School Days February 18, 2017
This was our first week back at Spanish lessons. We are signed up for 2 hours every day, M-F, from 10 am -12 noon. I'm lucky to have Carmelina as my maestre for the third year in a row. Along with classes came our move to Ana's house, again our third year in a row. The folks at our school, Jabel Tinamit, as well as Ana, have become dear people in our lives. For those of you who are thinking that we must be pretty fluent in Spanish by now, the answer is a resounding NO. Despite the one-on-one lessons and the immersion in our home stay with Ana, who speaks only Spanish with us, we seem to fumble our way through any conversation, saying "maduro" (mature), for example, when I want to say "madera" (wood), and using the wrong verb tenses. An 85-year old fellow student, a Canadian originally from Britain, asked me the other day why we were taking Spanish classes. Good question. Trying to keep the brain a bit limber, I guess, as well as giving our days some structure here in Guatemala. And the whole school community is interesting, offering the opportunity to meet people from all walks of life, such as the fellow just mentioned.
Scenes from our route to school, along a narrow alleyway. We pass a couple of small tiendas (stores) and a tortilleria (women cooking tortillas to sell) and lots of metal doors leading into living spaces. The walkway is littered with dog poop and trash, in places - but most everyone who passes has a smile and says "buen dia" or "hola" to us.
On Monday morning, I was asked if I would be willing to teach English to adolescents, as I had done last year. When I agreed, I was asked if I could begin the next day. Yikes. When I agreed, I was asked if I could teach every morning AND in the afternoon. Whoa. I said yes, even to that request, figuring that it's only for 2 weeks and if I couldn't handle it, I'd just say so. As it turns out, it hasn't been quite that "full on" - but busy enough!
The adolescents are kids that Candelaria and Gregorio, owners of the school, have identified as being kids of promise. They come from poor Mayan families but, like C & G themselves, have a spark and a desire to improve their lives, and they have family support. Among them are two brothers whose parents have died and who live with an older sister. They are so bright and ambitious and eager to learn. Another sweet, serious 15 year old girl wants to become a doctor and run a clinic in her town. It's a pleasure to play some small part in their lives.
Tuesday was Valentine's Day and Jabel Tinamit takes the opportunity every year to hold "a fiesta", a pot luck luncheon with the whole staff, featuring Guatemalan foods. It's a great chance to meet some of the other students, such as a German couple (our age) or some of the young staff members.
On Monday morning, I was asked if I would be willing to teach English to adolescents, as I had done last year. When I agreed, I was asked if I could begin the next day. Yikes. When I agreed, I was asked if I could teach every morning AND in the afternoon. Whoa. I said yes, even to that request, figuring that it's only for 2 weeks and if I couldn't handle it, I'd just say so. As it turns out, it hasn't been quite that "full on" - but busy enough!
The adolescents are kids that Candelaria and Gregorio, owners of the school, have identified as being kids of promise. They come from poor Mayan families but, like C & G themselves, have a spark and a desire to improve their lives, and they have family support. Among them are two brothers whose parents have died and who live with an older sister. They are so bright and ambitious and eager to learn. Another sweet, serious 15 year old girl wants to become a doctor and run a clinic in her town. It's a pleasure to play some small part in their lives.
my English students working hard
Tuesday was Valentine's Day and Jabel Tinamit takes the opportunity every year to hold "a fiesta", a pot luck luncheon with the whole staff, featuring Guatemalan foods. It's a great chance to meet some of the other students, such as a German couple (our age) or some of the young staff members.
One of the delights of returning to a place, of course, is reconnecting with friends from previous years. Lynn and Greg, the couple whose house we shared last week, are from Portland, Oregon, and share many of our interests, including music, politics, and international travel. Another friend, Lisa, is a retired pediatrician from Colorado who comes here to study Spanish and work in a clinic, as well as to make art and watch current movies that she buys from street vendors! We saw both Loving and Silence with her this week. I enjoyed Loving. Silence was a bit too violent for me.
On Wednesday afternoon, I went with Lynn to an NGO called Mayan Families, very close to school. Lynn has been meeting with a few children there once a week to do some enrichment activities, like playing games and doing art projects. I have gone along to help.
One afternoon I went on a walking tour of Panajachel with one of the school staff. It was part of their activity offerings for the week but I was the only person who wanted to go. Elisa, a knowledgeable young woman who works in the school office, was my guide. I had already seen most of the sites that we visited, but it was good to go with a native and to hear her descriptions (as much as I could understand :).
The cemetery, on the other side of the river and on the edge of town, is very colorful and interesting. It is the location for festivities on Day of the Dead in November when families bring food to their deceased family members. The photo shows individual tombs.
Meanwhile, Bruce has been practicing his violin. In years past, he has missed being away from his fiddle for such extended periods. So, before we left home this year, he bought himself a traveling fiddle which is only about 6" wide and came inside a sturdy tube. It looked like all was for naught when he unpacked it upon our arrival in Pana and discovered that the bridge had broken. But being the problem-solver that he is, Bruce got some glue and fixed it - and so far, so good.
Bruce also has a project with Jabel Tinamit's outreach program, Forma (www.formaguatemala.org), the umbrella organization that is reaching out to kids in the surrounding Mayan villages. He'll help with their brochure. BTW, two teens from the program won very competitive international Wal-Mart scholarships to attend college in Arkansas this year! Wohoo! (Guess I'd better not bad-mouth Wal-Mart so much.)
Yesterday was my day of enforced rest after I came down with a bug of some sort. Vomiting/diarrhea. Yuck. I'm on the mend but laying low today.
So goes our time in Guatemala. We have only one more week of classes. It's a shortened adventure this year and is going by quickly. As always, it's a fascinating experience, all in all. We hear about massive amounts of snow at home and are glad to be here, though, truth be told, those cozy wood stoves and brisk x-country ski outings sound pretty good, too.
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