Days 115-116: The Last Wednesday and Thursday

Wednesday. The most rain I have seen since I have been in Guatemala. Pretty much the whole day was drizzly, I actually wore jeans for the first time since leaving Buenos Aires.

At school we worked more with numbers, moving full speed ahead with number 7. I am making 'friends' with the children now, they are all used to my presence in the classroom, and they know I speak Spanish. It is fun talking with them; it is quite different from talking with adults, I feel like all of the adults are paying attention to my accent, my grammatical errors, while the children just hear what I am saying. The only problem I have had so far is when my Argentinean accent makes my Spanish 'foreign' to the children's ears. Since they are not accustomed to accents, the 'shh' sound that I use throws them for a loop. So I have to be more careful with my speech in that respect. Mostly, I just end up repeating the sentence, sans-accent the second time.

I went over to the Earth Lodge after school. There are two women from Australia there right now, a dentist from England, and two girls from Canada. It had been nice chatting with them, sharing stories and plans for the future. Only problem is the lack of Spanish, English really is the primary language at the hotel, but I guess it is about time I adjust to the concept of speaking only in English, my return is coming up quickly. I did finish my El Eternauta book, the gift from Germán, and I have to say it was an excellent read, such good practice for maintaining my Spanish. Thank you Germán and Marta.

My bus stop

Today has been rather wet as well. It was drizzling as I caught the bus this morning (a very full bus due to the fact that I get on right before the market, so all of the vendors are in the bus). The drivers all know me now, I am the only 'gringo' I have ever seen on the bus. This morning I wish someone could have taken a picture of my white face and blonde hair standing out horribly amidst the sea of stall owners.

Today in school not too much academics happened. Seño Dora and I did a lot of homework checking, and I wrote out the homework for this weekend and Monday night. I want to do as much for her as I can before I leave, since she is really quite overwhelmed by the size of the class. She needs a full-time assistant. Anyone want to do some volunteer work in Guatemala? Just before break, we went for a little march down the road a bit. She had them all lifting their knees, swinging their arms and singing little songs (including the Spanish version of 'Twinkle, Twinkle." Super cute.

On our 'march'

Returning to school

"Seño-Emma-Teacher"

I get so used to how short the kids all are while we are still in the classroom setting, since the chairs and tables are all pint-sized too. But once I was standing up and we were out on the road, I noticed how a lot of them really just came up to my hips. If even.

After school, Seño Dora had a meeting so I sat outside the classroom with a couple of the kids who were waiting on siblings in older grades. We took some photos, they played some soccer in the rain, and we talked a bit, which was great. One of the boys was really quiet in class, but he talked to me after school, it was very sweet.

Kindergarten, 1st Grade, 13th Grade(?)

I caught the midday bus today, market day, and so I got back to Antigua at around 1.00p. I went out again in the afternoon to look around the market a bit, and to buy some bread. I bought two loaves, and took a half from each and gave them to the family here as a gift. Besides, I wanted both flavors, but there is no way I could eat that much bread.

The bakery.

The biggest news this evening I just heard about about a half an hour ago, as I was starting to type. Carmen contacted me about the little tremor that we all felt this afternoon. I had originally thought it might be the construction next door, but it lasted a little too long and was not accompanied by an obvious noise. I did not think anything of it, Carmen had told me it happens in Guatemala, but it turns out that it was just a little indication of what is happening nearby.

The volcano Pacaya has been erupting, throwing ash and rock over Guatemala City and the surrounding areas. There have been volcanic rock injuries, ash is covering the capital currently, and most importantly for me, the airport is closed. The rain is supposed to continue at least through the night, Carmen suggested that I keep the doors and windows closed in case any ash comes down with the rain. Talk about going out with a bang. Schools are being closed across three provinces, including the one I am in currently (Sacatepequez, quite the mouthful) so I do not know if I will have school tomorrow. I sent an email to Jonathon and Emma, hopefully they will respond.

So, I have to hope that the City can clear up the runways before Sunday, and that I can leave without any delays. It is looking a little uncertain right now, but I do not have a very clear picture of how things will shape up.

Chao.