Weekend Recap

Hola padres,

Just thought I'd let you know how my weekend went...

Friday I went out with Yanina & Francisco to meet our Guatemalan friend Alex and his friends at a restaurant. We were about nine in total and had a table right in front of the TV. It was the Guatemala vs. Antigua y Barbuda game so everyone in the restaurant was rowdy; needless to say when Guate won I was momentarily deaf because of all the screaming & whistling- it was cool lol. The night ended with dancing. Have to admit it's pretty funny when an American song comes on and the locals sing what they think are the right words but really aren't haha.

Saturday I spent most of the day at Maximo where I did some research on getting that Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) certificate that I was telling you guys about. It's looking pretty likely that I'm going to end up taking the course here. Maybe at the end of October...let me know what you think. Just went out with Francisco in the evening but we had an early night.

Yesterday I planned out my cheerleading class (cant get over how stupid that sounds ha), painted my nails (yes...even in Central America I paint them religiously), went to the market with some friends, and had a two hour salsa lesson. Yanina talked me into going to La Sala for Latin Night afterwards since it was her last Sunday so we spent an additional two hours dancing there. I was super nervous because partner dancing is still something new to me but everyone who I danced with was really nice (don't worry Dad- not TOO nice) and totally understanding. If I turned in the wrong direction, missed a step, tripped a little, or stepped on a foot, it was always followed by laughing on both parts and then a little reassurance. They all showed me a few different things that I can add to my collection of things to know about Latin dancing. Talk about exhausted by the time I went to bed.

It's like a monsoon right now outside. Some streets were flooded today but other than that great weather. Ohh Antigua. Talk to you this week!

Love,
Rach

PS. Omg we have peanut butter in the house now. That puppy was halfway empty by the time I was satisfied...even though it's nothing like good old JIF. But it'll do.

No Longer Pretend

Dear Mom & Dad,

Seems like just yesterday I was playing "school" in the basement...Funny how things happen.

Today and yesterday my schedule was the same. I started off with English where we spent all of our time together correcting the exam that they took last week. There was one section that asked the kids to write 10 weather related words in English. On one test that I graded a boy used all 10 spaces for the days of the week: Sonyday, Chusday, Wennsday, Chursday, and so on until he had to start repeating haha. Cute until you realize that he actually thinks these words are seasons. He's only eight but if it's the last thing I do these kids will at least know the difference between days and weather by the time I leave! 

The day ended with arts & crafts- here we call them manualidades. Yesterday we made giant squid (forgot my camera, sorry!) and today we made birds in their nest, "Pajaritos en Su Nido." We were moving at the speed of distracted 5-7 year olds so it took us the entire hour and a half.

I'll keep you updated with more pictures!

Love,
Rach

Cheerleading...Came in Handy?

Hey Mom & Dad,

Ha...who would've thought that the girl who, as a senior in high school still could not believe that she was a cheerleader, would end up using it after graduation. Let me tell you, it definitely wasn't me. Tom, the 6'8" long haired Dutch director of my school, asked me last week if I had it in me to take a block on Monday afternoons to CREATE a class. Yes...create. So I racked my brains for something I know well that the kids would find appealing and  that wasn't already offered at the school. Reading? No. Math? Noo way. Soccer? These kids could probably teach me a few things. 'Ahh what to do what to do??' I thought. Then it dawned on me. The last time I worked with a big group of little kids was...cheer camp. 

So I pitched the idea to Tom. He told me to run with it. Thought I'd feel out the crowd for myself so I talked to some of the little girls, brought in pictures, and was pleasantly surprised when the group of them sat in front of me wide-eyed as I described some of the things we cheerleaders do. 

Tom is taking me to a nearby public elementary school in the morning so I can see the environment that the kids are in all day at their public schools. Tomorrow is my first day teaching and "Cheerleading Class" (ha) is the only class I have. Wish me luck!

♥ Rach

Bilingual Problems

Hey Mom & Dad,

Today I was working in the kitchen with a group of kids about 14-15 years old. It was about halfway through the class when they started coming up to me asking me about different English swear words. For example, "What is [insert insulting English phrase here] in Spanish?"

I'm not stupid so I knew 100% that they were aware of the meaning and that they knew better than to repeat those words. I told them not to say any of those palabras malas anymore and shooed them away. However, the swearing didn't stop. By the end of the day I was so fed up that I stalked over to the group of them and started scolding them biiig time. "I don't want to hear anyone say one single bad word! No one! If I hear one more person say one more bad thing I'm going to tell Tom (the director of the school) and he will take care of it!" Much to my dismay, I was met with blank faces and even a little bit of giggling from the more daring ones. "Que? Que???" they asked.

Woops! Didn't realize I was yelling in English...Needless to say we laughed about it and I had lost the effect of being angry before translating for them.

Never anticipated a situation like that before ha.

Xo,
Rach

Mi Casa

Hi Mom & Dad,

Here are the pictures of my house you were asking for. As you can see it was a cloudy day here...Let me know if you want more!

This is the hallway right outside of my door.

This is the view from my hallway! Nice, eh?

The open space is where the sink and washing machine are. Where we have a roof, it's held down with rocks.

We have a patio at the end of the hallway. We use it as our drying room when it's not raining since there isn't a roof. 

This is the downstairs area where Meme was catching rain in buckets last night haha.

♥ Rach

Soo I'm Learning How to Salsa

Dear Mom & Dad,

Yanina & I had our first Salsa lesson tonight. I learned the basic steps while she progressed onto other fancy movements because she's been out enough that she's picked up on these things. Pretty sure we're going to continue these for the next couple of weeks until she leaves. I would say I plan on taking a loong much needed shower now but none of Antigua has had running water all day. We can't wash our hands (gracias a Dios for hand sanitizer), flush the toilet, or shower. Didn't prepare for that one lol. Apparently there is a problem with the pipes and Claudia said she doesn't know when it will come back. She guessed tomorrow morning so cross your fingers. Right now Meme is sitting downstairs with an umbrella where there is no roof trying to catch the rain water in a bucket so he can use it to clean the toilet haha.

Talk to you soon,
Rach

First Day Without Dad

Hi Mom & Dad,

So today was my first day on my own. Dad & I ate at an amazing French restaurant last night, got dessert to go, watched a movie in his hotel room, ate the dessert (rosemary creme brulee...weird but good), and he walked me home. It was a really nice night and I'm really glad he came.

Last day together!

I woke up around 8 and Claudia had breakfast ready for me before 830. I walked a couple of blocks over to get to my Spanish lessons at Maximo by 9 and was there until 11. I'm in a small group of two other girls and my teacher doesn't speak any English haha so when we don't understand we have to get creative to clarify. Not going to lie...I don't see these lessons continuing much longer. We learn out of a book that has us read and discuss topics. I get homework, too. Meh. So I'll finish out my 5 day package but I already understand most of what people say to me and I can communicate back so sitting in a classroom for two hours every morning doesn't seem necessary. Plus since my family only speaks Spanish, at my project I only speak Spanish, and in the stores I only speak Spanish I'm getting A TON of practice. But that's not to say I don't like my teacher. She's adorable. Honestly the cutest woman I've ever seen. She's little and has really short hair and reminds me of a little kid because her laugh, which is constant, reminds me of a baby's haha.

I came home to hang out and Claudia made me lunch at 1230. I caught the bus around 1 arrived at T.E.S.S. at 120-130ish. I'm observing all week and today and today was English first (the kids are taking practice exams now so there isn't much teaching) and then cooking class. Omg is that nuts. I was only supposed to observe but as soon as I stepped into the kitchen the teacher asked if I could help. He introduced me to all the kids and had them say their names to me. Obviously I didn't remember them...I am so Mom's daughter. When he told them I'd be here for about three months they all started clapping and saying "YAAY!" Ha so cute. This was the youngest group, about 8-9 years old so yes...only Spanish. It was really fun and extremely chaotic because the kitchen is tiny (probably the size of your bathroom) and there were 10 kids running around EVERYWHERE. Freaked me out when they'd light matches to light the stove but hey, it's Guatemala.

Yanina & I ate dinner at home together and Francisco came home in the middle of it. Before we went out together for ladies'night (ha) we got ready. Francisco insisted that I wear a short dress and do my hair. HA! I laughed at both of those. As you obviously know, my hair is perpetually messy. No matter what I do to it, it ends up everywhere. So I've stopped trying; however, he wasn't having that. He sat me down and started brushing through my bird's nest. He goes, "Oh my god. Jesus Cristo. This is horrible. What have you done to your hair? I have no words to describe this. I can't do anything with this!" Then he continued scolding me for forgetting my brush at home and blah blah. So I let him have his moment while I rolled my eyes the entire time. He settled for a ponytail and put more product on my head than I own. Hilarious, I know. When he was satisfied with the way I looked, off we went to Monoloco to meet up with some others.

So now I'm back home, exhausted to the point that I can't even shower. It can wait till tomorrow.

Love you,
Rach

PS. Sorry if you tried calling or texting me tonight, Francisco is still out and my phone is in his purse...