Dear Reader,
So how many cultural errors can you
make in one day? The answer: way too many. I've been in Guatemala for one day
and I've already said something unpleasant to my Spanish teacher. It's not my
fault really, I'm not a native Spanish speaker so I don't know what I'm saying
half the time or at least that's what I tell myself. At the end of the day
folks just know that Muertos and Miernas are DEFINITELY not the same word. I
learned that one the hardway, but we'll come back to that experience later on.
Let's start with how my day began.
I woke up at 7:00 a.m. curtesy of my trusty phone alarm. I personally think it's the most god-awful sound to grace this universe, but that's why I use it as my alarm in the first place. If it was a sound that I actually didn't mind hearing in the morning, there's no way that I'd actually wake up for it. Once I got up, I promptly went into the bathroom to brush my teeth, wash my face, and get changed. I waited for Kit to do the same and then we both entered the kitchen, me more warily then Kit, to greet our host family . Now, don't get me wrong, I love our host family. They are extremely nice people. I just don't know what they're saying half the time or really I don't know how to respond.
The nice thing about Spanish is that it really is similar to French and it's also kind of similar to English. If someone had asked me to translate what my host family said this morning, I think I could get about 75-80% of the information right. The problem is being the non-Spanish speaker that I am, I usually can't respond to the questions asked of me, at least not in Spanish anyway. Honestly, it kind of sucks. It makes me almost want to go back in time to 7th grade and choose to learn Spanish just in preparation for these moments at the breakfast table when I'm asked about my opinion on sports. It would be nice if I could reply with more than just Me gusta football (I like soccer), but that is what my Spanish immersion classes are for. I'll admit, while I love working with children, the part of today that I was most excited for was Spanish class, but at the time we were eating breakfast my Spanish classes were 7 hours away. Meanwhile, my work in the orphanage was only 30 minutes away and quickly approaching.
At 8:15 Kit and I greeted Petra and an A
Broader View intern at our host family's door. They then proceeded to walk us
to the orphanage. The walk was a little awkward, simply because it felt less
like a casual walk and more like a photo shoot. A Broader View is very big on
advertising itself and it's brand. In a way Kit and I became a part of that
brand when we signed up for the program, thus our glorious pictures were taken
and will be posted on facebook to convince other people to be like us and
volunteer through A Broader View.
When we got to the
orphanage/shelter, Petra as well as the woman in charge of the Orphanage told
us about the people living in the compound. The girls living there were
separated into two groups, Las Princessas and Las Madres. Las Princessas were
girls ranging in age from 10-17 who’d been abused and were there to seek refuge
as well as an education. Las Madres were girls ranging from age 11 and older
who had children, usually 2 years old or under and similarly were there to get
an education and have a place to stay.
Once all the info
was out of the way we got down to the ground rules. The first and most
important rule was that absolutely no pictures were to be taken. As many of the
girls in the shelter were abused, picture taking brings up some unwelcomed
confrontation and conflict in the shelter that the owners would rather do
without. Secondly we were told to be proactive with our work. In other words if
a baby starts crying, we were to rush to it and provide comfort. And that's
what we did for the next four hours, comforting babies and preventing tantrums.
It had its highs and its lows, but overall it felt pretty fulfilling. I was
able to meet and talk with other volunteers as we bonded over our shared experience
as care-takers and practice bits and pieces of my non-existent Spanish
knowledge.
When it was 12:15,
Kit and I left the shelter to go home for lunch. We ate some delicious breaded
chicken with rice and seasoned vegetables and then proceeded to have some down
time before our 2:30 Spanish lesson. At 2:15, Petra came to pick us up again
and take us to Spanish class. We got to the internet café where our classes
were to be held and proceeded to meet our respective teachers. My teacher’s
name was Jaime and Kit’s teacher’s name was Elsavador. We then split up and got
to work with our respective Spanish teachers.
It very quickly became apparent to Jaime that while I wasn’t a complete beginner at Spanish (I can say the most basic phrases, say the alphabet and count to 100, which are all the general perks of having taken Spanish for 4 years in elementary school), I needed all the help I can get. This was shown exclusively with my confusion between muertos and miernas. Jaime had asked me about my grandparents and I’d attempted to tell him that they were dead, which would be “Mi abuelo y mi abuela son muertos”. Instead it came out as a mixture of the word muertos and miernas, kind of like miertas, a word I’m sure does not exist in Spanish at all. Jaime quickly made sure to tell me that Miernas was Spanish for sh*** and that it was NOT the same thing as muertos. After that confusion the lesson went pretty well. It was complete Spanish immersion, considering Jaime knows very little English, but I enjoyed it. While I do love the babies I can quickly see Spanish classes becoming my favorite part of the day as they should be considering they are also 4 hours long. With that much time devoted to Spanish lessons there is no way I should walk out of this country without being able to have even the smallest conversation in Spanish.
After Spanish class, Kit and I walked home. We ate dinner with our host family and then proceeded to get ready for bed. Overall today was a good day. I’m beginning to really like Quezeltanango and I think I’ll really miss it when I have to leave, but luckily we won’t be leaving for two weeks. In the meantime I think I’ll soak in all the experience and culture that I can.
Sincerely,
Journey
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