One month!

It has now officially been a month (and then some) since I got to Guatemala. Time has simultaneously flown by and moved at a snail’s pace, but I’m continuing to really enjoy Guatemala and training (for the most part). My continued positive attitude is certainly enhanced by the time spent in a local school, which is probably what the majority of this post will be about.

The Healthy Schools trainees started in their communities’ schools last week, and my compañeros and I go to a fairly small school on a hill. There are six classrooms for kindergarten through sixth grade (fifth and sixth grade share a classroom). The school is separated into two buildings, the newer of which is still under construction. An NGO was building another classroom below where the current new ones stand, but they went out of business in the recession and what remains is a pit with metal spikes sticking out of it and a really bad drop off with an eroding path leading to the classroom. This would definitely not fly in the U.S. School starts each morning at around 7:30 (although kids were showing up later) and then ends around 12:30 (in time for the kids to go home for lunch). This is typical of most schools in the country, though some private schools have more classroom time (but not much more). The walk to our school takes about half an hour and the last part is up a really steep hill, which provides pretty good exercise, but it also means I arrive sweaty and tired to class.

I’ve been working with first graders at the school. The first day there, last Wednesday, was mainly spent observing during class time and being swarmed by kids during recess. The first class the kids had the first day I was there was gym, so I walked further up the steep hill to the campo, where the kids ran around the field and did some exercises with their instructor. Back in the classroom they learned simple prepositions, like above, below, inside, outside. One thing that’s big here are dinámicas, or activities that involve kids in games or dances and songs to help them remember the lesson. We played cat and mouse, with the mouse inside the circle and the cat outside the circle trying to get the mouse. The kids also sang a song about these prepositions and drew things inside and outside of a circle in their notebooks. Eventually came snack time and then the kids had some more time for snacks and recess outside of the classroom. The other gringa in my group and myself were roped into playing cat and mouse again, and freeze tag. It was a little crazy, and pretty dangerous, because there were simultaneous games going on and kids were barely running by without knocking into each other. Some boys were rolling on the ground fighting. There wasn’t a whole lot of supervision (leading to my growing belief that it would probably be pretty fun to be a kid in Guatemala-playing with fireworks, being spoiled by your parents, having pretty nice weather all the time, etc.). It was a lot of fun, but really tiring. After recess, the kids in my class colored in a picture of a caterpillar and drew pictures of their families. The next day I was there was Friday and the kids continued to learn prepositions, like behind and in front. They also learned about rights, like the right to live, the right to eat, the right to breathe, etc. and drew pictures in their notebooks. After snack and more craziness at recess, the kids colored in pictures of elephants and drew pictures of things, which they all gave to me. It was really cute. They were really excited to give me their creations. I was also helping some kids to learn to write their names, which was going over really well with some, and not so well with others. Then this week on Wednesday I gave a presentation on hand washing as part of my training. The kids were pretty good throughout, but I definitely realized that I need to learn a whole lot more about classroom management. I started the lesson with an activity spreading glitter to the class in small groups to teach kids how germs spread. Then we talked about why you should wash your hands, what you need, how to wash, and when to wash. We practiced washing in the classroom and then went outside to the pila to wash hands. One of the problems that the school has is that there is only one pila (sink) to wash hands at, so it takes a while for a whole class to go and wash hands before a snack or after gym class. So it was a little hectic washing everyone’s hands at the same time, but we got through it and the kids were practicing the techniques I taught them. Then I finished by having the kids trace and color their hands to hang on a poster for the classroom. Of course I had to bribe them (which is pretty much the only classroom management type thing the teacher does) so they all got dulces I had bought from this cute old guy who sells a few things by the muni in Pastores. It was slightly unfortunate that I hadn’t done my presentation before snack time (snacks came much earlier than normal today), but hopefully now the kids will know all about washing hands. On Friday, when we went back to the school, the teacher for my class didn’t come because she had some doctor’s appointment with her baby, so I was pretty much on my own. Another teacher was supposed to help me, but she only stayed five minutes and pretty much said I could teach them whatever I wanted in my own “manera” (way). The kids were learning cursive vowels, so I did o and u with them, and then started on consonants with m, going on to ma (because some kids wanted to learn mama). It was interesting trying to manage them all because some were really into it and really wanted to write more while others (mainly the boys) just wanted to sit and do nothing. It was a little hectic getting them all to wash their hands before snack, but a lot of the kids were using what I taught them yesterday (while before they were barely washing their hands), so that was good to see. Then brushing teeth was also a challenge after eating the snack. Fortunately for them (and me) there was a weird pageant going on where they were crowning the queen of the school, so voting led to chaos and the kids just taking a very extended recreo with teachers and kids all in the concrete school yard just eating snacks and running around (and some fighting and climbing on the gringos). Things settled down when atol was delivered for the kids to drink (as their third snack of the day), but they started getting restless again so we went outside to play gato y ratón, which wasn’t working out. They went home early with all of the other students due to the fiesta, so I finished up the day without completely losing my cool. I just wish the teacher had left some lesson plans because it would have been nice to have something to go on.

It’s a little strange being in my position in the classroom. The kids really look to my approval on things as much as to the teacher. I was grading their work (putting the date and signing my name, as per the teacher’s instructions) and handing out candy to the kids who were behaving well. The classrooms are very different than in the U.S. The obvious thing is that there aren’t many resources. The kids provide notebooks and writing utensils and there is a white board, but there aren’t any books or maps or posters. When the kids color in pictures, it is from a traced outline that the teacher made (or that I made on the days I was there). Another thing is that lots of kids repeat grades because they pull out of school for some reason or another. A large number of the 13 kids in my class are 9, and the oldest student is 12, which are both old for first grade.

The good news about the school is that they have running water and electricity regularly. The bathrooms are also decent and have sinks with soap, and the kitchen is fairly clean (though it isn’t used for snacks). The snacks that kids can buy at recess include healthy things (different types of fruit, bread with beans) in addition to the things kids typically like (chocolate covered bananas, chocolate covered bread, cookies), and kids were picking the healthier stuff over the not-so-healthy snacks. Hand washing is not quite regular, but they do sometimes wash hands before snack time, and the teacher used a fluoride rinse with the kids on Friday to clean their teeth. The kids look fairly well groomed, with clean faces and clothes, and everyone had shoes. On Monday more will start wearing uniforms, which are mandatory, so it will be interesting to see which kids will have the uniforms right away and which ones will have to go without for some time. Although public school is free and any kid is allowed to attend, not everyone will be able to afford uniforms, which is somewhat problematic as the costs of these, as well as all of the school supplies, may prevent some kids from taking advantage of free primary education.

This past Saturday the whole group went to the ruins at Tecpán Iximché for a Mayan ceremony performed by one of the Spanish teachers, who is a Mayan priest. The ruins used to be the capital of the Mayans in the area and were still standing when the Spaniards came. The ruins consist of a couple of plazas and pyramids, though most of the structures that used to be here have eroded away. Towards the back of the ruins is where Mayan ceremonies still take place and the day we went was the beginning of a new year, so there were lots of different things going on. It always makes me feel intrusive when I just show up to these ceremonies uninvited, though we were there to take part in our own ceremony. There were tons of gringos just walking around, taking pictures, taping the ceremonies. One random gringa even grabbed a candle from the middle of our circle and dropped it in our fire. It’s kind of annoying to see these people tramping all over the culture and sticking their obtrusive noses into it, taking photos and videos without asking.

Before the ceremony, some groups presented short segments of Mayan culture, like the calendar, the most important values, etc. My group had nahuales, which are animal spirits that every Mayan gets upon their birth, determined by the day, month and year in which they are born. Our ceremony was to celebrate the end of one month here in Guatemala (to the day) and to celebrate the beginning of our projects (working in the schools for Healthy Schools). We all stood in a circle around a fire, in which there were lots of candles of different colors, each of which represented something different. Black for example represented peace, while yellow/orange represented hope (I think). The priest kept adding candles to the fire, as well as some type of grain and occasionally some aguardiente. After about an hour, we finished up. It was interesting to see a ceremony, especially because I may be living in a part of the country where they are common. I also really want to learn more about the Mayans, especially the language of where I will be placed (if I am placed in a part of the country where a Mayan language is spoken). We’ll see how placement goes in about a month.

After the ceremony we had a lunch of this really good chorizo sausage typical of the area, as well as tamalitos, different types of spinach salads, and two different types of tortillas (corn and bean). It was really good and the weather was perfect for a picnic. Afterwards we all took the hour-long trip back to our communities and I just relaxed for the rest of the day, watching Ice Age 3 with my family that night.

Also in the past couple of weeks, I have learned how to make chiles rellenos, which are peppers stuffed with a mixture of meat, tomatoes, carrots, green beans, and onions. They’re pretty delicious, but they take forever to make. I also had my last Spanish class, and next week will start more independent work. I’m hoping to learn about gardens and how I can build gardens at the schools I will be working with, as well as maybe looking into indigenous medicine and learning how this will affect the work I will be doing in the schools, especially if I am in an area that has a large indigenous population. I’ll have time to visit current volunteers and NGOs around Antigua, so we’ll see exactly what I will get to do. Something cool that I got to do as part of my independent time was go to a macadamia nut farm about fifteen minutes outside of Antigua, in San Miguel Dueñas, named Valhalla. It’s run by an American who just started this farm 30 years ago or so. It’s totally organic and sustainable. The macadamia trees are really good for the environment because they remove a lot of gases from the air and don’t require a lot of water. The trees produce after three years and remain producers for another hundred years or so, while they can survive in many different climates (although tropical climates work best, especially with rain-they can’t tolerate snow). The outside of the nuts (the cancha) can be used for compost while the branches that are cut back every year can be used for firewood. Moreover, macadamias are really healthy and could be a good protein source for those who have access to the plants. The farm is run without electricity, so the machines they use are pretty neat. The one that separates the nuts from the very outer shell has a motor (although there is also the same one with a bicycle that doesn’t use any gas), but the sorting machine needs nothing except for human labor. The guy who owns it gives trees to interested communities or sells them for reasonable prices to interested individuals and then provides education to help the people learn how to plant the trees and how to take care of them. He also has blueberries and bees. Needless to say, it was pretty cool to see this going on.

Next week is field-based training so Healthy Schools is going out to Totonicapan, which is about four-five hours away. We’ll be there for a week, pretty much observing what volunteers are doing and participating a little. I won’t have a chance to write until after I get back so have a great week.