Yo Hice Tres Presentaciones Hoy

Today was my first time presenting our project. I'd finished the slideshow I wanted to use (as a way to remind myself what to talk about and a way to keep everyone entertained with pretty pictures) last night, and I woke up earlier than usual this morning to get in the most practice possible before getting to school. Practicing was kind of weird for me - I've literally never practiced for any kind of oral presentation in my entire career as a Lovett student, so this was new.

I think my presentations went very well! I had to give two of them in Spanish, which was rough, but I felt more confident than I usually do when I give Spanish presentations, and I knew it was because I'd really improved my speaking abilities while in Guatemala. I really can't even begin to explain how helpful immersion is. Even though I did kind of stumble over my conjugations and there were some things I just didn't get to touch on because I don't know how to say them in Spanish, I did get my main points across in each presentation: I talked about the history of Guatemala, the civil war and genocide there, the conservative and patriarchal society, the food, how important religion is to them, their values, and the great work we did at Hogar Temporal. Everyone was actually really interested, and I got a lot of questions! To be perfectly honest, during most school presentations, everyone just pretends they have nothing they want to say so that we can move on, so it was great to see this level of interest.

My title slide! That's Santa María, the volcano we hiked up.

While at school, I met with Mrs. Morris-Long to tell her about our trip, and to ask for her advice on how to prepare for the defense. I mean, I had literally no idea what the defense was, but it turns out it was basically what I'd done for those Spanish classes. She suggested we do a little summary of what we did, then talk about what we got of it - our favorite experiences, what the service meant to us, things we'd learned, and how we grew over the course of the project. It was really helpful. I spent the rest of the day brainstorming, planning, and beginning to craft a new powerpoint (the one I've got is written in Spanish, so).

My only concern is that I'll finish everything I need to do before reaching that golden 42 hours. I mean, I'm basically done. So I guess I'll be practicing and tweaking for the next 17 hours.

Even though we're finishing ahead of schedule and that might actually hurt us, it is great to be so close to finishing!

That Awkward Moment When You Might Finish Your Senior Project Early And Don't Know What To Do After That

Apparently we do still need to get 42 hours of work towards our senior project, despite our 250 hours in the last two weeks. Which is fine. It's just that I only did two hours of work yesterday.

So today I doubled down. With the exception of going to Senior Chapel this morning (which was awesome!), I basically lived and breathed this senior project. I've got three presentations tomorrow (4th, 6th, and 7th periods), and I want to be prepared. This is like a test run for our defense next Wednesday.

Journey and I decided today that our presentation would be split into three main parts: Guatemalan history, Guatemalan culture, and our project. Under culture, we'd talked about food, religion, and things we observed while there. Under our project, we'd talk about the service work we did, our Spanish lessons, our weekend excursions, and just overall how impactful the whole thing was for us. We think this is probably the most effective way to get all the information across! Based on how tomorrow's presentations go (and keeping in mind that it'll be easier to present in English than it will be in Spanish), we'll alter our defense presentation.

I'm really looking forward to presenting tomorrow!

Start Of The Home Stretch

I'm honestly still exhausted from our trip. Like, I'm so glad we came home early, and that I've had the weekend to recover, but I still don't feel 100% back to the way I was before we left. The trip, while wonderful, was kind of draining. (I'm still catching up on sleep and still trying to get rid of my cravings for all kinds of American foods - sleeping and eating might make up the majority of my senior project hours for this week. Nah, I'm kidding. Mostly.)

Given that, I didn't do much today. We did rack up over 200 hours towards our project while we were gone, so there's not much pressure to get time in there. This week is about prepping for our presentation. Or, as it's turning out to be, presentations.

On Wednesday, I'm going to speak to my Spanish class and the other Honors IV class about my time in Guatemala. Part of the goal for our project was to share what we learned, and this is an excellent opportunity to do that! I also may be going to Lassiter High School, where my aunt is an English teacher, to present to some Spanish classes there. That would be either Thursday or Friday if it works out. I really do want to do AP Prep/Review this week; review days and mock exams may overlap the Lassiter presentations unless I can reschedule something. It's really important to me that I do well on those AP tests. I'll work on making everything work.

The thing I'm most excited about that I did today was retake my Vanderbilt Language Placement test for Spanish. I thought it'd be fun to put some sort of numerical value to how much I'd improved over the course of two short weeks, so I took the test a first time before I left, and then again today. On the first test, I scored a 480 in 17 minutes. Today, I got a 573 in 11 minutes! That's nearly a one hundred point and five minute improvement. It's amazing what language immersion can do! I've officially placed into the highest Spanish class you can place into: a 3000 level writing course.

Here's to a productive last week!

The Final Week

DAY NINE

I’ve mostly recovered from my adventure in water poisoning, which I went back to the shelter and Spanish classes today.

On the first day at the shelter, there was this incredibly tiny, incredibly weak baby. He was premature, had gotten pneumonia, and his mom had stopped producing breast milk and he wasn’t able to handle the formula. We didn’t see him again after that first day. We didn’t really ask what had happened, as the staff explained that moms and their babies leave Hogar Temporal all the time without much warning. Today, we found out what had happened to him - he’s been hospitalized, and they’ve got him on an incubator. They think he has some sort of heart murmur, but they’ve got to run tests on him. There was a mad scramble among the volunteers today to scrape together enough money to pay for the heart test. Fortunately, a cardiologist at the hospital stepped in and offered to do it for free! I hope everything is OK with the baby.

During Spanish today, Journey convinced her teacher, Jaime, to play card games like Go Fish and Memory with Salvador and me. We literally just played card games (in Spanish, with Spanish vocal and numbers, of course) for three hours! In the other hour, I started reading a new book: Juan Salvador Gaviota. I can’t remember the name of it in English, but it’s supposed to be a pretty universally popular kids book. It’s about a seagull who gets shunned by other seagulls because he likes flying. It’s odd, but the font is big and there are a fair amount of pictures, so it’s not too bad to read.

It was an easy day back after being sick, and I’m thankful for that. I’m looking forward to tomorrow!

DAY TEN

The babies at the shelter were absolutely awful today. I don’t even want to talk about it. Just know that I’m never having children.

Was it really that bad? Yes, it was. It was so bad that on the way back to our house from the shelter, Journey and I had to stop at McDonald’s and order not just McFlurries, but also those warm apple pie things. And we needed that comfort food so bad we waited almost an hour for them to fix the ice-cream machine for it. 

The best part of today was during our Spanish classes. We went with another volunteer and her teacher to El Mercado de Democracía, which isn’t really a market and is more 4 square blocks of vendors. Our goal? To buy donations for the shelter. Between the two of us, Journey and I had almost 1000 quetzals to spend (it sounds like a lot, but it’s really only about $200 dollars). 1000 quetzals goes a long way at El Mercado, and we were able to buy hundreds and hundreds of diapers and wipes, a ton socks and underwear, some bras, toilette paper (which they always seem to be out of), feminine products, and baby lotion. It felt really good to do that, especially since, after having worked there for almost two weeks, we know how much they need those basic things. 

The market itself was very interesting; they sold everything from meat to cloth to shoes to pirated copies of movies. There were sports jerseys and perfumes, fresh fruit and bagged candies. It was incredible. It was also very fast-paced and very loud, and more than once the other volunteer’s teacher, who is a self-proclaimed expert on El Mercado, tried to get the vendors in bidding wars to drive down the price. It was really fun! I wish we had gotten to spend more time there.

That night, Dani, Griselda’s niece’s daughter, made us watch her favorite movie with her: Warm Bodies. Yes, that is the zombie romance movie you’re thinking of. Over the weekend, Dani had explained to us that she loves zombies and has for four full years now (she’s six), and that her favorite movie is Warm Bodies, which she calls Mi Novio Es Un Zombie. So, we all sat down in the living room and watched it. It was my first time seeing it, and Dani’s thirteenth time. It was an incredibly odd movie. Dani enjoyed herself though, and really liked getting to share her favorite thing with us. 

I can’t believe it’s our second to last day here! I’m really looking forward to giving our donations to the shelter tomorrow. 

DAY ELEVEN

At nine o’clock this morning, which is blessedly later than we normally have to be anywhere, we stopped by the A Broader View office to pick up the donations we bought yesterday afternoon. Together, with Petra, our coordinator, and Coen, the company intern who’s job seems to be to take unflattering photos of people (just check out A Broader View’s Facebook page), we grabbed a taxi to Hogar Temporal. The women running the shelter greeted us, smiles on their faces and near tears in their eyes. They were incredibly grateful for everything we’d done. It was moving, to see them moved by things as simple as diapers and wipes; it really made me appreciate everything I have in my life, and makes me want to do more for others who are less fortunate. 

While we were waiting for the women to get organized before they started handing the clothing we’d bought out to the girls, Petra made Journey and I film a testimonial video for A Broader View. We talked about what we did, how much we liked the program, and what we’d miss most about it. I’m sure I look incredibly awkward in mine. I mean, it felt awkward. But, as miserable as I’ve been helping the babies, I did realize as I was talking about the experience that it had been rewarding, and that I would gladly do another service trip like this one again. I definitely want to go back to Guatemala!

We passed out the clothes, then went upstairs to the baby room. Surprisingly, the children were not small Satan’s today. I actually ended up enjoying myself. I got to spend some one-on-one time with a little girl who’s learning how to walk, and I really loved getting to help her do that. She would giggle when she fell, then get right back up to try again. It didn’t feel like we had been there as long as we had when it was finally time to go. It was a great way to spend our last day at the shelter.

Today was also our last day of Spanish classes. I finished up that seagull book, Salvador and I talked more history (specifically Atlanta and Ireland), and then we spent the last two hours playing a version of Apples to Apples, or Manzanas a Manzanas, with Journey and Jaime. We all had a ton of fun! I was sorry to see our four hours end. I’m really going to miss Spanish with Salvador, and I’ve really gotten to like Journey’s teacher, Jaime, as well. We said our goodbyes and thanked each other for everything, then headed home.

I’ve just about finished up packing. It’s hard to believe our time here is over! It really doesn’t feel like we’ve been here more than two days, definitely not two weeks! As sad as I am to go, I am excited to see my family tomorrow and to sleep in my own bed (and to have a shower that has hot water). 

DAY TWELVE

Even the rooster’s don’t get up as early as we did today. Our bus was left Xela at 4:30 (although, apparently, there was a 6:30 bus, and we still aren’t sure why we didn’t take that one), our taxi picked us up at 4:00, and Journey and I woke up at 3:00 so we could both shower and have enough to double check and make sure we had everything we needed. 

The four hour bus ride was not as bad as it was last time, although that could be because we both took two Benadryl before we left, and I personally was asleep for most of it. We made fairly good time, especially considering the Friday morning traffic in Guatemala City. Our taxi picked us up from the Alamo station and dropped us at the airport. 

After checking in, we were incredibly disappointed to find out that Delta doesn’t start taking checked bags until 10:15. It was 8:45 at the time. We would have gone to sit at a table in the food court area, but the food court is on the second floor, there is no elevator, and our luggage is too heavy to get upstairs. So we set up camp against an incredibly uncomfortable column near Delta’s luggage check and waited. 

Once we checked our luggage and got through security, we hit up McDonald’s for a quick brunch. It was mediocre, which was exactly what I was expecting from McDonald’s. Then we went on a bit of a shopping spree; I had about 150 quetzals and $30 to spend, and presents for my family to buy. After I was done, I had 5 quetzals left to my name. 

As I’m writing this, we’re sitting at our gate. We’ll board in less than an hour, and be on our way home!

"Agua Pura" Just Means Water And Not Fancy Bottled Water That Won't Get Tourists Sick

DAY EIGHT

Well, it finally happened: I got sick last night.

When Journey and I went to Xelapan yesterday, we sat down in a little cafe and I ordered "agua pura" - the same thing I've been ordering at the other cafe where we have our Spanish classes. At the other cafe, Agua Pura is the name of a brand of a bottled water company, and so they bring you the bottled water and the glass and you drink knowing that this is good water, this is the kind of water Americans in a foreign country should be drinking. At the cafe next to Xelapan, "agua pura" just means tap water. Tap water. I didn't realize my mistake until after we'd left. I'd been warned by doctors, by our coordinators, by my parents, and by my host family not to drink the tap water here. The tap water here is different, and it tends to make tourists sick. That's exactly what it did.

I didn't do much today expect sleep and rest. Griselda made me a tea that's supposed to help with upset stomachs, and what was essentially Campbell's chicken noodle soup (but with fresh vegetables and fresh chicken) for lunch and dinner. At first I thought I'd come across a great cultural discovery: chicken noodle soup is the universal cure for illness! But, I was wrong. Griselda explained that she made it for me because that's what every other volunteer who's stayed with her and gotten sick before me had requested. Ah. Well, it was really good soup, and it tasted like home, and it did make me feel better.

I'm definitely going to the shelter and Spanish classes tomorrow. This is our last week, and I don't want to miss anymore of it.

I Shouldn't Be Alive Pt. 2

DAY SEVEN

Good news! I can move my legs again, and it’s due to two things: a lazy day yesterday after our hike, and Las Fuentas Georginas today. Las Fuentas Georginas are hot springs over by the volcano we visited yesterday, Santa Maria. 

I was picturing a cross between a tourist trap and a spa; the kind of place where a family on vacation goes to relax and grab lunch, then leave feeling calm and satisfied. That’s not at all what I got. Instead, almost everyone there was local, and it was more of a public swimming pool than a spa. One of the volunteers (with a different group) that we rode over with thought it looked like a typical American pool on Memorial Day - overflowing with people of all ages, but especially children with their toys. There were floaties and kick boards, and a lot of kids would jump into one of the pools like they were jumping off a diving board. I was really quite surprised. I hadn’t expected that many locals to be there, but that’s who was there, and that’s who was having the best time. 

Journey and I spent some time in the water, then grabbed some nachos at the poolside grill. How do authentic Guatemalan nachos taste, you ask? To be perfectly honest, they taste like really cheap American nachos.

Pretty soon it was time to go back to the van. And boy, I almost wish I’d walked. It had gotten incredibly foggy while we were there, and the roads were windy and not large enough for two lanes; we almost got into several head-on collisions, and were, at times, way too close to the edge of the road (by edge, I basically mean ledge - it was a steep drop to the bottom of the mountain). But just like yesterday, we did, somehow, make it back alive.

This afternoon, Journey and I went to the local market and then to a little place called Xelapan, which is amazing. They back a ton of fresh bread and pastries every day, and the entire building smelled delicious. I had a little croissant with some chocolate in it. It was fantastic.

Tomorrow, we’re back at the shelter! It’s our last week here - time has really flown.

I Shouldn't Be Alive

DAY FIVE

My mom was right - plantains are the worst. This morning, Griselda made us fried plantains with beans in them for breakfast, it tasted like a cross between an undercooked sweet potato and a banana that was more brown than yellow. I mostly ate fruit; the cantaloupe here is especially fresh, and it’s probably my favorite. 

Speaking of things that are the worst - small children. OK, maybe babies aren’t that bad, but coming back to a room filled with screaming, crying babies after getting to do my dream job of helping teach some of the older girls was incredibly depressing. The problem was that one of the volunteers was sick almost all week, and the other had decided to show up later now that she’s done with her Spanish lessons and is working at the shelter all day. These two things meant that Journey would be alone with all the babies for a really long time, and I felt bad about that, so I offered to help her. But, once I made the decision to go to the baby room, the teacher’s made their schedule for the day, and it didn’t involve anything I could help with, so I was stuck there. I’m pretty sure I’ll be stuck there for most of next week, too. Oh well. 

I did get to see what kind of impact helping the babies had, though. One of the girls in my English class the other day is a mother. And it’s the volunteers that keep an eye on her kid that allow her to go to class. I mean, I’ve known that that’s what we’re doing and why, but really getting to see it was different. It meant more. 

Since today was kind of a hard day, Journey and I stopped at the McDonald’s on the way home and got a couple of McFlurries. Ah, the taste of the United States. It was familiar. It was needed. It was wonderful.

Spanish lessons were, as always, good. I finished El Principito today. Salvador was impressed by how quickly I got through it, and how dedicated I was. Mostly I was dedicated to finishing it as quickly as possible so that I wouldn’t have to read out loud so much anymore, but I didn’t mention that. For the rest of the time, we talked a lot about our respective cities: Xela and Atlanta. He was really shocked to find out that Atlanta has the busiest airport in the world, and had me answering all sorts of questions on the racial, religious, and economic diversity of the city. I can tell I’m getting better at speaking Spanish, which is great!

Two updates on the whole “Senior Project” part of our Senior Project: we will not be doing vlogs, and we’ll be coming home three days early. 

For the vlogs, we’ve run into a few problems, mainly having to do with the shelter and the culture here; no one is allowed to take pictures inside the shelter and post/show them anywhere public for the girls’ safety, and the other is that, since Guatemala is an incredibly conservative country, a lot of Guatemalans don’t feel comfortable having their picture taken. Another problem with that is that we were told never to show our phones in public, since they’re a lot nicer than most phones here and they scream “I am rich. Please rob me”. We would like to avoid being robbed. Taking pictures, much less making videos, has been really difficult because of this. We’ll have to come up with some other way to present what we learned when we get back. 

The other news is that we’re now coming home next Friday instead of that following Monday. When we originally booked out flights, the only direct flights home were on Mondays, and we wanted to avoid layovers. Now they’re offering direct flights every day of the week, so we switched to Friday. As much as I enjoying being in Xela, I am excited to be getting home sooner; that extra weekend here was kind of unnecessary. We both miss our families, don’t want to worry about having to stretch our money and clothes to last a few more days, and want to be back in time for Senior Week!

Tomorrow, Journey and I will be climbing up a mountain to a lookout point for the volcano Santa Maria. We’re very excited! 

DAY SIX

We woke up when it was not very bright out and was definitely too early. Our bus to get to Santa Maria picked us up at 6 a.m., but there had been some communications issues between Petra (our A Broader View coordinator) and me, so, since I thought we were leaving at 5 a.m., we got at at 4:30. Today has been a very long day.

What can I say about this hike? It was beautiful. The scenery was gorgeous. Our guide, Sandy, who only spoke Spanish, was incredibly sweet and funny. We made record time. I thought I was going to die. 

The first hour and a half of the journey up the mountain was entirely uphill, at unbelievably steep inclines. There were rocks, big and small, loose and fixed, everywhere. Apparently a lot of the local indigenous people go up to the volcano almost daily (Sandy didn’t know why), so we were being passed by little old ladies and little old men, moms carrying new born babies, and toddlers who could keep up fairly easily with their parents. I couldn’t breathe. And worse, our guide kept trying to talk to me, and I, being a polite person, keep trying to respond. It was probably some of the best Spanish I’ve ever spoken in my life; because I couldn’t breathe and it took a while for me to get the words out, I had a lot of time to conjugate everything in my head before I spoke.

After two hours, we finally made it to the lookout point. There was a cow there, which was odd, but probably added a little to the aesthetic of being on a rural mountain in Guatemala. 

The view was beautiful. Unfortunately, it was soon covered by fog and mist and clouds. And as soon as our view of the volcano was blocked, it erupted. It was a little disappointing to not see any eruption, but we did hear it! That was pretty neat. 

Our descent down was worse than up. I almost slipped and broke my ankles and legs and neck dozens of times. My life flashed before my eyes regularly, because if it wasn't a loose stone or an impossible drop-off, it was loose sand or a twisted ankle. But we did make it down intact, and in about an hour! We took some victory pictures at the bottom, like we had at the top, then went home. When we got home, we showered, ate lunch, and went to rest in our rooms, which we really haven’t left since. The place were my legs connects with my hips hurts so bad that I’m having trouble lifting my legs more than an inch or so of the ground. But it’s all good. I’ve taken some Aleve, and tomorrow we’re going to a natural hot springs! I can’t wait!

It still wasn't even 7 a.m. when we started walking.

This is that cow I mentioned.

The volcano! It's not the crater, but the thing to the left with smoke coming out it.

We didn't die!

Someone's Watching A Soccer Game In The Next Room And Some Team Just Scored A Gooooooooooooooooooooooooal

DAY FOUR

Griselda is ecstatic that Journey and I like fresh fruit. And eggs. Apparently most volunteers that stay with her aren’t big fans of either, so she’s super excited that she can give us all the fresh fruit and variations of egg-based meals that Guatemala has to offer. We’ve had eggs wrapped in tortillas (once with turkey in it, like an omelet) for the past two nights, and it’s honestly my new favorite meal. 

On a side-note, culture wise, I’ve figured out a few new things. One is that in Guatemala, “v”s, “m”s, and “p”s all sound like “b”s. Another is that you call women “señoras” and not “mujeres”, because the latter implies that the woman you’re talking about is a prostitute. And, finally, “no me importa” is a really rude phrase here. So right now I’m in a really awkward position where I’m trying to convey that I’m a go-with-the-flow kind of person and really it doesn’t matter to me what happens, but I run the risk of sounding like a jerk about it.

Anyway, onto today; I got to teach at the shelter! 

This morning, I sat in on a lesson about the difference between healthy romantic relationship and an unhealthy one; I hate that this is something they have to hit home so hard with these girls, since they’re so young. But when the teacher’s asked if anyone had ever been in a bad relationship, almost everyone in the room raised their hand. One girl stood up and told us the story about how she ended up at Hogar Temporal. I didn’t catch all of it, but it involved having inappropriate pictures taken against her will and posted publicly, being pressured into sex, being threatened with a gun, and losing contact with her family because she thought it was more important to be with the boy that was abusing her, since she thought he was the love of her life. It was horrible to listen to. She was crying by the end, and so were a few other girls who must have seen some of themselves in her story.

After that, when classes started back up after a short break, one of the teachers brought me into a room and announced that I was American, spoke English, and would be teaching them all English today. She handed me a marker and pointed at the white board. It was a little nerve-wracking to be thrust into a situation like that totally unprepared, but the girls were actually very helpful - they knew what they wanted to learn. We went over basic phrases like “hello” and “my name is”, numbers, days of the week, months, colors, and animals. They especially liked learning about animals, and, at the end of my “lesson”, everyone could tell me what their favorite animal was in English. It was a ton of fun! I really loved being able to interact with and teach the girls like that. I hope get to do it again tomorrow!

Speaking of favorite animals: dogs. Specifically, a dog, and even more specifically, one beagle puppy in particular. He’s for sale in a shop that we have to pass everyday on the way to the orphanage. He can’t be more than two months old. They keep him in this tiny cage, with no newspapers or rags or towels at the bottom, and they keep him in there all the time. The store was closed when we walked by this morning, but we could hear him crying inside. One of the other volunteers says he’s been there for almost a month, and he had a brother who was adopted a couple of weeks ago, leaving him completely alone. Journey and I die a little inside every time we think about him… so, we’re thinking about hatching a scheme to find him a loving home in the U.S. (Note: not my home - don’t worry, Mom!) We think the whole thing (buying him, getting him shots if he’s old enough, getting him supplies, and bringing him home via carry-on) would be less than $500. If you’re friends with me on Facebook, you might be seeing an advertisement for this puppy in the coming days. Or you could leave an offer in the comments below. Just saying.

Also, Spanish lessons went well again. There was more reading aloud, more playing card games, and more talking about politics. Today’s political topic was the U.S. presidential election, and the different candidates (mostly the Republicans, since they seem to make the news here more). Everything’s going great!

Alright. That was my day. It was good, and I’m looking forward to tomorrow. 

I'm Going To Hear Crying Babies In My Sleep

DAY THREE

Another day, another morning at the shelter. For some reason the other volunteers didn’t show up, so Journey and I handled the babies by ourselves for a few hours. I’m still not a fan of babies. Do they have their moments? Sure. Like one baby grabbed her mom’s comb off of the bed and started trying to brush her hair. That was cute. But, like, overall, no, not a fan. 

It’s really hard for me to come to terms with what I’m seeing. All of these kids are incredibly needy and almost always need to be held, or else they’ll cry. And it’s heartbreaking to think that they’re so desperate for any sign of affection, that they’re not getting the attention they need from their moms. But it’s hard for me to think that in the moment, because all I’m hearing is crying and all I’m thinking is that I don’t have enough hands for this and I don’t know what to do to help them. It’s frustrating in the moment, but I’m doing my best to use some perspective and have a little more patience. I guess I just wish I knew more about babies. Or that there was someone working with us that did.

Spanish class this afternoon was great. My teacher, Salvador, and I talked politics and history for nearly three hours. Fresh from my viewing of the Kennedy v Nixon episode of Race for the White House, I told him about how people in the U.S. (especially the South) were against having a Catholic president and how the Kennedy campaign’s help in freeing MLK from jail won JFK the black vote, which had traditionally gone to the Republican party, since it was Lincoln, the first Republican president, that ended slavery. Salvador thinks it’s super shady that the files on the Kennedy assassination are sealed, and, like a fair number of other people from Latin America that I’ve met, think it’s possible that J. Edgar Hoover was behind it. (They’re very distrustful of the CIA here (said as one word instead of it’s initials in Latin America), and for good reason.) He hadn’t realized that Bobby Kennedy and MLK had been assassinated in the same year, and asked about why Malcom X is typically kind of omitted from the history of the Civil Rights movement. 

We also talked about the scope and impacts of slavery in the U.S., and how bigotry and racism can still be seen today. He told me that even though he’s seeing a lot of progress, there’s still a lot of racism in Guatemala directed towards indigenous people; the affects of their civil war are still here. And even though the war officially ended in 1996, Salvador says that there is still a lot of violence in the rural and mountainous areas of Guatemala. 

After that, we moved on to the U.S.’s involvement in the overthrows of democratic governments and installments of dictatorships in Latin America. He was really impressed that I knew what a golpe de estado (coup) was, that I had already learned about things like the Iran-Contra affair and Pinochet in Chile, and that I was aware that U.S. could be pretty immoral when it came to “protecting U.S. interests” in Latin America. (He's been pretty impressed with Lovett's Spanish department on the whole, and is really glad that we learn about cultural and social issues.) He told me this joke that was popular in Latin America in the 80s: “Why can’t you have a coup d’etat in the United States? Because there is no U.S. Embassy in the United States”. One of the things he found most interesting, and ironic, about our involvement was the role the Reagan administration had. They supported a lot of these dictatorships and sold arms to their militaries, but also offered aid to a lot of Latin American countries suffering because of the harm the military governments had caused. 

He had me read aloud from El Príncipito (The Little Prince) next, which was a little embarrassing since I tend to stutter when I read out loud, but I can tell my pronunciation is getting better. We also went over some basic vocabulary that I’m pretty rusty on; I’m slowly relearning different names for clothing, fruits, vegetables, and body parts. 

Today was really great, and I’m looking forward to tomorrow. 

My Back Is Killing Me

Well, we've finally gotten access to wifi. I hope it lasts, but I can't make any promises. For that reason, I'll be writing daily reflections on a Word document and then uploading them when I can. Here's today and yesterday:

DAY ONE

Guatemala City is really not that different from Atlanta in that the traffic is horrible and no one uses their turn signals.

Our flight out went well; we got through security and boarded without incident, and then I think I slept through a fair chunk of the flight, which was only about four or so hours. Customs in Guatemala was a breeze, and we found the cab driver that A Broader View had sent really easily. The only thing that made us hesitate was the abundance  of signs around the airport reminding everyone that it was illegal to have sex with a minor and that it was wrong and you would spend a long time in jail if you did. Why did they need to remind people that? And why did they need to remind people that that many times?

Anyway, we were dropped off at an Alamo station, where we ended up waiting for our bus for about two hours. Today was mostly a day for sitting. 

Then we got on the bus and strapped in for the wildest and most uncomfortable four hours of my life. I know the driver couldn’t help that the roads were windy - we were, after all, going into the mountains - but he didn't need to hit those curves at 100 mph. We were tossed around from side to side for almost the entire time. Some people actually managed to sleep during all this. I need to find out their secret before we have to do this ride again in two weeks. 

Our A Broader View correspondents (here it’s called Go Guatemala) picked us up from the bus station in Xela and took us to our host family. There are four generations of women here, and the matriarch, Griselda, is really kind of “our mom”. She was incredibly nice and welcoming, and she made us eggs and beans for dinner. 

Tomorrow, we’ll be going to the women’s shelter in the morning. Hopefully, I’ll get to work with the teachers and help tutor some of the kids! In the afternoon, I’ve decided to take Spanish classes with Journey; I understand almost everything I’m hearing, but I’m having a little trouble speaking - I’ve always been that way, and now is a good time to try to fix it. I’m exhausted, but very excited for tomorrow!

DAY TWO

We started today off right, and by "right", I mean with banana pancakes and maple syrup. That stuff is good. Even though I feel like I'm not eating as much as I do at home, I'm literally never hungry. Every meal I eat has left me feeling incredibly full for hours and hours. I had to force myself to finish breakfast and dinner today, and couldn't even eat half of what I was given at lunch. The food is good, and it's filling. Griselda has promised to make a little bit of everything Guatemalan for us so that we have a really good feel for the food here before we leave. So far we've had: eggs and beans, banana pancakes, chicken with rice and zucchini, and "tortillas con queso" which is literally just a quesadilla sandwich, but it was still fantastic. 

After breakfast, we walked to the shelter. It's called Hogar Temporal; young girls who have been abused and young moms and their babies all live and learn there. I started the day off by helping a teacher out with some of the girls (maybe 7 or 8 year olds?). They're behind from a developmental stand point, so we did drawing, coloring, and connecting the dots. I really enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to helping out the teachers again tomorrow. 

Once the teacher was done with me, she sent me off to help Journey and the other volunteers with the babies. Disclaimer: I am not comfortable with children who can't communicate with specifics. I want what they want, what's wrong, etc, and just plain screaming and crying doesn't really do that for me. I always hands down refuse to babysit any kid under the age of 3. I just feel helpless when I don't know what to do to help. So, basically, I spent the rest of the morning uncomfortable and unsure of how to help. I know what I was doing meant a lot and was actually really helpful to the mothers, who can't be distracted by their kids while they learn, and that I'll get used to it in time. It was just really overwhelming today. 

We had Spanish lessons in the afternoon. My teacher's name is Salvador, and, woah, that guy can talk. He talked to me about everything: the schooling system in Central America vs in the US, how interesting he finds the kind of fun tidbits that come up again later as Jeopardy questions, his love of linguistics and how language has changed in Central America over time, where the Irish the settled primarily in the United States, my history as a Spanish student, and how bad drivers in Xela are. Our lesson was almost entirely conversational, which I loved. I had a great time.

One thing I did notice, though: I am completely inept at Spanish basics. I don't know hardly any of the words for fruits or vegetables, I've forgotten the words for most school supplies, and I couldn't remember words I knew I knew and remembered learning in Spanish I. Because we haven't gone over any of those things since Spanish I, if we learned it then. There were seven year olds laughing at me for not knowing the word pineapple in Spanish. (It's piña. I got it now.)

I did, however, perfectly understand a four page essay on the various forms of modern day slavery. So, there's that.

But, yeah, that was my day. I'm exhausted, and as the title of this post says, my back is killing me. I'm gonna go to bed as soon as I post this.

Fun fact to end this with: In Guatemala, if someone sneezes more than once in a row, you change what you say. The first sneeze gets a salud (health). The second gets a dinero (money). The third gets an amor (love). That's a pretty solid blessing if you ask me.

Freshly Made Guacamole Is Pretty Solid

The first half of my day was mundane, and almost repetitive - I continued to practice Spanish vocabulary, started to quiz myself of the Guatemalan slang Journey and I learned yesterday, and finished off Harry Potter y la pierda filosofal. I also made a checklist of things I have to do over the weekend before we leave: print out plane and bus tickets, make copies of my passport and credit card, get one of those clip-thingys you can twist shut that they use when you go zip-lining as a way to secure my backpack while we're in Guatemala, and pack. It feels a little overwhelming, to be perfectly honest.

Later in the day, Journey came over to my house and we made mixtas! Mixtas are hotdogs topped with guacamole and salsa and wrapped in a tortilla. It was really good, and apparently mixtas are very common to find at food trucks or sporting events, so maybe we'll get to eat them while we're there!

We made our guacamole from scratch!

It didn't look too appealing at this point...

but...

it tasted pretty good!

I'm Already A Big Fan Of San Simon

I was a lot more productive today than I imagined I would be, and it's a pretty nice feeling.

I woke up early (not, like, early, but earlier than I would have liked to have been awake if I'm being honest), and immediately got to work on reviewing those quizlets I've talked about. My studying was driven by a fear of not being able to explain to el agente de aduanas (the customs agent) who I was and why I was in the country, and, because I couldn't communicate that, being promptly kicked out of the country. An irrational fear, I know, but it ended up being an excellent motivator.

Before I knew it, it was time to go meet Journey for lunch. We met up at the Panera just past the shopping center that had a Willy's, a Starbucks, and a Chick-fil-a in it over near Lovett (but not the shopping center with a Willy's, a Starbucks, and a Chick-fil-a in it over near Lovett that I was thinking of... I was late, and lost for a while). Once I got there, we started to talk about what we were looking forward to most about Guatemala. For Journey it was food, and for me, it was the chance to explore. We decided that while we were there, we'd try to hike a volcano and visit some Mayan ruins. We also talked about what we'd learned; I gave Journey a crash course in Guatemalan history, and she spoke to me in Spanish for a little bit. It was a fun and productive outing.

The rest of the day was dedicated to Guatemalan culture and slang.

One of my favorite things about the culture in Guatemala, and one of the things that makes it incredibly unique, is that it's an almost equal blend of Mayan and Spanish influences. The culture is a little different in each region of the country because of the different nations descended from the Maya. Here are some quick fun facts about culture:

On Thursdays, they typically eat a food called patches, which is basically a tamale made out of potatoes. They eat primarily unsweet corn, which is called maize, and they call the sweet corn (like corn on the cob, the stuff we eat in the U.S.) elote. Guatemala's national instrument is the marimba, a type of xylophone. Each Mayan village in Guatemala has its own distinct clothing pattern. The local saint of Guatemala is called Maximón and is locally known as San Simon - he's the patron saint of male fertility and prostitution. He seems like a fun guy.

As for slang (since every Spanish speaking country has their own way of saying things, just like how we call elevators elevators and the British call them lifts), I have a few new favorite words that I'll share with you: chucho (dog), de plano (yes, of course), mango (handsome), macho (a fool or stupid person), patojo (kid), pisto (money), boca/boquitas (snacks/appetizers), and of course chapín (what you call a Guatemalan person). The last one is where our project title comes from.

I'm very excited about how well today went, but I'm even more pumped for tomorrow! Journey and I are planning on making mixtas - Guatemalan hotdogs!

And They Would Have Gotten Away With Their Revolution Too, If It Hadn't Been For Dwight Eisenhower And His Meddling CIA Operatives

Today I decided to look into Guatemala's history. I spent the first half of the day looking into everything up until 1954, and the second half on everything since then. Why 1954? Well, that's when the United States decided that Guatemala's democracy wasn't what the U.S. wanted from a Central American democracy, and staged a coup and installed a dictator instead. But we'll get to that.

People have been in Guatemala since as early as 12,000 BC, and there's evidence that people have lived in the highlands region (where we're going) since 6,500 BC. Guatemala, like southern Mexico, was inhabited by the Maya until the collapse of the civilization in around 1500 CE. The Maya are still a prevalent group today - about 40% of the population is indigenous. Up near Quetzaltenango, the specific group of Mayan descendants are the K'iche'. Vanderbilt (the school I'm happy to say I'll be attending next year) actually offers K'iche' as a foreign language! So, I'm very excited at the idea that I can experience the culture in person, then learn more about it in a classroom setting.

Anyway, on to colonial times! Essentially, the Spanish invaded and ruined everything. This is nothing new. But, what's kind of interesting, is that the conquistadors actually made strategic alliances with certain indigenous nations to overpower stronger, more threatening nations (like the K'iche'). And then they turned on the nations they had made alliances with. Guatemala was called the Captaincy-general of Guatemala, and, at the time, included the modern-day nations of El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras, and part of the southern tip of Mexico.

In 1821, the Captiancy-general of Guatemala declared independence from Spain, and Spain, who was no longer a global superpower, just kind of let that slide. Things went downhill from there - there was infighting, a large state known as the Federal Republic of Central America (with it's capital city in Guatemala City), a small civil war, a secessionist movement in Quetzaltenango that formed the free state of Los Altos, the fall of Los Altos, the eventual formation of a republic. Guatemala became Guatemala in 1847.

The Guatemalan Revolution occurred from 1944 - 1954. During this period, Guatemala had it's first fully free and open election. The revolutionaries, inspired in large part by FDR and the New Deal, sought to make Guatemala a "liberal capitalist" society - while capitalism would prevail, new lawmakers drew on socialist elements to create something akin to what would be LBJ's Great Society: Christian Socialism.

The U.S. heard the word "socialism", immediately jumped to "communism", and overthrew the new government. It was the height of McCarthyism, and the general consensus among American government officials was that it was better to rob people of basic civil liberties and to abandon American democratic ideals than allow a communist government to exist. So Eisenhower (Truman had wanted to, but hadn't built up popular support - his plans were leaked to public and America wasn't seeing that much red yet) installed a dictator that would remain in power until 1966. Oh, it wasn't really a dictatorship. The guy did win an election. He won with 99% of the vote, in fact. I'm sure that had nothing to do with the fact that all other political parties were banned from participating.

Apart from the U.S.'s containment policy, there was a major foreign interest in Guatemala that the U.S. felt it needed to protect from socialism, and that was bananas. Well it wasn't solely bananas. It was the United Fruit Company, which produced many varieties of fruits, but mainly bananas. Yep. We smothered democracy in Guatemala for bananas.

After that, Guatemala struggled to keep that democracy alive, and tended to fail. From around 1970-1996, there was a military state, with a lot of atrocities committed by the military against the indigenous populations, to the point that Jimmy Carter finally withdrew U.S. military support (and then Reagan gave it back and lowkey began to back those people aiming for indigenous genocide, so) and Spain cut off all diplomatic ties with Guatemala. This turbulent period of time was known the Guatemalan Civil War, and the combatants were the military government and civilian guerrilla groups. The war ended in 1996 when the UN helped the two groups make a peace treaty.

Things have really improved since then. People involved in the atrocities are facing legal consequences, Bill Clinton apologized for the U.S.'s role in all of it, the economy has grown, and there have been truly democratic elections ever since. Jimmy Moralez is the current president, and he used to be a comedian; that's a long way from being a general in charge of a military state.

It was a lot to take in, but I'm really glad I've learned so much about Guatemala's history. Understanding a country's past is a great way to understand it's present.

I Spent More Time On Quizlet Than I Would Have If I Were Studying For An Exam

Obviously, as this was my first day off of school to work on this project, I had a lot of tasks to complete today. None of them had to do with my Senior Project.

It's my mom's birthday today. Which is very exciting, but, like with any birthday, there's a fair amount of preparation that goes with it. And my dad didn't think to do any of it (or ask me to help him with it) this weekend. Why would he need to, though? He's got a kid who's skipping school all week and is totally and completely free to run a plethora of errands and complete an abundance of mundane little chores! And I woke up to a text with list of those things that I needed to do this morning.

Because I'm an excellent daughter, I did everything he asked me to do, but I apparently need to clarify that I'm actually doing important, academic things this week.

While today wasn't as productive as I would have liked for it to have been, I did get in a lot of Spanish practice. Before and after I took my mom out for her birthday lunch at Rio Bravo (I ate fresh tortillas while there, so maybe that counts for some cultural immersion?), I went through old quizlets of "Getting Around the City" and "Travel/Vacation" vocabulary. Obviously, being able to navigate Xela (or Quetzaltenango - I'll be using the two names for the city interchangeably throughout the course of this blog) and the airport/bus is going to be super important, so I'll go over those two vocab lists at least once a day before we leave.

I also started reading this amazing book while I was waiting to pick my sister up from school: Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal. I figure that reading a book I already know and love in Spanish will be a great way for me to test my Spanish skills and improve grammar and vocabulary at the same time. It's going really well so far, and it definitely helps that I know Harry Potter forwards and backwards. I've been able to use what I know about the story to figure out some new words. For example, did I know that "taladro" meant drill before today? Nope. But I knew that the company Mr. Dursely worked for made drills. So, so far I'd say that my 1st Grade Spanish reading level is coming in handy.

I'll keep reading Harry Potter tonight, and tomorrow I'll start to delve into Guatemala history and culture.