Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Tuesday, June 10

Yesterday after writing, I went to Moonfish Café to get my morning coffee, by far the most delicious in San Marcos, roasted and ground there. Moonfish is at the end of the village in an idyllic setting against rocks with a lovely garden overlooking the lake. The food-breakfast burritos and huevos rancheros are my favorites- is delicious and cheap for San Marcos. I was the first one there and sat looking down at the beautiful lake, listening to Cat Stevens (a favorite musician from back in the day):
Morning has broken like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken like the first bird
Praise for the singing
Praise for the morning
Praise for the springing fresh from the word

Sweet the rain's new fall
Sunlit from heaven
Like the first dewfall, on the first grass
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden
Sprung in completeness where His feet pass

Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning
Born of the one light, Eden saw play
Praise with elation, praise every morning
God's recreation of the new day

To make the moment perfect, every few minutes a drop of rain would fall on a table and splash brilliant colors. If I ever thought I was in Eden, it was this morning. I knew that my time in San Marcos was nearing an end was overwhelmed with feelings for the beauty of this place, for the tranquility it provided me as I explored and made my plans, and for the wonderful conversations with Daniel here.

Later I went by la lancha to San Pedro to talk with Ramón and find a place to live. After looking at two other places, I decided to stay with a family next door to the language school, in the same enclosure through a doorway. I have my own room with a shared bath, will take my meals with the family, have access to the family garden and the school garden (which is beautiful and extensive and as yet unexplored), free wireless internet, and a path to the lake. All this will cost $200/month with some room for negotiation if I stay all summer. The parents, Rosa and Felipe, are lovely and very direct. They said they would accommodate my diet and leave food for me if I wasn’t there during meals, and they encouraged me to speak up if there was anything I needed. They have four children, ages 3 to 14 (I think). This place is located in a safe and quiet barrio about a ten-minute walk from the main dock.

In the afternoon I went to the bank and to the phone store to add more minutes. On the way back to the school I was caught in the hardest rain yet; the water in the very steep streets was three or four inches deep in places, and after some time I stopped trying to avoid the puddles because there were simply no dry places. It is hard to imagine how much this unusual and incessant is damaging Guatemala.

I taught my first class, to five of the men who teach Spanish at the school-Javier, Julio, Lorenzo, Francisco, and Selven. To my surprise, they were as rowdy a bunch of students as I have ever had; it was like teaching a group of middle schoolers. I have to think about how much of a disciplinarian to be. I remembered afterwards teaching my first Latinos in North Carolina. The young men especially were often rowdy and noisy, though never disrespectful, and I realized that they were coming to class after very long days of physical labor and that maybe my class was the only place in which they could be silly. Although these men are not in exactly the same situation, they are young and, I imagine, have a great deal of responsibility in their lives. Being students is a good time for them to cut loose, and I have to admit that I do the same and have noticed other teachers being very silly when they are students. The good news was that, as teachers, the men had excellent processing skills and an ability to put the learning in the context of their own knowledge as language teachers; the bad new was that one of them in particular had a very strong idea about how and what I should be teaching. I think it will be a challenge with him.

I came back to San Marcos on the boat with some interesting characters. There was a young and very beautiful woman, traveling with a man, who is looking for her shaman. She talked with several expats on the boat about the vibration and frequency of San Marcos being perfect for her and asked about the most powerful place in Guatemala to celebrate summer solstice. I had seen her on the dock with her companion at a used clothing stall trying on a tight leotard over her clothes and prancing around in it. The local men were watching her, looking bemused as though they were seeing an alien. Ironically the men on the boat with whom she was talking about health and good vibrations had teeth black from smoking. The young Mayan next to me gave me a funny look, clearly about these people, and we agreed that they were a little strange. We struck up a conversation, and he expressed great interest in learning English. We agreed to try to set up a language exchange. Almost everyone I meet wants me to teach them or their children English, but I had a good feeling about this man. Perhaps I liked his vibration! He is a teacher too, so I think it could be a fruitful exchange.

Today I will move to San Pedro and begin to settle in there. Tomorrow I go to Pana to talk about the university program. Life is busy here. Luckily I very much enjoy the boat rides.

1 comment:

Steve Wexler-Romig said...

Thank you sooooo much for sharing your experiences with us! I enjoy reading your blog every chance I get; it is a highlight of my day. You are such a good writer. The pictures help a lot to make it more real for me.