This is definitely not like any place I have been before. It is kind of a mix between Egypt, Greece and the Northern woods of Minnesota (minus the snow...and pine trees). I am back to the lands where I have to throw my toilet paper into the garbage cans and go to the local, outdoor market for my food. There is a very distinct smell here in Guatemala. It is a peaceful, relaxing odor that is some sort of mix between the fire smoke, tortillas and tropical forest. and maybe smelly dog. As you walk down the street, you can hear the pat, pat, pat of the women making tortillas all day long. They are so cheap--Michael and I bought 10 of them yesterday for 2 Q, or about 40 cents. Life is simple here, and everyone manages to put a smile on their face. It would be weird to go down the whole street without hearing multiple "Buenos Dias" even to us gringos!
We are now in our third week of school. Tgif. The life of a teacher is tough! I absolutely love my kids (I'm teaching 5th-9th grade science, math lab and science literacy) every day and it keeps me busy! Planning for everything takes me a long time along with creatively thinking of how to do certain experiments without any of
the right equipment. If you are curious, I have put up some pictures of my classrooms and students on my Facebook! It has been refreshing to see and interact with the youth here. Middle school boys and girls have raging hormones and ridiculous attitudes in Guatemala too :)
It has been a very interesting transition from Milwaukee to Panajachel. The people here are also extremely poor and many do not have electricity. But, the respect that they have for school and for each other is wonderful to watch. I have been given a kiss on the
check most days of the week by my students and everyone seems to be trying their hardest. I think daily, "I only have to ask you once, maybe twice, for you to look up and pay attention? So amazing!" It is still hard to hear stories of their lives at home, but I am really trying to engage them in school and be a person they can talk to whenever they want. It is the least I can do.
Most of the students at school are Guatemalan with a handful of foreigners. I have learned to teach using demonstrations, written directions and verbal directions to reach all the students in the room. They are all at different levels of English proficiency and
therefore creating a whole new layer of teaching I haven't really had to think about before. I have also had fun teaching them new English words and phrases. Today, they learned the word "yawning" and the phrase "catching some z's" during our mini sleep unit. Last week, one of my students came up to me at the end of the day and said "Break a
leg!" before leaving...she wanted to wish me luck over the weekend. Not quite the right context, but I appreciated it!
I will get the sad and depressing information out in one paragraph. Here I go! Like I stated above, there is extreme poverty here. Most of the people are indigenous Mayan people who still wear the traditional clothing and maintain a strict patriarchal hierarchy. Most homes are little shacks with dirt floors or cement. Alcoholism is a big problem here for the Guatemalan men. There are many days where I will see a
man stumbling down the street or just passed out cold on the sidewalk. There is also a large population of stray dogs. Many locals do not treat the strays very well and many flinch when you put your hand out because they are afraid to be hit. There are also certain days of the week where they will try to poison the dogs that go up by the market.
There are a lot of mixed feelings about them. Along with the strays, almost every house has a "guard dog" here which I think is hilarious because they don't do anything besides bark and be obnoxious. They are not well cared for, never receive any human affection and are pretty much left in the yard to bark at people.
Alright, I take it back about all the guard dogs not doing anything. I was actually attacked by the guard dog at the school my second week here haha. He came up from behind and I turned just in time to see his teeth bearing and I started running and screaming. He ripped off my entire pant leg before his chain pulled him back. I don't know how
he didn't get my leg and I am laughing about it now but it scared the crap out of me. Plus, he ruined one of the only pairs of capris I brought. Little shit.
Okay, offdah. Enough!
Guatemala just had their big political elections last Sunday and everyone had been preparing for months. People painted political messages on rocks everywhere and the streets were covered in posters. They also had many parades for different parties--Guatemala has at least 20 different political parties--and everyone thinks it is a
brilliant idea to shoot off way too many firecrackers. My second week here, I woke up around 4 a.m. to hear, what I thought to be, someone blowing up the riverbed next to our house. The new mayor of Panajachel is the father of two of my students. He has been the mayor two times before and rumor has it that they own the local prostitute house and a hotel. Gotta love Guatemalan politics. People were also happy this year to have very little violence on election day. There were only a couple instances this year where someone lit the voting building on fire to reduce the votes for a specific party, a bus hold up for incoming voters and a major road block going into Guatemala City to prevent more voters. Apparently last year, one candidate hired someone to kill all the other candidates so that he would have to win. Do whatever it takes to win, right???
It is the rainy season, or winter, here right now. Like clockwork, it rains every day usually around 3-4 p.m. Although it is annoying, the lake and volcanos look amazing right before it rains as the clouds are really low and slowly move to cover everything in their path. You would think having the rainy season for about 5 months every year,
Guatemalans would want to invest in a rain jacket. But no, only the gringos wear raincoats here and all the Guatemalans run or hold up a piece of plastic. Even a cheap poncho would be better!
There are little cars/scooters called tuk-tuks that drive all over the city serving as taxis. They are awesome to ride in as the drivers are crazy and they have been our saviors trying to get home in the pouring rain. Plus, they are very cheap, costing 5 Q or about 70 cents to anywhere in the city.
Pana is great, but the real treasures around here are the little towns surrounding Lake Atitlan. Most weekends, we have taken a boat to a different town around the lake for the day. Our favorites so far are Santa Cruz, San Marcos and San Pedro. The towns are much smaller than Pana, have few gringos and are great places to relax (this is the part
that reminds me of the Northwoods!). If anyone comes to visit, we will definitely go explore!
I am slowly getting to know my fellow teachers, other local gringos and some Guatemalans. I am playing on a co-ed, non-competitive soccer league that started last week and it was a blast. It was great to play on a team again and have fun.
I think that is it for now. I miss you all and PLEASE write back to tell me what is going on with you! If you have skype (everyone get skype!) I would love to chat! My username is jess.schaeffer. Add me.
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