Finally! A Brother Post!

Ok, so I'm starting to get into trouble for not blogging, and for those of you who know me this shouldn't be terribly shocking as I tend to just drop of the face of the earth sometimes, but yeah, anyways, my sister's pretty good at peer pressuring me. So I should probably begin by saying, "Hola, es mi, Pablo!" but I feel like literary pseudonymity isn't really all that vogue anymore, slash the theatrical effect would totes be lost on most of you, so I'll drop things down a notch and accept the anglo-american banality of my first name. I'm Zack, and I am in Guatemala.

I'd like to say that my arrival in Guate was painless, but that would be boring and not worth a paragraph, so yes, I can attest to the just nature of my sister's post when she so elegantly recounted my late night episode of waiting...alone...stranded...in the dark... outside of the world's most ghetto-fab airport after 12 hours of chugaluggin' through tropical storm Gerty. Worst. Sister. Ever. Nahhhh just keeding. It was actually pretty funny. I got to meet a pair of exceedingly kind Guatemalans (it seems to be more of the rule than the exception here. Except of course for the ones that like to murder people), and it's always a pleasure to see my dearest sister again. I don't know if any of you have had the good fortune to chat with my sister past midnight, or when she's just up from a nap, but good god is it fun.The convo is generally pretty groggy, pretty hard to follow, and never fails to make me smile. :) After arriving at Los Rincones, he apartamento, I ate some lasagna and was shown to my suite.

The following morning, ie- 3 hours later, I was awaken at 5:45 (the earliest I've been up in ten years) and got ready for my first day at Colegio Interamericano. I was decently awake, some coffee required, and maybe just a little bit nervous at the thought of my first face-off with a group of 8-year-olds. In the game of elementary school, every day is a battle, a perpetual struggle of influence, an incessant attempt to establish one's authority. I've seen a 3rd grade teacher loose control before. It ain't pretty.

Just kidding. Turns out they're not actually monsters, as I once so firmly believed. We like to play games like tag, 'Mr Zack is a monster', and hide-n-seek. Except they insist on playing it in a field, sooooo, yeah. I don't think they quite get the concept. I wish I could thoroughly chronicle the daily comings and goings of 3-B, because to be quite honest, getting to know these kids has been one of the coolest parts of this trip, but to do so would be anything but fair. They're just too cool for that. So, if you truly want to get a taste of Miss Hannah's glorious Guatemalan life, I suggest you start by spending some time in her classroom :)

In fact, I was so touched by this experience that I myself have begun seriously considering the prospect of teaching (public affirmation=self contract?). Although I'm well aware that I'll never live up to my big sister's reputation as a B.A.T. (bad a$$ teacher), I have a lot of energy, a lot to offer, and I think I could get pretty used to signing two year contracts and living all around the world. Thinkin' maybe China? Sorry mom! ;)

Speaking of living around the world, I'm so thankful to have had this opportunity to spend an entire month getting to see a country I likely would've never known otherwise. Guatemala is a beautiful country, with amazing natural beauty, impressive diversity, unending adventures to be had, and a whole lot of problems. I was lucky enough to come at a very particular time with the arrival of the rainy season, guatemala's 190th b-day partay, and the presidential primary elections. The combination of political propaganda strewn about the entire capital (literally posters on every available surface), and the daily monsoon around 3pm made the grass all the greener on the other side of the city limits. I was able to spend a significant amount of time out of the city at Lake Atitlan, the beach, Antigua, and Semuc Champey (coolest place I've ever been) so we definitely took full advantage of our free weekends.  I'll write up another post for Semuc Champey, because it deserves the extra attention, but I think I'm gunna call it quits for now. Spent about 5 hours in the toilet blowing chunks etc. last night (bless your bitter heart, Montezuma, but that's Central America for you) so I think I'm gunna take a nap in Miss Camille's class while the kids are at recess. Thanks for reading! :)