Hey everyone! Just a quick update...I'm all better! After some expensive but very strong antibiotics, the throat infection is officially gone!! YAY!! I also spent a fantastic weekend in Lago Atitlan, and it was a refreshing time of discovering the beautiful volcano-ringed lake and the fauna and flora of a breathtaking spot in the South-West of Guatemala. The birdcalls alone were enough to make me realize how exotic a place this country is! This past week has been really good. I've been off all week, because it is spring break at the school where I teach, and it was sorely needed. I got to move ahead on my final report and also just enjoy breakfast with the family (usually I'm up too early to enjoy that) and get in some Eurocup watching (my Germany jersey will be well-worn by the time finals roll around on Sunday).
The only thing that is less fun is the goodbyes. This week I will be saying goodbye to some friends that I have made and come to love and while that means changing my group of friends somewhat, there is a positive side to change: I've gained a new roommate, Rebecca, who is awesome! And I am meeting some new people from all over the world that I sense will bring a lot to my short stint here in Guatemala.
As a wise friend one loved to say: Change is good!! Amen.
Have a great week everyone! More to come...
jeudi 26 juin 2008
jeudi 19 juin 2008
The things I miss
This week, I hit a bit of a low point, what with being really sick now for 10 days (throat infection, lung infection, cold and the usual traveller's digestive trouble) and getting frustrated with not finding apple juice...REAL apple juice...anywhere. As I sat in a comfy couch in my favorite Guatemalan Cafe, La Fuente, I decided to enumerate the things I miss about home. Here are but a few:
-Milk that is the right percentage, pasteurized, and from a true blue cow.
-Apple and orange juice, not the pale yellow water or the fake nectar stuff that abounds in the grocery aisles here.
-Salad (that doesn't need to be disinfected with Clorox and then rinsed in pure water).
-Toilets that you can put toilet paper in.
-Peanut butter.
-French Vanilla coffee cream. Sigh.
-Granny Smith apples.
-Water that is fresh from the tap.
-Whole wheat bread.
-Blueberries.
-Stores you don't have to bargain in.
-My church family.
-My family family.
-Plain tank tops (impossible to find here, folks.)
So there you have it. The beautiful things in this country far outweigh the things that I miss, but they are there regardless, and it feels good to share them with you.
More news soon! xoxo
-Milk that is the right percentage, pasteurized, and from a true blue cow.
-Apple and orange juice, not the pale yellow water or the fake nectar stuff that abounds in the grocery aisles here.
-Salad (that doesn't need to be disinfected with Clorox and then rinsed in pure water).
-Toilets that you can put toilet paper in.
-Peanut butter.
-French Vanilla coffee cream. Sigh.
-Granny Smith apples.
-Water that is fresh from the tap.
-Whole wheat bread.
-Blueberries.
-Stores you don't have to bargain in.
-My church family.
-My family family.
-Plain tank tops (impossible to find here, folks.)
So there you have it. The beautiful things in this country far outweigh the things that I miss, but they are there regardless, and it feels good to share them with you.
More news soon! xoxo
mardi 17 juin 2008
Ze Project
This week, I began work at my project, which is called La Esperanza and is an elementary school for disadvantaged children. The school provides free education that is financed by sponsors, with each child receiving education, books, a free lunch and school supplies that are paid for by their sponsor. The average cost of sponsoring an Esperanza child is 3000 Quetzales a year, the equivalent of 400$CAN.
Claudia and I teach Monday to Thursday, from 7:45am to 11:45am, and we teach three classes a day. Mondays and Wednesdays we see the 6th, 5th and 4th graders, and Tuesdays and Thursdays we teach the two 3rd grade classes and the adult students, in a class called Nufed. These 3 students are between 18 and 22 years old and are completing their elementary education over one or two years. In the past, the only English teachers they have had at the school have been volunteers who came for two weeks or so and played games with the children. Therefore, it is exciting that we get to structure some intensive, regular classes with the kids so they can really progress in their language learning! We plan our classes around their language level and the consistant nature of our teaching is really making a difference. Plus, the kids are just great!! They laugh until they fall off their chairs and smile all the time. They participate with gusto in all the activities, and they sing when we walk into the class!! It's really really cute... One of the teachers learned a bit of French in the past and has taught his students to yell "Comment ca va?" at us as we walk in!!
This week, we got to visit a coffee farm just outside of Antigua, and since I certainly love a great cup'a joe it was cool to follow the steps of coffee production. And Chantale and my Fair Trade peeps will be happy to hear that they are Fair Trade certified!!!! I took lots of pictures of the sign displaying the Transfair logo and I was so encouraged to see that trade practices are slowly changing, even in this little central american country!
I also got to travel to Semuc-Champe and Coban this weekend, where I swam in turquoise pools next to caves and listened to horrible Guatemalan polka music (don't ask) and go tubing down a river with a Cuba Libre (rum and Coke) in one hand and frantically paddling away from the rapids with the other. Good times!! Oh, and I found a giant tarantula in my clothes on Sunday morning. Never will a wimpy Canadian Daddylonglegs make me wimper, ever again. Pictures on my Facebook page!!
That's all for now, more to follow!!
Claudia and I teach Monday to Thursday, from 7:45am to 11:45am, and we teach three classes a day. Mondays and Wednesdays we see the 6th, 5th and 4th graders, and Tuesdays and Thursdays we teach the two 3rd grade classes and the adult students, in a class called Nufed. These 3 students are between 18 and 22 years old and are completing their elementary education over one or two years. In the past, the only English teachers they have had at the school have been volunteers who came for two weeks or so and played games with the children. Therefore, it is exciting that we get to structure some intensive, regular classes with the kids so they can really progress in their language learning! We plan our classes around their language level and the consistant nature of our teaching is really making a difference. Plus, the kids are just great!! They laugh until they fall off their chairs and smile all the time. They participate with gusto in all the activities, and they sing when we walk into the class!! It's really really cute... One of the teachers learned a bit of French in the past and has taught his students to yell "Comment ca va?" at us as we walk in!!
This week, we got to visit a coffee farm just outside of Antigua, and since I certainly love a great cup'a joe it was cool to follow the steps of coffee production. And Chantale and my Fair Trade peeps will be happy to hear that they are Fair Trade certified!!!! I took lots of pictures of the sign displaying the Transfair logo and I was so encouraged to see that trade practices are slowly changing, even in this little central american country!
I also got to travel to Semuc-Champe and Coban this weekend, where I swam in turquoise pools next to caves and listened to horrible Guatemalan polka music (don't ask) and go tubing down a river with a Cuba Libre (rum and Coke) in one hand and frantically paddling away from the rapids with the other. Good times!! Oh, and I found a giant tarantula in my clothes on Sunday morning. Never will a wimpy Canadian Daddylonglegs make me wimper, ever again. Pictures on my Facebook page!!
That's all for now, more to follow!!
dimanche 8 juin 2008
El sol
Hey everyone!
This week has both crawled by and flown by, and I am quickly falling in love with the people, the culture, and the lifestyle of my life here in Guatemala.
On Saturday, I finally saw the sun! When I woke up yesterday morning and saw sun outside my window, my heart leapt inside me...one can only take so much rain before becoming completely batty. After tanning for a couple of hours on the roof of my house (translation: getting a fierce sunburn), my housemates and I visited Cerro de la Cruz, a cleared-out spot on top of a hill next to my house from which you have a panoramic view of Antigua and the surrounding areas. It was beautiful!
Earlier this week, a group of us visited Pacaya, an active volcano about and hour outside of Antigua. Words do not describe the terrifying beauty of this place! I was just blown away by how incredible it was to stand on rocks just inches away from flowing lava. One guy's shoes even started melting! We got to toast marshmallows over the lava. Good times.
This morning, we got to cook an American-style breakfast for our family and friends, with French Toast, omelets, fruit salad and bacon. Yummm. It was good timing because my host family is in mourning; Flori's 17-year-old niece gave birth to twins prematurely earlier this week and one of the twin girls died last night. In Guatemala, young men and women get married very young, as of 15 or 16 years old. Because the custom here is for the whole family to spend all night watching over the body, and then come home for a few hours' sleep and then go back for the burial, our family could not cook for us and it was a joy to be able to provide some good food for them. Prayer for the family would be appreciated.
I start teaching tomorrow, so I will update you on my teaching adventures next week.
'Til next time!
This week has both crawled by and flown by, and I am quickly falling in love with the people, the culture, and the lifestyle of my life here in Guatemala.
On Saturday, I finally saw the sun! When I woke up yesterday morning and saw sun outside my window, my heart leapt inside me...one can only take so much rain before becoming completely batty. After tanning for a couple of hours on the roof of my house (translation: getting a fierce sunburn), my housemates and I visited Cerro de la Cruz, a cleared-out spot on top of a hill next to my house from which you have a panoramic view of Antigua and the surrounding areas. It was beautiful!
Earlier this week, a group of us visited Pacaya, an active volcano about and hour outside of Antigua. Words do not describe the terrifying beauty of this place! I was just blown away by how incredible it was to stand on rocks just inches away from flowing lava. One guy's shoes even started melting! We got to toast marshmallows over the lava. Good times.
This morning, we got to cook an American-style breakfast for our family and friends, with French Toast, omelets, fruit salad and bacon. Yummm. It was good timing because my host family is in mourning; Flori's 17-year-old niece gave birth to twins prematurely earlier this week and one of the twin girls died last night. In Guatemala, young men and women get married very young, as of 15 or 16 years old. Because the custom here is for the whole family to spend all night watching over the body, and then come home for a few hours' sleep and then go back for the burial, our family could not cook for us and it was a joy to be able to provide some good food for them. Prayer for the family would be appreciated.
I start teaching tomorrow, so I will update you on my teaching adventures next week.
'Til next time!
mercredi 4 juin 2008
Pictures!!
Hey everyone! I have tried putting pictures on here and due to the internet connection and my non-computer-savvyness, I have decided to just put them on Facebook! Here is the address to go see them:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=55928&id=516925305&ref=mf
Enjoy! More pictures and posts to come soon.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=55928&id=516925305&ref=mf
Enjoy! More pictures and posts to come soon.
lundi 2 juin 2008
I'm here!
Hey everyone!
This being a first post, it will be long...sorry, I promise the next ones will be shorter!!
After two flights and, thankfully, no motion sickness at all (although I have decided that the roller-coaster takeoff feeling is not one of my alltime favorite things), Claudia and I arrived in Guatemala to meet our driver, Leonel. His friendliness and kind, impish smile are so characteristic of Guatemalans, and it was a great introduction to what we can expect for the 9 weeks we will be here. The first thing we realized after leaving the airport is that GT (Guatemala) is rainswept as a result of the tropical storm that broke out in Nicaragua and has been making its way across northern Mexico. For the next 4 or 5 days, it will be rainy and grey all day here (yay! :P).
The next thing we learned about GT is that when it comes to driving, there are no rules!! Guatemalans drive really fast and swerve across the streets (mostly to avoid the big puddles that accumulate in one lane or the other) and they pass other vehicles to the left and to the right, whenever they want. With the torrential rain it made me a bit nervous, but Leonel has lived here all his life and these conditions exist 6 months out of the year so it is no more dangerous than driving over icy streets in Quebec in January!
I arrived at my host home, and I couldn't believe my eyes! I will add pictures soon so you can truly appreciate the beauty of these colonial homes...there are 3 levels, all concrete floors, and everything is open. As in, from all levels you can look right up to the sky, and when it rains the rain comes into the hall a bit. From the roof you can look out over the city at the mountains and volcanoes (Antigua is in a valley, surrounded by mountains, it's a breathtaking sight!). The doors are all wrought iron and massive wood, and the bathroom and shower are tiled and very clean. The family I live with are fantastic! Flori and Edgar Sr. are sweet and very comfortable with pretty much anything; we can use the kitchen when we want, invite people over, and they include us as much as we want in their everyday lives (we eat meals with them and their family, and we can help them cook and chat with them whenever we want!). They have 3 children: Denise is 18 and studying to be a veterinarian, Edgar Jr. is 17, in his last year of highschool and will be going into med school next september, and Paula is 13 and very shy. I also have 3 housemates, who are studying at the Spanish school we are associated with for our practicum: David from Germany, Nathan from Miami and John Henry from Colorado. We went out for supper with them and a bunch of other fun students from around the world last night, and I am glad to meet such fun people! I sense that we will be fast friends.
We met the principal of the school we will be teaching at in San Felipe, a small town just outside of Antigua. Her name is Ana, and we get along very well. We will be deciding our schedule and the details of our teaching placement today and tomorrow.
Other than that, some fun facts about my life here so far:
-The plumbing being very old, we can't flush toilet paper down the toilet, we have to put it in the garbage.
-I will be buying a cell phone for local calls, since a phone, and the equivalent of about 200 local talking minutes, costs around 20-25 US$ here!!
-1 US$= about 7 Quetzals.
-There are these little tractor-cars that putt-putt around the city, and they are called Tuck-Tucks (pronounced took-tooks).
Well, that's all for today!
Talk to you again soon!
Liz xoxo
This being a first post, it will be long...sorry, I promise the next ones will be shorter!!
After two flights and, thankfully, no motion sickness at all (although I have decided that the roller-coaster takeoff feeling is not one of my alltime favorite things), Claudia and I arrived in Guatemala to meet our driver, Leonel. His friendliness and kind, impish smile are so characteristic of Guatemalans, and it was a great introduction to what we can expect for the 9 weeks we will be here. The first thing we realized after leaving the airport is that GT (Guatemala) is rainswept as a result of the tropical storm that broke out in Nicaragua and has been making its way across northern Mexico. For the next 4 or 5 days, it will be rainy and grey all day here (yay! :P).
The next thing we learned about GT is that when it comes to driving, there are no rules!! Guatemalans drive really fast and swerve across the streets (mostly to avoid the big puddles that accumulate in one lane or the other) and they pass other vehicles to the left and to the right, whenever they want. With the torrential rain it made me a bit nervous, but Leonel has lived here all his life and these conditions exist 6 months out of the year so it is no more dangerous than driving over icy streets in Quebec in January!
I arrived at my host home, and I couldn't believe my eyes! I will add pictures soon so you can truly appreciate the beauty of these colonial homes...there are 3 levels, all concrete floors, and everything is open. As in, from all levels you can look right up to the sky, and when it rains the rain comes into the hall a bit. From the roof you can look out over the city at the mountains and volcanoes (Antigua is in a valley, surrounded by mountains, it's a breathtaking sight!). The doors are all wrought iron and massive wood, and the bathroom and shower are tiled and very clean. The family I live with are fantastic! Flori and Edgar Sr. are sweet and very comfortable with pretty much anything; we can use the kitchen when we want, invite people over, and they include us as much as we want in their everyday lives (we eat meals with them and their family, and we can help them cook and chat with them whenever we want!). They have 3 children: Denise is 18 and studying to be a veterinarian, Edgar Jr. is 17, in his last year of highschool and will be going into med school next september, and Paula is 13 and very shy. I also have 3 housemates, who are studying at the Spanish school we are associated with for our practicum: David from Germany, Nathan from Miami and John Henry from Colorado. We went out for supper with them and a bunch of other fun students from around the world last night, and I am glad to meet such fun people! I sense that we will be fast friends.
We met the principal of the school we will be teaching at in San Felipe, a small town just outside of Antigua. Her name is Ana, and we get along very well. We will be deciding our schedule and the details of our teaching placement today and tomorrow.
Other than that, some fun facts about my life here so far:
-The plumbing being very old, we can't flush toilet paper down the toilet, we have to put it in the garbage.
-I will be buying a cell phone for local calls, since a phone, and the equivalent of about 200 local talking minutes, costs around 20-25 US$ here!!
-1 US$= about 7 Quetzals.
-There are these little tractor-cars that putt-putt around the city, and they are called Tuck-Tucks (pronounced took-tooks).
Well, that's all for today!
Talk to you again soon!
Liz xoxo
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