Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Queridos amigos,

Hola!

My schedule doesn’t leave much time for writing in my own diary, much less one that requires access to internet. But I want to give anyone who’s interested a general idea of what I’m doing here and how I feel about it.

Two full weeks have passed and I have settled into a relatively consistent schedule. My mornings start early (for me) with my alarm sounding at 6:00 or 6:30 (depending on whether or not I want to get a shower). I am living with a family of four daughters, two parents, one nasty guard dog and a fair share of bed bugs. Those of us who are human have a rushed breakfast as the attempt is made to get all five of us girls out the door and into the back seat of the family car. We live on the edge of the city of Xela, making for a ten minute car ride into the school that my host family runs (my host father being the principle and my host mother the secretary). On our way to the school we drive over a series of speed bumps. Every day a boy stands on the first speed bump and sells the local newspaper to drivers who must slow to cross the speed bumps. When we arrive at the school I walk another ten or fifteen minutes to my daily Spanish lessons which start at 8:00 AM.

My Spanish lessons at Centro Maya Xela are the first half of my two-fold day. Each student at the school works individually with one teacher for five hours daily, until 1:00 PM. My teacher is a university student named Carolina who teaches Spanish in the mornings and takes classes in the afternoons. There are about a dozen students and corresponding teachers at Centro Maya. We quickly form a relatively tight community, sometimes studying in groups, playing ping pong at every chance we get to slip away from our books, sharing dinner once a week and making weekly trips to local attractions. It is at the Spanish school that I get to share Tracy Chapman music, attempt to understand Pablo Neruda in Spanish, learn to dance the Meringue, participate in teacher vs. student basketball games and drink countless cups of coffee in an attempt to keep warm in the unheated building.

At 1:00 I leave Centro Maya and walk several blocks to the main road where I catch a bus heading for the central park downtown. Thirty minutes later, I arrive several blocks from my afternoon work. I spend the next four hours at Casa de Esperanza y Educacion. This project is an after school program designed for students who are struggling or failing school. Basically, most students who are enrolled in the project wouldn’t be in school if it weren’t for this extra help. The students receive everything from uniforms and books to food and (most importantly) homework help, which is where I come in. I go from class to class and help the individual students complete their English homework. Sometimes I work on translations for two hours with one student. Other times, I teach an entire class of seven-year-olds their numbers in English (and sometimes in Spanish too!).

At 5:00 PM the project lets out and I catch a bus back home. I usually have a chance to work or rest or read for about an hour before I make dinner and then wait for the arrival of the rest of my family who spend their entire days at the school in town. We eat a late dinner but head to bed right after cleaning up. I’ve started reading the seventh Harry Potter book (being the last girl in my family—and also the only one to read it in English) so this has kept me up pretty late the past few nights but normally, I try to fall asleep as quickly as possible in my cold, downstairs bedroom.

Honestly, I am very content with this schedule and am happy for the full and tiring days. My only wish would be to live closer to the center of town. As it is, I have to always make plans to go anywhere, as I need to get a ride or take a bus. I know a lot of volunteers who live closer and have more freedom to be spontaneous. But I guess the set-up isn’t that different then my situation at home in the States, so I can’t complain.

There are so many images that I want to take and show to all of you. But they aren’t images that a camera alone could capture. I wish I could package the smells and the colors and the motion of the streets and deliver them to you so that you can know how different a life in Guatemala is. So with my words and some photos I will try to place some of these images here, so that you can try to see.

With love, excitement, and waaaay too many tortillas,
Olivia

1 comment:

tonx91 said...

wow livi. I'm so jealous. I wish I were there with you! But if I were there...I'm sure I'd be relying on you to translate for me too much. I reallyreallyreallyreally hope I can come.

Becky Cresswell says hi.
Stazia Stallman says Cody Shook.
Megan says that she hopes you're having fun.
Ashlee says she misses you.
I say come home.