Let's go fly a kite...

In Guatemala, All Saints Day is celebrated on November 1 (also known was Day of the Dead). We went up to the town of Santiago Sacatepequez to see the flying of the kites.


In Santiago, the setting was a cemetery and people fly the kites in hopes that they can communicate with their loved, departed ones.


It was a gorgeous day, sunny and warm with thousands of people crowding into the town. All along the path to the cemetery, people were selling food and souvenirs.


The kites were beautiful, very fragile and very detailed. The larger ones had a hard time getting off the ground because there wasn't much breeze, but some people had success flying smaller ones.










Even though it's the Day of the Dead, the cemetery was very festive and people also spend the day with their family. Fiambre is a special food, reserved for All Saints Day and we had a chance to try some (thanks to my Spanish teacher).

Viva las tortugas!!

All Saint's Day is an official holiday in Guatemala, and we had the day off from school! Stephanie and I decided to get out of town and we headed back to the beaches of Monterrico to get some sun and free a sea turtle!



In Monterrico, there are some tortugarios, where they work on preserving the sea turtles and keeping them safe. On Saturday evenings you can participate in the liberacion de tortugas, where people purchase a sea turtle and release it into the ocean!



Getting ready for the race...


...getting our sea turtles! Okay, I'll admit...they looked like aliens. I didn't touch mine for almost 20 minutes until Stephanie made me.


And then we released them into the ocean!!

Feels like home to me...

It's hard to believe it's been just over a month since being here, but the good thing is that it's feeling more and more like home. The mold situation is manageable and I've gotten into the swing of things at school. For those of you who have asked, here is what my apartment looks like.

La sala


El comedor


La cocina


Mi dormitorio


Mi bano and the nice closet - all the apartments have these amazing closets!


PLEASE NOTE THE SPARE BEDROOM AND BATH, AWAITING THE FIRST GUESTS. :)
Bano extranjeros


El dormitorio extranjeros

Let freedom ring!

September 15 is the Guatemalan Independence Day and we had the day off from school. Mid-week day off? Yes, please! The days preceding were filled with lots of schoolwide activities: dance performances, marching band and getting ready for the holiday. On Tuesday, the 14th, we had a day filled with special events. There was a display set up near one of the main offices. A lot of the children came to school dressed in the colors of the bandera (flag), which are blue and white or came in tipico ropa (typical clothing). An interesting comment made to me was that most children make fun of tipico ropa every day out of the year, and the people who wear them (Mayan) but on this holiday, we all embrace that which we normally disdain...



The day started out with the running with the torch.



Next we sang the national anthem and raised the Guatemalan, US and CAG flags.


After recess, our class (along with the other EC classes) participated in a schoolwide parade. We walked around campus and chanted "Guatemala, Guatemala." Normally this breaks my "no-chanting-unless-we're-at-a-sporting-events" classroom rule, but I figured it was a special occasion.


When we returned from the parade, moms had set up our classroom into five different food centers, with typical Guatemalan yummies to try. Here the kids are making rellenitos - plantains with beans in the middle and then dipped in sugar.


This center was the atol de elotes (corn drink). It was warm, sweetened with cinnamon, floating with corn and interesting. I liked it but most kids didn't.


The kids loved making guacamol (no e). I watched one kid mash up avocado, dump 3 scoops of salt on it and squeeze a dash of lime. He mixed it all together and ate it with a spoon.


The tortilla were homemade, doughy and crispy and the kids loved them!


The last center was the tostada center where we also had Rose de Jamaica, a juice flavored with petals of the jamaica. So good! You can see the petals scattered on the table.


I made sure to try every center but the tostada was my favorite!


And what did we all do the next day, to celebrate the holiday? We all went to the mall and had massages. :) Tired teachers needed a time of pampering.

I turn my camera on...

Saturday morning the newbies were taken to Antigua for a scavenger hunt.



Antigua is the former capital of Guatemala and a beautiful, colonial town about an hour from Guatemala City. Antigua is a big tourist spot and has a great language school.





We split into groups, were assigned pictures to take and had a great time traveling through the city.

My scavenger hunt group


Mags and I found some random goats!


And the bakery with the greatest bread! Mmm, pan!


When we regrouped for lunch, we had an awesome meal at Casa Santo Domingo, a former monastery.

See you, me and Julio down by the schoolyard...

On Friday we got a chance to see the campus of CAG. It is incredibly beautiful! The campus is very green, filled with plants and flowers.








The classrooms are lovely with lots of windows and natural light. All the rooms open up into courtyard or green space.



The playspace is for Early Childhood. There are six sections of each class, around 220 students. The entire campus is about 1500 students K-12 - impressive!





Finally, the pool. I hope that you can all come visit me and check out this gorgeous place that I am fortunate enough to teach at!!

Flying first class...up in the sky...

A long day of travel coupled with saying goodbye to people I love, while dragging my weight in luggage, is not necessarily my best day of fun, but yesterday I got spoiled. I was fortunate enough to be on the same flight as a friend, Verne Kenney, who was traveling to Guatemala for business.

Traveling with Verne has many perks. I got to experience the Admirals Club in Dallas (which is like a whole other secret world filled with nice bathrooms, free snacks, recliner chairs and a bar) and bumped to first class from Dallas to Guatemala.

Once we arrived in Guatemala, we made it through customs and met up with people from CAG (Colegio Americana Guatemala). The wonderful drivers for the school took all of my luggage to the hotel. No more carrying 75 pounds and dragging another 150. Bliss.

I rode with Jennifer, my principal and two other teachers who had been on my flight. We got to the Clarion Suites and I find out that I am in a king suite by myself. It's glorious. I couldn't have asked for more. I feel incredibly spoiled and fortunate.

My temporary home:






Oh and by the way...the weather here? Perfect. It's high of 72 today, not humid and the lows are around 60. I love it so far, but I do miss you all.