Yesterday was a big day. I began my first day both my first day of Spanish class as well as my first day in my home stay. Both turned out better than I could have hoped for. I will be attending one on one Spanish class from 2 pm to 6 pm every day for 5 days. The school is out doors with small tables lining the sides of the building, each with its own dry erase board. I have no book besides a notebook and my professor. This is actually a really fun way of learning. We have long conversations and when I come to a word I don't know how to say, she will tell me the word and I write the meaning in my notebook. I was surprised at my ability to keep up with the conversation. We talked about our animals, my trip so far, her husband, poverty, and abortion in regards to the comparison between Guatemala and the United States. I never thought I had the capability to have such conversations in Spanish, being that the last time I actually studied the language was ten years ago in my freshman and sophomore years in high school. We even were able to joke and laugh! I guess I was paying more attention than I thought :) However, we did also get into a less fun, but very necessary, subject; the conjugation of verbs. Apparently this was not something I retained very well over the last ten years. I never did like grammar in Spanish or in English for that matter.
Surprisingly, the four hours went very fast and I only got really antsy in the last half hour or so. When class ended, it was time to return to the house and have dinner with my host family. Everyone is very nice and we all enjoyed a delicious dinner of eggs, beans, platanos and homemade tortillas; a traditional Guatemalan desayuno. The other students who are also staying there and I did the dishes. MariaElsa, my home stay mother, had a student coming over for a lesson so I went upstairs to relax, something I have not done in the past couple of days. I was feeling so lazy and so relaxed that I even chose to take my shower in the morning before volunteering (if you know me, this is crazy because I never wake up earlier than I have to to roll out of bed and get to what ever obligation I may have).
In the morning I woke up at 6:45 to shower. When I got in I found what I have been dreading this whole trip....COLD WATER :( I couldn't even bring myself to stand under the water so I first dipped my head in washing only that, then quickly washed each part of my body sending it into the water just long enough to rinse off the soap. I have been very spoiled with hot water since arriving in Guatemala. I knew I couldn't be that lucky forever.
After my shower and breakfast, I was off to volunteer. I took the chicken bus about 7 minutes south to a small town named San Gaspar. The town is very cute with not too much going on. I found the preschool and was shown around the classrooms by the director. I discovered that I will be working the rest of the week with the 2-3 year olds.
Just walking into the classroom I knew I was in for some hard work. The class was composed of 32 children and 2 teachers, and the kids were running all over the place! I soon discovered how difficult it is to keep children in line with only an advanced beginner Spanish level. Another thing that was quickly brought to my attention wad how difficult it is to understand the kids when they are mumbling and/or crying. Much of my time was spent saying "sientate " (sit down) "Donde esta tu Silla" (where is your seat) "no necessitas esta" (you don't need that) y "cuidate" (careful). I also got the pleasure of changing many wet pants and wiping away a lot of tears. We also made art projects with torn newspaper and pelotitas (little balls) with colored paper and tape. The kids, although quite rambunctious are very cute and I am excited for tomorrow. They definitely keep me on my toes, and I am excited to see what experiences the next few days bring.
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