How Did the Sawdust Kill the Clown?

Yes, my hands are turning blue. In fact, I leaned (and forgot) the word for Smurf today. What are we doing, you ask. Well, you see... The carpets for the processionals (the real, professional ones) are made of sawdust. They take HOURS to prepare and they aren't the quick-and-dirty family affair I wrote about last weekend. I hope to get some pictures of my own to post later, but just believe me - they are a big deal.

Anyhow, the school offered to "teach" us how the sawdust is colored to be used later as "paint." Well, it was a bit of a Tom Sawyer moment for all of us, because we soon found ourselves elbow-deep mixing
dye, water, and sawdust - by hand. It was actually fun and, luckily, they told us in advance to be prepared to get dirty (which I was and did). My hands are now a nice shade of purple (we mixed red and blue sawdust) and I'm hoping the cheap-o tooth brush I bought will help me get under my nails and clean up a little more. I'm afraid, though, that I might just have to accept my new skin color for the next couple of days (they say it goes away in about two days).

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PS - If you're wondering about the clown... It's my favorite Yes/No riddle and I'll do it for you sometime, just remind me the next time you see me.

Forgotten Stuff...

OK, so I realized I seem to have completely forgotten to write about all the obvious stuff about my trip.

You know: weather, food, amenities at my house, "the people" and all that...

Let's start with the weather...
Guatemala is actually similar to LA (maybe slightly cooler than when I left). That means that I wear a light feece to school at 8 am on most day. But, by the time school is done at 1, I don't need it. The nights get down into the high 50s (I'm guessing). And the days get into the mid-to-high 70s. I went for a lengthy romp through some ruins today and by the end of an hour+ of walking I had a light, but noticeable sweat going and I was ready for a break. Nothing exhausting like 100+ degrees of Egypt, but nothing so chilling as the mountains of New York or the winters of Utah.

My house...
I stay with a woman who has 4 grown children. One of them (her daughter) lives nearby with 4 kids of her own (all in college). Juanita, my house-"mom," has lived in this house for 30-ish years. There's no central heating, but luckily the blankets on my bed are enough to get me through the coldest Guatemala has to offer (though sometimes a pair of socks helps me beat the cold). The entire house has tile flooring which can be chilling in the mornings, but (thanks to Kathryn's last minute suggestion) I have a light pair of flipflops for such moments (thanks to Kriste for getting me these in Brazil - I love them!).

The Bathroom...
I've heard about these for years, but I've finally encountered one: an electric shower. It seems like a bad combination (or at LEAST a lethal combination). But, no - one can live through an electric shower and I do so almost every day. As long as I keep the water pressure low enough the temperature stays high enough to be more-than-comfortable. None of the toilets accept toilet paper (or rather, there are signs that say not to put it in them). This isn't completely new to me, but still it's something I have to try to remember. I'm guilty. A few times, I've forgotten. It happens!

The People...
I've met/gotten to know a limited number of Guatemalans (people at the schook, my teacher, my "mom"). I suppose they're much like people everywhere (diverse and hard to accurately describe as a group). It has been interesting learning about life, opinions, culture, and such from my various "friends." I get the feeling that a lot of people "believe what they hear" and they aren't overly analytical. That's a horribly over-simplistic stereotype. But, it comes from hearing a lot of "I heard that..." stories for various people - more than I'm used to. I think those types of stories carry more weight (and last a lot longer) in the social consciousness of the culture here. Plus, different social groups believe different (and thereafter propogate) different stories. One result seems to be an overly divided political structure with limited stability. Unfortunately, there's no snopes for Central America!

Internet...
I've done a little probing into things and it seems the entire "Internet Cafe" system of Antigua is running of one IP address! I have a feeling it's not a well-known/publicized fact. I'm not computer genius (but I play one on TV), and yet I think that means we're all sharing the same bandwidth. The computers are mostly Celerons (I'm currently on a 700 Mhz Celeron with 376 MB of RAM - for those who care). So, coupling slow computers with slow internet can be a downer. A lot of poeople here use Skype or YahooMessenger to talk to people in other countries. it's pretty common actually.

Liberal or Conservative Mormon

The 7-Ups I've been drinking lately bring on the questions, "Why don't you drink." And soon enough the conversation spins its way around to religion - no surprise: I'm Mormon.

Anyhow, last night while we were waiting for BVSC to start playing, someone asked asked if I was a "conservative Mormon or a liberal Mormon." Honestly, I think that's a strange question. Granted there is a spread of attitudes and opinions within the church (as there are in many religions) and, with millions of Mormons around the globe, we're not all the same. But it's not like we've grouped ourselves into distinct and separate categories... Compared to some, I'm probably liberal, but I don't consider myself a "liberal Mormon."

Anyhow, I had her explain what she meant. Well, you see - the Mormons she knows:

1) would never go to a bar (not to mention with people who drink or smoke)
2) have parents who disown their children when they decide to leave the church
3) feel obligated to lie to their parents to hide dating relationships with non-Mormons
and
4) don't extend themselves openly to people who aren't members of their faith

Well... It seems that's what she meant by "conservative" Mormon. So no, by that definition, I am not a conservative Mormon - I'm proud of it. It's frustrating to me that people (of many religion) resort to such actions. And being Mormon, it especially frustrates me that members of my faith (who claim to worship God "according to the dictates of [their] own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may") do it.

I mentioned previously that I'm reading Mere Chistianity. C. S. Lewis said it well when he wrote,

An individual Christian may see fit to give up all sorts of things for special reasons... but the moment he starts... looking down his nose at other people who do use them, he has taken the wrong turning.

I like Lewis. Anyhow, enough of my soap-box about uber-orthodox, "conservative," rude, unfriendly, Mormons. I'd like to think they're few and far between. But, they're also the most noticed/remembered.

Thankfully, we got past those first-impressions and onto a better, and more "interesting" (to me and to them) discussion. I found myself teaching what some might call a First Discussion. There I was, sitting in a bar (with peple that smoke and drink, nonetheless) reviewing the basics of LDS church history and Joseph Smith. It was really cool (until we got interrupted, but they both said they'd like to continue the discussion later).

It was funny (for me) because she started by asking if
1) this trip to Guatemala was part of my mission, and
2) if I knew much about the history of my church.

It's pretty hard to be an active Mormon for 30+ years and not know a fair amount about church history, teaching, and doctrine. Anyhow, I chuckled. No, this trip is not part of my mission (that was "Long Long Ago in a Galaxy Far Far Away"). But yes, I know a bit about church history - at least enough to explain our (Mormons) belief in the Bible, God and Jesus Christ, an apostacy, Joseph Smith's role in the restoration and translating the Book of Mormon.

I enjoyed having the chance to share it all (I think it showed, because I feel like I was talking a mile-a-minute knowing that there was limited time and so much to cover). I haven't had a chance to teach/explain this stuff in far too long. The workplace is never very conducive to long involved dicussions... And it was nice to be explaining this to people that were genuiunely curious and open minded. Anyhow, fun times!

Homework

Spanish school includes homework and I thought this might interest some of you. Or not...

This is what 12 classes will get you in Guatemala...

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Despues de la clase, you no fui a una iglesia. En lugar de esto, fui a mi casa para estudiar. En el futuro, yo tengo que visitar muchas lugares, pero yo preferé estudiar ayer.

Por dos horas, yo traté aprender de memoria los verbos irregulares. No obstante, yo tengo que estudiar más. También, a la casa, yo estudiá los palabras.

Yo pensé gue yo tuve que llegar a 'Ricki's' a las 6.30. Entonces, yo salí de la casa a las 6.10. Cuando you llegué, mis amigas no están alli. Actualamente, nuestro reservación esuvo a las 7.30. Entonces, yo caminé a las calles por una rato.

Eventualment, las tres chicas vinieron. Nosotros cominos y esperamos la musica. Cuando nosotros esperamos, ellas preguntaron a mi de me igesia. You ensené de la biblia, el libro de mormon, las esscrituras, y las profetas. Estuvó extrañó, pero, estuvó bien - hablar de estos cosas en el bar.

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As a post-note to those of you who can actually read and critique that... This morning, we studied the imperfect tense, and I´m pretty sure I slaughtered a few sentences above, but how was I supposed to know. In any case, that´s what you get for 2.5 weeks of class. More to come...

Buena Vista!

Somehow I got so lucky as to plant myself in the same town as Beuna Vista Social Club (or members thereof). The play weekly at several bars (read as "clubs") in town and last night a group of us went for dinner and a show. Yes, dinner and music and dancing for a grand total of $8.66 (or if you're not eating or drinking: $0.80). Beat that! And it was dang good curry!

Anyhow, they started playing at 9 and they were still going strong when we left after mignight. I would have loved to stay later, but you know: school at 8 has its downside! 3 to one odds, I wasn't complaing. The only downside - I really school have taken more dance classes and paid more attention to rythym in my younger years!

My Brain Hurts

Freddy (my teacher) asked if he could have Friday off (for a school assignment - he's attends University). Sure, but to make up for it, we've switched to 6 hours a day this week to get the hours in. I'm not sure if I like it or not. There's a limit to how fast I can absorb things, and I think 5 hours of content might have been pushing it.

On the other hand, there's an up-side to the 6 hour day: It's 4 hours in the morning and then 2 in the afternoon. It's easier on the brain (daily), since 5 hours straight got pretty draining towards the end of the 5th hour, but it might be too fast to grasp...

I'm thinking about switching up to 6 weeks for a few weeks in the future, but we'll see...

The down side to afternoon classes is that I can't go on some of the school trips. For instance, today they went (without me) to three museums. Granted, I can probably hit them on my own, but it's fun doing stuff with other students (like my friends from the Atitlan trip).

Today we spent a lot of time dealing with irregular verbs and the past tense. The number of words I should know (but don't) is mounting. I'm wondering if the "best" way to do this "learn spanish in a foreign country" thing is to do it a-few-weeks-on and then a few-weeks-off... constantly alternating so as to allow time to catch up and absorb things?

We also spent more time that I would have liked just "chatting." I suppose it's good practice, but I sometimes wonder if it's too inefficient.

Rum and Coke

Last night my housemates (the girls from Arkansas) had little "party" in their room with a fine mixture of rum and coke. The results were mixed, but - as you can see - someone didn't take to kindly to the mixture.

Ah yes, nothing like being 17-18 in Guatemala where (apparently) anything goes.

I'm pretty excited because they have wine for later tonight and they've invited me to join them. I think I'll pass (for several reasons).

I think I'm glad I missed out on this side of high-school. Needless to say, she had a difficult morning today.

Being Mr. Right

I often like to think I'm "right." In fact, sometimes this gets me into trouble. It has become obvious to me that it's much less important (being right) than I used to think. It's even possible that it's the least important thing. [But knowing something and doing something are not the same.]

For example, I've run into a few words lately that I had to study and re-interpret to understand as others understand them.

1) One example is "ultimos" (it's spanish for last or lattest). I got in a discussion with my teacher about what I "thought" it meant and what it really did mean. I was convinced I knew what it meant (mainly due to my understanding / misunderstaning of how to translate "la Iglesia de los ultimos dias"). Tip to the wise: trust your Spanish teacher to know what Spanish words mean. Things work much better that way.

2) Another word is "school" (it's english for a process or duration of education). A friend and I went back and forth a bit about what constituted "school." I have a much broader - less formal - definition than she does (hers is very formal and specific). I wanted to think my definition was the "right" definition. I also wanted us to agree on the definition. This is soooo not worthwhile. Tip to the wise: It's ok (indeed - sometimes preferrable) "to agree to disagree" and it's often the better path.

Sometimes debating the little things does nothing to resolve those little things, but rather it opens up grander opportunities for misunderstanding and frustration. Usually, with Fredy - when he corrects my Spanish usage, I say "Doh!" (implying that I know he's right - which he usually is). On the other hand, the dispute "school" was more challenging. Rather than accepting a difference of opinions about a language I've spoken for 30+ years, I got stuck trying to prosletize my preferred interpretation. This is often an unwise coarse of action.

It's not pretty. I need to do that less. Being "right" isn't necessarily all that important. Besides, I was wrong in both cases (depending on your point of view - and everyone is equally entitled to their various points of view). It's like the Fonz on Happy Days... "I was wro......"

Mitt Romney

OK, so this has nothing to do with Guatemala or world travel, but I felt like it was a good read and I wanted to be sure plenty of people saw it. This is an essay by famed author Orson Scott Card regarding Mitt Romney´s viability as a Presidential Candidiate.

At this point, I too have not decided who I will vote for in the upcoming election, but I´d like to think Mitt's Mormonism won´t count against him.

What is this? And will it kill me?

Eva, one of my friends on the road trip, told me a lot about her recent stay (one year) in Costa Rica, including her 2 spider bites. Anyhow, that got me worried - or rather it added concern to my usually unconcerned responce to insects...

So, when I returned home after the processional and found this on my wall... I got wondering. And I realied, I know nothing about spiders (except that this is one). I took several pictures, so that if it killed me while I slept - at least there would be evidence! Then... after brushing it (with a small broom, thank you) out of my room, I was able to sleep through the night and rise another day.

So? Any spider experts out there? Am I flirting with death, or just getting freaked out by stories and big bugs?

Did I Mention the Processionals?

OK, not to overdo the Processional Updates, but it´s kinda hard to live in Antigua without them effecting things!

When we returned from our road trip (5.30 pm on Sunday), traffic was completely crazy in Antigua! We couldn´t even get all the way back to the school (we had to walk the final mile from where we finally parked). With each passing week, the weekend celebration gets bigger and bigger (and the city becomes more and more of a parking lot). This week´s processional started at early our 10 or 11 and ended at midnight and went all over the place. And yet, it´s not the biggest yet... we still have 2 more weeks (with Good Friday having 3 or 4 processionals throughout just that one day - more on those later).

Anyhow, after the long weekend and several hours dodging traffic, I was exhausted. I went home and slept until around 7.30 and then went and got something to eat (as students, we have to manage our own food on Sundays - a day off for the host family). Then, I wandered around looking for the Processional. I figured I´d find it eventually, but after wandering aimlessly for a while with no luck, I found a map and realized that from 7-9 they went outside the city limits (I guess there´s just not enough room in the city for a 13+ hour parade)!

Anyhow, I found a map of the route and figured out where they´d soon be, and went there. I stumbled upon a family starting their ¨carpet¨ and I decided to plant myself there and watch things unfold. It was 8.50 pm and they were just getting going. The city had just finished towing illegally parked cars off their block and it was time to get going. I decided to stay and watch the whole deal from their spot. They built the carpet, the processional came by and then the cleanup crew did their thing. It lasted from 8.50 to 10.25 - a mere 95 minutes.

The dad of the family pointed here and there with suggestions and instruction - and yet the whole carpet was built by elementary school kids and their eldest brother. It was cool to see how into it they all were, and yet they were also relatively quiet and reverent throughout the whole things as well. the brother kinda sub-directed things and fixed up the stuff the other kids (if it needed fixing), but he and his eldest sister (I´m guessing on all the family relationships - they could have been cousins, friends, an uncle, etc...) kept things in order and finished up a pretty nice ¨family style¨ carpet.

Then along came the roman soldiers, the float carriers (and the floats), and a whole gauntlet of Processioners. What can I say... It´s a lot of people and a lot of work. It turns out that you have to pay to be in the processional, not to mention you have to buy the purple robes if you want to be a carrier. I think it´s about 7 dollars per ¨turn¨ to carry, but it kinda depends on a variety of factors. Anyhow, the float on Sunday had 80 carriers for each block and I think it was 70-ish block (let´s not do the math, ok?).

And then, lest you think they have a clean up crew hit the streets the next day at 3 am to get the city back to normal... Nope, the last line in the long line of ¨precessioners¨ is a row of street-sweepers (men who get paid instead of paying to , a back hoe, and 2 dumptrucks filled with all the ¨reamains¨ of the various carpets.

So there you have it. 95 mintues of Processional-Fun!

I went home and took a shower and went to bed (oh, and took some fotos of a spider).

Atitlan & Chichi

Over the weekend, we went on a far-too-short trip to Lake Atitlan and Chichicastenengo. ¨Chichi¨ is well known for its market, and now I know why. It´s incredible! There were tons of people and tons of cool things to buy (or just look at). Some of it, like the batteries that didn´t work, was trash. But much of it was really cool crafts, dresses, housewares (Guatemalan style) and various clothes. We spent 3 or so hours just strolling through the endless isles of goods... bartering and making ¨deals¨ for stuff. I used to be the king of market trading (in Korea), but I seem to have lost some of my magic touch. It think part of it comes with language skills though. Also, I must admit, I do better when I´m not being shadowed by other english speakers (especially those who speak the native tongue better than me... I seem to get self conscious about my speaking). Towards the end of the market time, I went off on my own and had a lot of fun practicing my spanish while leaving several vendors dejected at their lost sale (I´ll admit it, I was using their desire to sell stuff to my advantage - to practice Spanish).

Anhow, in addition to going on a road trip to shop in a market, we also spent a day in Lake Atitlan. (For those who care... some people think this could be ¨The Waters of Mormon.¨ But like everything else related to Book of Mormon geography, that´s just a possiblilty - not a certainty.) It´s beautiful and certainly a place I would willingly hide myself from a murderous king, but it´s a bit water than I would have expected.

Anyhow, point is - we came here and its a great place to be. We didn´t get to stay nearly long enough, but at least I got to see it. We spent the afternoon visiting various pueblos that surround the lake. And oh are they poor. Like many other places in Guatemala, they have things to sell and they really want to sell them. More than that though, they just want money. It was amazing to see
how and what they make, but sad to see how anxious they were to sell it or rather 'beg people' to buy it. It gave me more opportunities to practice my Spanish, but it was still kinda sad to see how they spend their days accosting tourists.

And lastly, one night in Panajachal (at the Lake) we went dancing. Here´s a photo of Ana and Julio. Ana was giddy to be out dancing and we ended up having a fun time. I know I stayed out too late, but it was great to see everyone having such a fun time. Salsa, Regaeton, Marimba, etc...

My favorite memory from the evening (though, sadly, not a photo) is of a boy (12'ish)¨leading¨ both his mother and his sister in a dance. HE´s THE man! Now just think how cool it´ll be in a few years when he can dance with both his girlfriends at the same time (oh wait, do girlfriends mind it when guys aren´t exclsive - expecially on the dance floor?)!

Go Speed Racer

Mom - you would not enjoying driving (or riding) here!

There are at least 3 typos of streets here...
1) la calle - your average city street (in Guatemala their cobble stones and narrow)

2) el camino (easy to remember because of the car) - a two, maybe three, lane road through the country

3) la autopista - a freeway with all the luxuries of passing lanes and high-speeds

It´s the same everywhere, I presume. But, wow - I think a few more autopistas would serve Guatemala well. The road from Antiga to both cities is a camino...

Wow - I´m long-winded... Now for the fun part...

The road is up through the mountains and it´s one lane in both direction (with a very rare passing lane). Luckily though, the line in the middle of the street is only a single yellow line (occasionally dotted), but let´s be honest. No one cares about the line. The one lane road handles busses, cars, 18 wheelers, and motorcycles... as well as pickup trucks with 7 people in the bed of the truck. Basically, everyone one and everything going anywhere is on this road.

Now, who wants to be stuck behind a beatup pickup or especially a slow truck hauling tons of food/materials? No one...

So, let´s pass! Sounds simple enough, but passing here is a TEAM sport. You have to punch it at just the right time and hope that your team-mate (the truck you´re passing) will let you in before the truck coming at you (from the öther team¨) gets to you. I mean, sure - it would be nice to have an open road void of oncoming traffic to assuage any fears of a head-on collision, but where´s the fun in that?

Occasionally, that´s an option. But, often people are waving each other buy or waving them off. My favorite is the School-Bus type people trasports (called a ¨Chicken Bus¨) with a ¨co-pilot¨ riding shotgun. His main ¨job¨ is to invite people to ride the rus, but once enroute - he waves at the drivers of the vehicles the bus is passing to get them to back up and let the bus back into the ¨right¨ lane of traffic (in time)! Very cool.

I can´t really describe it atequately, but it´s an adventure for the faint of heart. I just found it amusing and took lots of pictures that don´t really do it justice!

High School Girls

A group of high school students from Little Rock Arkansas joined our shool on Wednesday. They´re here for 10 days and 3 of the girls have joined Juanita and me at the casa! The trio are an interesting group. Amelia is energetic and anxious to practice her Spanish. Nicole is a German exchange student to the US who speaks little to no Spanish. And Kendra isn´t as anxious to speak but she can if she has to.

All three of them are sooooo lost. It´s kinda funnt to listen to them talk/converse. Honestly, Amelia knows more vocabulary than me and they probably all know more about Spanish grammar tenses than me (I learned the past tense today - thank you), but they struggle to understand. It´s really interesting. i can understand so much more than I can say, and I think they (well... Amelia) is the other way around. But, I give her props for trying. She´s much more outspoken than I am.

Also, on this topic - I´m glad I´m not here as part of an organized tour or especially a highschool trip. I can tell they (and their fellow students) have varrying degrees of interest in learning or studying. I find myself thinking back to what I would have been like in highschool and how much I really didn´t enjoy studying or learning (and how much I thought I could/coudn´t learn some things). Anyhow, I don´t think I´ll take the time to detail all my thoughts exactly, but I feel like I didn´t really start ¨learning¨ or ¨liking learning¨ until after high school.

Now, although I get tired from the effort, I´m completely enjoying the experience. I keep wondering if they (the students) realize what/how much they can get out of their 10 days here!!

Marisa´s Goodbye

Cafe Sky is a bar near the school I attend. It´s a nice litte place with a rooftop overlook of the city (and the sunset - if you´re there at the right time). A fellow student left on Saturday so we got together on Thursday (and again on Friday - don´t ask me why) to say goodbye. Oh sure, I´ve only been here 2 weeks, but people come and go pretty quick so it´s a notable occasion worthy of a gathering.

So, we gathered.

I´ll get a few pictures up this afternoon, but...

The view was soo cool as the sut set throught the clouds, and behind the volcanos. Marisa is heading back to the states to move from Philadelphia to New Hamsshire (did I get that right Marisa?). It´s really amazing the varied sorts of people that choose to come down here to study. Many of us know know Spanish before arrival, and others know plenty. At my school, Americans are a minority. OK, maybe everyone is a minority, but it seems like we´re outnumbered by French-Canadians and people from the Netherlands (Hollandais?) - oh and Koreans.

Anyhow, I´ve learned tons about Canada and Quebec in the last few days. It turns out it´s not just another state afterall (kidding!).

But yeah, I just gotta say... sitting on the roof sipping hot chocalate and watching the sun dissapear on a rather fantastic week was very nice (since I spent most of last week either)
1) in class
2) on tours
3) studying

I needed a rest.