Guatemala...A Belated Introduction

Yes, it is true that I have not written an entry in over seven weeks. But I´ve only just arrived in Guatemala City six weeks ago and it´s taken me that long to adjust to Guatemalan Time. And as shown by the promptness of this update, I obviously am still much too punctual for these new Central American standards.

The update, then. I am here in Guatemala with Beau, a really good friend from high school, and I arrived without the slightest idea what I would be doing, other than that the whole summer would be used serving in some way while also knowing that I would inevitably learn invaluable life lessons that could be used as clues to determine my purpose in life or as the morals to children´s picture books. Heavy stuff.

We began teaching soon after arrival in a middle school that sits 30 minutes away, walking at a zombie´s pace (we leave for class at 7 am each morning, you understand the resemblance to the undead). I´m an assistant teacher for eighth and ninth graders and it has just recently started going really well, as we finally won the respect of the rough, undisciplined students. I won´t tell you how we did this but it does involve killing and then eating a polar bear. Seriously though, we have just this week began to notice real bonds of friendship with some of the kids, and with the really unruly ones we just practice insults that will hopefully make them cry.

We live with an amazing family, the Polancos. Our house mom Lilly is a firebrand Christian and we naturally poke fun at her all the time and tell her how we love drinking and less than respectable women. She jokes back by making us climb over the wall to get inside. Our house bros Fernando and Mario, or Suso, 26 and 19 respectively, have been great friends, and truly brothers. This is in spite of the fact that we barely see Fer due to his gringa girlfriend being here and his sickening state of puppy love that brings us endless entertainment. Suso was ensnared by another gringa, a good friend of ours who left last week, Johanna from Arkansas. We were not above assembling gangs of sixth graders to spy on them and pretend we saw them making out. Or in sending in Lilly and making sure she actually did see them making out. And our house dad Mario spends his days catching movies on TV. Interesting side note - he did meet the Che, and fought during a stint in the Cuban revolution. Those days are over now, and we bond by making crazy gestures at Lilly behind or in front of her back.

I´ll be back to update what we´ve actually done since being here, including running down a volcano, a lake excursion in El Salvador, and of course, many tales of the amazing national treat, the ChocoBanano. If my current level of cultural assimilation holds, that´ll be in less than a month. Try not to fall off the edge of your seats.