Well, it´s a rainy Sunday afternoon in our new city of Antigua, where we´ve been for about 5 days. After a few days in a very basic hotel, we have moved into the home of a Guatemalan couple - just yesterday. They seem very nice, much more sophisticated and lively than our family in Xela. The one dinner that we have shared together was accompanied by lots of animated conversation. At least for them and the other students - I´m still not too communicative in Spanish but they seem very patient and speak clearly and seem to feel that helping us to learn Spanish is part of their responsibility. The home is quite large, with about 8 renters. The young man in the room next to us is from the town of Yarmouth, Maine, and is volunteering at the program that we will be working at - Safe Passage. There are also a couple of students and a coordinator from Seattle who are studying Spanish and volunteering nearby, as part of a college program. There are 2 Taiwanese students studying Spanish in preparation for teaching in Central America. So, it should be an interesting experience.
Our buddies from Xela - Julie, Jeff, Jing, Jacob, and Letizia (in that order around the table, below) - came to Antigua for this weekend. It was great to see them, and we had fun doing a bit of exploring and some delicious eating!
On our first full day in Antigua last Thursday, we had a tour of the Safe Passage facilities in Guatemala City. It involved another pick-up truck ride, something we had sworn off from. Sometimes you have to go with the flow, however. Once in the city, we visited several sites, including the Guarderia, the beautiful day care center for the youngest students; the facility that houses the classroom for parents working on their own education; the heart of the program which is located in a lovely building and educates the kids of school age; and lastly, a cemetery from which we could look down on the dump where the families - mostly women - sort through the trash of one-third of Guatemalan society, looking for stuff that they can sell. It was an impressive experience, for the tragedy of families being forced to make a living like this, as well as for the palpable love for these kids expressed by the staff and volunteers. And they apparently can be tough kids, as one would expect of anyone living in conditions of urban poverty. So, I hope that we´re up to the challenge!
Looking down on the massive Guatemala City dump, located in a ravine. The big trash trucks in the forefront give you an idea of scale.
We have a week before we begin volunteering on October 17, 2011. In the meantime, we´ll do some touristy stuff in Antigua, which is a very touristy city but a very beautiful UNESCO World Heritage Site. And we´ll continue to plug away at improving our Spanish.
Colonial building in Antiqua city center, with a backdrop of volcano
Antigua is quite a change from Xela - warmer and more upscale, while at the same time exuding a very charming, old-world atmosphere. It feels like we have returned to the "land of the large" meaning that we spot lots of big and tall people from away. It's a bit of a shock to be reminded of how large Americans tend to be and, in our experience, how clueless we can be about what is appropriate behavior in other cultures.
This is a conservative Catholic country yet, for some reason, Americans on vacation want to violate the norms of appropriate attire and behavior. The hot pink tight shorts that you bought on sale at Macy's do not look great on you - especially with the baby doll blouse with the large pink flowers that barely fits you. I know that your girl friends said it looked adorable on you - they lied. For the men who insist on wearing that basketball under their shirts - the bright purple polo shirt and tight yellow gym shorts along with the cowboy hat - do not enhance your image - trust me on this. I don't know why this is so difficult because all the tour books suggest that you dress conservatively, but maybe we have different interpretations of that word.
We are trying to be good representatives of our country and, while we will never blend in, at least we don't want to stand out in the extreme.
Hasta la vista!
Our buddies from Xela - Julie, Jeff, Jing, Jacob, and Letizia (in that order around the table, below) - came to Antigua for this weekend. It was great to see them, and we had fun doing a bit of exploring and some delicious eating!
On our first full day in Antigua last Thursday, we had a tour of the Safe Passage facilities in Guatemala City. It involved another pick-up truck ride, something we had sworn off from. Sometimes you have to go with the flow, however. Once in the city, we visited several sites, including the Guarderia, the beautiful day care center for the youngest students; the facility that houses the classroom for parents working on their own education; the heart of the program which is located in a lovely building and educates the kids of school age; and lastly, a cemetery from which we could look down on the dump where the families - mostly women - sort through the trash of one-third of Guatemalan society, looking for stuff that they can sell. It was an impressive experience, for the tragedy of families being forced to make a living like this, as well as for the palpable love for these kids expressed by the staff and volunteers. And they apparently can be tough kids, as one would expect of anyone living in conditions of urban poverty. So, I hope that we´re up to the challenge!
We have a week before we begin volunteering on October 17, 2011. In the meantime, we´ll do some touristy stuff in Antigua, which is a very touristy city but a very beautiful UNESCO World Heritage Site. And we´ll continue to plug away at improving our Spanish.
Antigua is quite a change from Xela - warmer and more upscale, while at the same time exuding a very charming, old-world atmosphere. It feels like we have returned to the "land of the large" meaning that we spot lots of big and tall people from away. It's a bit of a shock to be reminded of how large Americans tend to be and, in our experience, how clueless we can be about what is appropriate behavior in other cultures.
This is a conservative Catholic country yet, for some reason, Americans on vacation want to violate the norms of appropriate attire and behavior. The hot pink tight shorts that you bought on sale at Macy's do not look great on you - especially with the baby doll blouse with the large pink flowers that barely fits you. I know that your girl friends said it looked adorable on you - they lied. For the men who insist on wearing that basketball under their shirts - the bright purple polo shirt and tight yellow gym shorts along with the cowboy hat - do not enhance your image - trust me on this. I don't know why this is so difficult because all the tour books suggest that you dress conservatively, but maybe we have different interpretations of that word.
We are trying to be good representatives of our country and, while we will never blend in, at least we don't want to stand out in the extreme.
Hasta la vista!
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