Let me explain..
This morning I was walking to CASAS by myself (to go to the hot springs) and I got beeped at. My first instinct was to scowl but then I looked up to see the car and lo and behold the license plate had a 50 on it. SCORE! This was so exciting because 50 was the next number I needed in my license plate game. I'm trying to get from 0 to 1000 on license plates in a row.. and I play every day on my walk to school.. or other random times I'm on buses. The reason this 50 was so exciting is because it allowed me to reach an all time license plate record today.. 19 numbers! I got from 50 to 68 all in one day. Had it not been for that man beeping at me, I wouldn't have had such luck.
So the hot springs.. wow. What a wonderful relaxing day. We took a bus for 40 minutes and arrived at the place. We paid 5 US dollars to enter and had access to 11 different pools. Some were a little cooler and others were warm. One was basically a hot tub without the jets. Some were in the sun and some had roofs and there were lounge chairs. It was glorious. We all also bought 1 hr massages for 17 US dollars. OOOH MAN. I made sure I was extra tense today so that it felt good. It was an interesting and kind of awkward experience for me because it was my first one.. I was almost completely undressed.. annd there were certain things that tickled or made me want to laugh. But for the most part, it felt wonderful. I was and still am kinda covered in oil even after showering. We ate lunch in the cafe there... cheeseburger and fries.. so good. And then spent some more time lounging, burning (didn't wear sun screen again.. oops. Mom, I need you here!) and relaxing in the water. It was wonderful. Ended the day with ice cream.. can't beat that.
Last night I went out with my mom and her boyfriend and we didn't leave until 9pm. We were out until 1am. It was fun though. We went to her friend's restaurant and they made me sing kareoke! HAHA First they picked 'You're the one that I want' from Grease and no one else knew it so I was singing alone in a full restaurant. Then they picked 'Hit me baby one more time' by Brittney Spears and more people knew it so they helped me. It was fun and I felt like I was more comfortable and opened up to my mom more. Originally I was gonna stay home and sleep because I had to get up early today, but I'm glad I didn't.
Tomorrow night our group from EMU is having a super bowl party and ordering pizza. I am excited for that. All in all this will have been a great weekend! I have some homework to finish tonight and tomorrow.. but I've gotten to relax a lot. Sorry for talking about getting burnt and tan when all of you are freezing!!! Drink lots of hot chocolate!
Love from Guatemala,
Lindsey
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Chichicastenango
This past weekend our group spent a weekend trip in Chichicastenango, a city about 3 1/2 hrs from Guatemala City. It felt so good to get out of the big city and traffic and enjoy some nice bumpy, dusty, curvy mountain roads on an old school bus! HA! No really though, it was a good trip. Friday night we visited a cooperative of women whose husbands were killed in the 80´s due to violence against the Guatemalan church. The women started a weaving cooperative to sell their products and earn money to support their families. They fed us and shared their story and then we had time to SHOP! I bought quite a few things. Everything is so colorful here, I love the fabrics. Then we went on to stay at the ´dorm´ type place that was created for the children of these women to come and learn how to tailor their fabrics. There was a room with 6 bunkbeds for 12 of us girls.
Friday night, about half an hour after we had fallen asleep, one of the girls woke us up with screams and shouting she saw a snake on the wall and then it fell onto the floor. The lights came on and people (braver than myself) started searching under beds for it with flashlights. I´m pretty sure I froze. After the girl decided she probably had hallucinated the snake (from malaria pills perhaps?) everyone went back to bed.. except me. I was paranoid. I didn´t believe she had hallucinated.. though I hadn´t had any proof for a snake being there either. At any rate, I kept myself awake by scaring myself for the next couple hours. I do know I slept for at least 2 hours because when I checked the time once it was 130am and I had been sleeping. HOWEVER, the next scare was when I felt something run across my mouth, twice. And I knew I wasn´t imagining this. I´m still not sure what it was, but it kept me awake for another few hours. And then I was sure that there were lice in my pajamas and crawling all over my body. How horrible! The next night, Amy slept with me.. we stayed warmer and I wasn´t as scared. I actually slept the whole night through which felt wonderful.
Saturday we got to hike around some Mayan ruins and walk through an underground tunnel. My flashlight from Eric and Lindsay came in handy and was brighter than anyone elses! We had a picnic lunch there and got to use squatty potties. It was a nice relaxing day. Saturday we had free time in the city of Chichi and Amy and I walked around with our friends Giles and Andrew. We ate at a Guatemalan restaurant but got pizza, so good!
Sunday our group went to the Catholic mass and I had another interesting shoe experience. This time it was with heels and cobblestone streets. Not my best move ever. I didn´t complain though, and I didn´t get any blisters. After the mass we had a few hours to spend in the market. It was HUGE and crowded. We had to barter which I loved doing. I mastered the ´gasp, ask if they´re serious for that price, scowl, say you don´t want it and walk away´ it seemed to work pretty well. I bought lots more colorful stuff! We then got to ride back in the same uncomfortable school bus on the same bumpy, windy, dusty roads! Coming back ´home´ felt good.
The only other exciting story I have from this week is that last night I was in my bedroom journaling when I encountered my first spanish spider. It was kind of hard to understand him. He kept crawling around in the folds of my sweatshirt and boy was he fast! Finally he stopped long enough to catch his breath and his life ended in that moment. Pobrecito(poor spider).. but not really.
I´m about to go get ice cream with Amy as is becoming our tradition on our free afternoons. It´s cheaper here and nice on a hot day.. so who can resist? Hope everyone back home is staying warm under their blankets at home! : )
With love!
Lindsey
Friday night, about half an hour after we had fallen asleep, one of the girls woke us up with screams and shouting she saw a snake on the wall and then it fell onto the floor. The lights came on and people (braver than myself) started searching under beds for it with flashlights. I´m pretty sure I froze. After the girl decided she probably had hallucinated the snake (from malaria pills perhaps?) everyone went back to bed.. except me. I was paranoid. I didn´t believe she had hallucinated.. though I hadn´t had any proof for a snake being there either. At any rate, I kept myself awake by scaring myself for the next couple hours. I do know I slept for at least 2 hours because when I checked the time once it was 130am and I had been sleeping. HOWEVER, the next scare was when I felt something run across my mouth, twice. And I knew I wasn´t imagining this. I´m still not sure what it was, but it kept me awake for another few hours. And then I was sure that there were lice in my pajamas and crawling all over my body. How horrible! The next night, Amy slept with me.. we stayed warmer and I wasn´t as scared. I actually slept the whole night through which felt wonderful.
Saturday we got to hike around some Mayan ruins and walk through an underground tunnel. My flashlight from Eric and Lindsay came in handy and was brighter than anyone elses! We had a picnic lunch there and got to use squatty potties. It was a nice relaxing day. Saturday we had free time in the city of Chichi and Amy and I walked around with our friends Giles and Andrew. We ate at a Guatemalan restaurant but got pizza, so good!
Sunday our group went to the Catholic mass and I had another interesting shoe experience. This time it was with heels and cobblestone streets. Not my best move ever. I didn´t complain though, and I didn´t get any blisters. After the mass we had a few hours to spend in the market. It was HUGE and crowded. We had to barter which I loved doing. I mastered the ´gasp, ask if they´re serious for that price, scowl, say you don´t want it and walk away´ it seemed to work pretty well. I bought lots more colorful stuff! We then got to ride back in the same uncomfortable school bus on the same bumpy, windy, dusty roads! Coming back ´home´ felt good.
The only other exciting story I have from this week is that last night I was in my bedroom journaling when I encountered my first spanish spider. It was kind of hard to understand him. He kept crawling around in the folds of my sweatshirt and boy was he fast! Finally he stopped long enough to catch his breath and his life ended in that moment. Pobrecito(poor spider).. but not really.
I´m about to go get ice cream with Amy as is becoming our tradition on our free afternoons. It´s cheaper here and nice on a hot day.. so who can resist? Hope everyone back home is staying warm under their blankets at home! : )
With love!
Lindsey
some pictures!
This is how I feel about Latin Americans being an hour late.
Here´s me, at the top of what I thought was the end of our hike. But we´re at the base of all the lava.. about to climb to that very peak.. oooh boy!
Here´s a picture of what we were hiking on most of the time. This is the lava and this is my poem about it.. Sometimes hot, sometimes not. Always sharp and pointy. It hurt my feet, now ain´t that neat. Ok, nothing rhyms with pointy.
This is what an erruption looks like. The cloud at the bottom is toxic gases.
The view from the tippy top! Gorgeous and at this point, worth it.
YAY! I MADE IT. TO THE ACTUAL TOP!
Here´s what we got to ´slide´down on our descent. It´s super steep.. and that´s Herbert in front and my mom a little farther up.
Looking back and taking a shot up the hill of the ´path´ we all slid down. You can see dust trails from other people who are now sliding down. The picture´s taken on a weird angle.
One night my mom didn´t come home for 3 hrs and I didn´t know why. Amy had come to spend the night. We were just doing homework and talking and all the sudden my mom´s mom showed up with big macs and other groceries for us and said my mom was in the hospital with Pablo cause he was throwing up and had diarrhea. The first time I ever had a big mac was in Guatemala.. weird!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Pacaya
Sunday, January 18th.. excerpts from my journal
725am - Today's the day.. we're up and getting ready to climb the volcano Pacaya (approx. 2500 meters or 8,000 some feet)! Aaron Yutzy is coming with and I told him to wait at CASAS at 730 cause that{s what my mom had told me. Well, it's 5 minutes til that and my mom is just getting out of the shower. I'm not sure what to do about this..
813pm - Which one of these statements is false? 1. today i hiked a volcano 2. it's 813 and i wanna go to bed 3. i love spiders Ok, if you picked number 3, you were right! Why am I so tired at 815pm? Probably cause I HIKED A VOLCANO TODAY! TO THE TIPPY TOP! That's correct.. wow, I can hardly believe it myself.
We did end up getting Aaron this morning. He was waiting at CASAS. My mom's boyfriend (QuiQue) brought a friend hiking (Herbert) and he was the reason they were an hour late to get us but it all worked out. We got to the bottom of the hike and started around 1020am. On the way up the steep curvy mountain (driving) there was a marathon happening. That made Guatemalan driving even more interesting! Crazy people! Two of my first mistakes in climbing this volcano were leaving my water bottle in the car (on purpose) and not putting sunscreen on (also on purpose) and my third and final mistake was wearing my chacos (also on purpose).
I went to the bathroom before we started and to my great surprise and delight there was a toilet seat, toilet paper AND a sink. The only thing missing was light. Apparently I missed the only lightswitch on my way in for both stalls. Needless to say, I wouldn't recommend peeing in pitch black.
The beginning of the ascent actually had me thinking I was going to die - for real. They had told me it was about an hour to the top - they lied. After about 3 minutes of incredibly steep, rocky path and exercise induced asthma, I was ready to quit. Thank goodness I didn't.
We pressed on, taking a wrong path once, seeing lots of stray dogs, feeling dehydrated and envying those lazy rich toursits who paid for horses to carry them to the top. Now when I say top it's a relative term. Because after an hour and a half of somewhat steep and strenuous hiking, I thought we had reached the 'top'. We were at the end of the dirt, grassy hiking path, standing on a plateau looking out over lots of black lava (not live) and small trees, bulidings etc. This is where sane people stop and turn around. Also, I wasn't aware we were actually allowed to climb on this lava.. and soon found out we were. It was clear we weren't actually at the TOP. But it was good enough for me at that point.
Well they wanted to climb around on some lava... so we did, and after about 20 min we sat and rested and ate some granola bars. Surely this was it. I felt pretty satisfied and was enjoying the great view. But just a little more they said.. we're almost there! HA! This is when it starts to get interesting.. Already feeling slighty dehydrated and having trouble breathing, I pressed on. We started hitting spots where the lava was pretty warm beneath our feet and the air was getting thinner. Lucky for me my chacos weren't showing any signs of melting. I did burn two toes though.
The real top seemed so close and yet so, so far. I needed to take many breaks and go very slow. Aaron was gracious enough to wait with me. A few times I actually waited to give up and just sit down and wait for them. It was good I didn't for a few reasons... 1. I was so close - I mean how often do you get an opportunity like this? 2. They took a different way back down! haha
Finally we reached the top. Let me also explain that this volcano is active and we heard about 2 erruptions of the toxic gas on the way up and 3 more while we were up there. I'm still alive. You could see for miles at the top and it was gorgeous. We were high. However, it was the 'high' I was expecting from having mastered this feat. Also, there was no red hot flowing molten lava like I was expecting which was kind of disappointing. I felt like I was Frodo returning the ring to Mount Doom the whole time up. Also, the high altitude was affecting my breathing pretty badly.
Up until today I thought that simply climbing a volcano was an amazing feat. I now know that getting back down it is even more impressive. Where was the helicopter to pick me up? We had made it to the tippy top in 2 1-2 hours. We took a few pictures up there and started back down. The first part of the descent was just a foreshadowing of all to come. Picture lots of tiny loose lava rocks (not hot, thankfully) with an occasional large boulder mixed in, and such a steep slope that there's no hope of traction.. Oh and also, this is the part where regretting my chacos comes in.
Honestly, it's hard to even describe this - but you'd take one step, sink in about 2-3 inches, and slide forward 3 feet. And then your next foot... It was kinda like roller skating - on rocks. They said that this way down was faster - now I know why. Naturally all these tiny sharp rocks got stuck in the bottom of my sandals, causing much pain to the bottom of my feet. I have lots of tiny cuts all over them. And there was nothing I could do about it until I reached the bottom and dug them out. Dust was flying everywhere, and a few times I fell on my behind - luckily not landing on my camera, which was also full of dust. It was quite the experience.. very painful for my feet, kinda fun in a weird way, but not one I'd like to repeat.
After that descent we still had lots of lava rocks to cross until we reached the grassy, dirt path again. But we rested and ate again and threw rocks into the abyss of the earth for about 10 minutes first. After about 2 minutes of nice lava rock path (I say nice cause it was easier to 'climb' than what we just 'slid' down) we encountered another surprise. More tiny loose rocks on another steep slope! HOORAH!
Same excruciating pain on my feet and this time even a boulder that Herbert accidentally moved tumbled down and hit my calf leaving a nice bruise. By this time my toes and feet were full of cuts and also my hands from gripping the rocks while climbing. I wanted to cry and wished there was another way down, but onward we went. After about an hour of this treacherous descent we reached the dirt path. PRAISE THE LORD! Words cannot describe my elation, even though we still had about an hour to go.
Aaron and I managed to find an indigenous woman selling drinks along the way and bought a bottled water for about 60 cents. It was good cause I was feeling dizzy and wake from dehydration. Where was that water bottle I brought? No more rocks in my chacos though!
The descent took 2 hours and 15 minutes in total. I never thought I'd be so happy to see that 3 min steep rocky part at the beginning again! I HAD DONE IT! I had climbed a volcano all the way to the actual top and gotten back down! What an awesome feeling. Mom, be glad you weren't there to witness how dangerous some parts actually were. There were times on the way up that I prayed telling God he'd have to be the one 'carrying' my legs cause I couldn't do it myself. I truly felt his presence and safety. I was proud of myself for having accomplished this..
Not having eaten a meal since 730am and it now being 330 pm, all we could think about was food! (like you Sarah!) And how dirty we were. The 1 1-2 hr ride to Antigua was so nice. We all wanted pizza so we went to a restaurant Herbert knew of. Washing my hands and feet felt so good. But it was then that I realized my face and arms were awfully red! Talk about regretting that sunscreen decision. I guess we were closer to the sun.
We went to order pizza and they said it was only served from 12-3 and 6-10. Uhh, ok. How weird. It was 515pm. So we left and found another restaurant that turned out to be nicer anyway. We ate in a tiny room with couches (that felt awesome) and American music. And I can honestly say I've never tasted better pizza. Probably cause I was so hungry. We left there and had an hour drive back home. I showered - so good, blew my nose and found lots of dirt was hiding there, and lotioned up my sunburn and cracked and cut feet and hands. And now, at 9pm I am finally going to bed.
What a tiring, but satisfying day!
Until my next adventure... adios!
(I ran out of time but I will upload some pictures of the past week and the volcano another day!)
725am - Today's the day.. we're up and getting ready to climb the volcano Pacaya (approx. 2500 meters or 8,000 some feet)! Aaron Yutzy is coming with and I told him to wait at CASAS at 730 cause that{s what my mom had told me. Well, it's 5 minutes til that and my mom is just getting out of the shower. I'm not sure what to do about this..
813pm - Which one of these statements is false? 1. today i hiked a volcano 2. it's 813 and i wanna go to bed 3. i love spiders Ok, if you picked number 3, you were right! Why am I so tired at 815pm? Probably cause I HIKED A VOLCANO TODAY! TO THE TIPPY TOP! That's correct.. wow, I can hardly believe it myself.
We did end up getting Aaron this morning. He was waiting at CASAS. My mom's boyfriend (QuiQue) brought a friend hiking (Herbert) and he was the reason they were an hour late to get us but it all worked out. We got to the bottom of the hike and started around 1020am. On the way up the steep curvy mountain (driving) there was a marathon happening. That made Guatemalan driving even more interesting! Crazy people! Two of my first mistakes in climbing this volcano were leaving my water bottle in the car (on purpose) and not putting sunscreen on (also on purpose) and my third and final mistake was wearing my chacos (also on purpose).
I went to the bathroom before we started and to my great surprise and delight there was a toilet seat, toilet paper AND a sink. The only thing missing was light. Apparently I missed the only lightswitch on my way in for both stalls. Needless to say, I wouldn't recommend peeing in pitch black.
The beginning of the ascent actually had me thinking I was going to die - for real. They had told me it was about an hour to the top - they lied. After about 3 minutes of incredibly steep, rocky path and exercise induced asthma, I was ready to quit. Thank goodness I didn't.
We pressed on, taking a wrong path once, seeing lots of stray dogs, feeling dehydrated and envying those lazy rich toursits who paid for horses to carry them to the top. Now when I say top it's a relative term. Because after an hour and a half of somewhat steep and strenuous hiking, I thought we had reached the 'top'. We were at the end of the dirt, grassy hiking path, standing on a plateau looking out over lots of black lava (not live) and small trees, bulidings etc. This is where sane people stop and turn around. Also, I wasn't aware we were actually allowed to climb on this lava.. and soon found out we were. It was clear we weren't actually at the TOP. But it was good enough for me at that point.
Well they wanted to climb around on some lava... so we did, and after about 20 min we sat and rested and ate some granola bars. Surely this was it. I felt pretty satisfied and was enjoying the great view. But just a little more they said.. we're almost there! HA! This is when it starts to get interesting.. Already feeling slighty dehydrated and having trouble breathing, I pressed on. We started hitting spots where the lava was pretty warm beneath our feet and the air was getting thinner. Lucky for me my chacos weren't showing any signs of melting. I did burn two toes though.
The real top seemed so close and yet so, so far. I needed to take many breaks and go very slow. Aaron was gracious enough to wait with me. A few times I actually waited to give up and just sit down and wait for them. It was good I didn't for a few reasons... 1. I was so close - I mean how often do you get an opportunity like this? 2. They took a different way back down! haha
Finally we reached the top. Let me also explain that this volcano is active and we heard about 2 erruptions of the toxic gas on the way up and 3 more while we were up there. I'm still alive. You could see for miles at the top and it was gorgeous. We were high. However, it was the 'high' I was expecting from having mastered this feat. Also, there was no red hot flowing molten lava like I was expecting which was kind of disappointing. I felt like I was Frodo returning the ring to Mount Doom the whole time up. Also, the high altitude was affecting my breathing pretty badly.
Up until today I thought that simply climbing a volcano was an amazing feat. I now know that getting back down it is even more impressive. Where was the helicopter to pick me up? We had made it to the tippy top in 2 1-2 hours. We took a few pictures up there and started back down. The first part of the descent was just a foreshadowing of all to come. Picture lots of tiny loose lava rocks (not hot, thankfully) with an occasional large boulder mixed in, and such a steep slope that there's no hope of traction.. Oh and also, this is the part where regretting my chacos comes in.
Honestly, it's hard to even describe this - but you'd take one step, sink in about 2-3 inches, and slide forward 3 feet. And then your next foot... It was kinda like roller skating - on rocks. They said that this way down was faster - now I know why. Naturally all these tiny sharp rocks got stuck in the bottom of my sandals, causing much pain to the bottom of my feet. I have lots of tiny cuts all over them. And there was nothing I could do about it until I reached the bottom and dug them out. Dust was flying everywhere, and a few times I fell on my behind - luckily not landing on my camera, which was also full of dust. It was quite the experience.. very painful for my feet, kinda fun in a weird way, but not one I'd like to repeat.
After that descent we still had lots of lava rocks to cross until we reached the grassy, dirt path again. But we rested and ate again and threw rocks into the abyss of the earth for about 10 minutes first. After about 2 minutes of nice lava rock path (I say nice cause it was easier to 'climb' than what we just 'slid' down) we encountered another surprise. More tiny loose rocks on another steep slope! HOORAH!
Same excruciating pain on my feet and this time even a boulder that Herbert accidentally moved tumbled down and hit my calf leaving a nice bruise. By this time my toes and feet were full of cuts and also my hands from gripping the rocks while climbing. I wanted to cry and wished there was another way down, but onward we went. After about an hour of this treacherous descent we reached the dirt path. PRAISE THE LORD! Words cannot describe my elation, even though we still had about an hour to go.
Aaron and I managed to find an indigenous woman selling drinks along the way and bought a bottled water for about 60 cents. It was good cause I was feeling dizzy and wake from dehydration. Where was that water bottle I brought? No more rocks in my chacos though!
The descent took 2 hours and 15 minutes in total. I never thought I'd be so happy to see that 3 min steep rocky part at the beginning again! I HAD DONE IT! I had climbed a volcano all the way to the actual top and gotten back down! What an awesome feeling. Mom, be glad you weren't there to witness how dangerous some parts actually were. There were times on the way up that I prayed telling God he'd have to be the one 'carrying' my legs cause I couldn't do it myself. I truly felt his presence and safety. I was proud of myself for having accomplished this..
Not having eaten a meal since 730am and it now being 330 pm, all we could think about was food! (like you Sarah!) And how dirty we were. The 1 1-2 hr ride to Antigua was so nice. We all wanted pizza so we went to a restaurant Herbert knew of. Washing my hands and feet felt so good. But it was then that I realized my face and arms were awfully red! Talk about regretting that sunscreen decision. I guess we were closer to the sun.
We went to order pizza and they said it was only served from 12-3 and 6-10. Uhh, ok. How weird. It was 515pm. So we left and found another restaurant that turned out to be nicer anyway. We ate in a tiny room with couches (that felt awesome) and American music. And I can honestly say I've never tasted better pizza. Probably cause I was so hungry. We left there and had an hour drive back home. I showered - so good, blew my nose and found lots of dirt was hiding there, and lotioned up my sunburn and cracked and cut feet and hands. And now, at 9pm I am finally going to bed.
What a tiring, but satisfying day!
Until my next adventure... adios!
(I ran out of time but I will upload some pictures of the past week and the volcano another day!)
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
God is good!
this morning i didn´t get to school until right before the bell rang, but one of my friends told me there were two letters for me. and i saw a tall white male with a nice camera (what i was really focusing on) that i kind of recognized. when amy gave me the two letters she said some man was asking for me and said he worked with my cousin and brought them... i put two and two together and realized it was one of jan´s coworkers from EMM who was coming here and she sent them along! what a great way to start my day!
spanish classes are going well so far.. sometimes i feel like everything is way over my head and other times it feels too easy cause all we do is play games (like memory)to review simple verbs. but my spanish IS improving and will continue to do so which is important. my teacher´s birthday was yesterday so i gave her a card (found your hidden school picture mom.. thanks!) and we had flowers for her and sang. she was so surprised. her name is albertina and i really like her. she is super energetic and keeps the classroom fun. there´s only two other students besides me.. two girls. we have spanish homework every night on top of our reading.. so i think this is the most studious i´ve ever been (no comments, sarita)!
last night i went to bed at 930pm and woke up at 7 but still felt pretty tired. it is nice to get a lot of sleep though. this afternoon we don´t have a group activity so i am in the internet cafe with amy and then we´re going to get icecream at a ´store´ called sarita! i can´t wait. it hasn´t been that hot here, and it´s actually been kind of cloudy.. so no tan to speak of yet. but it´s nicer than the weather back home! sorry guys..
every day after school when i get home i race my little brother up the stairs. naturally he always wins. he laughs the entire time. it´s fun and gets me some of my daily exercise. my mom lives really close to casas so we´ve been walking in the mornings which takes about 10 minutes. i´m so glad i´m able to do that. i love getting the fresh (though not always fresh) air and getting some exercise. it reminds me of my walks at home with my mom!
one neat experience happened monday night when my mom and i went to a church meeting of hers and then to a soccer game and dinner with her best friend michelle. at the church meeting they were bringing their passions and new ministry ideas to the table. my mom talked about how she has a burden on her heart for single mothers (she is one) and she wants to start a ministry for them. it was so neat to hear her talking about it and made me appreciate her a lot. i´ve wanted to ask about why she is a single mom or what the situation is but i´m not sure how sensitive it is or if that´s rude to bring it up so soon. i think i will wait for a while, but it made my heart so full to at least see that she has a desire to use her experience to help others.
later that night at dinner her friend michelle left to answer the phone (her dad owns the restaurant) and ishi started talking to me in english. i was kind of confused at first cause i wasn´t expecting it. she told me about some struggles her friend is having with relationships and that ishi is trying to be with her a lot and show her what a healthy and Godly relationship is like. she said that´s why i would be seeing a lot of her. at dinner her friend michelle said she doesn´t believe in ´all that God stuff´ anymore, and later ishi talked to me about that (in english) and said it makes her sad cause they grew up together and she doesn´t understand how someone could really mean that. this experience also made me appreciate ishi more because it showed me part of her concern and love for her friends and that she desperately wants to help. it made me feel a little closer to her because i have felt similar things in some of my own friendships. it also made me think about the language barrier... i was glad she talked to me in english about it cause i could actually understand her. i do want to improve my spanish and talk to her in spanish as much as i can.. but i feel like at the end of this experience, i would rather come to know ishi better as a person and connect with her on deeper levels (even if those conversations have to happen in english sometimes) than to leave having improved my spanish but feeling kind of distant. we will see what the rest of my time with her brings.
now it´s time for some ice cream!
happy wednesday everyone.
Gracias a Dios por sus bendiciones (Thanks be to God for his blessings)!
spanish classes are going well so far.. sometimes i feel like everything is way over my head and other times it feels too easy cause all we do is play games (like memory)to review simple verbs. but my spanish IS improving and will continue to do so which is important. my teacher´s birthday was yesterday so i gave her a card (found your hidden school picture mom.. thanks!) and we had flowers for her and sang. she was so surprised. her name is albertina and i really like her. she is super energetic and keeps the classroom fun. there´s only two other students besides me.. two girls. we have spanish homework every night on top of our reading.. so i think this is the most studious i´ve ever been (no comments, sarita)!
last night i went to bed at 930pm and woke up at 7 but still felt pretty tired. it is nice to get a lot of sleep though. this afternoon we don´t have a group activity so i am in the internet cafe with amy and then we´re going to get icecream at a ´store´ called sarita! i can´t wait. it hasn´t been that hot here, and it´s actually been kind of cloudy.. so no tan to speak of yet. but it´s nicer than the weather back home! sorry guys..
every day after school when i get home i race my little brother up the stairs. naturally he always wins. he laughs the entire time. it´s fun and gets me some of my daily exercise. my mom lives really close to casas so we´ve been walking in the mornings which takes about 10 minutes. i´m so glad i´m able to do that. i love getting the fresh (though not always fresh) air and getting some exercise. it reminds me of my walks at home with my mom!
one neat experience happened monday night when my mom and i went to a church meeting of hers and then to a soccer game and dinner with her best friend michelle. at the church meeting they were bringing their passions and new ministry ideas to the table. my mom talked about how she has a burden on her heart for single mothers (she is one) and she wants to start a ministry for them. it was so neat to hear her talking about it and made me appreciate her a lot. i´ve wanted to ask about why she is a single mom or what the situation is but i´m not sure how sensitive it is or if that´s rude to bring it up so soon. i think i will wait for a while, but it made my heart so full to at least see that she has a desire to use her experience to help others.
later that night at dinner her friend michelle left to answer the phone (her dad owns the restaurant) and ishi started talking to me in english. i was kind of confused at first cause i wasn´t expecting it. she told me about some struggles her friend is having with relationships and that ishi is trying to be with her a lot and show her what a healthy and Godly relationship is like. she said that´s why i would be seeing a lot of her. at dinner her friend michelle said she doesn´t believe in ´all that God stuff´ anymore, and later ishi talked to me about that (in english) and said it makes her sad cause they grew up together and she doesn´t understand how someone could really mean that. this experience also made me appreciate ishi more because it showed me part of her concern and love for her friends and that she desperately wants to help. it made me feel a little closer to her because i have felt similar things in some of my own friendships. it also made me think about the language barrier... i was glad she talked to me in english about it cause i could actually understand her. i do want to improve my spanish and talk to her in spanish as much as i can.. but i feel like at the end of this experience, i would rather come to know ishi better as a person and connect with her on deeper levels (even if those conversations have to happen in english sometimes) than to leave having improved my spanish but feeling kind of distant. we will see what the rest of my time with her brings.
now it´s time for some ice cream!
happy wednesday everyone.
Gracias a Dios por sus bendiciones (Thanks be to God for his blessings)!
Sunday, January 11, 2009
sobre mi nueva familia (about my new family)
wow, so many racing thoughts and a slow keyboard with weird keys. that´s why i´m not using capitols. i´m in an internet cafe with my 27 yr old single mom and her 4yr old son. her name is ishi and his is pablo. they are great but i have my apprehensions. ishi speaks perfect english cause she went to high school in texas but she is only using spanish so that i learn it. i appreciate that. their apartment is very nice and clean. the shower is huge and has hot water. she has a car. she is very fasionable and reminds me very much of my cousin jed´s wife nichole. her son is adorable and talks nonstop. last night we were talking about the importance of wearing pants. and this morning curious pablo found and asked about my ´marka de naciomento´ (birthmark). haha they have a little turtle just like becca´s at home. the first night she took me to the grocery store and asked me what i wanted.. i felt sort of awkward cause i had just met her but we got a fair amount of stuff. she´s paid for everything so far and even bought a $12 cellphone today for me to use if i wanted or needed. you buy them cheap here then buy calling cards for minutes. i´m also getting my own set of keys. it´s crazy. i´m happy for the comfortableness of it but not at the same time. i was hoping i´d experience a ´poorer´part or family so that i could be stretched and challenged more. i don´t want to become complacent. that´s not to say that i don´t have a lot to learn from ishi and pablo. she is taking good care of me. it´s hard to tell whether she will be more of a mother or a friend. she has a boyfriend named enrique who took us to a karaoke restaurant the first night from 8-930 and then so a jazz concert. it was fun but i was super tired and we didn´t get back til 1230am. she actually works at CASAS where i am taking spanish classes which is nice. she said she walks most days cause it is really close. i´m looking forward to that. enrique also said he wants to take us to climb a volcanoe next weekend!!
last night we met 20 of ishi´s family members. it was just what i needed cause i was feeling homesick and not too happy about my host family. we ate a wonderful meal and her mom, aunt and a cousin made conversation with me. her cousin lived in philly for 7 1/2 yrs and knows lancaster and york. it was neat.
in other news, yesterday our group was together all day in the center of guatemala city doing a scavenger hunt and visiting the market. i bought a few things for super cheap. we also had the opportunity to witness and participate in a march for peace. i´m going to be writing more about that on monday on emu´s website for cross culturals so you can check that out www.emu.edu/crosscultural and we´ll put up some photos.
i´d like to thank my dad for the blonde hair genes which has gotten me many whistles and looks. it´s weird being the minority again. so much to see and do. we have some more shopping and then i have a lot of homework to do. i´m going to see if i can upload some photos of pablo and my house and guatemala and the march.
hope everyone back home is going well.
love and miss you all,
lindsey
last night we met 20 of ishi´s family members. it was just what i needed cause i was feeling homesick and not too happy about my host family. we ate a wonderful meal and her mom, aunt and a cousin made conversation with me. her cousin lived in philly for 7 1/2 yrs and knows lancaster and york. it was neat.
in other news, yesterday our group was together all day in the center of guatemala city doing a scavenger hunt and visiting the market. i bought a few things for super cheap. we also had the opportunity to witness and participate in a march for peace. i´m going to be writing more about that on monday on emu´s website for cross culturals so you can check that out www.emu.edu/crosscultural and we´ll put up some photos.
i´d like to thank my dad for the blonde hair genes which has gotten me many whistles and looks. it´s weird being the minority again. so much to see and do. we have some more shopping and then i have a lot of homework to do. i´m going to see if i can upload some photos of pablo and my house and guatemala and the march.
hope everyone back home is going well.
love and miss you all,
lindsey
a few friends waving goodbye from outside the bus before we left.
no.. we weren´t crying or anything like that..
the courtyard at CASAS where i will study spanish and spend my afternoon breaks tanning =)
a view of the distant volcanoe from the roof of CASAS with some sweet clouds for jake!
having bought scarves in the market, we felt we were officially on cross cultural!
one group marching in from a catholic church nearby during the ´marcha de paz´ (march for peace)
peace.
all ages can stand and sing for peace.
just some of the many hundreds (probably thousands) standing against the growing violence in guatemala city and a view of the catholic church.
my brother pablo and i.
la tortuga (the turtle).
there´s me, safe and healthy. pablo took this one. he loves using my camera.
a view from the door, looking towards the kitchen at the left and hallway back to the rooms, bathroom and laundry (oh yeah, we have a washer and a dryer!)
back towards the living room and kitchen.
my room which used to be pablo´s but he sleeps with his mama now.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Leaving
Ok, so the schedule never came.. I apologize. I can maybe update with a rough one at some point. I'm leaving from EMU in 1 hr. I feel both excited and anxious. It will be a long night/day as we fly out at 2:30am and arrive in Guatemala at 6:30am with a full day planned already! I'll update once I'm there as soon as I have internet access. Adios!
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