Very long-delayed update!

First things first: I've updated my photos! Click here to see photos from travels to San Marcos, Santiago Atitlán, Antigua, and Earthlodge (a hippie-style lodge in El Hato, near Antigua).


I am so sorry that I have not updated this blog in far too long. Now that I have gotten over the not-writing-because-I-have-so-much-to-catch-up-on hump, I will be much better from here on out. Blogs are an interesting format; because this is semi-public (though I certainly don't flatter myself into thinking that many people read this; I just need to be aware of the fact that anyone could), I feel like I need to filter certain— mostly negative— aspects of my experience. This is— like teaching, like living in a foreign (sometimes very foreign) country, like life— a work in progress, and I am figuring it out as I go. But I promise that I will update more regularly once more.

Tomorrow will be the 24th day of school; I know this because every morning we fill out our "How Many Days Have We Been In School?" chart (with alternating colors and patterns— at this point the kids know that even days are written in orange and odd in yellow; this week we started a triangle-triangle-circle pattern around the numbers as well.) School is getting easier (for me, at least; I hope it's getting harder— academically, not in other ways— for the kids!), though there are aspects of school life that make me pine for aspects of the American school system I never thought I'd miss. I currently have 15 students, with one more joining after the Guatemalan school year ends this month, in a space that's not nearly big enough to accommodate them. Their English— non-existent at the beginning of the year— is improving (they now say things like "Tengo que ir al bathroom"), but I feel like the core of the first-grade curriculum— learning to read and write via recognition— remains inaccessible, at least for now.

I've learned how to work hard without overdoing it; I have late evenings and weekends to myself, free of work, which keeps me sane. I'm gone on lots of weekend trips, and am establishing a social network in Guatemala City, which makes life feel far less claustrophobic than it might in this very small, very interconnected town.

I will update soon; until then, peruse the photos!