I'm not Santa Claus, I'm Mrs. Claus!

Monday was the three month anniversary of our arrival in Guate and the first time I cried in front of my students. Please do not fret; they were tears of happiness for sure. Let me explain. Some of my students last week randomly decided that they wanted to pick up garbage during recess. No one told them to do it, no one bribed them, they were not bullied to do so, they just straight up wanted to help the earth. They had so much fun that they started an "Earth Team" in our class and asked for volunteers to help them in their efforts the next day. The entire class, all 22 of them, volunteered to help out. I ran around school asking for people to donate any grocery bags they had so these 8-year-olds could clean up the school when they could be playing intense games of futbol or that weird rope game thing I told you about earlier. After that day, I have had kiddos pick up trash every single day during recess. I asked all parents to donate plastic bags and we keep them in the corner of the class so students can grab them and pick up trash whenever they feel like it. If you're wondering if this was enough to make me cry I'll have you know I have gotten A LOT tougher in Guate and it wasn't this awesomeness that made me cry, it was the conversations we had following that totally did me over.

Earth Team! (don't smile TOO big, guys)

Since all 22 of my students were picking up trash at recess, they started to make a scene. Other third graders started joining in and almost everyday now, I see kids from other classes headed down the hall back from recess with a giant bag of trash. On Monday, Colin mentioned some students in the morning message for picking up garbage at recess on their own accord. Not one of the students mentioned was in my class. When I read the message to myself before the kids got to school, my heart totally sank. It was their idea, I had told Colin about it, and now not one of them was getting recognized for being such amazing citizens. I contemplated not reading the message to my students, or just skipping that part, but decided it might be a good lesson in being humble and doing the right thing... just because its right.

Well, the kids came to school and when it was time to read the morning message, I briefed the students beforehand that even if someone doesn't thank you for doing something, its still good to do it. I told them that when I was a kid I only helped out around the house if there was something in it for me. But now that I am older and more responsible, I help out because I know its a nice thing to do for my mom (and a few wiser kids yelled things like, "Yeah, Miss Hannah, you are too old for your mom to be making your bed!"--little do they know I am the one who makes my mom's bed... ZING!). Anyway, I didn't have to go too far with my little speech because my students all started chiming in about "doing what's right because your heart know's its right" and "setting a good example for others students at school" and all other things awesome. I felt the tears coming in when I saw how sincere they were about all this and how unaffected they were when they realized they didn't get credit for the initiative they had started. Then one of my students raised his hand and said, "Miss Hannah! Your face is red and your eyes are wet!" I just let it go. I asked if any of them had ever cried because they were so happy and they all recalled a time when they had. I just told them over and over again how proud I was of their character and how lucky I felt that I got to be their teacher. These little dudes are so incredible and I'm fairly certain they are teaching me more than I am teaching them most days :)

Okay, enough about crying. Last weekend Aubrey, Camille, Katie and Makenzie and I went to Lake Atitlan. You see that picture on the right side of this blog just below the map of Guate? The one with the sunset over a lake surrounded by volcanoes? Yeah, that's where we went. It was close to the most beautiful place I have ever been in my entire life. The lake was massive, the volcanoes were plentiful, the villages around the lake were endearing, and the views from every angle were breathtaking. We did a lot of shopping, walking, talking, and exploring and met some pretty awesome (and totally crazy) people along the way. We rented a boat for the day that took us from village to village so we could see more of the communities surrounding the lake. We stayed in one town called San Pedro for the night even though we were warned by our friends in the city that it was a town full of "crazy-hippie-druggies." Turns out, the warning was spot on but it made our stay so much more interesting (and hilarious).

This ain't Seaworld, this is a real as it gets!

After dinner we ran into some guy who was doing a "fire show" at this one bar across the street from our hostel. Of course we wanted to see some random dude juggling fire so we went. It was there that all the people who fit the stereotype of being from San Pedro were hanging out for the night. A few random people made their marks in our memory with their intense craziness but one guy forever changed Katie's life. This older gentleman in a winter coat had been trying to offer Makenzie and I cigarettes for about 10 minutes and when he finally got the picture that we a. didn't smoke and b. were ignoring him, he went up to Katie and said, "Estoy feliz! Y feliz navidad!" Katie was totally intrigued and struck up a conversation with him. Turns out, they guy was convinced that Katie was Santa Claus. Yes, the jolly man himself. Katie was quick to correct him that she was not Santa Claus but she was indeed Mrs. Claus. They talked about the elves working hard back up at the North Pole, and how busy Santa has been this time of year, and how he sent Katie out to make sure all the chimney's were clean and ready for him to slide on down. P.S. this whole conversation was in Spanish and this guy was eating up every word Katie said. It was probably the best laugh I have had in a long, long time. Katie says she will never forget that old, drugged, winter coat guy and hopes her husband gives him lots of presents this year.

Mrs. Claus and Santa's Little Helper

The rest of the trip was just as relaxing and wonderful and we had a little trouble getting ourselves motivated to go to school again on Monday. That is definitely the downfall of living in such an accessible, beautiful country. Everything is so interesting and exciting that one weekend away is such a tease. BUT this weekend, Katie, Makenzie and I are going with a teacher from the American School of Guatemala and his wife to hike the highest peak in all of Central American, Volcan Tajumulco. Its going to take the entire three day weekend (no school on Monday, November 1st because of Dia de los Muertos) but it is probably going to be the most exciting and challenging thing we've done since we got here. We are staying in a small town called San Marcos where Aaron's (the teacher from Americano) friend is serving in the Peace Corps and get to see how Guatemalan's live outside of the city. I really can't stop thinking about it, to be honest. And yes, family and friends, I will do my best to avoid falling rocks. Click here for more info :)

OH! You know what else I can't stop thinking about? The fact that I am coming home in 5 weeks! I'll be in various states in the U.S. from December 4th to January 1st and I'm really looking forward to this break and small dose of home. I know time will fly between now and then and that there will be plenty of awesome things going on here but still... :)

Visitor Reflections

Okay, it's Hannah again. Though my entry may not be as entertaining as Allison's last two, I thought I would reflect briefly on having my first visitor in Guate. All I really have to say is that I feel utterly blessed to have people in my life that love me enough to fly to another continent, get completely out of their comfort zone, and challenge themselves with a new form of traveling... just because. Allison being here filled me with a sense of pride for what I am doing here, the people I work with, and the country itself. It was so cool to have all the stories I've been telling Ho come to life. I found myself grinning from ear to ear every time she commented on the awesomeness of my students, the beauty within the country, the hilarity of my friends. Having an outsider view my life from inside confirmed my belief that my life here really is incredible. I won't lie. I was momentarily worried that I wouldn't be able to truly entertain Allison with all the other commitments that life here holds plus the lack of transportation, but the week really couldn't have been anymore stimulating, exhausting, or jam-packed with excitement.

I also love the fact that Allison truly lived in every moment while she was here, trying new things and being herself the whole time. My students fell in love with her, my friends adore her, and I appreciate her so much more than I already did. I'm getting increasingly more excited to come back to the US in December to reconnect with people and see what a typical week is like for them while I have been away.

In all, I'm still in a bit of shock that Ho has already come and gone but wouldn't change any of it. I hope Allison's entries and my constant attempts at persuasion will eventually convince you all to make a trip to C. America as well. I'm sure it will be different, I promise it will be exciting, I bet it will be life-changing, and I know it will mean a lot to me. Thanks, Allison, for taking the time, energy, and expenses to come visit and for reminding me just how great it is to have genuine friends :)

Water Works

So, I lied. A. Ho here again. There is much to be said about the time that has passed since Friday afternoon. The most important of these points are that Hannah and Aubrey absolutely wore me out over the weekend and that I got to teach a science lesson this morning. Also, lunch. Lunch was important too. I'm sure you're all dying to know what the surprise was. It was a tree house. It rocked. Here goes.

We love Miss Allison!

After school on Friday, Aubrey, Hannah and I ran to the bank, sped home, packed up, called for a cab and headed out of town. The ride was pretty miserable. The cab was just fine, but there was so much traffic and so many people trying to get out of town for the weekend that it took nearly an hour for us to even leave the city. The pollution of so many smoke-spitting engines, overflowing chicken buses with people dangling from the windows and the jerky start and stop of the traffic made us all feel pretty hypoxic and conversation died quickly. Once we finally reached the town of Antigua, we were stopped by a shotgun wielding security guard from using a restroom in a coffeeshop, so Aubrey bought a muffin to appease him. And we got to use their restroom. So HA. A thirty minute trip had become a two hour drive and while on the road Hannah was scheming with someone unidentified about our shuttle to the surprise location. We missed our originally scheduled ride as well as dinnertime. Neither of these issues ended up mattering. We found the cafe where we were supposed to meet our shuttle. Standing outside of "Cafe No Se" ("Cafe I don't know"... I think... I don't know), it seemed that no cabs or buses were anywhere to be seen. That was because we were to ride in the back of a  pickup. Awesome, I know. I was never allowed to do that as a child, so it was particularly thrilling. We hopped in the bed and found some seats amidst the bags of corn and old tires. There will be pictures to follow of Hannah and Aubrey sitting quietly while I giggled uncontrollably as we bounced and tossed over cobblestone roads and then twisted through narrow mountain passes. We left the town behind and were raised high above the city in the valley onto the face of one of the many volcanic crests that sheltered Antigua. The view of lights and city reminded me of Taxco, Mexico, a similar location that I was familiar with. Finally, the road ended. The end.

That's not the end, but it is the beginning of us falling right back down the mountain we were driven up. We paid the driver and were pointed down a muddy path. In the dark. All Hail Aubrey for thinking to bring a flashlight! We carefully traipsed through the forest for about ten minutes until finally we found signs for the Earth Lodge. Some dogs barked at us in the distance, and a goat (Fortuna is her name, as we later found) took an especially dark and quiet moment to bleat and scare the pants off of me. Once the Lodge was found, we were welcomed in by a group of ... this is not prejudiced, it is just true... HIPPIES. The most friendly kind of hippies. Hippies who cook delicious vegetarian meals for us! Dinner was beer bread, a rustic salad with beet purple garlic dressing, steamed veggies, chipotle beans and spicy tomatillo sauce. We destroyed it. Scraped our plates clean. Then there was apple blackberry crumble topped with homemade granola. We liked the food. Can you tell? My grandmother will come back from trips and when anyone asks about her travels, she ALWAYS lists the components of each meal. I think I get that from her, but this was really good. Remember how I eat meat? I couldn't think of a single complaint, it was so good. After fending off the advances of an extra tipsy, friendly hippy, we were lead by Johannes, a German employee to our tree cabin. It was a cabin in a tree. Actually, more like a tree surrounded by a cabin. The cabin had two floors and windows that spanned the entire height of the building, looking out over the same panoramic view of the valley of Antigua and two VOLCANOES in the background. After sufficient girl-talk, giggling and nail-painting, we abandoned the queen bed on the first floor and all stuffed into the lofted bed above. This lasted about... yawn... goodnight.

There's a tree in my house!

The very next thing I remember is waking to what I thought was the sunrise. Through the mist and clouds across the valley an orange glow peaked up over the top of the mountain. I closed my eyes and attempted to fall back asleep. Thinking for a moment, I realized that I was facing southwest, not east, as I am told is the direction from which the sun rises (Angela Lansbury's Beauty and the Beast, anyone?). So what was that gleaming orange that I saw? OI VACA! It was lava! I finally saw lava coming out of a volcano! However unwilling I was to go along and watch the sunrise in the adirondack chairs by the lodge before, I was no longer. I popped right out of bed and trotted off down the path to sit in the morning dew and enjoy the sights with the girls. Sights are great. Exploring is better. We snuck up the opposite path to view the actual treehouse (suspended in midair by only a tree) they had attempted to reserve. We found monkeys that were actually squirrels, but we're going to pretend they are monkeys. We found a sauna and puppies! They weren't babies, but all dogs can be puppies. Lola the Siberian Husky and Rufus the German Shepherd welcomed us to breakfast and kept us company through the morning until we packed up and hiked to hill to leave. I think it was actually harder during the day, seeing the hills ahead of us, to travel back to the pickup spot, that and the fact that it was now nearly all uphill. We rode with two of the Earth Lodge employees down to the city in the back of the truck. This time, however, we saw that the Earth Lodgers both stood to ride down. Naturally, I did too. I think Hannah and Aubrey are probably smarter than me to have remained seated, but I saw pictures of my friend Marek riding in a truck like this in Guyana, so I figured I had to as well. It was like a genuinely frightening rollercoaster. Children in small homes on either side of the road popped out of doorways and out from underneath tarps to shout "HOLA! BUENOS DIAS!" and we were down the mountain and back to Antigua. Along the way, we were sad to hear that another American had been staying at the Lodge but had left to do laundry in the city and never returned, without paying her comically small bill. That was truly disappointing, but we kept an eye out for Latrice, and if any of us ever find her, we'll be sure to perform a citizen's arrest.

Chocopiñas!

After scouring the market for deals and jaguar trinkets that my brother requested (he would have accepted carved, stuffed or live, he said), Aubrey and I treated ourselves to a chocopina each. Heaven = a frozen slice of pineapple + on a stick + dipped in chocolate. Mr. Tom met us at the market and we were on our way again, this time to Paredon (spelling last time was off) Surf House for the rest of the weekend. The trip was long and sweaty, but the music and company were great. Upon arrival at Paredon, we dropped off our things above the kitchen in the dormitory style bungalow. We were each provided with a cot, a sheet a pillow and a towel. That was all we needed. I might as well take this opportunity to explain that until this point, I had yet to bathe in Guatemala. My bad. There was no need. We stripped down, jumped into swimsuits and (as promised) ran giggling into the ocean. Tom and Hannah surfed, Aubrey and I played in the waves and as the sun set, we and the ten or so other proprietors and guests lounged under the bungalow, reading selected chapters of our books to each other (Tom's racy Ken Follett WWI historical fiction Fall of Giants, Aubrey's do it yourself psychic trainer and my Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince). Just as Christmas fell over Hogwarts, dinner was served. This time, tomato, green bean, and sunflower seed salad, followed by Swiss... or Swedish, I forget, beef with noodles in wine sauce and a vanilla bean pana cotta with fresh strawberries. Marvelous. Before leaving the Earth Lodge, Hannah bought their cookbook. While enjoying our meal, she mentioned to the owners of the surf house that they should record their recipes into a book and anyone would be crazy not to want a copy as well. They were quite intrigued and spent to rest of the evening poring over the concept.

They spent the whole evening, except for the part that they brought up a documentary they had seen- The Most Hated Family in America. Can I get an "OH BROTHER!"? Here I am, little Kansan me, a couple thousand miles from home and of course, as always, without my asking and quite to my dismay, the Fred Phelps cult of Westboro Baptist Church, Topeka, KS is the topic of conversation. If you're interested or don't know, he/they are a family of self-indoctrinated everyone haters (homosexuals, liberals, Jews, Muslims, Americans, Canadians, opera singers, chefs, Presbyterians, Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists, soldiers and just about any other group in Topeka, Kansas, the US or quite possibly the world). Freedom of speech is in my opinion a integral tenant of the development and growth of a modern, free society, but their blame for all the world's problems and absolute disdain for anyone but themselves, represented by obscene, suggestive, vulgar signs and pictures HELD UP ON THE STREET BY CHILDREN who cannot explain the phrases they hold, nor the reason why they are there, are, to attempt to be more succinct, certainly no way to promote the growth or improvement of the society in which they find so much fault. I am embarrassed to be associated with them, but I take their publicity as an opportunity to exercise my free speech that I don't know how to fix the world, just as they obviously don't either.

My blood pressure drops a little now that is finished, we spent the night in the bungalow, no mosquitoes were bothering us, but there was netting over the bed and I have always wanted to feel like a tropical princess, so I slept under it. Kickass, I know. The next morning, we sported our swimsuits again to enjoy the waves and warm water. Breakfast was served (tipico for me, again, this time con tocino y aguacate- with bacon and avocado! Bacon is my favorite!) Tom surfed, the girls played in the pool and more HP was read. The sun made the black sand beach scalding, but the entire situation was so absolutely relaxing that no hot sand, or ants in my pants could bother any of us. We showered in the open air (walls, of course) but the lack of roof was really liberating. Once bathed, Tom, Aubrey, Hannah and I loaded up the Terminator (Tom's SUV) and headed out of town. We were all pooped, burnt and happy. Our return to town brought us to the grocery store to get supplies for the newly acquired cookbook. We made feta stuffed tomatoes, beer bread, avocado ice cream and I'll speak for all of us that we slept soundly.

Fwends!

Today was my last day with los ninos. Sad story. Hannah really let me take the lead with them. I read a chapter of Junie B. Jones, one of my personal favorites, and I even was allowed to teach the science lesson on water pollution and filtration. Whenever I give a speech or perform or dive, I get anxious. It's definitely nerves. I was red in the face and excited and hesitant not to make a mistake and generally full of adrenaline. I don't know if they liked it, but I LOVED it. I explained that filters are permeable to certain things. The door is permeable to people, the window is permeable to insects and the coffee filter is permeable to water and as it turns out, very small bits of dirt that keep the water brown, even when passed through it. We brainstormed observations about our water samples (polluted and tap) and inferences about the water we saw, based on these observations. As the lesson started to solidify itself, I felt much more comfortable with the idea of people believing the things I said to them. That seems quite odd, being typed, but it's true. Most of my interactions at school, work at the hospital and home are relations of opinion or debate, which I welcome. This feeling of trust for me was truly exhilarating. I can absolutely see teaching as something that I would love to do, but still, it scares me that there are these young brains, whirring along, now in part due to something that I have provided. My palms sweat to think about it.

Good morning, 3A!

The kids led me through the lunch line where I bought an authentic Guatemalan school lunch which was incredible. After PE and Music, the day was done and I had to say goodbye to (now partially) my little ones. The hug had about 46 arms and nearly toppled me over, but just like when Hannah moved away the first time and I was studying organic chemistry in chalk on her driveway, it was not goodbye. There is no need to be sad or hate the idea of separation as the feeling of reunion is so good, as I was reminded a week ago. Hannah is now done tutoring, we will go to the VIP movies tonight with Katie, Makenzie and Aubrey. My boarding pass is printed and I will be home in less than 24 hours. Bittersweet is cliche. I thought I would be relieving Hannah of thoughts of home by coming here. Instead, I have given myself another locale, culture and group of people to love. I can't call it homesickness, because this was never truly my home. I will call it Guatemalasick, and I can guarantee that is what I will be in about a day. These are just my thoughts, my perceptions. Come here and decide for yourself.

The beans are great, trust me

Allison "Ho" Ho, here. On behalf of my lovely hostess, I'd like to say a few words about my experience thus far. Guatemala is BEAUTIFUL. My flight landed at night, so all I could see from my aisle seat were city lights and lots of them. Since the sun has risen again, I have been introduced to a school built right into nature, with covered walkways, open doors and cool breezes all day. Frequently, Hannah and I step out of the shade with eyes closed and chins up to bask for a few moments in the sun. The weather is like "endless spring" and simply pleasant, though I did hijack a pair of Hannah's sweat pants last night as the mornings and evenings can get rather chilly, forcing me into my characteristic "hubzzzzzz" (instead of "brr").

Toasting Ho's arrival

Hannah is grading presentations (over the 22 departamentos/states of Guate) right now, so I will take this opportunity to share my impressions of the country, the culture and most importantly, the kids.

Since we've been following a pretty strict school schedule every day since I've been here, most of my observations come from the school bus ride to and from Inter. My brother described it best to me before I came. He said that if I thought there was a major disparity between haves and have nots in the US and A, then I would be quite surprised by the spread here. The bus drops off children in modern, brick, gated, guarded, landscaped, BMWed communities and then on our walk from the bus stop to the newly built apartment complex that some of the teachers live in, we pass a tortilleria staffed by traditionally dressed young ladies. Their business offers delicious tortillas (handmade, of course), sold five for one Quetzal or about 12.5 cents, from a doorway on the street followed by a literal hole in the wall which I am ashamed to say is approximately the size of my Lenexa, KS walk-in closet.

Desayuno tipico para cena

This brings up a much less disheartening topic, the food. With said corn tortillas, Aubrey made us desayunos tipico (typical breakfast) which consisted of black beans, a thick, white cheese, fried onions and tomatoes, scrambled eggs, fried plantains, toasted tortillas and copious salsa verde and chilero. Let me just say that I don't like beans. I also don't like the idea of herbivorism. Nevertheless, tipico was the most satisfying, warming, plate-lickingly delicious meal. I have never liked beans. Did I mention that? Frequently, I have been heard stating to my father during authentic Chinese meals that "Beans are not dessert. Why don't Chinese people understand that? Beans are awful." I also tried refried black beans that looked like black play-doh and they were remarkable as well. Smooth and lightly salty and completely different from all chunky, horribly textured varieties I had tried before. I may just have become a bean-eater, to join my mother, the bean-counter and... I'll leave the bean joke right there.

Allison and the Shuko man :)

Otherwise, I have once again forgotten all French I ever learned in high school to become 20-word-sufficient en Espanol again. The same thing happened to me when I went to Mexico in high school. Apparently my brain can handle exactly 1.5 languages and no more. Addition of another causes the purge of the previous. Hopefully English will stick around. I might need that one. I have remembered the cheek to cheek kiss and hug along with my ubiquitous "Mucho Gusto!" I was once told that in any situation in Latin America those two words could certainly help. I cannot wait to find out the surprise that "Audi" and "Mees Anna" have coming to me tonight and tomorrow. I have collected the following evidence: We're going to Antigua, we're going to Perdidon, we're going to eat even better tipico, though I cannot imagine it and they said (this is verbatim) "You will poop your pants" when I find out what it is. Naturally, I can't wait, though that last little part makes me the teensiest bit hesitant. I'm hoping for an adventure. That's all and I'm sure Hannah will let you in on the secret.

Now, to the fun part. Los ninos! Which means the boys AND the kids. Childrens Day in Guate was being translated as Boys Day and we think girls absolutely deserve celebration as well. Anyhoo, I showed up for school yesterday and stood in the doorway as the students of Grade 3A arrived. Some cautiously eyed me as they walked in, but the majority offered persistant hugs accompanied by stroking and "Hello Mees Ow-Lee-Son!"s. During attendance, they each offered a reason they were happy and the consensus was that Mees OwLeeSon had arrived. Way to inflate my ego, kids! At lunch and recess, Silly Bandz were exchanged until I realized that my favorite, a green elephant was in mortal peril of being snatched up by one of the bilaterally stocked boys or girls, so I tabled my trading. I actually ended up with a pretty good collection of a truck, Patrick from Spongebob Squarepants, a sparkly castle and the elephant. Before Hannah moved, I tried to be the cool friend, sending her with a couple of packs I had purchased on clearance at a Walgreens in Topeka, but upon arriving here I found that none of these kids need any more of the controversial adornments. I hear that there are a couple of little girls in the family that hosts my surprise later tonight, so maybe we will take the Bandz to them. Generally, I feel like I am much too great a distraction for these guys, but Hannah is a strong enough classroom manager to keep their excitement to a steady simmer.

Third grade was my favorite in elementary, so I have fond memories of the late Terri Stutz' classroom in Southeast Elementary, Kansas City, MO. I am reminded of all of those pleasant thoughts not only by the multicolored celebrations of vocabulary, geography, language arts and science that dance all over her walls, but also by the celebration of these seven and eight year old individuals and their successes. My favorite panel is a civics board that points out the star of the week, Grace whose face was absolutely aglow during the responsibility activity. The class, I am told, anxiously awaited the reveal of which student would be character of the week and then had the week to ruminate on Grace's character with regard to a certain attribute that rotates between this week's responsibility to caring, trustworthiness, citizenship, respect and fairness. I don't know who's idea the bulletin board was, but it thrills me. The kids went around the room and offered ways that Grace was responsible, for example, she takes care of her dog. I swear, the girl was so happy she could have peed (okay, that's enough reference to incontinence) and the unadulterated joy that the kids felt for their peer was refreshing. None of the other kids were hesitant to compliment, nor were they jealous in light of her praise.

You know those departamento presentations Hannah's grading? They're back from lunch and the presenters are back at it. I've always been one for a good bribe, so at lunch I told a few students to spread the word that if they could keep the excitement to a minimum and offer enough respect to their fellow classmates during the final presentations there was a surprise coming at the end of the day. Thank goodness it's October and American Halloween candy was on sale at Target. Let me preempt the next thought by saying that I brought a variety pack and I know that there is a major contingent of people I know that hate coconut. Get over it. The surprise had me singing the Almond Joy song at lunch: Sometimes, you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't. Almond Joy has a nut. Mounds don't. Similarly, these kids were going nuts earlier and being loud and not paying attention to the poster talks. Now, either due to my bribe or the fact that recess wears them out, or maybe both, the soft sounds of natural resource listing and my halting tappety-tap on the keyboard is the only sound in the room. I won't take any credit. Miss Hannah is truly respected, but never feared by these ninos. We used to talk about that during diving, that true respect was earned, not demanded. She reminds them of the reverence they should have for their classmates, but it is never a threat. It is a repetition of the unwritten contract that the class has struck up with her. They look up to her, listen to her and I think a lot of them love her, but I know that they all trust her.

Speaking of trust, I trust that tonight and tomorrow will exceed expectations. The day is drawing closer to an end and I should offer better attention in order to help keep them from bubbling over. It's Pablito's turn. He's discussing Peten. He lost his Silly Bandz yesterday for playing with them in class. He cried at the end of the day, but today it seems like he bounced back just fine. Thanks for reading this e-novella, if you made it this far. I'm sure your regular author will be back soon.

Signing out,
Allison Ho
Colegio Interamericano
Guatemala City
Guatemala
Central America

Oops!

Okay, I’m not even going to try to apologize for not blogging. I learned my lesson! Waiting this long just means that I have WAY to much to write about which means it takes longer to write which means I put it off even longer. Basically, I won’t let it happen again (yeah, right)

Okay so, I’ll give you a lame excuse that will also substitute as an update. So, I recently became the assistant kindergarten through second grade basketball coach, started taking salsa dancing lessons, and began tutoring a new student three days a week after school. So here’s my weekly schedule:

            Monday: Staff meeting before school, teach all day, tutor after school

            Tuesday: Teach all day, tutor after school

            Wednesday: Third grade team planning, teach, tutor, (try to) salsa dance

            Thursday: Office hours, teach, coach soccer

            Friday: Community service meeting, teach, coach basketball

None of this includes my meager attempts at working out, playing guitar, excursions to the bank/grocery store/other errands, skyping, grading, etc. Luckily, I love to stay busy so this schedule looks like a dream come true. However, I have yet to make blogging a priority in the schedule so I’ll try to get the “Most Improved” award for that one. Keep nagging me though; it helps to know people are actually reading!

I’m trying to recall what I talked about in my last blog but I’m pretty sure two weekends have passed since then. First weekend: Tom’s birthday. So Tom put in some pretty hilarious requests to the party planning committee (consisting of Aubrey and I) and we definitely followed through. We had a raffle, a sweet birthday cake, everyone had to bring a dish that started with the letter “T,” and Aubrey, Blake and I went in on a deep fryer for Tom since he loved to fry things and he usually does it in a nasty old pot on his stove. It was really kind of nice to stay in town for the weekend and just kick back with all of our friends and laugh at all the antics that ensued while preparing for the party, enjoying the party, and cleaning up after it.

Tom's "T" shaped cake

Second weekend: Makenzie’s birthday. Mak D had fewer requests for the committee because she just wanted everyone to have a good time and that is exactly what happened. She did envision a super awesome cake and Aubrey and I tried to make it come to life. After a night out of trying to dodge creepy Guatemalan’s with all of our homies, Makenzie, Katie, Camille, Aubrey and I headed to the beach in Katie and Mak’s new car. The beach was great and relaxing and Aubrey and I went on a midnight search for sea turtles but the best adventure was on the drive there. Basically, putting five North American’s in a car heading to a town no one had been to without a map was the best idea we ever had. First, we went through Antigua which was entirely unnecessary but also entirely hilarious. Makenzie was driving and still getting used to the “topes” aka speed bumps. After hitting our heads on the roof several times, one big bump successfully spilled tomato juice all over my legs. Since it was awesome, we laughed hysterically and pulled over to a hotel we had stayed at a few weeks before to get cleaned up. Katie remembered that she had left TWO pairs of pants there and thought she would try her luck at finding them. Low and behold, the front desk had her jeans in a plastic bag with the date and the room number taped on the front! Katie was as happy as a clam and I was a clean as someone who quickly rinsed tomato juice off her legs with a wet paper towel :)

After finding Katie’s missing pants, we decided to get a map and try our luck again. After a few more hours of driving we found ourselves in a super crowded town that looked like it might be promising. We drove and drove until suddenly Aubrey yelled, “Hey guys, guess what?! The road ends!” And, sure enough, the road just kind of ended again. We had a good laugh, turned around and asked some guy on a bicycle if he could so kindly point us in the right direction. He decided to have us follow him on his bike instead which we thought was the funniest thing on earth. Five chicas in one small SUV following a little Guatemalteco on his bike; classic. The little man told us to make a few more turns and we’d be well on our way. We gave him some money because he took a good ten minutes out of his day to help us and he looked genuinely shocked. He was just doing a kind thing for some strangers, just like everyone else does in this country :)

Well we headed towards a town called Ixtapa which we were told was neighboring the city of Monterrico which was where we were trying to get. We pulled over one more time to ask an older gentleman which way to go and he gave us a few directions following by another 25 kilometers. Ha! We were not even close to where we wanted to be and we thought that time for sure we had arrived. Anyway, the whole trip took 5.5 hours. On the way back? 2 hours. Sometimes getting lost is the best part though.

This week I started tutoring a third grader after school who is new to Inter. He went to a great school before but it wasn’t bilingual so this kid knows almost no English. His parents don’t speak it either so he is really going to need the extra help. It was so interesting to work with him today as I figured out what he does know, how he learns best, and what really gets him excited about learning and life in general. Simply going over vocabulary by reading, writing, speaking, and hearing the words was truly not working for him. So we started to act out all the verbs we were learning. By the end of the hour, I was having him “walk slow,” “run fast,” kick, throw, jump, sit, stand, read, write, etc all by running around the classroom and acting it out. It was so fun! Though tutoring is going to be an extra challenge with the language barrier, I feel so good about it. I can really see him soaking up knowledge and it is such a cool thing to watch. I really cannot wait to see how much English he knows by the end of the school year.

Last, but not even close to least, ALLISON IS COMING TOMORROW! Holy cow, I can’t believe its already here! We have a super busy weekend planned but we are all so excited (we being me and my homies, my students, and Ho). I will definitely have a lot to blog about over the next week so I’ll try harder to get at it. Maybe I’ll have Allison do a guest appearance on the blog and write an entry for me? Thoughts? Are you actually reading this? :)

Good night!

p.s. I’ll post pictures later; for some reason my computer is currently not reading my memory card?

have to have a habitat

So, today I went to school feeling really sluggish, unprepared and overall grumpy. The first 45 minutes with my students felt like I was teaching preschool and I found myself getting increasingly more frustrated with the fact that none of my students seemed to be listening to anything I had to say. The same kids kept asking the same questions that I had just answered for another student, kids were forgetting to do part of the morning routine that we had been doing all year, and students were strolling in to class ten to fifteen minutes late (not that they can control what time the bus gets there, but still).  I couldn’t believe how much I was letting it get to me.

During snack time, my kids asked if we could listen to our “Habitat” song. Since I love the song myself I turned in on and pumped up the volume in hopes that it would calm my frustrations. Then, Tom came into the class and the kids were SO excited and asked that we start the song over so they could perform it for him. They all started clapping their hands to the beat, waving their arms in the air, and singing as loudly as they could! Tom was loving it and started dancing with them. It was such a hilarious scene that it totally snapped me out of my sour mood and reminded me that this is supposed to be fun. If the kids are being crazy, it’s most likely because I didn’t give clear instructions.  If the kids aren’t enjoying school, they probably won’t be learning very much. And if I’m not in a good mood, my students won’t be either. These are all such simple concepts that I needed to be reminded of today and watching Mr. Tom dancing with a bunch of eight-year-olds who were going crazy for an educational song about habitats was just the right medicine :)

Here is the chorus and the first verse to the Habitat (pronounced Hab E tat) song that my kids go gaga for:

            Habitat, habitat, have to have a habitat.

            Habitat, habitat, have to have a habitat.

            Habitat, habitat, have to have a habitat.

            You have to have a habitat to carry on!

            A forest is a habitat, a very special habitat.

            It’s where the tallest trees are at,

            It’s where a bear can scratch his back.

            It keeps the ground from rolling back,

            Renews the oxygen, in fact.

            The forest is a habitat we depend on!

I thought I would blog about some funny things that my students have been saying that I was able to write down without bursting out laughing. When I take attendance in the morning, I usually ask the students a question that one of them comes up with like “what did you do over the weekend” or “what is your favorite day of the week” etc.  The other day I asked them to tell me their favorite state in the U.S. Here are some of the best responses…

            1. Mamhatten

            2. Miami (prounounced Mee Om E)

            3. Disney World

            4. Canada

            5. Germany

            6. And from the brown nosers, Seattle

Looks like we may need to do a little work on learning about the United States, no?

Before giving the students their first math test…

            Miss Hannah: “Clear your desks; it’s time to take our math test!”

            Class: “HOORAY!” (in all seriousness)

At the lunch table…

            Student A: “Miss Hannah (pronounced Mees Ana), Student B call me a alane”

            Miss Hannah: “A what?”

            Student A: “A alane”

    Miss Hannah: “I’m sorry, I don’t understand. Can you try to use other words to describe what you are saying?”

            Student A: “He call me the name of the people who live in space.”

            Miss Hannah: “An alien?!”

            Student A: “Si!”

    Miss Hannah: “Oooh, I’m sorry! You are not an alien! I will make sure to talk with Student B about this.”

While going over the graded math tests…

   Student C: “Miss Hannah, you said I got this problem right on the test but I really got it wrong” (from a student who got a 100% on the test!) INTENSE HONESTY!

Writing this out really made me happy. My kids rock, eh? Have a great night!

El Salvadawesome

Okay, I don’t know if it’s possible to update you about the last 6 days but I will certainly try my best. Bullet points may be necessary to keep my thoughts together, however :) Here it goes:

1. Drive to El Sal: So on Saturday morning, Tom picked up Aubrey and I at 5:30 in the morning to start our 4.5 hour drive to our next Central American adventure. We made five cds to listen to, packed a load of snacks, and Aubrey made some bomb.com M&M cookies for the road. I really love traveling with Aubrey and Tom because it just seems like the perfect mix of personalities and enthusiasm. The drive there was absolutely beautiful. We stayed coastal and drove through dense trees for probably 75% of the trip. It’s really amazing how much the temperature changes all around this region based on how close one is to the water and the various differences in evaluation

2. Border “Control”: Moving between El Salvador and Guatemala was hysterically easy. We had a crap ton of stuff in our car, including 26 bottles of hot sauce we smuggled in to El Sal for Tom’s friend, and all the border patrol people saw was the surf boards and said, “vas a la playa?” As soon as we confirmed their theory, they took one look at the passports and we were in.  BAM! Coming back to Guate was not quite as easy but still much less of a hassle than anywhere else in the world. The only difference was this time Tom has to actually get out of the car to show our passports at a little booth thingy. Hard life!

3. La Mizata: The first beach we stopped at upon arrival to El Sal was in this quiet little town called Mizata. There were a bunch of locals there playing soccer on the beach and jumping in the waves. Tom was having trouble taking the broken end of his fin out of his surfboard and when the people there saw he was struggling, they all RAN to come help. They went out and found some tools in their truck and yanked the pieces out. It was so amazing. I mean, they literally stopped what they were doing and rushed over to see how they could help. Sometimes kindness like this completely overwhelms me, like almost to the point of tearing up (what a baby!).

Once his board was fixed, Tom went out and surfed and Aubrey and I played frisbee with some of our new friends and gave them all the cookies we had made. It was one of the coolest feelings I’ve had since I’ve been here; just being in the sun, interacting with incredible people through anything but spoken language, breathing in the fact that I was in El Salvador when a few hours before I was eating oatmeal in Guatemala City… it was surreal for sure.

4. El Tunco: After Tom had got his surf on, we headed to the real place we were staying for the weekend, El Tunco. “Tunco” is the Mayan word for “pig” so the whole town had a little pig theme going on (made me think of my Bacon relatives!).  The surf there is apparently some of the best in all of Central America and it definitely showed in the little surf village that was created around shore. We stayed at Tom’s friend’s hotel but he was out of town so it was just the three of us and the family that works to maintain the place that were there the whole weekend. We walked around the town, ate some amazing burritos, took a few naps, played in a sweet pool, and then Tom and I went out surfing…

Look! We're in a jungle!

5. Real Live Surfing: …So this weekend was apparently a huge one in my surfing “career” as I caught my first real live wave. Tom and I paddled out almost a kilometer from shore and were out there with the legit El Salvadorian surfers. It. Was. Amazing. I cannot even describe all the emotions I had. It was intimidating, exciting, exhausting, scary, and addicting. I learned all the rules about surfing when other people are around, learned how to turn my board around while sitting on it, which directions to paddle, which waves to go for; basically a TON of learning. But then when it was actually time to go it all came together and made so much sense. Tom is doing a great job coaching me and I think he is enjoying it too because I’m learning so quickly (so I’m told). The worst part is that I can only practice about every other weekend so it may be a slow sport to catch on to.  I’m going to try renting a bunch of different kinds of boards until the spring and then maybe look into buying a cheap used one for myself, that is, if I do indeed continue with this path :)

6. Hurricane Mateo: No, we were not actually in a hurricane, but we did feel the aftermath of all the rain that came with it. While we were surfing it was raining really hard but I didn’t seem to notice or mind because of all the adrenaline, but that night it poured like I had never seen before (even coming from Seattle). When we woke up the next day, the rivers in town had completely flooded and broke into the ocean making it a disgusting brown and yellow color. Tom said that the river water was really contaminated and that swimming in the ocean with that water in it was recipe for sickness. So, we decided to save our stomachs and avoid the water that day. The night before, however, we were walking back to our hostel from the beach and the river had just been broken right in the path of our walk. We had to hand our stuff over to some macho El Salvadorian’s and Aubrey and I held hands as we walked through a waist deep dirty river with an intense current with rocks at the bottom. There was a string of restaurants lining the beach that had a whole bunch of customers watching this whole scene unfold. Hopefully we were able to provide entertainment for some nice people that night.

Airing out our safari vehicle

7. Heading Home: Though it was hard to head back to school after such an awesome weekend, we were able to make quite a few more memories on the trip back. First, Tom let me drive for part of the way so I could practice driving a standard since Aubs and I are probably going to be buying one of our own in the next few weeks. It was relatively uneventful until we came up to road construction that required us to pull over to the side and turn the car off completely. There were a ton of locals trying to sell us junk while we waited there, a little girl convinced Tom to give her all his silly bands, and a few random people who were in charge of moving the cones when it was our turn to go. We were second in line though I’ve learned that Guatemalans care little about what order they are in in these so called “lines.” All the sudden it was our turn and people started zooming past us as I struggled to start the car and just as the little girl who took Tom’s bracelets was walking towards our car for more goodies, we took off. The locals all started cracking up and yelling things at us but little did they know I had the whole situation planned as a get-a-way attempt from that greedy little child who wanted to rob Tom naked.

A little bit later Tom was driving again and he suddenly asked with great urgency that someone grab him his video camera. We looked ahead of us to see that the bridge we needed to cross to continue on the road was completely gone. No signs, no road blocks, just road then river. BAM! This river was probably close to 100 yards wide too. So we turned around and found a detour that we had overlooked the first time and carried on. Only in Guatemala!

Welp, see you later, Road!

The best part of the trip happened next. We were driving on the highway and Tom suddenly slowed way down and pulled over to the shoulder. He had a little smirk on his face but never provided an explanation. He put the car in neutral and just let that car roll backward on a down slope. He tried to tell us that there was an optical illusion on the road and it looks like you are moving forward but really you’re moving backward or something like that (Aubrey and I did NOT get it). But anyway, the whole time Tom is entertaining himself there is a cop truck (all cops drive around in these massive 4 door pickup trucks here) slowing way down in front of us, pulling over to the shoulder, and then flipping a u-turn and driving right towards us against traffic. Tom tried to just drive off and hope that they weren’t interested in him but sure enough they turned their lights on and signaled for him to pull over. When they came up to our car, they told Tom to get out of the vehicle. Aubrey and I were in the car ready to pass out; we’ve heard a ton of stories of corrupt cops that suggest you pay them a certain fee right on the stop to get out of getting in serious trouble. But the whole time Tom was out of the car he was explaining to the officers exactly what he was doing, in all honesty, and the officers loved it! They were saying things like, “oh yeah! I’ve heard of that optical illusion!” or “you need to get really close to the edge of the road if you really want it to work out well,” etc. I really couldn’t believe my ears. I thought for sure we were going to be intimidated or threatened and instead Tom made some new friends.

Arrre we going to die?

Okay, this blog has got to end it is WAY past my bedtime. I will put some pictures up tomorrow after school and maybe continue with some new stuff that’s been going down around these parts. Hope all is well!