Dia de la Madre

Did you know that Mother's Day in Guatemala always falls on May 10th? That means this year it was on a Tuesday and instead of giving us only Tuesday off, they decided to give the mothers of our students a real treat by having their kids home from school for a four day weekend. Though I'm certain many mothers were pleased to have their little ones making them breakfast in bed and showering them in homemade "coupons" that they made in 3A, I'm not sure that anyone enjoyed the 4-day weekend as much as the teachers did.

Heading into the break, there were a number of opportunities for travel that were options for the long weekend. First choice was to go to El Salvador with Tom to the best surfing beach in Central America. I had a ton of fun there last time we went but after having a heart-to-heart with myself, I realized it would be better to go somewhere that I have yet to see. Another option was to go see my dear friend, Amy, who is currently teaching at an international school in Honduras. Though Guatemala and Honduras are neighbors on a map, the capital cities are actually about a 12 hour bus ride apart. So by the time I got there, we would hang out in her capital city, I would get to see her awesome teaching for only one day, then I would be on a bus back to Guate. The last option was to go to Belize with three other coworkers. It sounded like the perfect plan until we realized that Belize, though also connected to Guatemala, is a 13 hour trip. 

Being a Mayan Princess

So, Makenzie and I almost literally closed our eyes, pointed to a spot on the map, and set sail. We ended up in Copan, Honduras; a city a mere 12km from the boarder of Guatemala but worlds apart in culture. First, the town was just plain awesome. Totally safe to walk around (even at night), plenty of restaurants to try, and close to hundreds of things to do outdoors. We explored ancient Mayan Ruins, walked through a rescued bird sanctuary (I know, I know, I can hardly believe it myself!), explored the city by foot and tuk-tuk, and scaled a canyon via river and a number of other ridiculous things. We met some interesting folks along the way as well, including our anti-American (yet Honduran exploiting) tour guide, a couple from the Netherlands who had no idea it was unsafe for them to stand on a busy street corner with three bags of luggage at their feet (we ended up giving them a ride to their hostal; sweetest people ever!), and a hotel owner who told me my Spanish was good (sure knows how to flatter a girl, even if he was exaggerating).

During our waterfall tour, there were parts of the hike where we had to lasso a rope around a log and belay ourselves down a cravas, crawl through a 2.5 deep hole on your stomachs with rushing water and rocks all around us, and of course jump off numerous cliffs and get talked into performing a number of dives for the local kids playing in the water.

Mak D jumping off waterfalls and stuff

Hannah. So close to birds right now. Hannah.

Though the waterfall tour was super intense, it was not nearly as terrifying as the bird sanctuary. I tend to pride myself in not having many fears and willingly taking risks which is why the random fear of birds I have is so incredibly irrational. Though I believe it stemmed from both the Alfred Hitchcock movie, "The Birds" and the fact that my little brother use to torment me as a kid by letting his pet birds fly around the house when my mom was gone, it still doesn't excuse the fact that at age 23 I am still absolutely terrified when birds are flying anywhere within a 20ft radius of my body. With Makenzie's encouragement (and reminder that the birds were in cages (though I do NOT believe birds should ever be caged; they scare me but they are pretty dang cool they because can fly. Cage=no flight)), we were able to walk around and see a number of rescued birds from around the world with me only running in fear from the cages twice.

Where the sacrificial ball games were played... eek!

The Mayan Ruinas were some of the most interesting artifacts I have ever seen in all my travels. The immense size of the structures were enough to make us tired walking around them so thinking about how a civilization was able to hand-carve and build these structures was nothing short of mind-blowing. It was really surreal to think about how different life was for the people who lived in those communities, especially because so much of what we think we know is actually still pretty uncertain. Makenzie has been to another ruins site in Northern Guatemala that is apparently much larger than this one and has since motivated me to make a trek up there to compare the two.

In all, our Mother's Day weekend was spent exploring and discussing the amazingness of life. Though I was unable to call my own mother on the day we celebrate in the U.S., it was lucky that Mother's Day fell on Tuesday in Guatemala so I could call her when we got home. Cheers to all the moms out there.

From My Mom

Wow! Where do I begin in my attempt to recreate this wonderful experience visiting Hannah here in Guatemala.  It has been an amazing 16 days of fun,  adventure, travel, cultural learning, and... exhaustion!

I arrived on a Friday night, bleary-eyed from traveling hours with my contacts in and sitting in the middle seat of both flights, first from Seattle and then a connecting flight from Houston.  I was sure that the haze outside of the cab window was simply my contacts getting dry! NOT. Guatemala City is very polluted but I didn't really know that until a week later because early the next morning we headed out for the beach on the Pacific Ocean.  The "we" that I am referring to is Hannah, Hannah's roommate Aubrey, and Aubrey's parents, Randy and Cary. 

We spent 3 nights at the beach, sleeping in thatched-roofed huts, eating Guatemalan food,  swimming in the ocean and playing in the pool.  The outdoor showers were beautiful, and yes they were surrounded by walls!  I was very interested in how the plumbing worked - bamboo pipes disguising the PVC piping, rain water catchments, etc.  The mosquito netting was a plus, especially once we realized what sleeping without one did to dorm mate/roommate Diane!!

We love Paredon!

It was on to Lake Atitlan on day three.  OMG, the most beautiful lake - 1000 feet deep and surrounded by volcanoes. We rented a gorgeous house for very little money.  FYI always light the pilot light when using a gas oven; explosion heard around the lake!!   We boated to the villages around the lake where we got some Guatemalan goodies and saw previews for the Semana Santa processions. It was there that we did a little cliff jumping off of 10 meters!  Lousy form but what the heck! 

Cliff jump victory dance!

With our buddy, Darwin

The house with the flammable oven

After four nights there it was on to Antigua and the Earth Lodge for another couple of days.  The Semana Santa processions were absolutely amazing. Elaborate "carpets" of colored sawdust and stenciled shapes of colorful sand.  The processions are throughout the Holy Week (Semana Santa) and represent the Last Supper and Crucifixion. We then had lunch at a restaurant owned by the mother of one of Hannah's students.  She later invited us to dinner at her house in Guatemala City (which was lovely!). Later we trekked up and down from the Earth Lodge (which uses proceeds to support a local village school) to Antigua in the back of a pickup truck!  The curvy, eroded roadway was a bit hairy!

"Carpet" this time made with plants

Antigua was once the capital of Guatemala but it had experienced too many earthquakes.  I didn't feel any while we were there but a slight volcanic eruption could be seen! I really, really enjoyed walking around the beautiful city, taking in the sights and the diverse culture.

Group shot at the Earthlodge

We headed back to Guatemala City on Easter Sunday.  Hannah had Monday off so we hung out at her apartment. Tuesday found us heading to her school at 6:10 am via school bus.  Her students were very excited to meet their teacher's mother.  I was very excited too!! They gathered around me to ask me questions such as, "who is your favorite soccer team" and "what is your favorite color", etc.  I was also asked if I liked to ride my bike. That question pertained to the scars on my knees! 

Miss I Lean

At lunch, I was asked if I painted my eyes blue (eye lids) - yikes!! That had to do with the prominent blood vessel above my left eye! Dang that thin Scandinavian skin. I went to school every day with Hannah and the kids were amazing.  But so was their teacher!  I want to be a 3rd-grader in Miss Hannah's class! Hannah has those kids eager to learn every moment of the day.  On Friday they got to learn about diarrhea from me, the GI nurse. I was asked some very good questions!  Hopefully, they will try to maintain good hand hygiene!   I was sad to say good-bye to them on Friday, but a couple of the kids told me that I was their favorite guest (sorry about that Mike!) I really hope to go back to see them next year.

Saturday, Hannah and I toured the real, unpolluted part of Guatemala City with her friend Juan Pablo.  He gave us history of the beautiful city and the country of Guatemala as we walked. Saturday evening we headed up to Pacaya.  You could still feel the heat from the 2010 eruption.  Roasting marshmallows over the ground was unreal!

At the Train Station Museum

A top Volcan Pacaya on a cloudy evening

Got home in time to get packed.  I was very sad to say "good-bye" to Hannah.  I kept thinking about how proud her father would have been - her sense of adventure and willingness to take risks are his legacy! Thank you Hannah for a trip of a lifetime!

Food for Thought

"Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."

-Martin Luther King Jr.

I-Lean

Recently I read up on the updates that Blogger has released for the 2011 year. Somewhere in my reading, I found some tips for how to keep readers reading. It mentioned to make your posts short, funny and full of pictures. So I am going to try to tell you about the less detailed, hysterical events that happened throughout the time with my mom and then when the internet decides to cooperate I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story. My mom got here two weeks ago today and we have since been swimming in the Pacific Ocean, boating in Lake Atitlan, strolling through the streets of Antigua, and playing in 3A. Here are a few highlights from the Semana Santa vacation:

1. The Beach: Aubrey, her parents, my mom and myself took a shuttle to Antigua, then another one to the beach, got there and took some pretty incredible naps. Aubrey found a dead crab, Tom roasted cashews over an open fire, my mom hurt her knee while playing in the waves, and we were all sung to sleep with the sounds of torrential rain. Tom's friends from home, Diane and Tyler, were visiting and they were certainly delightful people. We tried our best to convince Diane to accompany us to the lake but alas, she needed to continue her travels with her husband.

Family!

The view from our dock

2. The Lake: We rented a house at the lake and it turned out to be a wonderful idea. Despite the small oven explosion (who has ovens with pilot lights anymore?), a few instances of scorpions in the house, and a couple nights of downpour, we all thoroughly enjoyed our time at the lake. We went to a village called San Marcos and met a 12-year-old named Darwin who led us to a 10m platform in the middle of the rock surrounding the lake and Darwin, Aubrey's dad, my mom and myself all jumped off. That was probably the coolest part of the trip, besides when we nearly burnt the house down.

Riding in the back of pickup trucks of course

My mom jumping off stuff

3. Antigua: After all the talk we heard about the processions in Antigua, we were pretty much all chomping at the bit to see them with our own eyes. They did not disappoint. There were thousands of people that lined the streets of Antigua to see hundreds of faithful followers carry the 40 foot processions throughout the city, all while walking on "carpets" made of painted sawdust. It was unreal. The somberness of the scenes that walked by made even the busiest of cities seem quieter than a hybrid car. Watching the processions took up most of our Antigua time but we still managed to go for a hike, take a trip to the market, eat at some amazing restaurants, and spend some quality time at the Earthlodge (a gold star to our parents for enjoying (or at least pretending to enjoy!) walking through the woods to get to a cabin with three beds and no outdoor lighting).

Alfombra de aserrín

Earthlodge view 

4. School: Miss Eileen was a hit. Are you surprised? Of course not. She taught a lesson about digestion and how to keep your system running smoothly (sparked by this question from a kiddo, "Why do I sometimes have diarrhea?"), read magazines about puppies with a bunch of giggly girls, helped students figure out how to put data into graph form, helped me organize the binder of copies I had stupidly left unorganized all school year, and brought my students a ton of new and exciting books to read. It was super nice to have her with me at school and it was also super weird. My mom had never seen me teach before so I thought I would have been a little nervous but luckily she seemed to like what was going on in my classroom and helped boost my confidence with some kind words. A mother of one of my students even came to school on Friday to bring a cake and gifts to wish my mom farewell. She told us that her son came home everyday last week telling his parents new things about Miss Eileen. "Mom, she is so smart! She help me with all the answers!" and "Mom, Miss Eileen reads all the time! She reads more than any person I ever see!" ;)

Q & A

"Rock Chalk Jayhawks!"

5. Last day: Today was my mom's last day in Guatemala and we made sure we filled it to the extreme. My dear friend Juan Pablo kindly offered to take my mom on a tour of Guatemala City since so many visitors have such a negative view of the capital. We went to the old train station museum, walked around the Central Plaza in the central zone in the city, went to the first all-vegetarian restaurant in all of Guatemala, and saw some local artist's exhibits. After a quick trip to the Guatemalan version of "Bed, Bath and Beyond" to get me a new bedspread, we went home, changed our clothes, packed a bag, and went to climb Volcan Pacaya with two friends from school, Mike and Andrea. Pacaya, if you recall, was the volcano that erupted last spring. It was quite the adventure walking on ash-like ground, roasting marshmallows over an open flame, and trying to shoo away the stray dogs that followed us all the way up probably because they also wanted a volcano-roasted marshmallow. We got home before 9, packed a bit, watched an episode of House, and went to sleep.

Awkward photo at the old train station museum

Just hanging out on a Volcano, nbd

Miss Eileen is on her way back to the good ol' USA as I type and though I am feeling incredibly lonely and missing her dearly, I am so thankful she took the time to explore Guatemala (oh, and come visit me too, I guess). I was so impressed with her willingness to try new things, her flexibility when things didn't go according to plan, and her new found love for a new region of the world. I wish we could have done more things but I am certain she will come back next year, we just need to figure out when. My mom is writing her own take on her experience here and when it is complete I will publish it too. It may have some of the same events but I am looking forward to seeing her perspective.


Thanks, Mom... for everything.

Shakira, Shakira!

Tomorrow is the big day; the arrival of my adorable mother. I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to manage to stay focused until 21:00 hours tomorrow, but hopefully the thought of having 11 days to relax with my greatest hero will be enough to get me through. Aubrey and I put the finishing touches on our plans this week and her parents (who arrived yesterday!) and my mom and I will take a variety of buses to the beach, the lake, and Antigua throughout the vacation. I'm not going to bring my computer for any of this as it seems like a waste of space so I'm fairly certain no blogging will occur, but you never know; an opportunity may arise in the middle of... the lake? Beach? In a treehouse? Don't count on it :)

Shakira, so hot right now. Shakira.

I wanted to share my experience with you all at the much anticipated Tigofest that finally arrived last weekend. Really, I could tell you about the different artists that did a variety of hip thrusting and booty shaking but really the only reason to attend Tigofest was to see Shakira. She was incredible. Better than I could have ever anticipated. She was personable, inviting random audience members on stage to dance with her. She was talented, playing musical instruments and dancing in ways that seem impossible. And she was also tricky, pretending to be finished with her performance prior to singing some of the crowd favorites such as "Waka Waka" and "Loca" but then returning after a 5 minute break that led many people to leave the concert and gave us a chance to sneak up closer to the stage. You may not like her music, but her ability to write and compose her own music in two different languages as well as her humanitarian efforts, gives her a gold star in my book. Plus, I mean who can listen to "La Tortura" and not dance? Try it, I dare you.

Ready for our favorite song of the night, Waka Waka

***Alright, this was written a few days after the concert but I was never able to get consistent enough internet connection to actually post it. I'm hoping to bring my computer to school a few times this week and see if I can get some pictures up as well. Also, my mom is here. For realz. Tomorrow she comes to school to meet 22 of the coolest niños in Guatemala and I'm about to die from the excitement. I've been prepping her a bit for the questions they'll ask her including, "Whats your favorite color?" "How many years do you have?" and, of course, "Who is your favorite soccer team, Barca or Real?" It should be an adventure no matter what and though we thoroughly enjoyed traveling the likes of Guate this week (which I swear I will blog about before the end of the month), I'm looking forward to being back at school tomorrow. 

Exploding Poop People

Well, as you can see with my lack of blogging, its been a long week and a half. We gave our kids their third quarter finals, turned in our report cards, dealt with some intense drama at school and are now anxiously awaiting our much needed spring break. Surprisingly, though it has been while since I last posted, I can't really think of what to say that wouldn't bore the crap out of everyone.

Last week we started learning division in 3A and just as I had expected my kids went absolutely nuts for it. They were so excited to see that since they already knew how to multiply, division was just "easy peasy cheesy weasy lemon squeezy" for them. Then, on Friday, I realized I had to teach something that terrified me to the very bone. The next step was to teach them about... variables. Dun, Dun, DUN! I have a very distinct memory from 3rd grade of my older sister, Sarah, trying to tell me that when I got older I would learn math that had letters in it, like a^2+b^2=c^2. I seriously thought she was messing with me, trying to scare me into thinking math was hard. Letters in a math equation? How absurd! Though my kids are not quite ready for the Pythagorean theorem, they were totally ready to solve problems like...

12 / p = 3 therefore p = 4

I had tried to tell them that the writers of our math book had made a terrible mistake and put letters in math; I mean, its impossible right? But then when we took a closer look at the "missing factor" problems we had learned to solve over a month ago, we realized a variable was just a place holder, similar to the "blanks" the missing factor problems had. What a bunch of smarty pants :)

This week I got to teach about the different systems of the body. When we got to the digestive system, I asked the kids what functions it had and one kid said, "It makes your food go away!" Of course that answer was followed by my question of, "Well where does the food go?" I got a lot of "ewww Mees Ana!" comments and pretend "bomit" sounds. Considering I think poop is one of the more hilarious things in life and is also the topic of many of my conversations, I decided it was necessary to desensitize them about the topic right off the bat. It sounded a little like this:

Miss Hannah: "What!? I don't understand why you are saying 'ew' and making puking noises!"

Class: "Well, you are talking about the POO. It is gross, Mees Ana!"

M.H: "Well, why?! I mean, it may smell funny and look a little weird, but doesn't everyone do it?"

Class: "Yeah..." as timidly as possible

M.H: "Well then I don't think it is anything to get all upset about. You know what is really gross? NOT pooping! Where would your food go if you didn't poop it out?

Class: "It would go all over your body and you would be FAT!"

M.H: "Yeah! And then you would explode! And poop would go everywhere! Now that, my friends, is gross."

Hopefully this opened the door to many a poop stories because that open door would make my classroom even more entertaining than it already is.

Today we had a half day and we (the teachers) actually got to go home at noon! But, of course, there's a catch. The school is hosting an Art and Music Festival from 4:00-8:00pm tonight so we will be heading back to school shortly for that. I am pretty pumped about it though because all of the students are going crazy for it. I'm hoping to buy some elementary school artwork as well so though this three hour break was a tease, it will be fun to see all our artsy students show off their hard work.

Last weekend I went to the beach with some awesome friends and did almost nothing. The only reason I am bringing it up is because I want to post the following picture of Tom and his surf board. It was actually a wave that broke it in half, though it looks like something only a shark would be capable of.

Surf Monsterrrrrrrrrr

Alright, I'll end this boring entry by telling you that in two days we will be going to the Shakira concert! I've been excited about this since February and have loved Shakira since I was in 6th grade so I think its safe to say I am really looking forward to the weekend. Secondly, and more importantly, my mom will be here in a week from tomorrow! I really just can't wait for her to see all the things I've been explaining to her all year and have her meet my students (who already love her, of course) and watch her react to all the wonders of Guatemala. Also, she's bringing me a bunch of junk so that will be nice :)

Hopefully April won't be a complete disappointment blogging-wise, but I'm thinking that though I will have a lot to write about, I might choose to play rather than type.

i'll be watching you

Do you remember that song "I'll be watching you" by Sting? You know, the one that attempts to romantically (but instead creepily) talk about a man never giving up on a woman by continuing to "watch" her in everything she does? Yeah, I recently found out that that song was actually written by my students about me.

Sometimes I forget just how much responsibility goes into teaching. Besides being responsible for the knowledge and information our students are fed, we also have to make sure we are setting a positive example in their lives. Now, I'm not going to pull a Charles Barkley and say that I didn't sign up to be a role model, but I am learning just how much children watch you. They see everything I do, from picking my wedgies to doing a potty dance to spelling words incorrectly on the board. Though they are quick to pick out my mistakes, they also occasionally share the things they watch me do that they enjoy.

Last week a student came up to me holding an apple and said with the utmost excitement, "LOOK!"

Confused and trying to be sensitive to his untimely enthusiasm, I responded with, "Cool!(?)"

He must have heard that slight question mark at the end of my sentence because he provided me with the sweetest explanation, "I told my mom I want to eat like you! You always have apples and zanahorias and health foods so I say 'mom, can I have a apple in my lunch?' and you know what, she give me one!"

I feel its necessary to share with you that this kid usually eats lunches that make me want to throw up. Crappy Guatemalan potato chips, cookies dipped in chocolate, florescent pink yogurt, and strawberry milk. I really wonder how the conversation sounded when this young kid asked his own parents to stop giving him junk but instead an apple. I'm pretty excited that we are transitioning into health in science for this quarter because I'm hoping maybe more of these kids will realize its cool to eat healthy and not die at a young age :)

Another student gave me the opportunity to explain what a "habit" is as she approached me and asked why I am constantly taking off and putting on the lid of my pen. She asked why I didn't even use the pen I just with one hand took the lid off and immediately snapped it back on and then repeated this process about ten times. I found myself just as curious as she because I'm not really sure where this awkward movement stems from. After I explained what a habit is, she started nodding her head and saying the famous, "aaaaaaaaaah" sound all my students make when they start to understand things and then she added, "Its like that thing you do with your eyes! When you close them really hard and then open them again." Hmm, this kid is on to me. I've always been told I blink really hard but I honestly don't even feel it and had no idea that my little kids could tell.

I guess I'll have to make sure I don't have my finger up my nose or pop candy in my mouth while the kids are even on campus; I'll never know where they are hiding!