From Hostel to Home...Life in Guate

hotel to home

lo siento, still no photos. for now this blog is the style of a mass email updating on the happenings, but soon enough, pictures attached to interesting stories will be abundant. if living abroad taught me anything the first time, it's patience. we're one day shy of arriving in guatemala and although some things feel slow moving, others feel warp speed. we're still in the awesome hotel with high speed internet, free breakfast, clean sheets, maid services & all western amenities, but we're ready to move into our new home and start real life. however, school has very much started and moving quickly! i have 24 kids on my ESOL (english for speakers of other languages) list, and 3 on my LRC (learning resource center) list. the list of 24 kiddos are all first and second grade, and the 3 others are in eighth grade. needless to say, i have my hands full, but these kids are so adorable and amazing! we did hear back about our offer to rent the apartment with the terrace, and it was approved:)! i'm not sure how long the paperwork will take to go through, but we're pretty excited to think that we got what we wanted (and it has a guest bedroom). lastly, we are headed to the beach this weekend with coworkers and both ben and i are really excited to see a bit of the country side. it's there that we will take pictures and share stories. another thing moving very quickly is ben's spanish! that's all for now...

random updates

so much has been seen and done, yet i have not one photo to share. it's not recommended that tourists carry around cameras walking through the streets, unless you want to brave the chance of being robbed. hence, no pictures yet. our first few days were spent driving around the city looking at apartments and houses to call our new home. we quickly learned that apartments are much safer than houses because they come attached with armed gunmen outside and security guards inside. we did find one apartment that is fully furnished, absolutely beautiful and a bonus of a gigantic terrace. we put in an offer yesterday, so we hopefully hear back tomorrow.

yesterday, ben and i went up to the school for a picnic they were hosting and i got to see my new classroom, meet some parents/students/teachers and eat a delicious spread of international food. my classroom is nothing to write home about (small & windowless) but i can turn a closet into a positive learning environment, so i'm not too worried. my assignment thus far is teaching esl (english as second language) first and second graders, as well as one group of middle school students. i actually start work tomorrow morning and the "teacher bus" will be picking me up from our hotel at 6:30am. ben and i are looking forward to moving into this amazing apartment that we put an offer on so that we can feel more settled.

last night we were invited to our first dinner party by the other elementary esl teacher which was a breath of fresh air. all the other teachers are so interesting & well traveled. ben was able to meet another boyfriend of young teacher and we've already been invited to join them on an adventure next weekend. great food, top notch tequila, gorgeous home, golden lab, relaxation, maid, fireworks and a ridiculous view pretty much sums up our night last night. much needed.

our routine since we've arrived has been: free breakfast at hotel restaurant, picked up by relistate agent to drive around looking at apartments, walk around the corner for late lunch, nap in hotel, watch bad tv in before falling asleep. wake up and repeat. the routine is about to change once we move into our apartment and i start working. the director already wants ben to start subbing at school, so we're happy that's an open possibility.

that pretty much updates our lives so far in guatemala. pictures will be posted soon.

much love...

Santander Plaza

wow, this is really happening. ben and i lucked out and slept on both flights throughout the night before arriving in guatemala city. the luggage situation was quite absurd, but we went the route of bringing everything we wanted with us rather than shipping. all bags are now safely in the hotel room & it wasn't nearly as bad of a nightmare as we imagined it to be. when we stepped outside of the airport, there was a very well dressed man (the director of the school) holding a sign "colegio maya". he drove us straight to the hotel where we have a master suite and a great view. we have the day off today, so we're going to head out and find something to eat, but mostly relax in our comfortable hotel room. tomorrow we will go house hunting and have dinner with the boss & his wife. we couldn't have asked for this day to run more smoothly...

while we were waiting for our hotel room, they brought us delicious glasses of ice tea with lemon and ice. we both looked at each other and held onto the drink until we quickly dumped it into the hotel room sink. sure we feel comfortable at this fancy hotel room, but not that comfortable.

everything ben and i own has been condensed into a 7.5'-10' storage unit...can you do that?

inventor of reinventions

one of the many great things about moving is that you get to reinvent yourself a bit. when i moved from joshua tree to minneapolis (my senior year of high school), i showed up as the california cheerleader girl that had good style, so i pushed style and owned it. moving from minnepolis to san diego was easy, goodbye snow and hello sunshine. i did however become a bit of a hippy: vegetarian, little tv, long flowing skirts and i pretended like this is who i'd been my whole life. it's kind of fun really. from san diego to bellingham is a little different, sunshine to rain. i've become less outgoing, less fun, spending millions of hours indoors, gained weight, the list could continue but i don't want to sound negative about bellingham because some people actually like it here. and the latest and greatest move will be from bham to guatemala city! here are my thoughts of subtle reinventions: avid gym goer (yoga  in particular), fearless, loud and outgoing at parties/gatherings, gluten free, a great cook, making friends master & two years younger would be nice, but i won't go there. reinventing is not lying, it's just starting fresh and doing things you wanted to be doing in your old rainy city to begin with. i'll keep you posted on how i do once we actually get there.

 

emetophopia and other random nonsense

a blog for me, and a blog for us! ben and i decided this morning that we would create a new travel blog where we can both write about our experiences and beginning this adventure together. makes sense to me. it's last on the list right now, but i'll be sure to post the new link as we get it up and running. as for my few family and friends that have been checking up on me over the many years i've had this blog, the nonsense writing will continue:) starting with this...

Emetophobia (from the Greek etmos, to vomit, and φόβος (phóbos), meaning "fear") is an intense, irrational fear or anxiety pertaining to vomiting. This specific phobia can also include subcategories of what causes the anxiety, including a fear of vomiting in public, a fear of seeing vomit, a fear of watching the action of vomiting or fear of being nauseated.^[1] Emetophobia is clinically considered an “elusive predicament” because limited research has been done pertaining to it.^[2] It is considered to be one of the most common phobias in the world.^[3]

(Wikipedia)

i've always considered myself to be an emetophopic, and with the upcoming move to a foreign country, i'm back to google searching: how to cure/ treat emetophopia. it feels strange to think that i have more anxiety about someone vomitting on the street then guns and violence. i've learned over the past few days that facing your fear is the best thing phobics can do, and that's what i'm doing. plane & boat rides, eating street food, working with children and my largest fear...long bus rides around winding mountain roads. i can do this. i will do this. and it's this blog where you can read about how i concurred the bus ride where someone vomitted and lived to tell the tale. stay tuned, we leave in 11 days.

now and then

a small town girl moving to a large dangerous city while holding hands with an adorable, funny boyfriend. emotions are on overdrive and lists are rapidly being crossed off in a state of panic. it's amazing. wonderful. adventurous. scary. brilliant. pretty much the best thing ever! a few years back when i was asked to submit my thesis proposal, feelings of confusion and mind clutter encouraged me to buy a spontaneous ticket to central america where i thought i could travel around, and think. a 3 1/2 week trip backpacking around belize, guatemala and honduras really did help my thoughts align and i made the right decision with my proposal. what a huge opportunity to return to such a beautiful country with the person i love...pictures of our new life will come as fast as the internet can travel, but for now, i'm reminded of my 2006 trip to central america.

my birthday in antigua

(skinny me on the open water, belize)

9 hour bus ride in guatemala

five sisters waterfall, belize

not just a backpack this time

after the many hours of sending emails, cover letters and resumes, finally, we got a bite. colegio maya   is an international school in guatemala city and they have offered me a special education teaching position. the director is very interested in having ben student teach at the school and possibly take a position next year. we have 17 days to pack our house, sell cars, pack up classroom, quit our jobs and uproot our lives to guatemala city. this is something that i've wanted from the beginning of my teaching years, and i feel so ready for this adventure. please bookmark our blog and join us as we embark on a journey of a lifetime. next stop...guatemala city where visitors are welcome and highly encouraged!