Changing Teachers

Everyweek, at the school, the students have the option to change teachers. For 4 weeks, I´ve stayed with Fredy for consistancy and because I´ve liked him as a teacher.

This is Fredy. He lives outside Antigua and comes here daily to tutor me and teach me "poco a poco" the intricacies of spanish grammar and vocabulary.

I´ve decided to give someone else a try for the rest of my time in Antigua. Fredy has been a great - and it's no reflection on him, but I think the variety of a different teaching style might help me. Also, I think Fredy and I might have become to casual in our lessons (we've gotten to know each other over the weeks). I think the newness might be good for me.

Alfombra de La Union

Last week, we colored sawdust for the upcoming La Union Alfobmra (alfombra). Thursday afternoon - we made our carpet for one of the processions that passed by the school.

Although I had class in the afternoon while they were starting, I joined later in the day to help finish it up. It rained on and off during the afternoon while we were working on it, and that had people worried, but it all worked out in the end. It was a lot of fun for everyone, but I will say - my back hurts.



Here's how it works... Lay down a base of uncolored sawdust, sprinkle base coats of various colors, fill in molds with various colors to make patters, decorate with flowers or plants, make sure no-one falls on it, or drives over it until a processional arrives. Pretty straight forward...



Our carpet wasn't outstanding, but it was pretty good for a bunch of ameteur alfombra makers from all over the globe! We had a little trouble creating our collage of international flags, but worked out in the end. Though I will say: It's hard to make flags when you run out of white sawdust (Japan, Canada, Korea, Isreal). You need white sawdust to make white flags. And so what if the american flag is Red/White/Green or someone (I) used black (instead of blue) on the Korean flag... Inthe dark, it all works out to be just "dandy."

Overall, we (the school) spent about 6 hours on it. It's very possible that our carpet was the thinkest and deepest carpet of the entire city. We had so much sawdust as a foundation it took (when the cleanup crew came) 3 loads into a backhoe to clear all the debris!

---

And here are some photos of other fine carpets around the city...

Coffe

I think I mentioned that I went to a coffee plantation.

Well, here are some photos and vague details.

First, the coffee is picked

Then it´s shelled (or de-shelled depending on your grammar preferences)

Then, the beans are dried in the sun from 8-15 days (depending on humidity and rain)

Then, the beans are shelled again (there are two shells).

The first shells are used as fertilizer and the sencond shells are used to fuel the machinery that processes the beans.

The "best" beans are exported and the rest are used here in Guatemala (how do you like THAT).

Anyhow, it was interesting to see, even though I only understood bits of the information (I haven't learned all those special words used only by coffe farmers - maybe that's next week's lesson).

Roman Soldiers

Yes, these are Guatemalan sized Roman Soldiers. They escort the processionals through the streets. I won't bore you with more and more of the same ol' same ol, but there are 2 processionals today, there were 2 yesterday (one with kids as young as5-sh carrying the float) and there are 4 tomorrow.

But, the cool/interesting/strange part (as if the simple ideal of a 12 hour parade carrying a 2000+ lbs float didn't strike you as "cool" is that tomorrow morning at 3 am, soldiers will be going through the streets announcing the charges against Jesus Christ (I told you that they re-enact all parts of the final days of Christ's life). And yes, they'll be on horseback with trumpets to be sure people know what's happening (I have a feeling there were no trumpets 2000 years ago, and that the whole matter was kept n the down-lo). But still... if it happened back then, they're recreating it this week (including the visit with Pilate, incarceration, a "trial," and yes, crucifiction - a no-one-dies 'representation' thereof - in case you're worried about some devoted Guatemalan Christian volunteering for the "honor").

From an outsider's point of view, it's all a bit morbid. But it's also really neat to be reminded of the dedication of people over the years, as well as the events that changed the world. Easter grass and Pass Color kits just don't do Easter justice. Some might say this whole affair is a bit over-the-top, and I can understand that (especially after seeing crying children relieved from their post as a float carrier), but still - the point is well made that Christ made a major sacrifice for us, and we can (in a variety of ways) sacrifice for him.

Foreigners (Americans)

I´d like to vent for a moment about the way in which Americans carry themselves abroad. OK, not all Americans, but some. There´s a guy here who´s ¨trying¨ to learn Spanish at my school. He goes around all day telling people they need to speak english.`To quote a favorite movie of mine, ¨Uh, what country do you think this is?¨

Sure, there´s international value to learning and speaking english, but who called you to be the embasador to the world. There´s something to be said for respecting the local customs, traditions (and language) of your travel destination. Then again, who am I to preach on the matter either.

Point is, it seems Americans are usually the biggest offeners in this arena. In fact, Elisa (the girl from Montreal) mentioned how utterly surprised she was that an American (me) knew more than just one language (english).

Korean?
French?
And now: Spanish...

What´s wrong with this picture: an American with a broad education and interst in learning more...

I guess I have my Mom and Dad to thank for it. I still remember going to Quebec and my Mom made me order all my own food. And I suppose I have teh MTC to thank for it as well. These two concepts from my mission to Korea...

1) SYL: Speak the Language
2) Love the people

...go a long way to helping open a more interesting window of experience/observation when traveling. I think part of the reason I'm here in the first place is that I want to be able to travel and understand the world as it is a enjoy it more. (Whereas Mr. You-Should-Speak-English is here to learn Spanish so he can go teach people English. If you met him or heard his Spanish you'd know how crazy that claim is, but then again - he's crazy.)

Anyhow, I guess I'm really just venting because I just had a short but volatile rn in with him after he tried to convince the employees of the Internet Cafe that they all had to learn enlgish (a converstaion he has with them daily when he can't express himself in enlish). Why is he blaming THEM for HIS problem (a "problem" which he asked for - by coming here).

Ah ha... I think THAT's the American way.

---

OK, I admit it, there are lots of cool Americans to, but I'm on a roll - so let me vent.

I'm enjoying the (overal) r relaxed attitude here and the opportunity to learn something new everyday. I love meeting new people (and watching new people). Most students at teh school are here for 2-3 weeks, so there's a high turnover and that makes it fun.

OK, I'm feeling better now. I think I'll go home and eat lunch before my afternoon class. I'm pretty sure this is my last day with Fredy. I like his as a teacher, but I think I'm becoming too comfortable with his systems and techniques, and our familiar relationship (I've had him for 4 weeks now). Next week, I'll begin anew with someone new and hopefully it won't be worse, and will be as good (or maybe better), but at least different, fresh, and new.

Arg...

OK, I should know better. In fact I do... But, I got into a conversation with 3 Koreans, an American, and a Candian (from Montreal). Next thing I knew, I was trying to speak 4 languages. This is not a good idea when:
1) your Korean is 15 years old
2) your French is poor at best (long forgotten after High School)
3) your Spanish is barely better than your French and still very fragile
4) you are trying to learn a language, rather than use the one you know (english

Anyhow, I started slaughtering all 4 languages and realized I didn't know any of them well enough to "jump around." The Koreans wanted me to speak Korean for the French-Canadien girl and then I realized that I had to speak Spanish for everyone there to actually understand me.

One of the Korean guys (after I had told him I lived in Korea for 2 years and after he heard me speaking pretty good Korean - albeit interupted with occasional Spanish), proceeded to tell me about how there are 2 Koreas (North Korea and South Korea) and that the North Korea was different from South Korea and that Communism reigns up North and democracy down south. I had asked him where "in Korea" he was from.

Dur!

Really - I think that's the best word to respond to this history lesson. I don't know why he felt so impressed to "teach" me this, but I had already heard from some other students that he "taught" them the same thing. This is his standard reply to "where are you from?" Naaaaah... He couldn't just say, I'm from 20 minutes south of Seoul. Why? It's like me telling people that I'm from The United States - the colonies that broke off from Great Britian. We're separate contries with separate governments.

Oh "where" IN the US am I from? Well, I'm from one of the western states - added to the Union AFTER the civil war and long after the rebillion abainst mother England. It's in the southwest of the (now) United Sates (once 13 colonies).

Anyhow, I'm being somewhat facietious (ok, sarcastic) but really - I said, "where in Korea are you from?" Why is it so hard for people (he's unfortunatly not alone in this problem) to answer the questions they are asked.

Street Carpets

I figure the photos might interest some. These carpets can take from 1 hour to 10 hours to make. I'm putting a bunch of photos here to let you get a feel for the variety. In some ways, the smaller ones remind me of a family christmas tree (or maybe a christmas light display)... try to make it cool but run the risk of being too creative. Most families do their own version, their ownway. Some are cool, some not as much. The only differnce (between these and christmas trees and christmas light displays) is that these are destroyed moments after they're completed.

The other interesting things is seeing how normal people take it that they often run into closed roads for such creations. Try to imagine (for a moment) Kilbourne Ave, or Overland Drive, or 7th North closed for a day so that people could decorate the street. Not likely. People seem to take the traffic disruption of Holy Week in stride. It's just the way things are in Antigua.

Anyhow, it's interesting and cool to simply wander the streets and see the various creations. Our school is doing one on Thursday. So, I'll get to see how true the statement is "everyone likes to make carpets for Jesus."

Coffe Water and Rain

We went on a bike tour south of town (this time to a coffe plantation). Both times we went biking, I forgot to bring the GPS. What was I thinking?

Anyhow, I had no idea how much work wass involved in making coffe. Seriously! Who thought of taking a bean, shelling it, drying it in the sun for 8-15 days, then shelling it AGAIN (yes, coffe beans have 2 shells), then processing it more, roasting it, then grinding it up and pouring steaming hot water through it to make a drink that tastes nasty (well, I don't actually know what it tastes like, but it smells horrible and people tell me it's an "aquired" taste), and then convince the world to drink several cups a day (not to mention paying a family of seven a total of $3 a day for 12 hours of work cultivating the beans in the fields)??????

Water is just fine for me - except when it comes from the sky during a bike ride back into town. It's not supposed to rain here until May. But, that didn't stop it from raining today though. This is what I looked like after getting aught in a late afternoon shower (a shower that wasn't due for 2 more months).

Books to Learn From

I'm falling behind in my self-assinged homework. I brought a book with me from home to suppliment my studies at the school. Not that the school isn't fantastic, but I really like the book to add to what I'm learning in class. The english explainations and plethora of exercises are fantisticly helpful. I'm 3 weeks into a 9 week study program. In some ways, I think the process is far too slow and tedious and in other ways, I'm very happy with how things are coming along. I hope to finish the content of the book wihtin the next week or so. By then, I hope to finally have basic grammar (past, present, future, imperfect, etc...) figured out. Then, I suppose the fact that I don't know enough words will really start to hit home.

On another note, Emma loaned me 3 choice childrens' books this week. I'm giddy with excitement over the experience of reading books in Spanish and
1) understanding them
2) re-living the excitment of reading books for the first time (somehow reading a book in Spanish feels like the first time all over again).

The books?
1) Jorge el Curiouso
2) Donde viven los Monstruos
3) Juevos verde at jamon

I don't have them with me, so I don't guarantee my spelling, but still - nothing as entertaining as reading Curious Geoge, Where the Wild Things Are, and Green Eggs and Ham - in Spanish!!!!!!

Weekend Update

I just took some flack for not writing more in Spanish, so here:
Consado
Mojado
Divertido
Semana Santa!

Tired
Wet
Amused
Holy Week

That's pretty much sums things up right now. Anyhow, I am trying to do to much with my limited time. Saturday night I was out late, and then I woke up super early on Sunday (sans alarm clock, thank you: internal clock). It ended up being a good thing, but under-five-hours of sleep isn't enough for this boy. Here we are and it's Tuesday and I all wanted during my lunch break was a nap!

Anyhow, so what's all this fun stuff I'm doing?

Saturday morning I ran into Austin and Eve in front of the school and we hung out on and off for most of the day. Eve and I wandered the city looking at buildings, roads, people, stores, etc... Austin was a bit preoccupied with the NCAA playoffs, but we'll let him have his moment of americana. It all ended last night so he'll be out and about in the sunlight more than last week.

I'm trying to figure out how to describe the plethora and variety of processions, pagents, demonstrations, music, and the like that are happning here this week. Really - there's no way I can cover it al. But, they re-enact pretty much everything you can imagine from the last week of Christ's life (from his entry into the city, burro included, to his crusifiction). People come from all over the country and each day is busier and more crowded than the one before.

Sunday morning I followed a parade out of town to San Filipe (sp?) and the road was completely backed up with bus after bus after bus of people coming for the festivities (not to meantion a few pickup trucks loaded to overflowing. I have a feeling lawsuits haven't really reached guatemala yet. It's just not "practical" to have a seatbelt and an airbag for everyone! Beside - no one gets hurt going to church!

Cameras Images 18 GB

After we finished making colored saw-dust (on Friday)... Emma took Eve's camera by mistake. Woops! Luckily it was an honest mistake. Here you see Emma and Eve exchanging cameras.

My friends and I agree that, aside from a Passport and a credit card, perhaps the most important property we have with us as we travel are our cameras (or more to the point, the memory sticks inside the camera).

For me, I suppose my iPod is pretty high on the list - because all my photos are stored therein (when the 1GB cards fill up). This little gem of technology allows me dump the photos from my cards into the empty 18 GB of space on the iPod's hard drive - thus avoiding the need to carrying 15 cards (or a laptop) with me as I travel.

I'll be honest though... Having a virtually unlimited amount of storage capacity with me, I tend to take far too many pictures (by someone's reconning). And yet, I say, "why not?" I have several GB of cards with me, but even when they're "full" it's no big deal, because I downlaod the pictures off the camera SD cards into the empty space on my iPod. Technolgy!!!!!

1979 Club

Well, I´m really pressed for time right now, but I wanted to be sure that Eva and Austin made it onto my blog before too much time had passed.

This is Eve. She´s a lot of fun. She smiles a lot. She has a really cool last name and I stood her up (and Austin) the other night. Note to self: "in" and "at" are two different and very specific words which ought not to be confused. She's here studying Spanish at "La Union" and finishing up a year+ in Central America (Costa Rica, mainly) teaching people to teach english. Too soon, she's heading back to Contecticut to reintroduce herself into American life. Sadness.

This is Austin. He's also a lot of fun. He's a great story teller (so is Eve, in case you think I'm being unfair in my personal descriptions). I have no idea what his last name is but I suppose I'll find out eventually. He's from the back hills of North Carolina and proud of it. If you long for a nick a nick name, and idom, or a good story. He's your man. I think he knows more about his fmaily history than anyone I know.

They were both born in 1979 (thus the 1979 club - which Eva started some years ago with other 1979ers). Alas, i'll never be in that club.

But, hey - I remember seeing Star Wars in the theater - so there!