Third Time’s Not a Charm

Sometimes the third time’s not a charm.

I’ve been proposed to three times.

The first, I was between three and five. A friend of my parents jokingly said he should marry me when I asked why he wasn’t married. The second was my freshman year in college. I was cast in a student-directed show and, at a party a few weeks before the performance, my on stage “husband” got totally smashed, staggered over to me, sat in my lap, and said we had to get married.

The third time was this past week. On Facebook messenger. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a joke like the first two. A mere acquaintance had decided he was in love with me and wanted to move half-way around the world to marry me. I didn’t accept.

Some suggestions for potential suitors (of me or anyone else).

1. Make sure your intended actually likes you. You should have spent quite a bit of time together talking and getting to know each other on a deep level. 
2. Do it in person. If you aren’t together in person enough for this to be possible, it’s probably not going to work.
3. Discuss life goals and dreams prior to proposing. Check that they are compatible or you have discussed possible compromises.
4. If your intended doesn’t respond favorably, it’s possible you misjudged the situation. Step back and check that suggestions 1-3 have been addressed. 

Of course, you can also feel free to ignore my suggestions and see what happens. After all, what do I know... I’m just someone who’s been proposed to thrice.

And I’ll Sing Once More...

Last Sunday, I wasn’t in any choirs here in Guate. This Sunday, I’m in one, a practice quartet for it, and should hear by tomorrow about a second choir I auditioned for today.

The group I’m in so far is a small ensemble (around 20 members) that sings mostly short a cappella pieces. We’re working on a Lauridsen piece, two Masses, and assorted Spanish language songs. The audition today was for a group that sings Messiah part 1 each year. The audition was fine except a mixup about what I had to bring. I wasn’t at fault (I had specifically asked about it ahead of time) but we’ll see if that keeps me out.

After a year and a half of no musically stimulating group to sing with, it’s great to be back in the swing of things!

Back to school and volunteering

The biggest events of the week were Back to School Night and a volunteer trip on Saturday.

It was great to see how much easier BtS was compared to previous years. It does get easier with time! One of my goals this year is to make more decisions and stick to them in the classroom rather than basing all my choices on what others do. Of course this only works for little things but I was very grateful for my resolution when a parent was complaining about our shared resources policy in the classroom. She went on and on about how unfair it was that her daughter has to leave her special pens at home. I stood my ground (I don’t care if she brings them but then they would be fair game for the whole class) even when she threatened to complain to administration about it. Seems a bit extreme to go to such lengths over a pen but what do I know? Vindication was sweet when another parent immediately piped in saying she thinks it’s a great policy. I left the two of them talking about it.

On Saturday, a group of other teachers and I went about an hour outside of the city to volunteer with an organization which is providing support for families displaced by the volcano. We spent the morning sorting and arranging clothes and other donated supplies. It was hot and tiring but good to be helping. I’m sure I’ll go again in the future.

Misadventures ... or Massadventures?

I had quite an experience going to Mass this morning. There were times and places mixed up, wishing I didn’t understand parts of the Spanish, and judgements made.

It all began when I walked into the church parking lot at 9:20. I was startled to see the outside overflow seating full until I read the sign with times and remembered that Mass in English was actually at 10:30 not 9:30. No problem. I walked home and had an avocado/pineapple/peach smoothie before returning. Have I mentioned how amazing the produce is here?

An hour later I was back. Below the listing of the Mass in English is a Mass for children twice a month.  I didn’t think anything of it because it’s every other week and two weeks ago Mass was in English and just happened to have more kids. It quickly became clear that this was something else entirely. There were tons of kids - awesome - it’s great to see lots of kids at Mass.

Then the opening song started and things went downhill fast. The lyrics of the opening song had a refrain which translated to “the Mass is a party for Jesus.” Say what? At this point, I also noticed that I had left my phone at home so I didn’t even have my Mass app for the Spanish translations. Unfortunately, it didn’t get better. While I appreciate the priest’s explanations to help the kids understand, a totally improvised opening prayer, skipping the second reading altogether, and having a lay woman start the gospel so Fr. could read only Jesus’s words were less than desirable. The homily involved kids holding signs with words about Jesus as the Bread of Life as well as a loaf of bread and a ciborium of (please God) unconcecrated altar bread. The priest kept asking leading questions to the altar boys on either side of him... which they couldn’t answer. At least it was clearly connected to the readings. When the homily was over and we moved immediately into the Prayer of the Faithful (skipping the Profession of Faith entirely), I finally leaned over to the woman next to me and asked what time Mass was in English. It turned out to be happening concurrently in another chapel. I hesitated then left to find it. I figured, at worst, I could come back for Mass in Spanish this afternoon and it was better than wondering what would happen next.

I found the English Mass easily and the priest was only in the middle of his homily so I felt pretty good about that. It turns out the parish has THREE Eucharistic chapels - the main church, this smaller chapel, and the perpetual adoration chapel. Pretty awesome. After the homily, there was a blessing for two men who were being commissioned as EMHCs. It was reverent and taken very seriously. Fr. really stressed the honor and duty of the role. Mass cntinued as normal except for two teen girls in front of me who were far more interested in hip checking each other than paying attention to anything that was happening. I managed to refrain from letting them know they might fit in better in the kiddie Mass downstairs.When it came time for communion, I was shocked and disappointed to see the priest sit down and leave distribution to the EMHCs. I understand the need for them (they use intinction with one person holding the ciborium, another the chalice, and a third the communion paten) but after the seriousness with which Fr. addressed the commissioning, it was clear he wasn’t a flake so I was confused about why he was sitting. It turned out my judgement was misplaced and I felt ashamed of myself when he explained/apologized to the congregation after Communion telling us how he had burned his right thumb in a firecracker accident the week before and it was hard to hold the hosts. I then wondered if I would have had a similar feeling had I stayed in the Mass for kids. Considering most everyone was leaving the church with a lollipop in their mouth when I passed them, I’m doubtful that judgement was as off.

So now I know where and when English Masses are and can avoid the Mass (more of a Mess unfortunately) for kids in the future. All’s well that ends well, right?

School and the market

School started last week. We eased into the year with two half days but starting tomorrow it’s full speed ahead. My class is pretty well behaved so far. They’re chatty but that’s supposedly a cultural thing. I’ve identified a couple of the leaders of the class and am already working to “get them on my side.”

Using responsive classroom teacher language is one of my big goals for the year and I’ve been working on it already. I’ve got sentence starters up in my room as reminders and that helps. It’s funny to remember how I reacted when I first heard about RC. I was a baby teacher and looking forward to having class stores and points and chart systems. Little did I know how much unnecessary work those  all are! Even though it seemed like everyone else at the RC training this summer was sponsored by their school and I was paying myself, I’m incredibly glad I went.

After a totally lazy day yesterday, I went to the central market with some friends today. Just like Europe, it’s the best place to get inexpensive, local produce. A full market bag with lettuce, spinach, peppers, eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, lemons, cabbage, mushrooms, sweet potato, and avocados was $10. Unlike Europe, everything goes immediately into bowls with water and vegetable sanitizer when I get home but then it’s ready for the rest of the week. I’m looking forward to my cooking this week!

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.