Iglesia Yurrita

The slums sort of...shanty towns in the city.

Iglesia Yurrita. Nuestra Senora de los Angustias.

I'm continuing to make baby steps with the students...a little girl and I played a game of cat and mouse with clay and I turned her into a cat by giving her clay claws and then made a bunch of mice out of clay for her to pretend to attack and eat. We understood each other for a good 11 minutes. Progress! I was trying to make a last one out of clay but I ran out so it didnt have ears and she was like... no orejas?! So I had to scrap it out. Apparently mice without ears doesnt fly. We took them swimming today, mayyheeemm. But complete joy.

This afternoon I went to Iglesia Yurrita. It is this beautiful church, it's all salmon pink and white and gray and the carvings on it are incredible. It was made by a man who was trapped after a volcano erupted, (it was a big moment in history...I should know the name of the volcano) and he was praying to Senora de Angustias, or the lady of anguish, to save him and he promised her that if she saved him he would build a church in her honor. I love that story:) So he did it, and it is incredible. There are floral sculptures and carving and stained glass windows everywhere inside, and it sort of glows purple. And a huge statue of Senora de Angustias. He done her proud.

We also took sort of an informal tour of the city...at one point Virgina said, ok close your eyes, and then when I opened them she said, do you still feel like you're in Guatemala? It was in zone...14 I think? 12? And it is where all the wealthy people live and she was right...it is like being in a completely different country. Everything is huge and shiny and clean and modern. Its bizarre. And there are posters for halloween, which is not a holiday here. She said that only the people who live there celebrate it.

Hope you're all doing well!

primer dia de trabajo.

10 principals of democracy in the presidential palace. muy bonita

This morning at breakfast the juice label on our oj was SULA. Apparently it comes from San Pedro Sula in Honduras...it was a hilarious situation because, typical behavior from me, the first thing I did when I got into the kitchen was yell, HEY my names on there! And of course no one could understand that so then I scrambled around to explain what the world I was talking about.

Today was my first day teaching...or attempting to help teach. I'm currently working in a school for kids with special needs and learning disabilities, the most prevalent seems to be serious ADD. They were literally bouncing off of the walls. I was greeted by this sweet little boy who mumbled a lot of spanish into my ear and gave me a big kiss. Completely surprising but also totally adorable. Though I understand half of what they're saying at the most...this one little girl hugged me and said, "te quiero" (I love you) 5 minutes into the class...and I thought I was doing pretty well until I took her crayons away and she rolled her eyes at me and said "te odio!" meaning I hate you. Too bad for me that is one of the phrases I do understand.

This afternoon I went to this amazing cathedral with one of Virginia (my host moms) daughters. And then then we also went to the Palacio Nacional, (the presidential palace...like the white house). It was incredible...I was the only non spanish speaker in the tour though so the guide made tons of jokes about me, fed by a giggling group of 8th graders in uniform, who asked me tons of questions about the United States. One of them was like....oh so you've been to vegas!?! And they wanted to know all about what you needed to do to go to the United States. BUT I learned a lot...so the whole thing is sort of sea foam turquoise...literally everything is different shades of it and its so pretty and none of it is painted. The color comes from the chemicals they put on the stone on the walls. The pictures don't do it justice...it was very zen in there. The president at the time it was built was obsessed with the number 5 (Connor...are you reading?) So everything is in 5's or multiples of five. It's crazy. There are also tons of murals depicting the fusion of the mayan and the spanish cultures in Guatemala...one in particular has a cross coming in from one side and a sun coming in from the other, muy interesante. But my favorite part...besides all of the turquoise, was the presidential dining room because there are these 10 stained glass windows side by side and each one has a person and a word representing the 10 principles of democracy. It is stunning.

I'm going to attempt to upload pictures...

I have arrived.

After an exponentially turbulent flight (accompanied by a flight attendent yelling what i'm sure were words of reassurance over the loudspeaker in rapid spanish, however to me sounding like a final and hurried explanation of how to exit the plan after we crashed into the ocean blue), I have arrived. The Guatemala City airport is super small and everyone is incredibly friendly...so navigating my way through customs and out to the van was definitely not worth all the 6 hours of panicking I did about it on the plane ride over. Walking out of the airport is another story...I walked into the center of a fenced and crowded semi-circle of people offering rides and looking for relatives...it was sort of like showing my pigs at fair. Except for no pig to hide behind. Luckily, Anneliese, the lady who picked me up is speedy quick so she found me pronticimo and we were on our way.

I haven't really had time to explore the neighborhood yet, but our house is totally cool. I am the only volunteer so far for 2 and a half weeks so it's me and then 5 other people who work for the organization who come in and out. They are all wonderful, we eat together and hopefully will get to talk more once my spanish gets better, most of them speak limited or no english. Virginia, (my house mom) has hugged me like 4 times already...which we all know is a big one for me. Hugs appreciated! Last night I felt a lot like Mary from the Secret Garden when she goes to live with her aunt and she's all alone in that giant house and she creeps around all the rooms in her nightie like a ghost. Well...this house isn't big like that, but it's huge for one person and there are all these crannies and rooms meant for a lot of people hidden off of hallways and down stairwells that I keep discovering. Scary larry.

That is about it so far...I go to my placement site tomorrow morning, I'm excited.
I miss everyone so much! I love you guys.