Bitter Sweet Goodbye

Yesterday was our last day with our students and it was a tough day just as I suspected it would be. In the morning the kids had P.E. so they went to a near by pool and swam. After they returned they had a goodbye party for all of us teachers. Each class did their own seperate party with lots of food and gifts. My students presented me with a huge card/poster with a note from the whole class and then individual notes from each of the students. The notes are in Spanish so I have not had the time to have someone translate them for me. Then two of my students gave me seperate gifts. One was a beautiful hand woven blue scarf and the other was an small change purse with a traditonal Guatemalan design on it. I managed to make it through the party without any tears but of course this did not last long. When it was time for the students to get on the bus my teacher called each student up individually and each student gave me a hug. This is when the tears started for me. They came even faster when the oldest boy in my class who is 13 (he had to drop out of school for a while to help support his family) began crying. He was the first in the class to cry. Soon I had a group of students surrounding me crying....hardest thing to see. As I followed them out to the bus and stood outside of it waiting to for it to pull away I saw one of my students who is a little bit of class clown and was never quite as affectionate as the other students rubbing his eyes. He was crying too. I was shocked by this because I had not expected him to cry. It was very touching but very difficult. I went up to the bus and put my hand  through the window and he grabbed onto my hand and squeezed tight. I will never forget that moment. As tough as it was to go my one hope is that I made enough impact to help them succeed.

Pictures to come later....

Nearing the End

I cannot believe that today is already Thursday! I knew going into this last week here in Guatemala that it would fly by but I cannot believe how quickly it flew. A few minutes ago I finished putting together the gifts I will give my kids and organizing all the of the school supplies that will go to my homeroom teacher. It was a little bitter sweet getting everything wrapped up. I must admit though I will be glad to hand off my supplies to someone else because lugging them around for the past 2 1/2 weeks was getting old. As I was going through my supplies and looking over some of the first lessons I did with my class I began to think about how it all started. Teaching here in Guatemala has been one of those experiences where you just have to jump right in and don't have much time to think about everything that is occuring. Today, though, as I taught my last lesson I began to realize what an experience it has been. I have learned so much not only professionally but also personally. Tomorrow is our last day at the school and I know it will be a rough one for all of us. It is a tough situation knowing that you will probably never see your students again. Also knowing the tough places your students come from you worry about what will happen to them. They are at a place where they have the opportunity to succeed so your hope is is that they will take that path. Tomorrow will also be rough because after school we will go to an AIDS orphanage in a town just outside of Guatemala City. Giuseppi (the schools founder) wants to take us there so we can play with the kids, talk with them and just brighten their day a little. It will be another humbling experience.

On a lighter note on Tuesday night our host mom Astrid took us to see the Harry Potter movie. She assured us that it would be in English with Spanish subtitles so two of my roommates and I agreed to go. When we got to the movies and Astrid was buying our tickets she double checked to make sure the movie would be in English, the man assured her that it would be so we went on our way. The opening clip starts and the characters are speaking in....Spanish. We couldn't all help but laugh. There were no English subtitles so the only parts that were easy to understand were the action scenes. Since it was a 9 o'clock movie and we didn't understand most of it, my roommate Amanda and I ended up falling asleep. Astrid apologized many times after we got out of the movie. We assured her it was fine, after all we are in Guatemala!

This last weekend here is looking like it will be a pretty busy one. On Saturday our host brother Pablo is suppose to take us the Mayan ruins that are about 2 hours outside of the city. Saturday night our host mom and dad want to take us on a tour of the city since we have really only seen the parts that are not really historic. Then on Sunday we are going to go to the black sand beaches! Our family has a house near the beach so we plan on spending most of the day there Sunday. After that it will be A LOT of packing and then leaving Monday morning. Still so crazy that we are at that point.

My homeroom teacher Senorita Magaly. She is amazing:-)

My student Alison. Who knew that I would have a student with my name and spelling in Guatemala!

Marlon, Alison and Melanie

(L to R) Wilson, Gerson, Marlon and Alison in the background

Rene and Melanie

The kids during their music class on Tuesday

I can't remember if I already posted this picture or not but it is a class picture after the school talent show last Friday.

My host brother Pablito and I at the volcano

The fam at the volcano

The whole crew pre-zip lining

My roomies and host bro in the "sauna" at the volcano

Breakfast in Antigua

Volcano

Yesterday my roommates and I went with our host family to the Pacaya Volcano which is one of the volcanoes that surrounds Guatemala City. We drove up into the moutains a little ways until we reached what our guide said was the skirt of the volcano. There are a few ways to get to the volcano you can hike, ride on horseback or if you take a certain path you can take a car part way up. Our group went all out and hiked up! It was about a 3 hour hike up the mountain and most of it at pretty steep inclines. However, the views were amazing. At one point our host father pointed out to a line on the horizon which was the Pacific Ocean. We got high enough up that we were in the clouds, sometimes even above them. A little ways before we reached the volcano it began to rain on us, luckily there was a small shelter we could stand under until the rain passed. Once we made it past the shelter we reached the volcano. About this time last year the volcano erupted and actually caused the group of teachers that were here to go home a week early. Our host father said that ash was about 5cm deep in the city. Because it erupted just last year what we saw of the volcano was just black volcanic rock and sand. There were only a few spots were vegitation has begun growing again. It was quite an amazing spot. There was steam coming off the rocks and nothing but black rock surrounding us. Our guide showed us that if you dug a little bit into the rock you can feel the heat from the volcano. As we hiked closer to the top we reached a hole in the ground that was giving off a tremedous amount of heat, it felt like we were sitting next to a camp fire. Right below this opening was a cave that they referred to as a sauna. The guide led us into the cave and sure enough it felt like a sauna. It was amazing to feel the heat that the volcano was giving off. As we were exiting the cave the guide pointed to a small ledge in the cave wall and explained that people have been able to cook hamburgers on the ledge. The hike back down the mountain was much shorter, it only took us about an hour. Despite all the hiking and climbing yesterday I am proud to say that I am not too sore!

Today at school was a little tougher than most days for us. This is our last week here and I think we are all getting pretty burned out. Between spending time with our families, site seeing, teaching and preparing lessons we are all pretty tired. Our motivation is mostly coming from knowing that this is our last week with our students and we want to teach to our very best. During recess today I had the chance to talk with my homeroom teacher, Senorita Magalay, with the help of a translator (a.k.a. my roommate Elvia). I wanted to hear some of my students stories since it is difficult to fully get to know them with the language barrier. I learned that there are a few that have to work for their families, some having to go sell food in the streets at 2 in the morning before coming to school. A few have lost parents or had parents who abandonded them. Some have siblings that are abusive and take away any gifts given to them at school. Even though it was difficult to hear some of the things that my students have gone through or are going through I didn't want to leave here without knowing about them a little better.

Also today my roommates and I got to go see our host brother Pablo perform in a play at his school. I think he was a little bit embarrassed that we came but glad at the same time. He goes to a private school here in the city and the school holds students from pre-school all the way up to high school. We got a small tour of the school getting a chance to see some of the elementary classrooms. The classrooms were amazing! They had lofts, play areas, some had stages...it was definitely a dream classroom.

In the background is the volcano

At the skirt of the volcano

Beautiful view

The mountain in the distance with the clouds on top of it is another volcano. If it had been a clear day we could have seen the three that surround Guatemala City.

Up in the clouds

Some of the trees in this picture are missing leafs as a result of the eruption last year

This is the spot where our host father said you can see the Pacific Ocean on the horizon. Difficult to tell in the picture, was difficult to see in person also but you could almost make it out.

View of the city

In this picture you can see where some of the lava flowed from the eruption. At the bottom on this picture you can see a black blob where the lava stopped

First glimpse of the volcano and volcanic rock

The steam coming of the rocks

This portion of the hike was very rock and dangerous because the rocks were not very stable and they were extremely sharp

This is the opening in the groud that was as hot as a camp fire. You can't see in the picture but there were heat waves coming off this spot

The cave directly below the opening in the ground that they called the sauna.

Picture Mania part 2

This weekend we left Friday after school got out and headed to Antigua! It is about an hour outside of Guatemala City in the mountains. The city is situated at the foot of an volcano and surrounded by mountains. It is a beautiful town, all the buildings and old and built in a similar style. The vibe of Antigua is completely different than that of Guatemala City. First, it is much smaller which makes the pace slower and relaxed. It was so nice to get away from the city for a while. When we arrived on Friday we checked into our hotel and then headed straight for the market. The market has just about any kind of Guatemalan goods that you can imagine. We were told before we went that we had to barter with the vendors, at first it was really awkward because you have to ask their price then offer the price you want and if they won't give it to you for that you walk away. Once you walk away they will usually give into your price. After a few buys it got easy and was actually pretty fun. On Saturday we got up, ate breakfast and went to a coffee plantation that is right outside of Antigua. We took a tour through part of the plantation and got to see each part of the coffee making process. After today I appreciate a cup of coffee SO much more. Once we were done with the tour we hoped in a safari type bus and headed up into the mountains to zip-line! The ride up to the zip line was a little scary. There were a lot of bumps and many steep drop offs but we made it there in one piece. It was the first time I had ever zip lined and it was so amazing! The view from the lines was incredible. We were about 6,500 feet up so you could see the city of Antigua perfectly. You also had a perfect view of the surrounding mountains. It was one of the most beautiful places I've seen.

                                                     View of the volcano in the background

Inside the market

View from the top of the hotel we stayed in

Coffee plantation

On the way to zip line!

Beautiful church in Antigua

View after zip lining

The Plaza in Antigua

Beautfil streets in Antigua

Whole group before zip lining!

Picture Mania

It has been awhile since I last blogged and in the past week I have taken lots of pictures! We were able to bring our cameras to the school this week so I thought I'd let you meet my class and get a better idea of the school. The kids had a talent show this Friday so I included some pictures from that. Much like last week, this week was also extremely busy. On Monday we went out to the streets with the school's founder again. This time many of the girls got to see some of their students. It was just as impactful the second time around as it was the first time.

On Wednesday I had a major reality check when one of my students lost his shoe. He was playing soccer, kicked the ball and he shoe flew off his foot and went over one of the walls that surrounds the school. He was sitting by the wall crying when I found him. At first I thought this is an easy fix we can just ask the people on the other side of the wall to give the shoe back. It turns out though that the people who live on the other side of the wall don't like the school there and often won't give balls and things back that fly over. Not only this but I also realized that this might be one of his only pairs of shoes. As myself and another one of the teachers was trying to calm him down the bell rang signaling that he had to return to class. He got up and hopped on one foot back to class so his over foot wouldn't get wet or dirty. At that point I lost composure and started crying. The reality of how some of my students live hit me like a ton of bricks. As the day progressed we began the search for shoes and luckily by the end of the day we were able to locate a pair and he went home with two shoes:-)

Also this week we began following a schedule maped out by our homeroom teacher that gave us an idea of what content they would like us to cover. This made planning a little bit easier because we were at least given a topic and simply had to plug in some activities. Below are some pictures of our school (Apoyate En Mi).

My class after the talent show

Maria and Jose

Antony working on his traffic signals

Gerson...he's a cutie pie:-)

                                                                               Wilson

                                               Beatriz

Melanie

Yoselin