Thursday, January 19, 2012

Santiago

So, since I'm home now and have more free time that I'm able to use the internet, I figured I'd post a few little stories about a couple of the kids that I met at Hogar Madre Anna Vitello.  
This is Santiago. He's 8 years old.

     Santiago is an outgoing 8 year old that I met on my first day at the orphanage.  My friend Nikki had been working at the orphanage for 2 weeks before myself and 2 other volunteers got there, so she introduced us to almost everyone. The one thing that was different about Santiago right away that he was determined to learn our names and remember them.  A lot of the kids constantly ask our names, and will almost immediately forget and come running back to ask again. But, Santiago rarely got my name name wrong and every morning when we got to the orphanage he would run over and say hi to all of us individually.
    On one of the first few days, Santiago saw me sitting alone just watching the kids play on the playground. He come over and motioned to see the little green book that was sticking out of my sweatshirt pocket. It was my Spanish to English pocket dictionary, so he started flipping through it. When I explained to him that the front half of the book had English words so I could find the Spanish meaning, he just kept flipping through and showing me different words. He found the translations of the numbers from 1 to 10 in the back, and proceeded to read them to me in English! Once he reached 10, he calmly handed me my book back and pointed to his head and said "cabeza". He repeated it twice until I repeated it back to him, mimicking his movements. We went through almost all of the body parts, and he was impressed when I would beat him to a body part and already know the word for it in Spanish. Sometimes, I would repeat the word in English and he would also repeat it, but he was more set on him teaching me rather than the other way around.
    Another day, Santiago was kicking around a soccer ball and we started playing pass. Now anyone who knows me understands that I have no foot/eye coordination. I quit soccer when I was probably Santiago's age; after we switched to the "big kid's" field I didn't see the fun in running back and forth all the time. (I'd like to blame my asthma for this, but it really was irrelevant. I just didn't really like soccer). Anyways, we started playing pass and gradually started running up and down the playground. Eventually we tried juggling the ball up into the air, and passing it. That didn't work out so well, but it was fun.
       Santiago is the little boy I played cards with that I mentioned briefly in a post earlier. We had a little crowd watching us play War, and then the next day we had a group of kids playing Uno.  What I failed to mention was that after Santiago realized that I understood exactly how War worked and that I really knew how to play (Jackie and I used to play all the time when we were kids) he decided to take matters into his own hands. He started cheating!!! Anyone who plays War knows that the Ace's are what will eventually win you the game, if you throw them at the right time. So, Santiago held onto his Ace's and pretended to drop his cards to mix them up when he realized he would have to give up one of them. The kicker was that he knew that I knew that he was cheating, but he also realized that I had no idea how to say that he was cheating in Spanish! I kept throwing him looks, and he just kept laughing. Needless to say, I lost (technically) but that wasn't really the point. It was just fun :)


Santiago is a sweet kid, and I was lucky to have met him. He was one of the few people I met while in Guatemala who didn't see lack of knowledge in Spanish as an obstacle; but more as a fun challenge.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

1/12

Today was a very, very slow day at the orphanage. My friends Nikki, Diana, Tae and I started off the morning by hanging up a ridiculous amount of laundry to dry. Because it's not the rainy season, which is generally April through November (I think at least), it's sunny in Guatemala every day so the kid's laundry is always outside on the lines drying.  After we finished, Nikki and I went to go see the younger kids ages 2, 3, and 4. They are by far the cutest kids, but they fight with each other constantly. Almost as soon as we walked into the room 3 kids began to wrestle over a small toy, which obviously resulted in the 3 of them yelling and crying. We walked with the little kids to a room across the orphanage where they were going to get their diapers changed, but as soon as we got their the nun that takes care of them suggested that we go and hang out with the older kids.
   Some of the nuns at the orphanage are more friendly than others, but it's hard to tell because of the language barrier. I think with this nun particularly, she doesn't enjoy having volunteers with the younger kids because it can do more harm than good. When we're around the younger kids, they're constantly fighting each other for our attention or they're trying to pull us away somewhere else. Having us around probably causes a bigger disruption to their day, although they are fun to hang around with.
   After that, we pretty much just wandered the orphanage not really doing anything in particular. We helped out in the kitchen for a while, played soccer with a few of the boys, and just walked around. This weekend is the last weekend of the summer vacation for all of the kids in the orphanage and the village, so a lot of them were helping to clean out the 3 classrooms that occupy one half of Hogar Madre Anna Vitello's complex.  The orphange hosts the local village's school, and students are split up from 1st to 5th grade, and then 6th, 7th and 8th. Somewhere around 6th grade, public school stops and if the kids want to continue their education they must pay to go to a private school.  
   Tomorrow is the last day at the orphange, which is insane. We're hopefully going to take the kids for a walk to a little store down the street from the complex, and just spend the morning saying our goodbyes. Hopefully update soon, I'll be stateside again in only 3 days! Once I'm back in the state's I'm hopefully going to add pictures to this blog and continue writing. I only have so much time to write while I'm here, but I really want to try and describe this experience, because I have yet to do it justice. 

:)

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

It's Tuesday?

I can't really believe that I've already been Antigua for over a week, and my time is here is quickly coming to an end. Today was my last Spanish class, and for the rest of the week my friends and I are going to try and do as many different things as possible. I walked around the local market for gifts for my friends and family before class today, and realized that I'm no better at negotiating in Spanish than I am in English (I generally just say "okay" rather than bargaining), but it was still really fun.

Today at the orphanage it was pretty hot out, so my friend Tae and I started off the morning by hanging up all of the wet laundry to dry during the day. After that, we went to watch a fútbol game that the boys ages 8-12 had started on the basketball  court.  I'm no good at soccer, but one of the 8 year old boys was determined to teach me how to juggle a ball on my foot successfully. Today was almost a lazy day at the orphanage; most of the kids wanted to just hang out in the shade rather than run around. At one point, my friend Diana and I found ourself sitting in the shade with at least 20 of the orphans on our laps or sitting right next to us. I started to play a card game with Santiago, who's 8, called guerra. Guerra means war in Spanish- so luckily I actually knew how to play! After a while we had a large crowd of kids watching, everyone getting involved too. I ended up losing, but it was a really fun game :) While we were playing, Diana had her ipod out and was playing Shakira and other music that the kids knew - some of them knew all of the words! It was relaxing but very fun.

The one thing I'm still amazed at is that the kids always just enjoy sitting on our laps and pulling us around the orphanage to show us things. Although my Spanish has improved and I know enough to get by, a lot of the kids enjoy teaching me words and don't mind when I point to something and ask how to say it in Spanish. Some of them do laugh at my pronounciations sometimes, but they will always repeat it until I get it right.

 It's going to be really weird saying goodbye to all of the kids knowing that I'll be flying back home to my family and friends, and then leaving to go to school when I know that all of the kids will be in the orphanage for an indefinite amount of time. As I said before, this trip has been extremely eye opening. It's been a lot of fun, and not exactly what I expected either.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Tikal Ruins

This past weekend I was able to travel all across Guatemala to the Mayan Ruins in Tikal.  Tikal was one of the largest Mayans city, and was in use for over 1,000 years.  Archeologists believe that Tikal was home to around a half million people at it's peak, and it was eventually abandoned because the Mayan's destroyed the jungle around the city and lost all of their resources.  We were able to climb to the top of Temple 4, which is the largest temple currently uncovered. We were able to see over the jungle to the other few ruins that are visible above the tree line.
  One thing that I found insanely interesting was that so far archeologists have found around 3,000 different Mayan structures in Tikal, but they estimate that there are still around 7,000 more that have been covered by the jungle.  The jungle is extremely dense; it's hard to tell where one tree starts and another begins. At one point, there were no trees in Tikal, and all of the buildings were painted different colors.
  Our tour guide let us in on a secret - a few months ago, archeologists discovered a subterranean city a little ways away from Tikal, deep in the jungle.  A large storm knocked some trees down, which exposed a hole that led arceologists to colored paintings from they Mayan's time. New ruins and artifacts are being discovered and processed everyday in Tikal.

Unfortunately, thats all I have time for right now. Off to Spanish Class!

P.S. All of the Guatemalan's and Mayan's living near Tikal do not believe the world will end in 2012 - it's just a new beginning of the Mayan Calendar, and will be a time of big celebration here! :)

Picaya Volcano

The great thing about going through an organization like Maximo Nivel is that they don't only set up tour homestay and volunteer work, but they also offer many other opportunities. During my stay here I've been able to take Spanish lessons with a Spanish teacher originally from Guatemala (she speaks very little English- forces me to actually try my Spanish) and also take different excursions to see other parts of Guatemala.

The excursion I'm going to talk about right now was a hike to the top of Picaya, a volcano 45 minutes away from Antigua. After our morning volunteer work  Thursday afternoon, myself and 8 other volunteers with a guide from one of the villages located on Picaya trekked a steep incline 3 kilometers to the summit. 
   The hike was pretty difficult, and unfortunately my asthma/allergies finally got the best of me and I had to stop climbing.  The good thing was that I didn't need to turn back and go down the mountain, I just had to grab a 'taxi'. A 'taxi' up Picaya actually meant grabbing a ride on a horse and being led up the mountain.  Local boys follow groups of hikers up the trail with their horses, just waiting for opportunities to say "taxi for you miss?" and offering their services for cheap.  Myself and two other girls who weren't feeling well rode up the trail on our horses while the rest of our group trekked onward.
   Once we got close to the summit, we were forced to drop our horses and walk up the wasteland that was at one point molten lava.  The last eruption on Picaya was in 2010, and prior to that was an eruption in 2006.  The eruption in 2006 left a lot of hard molten rock covering the summit, and the ash covering the rock was from the more recent eruption.  It was a crazy site - it looked as though we were on another planet.  There were no plants or animal life anywhere, and we were up so high that you could only see the tops of the other mountains in the distance.  
   There was a small shack at the top of the mountain where they sell jewlery and other little trinkets that involve lava from the eruption in 2010. I bought a 5 cent coin (which is actually less than an American penny) that had lava covering the majority of it - the only visible part was the palm tree symbol. The also allowed the hikers to roast marshmallows over a campfire; not many people can say they roasted a marshmallow at the top of a volcano! It was an exhausting day, but absolutely amazing.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Busy!

Hey everyone! These few days have been pretty busy and intense, and I honestly barely have time to write right now so I'm just going to quickly describe the orphanage I've been at the last two days.

The name of the orphanage is Hogar Madre Ana Vitiello, and it is in a small village 45 minutes by bus from Antigua.  There are around 50 kids in the orphanage ranging from a few months old to a little older than 12.  The orphange itself is a small complex surrounded by high walls; and it is fairly new so all of the buildings are bright and colorful.  There are dormitorios where the kids sleep, and separate rooms for the nuns who run the orphanage.  There is a small cafeteria, a kitchen, a classroom/school which kids from the village also can attend, and a playground.  There is also a small church where the kids have Mass every day at 6, right when they wake up.  The one thing that makes this orphanage different than the others in the area is that all of the kids here are HIV positive. This isn't a problem for us, as long as the kids aren't bleeding anywhere or anything and just in case we carry gloves with us.  The one advantage of this orphanage is that because all of the children are HIV positive, they get a decent amount of international support.  There are a bunch of flags hanging in the main office  representing the different countries.

It's funny because although I don't speak Spanish, it was obvious right away that regardless of the language they speak the kids are exactly like all of the kids I've ever babysat or worked with in the US.  The younger kids enjoy running around, incoherently yelling, and occasionally hitting each other with toys.  The older kids ride bikes, play with old toys, and run around the complex playing games.  I mostly hang out with the younger kids, the 2, 3 and 4 year olds. They're crazy! It's especially funny because one second they'll be talking rapidly in Spanish, and then turn to gibberish.  They're all adorable. Usually they'll run right over and grab my hand, or try to get me to pick them up.  Playing with the kids at the orphanage is essentially allowing myself to be turned into a jungle gym.


Unfortunately, I don't have time to begin to describe all of the kids that I've met or any of the funny stories right now, but TOMORROW I'm going to try to write a decent amount. Anyone reading, I highly suggest an experience like this, it's been eye opening.

Have to go though, going to hike Pakaya, an active volcano 45 minutes from Antigua :) Adiós!

Monday, January 2, 2012

Hola!

Hola! I am writing from the office of Máximo Nivel, the wonderful organization that I am going through here. So far, everything has been amazing. Here's a little recap on the full 24 hours that I've been in Guatemala.

I left Easton, MA to head to the airport at 330am on New Years day - did not sleep, and was too excited to sleep once I got to the airport. Had a flight from Logan to Miami, then had a 3 hour lay-over and then I left on a full plane with probably 5 other Americans to head for la Ciudad de Guatemala.  Guatemala City is the capital of Guatemala, and from what I've learned not exactly the safest city.  It was a very small airport although it is international, and flying in I remember seeing a soldier walking around with a gun as my plane landed.
          I was pretty nervous getting off of the plane, because that was when it really hit me that no one speaks English. Spanish is such a gorgeous language, and I was overwhelmed listening to the other passengers talking quickly to one another. I was able to pick up a few words here and there, but did not understand any of the full conversations.  I made my way through customs, got my lovely visa stamped onto my passport, and headed outside where I was supposed to look for a representative from Máximo that would be holding a sign with my name on it.
          Outside I go, and lovely; cannot find anyone holding a sign with my name on it. I must've looked extremely confused because an older man who worked for the airport came over to me and was trying to help me, but the language barrier made it difficult.  Luckily, I spotted my name in the crowd of people and mimed that I had found my ride, said "gracias" to him and headed off. My driver was very nice, but he also spoke very little English. He pointed out the sites as we passed them leaving Guatemala City, and enjoyed pointing out the numerous McDonalds, Burger Kings, and Subways along the road to Antigua.
        The scenery we passed on our ride from Guatemala City to Antigua was breathtaking. I sat in awe as we passed through valleys and up mountains, and was astonished to see a volcanoe off in the distance.  There are a few volcanoes surrounding Antigua, which I didn't know until I got here. The largest one is called Volcanoe de Agua and is directly south of the city. The other volcanoe that I have heard about is known as Volcanoe de Fuego, and is an active volcanoe.  Guides have told me that it erupts anywhere from 15 to 25 times a day, which is why people are not allowed to hike up to the very top.  The mountains are nothing like I have ever seen before;  it's really hard to even describe how beautiful the landscape here is so hopefully I'll be able to post a few pictures sometime this week.
        We stopped quickly at Máximo where I got a folder telling me my instructions for my orientation the following morning, and then off to my homestay.  The women who answered the door was not the owner of the house, Olga, but a friend of her's who often helps serve meals to the many volunteers.  She did not speak English either but after miming and my broken Spanish, she gave me two keys; one to the front of the house and one to my room, and then took me to where I was staying. I met the 3 other girls who are sharing my room, and had a relaxing night overall.
        This morning I had an orientation introducing me to Guatemala, Antigua, and the different options for Spanish courses and adventure outings that we can do in the time that we aren't volunteering.  We did a small walking tour of the city, which is fairly small, and then went home for lunch.  The interesting thing about Antigua is that there are ruins from a large earthquake that happened almost 300 years ago still in the city, so I walk past a few of these everyday when I go to Máximo. After lunch was when I finally got to go see the orphanage I'll be working at for the next two weeks.
        This particular orphanage is a Catholic orphanage run by nuns, and almost all of the children there are HIV positive.  There are around 60 kids living in the orphanage ranging from new borns to 12 years old, and the majority of them are boys.  We got a tour of the orphanage, which is aabout 45 minutes out of Antigua, and learned about what sort of work we will be doing.  I'm going to be working in a class room with kids ages 2, 3, and 4 years old starting tomorrow morning.  Two other girls who are working there with me will be dividing time between the nursery and helping to clean and cook.

Thats all that I have time for today, but I will be sure to blog again soon and describe the kids I'll be working with and what a typical day is. But for now, I am off to a salsa class with a few of the friends I've made :)