Sorry it’s been so long! I finally started work and have been busy busy! Last week I had a meeting with all my directors so that they could sign up for a day to have me visit their school. I have 13 schools total so pretty much my whole month of May is booked with school visits. Last Monday I visited the school that is right across the street from me, and the school that I’ll have most contact with since it’s so close. I went into every classroom and introduced myself so that the kids get to know me, and then I explained a little bit about why I’m here. With the little ones I sing a song about brushing your teeth, and they always love that! This school had 20+ classrooms so you can imagine saying the same thing over and over got kind of tiring, but it was a great first visit! All the kids were so excited to have a “gringa” visiting their school. The best part about this school is that it’s right across the street so most of the kids live near it, or in the center of San Miguel, so now more than half the population of San Miguel Sigϋilá knows me J (All still under the age of about 10 years old)
There is another school in the center of San Miguel and it’s a Basico, which is pretty much like junior high. I’m not assigned to work at the Basicos but I went and introduced myself there as well because I could potentially doing secondary projects with them such as youth groups or sports teams. There’s such a different atmosphere there because they’re pre-teens/ teens so they joke around and are a little feistier, but I think it could be really fun to work with them… especially the girls. I had a couple girls come up to me after and ask me how they could contact me and when I’m available to meet. I get really excited when the kids are interested in trying something new. It means they’re willing to learn, and that they are willing to have someone reach out to them. I think it would be awesome to start a teen girls group and meet once a week maybe just to talk and hang out and they can have someone to look up to and confide in. That’s going to take a while to establish a group like that but hopefully when school is out of session I can start! One girl even invited me over to her house for lunch and said she was really looking forward to getting to know me. Little things like this make me love my job!
I visited 2 other schools last week. One school was about a 30 minute walk from my house. I probably could have taken a micro (a little van) but I decided to walk so that I could see more of the town. I live in the center of town but there are aldeas, kind of like suburbs or villages) on the outskirts of the center. It ended up being a really beautiful walk and a potential running route with a view of the mountains and farmland. At this school I had all the teachers gather so that I could explain the Healthy Schools program. My site is brand new to Healthy Schools so all of the schools I’m working with are starting from ground zero, so I have to explain the program and Peace Corps to everyone. I give a little presentation on what Healthy Schools is and the goals I’ll be working towards while I’m here. Some of the teachers get really excited and ask lots of questions and want to know more about it, and for others it might take a little more effort to get them involved. But that’s ok, I love a challenge! The other challenge is that some of the younger kids only speak Mam, which makes it hard to communicate with them, so usually I have the teacher translate for me. Luckily, I’ll be starting Mam classes soon so hopefully I’ll be able to say a few words to them! The other school was about a 15 minute walk, and I had all the kids and teachers gather on the basketball court so I could introduce myself and give my little spiel. Both of these schools had infrastructure including bathrooms and running water, so I’ll probably focus more on education in these schools than on construction projects. I’m really excited that some of my schools are so close because that means that I’ll be able to visit more often and really build a relationship with the kids and teachers. Everything’s about building relationships here…. It’s one of the most important parts of my job, and I love it!
Last weekend I got invited to a birthday party for a little boy named Abel who turned 2. I’ve become really good friends with his family… the same family that invited me over for lunch a couple weeks ago. I even baked them my yummy banana bread! The whole entire family was at the party and it was so much fun! All of them live in the center of same Miguel so they pretty much make up half the town because there are 13 kids in the family. They just took me right in as part of their family J We had dinner and cake and there were games and a piñata. Of course I felt like one of the kids because they wouldn’t let me sit out on any of the games. We had a great time! I don’t think Abel let go of my hand the entire night! They said anytime I want to visit their doors are wide open. And there were like 20 little kids running around and I got the invite to ALL the birthday parties. I’m going to have quite the social circle here by the end of 2 years I might not want to leave! Everyone tells me that I’m going to find a Guatemalteco and get married but let’s not get too ahead of ourselves J I tell everyone I’m here as a working professional and my job is not to search for a boyfriend so Mom stop your worrying!
Last Monday I took Suki to the vet to get fixed. He did great! The vet gave him a tranquilizer and 2 seconds later Suki threw up everywhere J They said that was pretty normal but he looked hilarious. The surgery only took about an hour, and I got to take him home the same day. He was a little sleepy and couldn’t walk straight but it made for a peaceful ride home on the camioneta. He’s getting so big! I can barely pick him up anymore and now he can jump up on my bed. He also knows how to sit, stay, shake with both paws, lay down, and dance! He’s such a smart little pup. My friend Rebecca calls me the crazy dog lady because I talk to Suki as if he’s a person and I let him sleep in my bed. I guess that’s what happens when you live alone and you spend most of your time with a dog. Better than being lonely! Plus he scares people away from my house which makes me feel safe J
On Tuesday I was sick for the 2nd time since being in Guatemala. I’ve been lucky that this was only the 2nd time! I must have eaten something bad or who knows but it was not pretty. I’ll spare you the details but let’s just say I being sick could not have come at a worse time. A tube from our water deposit broke so there was no running water for the 2 days that I was sick. Can you imagine not being able to flush a toilet when you’re sick!? I’ll leave it at that. That was probably the roughest 2 days I’ve had in Guatemala so far and a couple times I thought about quitting, but hey I made it through with season one of Arrested Development and some movies! That’s not the last time I’ll ever be sick here so no use in worrying or making a big deal out of it, you just have to get through it. Anywho, I’m better now and the water came back… for a day or two but now it’s out again. Such is life here in Guatemala. I have to admit I’ve only shower 1 time in a week J Good thing Suki still loves me even if I do smell!
I visited 2 more schools on Thursday and Friday and things went really well! The school I visited on Friday needs a lot of work. It’s out in a rural area and they have 2 bathrooms but no doors and over a hundred kids. Can you imagine? I had to use one of the bathrooms so I got the full experience and it just made me feel for those kids. Hopefully I can help them out in my 2 years here because it is so hard for them to concentrate when they’re not in a comfortable setting.
I finally went to the church Palabra en Acción, and it was amazing! I met the pastor and his wife, who’s from Arkansas and they were so nice and welcoming. It’s a big church so I felt a little intimidating but they made me feel right at home. They even offered to have someone translate the service for me but I decided to try it in Spanish and I had no problem understanding the whole thing. I was so proud of myself! It was such a great experience and it felt so good to be back in a spiritual community. We sang and I sang along as if I knew the words and then the pastor gave his message… similar to a Crossroads service. It’s amazing how even in the strangest of places God still leads you to where you need to be. I’ll definitely be going back every Sunday! God is so good and I feel so blessed J Sometimes I feel so lost because I’m in a foreign country and don’t know a lot of people but then I remember He is always by my side and that He won’t lead me anywhere that He hasn’t already been so there’s no need to worry.
That’s about all the updates I have for y’all. I have about 7 more schools to visit so that’s what I’ll be doing the rest of the month, but every day is like a surprise… you never know what’s going to happen! I’m also thinking about painting my house… any color suggestions? Miss you all, and I hope the rain stops in Ohio sometime soon. It’s the rainy season here in Guatemala but it has been in the 80s and sunny without a drop of rain J I'll send some sun your way!
xoxo Maddie
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