Exciting Things

1. Sarah and Weston are coming to Guatemala in 12 days! We will go to school, play at the beach, explore the lake, and see a bit of Antigua before we fly home to Seattle together. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

2. I have about a month and a half left until I need to tell my school if I am coming back next year or if I'm moving on to another country or state... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!

3. I will be in Seattle in 23 days and I will be there for about 25 days. Its the longest consecutive days I've spent at home in almost 4 years. YYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY!

4. My students have performed surprisingly well on their MAP (Measure of Academic Progress) tests this year and though they have taken 3 of the 4 tests and still have math left, they are currently the leaders of third grade in all subjects. HOOOOOOORAAAAAAAAAY!

5. Inter currently has made 1,500 bottle bricks and we are hoping to double that number in the upcoming weeks as students turn in bottles as assignments, make them at "Family Day," and turn in the ones they have made at home. The pride I have for this school right now as they step up and reach this goal is overwhelming. The fact that in a few months this large pile of garbage that is strewn across my classroom will be part of the walls of a learning environment doesn't actually feel real yet but I know my kids are ready. SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH!

6. I have officially purchased tickets to Boston, MA in April to watch my mom and sister run in the Boston Marathon. Conveniently enough, my best friend from high school, an old teammate from KU, maybe my best friend from college, perhaps my cousin in West Virginia, and possibly my whole immediate family will be there also. Pretty darn perfect, I must say. YYAAAAAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOOO!

7. Guatemala got a new president elected with little to no violent protests. Its hard to say if this president has any potential to bring anything positive to the country or even to the city as many Guatemalans spoke of choosing the "better of two evils" when voting this year, but I guess the reason number 7 falls under "exciting things" is because the violent protests we were expecting did not come. Yeah, that's about it. MMMMEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHH?

8. I got to see an old friend from my KU athletics life, Alyssa, two weeks ago as we met at volcanic heated pools to catch up while she circles the glode with an organization called The World Race. She will be visiting 11 countries in 11 months through a Christian Ministry-- how cool is that? It was absolutely a dream to catch up with her and made my heart smile when I thought about all the places in the world you can reunite with someone. GGGOOOOOOOOOO ALYSSA!

9. The Interamericano Drama Club is well on its way with the production of our play, "The Smurfs." We hope to have the script that we are writing from scratch (OY!) finished within the next few weeks so kids can practice their lines over the long winter break. LALALALAAAAALALAAAAAAA!

10. My students' new favorite song in 3B is "I Want a Hippopotomus for Christmas," their favorite book is Roald Dahl's "The Witches," their favorite subject is science, and basically everything we do in class gets them all getty with excitement. Basically, we're having a lot of fun at school which is really what its all about :) HEHEHEHEEHEHE!

Alright, there's your update. Sorry I'm so lame this year. I'm about to go somewhere brand new next weekend and I'm probably going by myself so maybe a riveting blog entry is in store for next week.

Kid Kwotes

A very slow-moving, insanely quiet student enters the room and as Miss Hannah inappropriately asks, "WHADDUP?" the student shyly (and clearly terrified) responds with, "I caaaaame to get my sweaterrrrr.... because I am coldddd." [You had to be there, but this is famously quoted by my brother and I now]

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Hannah and Zack spend a lunch period talking like we are a bunch of thugs (i.e. "recess is OVA... put yo thingz away, homies!") mostly because we know our students won't understand and we can simply entertain ourselves as they look at us curiously. One student, however, approached us as we laughed at ourselves and said, "You guys sound like gang people!" Uh oh.

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Miss Hannah: Hey student! What does your dad do for work? Like what is his job that he goes to everyday?

Student: He is a liar.

M.H: Ummmmm... do you mean a lawyer?

Students: YES!

M.H: Oh okay, because I read an article in the newspaper by someone who has the same name as your dad; does he sometimes write stories for the Prensa Libre?

Student: Yes! He do that too.

M.H: Oh that's so cool! It was a very good article, Student. I really enjoyed reading it.

Student: [Hugs Miss Hannah]

M.H: That's funny that you said your dad was a liar. That is someone who does not tell the truth. [giggles]

Student: Oh! Then my brother is a liar.

:)

Fiambre Day

Today is November 1st which is much more important in Latin America than October 31st. Though I had a blast trying to calm down my suger-high students all day and then dressing up in as a shower for the staff Halloween party (okay, that really was awesome... no sarcasm), today was definitely one of the best days of my Guatemalan life. Period.

"I'm a shower"

"La vida de la naturaleza
esta en nuestras manos"

I'm not sure if I have mentioned enough about my "Guatemalan Family" that consists of one of my students from last year and her mother. They are the most humble, kind-hearted people I have ever met. People who are not afraid to love others though life has handed them some very difficult cards time and time again. I have learned more from them than almost anyone else in my life. Basically, they are incredibly special to me. Well, my students mother called me last week with a whole day planned for us on the 1st of November. First, we would drive to a town called Sumpango to admire gigantic kites made my community members. The kites symbolize not only their attempts to communicate with loved ones in the sky but also many hopes and dreams they have for not only their country, but for the whole world. Second, we would go to her parents house for "Fiambre," a traditional Guatemalan dish with her entire family. This day, as explained to me by my Guatemalan friends, is comparable to Thanksgiving for North Americans.

Mi familia de Guatemala

So, the kites. Amazing. Beautiful. Inspiring. Dangerous. Hysterical. Large. These kites were made by families and friends out of tissue paper, bamboo, paint, glue made from tree sap, rope, and clear packaging tape. Some of them were up to 15 meters in height and could not even fly. Others were an average kite size and could fly for hours at a time. Still others were about the size of a kitchen table and could sometimes come fly straight towards a crowd of spectators. It was awesome, nonetheless.

kite construction

After we admired the beauty of this Guatemalan tradition, we headed home and I took the heat from the sweet 9-year-olds that sandwiched me in the back seat as I fell asleep with my mouth gaping open. We met at the grandparents house only to be greeted by ten other incredible members of their family and snacks that I literally had to turn down after awhile. My student's mother's GRANDfather was there, clocking in at 103 years old. Besides the fact that his hearing was almost gone, he was in perfectly good health and physical condition. A student who is in my Earthkeepers club was in attendance as well as he is the cousin of my student from last year. He clocked in at age 5. Our age range was from 5 to 103 but the kindness and wisdom these people all possessed made me this they were all old, wise owls.

Vegetarian Fiambre 

We ate Fiambre, which is like the turkey part of Thanksgiving but much more intense. Its specific to Guatemala and is made differently depending on the family recipes carried down from generation to generation. To top off the compassion I was surrounded by today, my student's grandmother made me my very own vegetarian version of the famous dish. Here is a sample recipe for fiambre so you can see just how thoughtful it was of them to make me my own. I have heard horror stories of how odd and unappealing this food is but I assume the recipe I tasted today must be an exception because I genuinely enjoyed eating every bite. It was also a lovely dinner conversation as we switched back and forth between English and Spanish. Many Guatemalans are so interested in a new person that they want to learn as much about them as possible so they instantly speak in English to get more info out of them. This family though knew that I need to take advantage of all the Spanish speaking opportunities I am handed and all yelled in unison, "Español!" to whomever was trying to speak to me in English :)

Ages 5-103 

After dinner we headed out to the back yard and flew some kites. This was probably the most beautiful part of the day. Dia de los Muertos is a way for Latin American's to celebrate the lives of their loved ones by flying kites in their honor. My student lost her father almost 3 years ago (another connection between us and another reason she and her mother inspire me more and more with each meeting we have) and when we went out to fly those kites, I swear he was there with them. We had 3 kites and 6 flyers but only one was able to reach the heights of the tree tops. Only one soared past the 10th story of the apartment building so the family members that stayed inside could see it too. Only one got loose and freely flew off into the sunset. And that kite was theirs. My whole body was overcome by something bigger than me as I watched this mother-daughter duo laughing and running around with their kite flying wilding around in a strangely clear sky on a perfectly windy day. I don't know much about life after death, and some days I have no idea if there is even such a thing, but today I was pretty convinced that that kite was either being blown by the breath of my student's father, or it was flying crazily in order to send messages to him, wherever he may be.

:D

Today, I was "here now." Today I lived. Today I was loved. And today, I will never forget :)

Yo cambiaré, tu cambiará, cambiaremos... el mundo cambiará

Oy vey! It has certainly been awhile since my last update. I wish like crazy that I could update daily but to be honest, I can never remember what even happened during the day by the time I get home. My bed time this year? 9:30pm. At the latest. Maybe even on the weekends. This country has aged me but oh how it's worth it.

The Inter Recycling Center aka my classroom

I thought I would give you all a little Bottle Brick update. If I had blogged two weeks ago (when I should have) I probably would have sounded very discouraged and hopeless. But in the last few days, students and teachers throughout the whole school have really stepped up to the plate and began collecting major supplies and completed bricks. My Earthkeepers and I made a giant water bottle bulletin board outside of the library to record the number of bottles collected in hopes that the visual would increase excitement. Many teachers also made it a homework assignment or an extra credit opportunity to made bottles at home and bring them to school. Next month, Inter is having a its annual "Family Day" where students and families come to school on a Saturday for games and other festivities. The only liquids being sold will come in a 600ml bottle so students can stuff them afterward. Basically, things are going much better. I'm more confident that we will be able to make enough by January when the school will actually be built. I really couldn't be happier that this is all coming to life because after the first day of Earthkeepers when there was only 6 students in attendance, I was certain that it wasn't going to happen.

For Zack :)

I think the coolest part about this project is seeing kids actually THINK about what they are creating in terms of waste. They are going as far as taking garbage out of trash cans and washing it to put it in a bottle instead. And they also feel so proud when they explain to other people about the project and why it's important to keep plastics out of trash dumps. I did have to kick a kid out of Earthkeepers today, though. After multiple instances of misconduct including crawling onto my desk and tearing papers, spitting over the balcony at students below, and running out of the classroom and "hiding" from his teacher, I had had enough. Extra curricular activities only pay teachers about $45 a month and they are completely free for kids so abusing your privileges does not make for a very happy Miss Hannah. Hopefully things will go more smoothly now and hopefully this child learns from relaxation techniques... GEESH!

Lets see, what else is new? School is going wonderfully. I am much more confident this year and feel good about what my students are learning. They are all a little wiggly but they are super hilarious and fun. My teammates are also a joy to work with as they are very open to new ideas and are excited about coming to work each day. I am really looking forward to seeing the progress everyone makes this year as I am more aware of the changes kids go through this year. I am posting the first 3B Newsletter from this year so you can see about where my kids are in writing at this point in the school year. Unfortunately, some of the pictures they drew were the funniest parts but I was unable to figure out how to add them as well.

Aubrey and I's drama club has finally decided on the play they want to do this spring: The Smurfs. Yes, those miniature, blue fairy-thingys have hit Interamericano by storm has it is hard to hear students not humming the theme song of "La la la-la-la, la la la la laaaaaaa!" and playing with obnoxiously small "Los Pitufos" (the Spanish word for Smurfs, second in my favorite Spanish words behind poporopo: popcorn) toys in their desks instead of listening to their teachers. So, we decided to run with it and make a play that would be super appealing to all the elementary kids. The plot, you ask? Gargamel, the evil villain of the story, dresses in disguise as a new teacher at InterSmurficano where all the students are, of course, Smurfs. Gargamel reveals his identity only to kidnap a Smurf, forcing the others to travel around Guatemala in search of their friend. It should be pretty hilarious :) Aubrey and I wore Smurf shirts I found at a market to begin advertising and became (or maintained our status of) the most popular teachers at Inter because of our attire.

Los Pitufos!

Okay well tomorrow is Halloween which not only means that we will have a classroom full of hyper children but it also means we will have a school full of exhausted teachers. I better go prepare myself now!

A Trashy Education

The title of this entry may sound a bit negative but wait until you hear about the most recent happenings at Inter and perhaps you'll think differently. The Bottle School I told you about a few entries ago is well underway. Everyone in the school community has been informed as to how they can help and what materials need to go inside the bottles. Students of all ages are coming up to me in the hallways and presenting bottles they stuffed at home with their families. They are also volunteering to stay in at recesses to help stuff, coming to school early, pulling garbage out of cans to use, cleaning out water bottles during their snack time, and collecting trash from students during lunch. Simply beautiful :)

Video of a Bottle School being built

Today, my elementary Earthkeepers performed a short skit at the assembly about a superhero called "Recycle Woman" who stops a bunch of students from throwing away their garbage. They instead showed everyone what materials can go in what water bottles and how they should look when they are finished. It was hilarious. For whatever reason, the students elected me to be "Recycle Woman" and suggested I have a cape and a giant "R" on my shirt. Hopefully the rest of the crowd got the idea and weren't just distracted with the obnoxiousness of my superhero attire.

Recycle Woman and her Planeteers!

The real reason I needed to post today was to tell you something remarkable that happened in 3B this afternoon. My students earned a party for first quarter because they filled our cotton ball jar through various acts of good behavior. Today we voted on how exactly we wanted to celebrate their accomplishments. The following ideas were thrown out to the rest of the class by students:

• whole class soccer game
• pizza party
• watch a movie
• pajama day
• "crazy day" (I'm never really sure what that entitles but kids seem to love that idea)
• extra recess
• dance party
• costume day
• pet day
• bring-any-toy-you-want-day (ummmm.... no.)

And then some sweet girl added, "We can do a party where we all make the bottles!" Of course I loved this idea but I was tickled pink to hear that other kids were nodding and saying "SI!" in agreement.

Then, it was voting time. First round everyone got to vote for two items and the ones with the least amount of votes would be eliminated. The class all had to put their heads down to keep with our theme of a secret ballot. The choices were narrowed down to...

• whole class soccer game
• pizza party
• movie
• pj party
• bottle brick party

I think you know where I'm headed with this. Second round students voted for only one option and to my disbelief and complete happiness, the bottle brick party won. Hands down it had the most votes. I was overjoyed to see how thoughtful my students were that they VOTED to celebrate their first earned party of the whole school year by putting garbage inside more garbage so that other kids in Guatemala could someday use those bottles as the walls of their classroom. The whole point of this project combining the efforts of city kids with those of the children in the pueblos was for this very reaction: for the kids to be genuinely moved by the prospect of children within their own country building their school out of garbage they collected. My students have found themselves so invested in this cause that they are dedicating almost all of their free time to helping make it happen. And the best part is they haven't even gotten to see the real good they are doing outside of recycling the school's waste. When they actually get to go to the community and with their own two hands build a structure with kids who are in many ways different but in many ways just like them, I cannot even fathom the impact it will have on everyone involved. I'm already overwhelmed with the emotions of this idea and we haven't even come close to finishing it. We're so very lucky to be working with Jaron and the guys at Hug it Forward because with all of our efforts and visions this truly could be a life-changing experience for a lot of people, especially my young, impressionable, future-leaders-of-Guatemala students. 

I'm looking forward to updating you all as we make more progress. Here are some photos from our recess stuffing session and Earthkeepers this afternoon. 

About 20 kids gave up their recess today to make bricks :)

Kids Day

Welp, I should really be filling out my report cards right now but I've noticed that the lack of blogging is creating bigger distances between myself and my readers. I don't want to lose you all so I am sacrificing one of my plan periods to make an update. Do you feel special? You should :)

Well as mentioned, the end of the quarter is today which means over the last week we have been giving final exams, grading, entering scores, writing comments, entering data, setting up conference, etc. Our jobs get intensely hectic for a week and a half each quarter and no matter what we do to prepare ourselves, its incredibly time consuming.

Anyway, on Friday we all took a break from it all and celebrated "Kids Day" at school (though my mother always told me, "everyday is kids day!"). It ended up being "Hannah Day" for me as I enjoyed my first moments of fame... well, lets be honest... my last moments of fame. We had an assembly with these clown-like (but not dressed as clowns luckily) ladies teaching the kids dances and other such things. All students grades 2-5 were packed into the cafeteria while screaming and eating popcorn and drinking sweetened juice. The clown ladies then asked for one teacher for each grade level to come on stage to spin a plastic plate on a plastic stick. I was egged on by my kiddos and went on stage. Then before the act even began and as soon as all the other grade level teachers were on stage, the entire audience, for whatever reason, started chanting, "Mees Han-nah! Mees Han-nah! Mees Han-nah!" It was the greatest moment of my life! All these tiny people cheering me on! I felt like I was a superhero about to save Guatemalan children from an unentertaining "Kids Day." Unfortunately, I was not particularly talented at plate spinning so my early success proved to be a fluke but still. Nothing really makes me happier than when little kids show their love for ol' Mees Ana :)

3B on "dress as you want" day... are you loving my dude on the far right?

I guess that is about all I am going to have time to share with you today. I promise to become more dedicated to sharing these storie just as I always promise. Maybe I'll start posting my updates so you won't have to check and be disappointed every time there is nothing new?

Birds, Bottle Bricks, and Brother-withdrawls

This morning while I was getting things ready for my students who were arriving in a few moments, an early student ran breathlessly into my classroom shouting, "Miss Hannah! There is a bird in Mr. Gordon's class!"

(Now, I haven't done a good job of introducing you all to the new staff but Mr. Gordon is the new third grade teacher who has graced Inter with his experience, positive attitude, and incredible ideas. He was making some copies in the office at time which ended up being a huge helping of irony as Gordon is an avid bird-watcher while I am an avid bird-hater.)

I creeped out of my classroom and slowly started towards Gordon's class, taking deep breaths and doing some self-talk. I didn't even make it halfway there when 4 students ran out of the class with one of those students holding the bird in her hand. Seriously.

This sweet girl looked at me innocently and asked, "What do I do now?"

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh... well... [gulp]... go over there [points to opposite direction of self] and open your hand while raising it up so it can fly away."

Child releases bird and Miss Hannah ducks. Other students laugh at Miss Hannah.

"Okay, now go wash your hands realllllllllly well!"

Turns out the bird was panicking more than I was and had knocked over a plant and thus spilled soil all over the floor. I ran to inform Mr. Gordon of such and he remained calm as usual. Made for an interesting story though!

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I don't want to get TOO excited about this bottle bricks thing until after the weekend but Jaron and I are meeting with the NGO Hug it Forward who funds the bottle schools this Friday in Antigua. Katrin, our ECA director, is coming with me right after school so we can discuss our contributions to the school and our ideas for how our students can be involved and possibilities of the students from the school we hope to build coming to visit us. We've got HUGE dreams for this project, I just hope their aren't too huge. I leave you with this link to check out the current situation with the bottle schools and this one to explain the bench we hope to build at Inter.

One thing I can say for sure is that my Earthkeepers club as increased enrollment to over 20 members. Some students even told me that they plan on coming but couldn't make it yesterday. What a relief! I even have some 4th and 5th graders there that are making my job so much easier (now that its not just me and 5 other Kindergarteners in the room, geesh!). We are planning an assembly to perform for the elementary school in two weeks to teach about how we can recycle and what materials we will need in order to get these bottles made. EXCITEMENT OVERLOAD!

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Yes, Mr. Zack has returned to Seattle. My kids were convinced that he was just a dude that has nothing to do in his days but travel the world (wouldn't that be nice!?) and were asking me questions like, "Why he go?" and, "Well what will he do now?" It's really funny to me how kids cannot conceptualize adults going to school. I think they picture them in an elementary school classroom with their knees up to their ears while they sit in tiny person chairs and mold their answers to questions with play-dough. Hm, sounds awesome.

But overall, Zack's visit was more than incredible. So many lives were changed because of his one month devotion to this country. My students adored him and cannot stop talking about him. My friends wanted to hang out with him more than they wanted to hang out with me (no hard feelings, he's pretty darn likable). My brother himself is now considering following the path of teaching. And I was in a constant state of jaw-drop as I watched my baby brother walking around my current country of residence with maturity, interest, perspective, open-mindedness, kindness, eagerness to know more, hilarity, and grace. He had his eyes opened to a completely new place and didn't let anything hold him back or shock him to the point of disliking the place. He is quite frankly one of the most well-rounded individuals I know and I am so thankful that I was able to spend almost two months in total with him in the last three months. 

I really do have a rock star family (NOT sorry for bragging!) and I seriously cannot wait for Sarah and Weston to come in December... a little over 2 months to go!!!