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 :(
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| 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).
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| The window we stared at for hours on end waiting for someone's help |
In the whole process I learned a lot, her are a few:
- There are some really kind people here who will help a “gringo” get a dog when they have no personal investment in either.
- 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
- The people at the school are great (principal and assist principal kept calling to check on and help with the progress) and amazingly helpful
- “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...)
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