A little bit of this and that...

I feel like moving to a new country and starting a new job should lead to things so exciting that I have great things to tell people every day. I am not sure if that is not the case or if I am just failing to see the novelty in what I am doing. Maybe it is a little of each. Tomorrow the students come and I should be moving out of the hotel and into my condo; both of those will bring novelty that I don't think I will be able to overlook. I will let you know. In the meantime, here is a little about what has been going on:

Food

In one word – difficult. There are not a lot of vegetarians in Guatemala and the restaurants show that. As I am living in a hotel, I am eating out almost every day. This has made my diet pretty crummy. 

Problems:

 #1 → restaurants rarely have more than two veggie options. 

#2 → These two options usually involve tortillas, beans, and cheese (not bad, just not good every night). #3 → I don't know all the spanish words for different kinds of meat (I have had to ignored my rule of not eating “contaminated” food). 

#4 → for Guatemalans carne = beef so a meal “sin carne” could have chicken, bacon, fish, etc. 

All of these problems could easily be solved if I just decided to eat meat, but after 9 years that is a little hard to do. I am hoping it will all be better once I am cooking my own food and not eating out every day. All that said, I did have an amazing meal this evening at a Mayan restaurant: roasted eggplant with pine nuts.

Fitness

Before I left I was doing something active almost every day. I would run with the Attack Pack twice (sometimes three times) a week, dace three-four days a week, yoga usually once a week, and a number of bike rides and hikes mixed in for good measure. In the 17 days I have been here, three have involved working out. I used the treadmill one (I would rather not run, than run on a treadmill), played soccer (that was humerus), and today I ended up walked around for over four hours (not a planned workout, but I'll take it). Running is quite difficult as there are rarely quality sidewalks and it is not always safe for me as a female to be running alone. I could run at the school (the campus is huge) and may start doing so, it is just hard after being so spoiled in C/S. I am hoping to wrangle some other teachers into running so I don't lose what I have.

School

Front of my classroom (we fixed the Mrs)

The inside when I 1st walked in

The view from my classroom

Amazing. I am so spoiled at this school. Teachers in the US, you may want to stop reading because I guarantee you will be jealous. We have a "day 1/day 2" schedule that rotates from one to the other. On day 1, I teach three 70 minute science classes, have a 10 minute advisory, and 140 mins of plan time (not including the 45 mins for lunch and recess). On day 2, I teach two 70 minute science classes and a 30 minute exploratory (I get to pick the topic), have a 10 min advisory, and 210 mins of plan time (again, not counting the 45 mins for lunch and recess). So, in two days, I teach 380 mins and have 350 mins of plan (plus 90 mins for lunch and recess). In addition to all that plan time,I have helpers to make all my copies and a science lab teacher who sets up and cleans up after all labs. All of this in a place that has no inside hallways and enormous windows in every classroom, an amazing administration, and great, positive, fun teachers from both the US and Guatemala. There will probably be a point where school will be stressful and I will want to complain. I hope you all give me a hard time if I ever do.

Wistfulness

Current events in Colorado have caused me a lot of longing. First was the Pikes Peak Ascent. My favorite race. I missed it and so many of my friends were involved. I know it will be there in the future, but I had a hard time reading of others experiences and successes when I am stuck in a lack of fitness routine. Second is the Pro Cycling Challenge. I really got into the Tour de France this year, and to have the opportunity to see them all riding through my hometown would be amazing. But while they are all there, I am here. I keep trying to remind myself that my experience here will be much more than what I could get from a few days of watching (and probably stalking) professional cyclists. I am not being as successful as I would like but I know I will make it through :)

So, that is all for now. Guess it was not such a positive post, regardless, I am enjoying myself.  Students start tomorrow and I am sure I will have a lot to share in that regard. If nothing else, the fact that I am going from teaching low income students to kids wealthy and powerful enough to own helicopters and have their own body guards could be an interesting adjustment... 

Culture

In one of our PD sessions today, we were presented with the question "what is culture?"  Not an easy question; probably as difficult for me to answer as "What is your culture?"  It is not that I don't have a culture, I just feel it all depends on the situation.  So, does that mean that culture is always changing and each of us has a unique culture?  I know that who I am and some of my beliefs have changed in the five days I have been here.  Does that mean my culture has changed?   Would it have changed if I had stayed back home?  Will it change as much in the next five days?  It is hard to know.  


I like experiencing other cultures.  It makes me really understand what I am all about.  I have discovered that I may not be as open to all pieces of cultures as I would like to think I am.  Specifically, there is a part of the culture here in Guate that I am having a hard time grasping.  It is the idea of class division, specifically how it plays out at the school.   


The two gentleman that helped me get my dog from the airport are drivers at the school.  The job of a driver is to drive the school buses, but also to drive teachers and staff around for school related trips; they are "lower" than teachers and administration.  I spent over 9 hours with these two drivers and, to me, that forms a bond.  From later interactions with them, I get the impression they felt they were just doing their job.  Yesterday, two other gentlemen drove me to look at a house.  They also opened all doors for me and held an umbrella over my head when it started raining (barely).  Again, it is their job.  I am struggling with being the "upper" person that accepts help doing something I don't need help with, and still being called Ms. Renaud after spending 9 frustrating hours working towards a common goal.  And yet, if I offer to let them walk in the door first or open the door myself, it is considered rude.   I feel wrong having them do all these things for me, but the only way I know to show my respect is to let them.  It's a struggle for me.    


I talked to a teacher who is returning to CAG (Colegio Americana de Guatemala) after a few years away.  She feels the same way, but has accepted it as part of the culture.  Nevertheless, she learns the workers names, calls them by name, says hello to them, etc.  This allows the to do their job yet helps them to feel appreciated and acknowledged.  I guess that is a start; it is just difficult to do when all I know are their first names and they won't call me by mine.  

Welcome To Guatemala...

So, many people asked me if I was going to blog my experience teaching in Guatemala. I thought about it, but kept coming to the conclusion that most people will see what I am up to on facebook and those that don't can find out through e-mail. Well, my first 72 hours in Guate (what the cool local people call Guatemala City) have made me change my mind. I have realized that there is no way the experience can all be fully understood through facebook, and if I am sending out the same e-mail to everyone, I might just write it in one place for everyone to read. I don't claim to be eloquent, many of the stories may be much more interesting to me than they are to you and I am not sure that all of my time here will be as interesting at the first 72 hours and may not end up being very good about keeping this up, but those of you that choose to follow my adventures, I hope you enjoy it. BTW, I tend to be long winded; here goes...

My arrival in Guate was simple and easy: flights were all on time, baggage was right at or underweight and they all arrived intact. I even left things blank on my entrance documentation (I was unsure about the answers) and they let me right through. The middle school principal and assistant principal as well as the high school principal were there to pick up me and two other teachers; we were the last to arrive. Checking into the hotel was easy and I was even brave enough to use some Spanish (I am often embarrassed that I will get it wrong and don't even try). 

 The next morning the new teachers headed to the school. I am super excited about it; the campus is huge, green, and beautiful! I saw my classroom (full walls of windows on two sides) and the science lab which I get to use twice a week (I have an aid that will set up and take down all labs – spoiled, I know!). My class size will not be as small as I hoped (~25), but that I can deal with. Apparently the biggest classroom management issues are talking and tardies, again, I can deal with that! So, you may be thinking that this is all pretty simple and nothing that would make a person say “I really need to start a blog.” Well, that all came in when trying to pick up my dog Sidney from the airport...

Initially, Sidney was supposed to be on the same flight as I was, but because I did not have a recent enough health certificate she came the following day. Sidney's flight arrived at 9:30 pm (it was delayed) so that is when we headed to the airport. The assist principal had talked to the airline and they said all I needed was my passport and money for taxes and we would be good to go. Well, four hours, four trips between cargo and the airport, and five different people telling us they knew how to get her released, we left without her. At this point she had been in her kennel from 6 am to 12 midnight (poor Sidney). They did allow me to see her and give her some water. She, surprisingly, acted and looked fine. That made me feel better although she would be there overnight :(

The airport.  Most of my time was spent in cargo (not shown)

The next morning two of the drivers from the school and I headed back to airport thinking we knew what we needed to do and would be out of there quickly. Boy were we wrong! It turned out being quite a process. One of the drivers did most of the work as my Spanish is not great. He kept running around doing whatever it was they told him they needed done while I mostly sat and waited for him to return.  I often had no clue what step of the process we were in because his attempt to explain it to me added more time. There was one point where I did not see him for almost two hours! While sitting there, I received a lot of interesting stares from the workers in the cargo area. I'm pretty sure they don't see a lot of blond “gringa” hanging out there. Some would smile and say “buenas” (apparently you don't always need the dias part – and “dias” alone is also acceptable) but most would just look. The whole process was frustrating and stressful. There were a few things that made it harder: 1) My Spanish is rusty at best and no one that we dealt with (including the drivers) spoke English; 2) it was Saturday so fewer things were open and fewer workers were around; and 3) my dad (trying to be helpful – not his fault) sent heartworm medication with her and as we had no prescription for it, were not supposed to have it (they ended up keeping the meds and charged me 118q (~$20) to destroy it, otherwise we would have had to wait until Monday to get Sidney).

The window we stared at for hours on end waiting for someone's help

So, in the end it took us nine hours, numerous trips from the airport to cargo, a 30 min drive around the city to find a hole in the wall (literally) copy place to make a copy of my passport (still a little concerned about that one), and about 1800 quetzales (~$250) to get her home. By this time she had been kenneled for almost 40 hours with only water (I know that is terrible, but don't hate me, I was trying!). Amazingly, within about 15 mins of letting her run around the yard (she is staying with the ms principal until I find a place) she was acting like her normal self. The two gentlemen who spent the whole day with me, the principal, and I then sat down for some dinner and a few beers. It was a nice way to spend the end of a stressful, long, crazy day. I even managed to be a part of most of the conversation and use more of my Spanish. And Sidney is now known as “El Perro de Oro” :)

In the whole process I learned a lot, her are a few:

1. There are some really kind people here who will help a “gringo” get a dog when they have no personal investment in either.
2. People at the airport in Guate work on their own time and are willing to help you, but not in a hurry to do so
3. The people at the school are great (principal and assist principal kept calling to check on and help with the progress) and amazingly helpful
4. “El Perro de Oro” is one tough dog!

Today, on the other hand, has been very pleasant and calm (late breakfast, deck sitting, writing this blog, hanging with Sidney) which I am excited about. I hope that I have more days like today and less like yesterday.

(I will add more photos, but can't currently find the cord that attaches the camera to the computer...)