Why Guatemala? These past few weeks at the Academia Europea, every fellow teacher I meet has one question, “Why Guatemala? Why, Josh why?” Of course, I always respond by asking “Well, why are you here?” Comically, every non-chapin (chapin = Guatemalan) responds, “The wife is Guatemalan. The husband is Guatemalan. The boyfriend is Guatemalan. The girlfriend is Guatemalan.” I find this very comical. Oh, there was one exception to this phenomenon, as a British teacher responded, “A series of bad decisions and bad luck brought me here unfortunately”; however, K’mal quickly kept the streak alive by adding, “But I have a Guatemalan girlfriend, that’s the only reason I’m here now.” So why would this white Mennonite boy go to an unfamiliar third world country, leaving a country behind with loved ones? To this question, and the questions of the inquiring teachers I simply respond, “Three years ago, I spent a summer in the mountains of Tegucigalpa, Honduras as an intern for a mission organization. We spent the summer building houses, distributing clothes and food, and visiting orphanages and hospitals. That was the best summer of my life, and me being here is a testament to the love I grew that summer for Central America. Also, I have always wanted to live in another country, and being a recent college graduate without many of the responsibilities or common sense evident in most adults, I figured now was as good a time as ever to start a new chapter in my life. I don’t want to wake up one day, look at my life, and wonder why I never dared beyond the beaten path. Too many people I meet say, ‘Oh, I always wanted to learn another language. I wish I would have lived in another country.’ So for now, this gringo is pursuing his dreams in Guatemala City, Guatemala.”
I’ll be honest; though this is a dream come true, these past three weeks have not been terribly easy. My previous Latin American experiences from Honduras were limited to working with poor people and giving my time to help others in order to spread the news of Christ. This time, I am partaking in a different adventure. I moved to Guatemala City on my own to teach English at the Academia Europea. No organization behind me, nobody to answer too. This different angle has its positives and negatives. What are they? Well, thanks for caring. Let's see….
Positive: I am not surrounded by a huge group of gringos whenever I go out. I feel I can truly blend into the culture. Too often on mission trips, I felt that wherever I went, everyone was thinking, “There go those gringos”. Now, I can walk into an Internet café by myself, talk the afternoon away in Spanish with the taxi cab driver, or go spend a Friday night talking to our friendly security guard.
Negative: Since the day I have gotten here, my Guatemalan friends have repeatedly told me to be careful. Don’t walk alone at night. Don’t answer the phone in the street so people won’t try and rob it from you. Don’t ride the bus. At first, I tried to brush this advice off as my time spent in Honduras often makes me a little bolder and less afraid than others. However, every individual (Guatemalan or non-Guatemalan) I’ve met has a story about themselves or one of their friends being mugged. To back these stories up, somebody broke into my friend’s car at night the first weekend I was here. They did this by smashing a hole in his window with a crowbar. Luckily, none of us left anything valuable in the car, except for poor Niki and her backpack. Apparently, Guatemala is a little more dangerous than the other countries I have went too before. I'm not paranoid, but I have turned into a sort of 007 agent as I am always scoping out the street for potential riff-raff. Plus, I usually walk with an umbrella, and after what I have seen Jackie Chan do in movies, I know this is sufficient weaponry for my protection.
Positive: I actually like my job. At first, I didn’t feel I would be a good teacher. I’m not saying that I am great, but I have not had any students complain either. I work at the Academia Europea, a language school where students come in the morning and night to work on learning one of the languages we offer (German, Italian, Portuguese, French, but English is in the highest demand). Almost all of our students are either professionals who come to school before or after work, college students who are trying to pass the TOEFL, high school students trying to do better in their English classes, or just housewives who are trying to better their lives. The ability to speak English is a must for most people who want to get a good job in Guatemala, and good jobs are difficult to find. Therefore, most of my students are at least 18, but the ages do range. I have 60 year old students, and I have 15 year old students. The nice thing is keeping order in the classroom is really not a problem since everyone that comes actually wants to learn English. And I have made some good friends with the students; I always feel they have such interesting stories. Also, the teachers at my school boast diverse backgrounds. We have teachers from Holland, Britain, Germany, Poland, Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, and many others. I find this very interesting. I was expecting there to be a lot of fellow Americans here; however, this is not the case. I can only think of 3 other American teachers and that is out of about a pool of 40 people. I would say that more than half of the teachers are Hispanic, the rest come from European countries. These different backgrounds have provided the opportunity for me to meet many interesting people, which is something that I love to do.
Negative: This isn’t your typical 9-5 job. I have class from 7-8:30, 9-11, 3:30-5, 5-6:30, 6:30-8. In other words, I feel I spend all day at work; moreover, I am afraid I will have to work some Saturdays. In fact, I worked from 8AM unto 5PM this Saturday. This means my only free day during the weekend is Sunday. Ugghhhh. I didn’t come here to work and make money; I could make more back home. Plus, how will I be able to truly experience the culture if I just work all day?
Positive: We (My Salvadorian friend AB and I) live in a safe neighborhood in San Christobal. It really is beautiful, and there are several friends that live down the street.
Negative: I do not have a mode of transportation; San Christobal is about a 45-minute drive from work, and the traffic sucks here. Also, our security guard Camilo blows a whistle constantly throughout the night as he patrols the streets. Supposedly, this is supposed to scare away the criminals. What stops a criminal from knocking him out, and then blowing the whistle himself to keep all us unknowing residents from panicking, I have no idea.
Negative: My girlfriend lives in Sarasota, Florida, about a 4-day ride on a Cuban raft away.
Positive: The locals hit on me. For example, last weekend at Pizza Hut, a guy walked over to our table and told me that some of his friends wanted to meet me. I am a friendly guy, so I went with him. I should have known better once he took me into the playpen area. There in the corner of the playpen, sat two girls who I guessed were younger than my sisters. I later found out I was right. The scary part is that they guessed my age; what kind of 15 year olds try and hit on a guy 8 years older than them? The answer: one with a green card.
Negative: I do not have a car and I kind of live out of the center of the city. That makes it hard to go anywhere. I don't really have a life.
Negative: I can’t watch most Gator games or any of the Office shows.
Positive: I watched The Office season premier online. Wow, that was a hilarious episode. So excited for this season. Plus, I did not have to watch the Gators lose to Auburn either. Let me just say this; since we lost to Auburn, we are not a national championship team by far. Let’s go back to my original projection for 3 losses this year.
Negative: I had a rash/wrinkled skin appear on my neck. A supervisor at work advised me that I might have contracted scabies by birds perching on my clothes when they are hung out to dry.
Positive: Dermatologist says I did not contract an STD. Instead, I must be more careful shaving and use higher quality cream. At least, that is what I thought he said in Spanish. I am just glad I don’t have scabies. It's always a good day when you find out you don't have a STD.
Negative: I miss working out in the YMCA. I can feel my muscles shrinking.
Positive: The average Guatemalan weighs about 100 pounds. I’m not too worried.
Negative: The presence of Internet in our apartment is non-existent.
Positive: I can write super long irregular blogs that no living person will read to make up for this.
Bye-bye. I must go. Everyone here at the missionary house is asleep. (There is a sweet missionary family down the street who has been a godsend. They have Internet and free calls to the United States. Also, the wife is a good cook. Score!
hasta luego, (oooh, one more Positive: I feel my Spanish is improving steadily every day)
Hoss.
posted by hoss at
1:54 AM
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