December

What we have been up to

What we have been up to

This year has been much more… well everything. I feel that this year we have begun to hit our stride and we are not only doing better work, but we are really feeling like Guatemala is a home. We opted to stay close to home this summer and fall to experience the Feria (Carnival days/our patron saint day), All Saints Day, Graduations and just hang with our neighbors.

I could go on and on about these events, but I will allow the pictures to do the talking. Enjoy!

Fall Comes Salca

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Bullfighting for Feria




Feria in Salcajà and some of Kell´s kids




Hanging out with our landlords


Alejandra´s first birthday cake (Kelly´s student)



All Saints Day


Being Madrina y Padrino for graduation

Karma

I am amazed that my colleagues in the youth development program still remember details of their middle school days. I am not talking about a teacher or a class, but of actual activities that they did. Perhaps my brain blocked out the majority of this period so that I could develop into a semi normal adult.
I know that middle school is no picnic for anyone, but I really would like to rank my experience up there as one of the most disastrous. I remember 8th grade being particularly hard. Sure I had the acne, the baby fat but most disastrous was the thought that I had the world figured out. I thought that I was so smart and that my teachers were so ridiculously dumb. In my arrogance I lashed out at some of them trying to show them that I was their intellectual equal if not superior.

There is one teacher and one class in particular that I remember. 8th grade Health. Like I said I do not remember much from those days, but I do remember making this teacher so angry that she twice dismissed me from her class. If I recall right, I one time was arguing that she could not mark an opinion answer wrong on a test. What I should have taken into account is that there are times for smart-ass comments and a health test is not one of them. There are also some people that you can attack personally but a teacher is not one of them (I am so sorry!).
To make a long story very short, I soon realized after leaving secondary school that I did not in fact know all that I thought that I did, nor did I deserve to treat my teachers the way I did. When I got to university I knew one thing for certain, I did not ever want to be a teacher and subject myself to children like me. I can remember qualifying this by saying that “there is not enough money in the world that could convince me to be a middle school teacher”.
Well I was right and wrong. I am doing what I swore I would never do. I was correct that I would not take large sums of money to work in a middle school, because now I do it for free. Not only am I working with this age group, but also I am teaching a course that would probably be called Middle School Health in the States. I should say that I like my job and on a really good day I might even say that I love it, but I do have to put up with the know-it-alls and smart-alecks.
I have never been a real believer in Karma but… I felt sorry for my 8th grade health teacher but now I empathize with her. I have gone from assuming that these teachers have it rough to knowing that some of them should be awarded medals for not hurting their students. There was a time when I would have viewed this placement as a penance for my past deeds, but it has grown to mean so much more. I have developed so much as a person having stood on the other side of the teacher’s desk, trying to help young people see that their futures are important and fragile. I now know why that teacher got up and came to school and even let me back in her class. Perhaps she saw that I needed this class more than most. Karma is a bitch but perhaps it is only because it forces us to see our past mistakes and learn from them.

Just Thinking

Well I am sure that most people have heard that we will be coming home in May for a little visit. It is hard to imagine that when we land in Denver it will have been over a year since we have been in the States, a record for the both of us. The anticipation that is building inside of me reminds me of being a kid and waiting for Christmas. The excitement builds with every coming day, and I know that it will be impossible to sleep the night before the flight.
As I lay in bed at night dreaming of carpet, hot water from the choro, driving, bathtubs, and beer from a tap, a question starts to nag me from some corner of my mind. How will I describe the past year of my life to everyone? Most of the time only one-word answers come to my mind. Guatemala is great, frustrating, heartwarming, heartbreaking, amazing, lonely, crazy, boring etc. I suppose that if anyone were to be asked what their past year was like the answer would look much the same. Still, I crave something that could sum it up for people as I anticipate this question to come up.
“So how has the last year been in Guatemala”?
The last year has been sprinkled with just about every emotion that I can think of. I have felt elated after an especially great class and I have felt despair and thought of quitting after a terrible one. I have basked in the beauty of a volcanic lake, but I have also lamented the destruction of the environment. I have felt connected to Guatemalans but others have also robbed me. I think that development works some days and think it’s a farce others. I suppose it all is summed up that my life here is filled with opposing feelings and contradictory experiences. Perhaps that is the Guatemalan experience.
Guatemala is a land of contrast for me. It is a place where the rich and the poor live in relative proximity. It is a place where people wish for security but life is so uncertain. It is a place where ancient cultures live next to and perhaps compete with modern culture. Guatemala is a land of agriculture but also of malnutrition. At times one can feel guilty about living around this but still having the luxury of being removed and only a plane ticket away from escape at any moment.
But that did not answer, “How has the last year been in Guatemala”?
The last year has been… Interesting? Fun?
Those words seem so trite and so far removed from the truth. I suppose it is cliché and again only a one-word answer, but the truth is the last year has been an adventure.

What we´ve been up to

We realize that we have not written a really in-depth post for some time. Sorry. I wish that we could say that it has been because we have been so busy with work, but the truth is that in December nothing really goes on as far as work goes. The truth of the matter is that we have been having too much fun getting to know our new country and sharing it with friends and family.
Dave came down on Halloween and spent about a week with us here in the Xela area. I hope that he had as much fun as we did. It was a little strange having our first guest. Not that it wasn’t a pleasure on our part, it’s just that it is kind of strange to have these two very distinct worlds and lives come together for a short time. I sometimes worry that people wont like Guatemala as much as we do. I think that the highlight of that trip was our journey to Todos Santos for the Drunk Horse Races. It was a truly amazing thing to see and I would suggest that anyone traveling through Guatemala November first make the trek up there to see the colorful and inebriated town.
Our next adventurous visitor was my wonderful mother, Diane. We were honored that we got to steal her away from the family for thanksgiving. I was happy to show her not only our town but also our life here in Guatemala. She was also a trooper through her bout with traveler stomach for a few days. We got to take her to one of our favorite spots in Guatemala for Thanksgiving, Lago Atitlan. Anyone who gets to visit this high volcanic crater lake falls in love with it. Not only for its spectacular views (it is surrounded by volcanoes), but because the people around the lake are so unique and wonderful. I think the highlight of the trip for me was when my host family took a trip to Antigua to visit Diane because she was too sick to leave the hotel. Although I found translating to be harder than I thought, it was great to have my Guatemalan mother meet me real mother.
After Reconnect we awaited yet another visitor. Trevor came to visit about mid December and spent the New Year with us. As our previous post describes we had a great time traveling around Guatemala and Belize. I really don’t think that I can explain to everyone how beautiful the landscape and the people are here. While I can’t say that we will have the time to do the trip that we did with Trevor I would encourage all visitors to Guatemala to take more than a week to get to know this wonderful place.
Well, there is a summery of some of the things that we have been up to in November and December. We are now trying to get back into the swing of things. I have started school again and have high hopes for a more productive year with the kids and the teachers in Cantel. Kelly is trying to expand her role in the cooperative and is meeting with a women’s shelter to see about volunteering. All in all we are having a great experience and I think that we fall more and more in love with Guatemala everyday.

We're Back

Well, we are finally back in Salcaja. We would like to apologize for the lack of posting lately, but with the holidays we have not been in front of a computer much.
We returned last week from a journey around Guatemala with a short boarder jump into Honduras and Belize. We realized when thinking about the trip that we really had not been East of Guatemala City, so we planned to head that way and try to get to Placencia, Belize by the 22nd. We also had the great fortune to have Trevor (from the CU days) traveling with us and our friend Kate (PCV) joined us for Christmas. I would hate to bore everyone with a blow by blow of the vacation, so I will give you the highlights.

Copan Ruins (Honduras) – Just a skip across the Guate boarder you can see some amazing Mayan stone carvings.

Livingston – While still in Guatemala you get a great feel for Caribbean and Garifuna culture. Just don’t stay in a hotel that is throwing a party for the owners girlfriend

Placencia, Belize – A great place to swing in your hammock and dip in the Ocean. Kelly and I also had a great time at the Christmas eve Reggae dance party on the beach. We spent Christmas day relaxing, eating, drinking Belizian rum and playing cards with Trevor and Kate.

Tikal – A breathtaking Mayan site full of temples and wildlife. Any visitors to Guatemala should make the trip up to the Peten

Lanquin - A great place to hangout for New Year's and close to Semuc Champey and cave tours.