Thursday, June 20

This week my energy has been distracted by trying to sell furniture long distance before my house closes June 24 and not being able to send photos. This morning I discovered by accident that I get better internet access early in the morning. I have been in my “office” (photo to follow) in a corner of the garden since 4:00am.

I am surprised by how little I think about not having a home in the traditional sense. Rosa and Felipe have been encouraging me to buy some land here, which is a financial possibility. I’ll have to think about it. I can imagine settling down here. There is such a demand for English that I could be busy all the time, and I am impressed by the commitment and knowledge of the people I am working with.

Guatemala continues to charm me. The level of living is relaxing for me. For instance, I do all my laundry by hand and hang it out to dry. A friend told me I will be most impressed by the amount of dirty water I generate when I finally get back to MN and wash my clothes in the machine. The first day I asked Felipe if there was a way I could keep the windows in my room open. He handed me three pencils. Yesterday I ran out of ink in my marker during class, so Selvin refilled it for me.

People use materials over and over here. There is a degree of decay and grubbiness which is a little disconcerting at times but is also pretty easy for me to adjust to. There is so much natural beauty here and so much trash. It seems that every property is in a process of falling apart or being rebuilt but never completed. I hope my photos show some of this.

After having lived such an isolated life in Durham, I am continually surprised by how easy it is for me to be around people so much. Rosa and Felipe’s kids run around the courtyard, I’m in and out of the school all day having conversations with teachers and students. There are about 50 people all told at the school right now, but the garden is so large that we all have space. It has been a little hard for me not to have my own space as I did in San Marcos, but the “office” I just discovered this week seems to be out of the way and not used much.

The teachers here are wonderful, and I continue to be impressed by their commitment to teaching and their sense of community. I think that a great deal of the openness I encounter is a reflection of the physical openness of the school. Almost all the classes take place, and when I wander through the garden during the day, I love hearing the sounds of the individual lessons. The teachers generally work one on one with the students, or occasionally with two at a time.
By now I know almost all the teachers and have special relationships with a number of them. They are very eager to learn English, and it is fun being the resident expert.

There is strong focus on social justice and education here. Tuesday evening Felipe, the man in whose house I live, gave his testimony about being abducted and tortured during the war when he was 16. Rafa had asked me to go and interpret, so my focus was mostly on that. Afterwards I had to take some time to absorb his chilling story. Last night Rafa gave a history of the civil war and the peace accords. I have been teaching so much that I almost fell asleep, but the information is something I can come back to and will.