The Cross

This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him.

This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God.

My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other.

No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!

1 John 4:10-12

Adventures in the Bathroom

     The last 24 hours have provided much entertainment in the bathroom area. Too much. 

     First, Mothers, teach your sons to flush the potty. No one wants to encounter someone else’s logs.

     Second, the underwear in the shower…next time Mr. Jock works out, I hope he leaves his “panties” to dry in his room. And for his sake, he’ll have a less pepperminty workout the next day if they dry in his room instead of in public territory ;)

     Third, even though the unwelcome undies were in the shower, I decided to ignore them for the most part and enjoy a relaxing wash. It sure was refreshing! There was no hot water whatsoever, a common occurrence in Guatemala. Brrr!

     Fourth, the unwanted guest. 

Problem

...

Problem Solved!

     Fifth, the poo on the piso. Someone missed the toilet. Need I say more?

*End note: None of these occurrences are due to my lovely roommate Greta. There are a few others who share our bathroom whom we are excited to be rid of. Also, Mom, I love my soap!

Guatemala City: A Contrast Study

The Guatemalan flag and the Capital Building

     Just miles apart, the richest and poorest people in Guatemala go about their daily lives. One group picks through the trash in the city landfill. The others shop at Miraflores where a pair of jeans can cost over Q1,000. 

Cathedral

     The average wage of a rural worker in Guatemala is Q25 per day, or about $3.25. The “wage” of those in extreme poverty is whatever they find sorting through the trash of the wealthy. 

Door into the Capital

     There is essentially no middle class in Guatemala. The rich and the poor live side by side but virtually unseen by each other. 

Landfill

     The woman with the boots by Prada and the purse by Gucci doesn’t realize that the bottle held in her diamond studded hand will be in the worn hands of another woman digging through the garbage tomorrow. 

Graves

     We viewed the landfill through a cloud of vultures from a cliff far above. Behind us, the cemetery where the rich purchase land to entomb their loved ones in a peaceful, prominent dwelling. In front of us, the pit where the workers often spend the night in makeshift shelters among the waste to live another day in the shadow of the ones above. 

Finding a livelihood

A striking, painful reality.

How does my life compare?

Día de Amor

     Oh Valentines Day! What a crazy event here in Antigua... The day started out normal and steadily progressed to a frenzy of youth scurrying around the town making last minute preparations and meeting friends and others. Adults had a different approach: calm and classy. My favorite was a 15ish year old boy sprinting down the sidewalk with a bouquet of roses in one hand! Chances are his date wasn't quite ready yet anyway.

 

 Some of my favorite heart themed things...

not heart themed...but Valentines Day appropriate!

love.

love.

 love!

I Speaks Spanglish

Coming here I knew that I had a ways to go on my Spanish… My brothers in Magdalena confirmed this :) I was often teased for the way I said things or the words I chose when I just didn’t know how to say what I wanted to. The people here are very gracious and are willing to work with my poor language to understand what I’m trying to say. I’ve been learning more Spanish every day but not without mistakes! Here’s the best of my blooper reel ;)

I wanted to describe something as “slow”. I used the word “lente” where I should have used “lenta”. “Lente” means lens.

My host family said that American girls bring a lot of clothes to Guatemala. I jokingly replied that that is because we don’t want to have to wash them. Enforcing the stereotype of American girls they get from TV, I said it’s because we don’t want to wear them. Wash is “lavar” wear is “llevar”. Oops.

Apparently old people here don’t like to be called old! The correct term for “casa para personas viejas” (old folks home) is “asilo”. I think I prefer “old folks home” over a word that means “asylum”.

“Letreras” of the alphabet? No such thing. Letreras isn’t even a word. The word is “letras”. A B C…

Muscles tight from working out? You should “flexionar” them. I was “estrechar-ing” my muscles… which isn’t possible. Typical Spanglish!

Me – “I love the tortillas ‘fresas’ here in Guatemala!” Host brother – “The what??? HAHAHA!” Yeah, I guess the idea of strawberry tortillas is pretty funny and they probably wouldn’t be as good as the tortillas “frescas” made by hand that we enjoy at meals.

Tortillas frescas

To me, Greta and I are “nosotros” (us boys) instead of “nosotras” (us girls).

I saw a procession going down the road honoring the “Virgen de Candelas” (Virgin of Candles). It was pretty interesting. My host family thought it was even more interesting to hear my account of the “Virgen de Canelas”! Anyone else celebrate the Virgin of Cinnamon? No? Just me I guess. 

Virgen de Candelas

Host Family! Silly host brothers that tease me for my Spanish!

Coffee

    Ever wonder where your coffee comes from? I found out! These are some pictures of the Azotea coffee plantation near Antigua.

The short, dark green bushes are coffee trees!

Coffee cherries are picked by hand (the beans are inside).

The wheat colored stuff through those doors?

Coffee drying in the sun!

Coffee Beans

The roasting building

The finished product is bagged and exported and maybe even enjoyed by you!

The annual yield of one coffee tree equals 40 cups of coffee! 

How many coffee trees are planted here just for you?

You WILL Get Sick

     Thank you dear Guatemala students of past years for the letter to us newbies that so directly stated that I will get sick in Guate. You all know the future! Episode 1 of mysterious illness is passed! Yay! I'm not sure what it was exactly but I feel better now thankfully. My second day of language school (yesterday) was difficult due to no sleep the night before due to stomach pain. I ate all the same things the rest of the people in our house ate and nothing more...and yet I was the only one ill. It all started when I was doing my homework. The only way I can describe it is that my body felt "minty" inside and out. Freezing and burning and tingling. Waves of mintyness washed over me as I tried to do my homework. The minty feeling was kinda cool and wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't accompanied by dizziness, lightheadedness, nausea, extreme fatigue, and stomach pain... Well anyway, I went to bed but didn't sleep much. It was a weird night. I'm not sure if it was the fever or just my imagination but I kept waking up to what I thought was a fierce thunderstorm...turned out to be the trucks that shake the house as they drive by my window on the cobblestone streets at night. I get to sleep to a thunderstorm every night!

The Ancient City

Antigua means “ancient”. It is called this because it was the ancient capital of Guatemala. I arrived here yesterday afternoon and settled in to a new host family. We all went to don Fernando’s house for pizza dinner and the Super Bowl. It’s only been a little more than a week since we arrived in Guate but it was nice to have pizza and watch TV :) The Super Bowl was one I’ll never forget because 1. The PACKERS WON! And 2. It was in Spanish! The announcers called the two teams “Pittsburg” and “Los Empacadores” :) It was funny to watch and it would have been nice to understand the announcers but I am so grateful to have watched it at all!

Yesterday was the first day of language school at Centro por Lingüístico Maya (CLM). My teacher is named doña Ingrid and she is easy to work with so far. The school has café and pan available for us during breaks. Yay! My mind needs a refresher during a four hour Spanish class! After school, Greta and I packed up all our things and moved to a new host family. Yup. For safety reasons, Don Fernando moved us to a new house. He didn’t feel comfortable with us living at the end of a quiet dark street 20 minutes walking time from school and SI. We liked the first house and the people there, but are glad to be only a few min from school and SI with a much bigger room as well. The only downside to this house is that it is owned by an elderly woman who has no need for Wifi…but I think we’ll live ;)

Living here is going to be very different from living in Magdalena. This is my first experience actually living in a bigish city. There are a lot of tourists from all over the world and lots of commerce. It reminds me of downtown Delafield times five. There is a lot to explore and Greta and I have already been lost once but we’ll figure it out sooner or later. And now, on to homework…yay.

Hospitals and Hosts

I got to visit the hospital in Chimaltenango where Dr. Sara works with Maureen, Francisca, and Dr. Sara. This was a new experience for me! The most surprising thing was the freedom with which we toured the hospital. Dr. Sara showed us around everywhere except the infant intensive care and the contagious diseases areas. As a visitor and patient to US hospitals in the past, I have been checked in and told exactly what I can and cannot do. Doors to different areas are locked and sterile scrubs must be worn in certain areas – like surgery. Not so here. Doors were open. People were on gurneys in the hallways…just hanging out waiting for treatment and watching us walk by. We walked by the postpartum room where about 10 women were caring for their newborns together. A father was comforting his crying newborn in intensive care fighting pneumonia. There was a woman getting blood drawn in the hallway by a nurse with no gloves and a woman in labor with the door open. We observed a shaking, blood covered woman getting stitches and staples on her forehead to close a 6 inch wound from a motorcycle accident…no painkillers. I am so thankful that I have been to hospitals where there is plenty of staff and equipment that the staff knows how to use and every precaution was taken to keep me safe and infection free.

On a more lighthearted note, Greta and I had dinner with our host families last night instead of at Cafecito. It was so much fun! We prayed and ate and had great conversation. I was teased plenty for my Spanish mistakes! Antonieta made a great dinner of beef, rice, tortillas, potatoes, tomato salsa, “Big Mega Cola”, and a jello graham cracker fruit layered desert. Wilmar said this was his favorite meal. After dinner we gave the family gifts we brought. The boys loved their Aerobe Frisbee, José said the Jelly Bellies were “muy ricos”, and everyone had fun playing the games Greta brought (although explaining card games in Spanish is a little difficult). The things we brought were all new to them so it was very fun to explain it all:) Dinner ended with a full blown laughing attack in which we were all laughing at each other laughing. Everyone was making fun of me because I cry when I try to stop laughing and I was saying my stomach hurt from laughing!

All in all, a great couple days!