up in a big family, so that the extreme touching wasn’t uncomfortable.  Our tuk tuk ride from the last bus to our friend’s house included the four of us shoving into the back of this little cloth bag of a vehicle - Jóvita sitting on top of Karen’s lap, me in the middle, and Rigo on my other side….laughter, smiles, jokes all around.  Again, it just made us laugh at the situation and trip.  I have talked mostly about the journey of this trip because that is what was very memorable…though the time seeing the baby and sharing the meal together was special as well.  Again, another moment of feeling part of the team – part of the Apoyo a Jóvenes office team.

My second adventure this week, sadly was not quite as fun.  I got sick.  It began Wednesday afternoon with back pain and a headache, and turned into stomach pain every time I ate.  I was very tired and slept a bunch.  I was still able to go to work though…I was able to function, but did not enjoy myself quite as much.  I did go to our clinic on site on Friday and was given a prescription for my stomach and I have a blood test tomorrow just to confirm it isn’t some virus we need to worry about (because of how tired I was).  I am feeling MUCH better now though (by Saturday afternoon, I was almost back to my normal self).  I am still taking my prescription though and being gentle with what I eat and how much…but I definitely am on the mend.  Besides the new adventure of being sick, I also had the adventure of going to a doctor and having my whole visit in Spanish.  Do you ever feel that it is hard to explain how you are feeling when you are sick in English?  Well yes…now I had to do that in Spanish.  Of course the doctor was very nice and we connected on shared experience of living in Sevilla for a time (I was wearing my Betis soccer jersey that day).  I got what I needed and am on the mend = success.

On Friday, at our office meeting, I found out that Rigo wants me to take on all our leadership groups in the youth program (instead of just being in charge of my girls leadership group that I am developing and implementing in January).  More or less this is a summary of what was said, “Teresa, I would like you to take on the leadership program in the office.  I would like you to start tomorrow.”  Haha!! Okay, so there were a few more words in there…but more or less this was the message! WOW.  Though, when he said, “start tomorrow” he really meant, begin the process of orienting into this new position…start taking on the responsibilities but Jóvita and he will help me transfer in.  So now I will be in charge of the leaders on Saturday and also my girl group.  We are hoping to revamp the Saturday leadership program so that it has more substance and maybe has some more training for the leaders that could involve a day or two during the week.  I am honored that they trust me with taking all this on…excited with all the ideas I have and all the possibilities…nervous about not meeting their and my goals.  Saturday, I was in charge of the attendance record of the leaders and led the planning meeting (with Jóvita’s support).  One of the biggest struggles for me that I can see right now is going to be my ignorance in Spanish and food.  There are more words I want to know and understand that they youth say so quickly….and a part of planning is making decisions about snack and lunch on Saturdays.  Well, I don’t know hardly any of the dishes that they talk about and therefore I don’t know what ingredients we need and how much.  And guess who is suppose to put the order in for the week?  Yep, that would be me.  BUT no worries – Jóvita helped me out and I also can ask the youth what they think we need and how much.  It will happen…but there will be a learning curve.

Like I said, many new adventures this week…most of them good…and as always, each day brings a new adventure of sorts whenever I get to interact with a new person or tutor a child.  It is quite fun, rewarding, challenging, interesting, frustrating at times, and usually full of purpose.  I like it.  I have more new adventures coming up this week as there is a Vision Team here this week (volunteer group) and I am going to be helping translate for a couple visits of theirs…I will be the only “bilingual” in these situations – it is an exhilarating responsibility.

My hope for each of you is that you find a new adventure in your week…it doesn’t have to be as big as taking three chicken buses and tuk tuk to a far off village in Guatemala in a down-pour…but maybe it’s just taking on a new challenge (big or small) that you have put off because you worry you won’t be able to do it.  I bet you can.  It is quite fun! :)



These are not my own photos, but I found them online to show you what I'm talking about when I mention the modes of transportation.  This is a chicken bus - they are all painted different colors and different ways.  On the front on top you can see where the bus is going...this is how you know if you should get on or not. :)



Tuk Tuk
I don't think the picture captures how goofy and small these things are.

Hope

I have to say it was kind of fun to go back to work after being gone a week as I was enthusiastically greeted by many with “Welcome back!” “How was your trip?” “We missed you”, etc.  Such great people.  I have been jumping back into it all and continuing my work on developing my own program.  Something new and fun that happened this week was that Jóvita (one of my office colleagues) and I met with a couple from Alabama who have been here about two years and are running a youth program in one of the nearby villages.  Some of the youth that attend our program on Saturdays also attend their program and have talked to Jóvita about how they want to have the two groups come together for an activity.  So, we met with the couple to discuss collaborating on a Saturday activity.  What was particularly fun for me with this meeting was that I ended up being a bit of a translator.  Jóvita asked me to come along to the meeting because she realized that they did not speak Spanish proficiently.  Well, when we first got there, we were speaking in Spanish…and they were doing fine.  But when we came across one word they didn’t understand, I said it in English…and you should have seen their faces – complete surprise.  I guess they hadn’t figured out that I was from the U.S. and spoke English.  Haha!  Jóvita told me later when we were laughing about this, that even though I may not look particularly Guatemalan, I could be assumed to be Latina and therefore others may not assume I’m from the U.S.  After our meeting I gave them a small tour of Common Hope’s site…I have to say it was really fun to say “We believe…” or “We do this or that” as I am part of the organization now.  So cool!

This blog post is going to be made up of a couple different observations/reflections that I’ve had since I’ve been here as I don’t have many new details to write about pertaining to what I’ve been doing this week. 

First of all, I have noticed the difference in transportation safety here.

1. Packing many people into a car, truck, or any type of vehicle is not uncommon.  It is not important whether or not there are enough seatbelts (or even seats) for everyone…just as long as the doors can shut.  You can do this in front of anyone, the police and all, and nothing will be said.

2. There are many motorcycles here – and very few helmets.  It is rarity for me to see anyone wearing a helmet.  It is not a rarity to see 3 (and sometimes 4) people on a motorcycle…usually two parents and a child or two.

3. Driving after drinking or when you are drunk is quite commonplace in the evenings.  The only thing that makes me feel a tiny bit better is that the cobblestones and speed bumps in Antigua make it impossible to drive fast…but still…quite different.

Just for fun, I think I’m going to start writing little lists like the one below…this is just a start for now.

A list of things I have learned about myself from some of the Guatemalans here:

1. I do not look my age (everyone assumes I’m younger).

2. I can pass for Latina of some sort

3. I look good in the color purple

4. I am a good dancer

5. I have pretty hair

Finally, in one of our meetings it was mentioned again the statistic of how many children fail classes, fail grades, drop-out, etc (I need to look up the percentages again and add them to this post)…but it is incredibly high.  It was just a big reminder of the huge wall we are up against…the school system isn’t what it should be…and the group of children we are actually impacting are just a small percentage of the Guatemalan children.  When you look at the numbers, it can make you feel pretty hopeless.  When you see all the red dots in the social workers’ offices by the names of children (indicating that they are failing or failed a grade) you feel a little defeated…. But then, you have to remember to look beyond the numbers.  You have to look at the individual faces.  You have to see the green dots between the red ones.  You have to see that girl who proudly shows you her many 100 percent marks in her notebook or the little boy who asks you to listen while he reads you his homework out loud.  You have to see the smile that crosses the young girl’s face when she gets all the multiplication problems correct that you have given her or the young boy’s intrigue and desire to practice talking English with you when he sees you writing something down in English.  There is hope.  In each one of these children and youth, there is hope.  I have a desire to change the world…and a couple years ago I remember being overwhelmed by all that needed to be changed in the world.  I worried about what I could do to make a difference…to really make a difference.  Then, with time, maturity, and reflection, I came to this conclusion.  I want to change the world.  I want to change the world, and I can do this by starting with one person or one child.  If I make a difference in one child’s life, then I have changed their world…and that is changing our world.  It still is overwhelming sometimes when I think of all that needs to be changed – of everyone that needs help – but I am going to do my best to do my part.  If I do, if you do, if we all do…then we really can change this world – I truly believe that.

As a quick addition, I would like to link Common Hope's Donar Impact Report.  It is very encouraging to read.  I love how Common Hope is very intentional in recording their work so that there are concrete statistics and numbers to show progress.  They also present it all in a very accessible and engaging manner.  Take a look!

An Angel named Joseph

Well, unfortunately, my trip back to Guatemala has not been uneventful.  Mom and I stayed with her friend who happened to be in the cities for a conference last night since my flight left this morning at 5:22am.  Well, we got up at 2:10am and made it to the airport by 3 (early – but we thought that was okay)…only to find out that the check-in counters don’t open until 4!! We could have slept another hour…uck.  But oh well, we had a little more time to talk.  Security was smoother this time around – I didn’t get anything taken away! :)  So…all was good…for that moment.

I boarded onto my Houston flight…waited the normal waiting time before take-off…and then the pilot came over the intercom to announce that there was some maintenance problems occurring and they might know something in half an hour.  Well, I only had about an hour between this flight and my connecting flight in Houston – so I disembarked and talked to the ticket counter.  The United Airlines worker issued me new flights with American Airlines to leave in about 40 minutes, go to Miami, and arrive in Guatemala around 12:30pm (and hour later than originally planned).  Okay. That’s do-able.  Except no free internet and no phone meant that I quickly asked someone who had internet if I could contact the son of my ride in Guatemala via facebook to hopefully get the message to my ride (Quique – dad of my Guatemalan family) that I would an hour late.  Got on the plane.  Whew – issue avoided…or so I thought.

This flight was quite empty so I got a whole row to myself and quickly settled in as the lack of sleep was hitting me…as I was dosing the pilot came over the intercom and told us that they had some “minor maintenance items to take care of” but he didn’t think it would take too long.  Just a few screws missing from a panel on one of the wings and something else (your brain tended to concentrate on the screws missing from the wing…so I forgot the other thing).  Well, I took his word for it – “not too long”.  I dozed off and when I woke up to the announcement that we were going to take off, it was already 50 minutes past our departure time.  50 minutes was exactly the amount of time I had between my connecting flights in Miami…hmmm… Well, I know sometimes they can make up time in the air – except, just my luck, there was a storm on our way so we had to re-route a little bit to avoid bad turbulence.  This means, no making up time in the air.  We touched ground 20 minutes before my flight…were delayed getting to our gate…made it to our gate ten minutes before my flight.  Now, they told us our connecting flight gates on the plane – we were coming into D22 and I needed to get to D7.  Okay.  I can do this.

I did.  I made it to D7.  But there was no plane – no people.  I ask someone.  She tells me – “Guatemala’s flight is at E7 – at the other end of the airport.” WHAT?!?!  So…either the flight attendant said it wrong or I heard it wrong – either way…I was not going to make my flight.  The woman called, the plane was closed, and I was given the ticket out for the next available flight: 7:10pm (Miami time)…that’s in 7 hours and gets me to Guatemala at 7:45pm.

God helped me out through a man named Joseph.  On my way running to my gate, a friendly airport worker (I think baggage or something – he had the orange vest) saw me moving quickly and pointed me in the right direction to D7.  During my walk of defeat with my new ticket, I happened to run into him again and he seemed concerned that I missed my flight.  He offered me his phone to call/text anyone I needed (in the U.S. and in Guatemala).  He set me up in a chair near a plug-in, said he needed to leave to go work a plane, but told me which women worker to give his phone to.  This wasn’t just any-old-phone he left me with…it was one of those super nice smart phones.  He trusted me.  He helped me.  And I am SO thankful!

I sent a text message to my ride in Guatemala – called Mom who called Common Hope and gave them the number of my ride so they could talk to him directly and make sure he could pick me up – and I found out that they have complimentary WIFI here!  All is well.  Quique will be there to pick me up.  Hopefully my bag will be there too (I will be checking on its whereabouts closer to my flight).  It will be a long day – I won’t get to go grocery shopping when I get to Guatemala – but I will make it (fingers crossed – I guess I haven’t boarded the next plane yet…if there are “maintenance problems” I’m getting off!! Haha! Just kidding!).

On a more positive note – the wedding was WONDERFUL – BEAUTIFUL – FUN – GREAT!!  My time back in MN was fast, but well worth it.  Emily and Joseph are married!!!  I was able to celebrate and participate in this wedding – so special.  I was able to see my bestie, Corissa, and her hubby along with other friends.  I was able to hang out/chat with/hug my family (immediate and extended), dance a lot, and take many pictures.  Oh, and I even had a super fun surprise when my good friend, Alejandro, surprised me by showing up to the wedding (he was just in Spain days before)!  It was a good time.

Now it’s back to Guatemala…eventually.  :)  This time there is no set ticket for my return to MN.  I have a one-way…so for right now, I won’t be back until August.  There could be another visit in there, but nothing is set at this point.  It is very comforting to know that I have a home to go to in Guatemala, a bed, a job position, friends…I am not entering into complete unknown.  I am entering into many possibilities.  I am still nervous and excited, but in a different way…it a calmer way – and more excitement than nerves.  Work tomorrow at 8am…wake-up at 6:30am…here we go!

****UPDATE****

Well, the traveling fun did not stop there.  My plane that was suppose to leave at 7:10pm, was delayed until 7:50 because we were waiting for the crew…okay, I can do 40 more minutes.  I met a woman from Spain as we were waiting for the plane.  I heard her ask another woman if she spoke Spanish, but she replied, “no,” so I offered my services. (Side note – super cool to be able to say you can speak another language and help out!).  It turned out she just needed someone to watch her things as she ran to the bathroom.  This moment bonded us though – the common language – so that when she bought chocolates, she shared them.  She moved to sit next to me while we waited and we talked.  Well, to top it off, when I got on the plane – I found out I was sitting right next to her!  Finally, settled in, ready to go…and then…the pilot came on over the intercom to say they were having some maintenance problems with the gas tanks.  I am not joking. He really came on and said this.  I seriously was looking around for the camera – I had to be on some prank show.  My poor Spanish friend had been traveling all day from Spain…she was jetlegged and weary from traveling just like me…we were in shock.  The pilot assured us that the mechanic was coming and would fix the gas tanks which would not stop us from leaving BUT there was another problem with the bathrooms…they had no water.  He told us that if this couldn´t be fixed, we would not be able to leave.  Oh my.  So we waited for more news.  Maria, my new Spanish friend, used my computer to send some emails as the WIFI from the airport reached into the plane.  Finally, good news was heard that the bathrooms were fixed.  The gas tanks were being more of a problem then anticipated, but they should be able to be fixed as well.  It took time, but we did eventually leave! It was 2 hours after our scheduled departure time, but we were in the air!  We arrived in Guatemala at 10pm (11pm central time).  My fun wasn’t quite done.  Because of all the changes that I had with the planes, my suitcase wasn’t at the baggage claim and because it was late at night there weren’t many people working…which meant waiting.  I was able to explain my situation…the man was looking in the computer…I didn’t like how his face looked – he had the look of “I´m not finding anything…”  Then all of a sudden his face lit up and he said in Spanish, “Wait, is it a big black suitcase, that looks that is can fold up, and has some duck tape on it?” YES!!! We did find it..it did take a little bit…but it happened.  I left Guatemala City with Quique at about 10:45pm.  He was telling me that earlier that day he was having car problems and wasn’t sure if he would be able to make it to the airport!! Seriously...do you see the pattern? Haha!  Thankfully though, it was all okay…he just had to keep shining his flashlight on the dashboard to check that the car wasn’t overheating. Haha!

I arrived at my door in Santa Ana at 11:30pm…12 hours later than my flight was originally suppose to arrive…22 hours of traveling.  I walked in, set my suitcases down, and went to bed.  I woke up at 6:30am, showered, and went to work.  It was a lot. I am tired, but I MADE IT!!!

Well. I definitely have a “traveling story” now. :)

Community...I love community.

Thursday, September 13^th marked one month that I’ve been here.  I cannot believe how fast time has flown by and how easily it has been to adjust to my place here.  As I reflect on the blessings that I have encountered just after one month, how much I love my job and my colleagues, and how “right” this feels, I am confirmed in my knowledge that this is where I am suppose to be.  I heard God right.  There was no flashing neon sign like I always prayed for, but God still found a way to point me in the right direction and thankfully I listened.  I am under no illusion that this was just a conversation between God and me…many others were involved in the process to get me here.  I want to thank all of those who supported (and continue to support) me and helped get me to this place (whether or not you know you were a part of this).

This week the realization of the community that I have and am attaining here really struck me.  Through many of my experiences in the past few years, I have noticed how much I love, crave, and seek out community (which is a very human thing I believe) and, thankfully, I am finding just that.  This was especially evident at work this week.  I had several special bonding moments with my office colleagues, specifically my “cube buddy” Karen.  Tuesday, it was just Karen and I in the office because of personal days by the other office colleagues or other meetings.   It was also a quiet day in the office because on Tuesdays we do not have specific activities with the youth, so there were not many youth at the foundation.  That meant, Karen and I were able to calmly work at our offices and in between tasks chat about things of the day, our lives, a funny story…it was just fun.  Also, on Thursday, Karen, Jóvita (the other women in our office) and I had a fun chat in the afternoon.  At one point, Jóvita moved from her desk (as we were talking over the cubicles) and came and sat in our space…we all pulled up our chairs…and continued our conversations as we cut out letters for a sign Jóvita was making to congratulate one of colleagues on his new baby.  SO FUN!!!  As I write this, I can tell it is not capturing the moment at all…but you had to be there.  I just had this moment of being filled with companionships, friendship, “girl talk” time.  I loved it.  I’ve missed it.

Just to ensure that you don’t think my work solely consists of casually working at my computer and chatting with my colleagues, let me share a quick moment from Wednesday afternoon.  First of all, Wednesday I was in charge of the crafts that occur in the morning and afternoon as I was covering for Jóvita who had the day off.  Another volunteer from the community comes in and does the crafts, I just had to ensure that everything went smoothly, that they signed the attendance sheet, and serve them the snack.  Well, Wednesdays are also Club de Estudios (the tutoring program) that I help out with.  The mornings are usually pretty calm, but the afternoons are usually pretty busy.  Well, this afternoon was particularly busy for me.  I had the two girls come in who I have been helping with multiplication and division and also I had a guy come in who I’ve been working on English with.  Previously, they have come on different days – but today they came on the same day!  It was fine and going very well – just kept me busy.  At one point…I was checking and giving one girl multiplication problems, one girl division, tutoring in English, and serving up 24 snacks!!  Whoa.  It was busy, but it makes the time fly by and it is fun.  Though, I have to say – tutoring is rewarding, frustrating, and overwhelming all at the same time.  I am really struggling with the fact that these girls really do not understand the basics of what they are doing.  I have realized that I need to go back and teach them the concepts before we can continue reviewing and doing their homework.  Mathematics Spanish vocabulary studying time. :)

This Friday, we did not have to work because the Common Hope site was closed due to the fact that it was Guatemala’s Independence Day on Saturday.  That meant I had an extra-long weekend as there was no youth activities on Saturday either.  I thoroughly enjoyed “sleeping in” Friday morning (which was until 7:30am – whoop!) and then reading in bed until I finally decided to start the day a little before 9.  It was a relaxing morning and early afternoon spent talking in Spanish with Annie and her Spanish teacher who comes to our house for Annie’s private lessons, followed by lying out on the roof with Annie.  In the afternoon I met up with Kate and Sarah (two short-term volunteers that are great friends!) to do what Sarah called an “art tour”.  This consisted of us going to the Bodegona (the grocery store) and buying water color paints and paper to take with us to the beautiful cemetery to do some artistic adventures (Sarah – photography, Kate – drawing, Me – painting).  We split up – went our separate ways – and did our art.  I had a WONDERFUL time painting again…I haven’t done that is SO long…and it was rather funny because I had several people mistake me for a real artist as they would walk by, craning their necks to see my masterpiece or even stop and talk to me about my painting…haha!!

Friday concluded with hanging out with other volunteers at one of their houses and then going out for the evening – we split up when going out and I ended up at Las Palmas where there was salsa dancing (surprising, right? ;) ).  Nothing starts off a weekend right like dancing – just love it!

Saturday I was up early to meet with my Guatemalan family for a day out for the Día de Independencia.  I did my best to wear the proper white and blue colors as I was picked up by the family who were almost all dressed in Guatemalan color attire (mostly soccer like uniforms).  We were going to the parade that was starting at 8am in Antigua.  The parade was made up of all the various schools within Antigua and the surrounding villages and their marching bands – yep, a parade of all marching bands and music…my Grandma Olsen would have loved it!  It felt very familiar to be sitting watching a parade on Independence Day.  Yes, there were differences, but overall, familiar.

After the parade, which the family remarked was longer and more boring than previous years as the bands were very spread out and sometimes there were pauses of 5 minutes or more, they invited me to go with them to a neighboring provenience, Chimaltenango, to go to the mall and have lunch.  They pointed out different areas and landmarks along the way – they are just so fun and easy to hang out with!!  I am amazed at how quickly they have welcomed me into the family – I mean, we were introduced one day by the other group of volunteers – and after that, I was in.  They have taken it upon themselves to make me feel welcomed and invite me to different family outings…so special!

When we walked in the mall, I instantly felt like I was back in the U.S.  Malls are malls.  We went to the food court.  Food courts are food courts.  All the restaurants were ones you’d see in the U.S. - Subway, Dominoes, Taco Bell, a Chinese place, etc….guess where we went.  Taco Bell. :)  The mall was packed and it took a little bit to find a table.  Then Quique and his daughter, Lydia, went up and placed our order that we decided on by looking at the pictures on coupons.  I swear, if everyone hadn’t been talking in Spanish, I would have believed I was back in the U.S. – even the Taco Bell drink cups were in English!  I thought this was weird…but it seemed that it didn’t matter that almost everyone in the mall wouldn’t be able to read it…as Dominoes had their sign and slogan in English as well.  I guess they don’t find it financially beneficial to translate their products for other countries…though, on the Taco Bell cup it said if there were any questions or concerns, they should call the said number.  So, only English speakers can voice their questions or concerns?  Interesting.

We ended our time in the mall by simply walking slowly past shops and looking inside if one desired.  We didn’t buy anything.  There was no shopping list or agenda.  We simply walked to look.  When I say walked, for many of you back in the U.S., you would consider this almost standing still.  I don’t think I have ever walked so slow in my life, but it was okay, because we weren’t in a hurry.  We were enjoying just looking. Just being there. Being together.  The ride home went much quicker – but that could be because all four of us girls in the back seat shut our eyes and dozed off…filling taco bell, many hours in the sun in the morning with the parade, and a quite car ride = sleep time.

That evening, Sarah and Kate came over to my place for a sleepover.  We made a pasta dinner, watched a movie, and talked talked talked.  In the morning, Sarah and Kate made chocolate oatmeal, banana pancakes which we ate with peanut butter and powdered sugar on top.  HAHA!! They were great at figuring out what to do with the random items I have in the house.

A highlight from this week is that I found someone to attend mass with!  Karen, my cube mate, invited me to go with her and her boyfriend to mass at the Cathedral on Sunday at 10am.  Kate and Sarah joined us.  It was just beautiful.  I have to learn the mass in Spanish now, though what’s beautiful about the liturgy is I understood the words and where we were in the mass because I am familiar with it all – now just to learn the exact wording in Spanish so I was fully participate.  After mass, Karen, Rogelio (her boyfriend), and I sat in central park for a little while, just talking.  So easy and so fun.  Rogelio knows so much about everything – and he had many questions for me and much knowledge to share – I am astonished by his memory!  When the sun got hot, we moved to a coffee shop nearby where Karen and Rogelio know every worker…seriously, every one of them.  We ordered ice tea (lemon for me) and sat and talked some more.  Karan and I kept discovering many random similarities that we have – our love for dresses and clothes (she’s going to show me a great dress shop one of these Sundays), our varying hunger schedules (there are weeks when we are super hungry all the time and others where we have no hunger at all), AND how we are both warm people…we get warm easily and tend to be perfect in temperature when others say it’s cold (college roomies – you understand this well :) ).  We had SUCH a great time…I can see this being a great weekly get together.  Karen told me today at work that Rogelio told her later that day, “I think you found your sister from another country.”  Haha!

Many other fun things occurred this weekend – but they are either repeats from previously weekends and/or I don’t have time to go into them all.  Some things that are coming up for me in the next few days: soccer game on site after work where Karen and I are official cheerleaders for the team with our office colleague, Jaime; cooking with Kate, Sarah, & Guillermo again tonight; office meeting tomorrow where I’m going to share my current plans for the girls group I am creating and get their opinions and suggestions; salsa dancing with Kate and Sarah and anyone else we can get to come along tomorrow night because it will be our last night together as I leave for the U.S. on Wednesday morning and they continue on their trip this coming weekend.

As mentioned, I will be heading back to Minnesota for a very quick trip to celebrate the wedding of Joseph and Emily!!!  WHOOT!!! SO EXCITED!!!  I, along with another volunteer (who happens to have a flight at the same time and day…different flight…weird), will be getting a ride in from Quique…we have to leave Santa Ana around 8:30am to get to the airport at a decent time.  I won’t make it into St. Paul until after 10:00pm…uffda, long day of traveling.  BUT at least my family will be waiting for me at the end. :)

I am pretty proud with where I’m at a little more than a month after arriving.  Before I left MN, I made some goals that I wanted to complete before I returned for the wedding.  I think I have pretty much reached those goals: I have a house, a roommate, I have started my position and mostly know what I’m doing in my position, have a phone, know how to get money and food, making friends and having a great time!  The only little logistic that isn’t figured out yet is internet in my house, but that’s very minor in the grand scheme of things.  I am feeling very satisfied and happy that I am settling in so well and loving it here.  I am very excited to see my family and friends and celebrate in MN, but I’m happy to say that I will be happy coming back here too.  That’s a good feeling.

Forgot to mention that Volcano Fuego was erupting this week - VERY cool to see!  Don't worry, I was not in danger.  

Torch running for Dia de Independencia

Waiting for the parade with Blanca (mom) and Sandy (daughter)

The family minus Omar who had to work

The parade

Little drummer boy - there were definitely ALL ages in this parade!

Quiz night! Kate (left) & Sarah (right)

Making Rellenitos at Guillermo's house - that's plantains filled with sweet beans and then you fry it...sound interesting but SO good! :)

Settling in...definitely settling in.

This was a good week.  It was a good week in the sense that I can tell I am really starting to settle in, starting to get into the groove of things.  On Tuesday of last week we had an office meeting (it is suppose to be a weekly, but it varies sometimes depending on schedules).  I learned a lot in this meeting about what has been going on in the different programs and what is coming up.  For example, I learned that there is a lock-in type event coming up in October with the youth.  Yep. I get to be up all night with many Guatemalan teenagers…I remember when I thought it was fun/cool to stay up all night --- that time in my life has passed.  Haha!  Oh, I’m sure it will still be fun though! :)

Also, our office will be offering Pre-Básico classes, which basically means we will be offering 2 weeks of mock classes to those who will be entering Básico (which is about the equivalent of our middle school) to give them an idea of what it will be like (for example: having a different teacher for every subject instead of one teacher for all the classes).  Guess who is the English teacher? That would be me. :)  I was a little nervous about this in the beginning (and still am in some ways, but less so) since I really haven’t had any teaching experience except for my Teaching Assistant experiences at St. Kate’s, but we all spoke the same language where here I’m going to be teaching middle schoolers a different language…whoa.  Though, the topics are very basic and I’ve already started making the lesson plans and am feeling better about it all.  We’ll see how it goes in the classroom! :)  I don’t actually teach the classes until November (maybe one or two in October at another Common Hope site).

The other exciting news is we talked about the program I will be creating.  They all really liked the idea of a girls group focused on strengthening the girls in leadership skills and self-esteem.  So, I think I’m going to focus my efforts on this (which was the original plan all along!).  I’ve continued my planning with doing some more research and trying to get all my ideas down on paper.  The next step is figuring out how to take the steps to refining those ideas a little more and figuring out the way to implement them.  Creating a new program from scratch is also a new experience for me, but I’m excited for the challenge!

I have started taking salsa lessons with some other volunteers.  We took one group lesson last week and have another scheduled for this week.  It’s a fun thing to do and as you all know, I love to dance!!  I already know the basics of salsa, but I’m hoping to refine my skills and learn some new things to use on the very talented dance floor down here. :)

This last Saturday with the youth was particularly fun.  I really feel like I’m making progress with the youth and really becoming part of the group.  I got a GREAT compliment from one of the guys who said, “Teresa you get along really well with everyone and everyone really likes you which is kind of rare for a foreigner, especially so quickly.  It’s particularly hard with the teenagers.” AHHH!!!! That made me feel SOOO great!!  I agree – it is harder connecting with the teenagers then little kids and adults.  I had felt like I was getting to be more part of the group, and this comment gave me confidence that I indeed am! WHOOT!!!  My bachata dance class went really well this week too!  I actually gave 2 classes because of scheduling, and they both went really well.  In the first one I had about 16 youth – and they were all really eager to learn.  They did great!! SO FUN!!

I have been meeting more people through some of the volunteers here.  I’ve had some fun nights out meeting new people and seeing new places.  I even was able to do some cooking and baking with a couple volunteers and our Guatemalan friend at his place.  We had the best pasta and the BEST carrot cake (made from scratch…fresh carrots and everything!) topped off with the movie Motorcycle Diaries.  Fun, fun times.

As I said, I am really starting to feel settled in.  I had a couple times this weekend where I was getting groceries by myself and navigating around Antigua.  There was one moment where I was walking down the street with my bag of groceries, I had just asked a traffic policeman where exactly the buses passed by near the market so that I could get one back to Santa Ana (the village where I live) and it hit me – I am doing this.  I am navigating this new city, by myself, in Spanish.  I have my groceries for my house, I am walking to take the rickety chicken bus that will pass by Santa Ana as long as I take one that is going to one of three particular villages (and I know which names to watch for).  I knew that the buses passed near the market - but I didn’t know where exactly - but I was able to ask the police officer because I CAN SPEAK AND UNDERSTAND SPANISH!  So nice.  I realized how happy I am that I have this knowledge and understanding.  It is SO COOL and makes life so much easier down here!

One last quick story.  Today (Monday) I was able to go visit my Godchild, Jennifer, and her family!  SO FUN!!  This is the second time I have visited her (the first time was back in January 2010 when I was down here last).  I have seen her mother and siblings several times already since I’ve been here at the Common Hope site.  It was great to see her home again and the progress that has been made.  In March of 2011 they received a two room house from Common Hope.  It looks so nice.  The mom is also working hours right now to earn a stove.  Nothing can top walking up to the tin door of a fence and seeing a little boy’s head peak around and then light up at your presence as he opens the door and runs to you with arms wide open “Señora!!!!”  Precious.  This was Byron, the youngest of the family.  Next I was greeted by Juan José (the next youngest) and then Heidy (the next up).  Jennifer arrived a few moments later from school.  Their older brother was at school for the afternoon and their dad was at work.  This was another moment when I loved my Spanish capability.  We were able to simply sit, converse, and laugh.  There was no need to slow the conversation with translating.  There were a couple times where I needed clarification on a word or two, but otherwise it was simple bliss.  I LOVE that I will be here for a longer period so that this doesn’t have to be the one and only visit for some time.  I hope to really establish a relationship with the family.  (Fail moment – forgot my camera…but there will be pictures of the visits in the future!)

Another full week of work coming up – and yet I’m happy to go because I like my work.  That’s super cool. :)  This Saturday I will not be working because the 15^th of September is Guatemala’s Independence Day.  I have heard little bits about the fun festivities that occur – many bands (like marching bands?) in the streets and parks.  Should be fuN!!

P.S. Shout out HAPPY BIRTHDAYS to 3 special people in my life: September 10 – Big bro Joseph! ; September 11 – Bunkity! (aka Sarah Vrudny) ; September 12  - Ella Bella Wella (lil’ sis Elizabeth).  Much love all!!

The supper I made for myself Monday night - yes those are all fresh vegetables from the market. YUM!  And I finished it off with a little home-made carrot cake.  Life is good. ;)

Finding my new home

As I write this blog post, I am sitting on the couch in my new home in Santa Ana.  One light is on in our living room/dining room that has only attracted one black moth and maybe a mosquito or two from the open air kitchen area.  I am writing this in Word and then will save it and post it during my lunch hour tomorrow as we do not have internet in the home yet (it’s on the list of things to look into).  Annie, my roommate, has already gone to sleep, I think, though it is only 8:30…the days at work are tiring and I had the day off today so I still have a hour or more of energy left. :)

This week I finished up my orientation which included learning about and working in the clinic, going on another set of social work visits, and visiting a school.  The clinic was interesting - it’s amazing how much they are able to do in such a small place.  They have 2 examinations rooms, one “emergency” room (I believe – if I understood correctly) but it’s not super extravagant…or at least it didn’t look like to me, eye support for the children (not an actual eye doctor but enough to get glasses for children who need them), a nutritionist, and a dentist office (that is filled by volunteer dentists/students).  I believe they have 2 doctors on staff and a nurse….sorry I can’t remember these numbers exactly.  All you health-care friends of mine would be able to assess this better than me – but I was thinking of you all as I was checking this place out – volunteers are always welcome *hint hint* :D  My job in the clinic was to organize the paper charts and then file some various items.

The school we visited was up to 6^th grade.  The atmosphere is definitely different in that there is always at least one class out for what we would call recess and that is going on in the center part of the school which causes a lot of noise…yet the doors to the classrooms are open (probably to keep the air moving so it doesn’t get warm)…so to me it seemed noisy.  The number of kids in a classroom seemed to be about 30 or so…so they were quite large.  Most of the children looked like they were in uniforms, though there were a few that were not.  We had the pleasure of going into two of the classrooms (1^st grade & 5^th grade) when the social workers of the schools went in to give a lesson.  These lessons include teaching about and reinforcing proper behavior in a classroom (respect others, listen, raise your hand, etc.), reading/listening to a story, and then some type of activity.  The children were really well behaved for these lessons and it was fun to be able to interact with them.

Wednesday afternoon I started in my position in Apoyo a Jóvenes.  Monday, Wednesday, Friday is “Club de Estudios” (Study Club) where children can come in to get help on their homework.  So, that’s what I was helping with in the afternoon.  There is a necessity to find the balance between keeping the children on task and yet being patient with them/helping them to have fun too.  If you push them too hard on their homework the whole time, they burn out and you do not establish a good relationship with them.  But if you let them goof around too much, then they do not get anything done and disturb the others.  I am still working on this balance – it is easier with some children than others.  I have to say, there are some concepts that I feel I understand very well, but it is much harder to explain them to a child in another language.  There are times where I just do not have the words in Spanish to say what I want to say – especially when it’s a more difficult concept to explain in the first place! Uffda.  Thankfully, I’m not alone in this and can always ask someone else in the office for help.  Also, it is frustrating when you know the child doesn’t actually understand what s/he is doing, but is just getting the homework done.  Again, you want to explain it to them so they actually understand what they are doing, but sometimes that is not possible in the given situations and you just have to help them get the work done.  Again – frustrating.  I do my best whenever I can to make sure they actually understand, but it’s definitely not at the level that I would like.

It is very fun to slowly be establishing relationships with the youth.  I am learning names, they are learning mine.  Good times.  One afternoon I was substituting for a colleague in the computer room and ten minutes before closing time, the printer jammed – bad.  It ended up being quite a project that involved two other colleagues trying to help me and the printer was not un-jammed/ready until 25 minutes later…and then two homework assignments that needed to be printed were not finished for another 40 minutes because the printer decided it only wanted to print one page of a document several times.  It was quite the evening – very funny actually as it included laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation with my boss and these two young guys.  What could have been a stressful and frustrating situation was really quite enjoyable and bonding for the four of us.  Haha.  I love it!

I have found out very quickly that my office is one of humor.  Which is great!! …except that humor is one of the harder things in another language…though I’m finding that I can usually understand the humor when it’s occurring, but sadly I’m not as good at contributing to it.  That’s one of my goals now = to be able to joke around with my colleagues by the time I leave. :) (sooner would be better!)

Saturday, I was with the youth again.  During their free time I taught a beginning bachata dance class.  I love dance because it’s a universal language – so even though I struggle with Spanish sometimes, I could teach this class because it was dance.  It became a rotating class where I would teach four youth and then two more would show up so I’d teach them and then a few more…and so on.  After over an hour, no one else was coming so I packed up…later to find out that several guys who were playing soccer previously wanted to learn, but they had to play on their team first.  So…I guess next week I’ll have to go longer. :)

I helped out cooking the lunch with some of the youth (when I say helped – I mostly observed – they had this down!).  I was thoroughly impressed by their cooking skills and their wiliness to do it.  This wiliness also transferred to cleaning up afterwards.  They were so thorough – no complaining – and everyone helped.  There was no disputing about who was going to wash the stack of dishes or scrub the stove or mop the floor…they just did it.  And when they were done, they helped out those who weren’t.  Wow.  They rock. :)

This weekend Sr. Dani, a Sister who has been here for 18 years and works at a clinic near New Hope (a site of Common Hope’s), was staying on site.  She comes here once a year or so to take a few days to get some work done when she knows she won’t be disturbed.  It was fun to meet her and have a few conversations.  We also went out to eat in Antigua Saturday night at this beautiful restaurant called Saberico.  There are tables dispersed within these gardens (when I say gardens – I mean almost jungle like gardens) with candles dispersed along the paths – just beautiful.

Saturday evening as well, two other volunteers that are here for six weeks were at the site cooking in the kitchen and ended up spending the night because they missed the time for the last bus.  It was fun to have some company on site with me for my last evening.

Sunday afternoon I moved to Santa Ana.  Annie and her friend picked me up with my stuff and we brought it to the house.  I have decided that we have the BEST landlord possible.  When I got to the house, it was all cleaned up beautifully and my bed was made with sheets and a comforter.  We had 2 plates, 2 glasses, 2 mugs, 2 forks and spoon already here for us.  How nice!!  To add to it, when he came today, he brought two small pillows and changed out our refrig immediately when I said it wasn’t working.  Also, when he saw we didn’t have pots or pans, he returned this evening with his wife (whose name is Teresa too :) ) with a frying pan, pot, tea kettle, cutting board and some other cooking utensils.  SOOO NICE!!!  They told me – “if you need anything else, just let us know.  You don’t need to go buy these things.  When you are happy, we are happy!”  I HAVE THE BEST LANDLORDS EVER!!!!

Okay, back to Sunday.  I then went to the grocery store with Kate and Sarah to get a few basic food items.  Can I just say, it is really hard to decide what to buy when you have nothing to start with.  Thankfully, I only have to take care of breakfast and suppers during the weekdays…but still…what to buy?

In the evening we met up with some friends at a place that was having Quiz Night.  It’s a quiz game in English where you can have teams of 5 and the winning team wins 500 quetzales.  It was really fun – not that I was able to contribute anything at all (I am really not knowledgeable in music, movies, planets, etc.).  The answers I did know, everyone knew – but still super fun.  We did not win (just in case you were wondering).

Monday (today) was my day off, but everyone else I know works.  My plan was to sleep in – get some shopping done at the market – walk around Antigua a bit – and update my journal.  Sleep in was a fail.  I found out that there are many noises here in the evenings…such as dogs barking constantly in the middle of the night, roosters crowing at 4:30am, music blaring very early in the morning, and the van distributing propane gas driving around with its loud horn and megaphone voice shouting “Hay Gas” (there’s gas – or something like that) at daybreak…I think at 6:30 or 7:00am.  I still laid in bed, just enjoying not having to get up…that was until a bug fell IN MY HAIR!

So…here’s the deal.  I have two windows – the head of my bed was under one window – the windows do not have screens – I had to choose between being really warm/hot or having the window open to potential bugs (I chose potential bugs over certain heat – it’s psychology, I know :) ).  Well, a bug fell into my hair, I couldn’t get it out right away in my freaking out state…when I did it sat on my bed…it was smooshed and swept away.  It was then decided that it was time to get up and my room needed to be rearranged so that my bed was not near windows.

The morning was spent unpacking and putting my room together.  It felt so good to finally unpack after three weeks.  Also, navigating the house made me realize all the little things we still need, like a garbage can in the bathroom and bedrooms and a broom.  It’s amazing how many little things you don’t even think about until they aren’t there. :)

In the afternoon, I headed out to Antigua.  It is about a 10-15 minute walk to get to the edge of Antigua from my house and then it depends on where you are going.  I successfully navigated my way around without a map!  Whoot!  I had a light lunch along the way and then headed to the market.  I perused the Artisan market because I wasn’t in a hurry and it’s always fun to look.  Then, I headed to the market market (food).  Wow.  There are so many vendors and so many options.  I had no idea from who I should buy…so I just picked.  First of all, remember that $1=7.5 quetzales.  Here’s what I bought: 1 onion & 3 potatoes (3Q), 1 large carrot and cucumber (3Q), 1 pound strawberries (5Q).  NOTHING was over a dollar, and many things were not even close.  1 pound of strawberries for 75 cents?!?!  Crazy.

On the way home I stopped at the famous Doña Luisa bread shop and bought some banana bread – an easy delicious breakfast.  The bread was so fresh that I could feel the heat rising from the bag as I walked home…when I got home and had a piece it was uncomfortable to have the piece laying flatly on my palm because it was so warm (that’s after 25 minutes of walking) – SO GOOD!

It is quite blissful: walking along the cobblestone streets with fresh produce tucked under one arm and warm banana bread heating the other hand, as you greet those you walk by with “Buenas tardes.”  Such a simple, relaxing afternoon.  Much needed and much enjoyed.

Sorry for the long and not as well organized post…so much to say and not much time to write it. Enjoy! :)

Bachata lessons

The kitchen. To the left you can see outside - open air. to the right are the doors to our bedrooms.

You are basically seeing the whole house right now. Straight ahead is the living room, to the right are the stairs to the bathroom, to the left of the living room are the bedrooms...

This is the stairs/door to the bathroom

The bathroom is super small, so this is the best shot I could get. If I turned to my left, there would be the toilet.



The living room/dining room - love this room!



Living room/dining room continued - it came fully furnished..even with the classy wine bottle decorations



My bedroom!! You can see in the mirror that on the other side there is a metal clothes hanger/shelf combo that hold my clothes. Again - fully furnished.



Looking at the open air area from my room - the stairs up lead to the roof!

The roof! So it doesn´t look like much...but do you see the potential?!?!

View from the roof