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...