Arrived and Pollo Conejo Arroz!

I have arrived safely in Guatemala and my home, El Tizate 9 days ago. It seems like I have already been here for a few months and this unfamiliar place feels like home.

I'm learning very quickly that the village of El Tizate is very relational. Not in the North American sense, but in the sense of relationships before careers and self driven ambitions. The days are very busy here but through serving this community from usually 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., I'm gaining the experience through the service.

First, the guys on the team are involved in building 3 houses for 3 families (all related). This means manual labour (that probably could be done in 5 minutes with a proper machine) in the mornings (using shovels and wheelbarrows). We are working alongside a Guatemalan construction team that Global Shore has hired to continue building houses whether or not the summer student team is here. This is where I am starting to get to know some Guatemalan men, and talk about what construction workers talk about - we'll leave that unsaid! (work of course *wink*). Not only is this a time to build relationships with the workers, but also when we have seen the family - who's life is in a state of transition and transitioning into a state of hope. Every drop of sweat is worth that!

Three evenings of the week - Monday, Thursday and Friday - I teach the advanced ESL class in Tizate with Kat (the caffeine-addict, by the way - I don't drink coffee everyday anymore). This is a place where we are not only teaching English, but building relationships with the local villagers. I love it!

Finally - my host family. Marianna and Factor are wonderful. They live with their daughter and son-in-law, and their adorable grandchildren - Jocelyn and Jose. They are quite comforting and treat me as their own. Although sometimes I am not exactly sure what they are telling me. By the way, my Spanish is improving rapidly and I'd like to say I could make my way around by myself. I still need to work on fluency and telling stories. Hence, there have been funny stories. I will leave you with this one.

One day, Marianna gave me a delicious meal, "Pollo Conejo Arroz" (Poyo Cone-eh-ho A-roze). After eating it, and looking up Conejo in my Spanish dictionary, I realized I ate rabbit. Which I promptly ran to the animal cage in our home to still find the two rabbits alive and jumping. This prompted me to ask, and I had misheard. Indeed, I had not ate the rabbit, and instead, I had just at chicken (pollo) and it was actually "Pollo Consido Arroz" (for those who were wondering...I know you were). We laughed and laughed. So the joke each night is, "is this rabbit?"

Well, I must be off. Stay tuned! In a few days, I will be sharing with you my exciting new purchase!

Hasta Luego, from your fully-immersed Spanish friend.
Andreas