Today was my first day of class. So good. We started out with some history of Guatemala and how Xela, the city we´re in, was highly active in the recent civil war. We were told that one of the purposes of the school 20 years ago was to raise money for the families of two students who were drug out into the streets, tortured and murdered. The income from the school was to pay for lawyers and help support the families. Since then the school has had a hang in many of the social justice issues of Xela and Guatemala. Right now they work with an after school program for children, reforestation up in the mountains, the one and only local women´s shelter, and with different indigenous people here securing their rights.
After a brief overview we met our teachers. Aparently, my teacher is one of the best in the school and kinda badass. She fought as a guerilla in the civil war for 25 years, helped out during the war as a nurse and is barely 5´foot tall. She also might be the cutest thing I´ve ever seen. I can´t ever look at her and think she ever fought in any war. I´ll tell you more about her once I find out more.
I got hooked up with my family on Sunday afternoon. An older couple with12 grandchildren. Two live down the street and met up with us for some lunch. They little one, Emily, is almost one and the older girl, Melani, is 6. We played some bingo today after lunch but she called it loteria like lottery. We had some amazing noodle chicken soupy thing that tasted like gormet top ramen with veggies. So good!
My week looks awfully packed with some incredible trips (like the one to the midwifery in a rural village and the one to the largest market in Central America) and a lot of studying. Looks like I´m going to be learning a lot here especially regarding the social issues facing the Guatemaltecas. It´s so good to be around people passionate about learning more than just the language but the culture as well. 
Here´s a picture from one of the streets here in Xela. We were looking for a used book store but we found a good photo op.
Here´s a graffiti stencil from one of the polictal patries running here in Guate. I don´t think this is the good one but I should find out.
I can´t figure out how to arrange my photos so here´s a cool building and my bedroom. oh and Erin finally got here too... los tres amigas!
3 comments:
I'm so glad that you've been updating your blog. I wanted to go to Ruth's, but I guess you have to be invited to read hers. I'm not sure if you'll get a chance to read this because I don't know how the comments thing works, but I want you to know I think about you every day and I love you. I hope the rest of the trip continues to be as fun and exciting as the first few days. I hope you learn a lot of spanish too, because, just so you know, it's LAS Tres amigas, not LOS. They'll probably cover that sometime during weeks one. Love you, Catie.
Hi Sis,
I was just thinking how incredibly ironic it is that we are both going to be doing Spanish language immersion programs in Spanish speaking countries at the same time, and we don't even live in the same town. I don't start till Monday though. Have fun!! I love you. We'll practice when we are both back on Cali soil.
Hey,
So I am so excited that you get to learn about the social issues as well as the language!! I love it! It's such an important part of each culture. So I leave Monday for Uganda. In the next couple of days I will send you the blog info. Love you chica, Amanda
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