So everyday that I would come home from school, my mother would ask me what I learned that day. Since she is not here with me in Guatemala City, I thought I would keep the tradition of repeating what I have learned while here so far.
Day 1 - Traffic signals are more of suggestions that anything else.
After I got picked up from the airport, our driver Jose Carlos took us back to the Cross Cultural Solutions house. Along the way, I discovered that drivers here frequently ignore stop signs, run red lights, go the other way on one way streets, have no emission standards, have no real use for lanes on the road, especially if there is more space, and most scarily of all, frequently merge into oncoming traffic to pass slower cars.
Day 2 - I am going to get tan this summer.
After being outside for only a few minutes, I had that lovely tingling sensation that I, being rather pale, am all too familiar with. By the end of the day, I had quite an impressive farmers tan. The weather here in Guatemala is beautiful. It is rather temperate, averaging around 70 or 75 degrees each day, and it rains every day. The physical geography of the entire country is breathtaking; it is entirely mountainous and green, and typically wet.
Day 3 - I do not know much Spanish, but I will surely learn a lot.This was my first day of work at Hogar Elisa Martinez, an orphanage for teenage boys. None of them, or the staff for that matter, speak any English, and the guys speak incredibly fast and in slang. I am going to be spending time with them, being an older friend (they call me profi), playing basketball and soccer, helping them with work, and just being an assistant for the workers there. The boys are great and I love playing with them, and I think they like helping me learn Spanish (and I am learning quickly). I have already mastered certain words, for example, ?Como? and ?Que?
Day 4 - Boys and mallets/crutches/sticks/etc. Should NEVER go together.
Today I was in charge of watching about 8 boys in a room - with one little catch - locked in. As a safety measure from the boys wandering all over the hall, they lock them in certain rooms. Well, in this room, there was this one boy who has crutches and some other guys. I really do not know what happened; one minute everyone is happy, the next minute, one of the boys grabbed the crutch, and advanced on its owner. I grabbed the crutch, and as I am holding it, one of the other boys grabbed a mallet and slammed a kid with it. Another one ran to get a broom and started to advance on the other. So now I am holding 3 large sticks over my head, everyone is crying, one of the boys climbed out the window (I was rather impressed by that), and I have no idea what to do. I found out after the fact that this is not that unusual. I feel so bad for these guys. They just want love and attention, but there is little hope of any of them being adopted.
Day 5 - When I do not know what is going on, just say ''si? and go with the flow.
So I still do not understand much of anything people say to me, and one of the workers at work today asked me what I thought was, "Do you want to go play across the street?" So I comply, and the next thing I know, we are hopping (literally, they do not wait) onto a chicken bus that my house mom has warned never get on, and we a driving forever to somewhere in City. I have no clue what is going on, and that is pretty obvious (people started singing at me and the typical Gringo and Blaco calls). Turns out we were going to a place for the boys to practice their computer skills. They called a taxi for me from where I was, and two hours and 47 bucks later I get back home.
Day 6 - Salads are not always good for you.
Lets just say that we ALL have had some sort of digestive problem and keep it at that.
Day 7 - Volcanoes are cool! And I feel bad that I brought so many clothes.
Today we hiked up a volcano all the way to the top. We hired a guide to show us the way. We talked a lot, he was really nice, and told me about his family and work. He is 15, is not in school, makes about 2 dollars a day working on the farm, only has one pair of shoes and one jacket, is trying to save up to buy more shoes (they had holes all over them), but he has to eat, so the shoes will just have to wait. He really liked my hooded sweatshirt. I cannot help but feel bad that I have simply have so many clothes. Why do I really need them after all? There are so many other things that people need so much more, but that was striking today. We tipped him a LOT.
Day 8 - Hire someone to watch your car.
Today we went on a road trip to Chichicastanango and Lake Atiklan. While there, someone broke into our car and stole two digital cameras and three backpacks (have no fear, I was wearing mine). In the next city, a little kid offered to watch our car for us, and we gladly obliged for a slight fee.
Day 9 - A man with a machete is no match for a woman with an umbrella.
Today we went to a rural village in Quiche, where we observed Care Corps EduBank program. This program gives microcredit loans to women, and but as a requirement, the daughters have to go to school. These programs have been great all over the developing world. Sometimes men are very supportive, sometimes not. During the meeting, a drunk man staggered in waving a huge machete thought the air and started to angrily swing it about. We Americans freaked out, and the women all ran to protect their babies. However, one old woman grabbed her umbrella, and in one whack, she had knocked the knife out of his hand, and with another whack, knocked him to his feet. At this point, three other women tackled him and dragged him to the next house and locked him inside.
So that was long. I love being here, and I am looking forward to spending more time here.
