3 Girls and a Birthday Present

As you all know last Monday was my 25th birthday...ahhh. My amazing parents offered to pay for a hotel or a nice dinner out with friends to celebrate the big day. This past weekend Jess, Erika and I decided to make a trip to the lake and what a better way to spend my birthday present....so we did!

Colorful blankets being sold in the market.

In the Guatemalan way, we were picked up by our transport an hour late and hit the road for our 2.5 hour journey to Panajachel. Panajachel is one of the largest towns surrounding Lake Atitlan. It is right on the shores of the lake and it is filled with restaurants, little shops and an amazing market of the most beautiful handmade items. Once we arrived we began "hotel shopping" since my parents had agreed to pay for the hotel for the weekend. We must of gone into over fifteen hotels and asked to see the rooms, until we found just the right one. During our hotel search the heavens opened and it began to downpour, we took a quick coffee detour and then continued on our way determined to find the right hotel. Moments later we spotted a Hotel Primevera 

( http://www.primaveratitlan.com/ ) and it looked adorable from the outside. We walked in and right away new that this hotel would be the birthday present. The hotel had an adorable patio with chairs and tables and the rooms were big with comfortable beds, CABLE TV, HOT/STRONG showers, and a window seat overlooking the main street.....we were sold!

The rest of the weekend we spent enjoying the beautiful weather, the beautiful lake, the great food and the amazing culture that Panajachel has to offer. We walked up and down the cobble stone streets admiring and buying the beautiful handmade items. There was everything you could think of from blankets and pillow covers, to suitcases and bags, to clothes, jewelry and more. At the end of the cobble stone streets is the lake with the most amazing view of the surrounding towns and volcanoes....such an amazing vista. We enjoyed some delicious food, live music, and walked along the lake.

Jess, Erika and I taking in the beautiful view of the lake.

Boat ride across the lake!

Sunday we took a boat over to San Pedro, another town across the lake, to take a shuttle back to NPH with a few other volunteers. After finding the right boat, which took us forever, we hopped on and had a very rough and choppy ride over to San Pedro. I did not mind the waves and the choppiness because it was so amazing to be out on a boat in the middle of the most beautiful lake surrounded by mountains and volcanoes. When we arrived in San Pedro we grabbed a quick lunch by the lake and headed to the shuttle to return home to Parramos. Great birthday present Mom and Dad and it was such a treat!

Ringing in 25 the Guatemalan Way

I couldn't have asked for a better birthday. The day started off with me being woken up by a group of friends with a delicious fruit salad (with candles), a steaming cop of coffee and a birthday song. May I add that I am the only one that gets up that early (6:15) so they all woke up at least an hour earlier to make me breakfast...i was really feeling the love.  I had also been laying in bed for the previous ten minutes deciding if I should get up in time to eat breakfast or not....guess this solved that problem.

After my delicious breakfast I headed to work where I was greated by all the children with smiling faces,  big hugs and many feliz cumpleaños teacher! Throughout the day I was given many more friendly birthday wishes and a slew of cards from the girls in my section. Each girl in my section made the most elaborate and intricate cards for me.

At lunch time someone must have sent word to the kitchen that it was my birthday because there were not beans for lunch...we had maccoroni and cheeese!!!!!! After lunch a bunch of us went down to Parramos for a birthday ice cream at Sarita, the local ice cream store!

Returned back to school for my afternoon planning period and then off to enjoy the evening! We had planned on making pizzas (the dough and all) for dinner so beforehand I went up to the dinning all to say hi to my section of girls and to thank them for the beautiful birthday cards! I was greeted by my whole section surrounding me and singing happy birthday in both English and Spanish. So sweet! I thought this was the end of the celebration...but little did I know what was going to happen next. I did know that it was a tradition to dump water on people and get them soaking wet on their birthdays, but my girls hadn't mentioned it and it was so late in the day I figured I was going to make it through the day dry! It is never good to make assumptions. As I was walking out of the dinning hall a few girls in my section asked me to come out front with them...I started to get suspicious and as we walked out the door I was drenched with buckets and buckets of water. The next ten minutes or so then turned into a massive water fight and me trying to hug all the girls and get them wet.

I walked back down to my house sopping wet and the evening of pizza, cake, drinks and new friends began. Erika and I made four pizzas with all sorts of toppings, from pineapple and ham to margarita with fresh basil from outside our house. All of the other volunteers came by and we all enjoyed guacamole (thanks to Karla) and chips while the pizzas cooked. Everyone was so thoughtful and I was given even more cards and a beautiful handmade coffee mug from Antigua. Coffee mugs are scarce in the volunteer houses so it is really nice to have your own! Now I have two (thanks mom and dad). We all sat around the big table and enjoyed the pizza and the company. After the pizza had been demolished we moved on to a cake (made by Molly and Jess) and again I was taken a back by another tradition here. I was unaware that is a tradition here to shove some of the birthday cake in the birthday girls/boys face and boy was my face covered in cake and chocolate!

It was a great 25th birthday and I am glad I got celebrate here in Guatemalan style!

Sometimes We Climb Volcanoes

Volcano Climb # 1- Pacaya

Pacaya is one of the many active volcanoes in Guatemala. It last erupted in May of 2010 raining ash down onto the surrounding towns and hitting as far as Antigua and Guatemala City. Yes---we decided we must climb this volcano.

Yesterday afternoon Molly, Regine, and I set off to Antigua to catch a transport to Pacaya. Pacaya is roughly located about an hour outside of Antigua, although the winding roads made the journey seem much longer. We arrived around 3pm and it promptly started to down pour. What now? Fortunately there were ponchos, actually there were pieces of plastic for sale which you could poke a whole in and stick your head through...better then nothing. We bundled up in our rainbow colored plastic bags and began the hour and a half treck up the side of a volcano! The trail that we took up the volcano is mostly ash due to the recent eruption and therefore it was difficult to get your footing and even though the trail is not too long it is directly up hill. Needless to say we were all out of breath (but don't worry if we got too out of breath there were horses behind us and you could jump on a ride up the volcano too!)

About a half an hour into the hike the clouds parted and the afternoon turned out to be gorgeous. We continued to hike upwards and as the trees parted we could see the most beautiful vistas. Our guide pointed our different cities and landmarks along the way. As the trail came to an end we walked out into an opening and there was the top of Pacaya! We were so close and we could see the steam smoking out of the top! But the hike was not over yet!

Although the trail ended we continued to hike of volcanic rocks for another twenty minutes and worked our way even closer to the volcano. The closer we got the warmer it was and you could feel the rocks/ground getting warmer too. When we reached our destination you could see the steam rising off of the rocks and the ground was hot enough to start a small fire. Our guide tossed some sticks in a pile and we all roasted marshmallows over the heat of a volcano. It was amazing!

As the sun began to set we headed back down the trail to the base of the volcano. We watched the most beautiful sunset off in the distance and began our decent. The trails were so ashy that on the way down it was almost impossible to have a good grip so you have to give in and slide---it was almost like skiing. The last part of the decent was dark, but luckily all of the guides as flashlights to lead the way. When we reached the bottom they were selling cervezas (aka beers). What more could you want?

One volcano down...I am ready for the next one!

Preschool Guatemalan Style

Every Friday I walk down a winding dirt path, looking ahead at the mountains and volcanos, to the babies house to teach English to the kids in Montessori. This is one of my favorite times of the week! I Never thought I would say it or admit it, but I miss teaching preschool. The Montessori program is for kids from 3 to 7 years old and it includes preschool, pre-kindergarten, and kindergarten. Upon entering the classroom I am greeted with many "hello teachers" and I join the students in their morning circle. When morning circle is finished I take the older half of the class (ranging from 4-7 years old) outside for our weekly English lesson. We gather around one of the picnic tables and begin our weekly lesson.

Every lesson begins with a song that gets the kids moving and listening to different commands in English. After we finish the song we talk about our two letters of the week, an activity I did with my class in DC, and then move on to our daily lesson. Over the past few weeks we have been learning colors in English. Each student has their own color book where they can draw and paste things that go with each color. (When I was making these I was told it was very obvious that I used to teach preschool in the US---thanks AppleTree.) After filling out each page of the book we have been going on scavenger hunts outside for items that are each color. Today was yellow and orange! Here are some pictures from the lesson.

Fatima, Cristina, Joseline, Concha, Ankayln and Yemiy found
an ORGANGE jaguar!

Concha, Cristina, Yeimy, Fatima, and Ankayln spotted ORANGE!

Concha and Cristina found the YELLOW roof!

Concha sits on a YELLOW car!

Yeimy and Joseline are honking a YELLOW horn.

Kermés

This weekend was my first Kermés with the children at NPH. Kermés is an event that the volunteers put on every two months for all of the children. Each Kermés has a theme and then the volunteers plan games, activities, and a day of fun that relates to the theme. Since the children here range in age, from 15 months to 18 years, the games are usually divided and geared toward each age group. With today being Valentine's Day we thought that an appropriate theme for Kermés this past weekend would be Amor and Amistad, which means love and friendship.

The volunteers all planned different events for the children ranging from a relay race where two people had to hug a balloon between their stomachs, to decorating heart shaped cookies and pinning the heart on the human. The games seemed to be a hit and the kids seemed to enjoy sharing in the day with us and their friends.

I was responsible for the activities in the babies house---so here are some pics from the day.

Yay-Yay loves sunglasses and he looks good in them too!

Luis wanted a turn---looking cool!

Don't forget me--baby Luis also wanted to try on the shades.

The girls decorating their hearts with stickers and glitter!

Marvin decorating his heart!

The babies of the house, Marvin and Luis, showing off their hearts!

Fredy--look at my heart!

Yaime and Brendy taking a break!

How many people can we fit on the seesaw?

Finally---we decorated and enjoyed heart shaped cookies.

What is your name?

When I was little I used to hate my name because no one ever understood what I was saying. I used to always have to repeat myself over and over and spell my name out for people. As I got older I took pride in having a different name. I liked when people would ask me about my name and tell me how original or beautiful it was. 

In the past month or so, since I have been in Guatemala, I have again been questioning what my parents were doing naming me Thayer. Clearly they were not thinking about the time I would spend abroad in a Spanish speaking country. In the Spanish language there is no “th” sound so pronouncing my name correctly is virtually impossible.

While introducing myself over the past six weeks, to kids, tios/tias and other volunteers alike, these are the responses I have received.

“What is your name?"

“Can you say that again?"

“Is that a common name in the states?"

“Taller”

“Teacher Player”

“Fea”
"Fayer"

“Seor”

“Tire”

“Taylor”

“There”

So what is comes down to is Mom and Dad what were you thinking.....

Proyecto Familiar

Yesterday after work I had my first Proyecto Familiar, also known as family project. Each volunteer is required to do two Proyectos Famililares each month and you are assigned a family/siblings to spend a few hours with. During Proyecto Familiar you can do anything fun with the kids, from walking to Parramos to get icecream, to baking a cake, to playing games, or watching a movie. Proyecto Familiar is a great opportunity for siblings to spend time together in a relaxed and fun atmosphere because they are often separated in their living arrangements due to age and gender. Some kids who have older siblings in high school, which is 20-30 minutes away in Chimaltenango, rarely get to see their siblings apart from these elected times. The kids really enjoy having this time to hang out with their brothers and sisters and a volunteer and do something special.

My project yesterday was with two brothers, who I actually have in class, Deniss (15) and Abner (14). We spoke a few days before and decided on making a pizza, dough and all, and watching a movie. They were both very excited! Meghan, an old volunteer, and I went into Parramos during our lunch break and got all the necessary items to make pizza dough and the toppings for a delicious pizza. We met the boys in the English Department and got to work on an amazing pizza. Meghan and I had already made the dough and we brought all the toppings for the boys to help put on. We cut up peppers, onions, tomatoes and cheese and made a delicious looking pizza. Abner put on the finishing touch...all of our first initials written with cheese!

When we were done with the pizza I ran it down to the oven in the volunteers house, while the boys began watching Indiana Jones! I brought the steaming and delicious pizza back up when it was done and we all enjoyed our master piece while watching the movie. All in all I would say it was a great first Proyecto. I am looking forward to my next one in a few weeks.

Weekend at the Lake

When I say weekend at the lake I know what most of you are envisioning. You are envisioning a lake in the north, for example Lake Winnipesaukee, which is surrounded by trees with docks sticking out into the lake to tie up a canoe or a rowboat. Erase that vision because when I say weekend at the lake that is not what I mean.  When I say weekend at the lake this is what I mean. Breathtaking.

This past weekend almost all of the volunteers piled into cars and vans and drove a few hours, on very bumpy and curvy roads, to take a vacation at Lake Atitlán. Karla, another volunteer and the first Guatemalan volunteer NPH has ever had, and her boyfriend Miguel nicely offered up Miguel’s house on the lake for a weekend of relaxation and fun. We arrived late Friday night and trekked down at least two hundred stone steps through trees and darkness. I had no idea where we were or what to expect when we woke up the next morning. After a late evening, or early morning, of dancing, eating and drinking we all made our way up the bunkhouse where all the bedrooms were for a few hours of rest. When we woke up the next morning I was not prepared for the view that I saw. I walked outside of the bunkhouse and this is what I saw. A lake surrounded by the most beautiful mountains and volcanoes.

 After an amazing breakfast we made our way down to the dock for a day of sun, swimming, boating, soccer and fun! We spent the day in and out of the water, kayaking, trying to balance on a surfboard, jumping off the roof of the dock, enjoying the sun and trying to take in the beauty surrounding us. As the sun began to set we made our way back up to the house for a dinner of steak, sausage, salad, chips, guacamole, and more.  The rest of the evening was a mix of games, such as twister, dancing, drinking and laughing.

Sunday we all got up, enjoyed some delicious coffee thanks to Max, cooked up another amazing breakfast out on the porch, and cleaned up the house. No one wanted to leave this amazing place. We all trudged back up the two hundred and something stairs, took one last look behind us at the lake and jumped back into the cars and vans to return to NPH. This weekend was a weekend of much needed relaxation and fun! Muchas gracias a Karla y Miguel por todo!!!!

Time Really Flies!

I can’t believe I have already been here for close to a month. The past month has been so busy…I am now fully moved into my house and I am a week and a half into my new teaching position. Sometimes I have to stop and remind myself that I am in Guatemala! I am living in volunteer house number 4 with seven other volunteers, from the States, Germany, Belgium and Holland. It is nice to no longer be living out of a suitcase and to be settled into a place that I am going to be calling home for the next year.

Fatima girls!!!

School is also in full swing and I have been teaching two to three classes a day. I teach 7^th and 9^th grade every morning for an hour and then I teach second grade and a special education class twice a week and a preschool class on Fridays. My older classes are challenging, but it is giving me a different perspective on teaching and it is nice to be trying something new. My second grade class is wild, but adorable and I am using my AppleTree discipline with them already…got a sticker chart and all! I had my special education class today and the littlest of the bunch is an eight year old named Luis. He is too cute for words and he can’t pronounce my name so he has been calling me “Teacher Player” instead of Thayer.  All in all classes are going well, but I am really looking forward to teaching my one preschool class on Friday…then I will have taught all five classes at least once.

Photo booth fun!!!

Last night I went to have dinner and hang out with my section of girls again. They are a group of sixteen girls/young ladies with a lot of charisma. They are right on the border of being little girls still and becoming teenagers, yet they never seem to get tired of wrapping their arms around me or resting their head on my lap. We had a photo shoot and were in hysterics over photos that we took on my photo booth. 

Time really does fly.....when you are having fun!