Updates

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I haven´t given you many updates yet so I thought I´d fill you in on what I´ve been doing this past week. Everyday we have class until one and then we usually have an activity in the afternoon. In my class I have been trying to learn the grammer rules and structure that I haven´t really known til now. It has been interesting at times and frustrating as well. There are some things that are really helpful but some of the time is spent going over stuff that seems really basic and obvious to me. It is good though because I am able to correct some mistakes that I never knew I was making.
Since we are in class for five hours it is good to mix things up because I get tired of grammer very quickly. Sometimes this means we get to go out and walk around the city a little bit. We have gone to places such as the capital building, the city cathedral, the theater, some markets, and some places to get food such as bakeries. Sometimes we stay at the school but join with some other students and play some type of word game like Scrabble or Apples to Apples. This is pretty fun but I don´t learn much then. We haven´t spent too much time doing that though.
In the afternoons we usually have some type of activity. On the first Monday it was just an orientation session explaining how the school worked and we got some packets with information about the city. On Tuesday afternoon we divided into two groups and my group went up the hill behind the school to a place called La Pedrera. We spent time at a small school there for kids between age 3-15. They all liked getting their pictures taken and wanted to take some pictures as well. The older kids all like to play kickball a lot so we did that for quite a while. On Wednesday we just stayed at the school and had a time for worship and small group discussions. On Thursday my group went to the house of one of the neighbors who provides food for the teachers and she taught us how she makes the food and we got to make some and eat it after it cooked. While we waited for it to finish, I played soccer with her three boys and now everytime they see me they want to play soccer. On Friday we had the afternoon off to do whatever we wanted. I spent most of the time catching up on some reading and journaling that we have to do. We have a specific journal in which we need to record the experiences we have been having and later when we have to write some papers we will need to reference these journals to show how we have been able to experience what we are learning about. On Saturday morning we left for a weekend trip the the town of Panajachel on the Lake Atitlan. This is an incredibly beautiful lake surrounded by a number of volcanoes. On the way there we stopped at a womens´cooperative where they make all sorts of woven blankets, bags, clothes and other stuff. It was only for women who had no husbands and this cooperative gave them a way to make income and a place to live. We stayed the night in Panajachel and on Sunday took a boat across the lake to the town of Santiago. There is a big cathedral there that we saw and Don Jaime gave us a talk about the history of Guatemala and the religion there. There were lots of people around since it was Sunday mass so we didn´t go into the church but only looked in from the outside. Many of the local men were dressed in their traditional clothes which were quite interesting to see. They all had long white shorts with red stripes, a big belt that was more like a sash, button-up shirts, and hats somewhat like cowboy hats. I´m not exactly sure of the history of them but they looked nice. Everywhere we went in these cities there were little kids and also adults trying to sell us things they had made. Yesterday afternoon a local theology professor came and talked to us about religion and the role of catholicism and protestantism here in Guatemala. He also talked about the impact of liberation theology and where it came from and the reasoning behind it. It was very interesting and the discussion could have gone on a lot longer if our time hadn´t run out. Today my group went to a house where they make chocolate. We made some bars that are used for melting into hot chocolate but they also make other kinds that you can eat plain.
I have stayed very busy but it has all been very enjoyable. At times it is hard to believe we are studying and getting college credit for what we are doing. For example this weekend I was thinking of how I could be in the cold, snowy winter of Spokane but instead I was getting sunburned on a lake surrounded by volcanoes and enjoying great food.

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