Four...Five...(kinda half-way?)

Hi all, Sorry I haven’t written for a while but I don’t have anything too exciting to share. We have gone on a few different field trips since I last wrote. Monday we visited the nearby department (similar to a state or territory) of Totonicápan. We visited the towns of San Andres Xecul and San Cristoból. The highlight/purpose of the trip was to see the churches there. Not real exciting it turns out. Shoot. Never-the-less it was interesting to pick up on a few different culture things while we traveled. For instance in San Andres we walked near a community wash area where a few of the local women were washing clothing.

Wednesday we were supposed to visit a glass blowing factory but do to problems with their oven we had to change our plans and we ended up going to the cemetery instead. I was fairly crushed but because the operations of the cemetery are so different here it was a good educational experience. Interestingly enough it is really expensive to try to get six feet under here. The exterior of a the cemetery looks like a really decorative big version of post office boxes. The coffins slide into these slots and then they get a plaque on the front. But if the family or friends don’t continue to pay the monthly fee the coffin is removed and the bones put in the crypt and someone else “rents” the space. Erie! We learned about the architecture of various tombs and such as part of the experience.

Friday, during class my maestra and I went to the local art museum to conduct and interview with the director as part of my research for my next big exam. He was a vibrant fellow who was really excited that we had an interest in his work. Don’t think of museums like back home. It has just been relocated to the old train station and only one room has any art in it. But it was cool to just talk to him about art and his plans for creating the museum. (Basically a one man operation.)

The weekend was fairly low-key. Steph and I climbed up El Baul again to do some more bouldering at the top. It is really fun and relaxing. This time we brought our cameras and got a video of the only fall either of us has taken. DON’T WORRY it wasn’t a bad fall, they don’t exist, safety is always number one, but how cool that we got a video of it! Steph and I took turns making up ridiculous starts and then played add on from their marking our routes with colored sidewalk chalk. Sunday was a day for family. Steph, Amanda, and I went to church at the most beautiful church we have visited yet! They even had a youth choir and the sermon was easy to follow because it was directed at the kids preparing for first communion. I returned to my family to go to a birthday party for host moms husband (he doesn’t live with us so it would be weird to consider him the dad) at my sister’s house. It was an interesting experience. I meet a few more random cousins. The food was good but then lead to the only time I have been sick on this trip…bummer. Mainly I just felt really out-of-place but in general my brother and his girlfriend tried to entertain me or keep me in the loop.

This week started out kind of ugly. I didn’t feel well Monday but then ended up leaving class early on Tuesday to spend the rest of the day in bed trying not to move too much to cause an attack on the bathroom to regurgitate breakfast. Steph came by to visit me and brought me fresh orange juice! What a pal! I finally purged my stomach of all irritants that night and felt incredibly better the following day. Good timing, because Wednesday afternoon we had a trip to a Pottery studio that I didn’t want to miss! First we went to a Culture House and learned about some masks and traditional dances… cool... yeah… moving on. Then we went to the alfalería (place where they make pottery). It was a third generation operation. The have manual propelled wheel and of course hand paint the results. A few of us gave it a try with very little success. Lynsi you would not have been proud. I tried! We rushed back to catch the last half-hour of the ash-Wednesday service.

Thursday we had another field trip. This time we really did get to go to the glass blowing factory. Guess what! All of the glass they use is recycled glass. They get it from the local bottling companies like Coke and Pepsi. Unfortunately that is the only recycling I have seen or heard of here. They get green glass from sprite and 7-up bottles, clear from just about everything else, and an amber color from the beer bottles. The other colors they have to use chemicals to create. It was pretty sweet to see them all at work. We were pretty close to the workers and saw exactly how the created the pieces. Each of us then got a chance to blow glass. None of them turned out to anything special but what an experience!

Today was our exam day. My theme: art! Cool huh? I thought so! Anyway we wrote a paper, read aloud, had conversations, and then got graded on our performance: pronunciation, grammar, fluidity, etc. And that marked the end of our five weeks of intensive Spanish. Four credits down, twelve to go. Not to say that it is actually over however, now just the schedule changes a bit and we have other classes in addition to our tutoring classes, now moved to the afternoon. So starting Monday I will have a mix of classes at the university (Human Rights and Senior Seminar) and volunteering. In the afternoon I will be taking more tutoring classes for my other four Spanish credits. Fifteen hours a week. Cool thing is I don’t have anything on Friday’s, yippee.

I will be volunteering with an organization called Associación Gente Joven. In essence it is their mission to help young people live/create sustainable lives. This includes everything from education, environment, sports, health, culture, human rights, gender…you get the idea. Sweet! I will likely be helping them with those projects as well when they come up. The program doesn’t exactly have funding so the programs are intermittent and deal with whatever issues come up. The idea is to get the young people (15-30) involved and interested in what goes on around them and in their lives to have and express their opinions. From what I understand the upcoming event is a demonstration of sorts at the zoo to protect the environment. They have a website if you care to explore your Spanish further. http://www.proyectogt.org/gentejoven/ Needless to say I am excited to get involved.

This weekend we are “celebrating” the end of the first 5 intensive Spanish weeks by taking a weekend group trip to Panahachel and Chichicastenango. Panhachel is right on Lake Atitlan, the biggest lake in Guatemala, which is apparently beautiful. Some people have already visited it several times because they like it so much. I am excited to check it out. Hopefully I will either go kayaking on the lake or do a horseback ride around the area. Chichicastenango has one of the best known markets in Guatemala so that should be pretty sweet as well. More on that to come in the next blog.

Until next time. Keep the correspondence coming. Miss you all!

(I really don’t know how they get this long. I always think it will be a short blog when I start. Oh well. Peace Out!)