heyyy all of my lovely family and friends!!!!
i´m sending you a raaapid post of what´s poppin down here in baja vera paz, guatemala!!
how are you alllll dooooing? i love you and miss you like crazy, sometimes i´m just like, ahhhh i wish everyone that i love is here with me too because it´s really a beautiful experience that is happening and i wish to share it oh so closely with you all!! you all are here with me, everyday, and i know that, too! mucho mucho amor!!
anywhoooo, so lots lots been happenin here! woooo! let´s start since we´ve last spoken.. soo the next week after pachalum, i continued observing classes, lots and lots of classes to get more grounding of the subjects, the teachers, the students. ooooh so there was a 35th anniversary for one of the middle schools in my town, oooh that was so much fun!! there were activities all week!! to start it all off there was this beauty pageant, to elect the senoritas of the schools, they looove beauty pageants here.. they are entertaining for sure. anyways so in the middle of all of that, a group from coban (a city in alta vera paz, which is just a little north of here), so a marimba dancing group (you know the marimba is like a huuuge xlyophone made out of wood), it´s my favorite, it´s awesome, like a dream listening to it, so freeing i feel like i could just float away with the clouds, love iiiit! so they played that and danced to it! theeen the next day there was some dancing and singing and guitar playing competitions at the school for like 5 hours, i seriously stayed the whole time because i loveee stuff like that and i was just mingling around talking to the students, watching the performances!
oh yeah, that reminds me for another one of my schools, i sang to the class because they had spent time performing their songs, so i was like, hey! think i can sing something? they were all like, yeeeah! so i sang soulshine by the allman brothers with a little addition that i wrote after! soo that was cooool! then later to another school i read a poem i had wrote to them because they had all been reciting poems for the class! they just shared so much and i felt like i wanted to share too. sharing is a beautiful thing in the many ways of which it happens in our lives!
so yeeah, the anniversary of the school. the second day, all the kids were making different salads, like chicken, vegetable, pasta salads, and i got to go around and taste most all of them!!! Oh the luck!!! i loved it. i love eating!!! and especially trying multiple different types of food! then after there was a dessert competition, oh the smell of those desserts, to diiie for! but i was outside talking to a girl jaclyn about her dreams of travelling the world and then about her family and the mountains and all sorts of stuff, that i completely forget to try those! the conversation was more important.. there will be more desserts, but we may never get the chance to have such a conversation again! then after that, there was a competition for arranging flowers, ohh man, the arrangements some of the kids came up with, all sorts of things. this one little kid took leaves and sticks and made them into turtles, i was like whhhat, so creative, right? then another girl made flowers out of wire and pretty colored strings connecting them between the wires, ohh sooo coool! so i took pictures of every one of them, the kids were really excited about that, they all wanted to get their picture taken and look at it! ohh it made me soo happy to see all their creations and take part in these wonderful activities!! so yeeeah!! there´s gonna be a lot more things like that, too!! wooohooo!!
so then that weekend, the volunteers from baja and alta vera paz got together in lanquin, a tourist area with caving, rafting, swimming, monkeys!!! we saw two HOWLER MONKEYS in the trees, making their howler noises and all!! that was by far the coolest thing ever, suuuper duuuper cool!!! monkeyssss ahhh!! sooo yeah, that was at the end of the second day!! the others days i just swam and swam and swam in the river, which was like torqouise.. soo beautiful!!! and it rained the first day, but i just keeept swimming because it was just soo nice and relaxing and beeautiful!!! and then i ran into my friend hallie´s little sister at the hostel we were staying out!!! we nearly had a heart attack when we realized!! AHHHHH!! it was so coool, so random, but so right! we talked for hours next to the candlelight about the ends of the world. it was beautiful, it was so lovely to run into her! we promised we´ll stay friends and meet up again, she´s a wonderful person and living in guatemala for right now!! yeees!!
so my boss just came in, looking for his internet back! i think i´ve overstayed my internet welcome, most honestly, i don´t know if i´m gonna get the chance to use his internet again! but oooh i´m so thankful for him letting me use it!! my trip last weekend was so lovely, and so rich in conversation and in meeting new friends and connecting with my friends here!! and the jungle of alta is just breathtaking and beautiful!! and hottttt!!
i started my classes this week in two schools, did some activities with them, went over rules of respect, showed them photos of all of you!! talked about all of you!! and they asked questions, oooh they love the photos and they loved hearing about all of you!! it was truly special, i felt closer to you guys while talkign about you to them, and i think they felt closer to me seeing pictures of my family and friends!! mm hmmm!! i´m continuing some classes next week, too!! it´s good fuuun, trying to keep it interactive for the next class while also teaching them things, as well.. my classes next week will be about positive communication because after reading all their responses about youth themes that are most important to them, an overwhelming number of kids said communication!!! so in response to the calculated need, woooohooo, the next class is about positive communication!!
i love you all so much. it gladdens my heart to connect with you all, even though only through my rapid words and thoughts an dmemories!!! i hope you are all well and i wish you all love, peace and everlasting happiness, as always!!! take care of yourselves and others, as always!!! and i love you and miss youuuu!! and we shall connect soon on the road ahead!!!! mucho mucho amor y gratitud for you all in my life for now and always!!!!! hugs and kisssses!!!
Friday, August 21, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
oohoyyyy!
helllllo there wonderful family and friends who are oh so splendid and good to me to read my blog!! so sweet!! thank you!! : ) i hope all you all are doing reeeeaaalllly weeelllll!!
I'M IN PACHALUM, QUICHE!! wooo!! my first night out of site!! i'm staying with my friend tiara in her site, pachalum! it's a little city, big town, 2 camionetas, 3 hours away from me in el chol! the drive was beeeautiful! over the mountains and hills, through the corn fields, squished next to all sorts of interesting people, alongside the colorful flowers overgrowing the walls next to the roads, the sweeeet smell of clean fresh early morning air, and then also the feeling of, my golly there is dirt all over me right now because these roooads!! my stomach hurts a little from the bumpiness f the dirt roads.. or it could be the teeny tiny bit of river water (straight from the faucet) that was in my coffee cup this morning after i cleaned it, and before i put my coffee in it.
the w ter is sometimes sort of clear, sometimes seriously brown. hmm, it puzzles me as well. i try to stay cleeear of it, because it's not cleeear at all! that's my motto, just decided right now!
anywhooo, wow, i feel so calm because tiara is in the shower and i can just sit here, very calmly and write to you guys. because i've always been rushing around with internet time. soooo, what to talk about, what to talk about! how are you all doing? hehe. i sooo wish you guys could answer me right now! si si si! so since you cant, i should probably just talk to you guys instead! soo about my site! oooh, it's really splendid! i walk down the street and people refer to me by name, and i have never met them before! and then i ask them their name, and we meet! it's really nice because it's a small town- 2,000 peeeps, so i'm gonna get to know a lot of people reeeally well! and they are gonna know me! what else? it's preeettty hot during the day, but oh man, when the sun starts to set, the clouds light up and a rich beautiful breeze brushes through the pueblo and it's just so lovely and wonderful. and at night, the temperature is nice and cool, like a perfect summer's night. me and my homestay brothers and some kids from the school have been playing soccer in the afternoons and the view of the sunset from the field next to the mountains is breathtaking! the cobblestone streets still make me smile every time i walk down them because they are just so cute! and every day i awake and walk out of my room, i greet the parrot that chills on our balcony! it's so cute.. and so i kind of run where it cant see me anymore and then it tries to move to catch my glimpse, then i run again and it does the same. it's fun for me, and i think for him too! he's green and then has some rainbow feathers and deep dark eyes that are just so cute!i want to hug him all the time but i really don't think he'd like it! anyways.. so that's a little bit about the environment of my site. when i walk to the two high schools down the dirt paths, like 10 minutes from the site.. they are both along the river and next to all these plants, and it just smells so rich and fresh.. i really enjoy those walks. i really enjoy walking all around my site because we all just say buenas to each other and it's just a really friendly happy atmosphere! we looked at the moon last night, it's almost full! it was coming up over the mountains, so magnificent!!
oh yeah, speaking of things that are magnificent to the people here- chicken feet! there were chickens feet stickin out of all the soups at the table yesterday at lunch.. except for mine, thank God!!!! but im pretty sure that what was in mine was like the heel or something because its like no part of the body i've seen before. but.. yeah, at least it wasn't toes and nails.. oh man, yeah, i think i might have to ask politely for me not to eat that. but then last night we had mac and cheese with some onions and spices.. so life is gooood!
sooo about my work here!!! so far i've visited all my schools a few times. this week i observed full days of classes!! it was really great to sit through the classes and watch because i can totally see what the style of teaching is here and why my position is what it is because so much of the teaching is solely busy work and the teacher reading things from his notebook for the kids to copy into theirs. and it's not a very conducive environment for learning and growth and intellectual development for these kids.. ya know? it's not really the way we learn, we learn by doing, we learn by being active, working in groups, exchanging with the teacher, positive encouragement, critical thinking, all those things. so as my position of working not only as a teacher, but also working on teacher training and teacher development, i am getting a sense of the challenges before me in terms of the habits of teachers here. but don't get me wrong, there are a couple teachers who reeeally impressed me during their lessons, they are energetic and did comprehension activities, and asked questions to the students, and were just like boom boom boom.. and so i have a lot to learn from them, and i will, and i also would like to ask them to help with me teacher training since they have a very positive foundation of actively teaching and engaging the students. all of this will go much smoother if i can work with key members o fthe community to work with other members of the community- and that is what i plan to do because that's what is sustainable!
so that's all in the future, buti've been thinking a lot about that as i've been reading a lot of my materials from the peace corps office from training. like a book called, first days of school about positive encouragement and classroom management. and then others about different ways of working with youth and then another with different activities to do with youth! so my mind is just spiiiinning with so many ideas! but i'm starting small. next week i'm going to observe classes again, and then meet with each of the directors of the four schools that i work at and ask them if it would be okay if next week i do a couple icebreakers with each of the classes to get to know the students names and whatnot!! because that's reeeally important to me, i want to learn all of their names! i'm preetty sure that i can!! so yeah, i've been thinking about different icebreakers, i was thinking about bringing options to the directors and asking them which one they think would be best for the classes. so yeah, that's next week!! i'm takin it slow. doing what feels comfortable.. but i'm really excited to get in there are starting working more with the students and teachers! i feel like more than not, i'm reeeaddy and they are ready for me, too! beacuse they keep asking me when i'm gonna start! so that's a little about my work right now!! i'll keep you updated!!
and for right now, i'm sitting in tiara's living room and we're gonna go get some breakfast-- i'm craving some eggs and beans!!! never in a million years would i think that i would crave that, but nevertheless, it's exactly what i want!!! and tortillas... hmmmmm!!! and then a couple more of our peace corps friends are coming to visit and stay the next two nights, too!! yeees, i'm soo excited to be here with tiara and then meet up with our other friends!! yeeesss!!! you all take care of yourselves, thanks for listening!! i love you all lots and lots and lots and i wish your days to be filled with love, peace and everlasting happiness!!! : ) take care!!!! : )
I'M IN PACHALUM, QUICHE!! wooo!! my first night out of site!! i'm staying with my friend tiara in her site, pachalum! it's a little city, big town, 2 camionetas, 3 hours away from me in el chol! the drive was beeeautiful! over the mountains and hills, through the corn fields, squished next to all sorts of interesting people, alongside the colorful flowers overgrowing the walls next to the roads, the sweeeet smell of clean fresh early morning air, and then also the feeling of, my golly there is dirt all over me right now because these roooads!! my stomach hurts a little from the bumpiness f the dirt roads.. or it could be the teeny tiny bit of river water (straight from the faucet) that was in my coffee cup this morning after i cleaned it, and before i put my coffee in it.
the w ter is sometimes sort of clear, sometimes seriously brown. hmm, it puzzles me as well. i try to stay cleeear of it, because it's not cleeear at all! that's my motto, just decided right now!
anywhooo, wow, i feel so calm because tiara is in the shower and i can just sit here, very calmly and write to you guys. because i've always been rushing around with internet time. soooo, what to talk about, what to talk about! how are you all doing? hehe. i sooo wish you guys could answer me right now! si si si! so since you cant, i should probably just talk to you guys instead! soo about my site! oooh, it's really splendid! i walk down the street and people refer to me by name, and i have never met them before! and then i ask them their name, and we meet! it's really nice because it's a small town- 2,000 peeeps, so i'm gonna get to know a lot of people reeeally well! and they are gonna know me! what else? it's preeettty hot during the day, but oh man, when the sun starts to set, the clouds light up and a rich beautiful breeze brushes through the pueblo and it's just so lovely and wonderful. and at night, the temperature is nice and cool, like a perfect summer's night. me and my homestay brothers and some kids from the school have been playing soccer in the afternoons and the view of the sunset from the field next to the mountains is breathtaking! the cobblestone streets still make me smile every time i walk down them because they are just so cute! and every day i awake and walk out of my room, i greet the parrot that chills on our balcony! it's so cute.. and so i kind of run where it cant see me anymore and then it tries to move to catch my glimpse, then i run again and it does the same. it's fun for me, and i think for him too! he's green and then has some rainbow feathers and deep dark eyes that are just so cute!i want to hug him all the time but i really don't think he'd like it! anyways.. so that's a little bit about the environment of my site. when i walk to the two high schools down the dirt paths, like 10 minutes from the site.. they are both along the river and next to all these plants, and it just smells so rich and fresh.. i really enjoy those walks. i really enjoy walking all around my site because we all just say buenas to each other and it's just a really friendly happy atmosphere! we looked at the moon last night, it's almost full! it was coming up over the mountains, so magnificent!!
oh yeah, speaking of things that are magnificent to the people here- chicken feet! there were chickens feet stickin out of all the soups at the table yesterday at lunch.. except for mine, thank God!!!! but im pretty sure that what was in mine was like the heel or something because its like no part of the body i've seen before. but.. yeah, at least it wasn't toes and nails.. oh man, yeah, i think i might have to ask politely for me not to eat that. but then last night we had mac and cheese with some onions and spices.. so life is gooood!
sooo about my work here!!! so far i've visited all my schools a few times. this week i observed full days of classes!! it was really great to sit through the classes and watch because i can totally see what the style of teaching is here and why my position is what it is because so much of the teaching is solely busy work and the teacher reading things from his notebook for the kids to copy into theirs. and it's not a very conducive environment for learning and growth and intellectual development for these kids.. ya know? it's not really the way we learn, we learn by doing, we learn by being active, working in groups, exchanging with the teacher, positive encouragement, critical thinking, all those things. so as my position of working not only as a teacher, but also working on teacher training and teacher development, i am getting a sense of the challenges before me in terms of the habits of teachers here. but don't get me wrong, there are a couple teachers who reeeally impressed me during their lessons, they are energetic and did comprehension activities, and asked questions to the students, and were just like boom boom boom.. and so i have a lot to learn from them, and i will, and i also would like to ask them to help with me teacher training since they have a very positive foundation of actively teaching and engaging the students. all of this will go much smoother if i can work with key members o fthe community to work with other members of the community- and that is what i plan to do because that's what is sustainable!
so that's all in the future, buti've been thinking a lot about that as i've been reading a lot of my materials from the peace corps office from training. like a book called, first days of school about positive encouragement and classroom management. and then others about different ways of working with youth and then another with different activities to do with youth! so my mind is just spiiiinning with so many ideas! but i'm starting small. next week i'm going to observe classes again, and then meet with each of the directors of the four schools that i work at and ask them if it would be okay if next week i do a couple icebreakers with each of the classes to get to know the students names and whatnot!! because that's reeeally important to me, i want to learn all of their names! i'm preetty sure that i can!! so yeah, i've been thinking about different icebreakers, i was thinking about bringing options to the directors and asking them which one they think would be best for the classes. so yeah, that's next week!! i'm takin it slow. doing what feels comfortable.. but i'm really excited to get in there are starting working more with the students and teachers! i feel like more than not, i'm reeeaddy and they are ready for me, too! beacuse they keep asking me when i'm gonna start! so that's a little about my work right now!! i'll keep you updated!!
and for right now, i'm sitting in tiara's living room and we're gonna go get some breakfast-- i'm craving some eggs and beans!!! never in a million years would i think that i would crave that, but nevertheless, it's exactly what i want!!! and tortillas... hmmmmm!!! and then a couple more of our peace corps friends are coming to visit and stay the next two nights, too!! yeees, i'm soo excited to be here with tiara and then meet up with our other friends!! yeeesss!!! you all take care of yourselves, thanks for listening!! i love you all lots and lots and lots and i wish your days to be filled with love, peace and everlasting happiness!!! : ) take care!!!! : )
Saturday, August 1, 2009
ahhh my first time with internet here!!!!
helllllo wonderfuls of my life!!!!
thanks for your comments on my posts of my town and my home! and katie! i didn't do most of the decorating.. the plastic over the table.. it's a guatemalan thing! and i'm not 80! although i don't have tv, internet and i wash my clothes by hand.. i'm not 80!! hehehe, you make me laugh! i'm glad to catch up with you guys here, right now because it's going to be few and far between, i fear! i'm sitting at a pollo campero.. i guatemalan fast food restaurant in san juan sippin on cafe, eating flan and chatting with my friend rebecca who is living 30 minutes away from me! she has portable internet on her computer.. woah.. right? and so she's being so kind as to let me use it!!
so about my site and my life the past two weeks!! we missed our bus on the way out here because we were running around like crazy people in antigua the day we were supposed to leave.. and so missed the second of four buses to get to our site.. so we went back to antigua stayed the night and went to the carnival! what fun! next day, we made it out, barely, on the last bus!! its a 3 hour bus ride but they were doing a lot of construction on the road as usual, but this time.. we waited 3 hours for them to clear the roads for us!! we laid down on top of our luggage beneath the cloudy sky atop the microbus and rested until it was time to go! it was an unexpected length of time, as we usually wait 3 times for about 30 minutes.. this time 3 hours! but, it was relaxing and a unique experience, probably not the last time either! wooo!!
so the first week at my site from tuesday until sunday.. i probably left the house eh, i'll give myself.. 6 times. i was just so tired, a little depressed, nervous to go out into a town which i do not know anyone at all, and just not feeling confident about what i was doing and a lot about being here. i slept a lot, finished the alchemist by pablo coehlo.. and began and finished another of his books called, i sat by the river piedra and wept. they are incredible incredible books, i suggest them to anyone!! so much wisdom in such a simple and beautiful format! oh man, i was sooo happy reading them. i had to stop multiple times to screech a little bit because of what they were saying, especially in relating to the love story entertwined in both of them!!! oh man, i loved them!! but yeah so i slept, read and wroooooote a whoooole lot!! although i was depressed, confused, scared, lonely and sad, and felt like shit that i didn't really want to leave the house ever.. and felt like i would feel better IF i left the house.. i really needed the time to think, to be in my own head, to feel the emotions of this huge change that i've made, and to dive into the depths of my mind and my perceptions of myself and my life here and there and all. it was a tough week, but this week i feel much calmer in myself and feel better about what i'm doing- both confident in an idea of my work and in understanding my fears and doubts, as well. i so needed that time and this past week i've felt sooo much better, honestly and truly!!!
what really changed my sense of this was i was in my office, oh yes, i have an office and a computer there! woooah! and i was talking on the phone to rebecca and i was like, i don't exactly know what i have that i can give or share with this community, because i was just feeling down and lonely and you know. i just wasn't feeling confident. then within 10 minutes after, a man comes in and asks me to help him with his project of learning numbers 1-100 in english! sooo! we sat down together for an hour and went through each number up to 42 and wrote down "1 one guan".. so the number, how to write it, and how to write the pronunciation! and then the next day he came back and he had written numbers 42-49.. and then we spent the next hour with 50-100!!! and he was so happy!! and i was sooo happy that i could help him!!! and honestly, that just turned me around because i realized that i did have something to offer, as simple as that, with spending time with one person, helping him with his homework! it was so special and for the first time since i've been here, i felt like i was doing my job as a volunteer!! wooo!!!
so after that, i was feeling so much better! i've gone to visit all my schools, two middle schools and two high schools!!! i met with all of directors and chatted with them and planned my schedules for next week to come and observe the classes!! i've played soccer a couple times with my homestay brother, abner, whose 10, and a few kids from the middle schools!! the campos where we play are at the edge of the mountains.. soo beautiful!! along the way we picked guava and ate it!! it was speciaaal!! i went on a drive into the mountains with my homestay family and saw el chol from afar!! ooof, it's really gorgeous, the town, the mountains, the flowers, the trees, the plants, it is all just so beautiful!! there's lots of fruits everywhere too which i loveee!! it's soooo hot though honestly and truly, hot hot hot!! i'll get used to it, the fruits and flowers and plants definitely make up for all the heat!! it's worth it!!
yesterday was a big evening of folklore, all the kids from the middle school put on plays about the history of mayans, and the spanish conquistadors, and the history of their annual fiesta (fairia) every year!! this year is the 50th, big deeeal! so that was a big community event in the center of town!! the best, and scariest part, they put a box over a kids head with fireworks attached and set them off as his skipping around the center of town! it was reeeally scary and looked incredibly dangerous, i could not believe that it was actually happening! there was so many fireworks!!! ooooiiiii!! one of them fell in the crowd, thank god that everyone moved!! ooof, they reeally love fireworks here, i hear them every day somewhere in town!!
so yeah, as for my family, they are super sweet, really fun and we talked last night about how we feel really good about each other living together. we get a long really well.. i've been eating every meal with them! and let me tell you, i've had some interesting meals- so far.... cows tongue.. wrapped up in tortilla with some honey mustard.. pretty good! then i had chicken intestines.. questionable to say the least.. and then two days ago i had cow's liver.. pretty good, not gonna lie!! i had mac and cheese last night.. so the meals range from crazy to mmm comfort!! yeeah, so that's that!!
i'm really happy with my site, i think i'm adapting pretty well.. i'm starting to get to know the kids and the directors and the people around town!! it's really cute and everyone is really friendly!! i've seen way too many spiders and cockroaches, of which i do not want to talk about anymore because i want to pretend that they do not exist in my life here. but yeah, it's so good to express to you all what's going on in my life!!
in two weeks, we have our welcome party in coban, which is about 3 hours away from el chol. we are staying overnight in coban, which is a pretty big city i think.. and then the next day we are going white water rafting!!! wooooooooah!!! i'm so scared of whitewater rafting which is exactly why i feel inclined to do it!! and then we are thinking about some hot springs somewhere in there!! sooo i'm reeeealllly excited about that, we're hanging out with all the 25 other volunteers who live in baja and alta vera paz!! wooo and some adventure, yaaay!!!
so it's time to go or i might just miss my bus from san juan back to el chol, the 3 hour dirrrrt road!!! hate to miss that!!! no but seriously, the drive is spectactular through the mountains! but boy is it bumpy!!!
I'M SO HAPPY TO CHAT WITH YOU ALL!!! I WISH I COULD TELL YOU MORE OR I WISH THAT YOU ALL COULD BE HEAR WITH ME SHARING THIS EXPERIENCE!!!! I MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH AND I LOVE YOU ALL SOOOO MUCH!!! THANKS FOR ALL YOUR COMMENTS AND THOUGHTS, YOU ALL ARE IN MY THOUGHTS ALWAYS!!!! I'M SENDING MUCH LOVE AND CARE YOUR WAY UNTIL WE TALK AGAIN!!! I LOVE YOU ALLE VERY MUCH AND HOPE THAT ALL IS HAPPY, SAFE AND HEALTHY WITH YOU!!!! UNTIL NEXT TIME, TAKE CARE OF YOURSELVES AND OTHERS!!! I LOVE YOU!!!! AND THANKYOU!!!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!!
thanks for your comments on my posts of my town and my home! and katie! i didn't do most of the decorating.. the plastic over the table.. it's a guatemalan thing! and i'm not 80! although i don't have tv, internet and i wash my clothes by hand.. i'm not 80!! hehehe, you make me laugh! i'm glad to catch up with you guys here, right now because it's going to be few and far between, i fear! i'm sitting at a pollo campero.. i guatemalan fast food restaurant in san juan sippin on cafe, eating flan and chatting with my friend rebecca who is living 30 minutes away from me! she has portable internet on her computer.. woah.. right? and so she's being so kind as to let me use it!!
so about my site and my life the past two weeks!! we missed our bus on the way out here because we were running around like crazy people in antigua the day we were supposed to leave.. and so missed the second of four buses to get to our site.. so we went back to antigua stayed the night and went to the carnival! what fun! next day, we made it out, barely, on the last bus!! its a 3 hour bus ride but they were doing a lot of construction on the road as usual, but this time.. we waited 3 hours for them to clear the roads for us!! we laid down on top of our luggage beneath the cloudy sky atop the microbus and rested until it was time to go! it was an unexpected length of time, as we usually wait 3 times for about 30 minutes.. this time 3 hours! but, it was relaxing and a unique experience, probably not the last time either! wooo!!
so the first week at my site from tuesday until sunday.. i probably left the house eh, i'll give myself.. 6 times. i was just so tired, a little depressed, nervous to go out into a town which i do not know anyone at all, and just not feeling confident about what i was doing and a lot about being here. i slept a lot, finished the alchemist by pablo coehlo.. and began and finished another of his books called, i sat by the river piedra and wept. they are incredible incredible books, i suggest them to anyone!! so much wisdom in such a simple and beautiful format! oh man, i was sooo happy reading them. i had to stop multiple times to screech a little bit because of what they were saying, especially in relating to the love story entertwined in both of them!!! oh man, i loved them!! but yeah so i slept, read and wroooooote a whoooole lot!! although i was depressed, confused, scared, lonely and sad, and felt like shit that i didn't really want to leave the house ever.. and felt like i would feel better IF i left the house.. i really needed the time to think, to be in my own head, to feel the emotions of this huge change that i've made, and to dive into the depths of my mind and my perceptions of myself and my life here and there and all. it was a tough week, but this week i feel much calmer in myself and feel better about what i'm doing- both confident in an idea of my work and in understanding my fears and doubts, as well. i so needed that time and this past week i've felt sooo much better, honestly and truly!!!
what really changed my sense of this was i was in my office, oh yes, i have an office and a computer there! woooah! and i was talking on the phone to rebecca and i was like, i don't exactly know what i have that i can give or share with this community, because i was just feeling down and lonely and you know. i just wasn't feeling confident. then within 10 minutes after, a man comes in and asks me to help him with his project of learning numbers 1-100 in english! sooo! we sat down together for an hour and went through each number up to 42 and wrote down "1 one guan".. so the number, how to write it, and how to write the pronunciation! and then the next day he came back and he had written numbers 42-49.. and then we spent the next hour with 50-100!!! and he was so happy!! and i was sooo happy that i could help him!!! and honestly, that just turned me around because i realized that i did have something to offer, as simple as that, with spending time with one person, helping him with his homework! it was so special and for the first time since i've been here, i felt like i was doing my job as a volunteer!! wooo!!!
so after that, i was feeling so much better! i've gone to visit all my schools, two middle schools and two high schools!!! i met with all of directors and chatted with them and planned my schedules for next week to come and observe the classes!! i've played soccer a couple times with my homestay brother, abner, whose 10, and a few kids from the middle schools!! the campos where we play are at the edge of the mountains.. soo beautiful!! along the way we picked guava and ate it!! it was speciaaal!! i went on a drive into the mountains with my homestay family and saw el chol from afar!! ooof, it's really gorgeous, the town, the mountains, the flowers, the trees, the plants, it is all just so beautiful!! there's lots of fruits everywhere too which i loveee!! it's soooo hot though honestly and truly, hot hot hot!! i'll get used to it, the fruits and flowers and plants definitely make up for all the heat!! it's worth it!!
yesterday was a big evening of folklore, all the kids from the middle school put on plays about the history of mayans, and the spanish conquistadors, and the history of their annual fiesta (fairia) every year!! this year is the 50th, big deeeal! so that was a big community event in the center of town!! the best, and scariest part, they put a box over a kids head with fireworks attached and set them off as his skipping around the center of town! it was reeeally scary and looked incredibly dangerous, i could not believe that it was actually happening! there was so many fireworks!!! ooooiiiii!! one of them fell in the crowd, thank god that everyone moved!! ooof, they reeally love fireworks here, i hear them every day somewhere in town!!
so yeah, as for my family, they are super sweet, really fun and we talked last night about how we feel really good about each other living together. we get a long really well.. i've been eating every meal with them! and let me tell you, i've had some interesting meals- so far.... cows tongue.. wrapped up in tortilla with some honey mustard.. pretty good! then i had chicken intestines.. questionable to say the least.. and then two days ago i had cow's liver.. pretty good, not gonna lie!! i had mac and cheese last night.. so the meals range from crazy to mmm comfort!! yeeah, so that's that!!
i'm really happy with my site, i think i'm adapting pretty well.. i'm starting to get to know the kids and the directors and the people around town!! it's really cute and everyone is really friendly!! i've seen way too many spiders and cockroaches, of which i do not want to talk about anymore because i want to pretend that they do not exist in my life here. but yeah, it's so good to express to you all what's going on in my life!!
in two weeks, we have our welcome party in coban, which is about 3 hours away from el chol. we are staying overnight in coban, which is a pretty big city i think.. and then the next day we are going white water rafting!!! wooooooooah!!! i'm so scared of whitewater rafting which is exactly why i feel inclined to do it!! and then we are thinking about some hot springs somewhere in there!! sooo i'm reeeealllly excited about that, we're hanging out with all the 25 other volunteers who live in baja and alta vera paz!! wooo and some adventure, yaaay!!!
so it's time to go or i might just miss my bus from san juan back to el chol, the 3 hour dirrrrt road!!! hate to miss that!!! no but seriously, the drive is spectactular through the mountains! but boy is it bumpy!!!
I'M SO HAPPY TO CHAT WITH YOU ALL!!! I WISH I COULD TELL YOU MORE OR I WISH THAT YOU ALL COULD BE HEAR WITH ME SHARING THIS EXPERIENCE!!!! I MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH AND I LOVE YOU ALL SOOOO MUCH!!! THANKS FOR ALL YOUR COMMENTS AND THOUGHTS, YOU ALL ARE IN MY THOUGHTS ALWAYS!!!! I'M SENDING MUCH LOVE AND CARE YOUR WAY UNTIL WE TALK AGAIN!!! I LOVE YOU ALLE VERY MUCH AND HOPE THAT ALL IS HAPPY, SAFE AND HEALTHY WITH YOU!!!! UNTIL NEXT TIME, TAKE CARE OF YOURSELVES AND OTHERS!!! I LOVE YOU!!!! AND THANKYOU!!!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!!
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