A Few Random Pictures

view of the plaza between the cathedral and the presidential palace

this rose is replaced every day as a sign of the ongoing "peace" that Guatemala enjoys

national cemetery: one one side, huge family tombs and on the other side, cubbies where you can keep your loved one for 7 years

city dump: every day people come to sort through the trash to try to find something salvageable

a widows' cooperative near Chichicastentango

one of the many ruins at Tikal

Catholic church in Santiago with figures dressed in a Mayan fashion

Halfway!

Sorry I have done such a poor job of updating.  This week was pretty much finals week for our first Spanish class.  Not a whole lot of fun but way less stressful than having five different finals to worry about.  I can definitely tell I've made progress with Spanish though.  It's still hard to understand when a lot of people are talking or when people don't speak clearly (which happens a lot), but I was able to understand almost all of a sermon this past Sunday without using a headset for translation.  We had learned last week about the Neo-Pentecostal movement here, so on Sunday some of us visited Casa de Dios, one of several Neo-Pentecostal megachurches in the city.  It was kind of like a concert and kind of like youth convention.  The pastor, "Cash" Luna (no joke), talked about loving our neighbors.  He used the example that we sometimes have a favorite piece of jewelry that we keep apart from the rest because it's so special.  In the same way, each person is one of a kind so we need to love them all accordingly.  Or something.  Right before the offering Cash talked about God's mercy vs. God's justice.  He said we only want God's mercy when we do something bad, but when we do right we want justice, we want to be rewarded for it.  And he said, GOD IS JUST.  You will receive in relation to what you give.  It's an interesting theology, a bit different from the reality that so many Guatemalans face.  Apparently back when this movement was starting, a bunch of Catholics left their church because they thought it focused too much on the poor and they liked this way of thinking a little better.  I'm used to hanging around for usually quite some time after church, but as soon as the service was over, people were outta there.  Hmm, what else...  This weekend, a few of us tried and failed to go to a discoteca.  That'll have to happen another time.  Byron came over and met my mom, and we had a nice long conversation after he left.  I feel a lot more at home with her now, but it just depends on the day how much we talk.  I found out that another guy who's studying at CASAS but is not with our group is living with someone just down the street from me.  I love taking the bus every day!  On the way to school I pass a huge mall, some awesome grafitti, soccer fields, and an enormous thrift store that I've visited a few times.  It seems like not too long ago that I was terrified of not being able to recognize my stop, but it's great to more or less know what I'm doing now.  One day my Spanish class visited the University of San Carlos and talked a bit with students there just as practice.  One the bus ride back, I fell into some guy's lap when the bus jerked forward.  :P  Anyway, I hope that's enough to keep you busy for a while.

EMU Blog

For this week's update (and if you want to know more about the things I haven't written about here):
http://emu.edu/now/crosscultural/2011/02/17/mayan-spirituality-and-culture/

Accostumbrarse

I am finally falling into a routine here.  I can take the bus by myself and I am starting to feel more at home with my host mom.   Honestly, I had been expecting a family, but as it turns out I just have a host mom, Olga.  She's Catholic, she sells cleaning products, she knows some words in English.  She has two kids who each have kids so there are occasionally other people in the house, plus sometimes neighbors or other friends come over. 


Today we climbed a volcano and roasted tropical-flavored marshmallows in its heat.  :)

New

Whelpsk, I´m a little overwhelmed by everything here.  So much that´s new and different.  Crowded buses and colorful markets.  Visiting the huge presidential palace and then seeing my host mom´s earrings being stolen from her ears as we walked.  My host mom Olga has been very hospitable, but even the simplest of interactions takes so much more effort in Spanish.  When people are talking directly to me, I can usually understand pretty well, but when Olga had her relatives over or when we went out with the neighbors and everyone is talking, I tend to get tired of trying and tune it out. Anyway, I´m trying to learn to laugh at myself and take it all in stride.  More later.

Borderlands

I used to think that I was just going on cross-cultural to Guatemala.  Yes, there were things tacked on the ends of the semester, but I sort of wrote them off and didn't think much about the time I'd spend on the border and in Chiapas.  Silly me.  This week has been a huge experience.  Not to mention that it feels like way more than a week has passed. 

To put it plainly, I might as well have known nothing about immigration before coming here.  We've heard so many different perspectives on why immigration happens and how to respond to it, but it'll be a while before I can sort it all out in my head.  The hardest part is, there isn't anyone besides ourselves to blame: the policies are ours and the border wall is ours!  Throughout this week, I've been able to see the sheer humanity of everyone involved.  The border patrol and the migrants alike are just trying to do their jobs in order to support their families.  Joel shared an e.e. cummings poem during orientation that I thought really spoke to this.

     Me up at does

     out of the floor

     quietly Stare

     a poisoned mouse

     still who alive

     is asking What

     have i done that

     You wouldn't have

In addition to learning about some of the issues, we've been trying to put ourselves in the place of the migrants.  One day we bought groceries for three meals on a maquila (factory) salary.  Another day we hiked through the thorns and brush of the desert and climbed up on the border wall.  Still, it's obvious that we can never know what immigrants really face.  When we climb the fence, it's a joke; when we hike the desert, it's in daylight and in the middle of winter.  We've gone back and forth between the U.S. and Mexico several times now, and it's ridiculous how easily we, as American citizens (and mostly white), can cross.  We spent one afternoon in the very tourist-oriented city of Nogales, and instead of being discriminated against because of our race, we stick out like a sore, rich thumb.  I've been trying to pick up on the culture and trying to use my Spanish, but I can't exactly blend in no matter what I do.  So yeah, it's been eye-opening!  There's so much more we could learn here, but I'm excited to see how this all ties in with what we'll learn and do in Guatemala and Chiapas. 

Anticipation

Only one week left until I leave!

These things scare me:

• Forgetting something I need.  I know there's going to be a store right across the street, but packing light makes me nervous.  
• Not having access to my computer, my music, my phone.  A little pathetic maybe, but it's true. 
• Being awkward with my host family.  Or offending them by accident. 
• Not getting along with my host family for some other reason.  Like, if they're super religious or super loud or super some-other-thing-I-can't-tolerate-all-that-well-for-long-periods-of-time.  
• Not using my Spanish as much as I could for fear of sounding dumb.  And then coming back not fluent. 

P.S.  If anyone wants to mail me something while I'm in Guatemala, go right ahead!  :)  Just be aware it may take a while to get there, so plan ahead.  Here's the address:
       CASAS

         Ruth Maust

         Apdo. 11, Periférico, zona 11

         Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala