First of My Lasts

I recently had my last day teaching the kids at La Pedrera. The first of my lasts as my trip starts coming to an end.

The kids at the school have been incredible. Very respectful, welcoming, and willing to learn everyday. It is a wonderful heart warming feeling to see young faces light up as they realize they are learning and creating something new. It just fuels my want to teach again someday.

In my time here, we have learned different things in Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and web development. It is a completely different atmosphere because none of the kids have computers in their homes, so they are so excited and interested in what you have to teach them. Very different than in the US just because computers are so commonplace.

I see different kids in the street around the city and they are always coming up to me, shaking my hand, and wanting to talk. It’s great.

Theresa, the representative for the project at Casa Xelaju, has been climbing the hill everyday to assist the kids in their homework and learning for 12 years. She is a very special person and I’m glad that I have met her. She allowed me to teach the kids without restrictions and was very appreciative of all the time that I put in there.

For my last day we did some Powerpoint presentations where they learned how to animate text in their presentations. I had made print outs of all pictures for each student and gave the to them as gifts for the end of class. You would have thought it was like Christmas. They were so excited to get pictures of themselves.

Friday, Theresa called me into her office to talk about my time here, etc. and gave me cards that were made from many of the students, including drawings and little messages from them. A very special moment for me.

Royal Paris

I have been to Royal Paris a few times in my stay here. Everytime I go their food is continuously good, and they have a very good atmosphere.

Royal Paris is located on the second floor of 14a Avenida and close to I believe 5 Calle. They serve many different kinds of food but are known for their french specialties and their sandwiches.

The last time I went there I had a delicious fried mozzarella and tomato sandwich.

At the time of this writing they are showing movies every Tuesday night free with your dinner. I went with friends to see Brokeback Mountain there (Yes Jimmy, I saw it again), around the untimely death of Heath Ledger.

All in all a great atmosphere and great food.

My rating: ¡Buen trabajo!

Una Semana de Xela Amor

A week of Xela love…..

Last week my brain kind of hit the wall in regards to learning Spanish. The things that I had learned were all kind of mixing together and I was just having a hard time functioning. So I decided to take a week off and relax my brain. This is very normal for students to do, usually after 4 or 5 weeks students tend to take a brake. I did 10.

My week started off in an interesting fashion. I decided to go sit in the park, get some sun, and start reading a book (Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrell). In this process a decent looking man came up to me and started taking. We were making polite conversation, and I was understanding most of it. He was asking me some questions and all I understood was something about the Internet. So I did my “Let’s guess what this guy is talking about in Spanish”. I attempted to tell him where some Internet cafes were, etc. Then he corrected me and said something to the effect of “Quieres” (you want), and “fotos”, and “sexo”. So I’m not sure if he was asking me if I wanted to do porn or if I wanted to go watch porn. To which I politely declined. But I’m glad to know those opportunities are available if need be (joke). It also makes me wonder what kind of vibra (vibe) I was giving off in my tank top and shorts.

Some students and I went to El Cuartito on Tuesday to play some RummiKub and drink some Mango Mojitos. Delicious. I need to learn how to make those.

Dogs here in Xela have some amazing loyalty. I see many of the same dogs around in the town, and unfortunately their health doesn’t always look the best. I especially see one chucho (mutt) all of the time around town and I walk by him all the time. He always travels around town and hangs out in many different stores and restaurants during the day. But every morning and every evening there he is laying in front of his owners house on the sidewalk. To be able to go wherever you want and yet still come back home everyday where you probably aren’t treated the best is an interesting trip into the psyche of a dog. His picture is above.

I had a few celebrity sightings this week. In my favorite cafe I saw the latin version of Colonel Sanders, and I’m pretty sure the Guatemalan Charles Manson. He was in the form of a crazy homeless guy without shoes. Pictures below.

My Dia Del Cariño (Valentine’s Day) was pretty uneventful. I had a date with two dudes (Davis and Max). We went to my favorite place, El Giardino, where I actually called and made a reservation earlier in the day. Not knowing the norms of Valentine’s Day here in the Guat I figured it would be like home where all restaurants are packed for that one day of the year where guys need to be reminded to treat their ladyfriends appropriately. Anyway, we arrived at the restaurant and it was completely empty. I was stupid enough to tell the waiter that I had a reservation. The guys didn’t let me live that one down the rest of the night.

It’s funny how when you are in a place for awhile, sometimes you forget to pay attention to your surroundings. I spent part of the day Thursday just walking around and taking pictures of Xela. The city, my school, and community have really grown on me. It has been a great trip and will be a sad day when my time is over.

Friday, the school had a pot luck dinner for Valentine’s Day where we all got together to eat, drink, and be merry. After a lot of laughs, the night ended with some students and Jaime (who works at the school) heading to Pool and Beer (yes, that’s its name) for some billiards and more good times.