Someone Pinch me, Please!

Since my last blog we have seen and done so much! Now that we have all been assigned to teach certain classes, and have been traveling and becoming comfortable with our housemates, time seems to be flying by! I have been assigned to the 7^th and 8^th grade classes along with fellow volunteer Christina.  Our 7^th grade class is very large with 44 students, and for the first few weeks they were a bit challenging. But now, Christina and I, or “The Dynamic Duo” seem to have a system down that works.

Our 8^th grade class is quite a bit smaller with a total of 11 kids, this makes one-on-one teaching easier, and makes for a teaching environment that is a little more personal.  It is an incredible feeling to be able to teach all of these kids, and to walk away knowing that not only have you changed their lives, but they have more importantly, changed your own. When you see kids improve in class, and see their eyes light up when they know the correct answer--that's what this program is all about.

Travel has been a big part of my time here, we have made trips to nearby town such as Xela, Pana, and others. A big trip for me was when we went to Tikal, which was probably one of the best trips that I have ever been on. We saw beautiful Mayan ruins, hiked in the park, and had an absolute blast! We were able to watch the sunset and sunrise on top of the tallest temple and it was great to experience the animal kingdom prepare for sleep at sunset, then experience the awakening of the jungle at sunrise! Just this past weekend we traveled to San Pedro, where we stayed the night, ate delicious food and went to a small carnival where we rode a ferris wheel that was a little sketchy but fortunately, we all live to tell the tale! On Saturday we went kayaking, which was a big deal for me because I am terrified of water! But thanks to Dana and her support, not to mention her beautiful singing, I was able to face a fear and do something that I never thought I could.  It was a very powerful feeling to know that I could, it was so great!

This weekend we are going to travel to Antigua, where we will meet the new PDs that will be here for the next 13 months- so excited! After the PDs arrive on Saturday, all of us will be helping to train them and show them the ropes. Then we leave it in their hands to continue our programs. Another up-and-coming activity is mini-camp! We're going to have various activities perhaps including dance, sports, crafts, and English classes! What fun! I am really excited for this! It seems that my time here is rapidly coming to a close and I cannot believe that we only have two and a half weeks left! Someone pinch me!

I plan on soaking up every last bit of awesomeness that these last two and a half weeks have to offer, and enjoying every last second!

-Kylie Mosley

“We all die, the goal is not to live forever but to create or do something that will.” - Chuck Palahniuk

Sunday Snapshot

Interns and PDs went to Tikal National Park this weekend! Tikal is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centers of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. A necessary addition to any bucket list!

Temple 6 is overwhelmingly impressive...

Too bad we couldn't climb it!

But, they said nothing about 'no jumping!'

Adios for Now

Well, it looks like my time in Guatemala is coming to an end.  I can’t believe it - I don’t think any of us can.  Cliché as it may sound, it seems like just yesterday that we were wandering around the airport with no clue what to expect and piling into a van with five strangers (Emily too!), nonetheless. In less than a week, something strange happened: everything started to seem normal.  The nine strangers we were living with were no longer strangers but rather our temporary family.  Hopping on a chicken bus to find that it was more crowded than anything we had ever seen was no longer an ordeal, but rather a way of life. The kids in Central and Cooperativa (the schools we work in) were no longer meaningless faces on the street, but rather real people who we quickly began to care about and whose lives we thought we might actually be able to improve.

We have had the opportunity to do a bunch of cool things since we’ve been here: hike to the top of Tajumulco (the highest point in Central America), travel to Monterrico to enjoy Guatemala’s finest beaches, and even explore ancient Mayan ruins at Tikal.  As awesome as each of these experiences have been, I have to say that interacting with our students has undoubtedly been the COOLEST part of this trip. Whether they are giggling as we introduce ourselves with our Gringo names, running to hug us and screaming our names as we arrive at Cooperativa, focusing as they try to contort their mouths so they can pronounce a new English word, or challenging us to a game of basketball, these kids never fail to make life interesting and exciting.  More importantly, they never fail to teach me something new (and here I was thinking that I came to Guatemala to teach them).  Sometimes they were literally teaching me, as in how to say dog (Tze) in Kaqchikel, their native language, for example.  But most of the time, I just learned by watching.  I watched kids fall down or take a blow to the head from a soccer ball without shedding a tear, time and time again.  Surely, if we were in America, they would have been bawling.  I watched others screw around with their friends during school, seemingly as if they lacked any ability to focus, but managed to get down to business and work for their families when they got home.  Their culture is just so different from ours, and over the past month, I have found myself feeling surprised time and time again.

Considering the difference in our lifestyles, nothing has been more significant to me than the moments when we were able to put smiles on the childrens' faces.  Sometimes it was by letting them play with our cameras or letting them listen to our iPods.  At other times, kids were legitimately excited about what we were doing in class. Personally, my favorite was the time that we taught them Old McDonald while they were learning the animals--our students were ecstatic as they held up their animal mask and screamed out its name.  During mini camp, everyone was enthusiastic as Karianne and Grace led a group sing-along to Justin Bieber’s Baby and as they had the opportunity to bust a move to the Cha Cha Slide. 

I really do believe that we have made a difference here and, more importantly, that Manna will continue to do so in the future.  I feel great leaving MPI Guatemala in the hands of Dana, Lorena, and Christina (and the new interns who will be arriving on Sunday), and I can’t wait to hear about the great things that this organization does in the future.

--Michelle Weinman

Toucans and Parrots and Monkeys, Oh My!

After another successful week in the schools, our group split into two to conquer different areas of Guatemala. Dana, Michelle, Karianne, Rebecca and Christina all headed for a relaxing weekend at the beach in Moneterrico where they tanned, swam in the pool and drank refreshing licuados (delicious fruit smoothies!) Lorena, Grace, Cam and I opted for an incredibly fun and exotic weekend in the jungle, visiting the ancient Mayan ruins of Tikal. 

 

The adventure started with an overnight shuttle ride at 5:30pm Thursday evening. We arrived at 8am the next morning to our bungalow in the jungle, complete with hammocks and wildlife surrounding us. We began our day with a tour of the magnificent ruins. We subir-ed (climbed) everything that was allowed to be touched...and perhaps some things that weren't. Luckily our tour guide was lenient about letting us scale the ruins and meander as we pleased. Along the tour we saw toucans, parrots, toads, and most exciting of all, howler and spider monkeys.

Tikal is a vast site with such an interesting history. The tour itself was about 4 miles long. Tikal was inhabited by about 100,000 Mayans around 400 AD. It was the largest of the Mayan cities and was very powerful at the time. Only 22% of the site has been excavated thus far with plans to dig up more in the near future. While visiting Tikal you can see temples, acropolises, bleachers, etc. After it was abandoned, shrubbery overtook the ruins. It is currently a World Heritage Site and definitely a must-see when traveling through Central America.

 

In the afternoon we enjoyed naps by the pool and a delicious dinner, complete with licuados. Then it was early to bed and early to rise for us. The next day, we awoke at 3:45am for a sunrise tour. After experiencing what our new tour guide referred to as a "lapse of calamity" after we locked our key along with our tour tickets in our bungalow, we started on our early morning tour. Our fellow companions, the howler monkeys, were wide awake at that hour, as well. We climbed to the top of the highest temple (Temple IV) to watch the sunrise. Well, the sun technically did rise, just not its true form of golden and orange rays. It was very cloudy but it was still an enjoyable experience being up high so early, hanging out on a Mayan ruin. That doesn't happen often!

 

After the tour, we packed up and headed back to Sololá via Sergio's very generous personal car service. We said our goodbyes to Cam in Guatemala City. We hope he had a safe trip back to the States yesterday and that Boston treats him well!

 

Everyone else is happy and doing very well here in Guatemala. I cannot believe it is our last week here! Time flies when you're having fun :)

 

--Juliana

Sunday Snapshot XIX

 

The Ruins of Tikal... I don't think that's how the Mayans got up there.

Photo Credit: Dana Zichlin