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  Quetzaltenango, Guatemala
Friday, June 29, 2007

Hi everyone,
I just have a short update today.  I uploaded 4 photos to my entry for Lago Atitlan if you want to go back to that entry to see them.

For the last week it has barely rained here.  It has been sunny but chilly.  Cold enough at night that my throat has been sore and my hands have been really dry.  I never thought it was possible to be this cold in June!

My students have been good this week.  We have had lots of activities to help them learn and I was very impressed the last 2 days that most of the students in all 4 groups are remembering most of the vocabulary.  It always makes me laugh to hear them say pineapple because they pronounce it peen ap ley.  Some kids are better than others pronouncing things in English.  They can all read and write and they seem to enjoy learning English.  It took me awhile to get them to respond with Good Afternoon or Goodbye after I would say these words to them.  Now they are saying Good Afternoon or Goodbye before I even prompt them. 

I think the biggest challenge for me in the last week was learning that I may have to embarass myself and let them laugh at me to help them learn.  They wanted to learn songs in English and so we have been doing that.  So sometimes I have to sing and let them laugh at me.  It is nice to hear them laugh even if they are laughing at me!  They also like to laugh at my poor Spanish.  It is so much different with the adults here because they appreciate it when foreigners are trying to learn their language whereas kids just make fun.  I enjoy keeping the kids engaged and they understand simple sentences so far.  I am truly enjoying my time spent with these young boys and girls who will hopefully make a better future for themselves and their fellow Guatemaltecos.

The church here is very different from back home.  I am used to seeing worker bees coming and going during the day and evening at church.  There was always someone around to ask a question or say hi to.  Here there is no one working at the church a part from two men and a woman who appear to live in an apartment attached to the church.  They take care of the grounds of the church and feed the chickens and cows who hang out in the front yard of the church property.  They seem very wary of me still, but hopefully by saying Buenas Tardes every afternoon I will someday get a smile in return.  It is challenging that they do not have a secretary or pastor around and no phone or photocopy machine.  But I get by and just pray that none of the kids get hurt before, during or after the classes with no one but me around.  I was a little concerned the first 2 weeks that I could not properly control or handle my largest and oldest group of students.  But they do listen to me and respect my authority even though they constantly test the limit by chatting a lot while I am talking.  But I am impressed when they do fully pay attention.

One girl who was in my largest class always looked confused.  I knew she was not understanding everything, but in a large class it is not easy to give a lot of attention to one student.  I was happy to see her show up for a different class one day and I let her know it was fine for her to switch classes.  She is now understanding a lot more and is smiling a lot more during classes and participating more.  I had asked a few of the other girls if they could join a different, smaller class but they can not get home from school, eat lunch and get to the church in time to attend an earlier class.

Tomorrow I finally get to tour the city I am living in with a friend from my Spanish class.  We are going to visit the local market called the Democracia and hopefully taste some authentic food.  I have been amazed at the variety of food here - Middle Eastern, Italian, American, Mexican and even Chinese.  I love Chinese food and I thought I would have to go without for 4 months!  There are more types of food, but I can not remember them right now.

Well enjoy your weekend and the upcoming 4th of July holiday.  I hope some Americans here want to celebrate a little on the 4th to make it feel more like home!

dianaj25

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