I felt like I should write one more entry, even if no one reads it. After a full day of traveling, we arrived safely at the airport in Dulles, and then drove in vans back to EMU. Many of my close friends decided to get up and wait for our return, and so when the vans pulled up there were a lot of screams, hugs and tears shed. After talking with them for an hour or so, I decided that I was a little tired from being awake for about 24 hours. The weekend was relaxing, and a good time to reconnect with friends. I also was able to call my family, which seemed a very strange (but wonderful) thing to be able to just pick up the phone and call them. Monday morning, we gave a presentation about our cross cultural in chapel. We sang, performed skits, reflected and shared pictures with the EMU community. It was great to be able to at least give a glimpse of our travels and our time abroad. We are also anxiously awaiting the return of the other cross cultural group from EMU this semester, the Middle East group. It will be interesting to talk about their experiences as well. Overall, I have felt very blessed by the welcome and curious questions that I have been asked by everyone.

Culture shock is a very strange feeling. Sometimes, it is almost like I am having an out-of-body experience. Most of the time, I feel farely normal, but occasionally those feelings hit me. Being with my cross cultural group and talking with them has made things much easier. They are going through the same things and know what it feels like. We all joke about the fact that we have been together for around 100 days straight and yet now we still always want to be together. There are definitely perks about being back, such as eating peanut butter, drinking from a water fountain, smelling the fresh air and flowers on campus, talking to friends and family I have missed and hot showers. I still find myself thinking in Spanish and catch myself starting to speak in Spanish. Today, our group split up to do a scavenger hunt around Harrisonburg. We were asked to find church services in Spanish, restaurants and have conversations with locals in Spanish. It was cool to practice our Spanish in a familiar community. One restaurant owner in particular spoke English to us, and his eyes lit up when we started speaking Spanish with him. :) What a wonderful thing to meet someone where they are at and bless them by getting on their level. I hope that I will be able to use my Spanish to connect with people and keep practicing it so that I don't lose it. I know that God has so richly blessed me through this experience and taught me many things. I hope that I can find ways to be a blessing to others and use what I have learned on this trip in the future.

I can't believe it!! Today is our last day in Puebla, Mexico! This last Friday, we had a banquet at a Brazilian restuarant. We first enjoyed mini tacos and my favorite, fried bananas!! :) Then, we were treated to a fabulous buffet, as well as a ton of different cuts of meat. We didn't really always know what we were eating, but that's half the fun of it, right? After the meal, we were presented with our certificates by the director of the university. It was a little hard to believe that we were recieving a certificate/diploma thing after only 4 weeks here. Too bad regular college isn't like that!! We had a relaxing weekend doing homework, walking around, watching tv and making our last purchases at the markets. One of my friends made the comment that we feel weird just watching tv, because that is something we have done very little of on this trip, which I see as a very good thing!

Tomorrow morning, we head to a camp in Valsequillo. We are not sure exactly what the camp is like, but we will have a full week there for sure. We will be having class, debriefing discussions, planning for our chapel service (that we have when we get back to the US), doing homework, relaxing, campfires and worship time. Our group is excited for this last week, but we can't help but be excited to see friends and family! Friday morning, we head to the airport and are expected to be back at EMU in Harrisonburg, VA at 4am on Saturday morning. Right now, I am just filled with gratitude for all of you who have supported me on this trip, and God for blessing me with so many wonderful experiences and new ways to see His work in the world! I have felt His love and presence in every step of the way. I hope I can share all of this with others and pass on the blessings I have recieved. Thanks for all your prayers!! See you soon!! :)

Holy Week!

Time for another update! We left last on April 1 for our week in Mexico City. Sunday, we started off by visiting a traditional bull ranch that was complete with a bull ring, chapel, store and housing for all of the staff and family. It is a working ranch, and has been around since the 17th Century. It was pretty cool because many of the gear, carriages, and even food and stuff from the store were still preserved as originals. It was also nice to be out in some fresh air and open space for a while. After that, we visited Templo Mayor. Templo Mayor is home to some amazing pyramids of the Aztecs of Tenochtitlan. We were able to climb most of the pyramids and with a lot of the structures still there it was easy to do.

We arrived in Mexico City in time to eat a quick supper, freshen up and then we headed to the Ballet Folklorico at Bellas Artes. This was a ballet unlike any us had ever been to before, not that many of us had been to ballets before. The dancers included traditional dances of Mexico, ranging from Spanish to any of the different pre-histpanic cultures. Some of the dances seemed to be courting dances that looked somewhat normal, while another one was a hunting dance, where the leading man was deer. I can honestly say, I have never been more intrigued by anything having to do with hunting. The costumes were incredibly detailed and colorful and often the dancers were accompanied by a flashy mariachi band which put on a good show themselves.

There were so many cool things we did and saw in Mexico City, so I will just highlight a few. We visited the highest building in the world (it's the highest technically, not the tallest, because of the altitude). We had just started to take pictures at the top, when everything started swaying a lot!! At first, I thought, "wow, I need to drink more water, I'm really dizzy!" or "Wow, the wind is strong!" but soon the workers began calling us to the center of the building because it was a tremor! I was pretty calm, but it certainly freaked some people out. Actually, it is one of the safest buildings to be in because it has been one of the few buildings to survive really strong tremors. Sooo...mark that one off my bucket list, be in the highest building in the world during a tremor. We also went to a street where mariachi bands play during the evenings, and were serenaded which was pretty cool. We also visited the Museum of Anthropolgy and the Modern Art Museum later in the week.

The second part of our week was spent with the Mennonite Church in Mexico City. They were overwhelmingly hospitable and we all enjoyed many conversations and laughs with them. They had a drum set, guitars, a bass, a keyboard and mikes which drew all of us music people in right away. They asked us to sing 4 songs for 3 different services and we did some as a group and some with just a band, in which I was singing. We did a couple in Spanish but mostly in English, and they sang some in Spanish. It was a lot of fun!

On Good Friday, we watched a re-enactment of Jesus' trial and walk to the cross. It was very powerful, and included a real crown of thorns and beatings with a whip and you could see the blood on his face and at the hill, he was tied on the cross. You really cannot just run and hide from the truth when you experience something like that. They had medics there to care for the people participating, but I had to think "Jesus had it so much worse and He didn't have a team of medics, or water and breaks". On Saturday, we went to a park with waterslides and pools to celebrate a baptism of a new member of their church and relax. It was a nice day and we even played volleyball on a sand court for a while, which made my day! When it came time to say goodbye to our brothers and sisters at the church on Sunday, we were all a little sad but grateful for the new friendships we have there.

It is hard to believe we only have 10 days left on this trip!! Next week, we are spending the week at a camp at Vasequillo debriefing and relaxing. A week from this Friday, we will be on a plane back to the U.S. I'm going to make the most of my last days here (even my 2 presentations I have to give in Spanish class) and I can't wait to see all of you when I get back!! :)

Churros, chuchos, chacos and churches!

As usual, I haven't updated this as often as I would like to so I have a lot to say. Last week, on Wednesday, we went to Cholula. At Cholula, we visited the largest pyramid in the world. It's considered the largest in the world, but has to give that title to the pyramids in Egypt because it's partly undergroud. The pyramid was built originally in the 3rd Century BCE and then was remodeled and more was built on top of the original material about 4 times. The final time, the Spanish built a cathedral on top of it all in 1594. There were lots of people there on that day because it was the first day of spring and everyone was wearing white. The myth is that you can absorb the sun's energy if you wear white.

This week, our excursion was to Tlaxcala. First, we tried the pulque we have been learning about. Pulque is an alcoholic drink made from the liquid honey-like substance in the maguy cactus. It is kind-of thick and sour tasting. We decided that it tasted similar to sourdough bread. Many from the group liked it, but I couldn't take more than a couple sips because of the awful texture. Then, we took a quick look at the plaza where they have bull fights. After that, we visited the oldest church in Mesoamerica!! It was gorgeous and had a lot of history all over the walls as well as many names of the first Spanish people who arrived here. Our next stop was a museum with beautiful, brillant, brightly-colored murals containing history of Tlaxcala and all of Mesoamerica. It was really cool to see images of some of the things we have been learning and the murals were gorgeous! Our last stop was a museum about some of the cultural traditions here. It included traditional costumes for special occasions, pottery, tools and the famous masks that they use for dances. The masks cost about 20-30,000 pesos and some of the embroidered shirts cost so much, our guide compared them to Armani and Prada.

In addition to our group excursions, I have been going to museums with my guide during my conversation times. I went to the museum of the revolution, which is actually the house where 4 families that initiated the revolution lived and were killed. The bullet holes were still in the walls, and you could walk in the places where they lived and died, as well as view some of their clothing, furniture etc. One interesting part is that during the battle, the police climbed 3 different churches close to the house to shoot at the revolutionaries. We also walked around in the "Biblioteca Palofoxiana", a library built in 1647 by two men as apart of the first seminary established in the area. The library has books in more than 8 different languages and topics ranging from religion to history to famous literature to philosophy. We found a book about sermons written in 1631. The library originally contained books that were the only original copy written, but now of course all of those books are catalogued on the computer. I think my guide told me that today and tomorrow we are going to see art museums because we happened upon an art exibit at the seminary, and she saw my eyes light up.

The group is in good spirits for the most part. A few of us have felt a little under the weather, myself included, but nothing too major. Most of us are trying to find the balence between being excited to go home (as we have less than a month left) and still enjoying our time here and not missing out on any experiences. I was very lucky to be able to talk to my parents and brother last Sunday on the phone for about an hour. On Sunday, we leave for Mexico City and we will be there all week. We are visiting a bull ranch, museums and temples and watching a traditional folk ballet, then the last part of the week we are celebrating Holy week with the Mennonite Church there. We are all very excited about it!

Oh, and I suppose I should explain the title for those of you who don't know all of those things. Churros are a little doughnut-like tube-shaped food often filled with chocolate, sugar or pie-filling type stuff. I ate one this last week from a little stand, mostly just to say that I had one while I was here because I'm not a huge fan of them. Chucho is the name for stray dogs that we used in Guatemala. Dogs here tend to be pets, but you still see a few dogs running around loose. Chacos are the wonderful sandels that I have been wearing often and are fairly popular in our group. We often joke about it and take a picture with everyone who has them wearing their Chacos together. Churches, well I would certainly hope you know what those are! We have seen so many old and beautiful churches here, including many with so much gold, figures of people, angels and intricate detail it almost makes you dizzy! I guess that's all for now...until next time.

One more thing..

It was my turn to write for the EMU cross cultural Guatemala blog, and so my post is up at this website if you would like to check it out! :)

http://emu.edu/now/crosscultural/

13 canaries and a rooster

On Saturday morning, after many problems at the airport with tickets and such, thanks to Profe, we ran through security and boarded the plane just in time. We flew to San Salvador, and then to Mexico City. After going through customs, we took a bus to Puebla, which is where we will be living and studying for the next 5 weeks. Puebla is the 4th largest city in Mexico and has some of the most rich history and culture in Mexico. Also, for you worried parents and friends out there, even though it is a large city Puebla is very safe. As soon as we got off the bus, we met our host families and left with them for the rest of the weekend. Kelsey and I are staying with Mari and Alfonso, an couple who have grown children and grandchildren living in other places. They are both very nice, and Mari assured both of us right away that mistakes are part of the learning process. That's good, because I've already made some. They are hosting another person, Alejandra who is about our age and is from Guadalajara, Mexico. She is studying at another university. They also have 13 canaries and they used to have a rooster, but Mari told us that the neighbors complained about the noise. Haha, we were just glad it wasn't keeping us awake while we are here.

On Sunday, we walked with Mari to the center square (or zocalo) and watched an orchestra performance. There is always a lot going on in the zocalo like dances, music and other activities because the city has a lot of history and culture. Kelsey and I are lucky because our house is about 5 blocks from the university and about 8 from the zocalo. Kelsey and I walked back later in the day to the zocalo and there was a band area set up where groups were taking turns playing rock music and one group played "Twist and Shout". It's amazing where random things that I know from the US show up.

Today was our first day at the university. We had an oral test and a written test and afterwards they placed us in classes depending on our level and how well we did on the tests. I am in a class with 6 other people, and there are 3 different levels of Spanish represented in my class, which I love because then I can be challenged more! Our group class is mainly about history and culture of Puebla and Mexico in general, but it is all in Spanish and includes what we would like to learn about history or culture, or what we need help learning as far as grammer and stuff in Spanish. Tomorrow, I have my first individual Spanish conversation with a guide. In our conversations, we are going to be exploring the city and going to museums, churches, and other places around the city. We have a lot of freedom to tell our guides where we would like to go or what we would like to learn about. The director gave us materials including a Spanish-Spanish dictionary...which means that we are supposed to use Spanish words to look up other Spanish words. The goal is to start thinking in Spanish and not translating from English. The other goal is to be able to speak Spanish and be pretty much fluent when we are done. We are going to have lots of homework, but hopefully I will become really good at Spanish! It's hard to believe we only have 5 more weeks in Mexico! I plan on making them count! Hasta la vista!

Hola, I mean Hi...wait, what language do you speak??

Well, hello again everyone! Our taxi arrived at 4:45am here at CASAS last Thursday to take us to the bus station. We just had one problem...we were locked inside CASAS! So we had to wake up our professor, and the guard who helped us get it unlocked. After traveling on a bus all day, we were in Honduras but the battle wasn´t over yet. We didn´t change our money at the border so we needed to find an ATM, we hadn´t eaten anything, and all of the sudden the bus driver called ¨everyone off for Tela, Honduras!¨ but we were at this random gas station in the middle of nowhere! The bus people told us to get into the 2 taxis they had waiting, but we didn´t know how we were going to pay for them, or where we were going! Thankfully, the lady from the bus company told us that the taxis were paid for and they were taking us to our hotel. Phew!! What a relief!

When we got to our hotel, we were able to find an ATM and a grocery store nearby. In addition, our hotel was so nice! We had 2 rooms with plenty of beds, 3 tv´s, a fridge, stove and kitchen area, couch and a computer in another area with somewhat functioning internet. We spent most of the week at the beach, which was 2 blocks from our hotel and not terribly busy. The rest of the time we spent relaxing in the hotel watching tv and playing cards. Breakfast was included, and the rest of our meals we either cooked ourselves, or went to the local pizza place. We also threw one of the group, Heather, a surprise birthday party and celebrated with cake and pizza because her birthday is today. The last night, we went out to a nice restaurant and enjoyed fish and shrimp!

We also went kayaking in the mangroves, or swampy areas, and since there were 7 of us, I ended up kayaking with a Canadian man. He was leading about 15 Canadian high school girls who were pretty obnoxious and annoying during our trip. In the beginning, I started talking to him in Spanish, but he didn´t really respond, so then I tried in English and I got a reply I could understand. He spoke English enough to know what to say and make small talk, but as soon as he finished saying something to me, he would speak to one of the girls in French, or something like that. It was interesting to say the least. After the kayaking, we ate lunch and relaxed on the beach in a Garifuna village. The Garifuna people are from Africa and there are several communities ranging from 200 people (the size of the one we visited) to 4,000. The culture there shows up often as the women working in the house and in the banana fields with the men relaxing, even thought that is not always the case. After lunch, we experienced some spur of the moment dancing, singing and drumming by the Garifuna people. That was quite an experience! The singing and drumming was fabulous and the dancing...well, it was a little bit vulgar, but also cool to see the traditional dance style. Our guide told us that when a woman dances, that means she´s ready to have a baby. It was really interesting to see a different culture than the ones we´ve been experiencing on this trip so far.

On the way home, we left the hotel at 5:30am and were planning on getting back to Guatemala City at around 7pm. We ended up arriving at 8:30 at the bus station and were planning on calling a cab from there. But we ironically ran into Rigoberto, a staff person from CASAS who works here and gives students rides after school. He was picking up someone else and taking them to CASAS so he just happened to be there!! We were shocked and he was joking about each of us paying $100 to get a ride. But then he explained that of course we could come with him for free, so we piled into his truck and away we went! He told us that we must have a lot of luck, and we told him either that, or God is with us. :)

Wow…I´ve already written way too much, but I just wanted to throw one more thing out there. We leave for Mexico tomorrow morning!! We are leaving here at 4:30am and plan on arriving in Puebla, Mexico around midday. We are meeting our host families right away, and spending the weekend with them. Nothing like jumping right into it! This time, it will be a little different because 2 students stay with a family together. I´m staying with Kelsey, who is pretty fun and has actually been my neighbor since Freshman year. She´s at a much higher Spanish level than me, so hopefully I will learn some things from her. It seems crazy that we are leaving Guatemala tomorrow. We had a meeting to talk about what to expect in Mexico, and there are a lot of exciting things to look forward to! Here we go again!

Hasta la vista Guatemala!

Well...my how time flies when you are having fun and studying like crazy! We are more than halfway done with our trip and are finishing up our time in Guatemala. Both of those things are very hard to wrap my head around. It seems like just yesterday we were meeting our host families and teachers for the first time.

Last week we visited the U.S. Embassy here in Guatemala. I had no idea that there were so many U.S. Embassies in the world and that they have so many different functions other than just maintaining good relations with other countries. Our speaker there talked about how they give out visas and who gets approved. It is somewhat difficult to get one, but about 2/3 of people get approved. She also talked about how they are working to show a positive U.S. presence in Guatemala and talk with people in the highland areas. She said that most times, it makes a huge difference just to show up and be present with the people there. Hmm...talking with people, that seems like such a hard thing to do but yet the U.S. does so little of it.  In addition, she talked about how she got her job at the embassy. It involved a giant extremely hard test, lots of interviews, group examinations and more. It sounds like a pretty cool job...traveling, talking to people, etc. but after she explained how she got the job, I changed my mind.

On the same day, last Thursday, my class and another class (4 students and 2 teachers), had another cooking day during class. The first time we made traditional Guatemalan foods (dobladas and banana bread) so this time we made a chocolate pudding cake. We talked only in Spanish and it´s amazing how much you learn just by baking a cake. While we were waiting for the cake to bake, we watched the Disney movie Tangled in Spanish. Last time we watched the Incredibles, and both were equally funny in Spanish. :)

Today, I completed all of my exams for my second section of Spanish classes. So I had an oral portion, written exam and I to read a page of information and write over 30 lines of response. I think overall they went ok. The oral portion was much better than last time and I felt comfortable talking this time. I am just so glad to be done!! My brain is fried and I need a break! Buuuuuut, this afternoon we have a lecture again, and tomorrow morning I have a presentation in Spanish. Also, I have reading and reflections to do for my history and culture class due tomorrow. In addition, tonight is our last night with our host families and I am not really ready to leave. I have a few gifts and pictures for them and will give those tonight. I just hope that I can come back and visit soon, and there is a possibility that 2 of my siblings might come to the U.S. so that is definitely a positive!! :)

Thursday morning, I´m leaving on a bus at 3:45am....yes, in the morning on a taxi and then a 13 hour, yes 13 hour bus ride....for Honduras and the beach!!!!! :) I´m going with 6 of my friends for our free travel. We may also be visiting some museums, snorkeling and kayaking but most of our time will be spent on the beach. If you can´t tell, I´m pretty excited!!

Watch out for the buscarbikepersondogfoodhole....yeah, that thing!

This weekend we visited one of the most beautiful places in Guatemala, Santiago Atitlan and Lake Atitlan. We stayed at hotel close to the lake, with a great view from the roof. We visited the main church, along with a memorial for a priest from Oklahoma, Stan Rother, who was killed in 1981 because of a study he was conducting and how he was attempting to help the people have a better life. It is truly sad how many people have been killed by the Guatemalan government simply because they are a threat to the unfair systems of wealth and structure. We also visited a peace park that was the site of a peaceful protest where several were killed by and many injured by soldiers. Justice was finally served when the soldiers occupying the community were forced to leave. The townspeople dismantled the garrison and used the stones to build monuments in the park. We also visited a cooperative set up after Hurricane Stan (in 2005) took over 2,000 lives and left many more homeless. The cooperative is called ANADESA and that was set up by MCC and provides support for women now, who are able to recieve emotional support and produce beadwork for income. They also have literacy programs in Spanish and T´zutuhil. One of the most crazy things was viewing an old hospital that was abandoned after the hurricane. There was a stain from the mudslide that was 4 feet high!

The more relaxing parts of our trip included 2 different wonderful markets, walking around by the lake, group bonding time, 2 five-hour bus rides and a wonderful trip across the lake in a boat! :) We also had free evenings to walk around and we got to witness a interesting parade for Lent. The local people were all dressed very vibrantly and held candles. They carried several large almost life-sized dolls to represent Biblical figures, including a large Jesus figure on a cross. I think we agreed that the Jesus figure looked a little strange, but it was a good experience to watch a little bit of the parade. The streets are always an interesting place to be, and we constantly find ourselves pulling each other to the side and saying ¨watch out!! there´s a car coming!!¨ Although, sometimes the car isn´t a car, but a bus, a huge grain truck, a dog, a person, a bike, a motorcycle, a hole in the ground, smashed food or something else unknown that you don´t want to step in! Everyday is something new, but you are never bored walking the streets of Guatemala! :)

As we are wrapping up the last couple weeks here, we have many projects and assignments to do. Today, I have to write a 2 page composition in Spanish along with my normal homework. I am also brainstorming ideas for the presentation we (my classmate Alex and I) are doing next week. It has to be 10 minutes long, completely in Spanish and include almost everything we have learned so far. On the bright side, I have really started loving speaking Spanish! On our weekend trips, we always eat as a group and most times we are required to speak just Spanish. While this can be very frustrating at times, I sometimes find myself speaking Spanish after the meal when we are allowed to speak English again. My friends often say ¨why are you still speaking Spanish??¨ but I just tell them that I like it (mostly because now I can actually say more than just one or two words) and it´s good practice! Our group leader commented that I speak a lot in Spanish for being at the level I am at. :)

Goooooal!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, it´s been a while since I´ve updated my blog. It´s hard to share 4 computers with more than 20 people when we all have similar schedules and time to use them. Last Saturday, we left for Coban, which is beautiful and about 5 hours from here (Guatemala City). We left in the morning and arrived at our destination in the late afternoon. Our destination was Bezaleel, which is a Kekchi Mennonite School (junior high and high school age). The kids there speak Kekchi (a traditional Mayan language) and Spanish, although some barely  know any Spanish. We had supper with 2 Mennonite Central Committee volunteers who have been working here for over 20 years with the Kekchi communities. On Sunday, we visited the Kekchi Mennonite Church. We were late from the beginning because of a flat tire and I´m  pretty sure our drivers of the vans wanted to make up for lost time. I have to say that that trip to the church was the bumpiest ride I have ever experienced in my life. But we survived. :) The service was over 3 hours long, and it was partially in Kekchi and partially in Spanish. During the service, many kids were smiling at us and playing with us. The music was very loud, which didn´t bother me that much but other people got headaches. We sang a few songs for them, which they absolutely loved. After church, we split up to eat at the houses of a few families from the church.

In the afternoon, we played a game of futbol (soccer) against the boys at the school. We didn´t win, but we didn´t get crushed either and everyone had a lot of fun! :) On Monday, we bought paint and painted one of their buildings for them. We were able to sit in on a couple of classes for a little bit, which was very interesting. We visited a coffee finca in the afternoon. We got to learn about the different coffee plants, see how the process works, try some coffee and purchase some. The evenings at the school were always filled with singing. Sunday evening we went to their chapels, and I went to the boys (girls and boys are seperate most of the time) and we sang a song or 2 for them there. We sang ¨How Great Thou Art¨ in English and they sang with us in Spansih. Wow, it was incredible. We also went to the girls chapel another night and sang for them and they sang for us. We even sang a few songs together! It is amazing what happens when you combine the powers of music and something as simple as a smile. I can say without a doubt that we were all feeling God´s presence after that night. :) While we were at the school, every meal included beans and tortillas. Although our group was expecting worse from what Profe told us, we were all feeling very grateful to be back to our regular meals and humbled by the extreme poverty that 60% of Guatemala suffers from.

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, so we had a hymn sing and that was really fun. We also had a surprise baby shower for Christy, one of the staff members here at CASAS. She is someone that we are all in close contact with and she has a special place in our hearts. We celebrated with chocolate pudding cake and ice cream. :) Tomorrow, we leave again and this time we are going to Lake Atitlan, which I hear is beautiful. If you feel so led, you could say a prayer for the health of our group. So far, we have been very healthy, but this weekend one person got sick with what we think is a cold and it has already spread to several others. It is getting more and more hard to believe that we only have a couple weeks left in the beautiful country. I think we are all trying to make the most of our time and not think about saying goodbye just yet. All I can say is that we are so blessed to have this experience and enjoy the love and friendships here that God has given us! :)

Vegetarian crocodiles

This last weekend, we went as a group to Tikal! :) We flew in a small plane to Tikal and went straight from the airport to the park. We walked through the jungle and it was so hot and humid! We saw a bird similar to the quetzal (the national bird), lots of monkeys and some other unidentified birds. In addition, a few people from the group saw a huge tarantula. They showed me later, and I freaked out just from looking at the picture!
The temples were so large and grand! It´s incredible that they have been there for so long! We were able to climb a few of the pyramids, and the view was really amazing! We felt like we were in a movie looking down from them. In fact, they filmed part of one of the Star Wars movies there. (Don´t ask me which one, because I´m not a Star Wars fan). The site includes pyramids, palaces, residences, stone monuments, sacrificial sites (still used today by the Maya) and 7 courts for playing the Mesoamerican ballgame. By late afternoon on Friday, we arrived at our hotel, Gringo Perdido) which means ¨lost white person¨, haha. Our hotel was really nothing like a hotel at all. It was more like a bungalo, with a large open-air dining area, hammocks and a lake with 2 docks for hanging out and swimming! :) We had some great bonding time as a group and even though it rained, we all enjoyed the sun a lot! We played games, read, swam, rode in kayaks, slept and relaxed. It was a great weekend for all of us! We even got to hear a few stories from Profe and Ester (our amazing leaders) about how they met and got engaged. :) Good times!

We arrived back in Guatemala City at around 7pm on Sunday and went home with our host families. Yesterday I got my midterm exam back with good results, and today we have been celebrating Valentines Day! :) Each of our Spanish classes made a Valentine to share with the group. It was a contest, so some people sang, wrote poems and had actions to go along with their Valentines cards. We also (as a group) exchanged names and gave each other little gifts. Feliz dia del Cariño!! :)

Si se puede! Si se puede! :)

The title of this blog, for those of you who don´t know Spanish, means ¨yes you can, yes you can!¨. We just finished our first midterm exam for our Spanish classes. That included a written test and an oral portion, where we were asked questions by 2 teachers and had to respond with long answers. I think my test went ok, but I talked to Alex, my classmate, about one of the questions on the oral part later and I was totally lost and rambling about something! Oops! Oh well, I think overall it went ok, though. :) Tomorrow morning, we leave at 4:45am for the airport for our trip to Tikal. Do I need to repeat that for all of you morning people?? Yes, I do mean 4:45am in the morning! Ugh! On the bright side, we are going to Tikal and we get to relax the whole weekend! Tikal is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centers of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. Tikal was home to one of the most powerful kingdoms of the Mayan civilizations. As well as enjoying the natural beauty there, we are staying at a hotel with a lake right across from it. There have been rumors that it will be warm enough to swim and I hope it is! Yesterday, during worship, our group talked about how we were all feeling tired and a few people have colds. I think we are all ready for a break, so bring on the sunshine in Tikal!! :)

S´mores on a Volcano!

Today, we hiked an active volcano called Pacaya! The hike was pretty nice going up, even though it was a little steep and rocky. The view was incredible! Partway up to the top, we roasted marshmallows using the heat coming from the rocks on the volcano, and they were delicious! The whole time, we could see smoke coming from the top of the volcano which was pretty cool in itself. On the way back down, some of us ran down a slope which was a little dangerous but toally worth it! We all came back with black legs from the dirt.

Our group has had kind-of a stressful week due to some different things but this weeks worship service as a group was really great! I´m on the music team so I get to help plan and lead the services and that´s been really fun for me. (Side note: our group is very rarely without a song. We have many people in our group who love music, and especially in car rides we will burst into song!) Along with our typical scripture, singing and prayer we took communion together which was a very special bonding experience for all of us. On Friday, we had a debriefing session with the CASAS staff and talked about our most favorite and least favorite parts of the trip so far, and how we are feeling. It was really cool to hear everyone share. Most of us could not narrow our favorite part down to just one thing! :) Tomorrow, we are visiting Casa de Dios, the biggest fastly growing churches here in Guatemala. We just talked with a professor from CASAS about the religions and churches in Guatemala so it should be an interesting experience. Tomorrow is also the superbowl...yes, I do know that even though I´m in Guatemala. I probably won´t be watching but I hope all of you have fun! :)

Why is our bus beeping?

On Sunday afternoon, we returned from our first weekend trip. We loaded the bus Friday morning and stopped for lunch at Iximche Mayan Ruins. It was nice to actually see some history in person, and it is amazing how the structures still stand after so many years. There were some Mayan people holding a small ceremony so we were able to watch part of that as well. The bus ride was interesting to say the least. Our bus was smoking, beeping and crawling along the road. We also went the wrong way on a way one way street that was already tiny to begin with! Thankfully, our bus driver was great and our bus held up so we made it to Chichicastenango safely. In Chichi, we stayed at the Ruth and Naomi Methodist Project. During all meals, we were only allowed to speak Spanish and if we spoke English, we had to pay 1 Quetzal. I only spoke English once, and all I said was ¨yes¨...what a waste of a word! :P We definitely laughed a lot during meals! On Saturday, we went to Chontola Women´s Cooperative, a place where women struggling with poverty weave various crafts. Most of them are left in poverty and widowed because of the previous war in Guatemala. Everything they made was colourful and beautiful. Seeing the pride and joy on their faces as they pointed out what they made themselves was incredible. In the evening, we talked with a Catholic priest and in the morning we attended mass at his church. The service was a mix of traditional indigenous religious practices and Catholicism. A good example of this was the giant marimba that was played by 4 men and accompanied all of their songs. After church, we were free to roam around at the market that was spread out in a major section of the city. If you don´t like crowds pushing, people yelling or bargaining prices, the market is not for you. I had a lot of fun finding various treasures and I´m not very good at bargaining, but I tried. I think overall, the group enjoyed  our trip a lot and everyone had some good bonding time! :) We all were definitely glad to be back ¨home¨ in our own houses with our host families again. Buenos dias!

Liones y tigres y osos! Oh my!!

We´ve been in Guatemala for almost 2 weeks now! Wow! Today we went to the zoo here in Guatemala City, and saw many wonderful animals and learned their names in Spanish. Classes are going well, and we are moving through some review material and some new material pretty fast! Last week we visited the national cemetary and overlooked the landfill. That was a very eye-opening experience to see the extent of poverty there, compared to going to the mall with my host family to see a movie. We also toured the national palace, which was absolutely gorgeous! It was incredible the amount of detail they put into every single part of the building. Everything inside could be divided by 5 and the doorhandles all had the president´s (from the time it was built) finger print on them. We also visited an interactive museum that delt with racism, inequality, and the many ethic groups and languages of Guatemala. It is fascinating to learn some of their stereotypes compared to ours. For example, they think that fat people are fun-loving and relaxed. Hmm, definitely different from the U.S. stereotype. We have also had the pleasure of listening to some other professors talk about Guatemala. In addition, we didn´t have official salsa lessons like we were planning but one of my classmates from EMU, Michael, taught us the basics of the bachata and salsa dances. :) We laughed a lot while learning, partially because we have a ratio of 4 guys to 15 girls, so many of us had to learn the guy´s part. The food is wonderful and the weather is gorgeous! This week is our first weekend trip to Chichicastenango. I think we are all very excited to spend time together as a group and visit something outside of the city! :) That´s all for now!

Smile and Wave

I cannot believe that we haven´t even been in Guatemala for a week! It feels like a month ago that we were back at orientation. On Friday afternoon, we all lined up in the front of the dining area in CASAS to meet our host families. It was probably one of the scariest things I have ever done. My host mom and one of my brothers came to pick me up and I was really nervous and had a hard time even answering basic questions at first. They got me ice cream on the way to their house. Their house is a long ways from CASAS and pretty high on a mountain. The view is incredible! We were with our host families all weekend. We watched movies in Spanish, sometimes with English subtitles, or movies with American actors but Spanish voice-overs. On Saturday, I went with to help 2 of my siblings clean their church. In the evening, I watched my 2 oldest brothers play soccer (futbol) at the university. My family consists of my host parents and 4 siblings (ages 20, 23, 25 and 27). They are so hospitable and fun-loving! I can already tell I´m going to have a hard time leaving them. :) My sister speaks some English, so it is nice to fall back on that if we are all clearly VERY lost, but overall I try to speak in my awful Spanish so that I can practice. But sometimes, I just have to smile at people to communicate, which isn´t really too hard. :) On Sunday, I was introduced to their church, and they gave me a very warm welcome. Many people commented about the fact that I was wearing a skirt, because to them it´s pretty cold outside even though the temperature is around 60 to 70 in the mornings. That´s all for now!

Beginning

After a few tearful goodbyes this morning before 5am, we left for the airport. A quote that I like says, "How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard." I am so blessed to have so many people supporting me on this journey and I´m grateful for all of you. :) We traveled from Washington D.C. to El Salvador and finally to Guatemala. Our flights went very smoothly and we arrived at CASAS in the late afternoon. We then had a little bit of free time to explore Guatemala City. Because of our arrival time, we were not able to go to the bank yet, so we didn´t have money to spend at the local shops. The weather is absolutely gorgeous! In fact, some from the group are wearing shorts right now. Tomorrow, the real challenge begins when we meet our host families tomorrow afternoon. We will be spending the rest of the weekend with our new families, which has all of us pretty nervous but excited!

Trip Schedule

Here is my schedule. Some of it might have changed by now, but this is the general overview. After one day of orientation, I'm already so excited!

January

9-11     Orientation on campus (begins at 1:15pm Monday)

11        10am   Send-off, blessing in Chapel and opening convocation

12        5:30am Leave for Guatemala.
Stay overnight at CASAS

13        Orientation at CASAS, First night with host families

16        Beginning of first Spanish class at CASAS

21-22   Free weekend

27-29   Weekend trip to Chichicastenango

February

4          Volcano hike

5          Visit to “mega-church”

9          Final exams and end of first Spanish course

10-12   Weekend trip to TIKAL!!

13        Beginning of second Spanish course at CASAS

18-21   MCC coordinated trip to Alta Verapaz: Bezaleel, Cobán

24-26   Weekend trip Santiago de Atitlán, Lake Atitlán

March

2-3       Free weekend

7          Final exams and end of second Spanish course

8          AM Clausura (special program). End of Spanish classes at CASAS

8          PM  Free travel begins

15        Free travel ends

16        Rest/Packing day

17        Leave for Puebla, Mexico, via Mexico City for Spanish Institute of Puebla. Meet new host families

19- 30: AM History and culture of Mexico classes, PM walking tours of Puebla conversation classes, excursions to local sites.

30- April 3 trip to Mexico City, Teotihuacán pyramids, Museum of
Anthropology, Plaza Mayor and Museum, etc.

April

Apr. 4- 8: Holy week celebrations at Fraternidad Cristiana; Mennonite Church in Mexico City. Live with host families.

9-16     Return to Spanish Institute of Puebla schedule

17-19   Oasis Camp in Valsequillo: final course work and debriefing retreat, chapel planning

20        Return to USA

23        10am   Chapel service at EMU