This week in Guatemala

We continued new teacher orientation for most of the week. Returning teachers came back little by little to be introduced before the whole staff returned on Friday. I had forgotten how much longer staff meetings are at a bilingual school because everything has to be done in both languages. 

Our orientation was incredibly, perhaps unnecessarily, thorough. As someone who likes having all the information, I didn’t mind most of the time but it was frustrating when the same information was presented multiple times. My grade four team is great; I think we will get along well. It’s cool, not being the “baby” teacher in the team. I’m firmly in the middle in terms of experience and on the stronger side if considering international experience. This should help with one of my goals this year which is to be more decisive in my classroom.

I’m excited with how much of the Spanish I understand. Granted I can’t produce much but receptive language is always stronger than productive. Settling in is still progressing slowly but surely.

Here are some pictures of the beauty that I’m surrounded by here! Visitors are very welcome!

Guatemala!

So, I moved to Guatemala City last week.

In the two years since I’ve blogged, I finished my contract in Beijing and then was in Lahore, Pakistan for one year. Lahore was great... the country is beautiful, the people are friendly, and the pollution made me nostalgic for Beijing. Unfortunately, that last item led to a contract amendment so that I could live in a place where I could breathe. Hence, Guatemala!

The strangest thing about moving here was how easy it was. I left Pittsburgh at 7am and arrived in Guatemala before noon! For someone who has moved to Europe or Asia six times, arriving to my new home in less than ten hours door-to-door with no jet lag was surreal.

We started orientation for new teachers on Friday and then went to Antigua on Saturday. This morning, the English Mass was canceled at the nearest church to me. However, it was canceled because they were having a special celebration for the 12th anniversary of beginning Perpetual Adoration. Can’t complain about that!!! Plus, the church is safe walking distance from my apartment and they have an evening Mass most days of the week. I was praying for something like this. In China, it was impossible to go to daily Mass or adoration, in Pakistan, daily Mass was accessible but there wasn’t adoration. Now, in Guatemala, I’ve got both!

I’m hoping to get back into a habit of blogging weekly, so expect to see updates on weekends.