Lots of Stuff

I really really intend to go back to blogging in Spanish, but it takes lots more time that way, and I have lots to say.  I'm all busy all the time, and when I'm not busy, I practice guitar to stay ahead of the students.  :-p  So I figure I'll blog some in English now, and then I can translate the hard way (English to Spanish) later.  Or not.

(Se dice: Voy a traducir esto a español eventualmente... probablemente.)

Also I'm really tired and a little under the weather, so if this is totally incoherent I apologize.

I am super happy at the seminary!  It's all beautiful and everyone's super nice and I can literally not-spend any money ever if I want (although I do somehow seem to keep on spending). I even get free laundry.  I even get free laundry detergent!  And the food is amazing! (Even if I have to eat alone most of the time.)  On Monday the other cook, Evelia, made me quite possibly the best breakfast ever:

• oatmeal stuff (it's like super thin oatmeal.  hard to describe.  easy to eat.) 
• black beans
• dippy eggs
• fresh tortillas
• the best tamales I've ever had (El Coyote green corn tamales don't count)
• queso fresco
• plátanos
• some sort of cake/bread/deliciousness
• caffeinated chamomile tea (yeah that doesn't make any sense, but it still tasted good)

Yeah.  

Ok what else?  There's a faculty/staff-only toilet in the seminary where you can flush toilet paper!!  First one I've seen here.  Very exciting.  And there's instructions, cuz lots of people in Guatemala have never flushed toilet paper before.  "Deposit paper in toilet.  Leave it to go with the water."  Good stuff.

Also on Monday, I was translating the website, like I do, when some teacher/administrative-type people came in and were all like "Can you teach an English class?  The teacher isn't here."  And I was all like "Can I?"  So I took a break from my professional translating duties to substitute-teach a class all by myself.  No big deal.  :-p

I bought a rugby ball, and I'm teaching the kids rugby.

Next week I'm going to do some Cousin Bill Singer stuff with the guitar class, and teach the marimba and piano classes about the blues.  I'm stoked.  

There's been a TON of rain the last few days.  At one point, it was super epic, and I opened my door and my room got all full of water.  Also my shoes died today.  But they were old.  I don't mind the rain.  It is the rainy season here, afterall.  It just sucks cuz I have a bit of a cold, and I'm pretty sure it would go away if I could just be dry for, like, 24 hours straight.  Oh well.

The other day, I was on my way back from my friend's house, and I happened upon a huge event in the Parque Central.  It was apparently the presentation of a bunch of girls...like a Mayan cotillion.  They were pretty young though.  I was confused.  BUT it was very cool.  I watched for a long time.  There was a dance with costumes and stuff and a demonstration of the juego de pelota and marimba and everything!

Also I'm pretty impressed with this colegio.  The kids learn some advanced stuff, and they are super well-behaved for a bunch of middle and high school aged boys.  Today there was a presentation of a big project. I think it was like a senior project for the kids who are graduating.  It was by far the most impressive high school presentation I have ever seen!  The students wore suits and ties and sat at a table on stage with glasses of water.  They took turns standing and speaking into a microphone.  They had a fantastic, informational powerpoint, but they all had their information memorized.  There was no inappropriate laughing or acting cool for their classmates.  There was an awesome video after the presentation with pictures and video clips from the project.  Damn.

The project was called "Dandole un Respiro al Planeta" ("Giving the Planet a Break").  The boys briefly, but thoroughly, explained global warming (calentamiento global), the greenhouse effect (efecto invernadero), climate change (cambio climático), dangerous waste (desechos peligrosos), different types of pollution (contaminación), solid waste (desechos sólidos), reforestation (reforestación), biodegradation times for different materials (tiempos en biodegradación material), renewable and non-renewable resources (recursos renovables y no renovables), and recycling (reciclaje).  Then they explained their project, in which they cleaned up large area in Santa Bárbara that was super full of yucky trash.  They also planted 200 trees to make a natural barrier, to prevent more trash from ending up there.  They also educated the community and reached out to the press.  They were on TV!  They did tons of fundraising and rented machinery and stuff.  Their presnetation had a spiffy itemized budget.  Craziness.  The total cost of the project was Q35,312.00, including food and transportation and everything.  That's about $5,000.00.  Super interesting stuff.

OK I have more stories but I'm gunna split into a new post so this one isn't super intimidatingly long.