Saturday, June 26, 2004
The Day from Hell
I am officially on vacation at this point, but after Tuesday I think I really deserve it. I woke up tuesday morning and thought that maybe I shouldn't go to work. I just had a bad feeling. But when I got there the sun was shining, the kids were in a good mood and I became optimistic.
At 10 am I went into the the art room where all of my science experiment supplies are. I started taking stuff out for the 3rd grade experiment. The 4th grade was in there doing art. I bent over to pick up one of my boxes when I split by pants from the waist all the way down to the crotch. I was horrified. I quickly exited the classroom, grabbed my sweater, put it around my waist and went to my bosses office. I told her I really had to go home to change. I showed her a bit of where I had ripped my paints and she sent me walking.
I got back to school one our later and was ready to continue the day. At 1:20 another teacher came in to help with my kids that need tutoring. To make a long story short, we had a disagreement and he went on to critisize me and cut me down in front of my class. I kept my mouth shut, but I really wanted to scream.
By the time 2pm came I was ready to get the hell out of school and call it a year. I began walking to the bus stop with Sabine, Ana and Stacy. I was venting to them when the bus came. We were still a block away, it honked its horn and we began to run. Of it had started to ran and I am wearing flipflops. This is very condusive to running quickly (not so much). I am about 20 feet from the bus when my flipflop slips and I go tumbling face first. I lay there and tell them to just leave me there to die, it's okay, I don't want to get home. Ana helps me up and tells me to get on the bus. I climb up onto the bus and everyone is looking at me and laughing. I was laughing too because it had been such a crap day and that really topped it off.
The afternoon didn't improve much but nothing really worth mentioning...thank God I am on vacation now!
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I am officially on vacation at this point, but after Tuesday I think I really deserve it. I woke up tuesday morning and thought that maybe I shouldn't go to work. I just had a bad feeling. But when I got there the sun was shining, the kids were in a good mood and I became optimistic.
At 10 am I went into the the art room where all of my science experiment supplies are. I started taking stuff out for the 3rd grade experiment. The 4th grade was in there doing art. I bent over to pick up one of my boxes when I split by pants from the waist all the way down to the crotch. I was horrified. I quickly exited the classroom, grabbed my sweater, put it around my waist and went to my bosses office. I told her I really had to go home to change. I showed her a bit of where I had ripped my paints and she sent me walking.
I got back to school one our later and was ready to continue the day. At 1:20 another teacher came in to help with my kids that need tutoring. To make a long story short, we had a disagreement and he went on to critisize me and cut me down in front of my class. I kept my mouth shut, but I really wanted to scream.
By the time 2pm came I was ready to get the hell out of school and call it a year. I began walking to the bus stop with Sabine, Ana and Stacy. I was venting to them when the bus came. We were still a block away, it honked its horn and we began to run. Of it had started to ran and I am wearing flipflops. This is very condusive to running quickly (not so much). I am about 20 feet from the bus when my flipflop slips and I go tumbling face first. I lay there and tell them to just leave me there to die, it's okay, I don't want to get home. Ana helps me up and tells me to get on the bus. I climb up onto the bus and everyone is looking at me and laughing. I was laughing too because it had been such a crap day and that really topped it off.
The afternoon didn't improve much but nothing really worth mentioning...thank God I am on vacation now!
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Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Beer and Soy Sauce
On Sunday my friend Sergio took me to a Ceviche stand (shrimp stuff) to try this funky beer mixture. What you do is take a can of beer and drink about 1/5th of it. Then they put in lime, onions, salt, soy sauce and a little bit of chile powder. Then you drink it. Holy cow it was awesome. I couldn't believe it. I was a bit scared because one, I don't like beer that much and two, why would you put in any of that stuff into something you are going to drink. It was definately one of the more unique experiences I have had here.
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On Sunday my friend Sergio took me to a Ceviche stand (shrimp stuff) to try this funky beer mixture. What you do is take a can of beer and drink about 1/5th of it. Then they put in lime, onions, salt, soy sauce and a little bit of chile powder. Then you drink it. Holy cow it was awesome. I couldn't believe it. I was a bit scared because one, I don't like beer that much and two, why would you put in any of that stuff into something you are going to drink. It was definately one of the more unique experiences I have had here.
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Monday, June 14, 2004
Murder in Jocotenango
Normaly, Antigua and Sacatepequez (the county) are very quiet...nothing scary really ever happens here, but last week everything changed. I went with my friend Sergio on Wednesday to eat at a food stand near Jocotenango. (about as far away as Cary is to Raleigh). The woman that ran the stand was there with her boyfriend and her 17-yr-old daughter. It was some of the best street food I have every eaten.
Friday afternoon, Iris comes to me and tells me that the daughter has been murdered. I was absolutely shocked. To get murdered here, you have to messing with the wrong people, so I immediately assumed she must have been doing something stupid. That night they did a story on it on the national news. They showed her body, dumped in a finca, she had been raped, her throat slit and revenge was carved into her leg. Over her body stood a scarecrow made out of her clothes with a ball as it's head. The scarecrow was made to look like her mom. All the neighbors interviewed were baffled, this girl never did anything remotely sketchy or really messed with the wrong people.
It's really scary right now because in the last week there have been 3 murders in Jocotenango. Two were tuctuc drivers (little taxis) and then this girl. I don't know what is going on. Needless to say I haven't walked anywhere by myself at night in the last few days, nor have I even walked, I've been getting rides with friends. It really is a little scary.
However, the good thing of all of this is that there are now more police than ever around Antigua. Everywhere you turn you see an officer and there have even been some military personel here. So, still, Antigua is safe...sometimes I feel like I am living in a bubble here.
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Normaly, Antigua and Sacatepequez (the county) are very quiet...nothing scary really ever happens here, but last week everything changed. I went with my friend Sergio on Wednesday to eat at a food stand near Jocotenango. (about as far away as Cary is to Raleigh). The woman that ran the stand was there with her boyfriend and her 17-yr-old daughter. It was some of the best street food I have every eaten.
Friday afternoon, Iris comes to me and tells me that the daughter has been murdered. I was absolutely shocked. To get murdered here, you have to messing with the wrong people, so I immediately assumed she must have been doing something stupid. That night they did a story on it on the national news. They showed her body, dumped in a finca, she had been raped, her throat slit and revenge was carved into her leg. Over her body stood a scarecrow made out of her clothes with a ball as it's head. The scarecrow was made to look like her mom. All the neighbors interviewed were baffled, this girl never did anything remotely sketchy or really messed with the wrong people.
It's really scary right now because in the last week there have been 3 murders in Jocotenango. Two were tuctuc drivers (little taxis) and then this girl. I don't know what is going on. Needless to say I haven't walked anywhere by myself at night in the last few days, nor have I even walked, I've been getting rides with friends. It really is a little scary.
However, the good thing of all of this is that there are now more police than ever around Antigua. Everywhere you turn you see an officer and there have even been some military personel here. So, still, Antigua is safe...sometimes I feel like I am living in a bubble here.
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Thursday, June 03, 2004
Tour Guide
Niki and the students from NC State came in last Friday. I spent Saturday walking around with the students giving them a tour of Antigua, showing them all the "hot spots" and sending them on there way. Then on Monday I gave a tour to Daria and her daughters, a women that I had met through my blog. I had such a great time showing them around, going through the market, showing them where the best chocobananos are, etc. With all this touring, I came to the conclusion that it would be too much fun to be a tour guide. Ellen asked me right before college graduation, what I wanted to do...My response was "I don't know, I just want to talk" Amazing...that's all tour guides do...and you get to walk around which is great exercise. What a perfect job for me...just something to think about.
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Niki and the students from NC State came in last Friday. I spent Saturday walking around with the students giving them a tour of Antigua, showing them all the "hot spots" and sending them on there way. Then on Monday I gave a tour to Daria and her daughters, a women that I had met through my blog. I had such a great time showing them around, going through the market, showing them where the best chocobananos are, etc. With all this touring, I came to the conclusion that it would be too much fun to be a tour guide. Ellen asked me right before college graduation, what I wanted to do...My response was "I don't know, I just want to talk" Amazing...that's all tour guides do...and you get to walk around which is great exercise. What a perfect job for me...just something to think about.
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