Estoy aqui!!!

Hello everyone,

Sorry I've been lax in posting. The last week has been very busy with volunteering at the school and settling in at Panajachel. In fact, I am still a nomad searching for a home! At the moment I am living with another volunteer from Salud y Paz, and we are looking for a more permanent place. Apartment hunting in Guatemala is quite different that any apartment hunting I have ever done before in the states! However with any luck we should be moving in this Wednesday.

Today was the first day of preschool! Already it has been such a interesting experience for me. Last Friday, all the students and their parents came in for a meeting with the teachers. We had 100% of parents in attendance, which demonstrates to me how much they value their childrens' education and wish for them to have a happier life. The parents all arrived in their traditional Mayan clothing, and the meeting was held primarily in K'iche. K'iche is such a neat language! It sounds entirely different than Spanish and I learned that they have 2 words used to say "bye". The one used depends upon whether you are the person leaving or staying. I am helping in Mari's class of 5 and 6 year olds, and today we had 12 eager and excited students. The students are all so wonderful. One aspect that really stuck in my mind from today was how different the day was in comparision with a day of preschool in the states. Many of you know that I worked at a preschool in Port Orange last summer, and the issues we dealt with at that school are entirely different but in some ways similar to issues we experienced today. For example at the preschool in Port Orange during lunch time we would worry about picky-eaters and kids talking too much and eating too little. Here in Camanchaj no children even spoke during lunch or much less complained about not liking what was served. Our students quickly and quietly cleaned their plates. A group of Mayan women called the "Amigas de Salud y Paz" cook breakfast, snack, and lunch for our students which is so important for their growth and development. Accidents occasionally happened at thw school in Port Orange, but it was no problem because each student had an extra set of clothes conveniently located in their cubby. Today a student had an accident. But he had no change of clothes and we didn't have any donated pants that would fit him so he was stuck wearing the wet pants for the remainder of the day.

OK, I've rambled enough for one night! Thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers. Salud y Paz :)