Time Flies When You Aren't In Control

I think I am slowly but surely conforming to the Guatemalan way of time. You don't work for time, time works for you. There isn't such a thing as a day, I can't put a date to anything these days. Days meld into a continuous circle, not a definitive date. I kind of enjoy this way of life, it's comforting to know what I can't get done today I can get down tomorrow or the next day or maybe not even until next month but that is okay.
I started working at a school in an aldea (little village) outside of Sumpango.

This is the outside of our school, there are only three rooms inside. It consists of primera, segundo and tercera. It's the equivalent of junior high in the states. There are only two rural schools in the youth development training group so don't assume all schools are like this. Many of the others are pretty well developed and have hundreds of students. Kyle and I are working with 25 students while the other half of our group, Maggie and Pete are working in a different aldea. Our school is a NUFED which means they prepare the kids with skills to work at home or in the field. This is a great thing and a bad thing. Great because the things these kids are learning are applicable directly to their lives as they are now. A hindrance because it limits their hopes and dreams. How can you hope to be a nurse when you are focusing on how to cultivate crops?
Last week our group went with our spanish teacher, Felipe to the museum of coffee and music which was an awesome experience. I had no idea how much time went into my weekly cup of peppermint mocha from Starbucks.

This is a picture is of my group with the best spanish teacher of all time. I honestly lucked out to have such a cohesive group and such an incredible spanish teacher. To my group if you ever read this, you are amazing, I am so happy that I ended up with you guys. You make this experience that much better. Maggie with her bright disposition and words of encouragement, she is the one of the sweetest girls I have ever encountered. Kyle with his many words of wisdom, he brings a small sense a maturity to our otherwise lacking team. And Pete for knowing everything in spanish, always helping us out and cracking us up. My group rocks and I hope they know how incredibly fortunate I feel.
I have cooked two successful meals for my family with the help of my group. This last one was pizza, from scratch! It was delicious! Amazing food here is few and far between so when we have something that resembles a former favorite it's a serious blessing. Not to say the food here isn't good, just not what we are used to. The pic is of Pete and I getting our hands dirty.

We went to Antigua last weekend and had an incredible time. Antigua was a much needed break from training. Yes, we are still volunteers 24/7/365 but taking some time to be a little less professional has to happen just to keep some sanity. We had a blast, saw some amazing things and had that much needed beer that most of us had been craving for the last month. While Antigua was a beautiful place to visit I do not see myself spending much time there. There are so many tourists! It was really great to see so many white people since there are only 8 of us out of the 47,000 people that live in Sumpango but you feel a sense of entitlement there. You don't want to be bunched in with the tourists. I live here, I want that credit. I want the locals to know I do not see Guatemala through the eyes of Antigua like so many of those tourists do. When my friends and family visit I will take you there for some fun times and as an escape from the reality that is Guatemala but you will see everything. The beauty, the poverty, the life and the death that Guatemala has to offer, I'll make sure you get a taste of it all:) Antigua was a great way to bond with other volunteers, release some stress and revel in english for a day. The following are pics of our day out in Antigua.




So it has been more than a month since my arrival in Guatemala. I have learned a lot. A massive amount of spanish, how to work with the youth of Guatemala, and about myself. I get caught up in the thought of learning about myself. I know I am getting to know myself more than I ever have but shouldn't I already know myself after 23 years...I suppose not. I will keep you posted on my discoveries in Guatemala and in myself, should be an interesting journey:) I love and miss you guys please keep the emails coming! And if you are interested in seeing my home go to youtube.com look up chrismeredith86 and there are two videos up, enjoy!