Tuesday, July 20, 2010

I got up today at 7, got ready, and ate breakfast with Hussein at 7:30. I had coffee and oats (“mash”) with a sliced banana in it. I wanted to go back inside and leave a note for Erica at the table, but Hussein came and waited outside my door for me. We walked to school, and we talked to Filippa, the girl from Sweden. When Any arrived, we went to our classroom and got started. She asked me about what I had done yesterday in the guarderia and last night. We went over my little amount of homework and then practiced commands. She had me conjugate a ton of verbs and then use them in sentences. For some verbs, I had to use them in sentences about the stories I had read the day before. It was kind of tricky because it would have been hard even in English. We played a game called Tripa de Coche (pig intestines) which is a really gross name for a semi-fun game. Any wrote opposites all over a piece of paper and we took turns connecting them each with a different color pen. You could not cross a line that had already been drawn. We got down to the last three sets before we couldn’t find any more. We called it a tie. Then we had the pausa (break). I had hot tea which tasted great. It is really a pity, but I haven’t had ice cream here once because I am always so cold. I think I need to change that soon! Anyway, I talked to Filippa and Benjamin while I waited for Any to come back. After the break, I read some more in the Historias de los Mayas book, and Any explained the significance of some of the stories. I also retold some of the stories to her. I have read over 100 pages in the book over the past two days. I like the book because it is interesting but still easy to read (it is a children’s book). When I come to a word I don’t know, I can easily ask Any what it means. I have been really happy with myself because I would say 90% of the words I don’t know are vocabulary terms related to the Mayas or are names of items that are no longer used.

After school, Hussein and I walked home together. We had a salty creamy soup for lunch, black tortillas, rice, and red beans. After lunch, I left for the guarderia (daycare). I walked leisurely along to the guarderia because I had plenty of time. I got there right at 2 and waited for about five minutes for someone to unlock the door. Carlitos was sitting at the table eating, so I sat down next to him and helped him eat a piece of meat and spaghetti. Yadira, the daughter of the caregiver, was running around the room where the rest of the children were sleeping. She started screaming while running and most of the children woke up. It was only 2:30. Yesterday, they slept until 4:00. Some of them got up and started running around, too, but others were sleepy and stayed on the beds. At 3:00, Elisa started waking up the rest of the kids and began changing their diapers. I had to wake up a very grumpy Oli (Oliver). The kids ran around wildly, fighting and being generally disagreeable. At 3:30, we had to clean up the room because someone important is visiting the guarderia in the morning. When we finished, we fed the kids their snack (hot chocolate and pan). Then they went back in the salon to run around. Elisa told me not to let them mess up the beds since they had just straightened them. It was a losing proposition as I tried to keep Victor, David, and Oli off the beds while trying to preserve the life of Rosy Bella, the nine-month-old. Several kids kept fighting over who got to hold her and carry her around, and I was afraid they might pull her in half! Also, a certain someone kept trying to take off her sweater even though Rosy was putting up a fight. I rescued her and held her for a while. I think she is warming up to me. I also held Alejandra a lot (another young girl—maybe 15 months old). I tried to get the kids to play Follow the Leader, but very few were interested. I even tried their favorite game of Tenta (tag), but they ended up quarreling more than playing. I think they were all tired and crabby. The other adults mostly stayed in the kitchen while this was going on. I was glad when it was time to leave. I hope they sleep longer tomorrow! The best part of the guarderia today was that I got to practice commands a lot: Get off the bed, Put her down, Leave him alone, Come here, Stop that, Don’t do that, Go over there, Be nice, Be gentle, Put this away, etc. They use Usted here to address the children, so I got to practice both Usted and Ustedes commands… que bueno!

I walked home at 5. It was sprinkling enough that I put up my umbrella. I hadn’t had time to write my blog yesterday, so I skipped the internet café today and just went home. I took a shower, washed some clothes in the sink, did my homework, and read some before dinner at 7. We had red beans, a ham omelet with spicy jalapeño sauce, and bread. Hussein and I talked to Sandy for a while after dinner about the Mayan calendar and the Mayan culture. Sandy also told us that Xela was known as the “Sixth State” (sexta estado) because a long time ago Xela broke away from the rest of Guatemala. The first five states were El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. There is a monument in Xela dedicated to the men of the sixth state who lost their lives trying to preserve the sixth state. Obviously, they were not successful! For this reason, the people of Xela are really independent. There is a saying here: “Chivo que Chapin.” People from Xela call themselves “Chivos” and people from Guatemala are called “Chapines,” so the saying means that people who live in Xela identify themselves primarily as people from Xela and secondly as people who live in Guatemala.

Erica’s last night here is Friday, and Sandy asked if I would help shop for her going away dinner. I said yes and agreed to leave the guarderia at four on Thursday to go shopping with Sandy. I will also help cook the meal on Friday after the guarderia. Erica’s family is from India, so Erica gave Sandy an Indian cookbook in Spanish. Sandy wants to make curry chicken and fried onions (two separate dishes) for dinner and a cake for dessert. This will be a busy week because tomorrow I have Bible study at six, and I have to eat dinner first.

I went back to my room about 8:20 and wrote my blog entry from today and yesterday. Bed around 10:00.