First days of class!

This week was the first week of my English class. I teach one one-hour class to nine students at 7am. They are smart kids and lots of fun, and I hope to be able to teach them a lot. I´ve been working on coming up with a curriculum for them, and will be working with the other English teachers in order to do this. We are looking for a good ESL book, if you have any ideas please let me know! I´m also trying to get a system going, and it has been so helpful to have an actual teacher here, one who was trained and has experience in teaching. I would feel so lost without her guidance.




In my projects job I am beginning to work with a company called "My Good Shop" (www.mygoodshop.org). They have a sort of a gift catalogue which speeds up donations and gets rid of a lot of middle men. I really enjoy the job, and am learning quite a bit. It is fun to write emails and projects and do research on old projects and talk to a variety of people around the home. Today I have a meeting with an engineer from Guatemala City in regards to the building of a new school building - a sciences building that will allow the students to have a higher caliber of education. Currently they do not have a building or even a room with facilities for Chemistry, Biology, or Physics classes. I hope that this project will be able to be realized.

This past week my friend Maddie came to Guatemala, she will be here for two months. Maddie and I worked together in Nicaragua for Manna Project, and we had a lot to catch up on. We were able to explore Guatemala City with some new friends of mine. It was enlightening to see with people who live there, because I all hear is how dangerous it is. However, we went to some beautiful places. I was astounded at the arquitecture of some of the buildings, and Maddie and I kept exclaiming about how different everything was from Nicaragua. Overall we enjoyed our time in "Guate."

Each week we are supposed to spend two nights with our respective section. Last night I had the opportunity to go, and it was amazing. I brought some pictures of my family and friends and showed it to a captivated audience (all the girls expressed admiration of my brothers, and asked me when they are visiting :-) They then brought out their pictures and began to let me into their lives. We talked about families, soccer, school, food, and other things. The girls in my section range from 14-17 years old, and love to talk. I love being with them because we can have real conversations about things that they like, that bother them, that they wonder about... It is the ideal age for me, and I enjoy it thouroughly.

This weekend I look forward to celebrating my roommate Daniella´s Birthday with typical Austrian foods and a big bonfire. Then I will be heading to Panajachel to see Lago Atitlan and get some needed rest before another crazy and exciting week of work!

First impressions

I have now finished my first week of “on the job training,” and it seems to be going fairly well. I am growing used to Guatemala (or at least the small town of Parramos) and the way of life in Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos. Next week I will be moving into my permanent quarters and I think that that will be helpful, a stabilizing location in an ever changing place.

My job as project coordinator is going well, I really like my coworker Ismar. He is very funny and always joking around. He makes work lighthearted and the hours pass by quickly. We are both becoming accustomed to the work, both having begun last week. We have made some progress with a few projects, and have added more to the website www.nph.org. My desk was moved in on Wednesday, and the computer was put up on Friday the 15th, however it is not working quite yet due to a power outage during the setup process. Next week I have meetings and the work should begin in earnest. I am looking forward to being busy.



My other job, teaching English, may or may not start next week. School is supposed to start at 7am on Monday morning, but I still do not know where I will be working or exactly which class I will be teaching. This is a bit tricky, but the headmistress doesn’t seem too worried and neither do the other teachers, so I guess I will take it all in stride. They tell me that Guatemalan schools don’t really start the week they are supposed to, it is more of a week of diversion and becoming accustomed. I’m not exactly sure what that means but I will be at work at 6:45am ready to do the Civil Service Act – that is sing the Guatemalan national anthem. I will be teaching one class each day Monday-Thursday from 7am-8am. I will then prepare my class for the next day, go for a run/exercise, clean up and check into work in the office at 10am and then be out at 5:30pm. With dinner at 6 and then hanging out with my appointed section at night, it will be a long day I’m sure.



I’m learning a lot of new words in Spanish each day – Guatemala has a different vocabulary than I have heard, and thus I feel I am constantly asking what a word means or how to say a word when people look at me like I’m crazy for saying something. For example, it was really cold last week (we were also hit with the cold front that hit much of North America and Europe) and I wanted to ask for another blanket. So I went to my coordinator and asked for a manta and she said, “a what?”, “una manta. I would like to have another one for the cold.” She didn’t understand, so I began to describe it. Then she exclaimed, “O! Un poncho!” ¿poncho? Yes, here in Guatemala a blanket is a poncho. I had similar experiences with popcorn, earrings, a pitcher, paper clips, and ink cartridges.

New Job in Guatemala

I have just moved to Guatemala and am now in the first days of orientation of my new job, and more precisely, of my new home. I have moved to work for a foundation called Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH) as the Project Coordinator and an English Teacher. I’m not exactly sure what my job as Project Coordinator will entail but I’m sure to find out later this week. Right now me and my fellow “generation of volunteers” are just getting to know our surroundings and learn about the organization. There are eleven new volunteers, nine women and two men. The men and two of the women are from Germany, two women are from Austria, four women from the United States (including myself), and one woman is from Spain.



So far our daily routine begins at 8am with breakfast, though I have been getting up at 6am to go for a run. The sun is just making an entrance at that time, sending shoots of pink and orange and red across the sky and in the crevices around the volcanoes. We have two volcanoes near to our home: Volcan Agua and Volcan Acatenango. They are breathtakingly beautiful, and I hope to climb them in the near future.



After breakfast (which consists of bread, an oatmeal/milk/rice/corn drink, and egg, coffee or tea, and red beans) we have some sort of orientation presentation. We learn about the structure of the organization, where things are on a tour, what our jobs will be, the characteristics we may need to have to do our jobs, what our feelings and fears are now (so we can see them a year from now), and play games to get to know one another. At 1:30pm we have lunch, and then normally do a walk around. Today we are going to Chimaltenango. Yesterday we walked around the orphanage and learned where everything was. We eat dinner at 6pm and then are free to walk to the internet café because right now ours doesn’t work at the orphanage. It is nice to get out into Parramos, the small village that is about a five-minute walk from where we live.

Parramos is a tranquil, easygoing village in the highlands of Guatemala. It has a central square where there are basketball courts, a large fountain, a pavilion, and a church. Along the four streets that surround it are produce stands during the day. There are also music venders, snack venders, a bank, and other shops around. In the evening there are lots of people walking and talking and sitting in the square. It reminds me of Mallorca and the other European cities and villages I have visited. It is a comforting feeling.

The first two nights here I have been going to a restaurant called La Familia – The Family – a place that volunteers seem to frequent. There is typical Guatemalan food – rice, beans, meat, guacamole, and some veggies along with the staple of the corn tortilla (which acts as a plate cleaner upper). And my favorite thing about the place: the jukebox. It has music by Daddy Yankee, Wisin y Yandel, Makano, Aventura and other favorites of mine. Amazing.