Volcanoes, Mariology, and Rain, Rain, and More Rain...

Hello friends! So I realize I have been slacking a bit with the posting of new updates. I don't have much of an excuse for that; I suppose I have been caught up in other things!

Since my last post, things have been a bit more interesting in Antigua. For one thing, last Saturday, I hiked Volcan de Pacaya, which is just outside of Guatemala City. It was an astoundingly beautiful hike. I went with a tour company because it is easy and cheap (for the ride, the guide, a driver, and entrance to the park, it was around 15 bucks. Can't beat that). I was lucky too because I probably went on the last good weather day that we will have for a while (more updates on weather in a bit). Volcan de Pacaya is special because it is one of only three active volcanoes in Guatemala. In years past, people on hikes could see actual lava. However, in May of 2010, Pacaya erupted, and this eruption was significant enough that the Guatemala City airport had to be shut down for a bit. Since then, there hasn't been any lava, BUT, near the top of the volcano, you can see pockets of steam, kind of like mini saunas. Click here for a link to pictures from my Facebook. For now, here is a preview of some highlights:

The peak of the volcano. It used to look more peak-like until the 2010 eruption. Now there is a crater and a crevice at the top. You can click on any image to make it bigger, too.

Some great views at the top.

See that smoky stuff? That's steam from the lava just underground. It was super cool.

One spot was hot enough that we could roast marshmallows. On a volcano. What the heck?

I took a video as well, just to give you a more panoramic view, as well as a better look at what the steam is like:

Since my trip to Pacaya, pretty much from that afternoon until today, it has rained practically non-stop. There was a tropical storm from the Pacific that decided to linger over Guatemala. I'm used to rain here, but usually it's super clear in the morning and by three it rains off and on into the night. However, Tuesday night I knew something was really wrong when I woke up to the sound of rain pounding on my windows so hard, I thought they might break. That night there were some horrendous landslides in parts of Guatemala, and there continues to be flooding and landslides. I am fine where I am, but it is impossible to travel anywhere (not that I'd want to...). Right now a lot of tourists are getting cozy in Antigua, bunkering down to wait out the rain. Not a bad idea in my book. 

To get an idea of how much rain we've had, here's a video I found through Facebook of a river in Jocotenango, just a few blocks and a coffee plantation away from my house. It's absolutely insane:

Although the rain is a bummer (not to mention super cold...the temperatures here aren't too low, probably in the low sixties, but with that much rain, the air is so damp that it's really cold sometimes), it has taken away some distractions, allowing me to focus on my Spanish much more. The beginning of last week, my teacher asked me to explain some theology to her, because I need to practice my Spanish and because she's interested. I gave her some topics that I know a thing or to about, and the one she picked was Mariology. Ever since, I've spent part of my lessons giving her "lessons" in Mariology. Surprisingly, she's been able to understand all the points I've made. So I think that's a good sign, especially since there's a lot of technical stuff involved in Marian theology. The Biblical study of Mary is very intricate; you have to know the significance of some words in Greek and Hebrew, you have to compare multiple passages in different books, Old and New Testament, there's a lot involved. So, what this all boils down to is that it has been quite a challenge for my Spanish, and, simultaneously, excellent practice. 

I was talking to a teacher at my school the other day, and I received a bit of encouragement. We were talking in Spanish, of course, and she was like, "I remember when you first got here; you were so timid and couldn't say anything. Now I hear you and I'm like 'Is this the same girl? She speaks plenty.'" Well, that made me feel pretty good, especially since I often have days where I doubt my abilities. When I hear things like that, it gives me a bit of a confidence boost, and I feel like I can talk about anything. So I'm going to hold onto that for a while, and keep studying hard for my last two weeks. 

Hope all of you are well and that fall is beautiful in the States right now. I can't say that I don't miss home, but I do know that I will feel the same way about Guatemala when I get back to the US.

Peace to all who read this!

Random Observations

Hello friends! Sorry it's been so long since my last post...I've had some technological difficulties (we didn't have Internet or water for a couple days this past week). Plus, there's not a whole lot new to report. So I decided to write down some things about Guatemala/Antigua that are very unique but don't really fit into other posts because they're a tad random. So I decided to make a list of them. Sounds boring, but these are super random so get excited:

Beans are hugely popular here; people eat them at almost every meal (including breakfast), but oftentimes they aren't whole beans--they are pureed in a blender or mushed up with rice. It's very interesting. I don't know what they have against whole beans, but that's the way they like them I guess.

Speaking of food, no matter what you eat, there are tortillas. Beans and....tortillas. Rice and....tortillas. Spaghetti and...tortillas. Always. Oh, and there is always chile. They never make spicy food because they serve chile on the side so you can make it as spicy as you want.

People are very careful with how much water and electricity they use because it's so expensive. My host mom is a real stickler about not using lights during the day because they aren't necessary. When we want to take a shower, we have to flip a switch to turn on the hot water heater. Between 10pm and 6am, more or less, the water in our house is turned off. And as I've mentioned before, everyone hand washes their clothes. It sounds like a pain, but in the long run, it is definitely better for the environment.

Fruit and vegetables are super cheap here, and the typical American "cheap" foods, like coffee, peanut butter, oatmeal, and cans of tuna, are expensive. You can get a pound of apples for a dollar, four avocados for a $1.25, and fresh flowers for 50 cents. It's incredibly cheap and negociable. But a 6 oz. jar of peanut butter is five dollars and a can of tuna is $1.50. Go figure.

There are SO many stray dogs here. It's absolutely insane. I feel bad for them because a lot of them are really skinny, but they manage to get by somehow. Every day, I probably see at least 15 stray dogs. Insane.

Here, the number of people that can fit on a moped is infinite. I've seen five people riding on one at the same time: a mom, a dad, and their three kids. That would not go over well in the US. But here, cars are expensive, so people do what they can to get their kids to school, themselves to work, and whatnot.

If it ever snowed here, everyone would freeze because no one could ever have indoor heating since every house, restaurant, tienda, etc. has a courtyard or a patio in the middle. For example, in my house, I could never go from my room to anywhere else in the house without being "outside" for a short period of time. In essence, no houses are airtight. But they don't need to be in a place that's always no more than ten degrees above or below 70 degrees farenheit.

Masks are a big deal. In the states, the only occasions for mask-wearing are Halloween and bank robbing. Here, people wear masks for every celebration they have. I asked my teacher why, and she said she's not sure about their significance (I think for the ancient Mayans they did, though), people here just really like masks. It's not like people walk around with them at all times, but if there are fiestas with dancing, a lot of times the dancers will wear masks (some of which are really scary).

No one really minds other people's kids. What I mean is that people bring their kids to everything and it's totally normal. At Mass, toddlers often wander around freely. More than once a lady has had to go on to the altar to fetch her kid who had strayed a little too far and in the wrong direction. Every day, I see women walking around carrying heavy baskets on their heads with a baby strapped onto their back with a big piece of fabric. And it's not unusual to see small children selling newspapers all by themselves, working a stand at the market, or shining shoes. Which is another big problem in Guatemala: child labor. Many kids, especially in rural areas, don't go to school so they can work. Education here is very poor and I think this is a huge cause of poverty and corruption.

In the past, Mayan peoples, much like Native Americans in the United States, had a great respect for the Earth. Every time people would harvest a crop, they would say a prayer of thanksgiving and of permission to the gods. It's unfortunate, however, that some of this mindset has been lost. How do I know this? Cities in Guatemala are SO polluted: fumes from buses and piles of trash on the street are the most obvious factors. In some places, trash on the street is so bad that garbage workers have to pick it up in shovelfulls. It's a shame that this belief in the sanctity of the Earth has been lost by people who don't give a second thought to throwing trash on the ground. I think the spread of consumerism, and the throw away mindset that comes with it, is partly to blame. It's just one of the many products of the West's neo-colonialism (controlling another place through mass media and globalization instead of through armies and conquerors) that is eliminating some of the traditional aspects of Guatemalan culture. I have a lot more to say about neo-colonialism in Guatemala/Latin America (because it is, unfortunately, both fascinating and horrifying), but I can't write it all here. Just know that it is very obvious in Guatemala.

One aspect of Guatemala that is just fascinating to me is the level of belief in mystery. For example, tons of people readily and willingly believe in miracles. In my conversations with different Guatemalans, this became apparent to me. Now, while I believe that a certain dose of skepticism regarding miracles and the paranormal is healthy, I think there is something quite admirable about the level of faith that such a belief requires. Belief in spirits and in lugares encantados or "enchanted places" (which are inhabited by spirits) is widespread. It's such a stark contrast to the skepticism and cynicism of Western society. Now, I realize that many of you might be thinking that such a belief in mystery is only the result of people being uneducated. This may be a factor, but I also think that the religiousness of this country, and of Latin America in general, has much more to do with it. People here readily see the divine in the world. There's something quite beautiful in that.

Well I guess that started out as random observations and ended in random reflections. Take it as you wish. Hope it gives you a bit more of an idea of what this place is like. Also, for a bit of eye candy, yesterday I walked around the ruins of the old San Francisco Cathedral. How beautiful! There are two stories, which give you quite a view of Antigua. It's one of my new favorite places. Here's some pictures:

That's all for now...peace to all who read this!

Independence Day and Experiences of Grace

Hello everyone! Well, it's been a busy week so this may be a longer post. So bear with me...

September 15th, this past Thursday, marked Guatemala's Independence Day from Spain in 1821. Actually, it is the independence day of all Latin America. As you can imagine, it was a pretty big day. There were many many many parades, and I did not have Spanish classes. The day before, however, the students in my school and I did presentations in Spanish on different aspects of Guatemalan culture. I presented on the history of the various capitals of Guatemala (Antigua was the third capital), and others presented on the significance of elements of the flag, etc. The school also took some pictures of us, which are on my facebook.

The next day, I met with my teacher to watch the morning parades in Antigua. Most of the schools participate in the parades, so a large part of the parade was children  playing instruments, wearing sashes and traditional clothing, waving flags, and doing other fun things. It was quite a sight, and the weather in the morning was absolutely gorgeous. Most of my pictures of the parade have the volcano in the background. As the parade went on, you can see the volcano gradually accumulate more clouds. Heres a link to my facebook for all the pictures. They are quite colorful. So all in all, it was a good day.

Today was another special day for me because I accompanied my teacher to San Hermano Pedro Hospital for Mass and to visit with the children living at the hospital. There I met Jose, the little boy that she visits every Sunday (I wrote about him in a previous post; he is mentally and physically handicapped and was abandoned by his family, but she has visited him every week for the past few years). It was great to meet him finally. He is so cute. Very tiny; he's ten but looks like he's five. He probably weighs no more than forty pounds. He looks healthy and like he gets plenty to eat; he's just a little guy.

After Mass, I went back to the children's section of the hospital and my teacher and I visited with Jose for a bit. Then I walked around the room where the kids' beds are and visited with some them who were laying in their cribs. A lot of them were lying there, looking at the ceiling. None of them can talk, but they respond when you talk to them by smiling, laughing, or looking at you. I had a book of different children's stories in Spanish, and I read each of them a different story. I don't know how much they understood, but they seemed to be listening. And they liked the pictures. Mostly I think they like hearing someone talking to them and giving them attention.

Today also happened to be the 27th anniversary of...something (I didn't really catch what it was...I think maybe the anniversary of the new hospital building) so they had a huge party for the kids. They had a DJ in the courtyard/playground in the middle of the children's area playing kids music. Most of the kids were wheeled out surrounding the courtyard and volunteers walked around visiting them, moving their arms and wheelchairs to dance with the music. They loved it. A lot of them were laughing and smiling. They ate lunch while the music played. I helped feed one little girl in a wheelchair who is probably around eleven. She kept dropping her towel/napkin on the floor because she thought it was funny. It was cute. Later on, a couple of clowns came and did animal balloons and a magic show for the children, who loved it. I sat with a little girl, probably around four or five, and fed her a bottle while we watched. I was sitting next to my teacher, who was holding Jose, and the little girl and Jose kept looking at each other and smiling. It was so funny.

I find it appropriate that today's Gospel was the one where Jesus says "the first shall be last and the last shall be first." In our society, people with disabilities are definitely treated as "the last." They are different from the norm; they are a major imperfection in a society that strives to be perfect and the best (and I am speaking about the United States, mostly because that's what I know). They are often objects of disgust, locked away in facilities where, despicably, they are sometimes abused. In our world, the disabled (I don't really like that word, but I don't know how else to say it) are often treated as being sub-human. But in God's eyes, they are far from that; they are creation.

Today at Mass, I felt a lot of different emotions, but the two major ones were shame and humility. Mostly, I felt incredibly unworthy to be surrounded by those who are first in God's kingdom, these most innocent and vulnerable of God's children. Throughout my life, I have been surrounded by complacency and comfort, which was why when I first met these children and patients at the hospital, I felt uncomfortable being outside of my normal. And I felt ashamed for feeling this way. Throughout the day, my feelings of uncomfort eased, but this sense of humility, a kind of awe at God's creation, remained. I definitely plan to go back to the hospital more. It's certainly more possible to do so now that my Spanish is better. My teacher said this week we could go again. But anyway, those are my thoughts for now. I am sure that this will be in the back of my mind for quite a while though. I will blog more if I have some more thoughts. But I think that's good for tonight.

Peace to all who read this!

Halfway...

Hello again!

So this week is my sixth week in Guatemala, which means I have six more to go. It's amazing how much time flies, yet another six weeks still feels like quite a long time. Earlier today, when I was standing at my usual corner in Antigua waiting for the chicken bus, I found myself reflecting on how I was when I first arrived here. I can remember standing in that same corner six weeks ago, completely confused by my surroundings. I felt as if I had been plucked out of one world and thrown into another, which was both exciting and intimidating. The language of people on the streets washed over me; words floated by, their meanings a mystery I desperately wished I knew. Poco a poco, I often reminded myself: step by step. All in due time.

And now, here I am, six weeks later, and although much of the mystery remains, it is much less foreign. I am no longer confused (most of the time) when waiters in restaurants ask me questions, or when my host mom asks me to do something. Responding to questions or telling stories doesn't take nearly as long.  And, I believe I have mastered the art of getting on and off the chicken bus. I realized today that it's kind of a dance you have to do, jumping on and finding a seat as the bus jerks forward,  getting the timing right for using the seats as a crutch when you walk down the aisle, anticipating the stops and starts, learning to change seats more towards the front as the bus empties out, just so you can get off faster. The chicken bus, for me, is now as routine as taking my car to work. And the first time I rode on it, I nearly fell flat on my face. I hadn't gotten my sea legs yet.

So those are just some of my thoughts for now. No pictures today, I'm afraid. Guatemala's Independence Day is this Thursday, so I imagine I will have some pictures then of some of the goings-on.

Peace to all who read this!

Trip to Yepocopa

Hello friends and family!

Well, I have some beautiful pictures to share with you all, and hopefully a few more interesting stories. Today I went to Yepocapa, a town in Chimaltenango, the department northwest of Antigua. My host father/director of Probigua invited me to go with him to a program presented by children at Colegio San Pedro, a school in Yepocapa. This school receives a lot of support from Probigua; in fact, because of their support, children are able to attend for free. It's quite an opportunity for children in Yepocapa. They even have a room full of computers with Internet, which is hard to come by in that area.

But anyway, Yepocapa, although not very far from Antigua, is a bit of a trek to get there in back, mostly becausethe road is not paved the whole way and there are many mountains to go there. However, it offers quite the beautiful scenery. At one point, we pulled over so I could shoot some pictures of the mountains in the distance. Here's some shots:

In the distance, though it is difficult to see because of the clouds, you can kind of see the Pacific Ocean. It would be a two hour drive from there, but we were so high up you could see it in the distance. Apparently, this picture was taken at 2800 meters above sea level, about 9,000 feet high. It sure was cold and windy, but the fresh air was a welcome change from the bus-exhaust filled streets of Antigua.

When we arrived at Yepocapa, we went straight into the school and the program started pretty much immediately. For the first part, the students who were voted as the best pupils in the school were recognized in front of everyone. For the second part, each grade level performed a dance/skit for the school to celebrate the cultural heritage of Guatemala. Many schools right now are doing similar things because next week, September 15th, is their independence day. So many schools are doing cultural "recitals" of sorts and are doing much practicing with their marching band. Well, needless to say, the program was fantastic. All the kids  were so cute and they all did a great job. It was also wonderful seeing so many parents there to watch their kids celebrate their cultural heritage. I have more pictures here. But I also took some videos, which are following:

Hope you enjoyed the videos and pictures!

Lessons in Many Things Guatemalan

Hola amigos y familia! Espero que ustedes están bien!

There's a little Spanish for you all today...you probably can catch the gist. If not, go to Google translate.

Well, I have quite a few new pictures for you all today, which is definitely a good thing! This past Friday, I climbed up to Cerra de La Cruz, a big cross on top of a hill overlooking Antigua. I went with a girl from Spain who has been volunteering at the school, a guy from Australia who is currently a student at Probigua, and a girl from Guatemala who was our guide of sorts (we didn't know how to get there, so she offered to take us). It is quite a view:

See what I mean? We went on the perfect day too, because most afternoons in the rainy season it is pretty cloudy. It was still kind of cloudy because you can't see the volcano, but it wasn't so cloudy that we couldn't see the city. So that was an experience! Afterwards, the four of us went and had a drink at a German bar (in Guatemala, go figure, but apparently there are a lot of Germans here). My Spanish has gotten to a point where I can hold a polite conversation, more or less. The student from Australia just started learning Spanish, so I kind of had to translate some of what was being said. It was pretty funny actually, I realized halfway through our conversation: here we are, a woman from Spain who speaks only Spanish and some English, a woman from Guatemala who speaks only Spanish, a guy from Australia who speaks basically only English, and me, from the United States, speaking English and a little Spanish. And we were in a German bar. In Guatemala. It was quite the international experience. 

The next morning, I went with the girl from Spain and guy from Australia to the market in Antigua. We weren't looking for anything in particular, just kind of walking around. The market on Saturdays is absolutely crazy though. There are a ton of people who do their shopping that day. Luckily for me, I was able to try something new: a fruit called a rambutan (or, as people here call them, "lyches." The name sounds about as appetizing as they look). These are a fruit that look like a cross between a hedgehog and a strawberry. However, they are surprisingly delicious. Here are some pictures:

You eat them by peeling off the skin and eating the inside (except for the pit). It has the texture of a grape and is very sweet. I enjoyed them.

Later that day, I went off and did some more exploring of Antigua. For one, I decided to tour the ruins of the old Cathedral, which was built in the 1600s and was subsequently destroyed in the earthquake of 1773 (which was so large that it destroyed most of the structures in Antigua and forced the Guatemalan government to move the capital of Guatemala from Antigua to Guatemala City, where it is today). The ruins were quite fascinating. You can view pictures of them (and other things around Antigua) here on my Facebook.

Another great thing that I saw (finally) was a marimba. For those of you who don't know (because I sure didn't before I came here), the marimba is a very big deal in Guatemala; it is their national musical instrument and a major cultural symbol. Basically, when you think Guatemala and you think music, you have to think marimba; marimba is Guatemala (though my teacher tells me that some people in Mexico try to take credit for it, but they are wrong...I sensed a bit of bitterness there, haha). The marimba is a type of xylophone that originated with indigenous people in Guatemala. At that time, it was made from wood and gourds, but now it is only made of wood. I found out as soon as I came here how important marimba is for Guatemalans. Every day at lunch, without fail, my family and I listen to marimba on the radio. However, I had never seen what one looked like until this weekend. I took a video of it so you could see and hear it. I also panned around a little bit so you could get a nice look at Parque Central and the current cathedral in Antigua:

I was also lucky to be in Antigua on this day because there were a ton of marching bands circling the block of the parque One of the really cool things about this place is that they have random bands march down the streets all the time, for no reason that I can find out. This was the third time in a month that I stumbled upon a marching band. I think that music is just a very important part of the culture. I was able to get a longer video of one of the bands, which were mostly drums. They are quite good. I was a little sad, though, because when I was done filming, another band with xylophones started to play the tune to "Bad Romance," by Lady Gaga, a song I have heard here quite often. I tried to film it but my memory card was full. Hopefully another day. Here's the other video:

There's more to say, but I think that is enough for one post. Hope you enjoy the pictures and videos!

God must know how much I love peanut butter...

Hello friends! I can't believe another week is finished. It was definitely filled with many lessons, both in Spanish and in life.

For one, this past week I learned from my teacher how she started visiting the San Hermano Pedro Hospital. It was quite an endearing, and amazing story. She said that several years ago, she had visited the children's ward at the hospital and had been very overwhelmed, not knowing what to do with herself, being a little afraid of the whole situation. It is understandable; many people are not used to being around children so sick. She told herself she didn't think she could go back, and she didn't. For a while. Later that year, she went with a friend to volunteer at a recovery home for malnourished children. There she met a boy named Jose who did not talk very much and did not like other people touching him or talking to him. He was certainly malnourished, but there was more to it. He couldn't walk and couldn't talk and needed physical therapy almost every day. My teacher volunteered to to his physical therapy exercises because they did not always have a physical therapist there at the malnourished children's center. So she visited Jose very often, and slowly but surely, Jose became much more okay with being around people. Eventually, my teacher found out that Jose had been abandoned by his parents and was being transferred to San Hermano Pedro Hospital where he would probably live the rest of his life. When my teacher heard this, she vowed that she would visit him until the day she died. Ever since, she and her husband have gone to the hospital every Sunday to visit him. On Christmases, they are allowed to bring Jose to their house for the day. It's really amazing because many people at the hospital think that Jose is their kid. Now, because of all the attention and love she has given him, he will let people touch him; he smiles and laughs, even though he cannot talk, whereas when my teacher first met him, he was very afraid of people. After she told me this story, I was utterly amazed. What an unselfish act of love. It's quite beautiful, really.

On an entirely different note, later this week I was walking home from school and I was struck by an incredibly overwhelming craving for peanut butter. For those of you who may not know me as well, peanut butter is one of my favorite things in the world. I have it with one, often two, meals a day. After going without it for three weeks, I think it all built up on me. I actually dreamed about it: how sad is that? The next day, I was walking through Antigua on my way home, and I was looking down while I was walking. All of a sudden, I saw a chalkboard sign resting on the ground that had the word "manteca" written on it. "Manteca" is Spanish (more or less) for peanut butter. I kid you not, I gasped, stopped in my tracks, and marched into the tienda and bought a tiny jar of peanut butter (which cost 5 bucks, probably because it was shipped from the US but I didn't care). It was such a happy accident.

Last night, we had lasagna for dinner because today is my host parent's oldest daughter's birthday, and I guess lasagna is her favorite. It was hilarious though because Rosio, one of the two little girls who lives here, was so funny about it. I went down to get some water and Rosio ran up to me and said "Hicimos LASAGNA!" (we are making lasagna) and she was jumping up and down saying "muy rico" (it's so good!). Her whole face was lit up. And, let me tell you, throughout the whole meal, Rosio was completely ecstatic the entire time, and, even though she is super tiny for a ten year old, she ate more lasagna than I did. I couldn't help laughing, it was so funny. I guess they don't have lasagna very much...

That's all for now...hope all is well with everyone reading this!

Too Much to Say!

Hello, friends and family! Hope all of you are well! Sorry for the long delay in posts...there wasn't much new happening last week, and then this weekend, a ton of stuff happened! So now there's much to say.

My days last week mostly involved going to Spanish school and walking around Antigua. One place I visited is the enormous San Francisco Church on the south side of Antigua. This church was built in the 1500s, so not only is it gigantic, but very very cool. One of the neat things about it is that San Hermano Pedro, the first saint from Antigua (and Guatemala, I believe) is buried there. So this is a majorly important place for Guatemalans, let alone Antigua. I was able to take some pictures, which are on my facebook. But here's a little preview:

Okay, so the outside is a bit worse for wear (this building somehow survived two rather significant earthquakes that turned several other buildings into ruins, though it didn't make it through without a few scratches...as you can tell from the right of the picture), but the inside is beautiful. Alas, I do not have any pictures of the inside. There were signs saying no picture taking, and I didn't want to be THAT foreigner. You can see more pictures from around the church here, and you will get some more of the history from those pictures too. I can't put it all here.

Although my week was pretty chill, the weekend was a bit fuller. Rosa Maria, my Spanish teacher, invited me to her parents' house on Saturday for lunch because it was her mom's birthday. So on Saturday, after doing some shopping in the market in Antigua and picking up a pumpkin pie, we took a bus to San Luis, a town right outside of Antigua. When we got off the bus, it was very obvious we were not in Antigua anymore. The town is much more impoverished. And I was probably the only white person there at the time. This became apparent to me when I was walking down the road with Rosa Maria, who, incidentally, is four inches shorter than ME, if you can believe it, and everyone who passed by was staring at us. Or, me, rather. Everyone was very nice, don't get me wrong. But it became apparent that not many foreigners frequent that town. Eventually we got to her parents house, and I was greeted by a small old lady, which is Rosa Maria's mom. As I found out, her parents live very simply: they have a small stove on the inside of their house, but they also have an outdoor kitchen where they do most of the cooking. They don't have any indoor plumbing, and their sink is outside. Her mom grows coffee in their yard as a way of making income, but her parents are getting to an age where they can't do much more hard labor than that. It was quite different from Antigua, but I was glad about that.

One of the best parts of Saturday was helping to prepare lunch. My teacher told me to go to the outside kitchen to help her mom make TORTILLAS. How cool is that? So I went outside, and there was her mom, so little, kneading away at the tortilla dough and pounding out tortilla after tortilla. It was mesmerizing how fast she could go. When I went up to her, she gave me a hunk of dough and showed me how to pound it flat to put on the hot stove top. So I did. Mine were a lot smaller and oddly-shaped than hers, but she said they were ok! At least they were edible. When we were done, there was a bowl of water by the stove for rinsing our hands. I didn't have a towel so I just wiped my wet hands, after rinsing, on my pants. Well, I was wearing black pants. You can probably guess what happened:

Yep. Floury-water left floury handprints on my pants. Super attractive, I know.

All in all, I was very glad my teacher invited me to her parents house in San Luis because I was able to see a side of Guatemala that I hadn't seen yet, but  had a strong desire to learn about. The house where I am doing my homestay, although extremely nice, is certainly not the way most Guatemalans live. So I felt honored that my teacher was so welcoming as to invite me not only to meet her family, but also to see the reality of life for many Guatemalans.  I was extremely humbled by their welcoming presence. I know that the United States is probably not the most favorite country of many people in Latin America, but they couldn't have been warmer to me. 

The next day, which was Sunday, was much quieter. I went to Mass at La Merced, which was packed, albeit beautiful. When I sat down I was admiring a magnificent carpet in the middle of the aisle. However, when I looked closer I gasped: it wasn't a carpet at all. It was colored sand. I had to take a picture:

It was absolutely amazing. Can you imagine how long that took? So so beautiful.

Later on in the day, I had a couple little adventures. First of all, I went to the store and bought laundry soap to hand wash my clothes. I was looking for liquid soap, but all I could see were different kinds of blocks of soap. Then I realized: that was the laundry soap! They come in packs of three, but if people just want one, then they take one out of the pack and pay for it. So that's what I did. When I told a friend and my parents about washing my clothes in my bathroom sink, they asked for some process pictures. I got one, which I think is probably plenty because it's really not that exciting:

You see that semi-cyllindrical, bluish-green thing on the left of the faucet? That's my laundry soap. I actually quite like it. It smells very good, and is much more practical for hand washing clothes.

The other kinda funny thing about Sunday has to do with Lazario, the parakeet. I had finally coaxed the bird into letting it sit on my finger without trying to bite me, and I wanted a picture of it. So here it is:

She's cute, huh?

So I was standing there, hanging out with the parakeet, taking a couple of pictures, and the next thing I know, she starts walking up my arm to sit on my shoulder. She had never done that before, so it caught me quite by surprise. Here's another picture:

The challenge, I found out, was getting her off my shoulder. I tried to put my finger up for her to step on, but she reached out to try and bite it. So that was a no go. So I bent down towards her perch, thinking she might step off my shoulder and onto the perch. Oh, no. No, she walked onto my back. So there I was, walking around with a parakeet on my back, trying not to stand all the way up because she might start biting my ear or my neck or something. And she can't fly, so if I stood up, she would just fall. I couldn't even coax her all the way down my arm with a banana. Eventually, I had to sit on the ground and bend all the way over to her food bowl, which she jumped onto. I was SO glad no one was home at the time because I looked ridiculous, walking around frantically with a parakeet chilling on my back, enjoying the ride. It was pretty special.

Well, I think that's all for today. There's more to say but I will write more tomorrow so as not to overwhelm everyone. Peace to all who read this!

Happy Feast of the Assumption!

Hello all! I hope everyone has enjoyed their Mondays!

Well, my Saturday was uneventful, but my Sunday was anything but. Sunday morning, I met up with a woman who used to work for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis and now she works and lives in Antigua. It was nice to make a connection with someone from back home, even if I hadn't met her before. Just being able to talk about familiar places like Broadripple and Glendale Mall was a little comfort in a place so far away. The cool thing is that she works for an organization that coordinates medical missions to Guatemala. So part of her job is to bring doctors from other countries to come to Guatemala and perform surgeries on people who usually could not afford them. As such, she works very closely with San Pedro Hospital, a Catholic hospital located in the heart of Antigua. This hospital is a medical clinic for people needing short-term treatment, but it is also a place where people with mental and physical disablities live full-time. Oftentimes, Guatemalan families who have a child with a disability cannot afford to take care of him or her. As a result, many of these families bring them to San Pedro Hospital to essentially be raised there. So people live their entire lives at that hospital. It is very sad, though what an incredible service.

When I met up with this particular woman from Indianapolis, we went to mass at the church next to San Pedro Hospital. When I walked into the church, the first thing I saw was the middle aisle and sides of the church lined with people in wheelchairs. Hospital nurses were wheeling people in left and right for Sunday mass. The sides of the altar, especially, were full of small children in wheelchairs. Each Sunday, these same people who live at the hospital full time, who have either mental or physical handicaps, are wheeled in to attend Sunday mass. In fact, most of the people at that Mass were residents of the hospital, though there were a good number of others from the community as well. It was quite an experience, let me tell you. Throughout mass I was astonished by the level of care given to these people, even in regards to their religious faith, which showed in the way many of them tried to sing along with the songs, say the Lord's Prayer and Nicene Creed, and say the proper Mass responses. On my way out of mass, several people in wheelchairs reached out to give me peace. When I took the hand of one of the men, who was in his forties and had a severe mental handicap, I was astonished when I saw him take it with both hands and kiss the top of it. I didn't know what to do: it was completely overwhelming.

On the way out of Mass, I was greeted by none other than Rosa Maria, my Spanish teacher. She goes to that Mass almost every Sunday and volunteers at the hospital next door afterwards. Volunteers at the hospital do many things, but she volunteers in the ward where the disabled children live. So she and the other volunteers do things like playing with the children, feeding them, and simply holding babies in the nursery to make sure they receive the human touch they need. When I toured the hospital a few minutes after Mass, I saw Rosa Maria again, sitting in a chair holding a baby with a small breathing tube. I didn't really know what to say: it was overwhelmingly sad, but beautiful at the same time. I hope to volunteer there, starting soon. It is right in Antigua and my afternoons are pretty free. That is my plan and I will be sure to keep everyone posted.

Today, as many of you probably know, is the Feast of the Assumption of Mary into heaven. This is a big deal for Catholics; it is one of the few Holy Days of Obligation. So today, in Jocotenango (the neighborhood I live in), there was a humongous festival in front of the Church of Jocotenango. Actually, the festival has been all weekend, but today it had more of a religious flavor. The Church of Jocotenango is, I believe, called La Iglesia de La Asuncion (The Church of the Assumption). So obviously, today was especially important for them. They had tons of food and games and merchants, people doing dances in the street, and they even had carnival rides. This morning, they had a Eucharistic procession through the streets of Jocotenango, and the rest of the day there was Eucharistic Adoration in the church sanctuary. I spent some time in the afternoon in the church and outside, just seeing all the festivities. There were so many people, so it was very cool. I took a video of some women dancing outside of the church, which you can see here:

Don't ask about the masks because I have no clue what their significance is, and I don't know enough Spanish to ask yet. Maybe in a few weeks.

So yeah, the festival was quite a sight! They are very interested in their religious holidays here in Guatemala. You can click here to view more pictures of the festival.

On another interesting subject, when I was reading the Guatemalan paper this evening, I came across this article:

 Recognize it? It's about the stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis. In the Guatemalan Newspaper. I could not believe it. It was a freak accident that was completely tragic, but I had no idea that even Guatemala would report on it. Wow.

I know this was a long post, so I'll leave you with something on a slightly lighter note. My homework for tonight? Reading a Dora the Explorer book in Spanish. I have to read it out loud to my teacher tomorrow. Here's the book:

Yeah, I feel about two years old. Oh well though!

Much peace to all who read this!

Lazy Day

Happy Saturday everyone! Although this is my first weekend in Guatemala, I decided to take it easy today. I did do a little exploring of Antigua, but not a whole lot. Good thing too because when I got to Antigua, I realized that my camera was out of batteries! So I think it will be better to site-see on a day when I can take pictures.

Overall, my day was not super exciting. I slept in until eight (though I woke up by myself at 6:40, when I normally get up. I guess my body is pretty adjusted to my new schedule!). One quick aside: I don't know what it is about Guatemala, but it makes me want to sleep so much.  I can sleep ten hours, take a two hour nap after lunch, and go to bed at nine thirty and fall asleep right away. It's not even that I feel exhausted all day, either, I just can really sleep! Maybe it's the elevation (I think we are 5,000 feet above sea level). Or maybe it's just that four hours a day of learning a new language really takes a lot out of me.

After breakfast I was able to video chat with my family, and after that, I voyaged to Antigua! I decided to walk instead of taking a bus into town, but I don't think I will do that again soon. It took 25 minutes and I felt like I was breathing bus exhaust the entire time. Gross. I went in the center of the city to find a relatively cheap place to get lunch. I found a Mexican-cantina type place that sounded good, so I ordered a lemonade and a fajita-type thing. Both were delicious, especially the lemonade (fresh squeezed), though I was a little hesitant to drink it when I saw they put ice in it (I've heard it's better to get things without ice because you don't know if it was made with pure water or not). However, this place serves a lot of tourists and when I looked and saw other gringos (aka white people) having drinks with ice, I figured it was ok. So far, I'm doing ok! Thankfully. My entire meal was around five or six bucks (including tip), which is really cheap.

After lunch I walked around the city a bit more but decided to head back home. My host family was out for the day, so the house was pretty quiet. I watched TV in the family room which was HILARIOUS because so many random shows were dubbed in Spanish. For example, I watched "Dan en La Vida Real" (Dan in Real Life), the Bourne Identity, and, the funniest: American Pickers. That last one was definitely the most entertaining.

Ok, so this post is less than exciting, but this next part is: when I came upstairs to my room after it had rained, I looked across the courtyard outside of the house and I saw an enormous rainbow. It was beautiful. Don't worry: I did get a picture of that. Here it is:

Beautiful huh? The best part is that at the same time I saw the rainbow, a nearby festival was playing "Bad Romance." I think Lady Gaga would approve.

That's all for now! Blessings and peace to all who read this!

I Would Stumble Upon a Funeral...

Well everyone, today was another exciting day in Antigua. Yesterday was not so much, because I mostly stayed at home (which was good because it rained really hard in the afternoon). Today, however, I did some more exploring around Antigua.

First of all, to those of you who have requested, I finally got a picture of a chicken bus. Here's a picture of the one I took today, after I got off it:

As you can see, the guy who collects the money from people literally hangs onto the bus as he shouts to people on the street to tell them where the bus is going to next. And as soon as you step into the bus, it takes off. I saw the bus pull away from a lady who just got off and by the time she reached into her pocket to pay, the bus was gone. So I guess she got a free ride that time!

As I mentioned, I spent time this afternoon walking around the city, including visiting La Merced to get some pictures of the inside (which you can see here, just scroll down to the bottom of the album). Although adoration wasn't going on when I was there, a sign said that it was supposed to happen sometime on Thursdays. So, when I saw a man setting up the altar for a liturgy, I figured adoration was supposed to start pretty soon. So I sit in a pew a few rows from the front of the church, waiting to see what happens. The next thing I know, I look over, and there are a ton of people wearing black pushing a casket down the aisle. It was a funeral they were preparing for. I crashed a funeral! I was so embarassed. I immediately stood up and quietly walked past the funeral crowd, many of whom were crying solemnly, and left the church. I felt so bad, but I had no idea! Anyway, I guess it was kind of funny. Hopefully they didn't notice me (though I do stick out quite a bit being young and white. The only thing that makes me fit in is being short! Sometimes it does come in handy...).

The rest of the afternoon I walked around Antigua and visited Parque Central, the central park of the city. It was pretty nice; very touristy though. I also managed to find a nice cafe near the park where I can sit and read if I want. It looks like a pretty nice place. There are pictures of it in my facebook album as well. 

Ok well, I am barely keeping my eyes open as I write this, so it's time to go to bed. It's raining really hard, which makes me want to go right to sleep. Peace to all who read this!

Parades and La Merced

Hello everyone! So today was my second day of Spanish school and my first day taking the chicken bus. Both were quite an experience, let me tell you.

This morning, at school, I learned many different Spanish verbs, which was great because then the last half hour of class I was able to talk to my teacher in Spanish and actually make complete sentences instead of random words strung together. In the middle of class, though, I could hear drums and horns coming from the street and my teacher looked at me and said "Vamos" (let's go). We walked out to the sidewal with the rest of the students at Probigua and we saw a parade of school children marching and playing instruments. Some of the girls were dancing, and many of the boys were playing drums. The parade was to celebrate the indigenous heritage of Guatemala. The music was very well done and the school kids were super cute. It was definitely the highlight of the day. Scroll to the end of this post and you can see a link to some pictures and a short video I took of the parade.

In the afternoon, I learned how to take the chicken bus, so I was able to explore Antigua. Ok, so let me explain: although my school is in Antigua, my house is in a neighborhood called Jocotenango which is on the edge of Antigua. It's a little bit far to walk to my school, so the past couple days I got a ride from my host mom. Today, however, I learned how to ride the chicken bus, which are these really colorful buses that go all over Antigua, and many of them have Yosemite Sam painted on them (idk why...it's pretty weird!). Anyway, you pretty much have to jump on the bus (they don't stop for very long) and it takes you to Antigua. There are a bunch of people who take them and it's pretty cheap. For those of you who might be cringing reading this: don't worry. They are pretty safe. And I take them in the middle of the day in well-populated areas.

One of the major places I explored this afternoon was La Merced, this really cool old church around the corner from Probigua. I posted pictures of the outside of the church to my facebook, but I don't have any pictures of the inside. At the time I visited La Merced, the church was having Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament (which was really neat to see...they were praying the rosary as well), so I didn't feel like it was appropriate to take pictures. Maybe another day I will go back. Anyway, it was quite an afternoon! The bus is quite an adventure, as is exploring the city of Antigua. It is amazing how many Americans are here, and many of them don't necessarily go to Spanish school. 

That's all for now. Time for me to go to bed and rest for tomorrow. 

Click here for photos from today.

This is the (very short) video of the parade.

First Day of Spanish School

 

                          My school 

                    The street outside my school.

Hello friends! Hope all is well wherever you are!

My first day of Spanish school was pretty good. I woke up in the morning, had breakfast, and my host mom drove Austin and I to Probigua (the name of my Spanish school). There I met my teacher, Rosa Maria. We began talking immediately and she asked me a lot of questions (most of which I cannot answer; I know a bit of vocabulary, but my verb usage is terrible. Anything more complicated than "tengo" (I have), "soy" (I am), and "esta" (it is) is beyond me. So basically, I speak like a two year old). However, it was amazing how much I was able to understand what she was saying. Believe me, there were many times when I shrugged my shoulders and said "No comprendo" (I don't understand), but despite having only a semester of Spanish four years ago, I did a lot better than I thought. Our lesson this morning focused on colors (yeah, my Spanish is that bad...I only knew azul, verde, rosa, rojo, blanco, and negro. Pretty sad), words for family members (such as "sobrina" for niece, "los cunados" for brothers in law, etc.) I also had to explain to Rosa Maria that I have two sisters named Stephanie. She looked at me, raised an eyebrow, and she said "Tu familia es muy complicado" (Your family is very complicated). Don't I know it. Other than that, we discussed adverbs of place and by the time we were done, my head hurt. Overall, it was a good morning.

I also met a woman from Colorado named Lauren. She has been here for two months and it seems like her Spanish is very good (though she told me that two months ago she didn't know any, which made me feel better. I hope I'll be the same way). There were a lot of other Americans at the school, including a young couple and their two sons who are using their vacation to learn Spanish (which I thought was cool).

This afternoon I stayed in my house because I was exhausted from the morning. While I was taking a nap in my room, I woke up to pounding on the roof: it was pouring rain like crazy. It is their rainy season, after all. I also found out the name of my family's parakeet: Lazario. Why, you may ask? Apparently, my host mother accidentally stepped on it and it "resucito" (resurrected). I thought that was hilarious. The rest of the afternoon I did my homework, which was making a list of all the things in my room using the vocabulary I learned today. It went okay I think. When I started writing this post, I already noticed that it was weird for me to write in English because I got used to Spanish after just a day. I think that means good things.

Well that's all for today. Adios!

Oh, click here for pictures from today. I added them to the album that I made yesterday.

Hola From Antigua!

Hello friends! Well I made it to Antigua safe and sound, thank the Lord. I left this morning at 6:30 and arrived in Guatemala City at 1:20 (3:20 Eastern time). Luckily the trip was mostly uneventful, other than sitting next to a guy from Puget Sound who plays the tuba for a post-rock band.

When my plane finally arrived in Guatemala, luckily I made it through customs and immigration without a hitch and when I walked out of the airport, I saw a sign with my name on it. The man holding the sign is my host dad (his name is Rigoberto). My Spanish immersion began as soon as we shook hands. He can speak English but we did our best to speak Spanish (so there was very little speaking on my end, but I honestly ok with the little Spanish that I do know). After 45 minutes driving, we arrived at my house in Antigua. Currently at the house there is a mom and a dad, their daughter named Julia (who is eleven and, I found out, is obsessed with Justin Bieber. Not only do I know this because she speaks some English, but I could also tell by the four JB posters in her room), a girl named Rosario (who is ten; I know she's not their daughter but I think they said she's Julia's cousin? I'm not really sure but she's cute regardless and doesn't speak a lick of English), and a volunteer at my Spanish school named Austin (he's a young guy originally from Tennessee). Reyna and Rigoberto have two other daughters who are away at university, so they don't live at the house now.

Now let me just say this: I LOVE my house. It is amazing. Basically, it's a house built around a courtyard filled with gigantic plants and a parakeet that chills at their house, walking around pecking at things. Random. It's beautiful. Click on the link below to see the pictures (it's through facebook but it's a public link so you can see it even if you don't have facebook):

Click here to see pictures!

Overall, here are my first impressions of Antigua/Guatemala so far:

• The presidential election is coming up soon and it is insane. There are soooo many candidates and there are posters of them plastered EVERYWHERE. 
• Antigua's streets are cobblestone and therefore ridiculously uncomfortable to drive on. Seriously. Anyone who gets carsick should not ride in a car on those streets without a heavy dosage of Dramamine.
• Someone (I don't know who) likes to fire a cannon or firework or something every fifteen minutes or so. It is really loud and I always jump but no one else in the house even flinches. 
• I think it's funny that some of Julia and Rosario's favorite music is rap. They were listening to rap music on Julia's mp3 player while I was in the living room with them and an Eminem song came on blurting out a bunch of f-words and other types of obscenities. It took me aback that they were allowed to listen to that when they were so young. Then I realized: they have no clue those are bad words. Anyway, it was kind of a funny moment and made me think about all the Spanish songs I've listened to. They could be nothing but variations on the f-word in Spanish and I would be utterly clueless.

Also, did I mention that Antigua is absolutely beautiful? These were from the roof of their house. They have a terrace-type thing.

Oh, hey, in case you were wondering...that ^ is definitely a volcano. Pretty sweet huh?

Okay I think that's enough for now. I'm exhausted. Tomorrow is my first day of Spanish school!