My 3rd Grade Kiddos

Less than a week ago I finished my student teaching. Friday was definitely a tough day saying bye to the kiddos that I had formed such close bonds with. Since then, I have done a lot of thinking about those kids and how much they mean to me.

I got a book from the kids with letters they had all written. They were such sweet and thoughtful letters. I was almost shocked at the level of compassion some of them were able to express in their writing. The teacher in me was definitely proud :) As I read through the letters at my kitchen table, trying to hold back more tears, I had to stop at one letter in particular. It was from one of my favorite's that I had really taken under my belt from the start of the semester. His family life was pretty rough as his parents were going through a pretty nasty divorce. I had witnessed the awkward relationship between the parents at conferences. Many times, my little friend would come into class late because of something going on at home with mom or dad. There was even one time where the mom dropped this little guy off and then came up to me almost in tears apologizing he was late "because his mom is such a scatterbrain."

Obviously things weren't great for this kid, but he is such a ball of personality. I have imagined this kid in high school as the lead in a school play. He is just so full of energy and so personable that a led role would suit him well :) Some days were better than others and you could tell that many times his mind was pre-occupied with something else. I tried my best to keep him focused on school and what he had to do here and now. I made sure that he knew that while he was at school he should focus on that and not let the troubles of home consume his thoughts and bring him down.

Well, as I read this little guy's letter I just had to break down. He letter read as follows: "We will miss you a lot. You gave us so many adventures like being disguised as Patricia MacLachlan." Very sweet start to the letter and very similar to what some of the other students had written. But it was his last sentence that really tugged at my heart strings..."You have helped me through hard times." I still get choked up reading it and thinking about this little guy. As teachers, we are suppose to teach kids the curriculum. That's our "job," but to know that I may have helped this kid cope just a little bit better with the struggles he was facing is definitely a rewarding and somewhat mind-blowing feeling.

It has been really tough getting these kids off my mind this past week, especially those that I know are going through personal struggles at home. I know that they will all be just fine, but it's hard knowing that I can't be there everyday like I was before. They taught me a lot not only about teaching but about myself as well. I am so grateful for the time that I had with such an amazing group of kids. I am so excited to see what the future holds for all of them! :)

Article from the Star

I read this in the paper today about HR problems in the KCMO. Definitely puts me on edge a bit, but I am hoping that the whole contractual agreement with TFA holds through and I still have a job for next year! At least I haven't heard anything otherwise and it sounds like the district has to keep its deal with TFA...let's hope it stays that way :)

http://www.kansascity.com/115/story/1614654.html

Here we go!

As many of you may know, I got accepted into Teach for America! So super exciting and kind of surreal. It honestly was such an overwhelming experience to finally take a small step towards my dream.

I have been researching Teach for America for about two years now and to finally be apart of it is kind of crazy! Now, my top choice was Chicago and while I can say that yes a part of me is disappointed that Chicago is not in my immediate future, I hope I can still make it there someday. I have grown up in KC and know the struggles that the school districts have faced and to be able to possibly be part of the change is nerve-racking but really exciting at the same time. I know that there has to be a reason that I was chosen to stay in KC, and whatever that reason I am sure that I will find out in the months/years to come and it'll all make sense. Chicago can wait two years :)

Not only have I been overwhelmed just knowing that I am now a part of Teach for America, I have also been pretty overwhelmed with the outpouring of support. I have received numerous emails and phone calls from friends and family and I am so lucky to have such a strong support group and I am so grateful for each and every one of them. But I think that the most surprising source of support has come from the program itself. I have been in contact with at least three people from the program just congratulating me on being accepted. They were all super sincere and truly excited about the road ahead. I am also starting to meet other KC corps members, so needless to say I am ready for summer to get here so I can get started.

I know that this is probably going to be the hardest, most challenging two years of my life, but I know that it will also be the most rewarding. These next two years are not going to be about me, but they are going to be about my kids and helping them be the best students and kids they can be. I know that not only with support of my friends and family, but with support of the program it will all work out just fine. I will leave with a quote that is at the bottom of every TFA email I have received. This is the reason that I am doing this and this is what I am striving to see happen:

"One day all children in this nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education."

Kids really do say the darnedest things...

First, update on the unit...at least half of my kids got 100% or just missed one question! So super excited about that! Definitely a good feeling when so many kids do well.

So I have been learning how awesomely entertaining kids really are. They are just too dang funny, and I always find myself cracking up by something they say. A couple weeks ago, my teacher was going over a math problem that involved money. She asked for something that costs around $75. One kid was called on and said a queen size mattress set. Oh I was losing it in the back...really who would think of that?? Normally, you'd think kids would say some kind of toy or something, but nope...queen size mattress set.

Today, was just full of hilarious moments. So the morning was wonderful! One student gave me a squash he got from the pumpkin patch...super sweet! Then, a little girl came up to me while I was working on the computer and said: "Ms. Fisher, you were in my dream last night." I kind of laughed a little and asked if it was a good dream, and she smiled really big with her braces-filled teeth, said 'yes,' and then bounded back to her desk. Another super cute moment! :)

We were coming in from a restroom break or something and I heard a student say my name. He was talking with his friend and was so excited to tell them that: "Ms. Fisher's real name is Maggie...yeah it really is!" I was cracking up! Apparently, that's a big deal on the playground :)

Okay last little humorous moment of the day...a girl started talking to me in line as I was escorting them to lunch. She smiled really big and said "Ms. Fisher, I know your favorite restaurant." Now, I was fully aware that this little girl's mom was one of the room mom's and had all of our favorite's information, but I played along anyway. "Oh really," I said. "And what is it?" She grinned really big and said Panera Bread with a little giggle. She was so proud that she knew my favorite restaurant, it was absolutely adorable!

It honestly is the little things these kids say or do that make me fall more in love with teaching every day. I really need to start a journal and record all of the funny things that kids say during the day! It would definitely be entertaining :)

Midwest Unit

Over the past few weeks my life has been utterly consumed with the planning and implementation of my Midwest unit. Tomorrow is the day where I give the final assessment. I must say that it is such a nerve-racking feeling to know that the test is approaching, and I'm not even taking it!

I want the kids to do well. They have shown me that they know this stuff through all of the assessments that I have had to give throughout the unit. As well as they have done on the work throughout the unit, this whole test thing has put me on edge. Not only will this test be a measure of what the students know, but how well I did teaching them. Their performance on this test will reflect how I did as a teacher and my stomach is doing flips and turns just thinking about it.

There are so many things that I wanted to do with my unit that I just never had time for. I have definitely learned that there is never enough time in the day. Something else is more pertinent to complete, an assembly cuts the day apart, or an early dismissal scrambles the whole schedule. There are many things that I would do differently, but I am learning and growing as it goes.

As I go to bed tonight, I know that tomorrow is a new day and I can only hope for the best. I know that my kids will do their best, I know I did my best, and that is all that I can ask for :)

Normal...

I saw this while stumbling through the internet and I had to smile :)

Speech to the Kids

As I mentioned previously, Obama gave a speech to students across the country Tuesday. My class was one of the ones that watched the speech. After reading the speech prior to the actual broadcast, I was looking forward to the student response. There was no political bias within the speech. It was simply encouraging the students to do well in school, set goals for themselves, and become the best student and person they can be.

The students watched the speech, some more intently than others, but when the speech was over there was a discussion on what the president said. I couldn't help but smile throughout the entire discussion because the kids nailed it on the head. They knew exactly what the message was and what was expected from them as students. "Everyone has something they are good at." "You need to keep trying because it takes practice to do well at something." "Try your best." It really was a powerful speech to the kids and the fact that they could translate what he was saying was even more powerful. The only problem that I had with the broadcast was that Obama did not speak directly into the camera and show that he was talking to kids across America. It really was like watching a speech, but I think it would have been a bit more meaningful to speak right into the camera and right to the kids in the classroom.

Two students from my class were taken out by their parents during the speech. I think that it is sending the wrong message to our students to take them out of school during a speech where the president of the United State is talking about the importance of doing well in school. It is saying to our kids that maybe yes school is important, but when there is something you don't want to hear than it's okay you don't have to listen. I personally am just down right furious that politics have gotten into the middle of discussion about school and the importance of being a good student.

I got go on a whole other rant about politics and my feelings about it and how messed up it has become, but I already got into a heated discussion with my parents about that tonight...so maybe another time :)

I will end with saying that it really was a neat experience to sit with a room full of kids and hear the President talk to them. I know that it is something that I will remember, and I hope that this is something that will be continued by Presidents in the years to come

Talking Politics

If you know me well, you know how I stand politically and probably that it's not something that I am too fond of debating. I know where I stand and I fully respect those who may not hold the same views as myself, but today I was just plain frustrated. Here is my rant...

Presidents Obama announced that he would be given a message to school-aged children about setting goals for yourself, doing your best and the importance of education. Apparently people are up in arms that students have to watch the President speak during the school day. There is no political, and as many have been saying "socialist" agenda attached to this message. It is purely to give students well wishes in school and to motivate them to do the best they can. Obama is the first president to ever do such a thing.

There are parents that have already requested that their student be pulled out of the class during the broadcast, which I find absolutely ridiculous. This is the first ever message of its kind and what a unique opportunity for kids to feel like the President is talking to them, regardless of political views. Now it the message was to promote any kind of political issue, than I may be hesitant to support the idea. I never remember as a kid feeling one way or another about the President, all I knew what that the President was well, the President. I remember going to see the Governor of Kansas when I was in 6th grade for a special award and at the time I had no idea what his political views were, but all that mattered was that I was seeing the Governor.

I find it sad that politics has come to the point where we feel like we cannot support our President when it comes to simply talking to kids. I overheard some people talking about the issue, and while they adamently disagreed with the broadcast one said, "Think of how it will make all of the black children feel in the inner city." Boy did this get my blood boiling. What in the world was that suppose to mean? This whole race thing is really starting to wear thin on me, and I find it ludicrous that this is for the black children, or some children will get more out of it because the President matches their skin color. It is completely irrelevant and the whole reason Obama is doing this is to reach all kids and motivate all kids to do their best in school.

It has nothing to do with race or politics and I think it is so sad that especially in a school it has to come down to that. I really am learning a lot about suburban schools and while I am so very fortunate to be at the school I am at and learn all that I am learning, I have come to reaffirm my believe that my purpose is not to teach in a suburban school.

I will update after my class and I watch the broadcast on Tuesday with what kind of response was had by the students...

New Beginning

Today was our meeting for Student Teaching. Pretty much a last hoorah before everything got started. It was a long and pretty drawn out meeting but between the chatting I did with my neighbors, I did a lot of thinking just about everything in the road ahead.

I was sitting in a desk listening to someone lecture, but I thought that this would be the last time I would sit in a desk and listen to a teacher. I am going to be the one in the front (hopefully a lot more entertaining) come Monday morning. It was kind of crazy to think that the time has finally arrived.

It was nice to see people and catch up with school and work friends. The whole thing was a bit odd, knowing that I would not be coming back to Manhattan for school again. Sure I'll be back to see people, but Manhattan was my home for four years and I am still finding it strange that it won't be anymore.

On my drive home, I watched the sunset in my rear view mirror. The colors in the sky were vibrant and seemed to just pop out of the sky. As I curved down I-70 I saw Kansas City lit up by the night lights. I was starring at the skyline and as I was the Michael Buble song "Home" came on. I found it all very meaningful and touching. I was leaving one home and entering another.

As I thought about KC being my new home, I couldn't help but fast forward 5 months. Everything is so up in the air once I graduate. I have no idea where I will call my next home, but I know that for now I am home with my family as I start this new adventure of student teaching. It will be weird not having your closest friends five minutes away, but I know that it is all part of the process and move on I must. But I must say that I am very excited to start the semester and ready for the unknown that lies ahead.

Operation Breakthrough

As some of you may know, this summer I devoted my free time to volunteering at Operation Breakthrough. It is somewhat like a daycare for children of low income families. I heard about it through a friend and was able to start once I got back from Guatemala.



The first day I walked in to volunteer it seemed like mass chaos. Kids were screaming, teachers were screaming, and kids were all over the place. I was a wee bit overwhelmed, but I asked where I could help out. I wanted to work with the older kids, but again I was put with the first graders (I think this may be a sign that I am just not meant to work with the upper grades. ha!) All the kids were absolutely adorable. Half of them wanted to braid my hair, while the other half wanted to teach me new hand cheers.

As the days that I volunteered went on, I really grew to love those kids. They eventually knew my name and were excited to see me when I came...which is always a good feeling. However, as much fun as I had with the kids there was so much that still bothered me deep down. Much of the time kids were beating up on each other, throwing punches whenever they could. Needless to say my discipline skills were strengthened during this experience. But still it was just awful to see these little 6 year olds getting mad over the littlest things. You could tell that some of the would fight just to fight. It was so difficult to manage the kids because the classroom teacher would yell and scream, the kid would sit out for five minutes and be back at it again. I think that what the organization is doing is wonderful, but they need so much more structure and discipline to the program.

A lot of the time it just seemed like the adults didn't want to be there. It was so disheartening for these kids because more than anything they need positive role models in their lives and it was hard.

There was one incident where I was completely blown away. There was a little boy with a patch over his eye. I stayed somewhat close to him because I had heard his peers teasing him and I was in no way going to allow such behavior. As the day progressed the kids did their own things and the young boy got on a chair to look over into the other classroom, something almost every kid has done. One of the teachers yelled at the boy telling him that that was the reason that he only had one eye. I could not believe what I had just heard. I honestly tried to speak but I was just frozen in shock. Not only was this poor boy being teased because he was a minority, but he also was missing an eye which led to even more teasing.

The day of this event happened to be my last day of volunteering. While I truly did enjoy my times with the kids I learn so much about being an adult figure in a child's life. The need some stability and warmth from adults that they look up to, and I was disappointed that more people don't understand that.

I have to say that this experience only motivates me more to work in an inner-city school. I by no means know a whole lot about teaching yet, and I know that it will take years of practice, but what I do know is that I really care about kids and helping them succeed. In order to do that I am willing to give my time, emotion, and energy to making that happen. I can't wait... :)

Officially an Adult

I have concluded that yes, I am officially an adult. This reason for my brash decision is that I am addicted...to coffee.

I remember waking up bright and early at 5:45am before high school started just to get a jump start on the day. I would take a nice shower and be wide awake afterwards. I would trek downstairs get the morning paper, and turn on the coffee. I loved the smell of coffee but I didn't dare drink it. I thought the taste was just awful and I wasn't ready to be dependent of the caffeine induced drink...at least not yet.

Eventually, I started to venture out and get coffee at (dare I say it) Starbucks. I liked some of the drinks that were mixed with loads of sugar and milk. Still, I wasn't willing to give in and have one every day. But then came college. I'm not really sure what it was, but I felt like I needed to have that cup of joe just like everyone else to get me going in the morning. So gradually I would have a cup or two every week in the morning, nothing serious of course. But as the end of my senior year came to a close, I found myself having a cup of coffee almost every morning. However, I still wasn't dependent on it, just a little pick me up before class or work in the morning.

However, things have changed. This summer I have been waking up early to volunteer or just to get started earlier. And every morning I take my shower and find myself pinning for that cup of coffee. The morning shower just doesn't do it and I need that cup of coffee. I never thought this day would come that I would be like all those adults that need that cup of coffee in the morning as they sit down and read the morning paper, but here I am. And you know, I have to say that I quite enjoy it! :)

Best Friends Forever

There has been a lot of little instances in the past week or so that has really made me realize how lucky I am to have such amazing friends. I have met so many people over the years and some wonderful people in college, but what I have learned is that my best friends are still my girls from high school. It was kind of scary leaving for college not knowing how we all would react coming back from breaks, but we always pick up right where we left off.

The breakfast club girls are amazing. We call ourselves the breakfast club girls because we go to breakfast as much as we can just to catch up on life when we are all back in town. We would go all the time in high school and I think it is so awesome that we have continued that tradition years later. What I love about this group of wonderful ladies is that we are all so unique yet we all mesh together so well. We all know Rachel is going to safe the world. Amy is the most outgoing and fun person I have ever met. Janie can make anyone laugh and she is always looking to make people happy. Sarah has a clear head on her shoulders and she is so ready to take on the world with the love of her life. Dayna is the kindest person I know and she is going to make a difference in life. And of course Jo is such a strong willed person who is so passionate about her family and friends.

I can truly say that I am a better person because of these girls. Through the deep conversations we have about life and love and all of the above or just the goofy times we have dancing to Beyonce, we have a good time together. I am so grateful for such a great group of girls and through all the ups and downs I know that we will all be there for each other and truly be best friends forever :)

Why I Love Summer

There's something about the season summer that just really gets me going. I absolutely love summer and everything about it.

The drone of the cicades as the sun begins to set.
The twinkle of firefly's lighting up the night.
The calm night breeze as you sit on the porch.
The sound of kids jumping into the cool pool.
The taste of a popsicle after a hot afternoon.
The smell of hot dogs and hamburgers that drift through the neighborhood.
The joy of going to a baseball game with thousands of your closest friends.
The welcome of the day in the early morning.
The comfort of lying in the grass and looking at the stars above.
The time that seems to drift away and you divulge yourself in a good book.

And most of all I love the way that summer makes me feel like nothing else matters but right here and right now. There is something about summer that makes me forget my worries, relax, and just enjoy being me. There is no other time where I feel more alive and more myself than in the Summertime... :)

Wedding Weekend

It is finally here, June 20th...okay well almost. But two of my really good friends are getting married this weekend and I could not be more excited!

I have known Sarah for almost ten years now and it is so exciting to see her so happy! She is such a kind, caring person and she deserves nothing but the best! And the best she has found in Paul. Her and Paul were made for each other. They have an obviously love for one another and I just hope that I can someday have what they have. I know that they are going to have a beautiful wedding and a beautiful life ahead of them. I look forward to see the great family that they blossom into in the years to come!

I met Christina while working at Jardine and we instantly clicked. She is such a fun-loving person full of so much energy. Her fiance Jason, is her perfect balance. They are simply adorable and I am so excited to be part of their special day. Their wedding is at a resort in Michigan and not only will there be good company, but the place that it will be at seems like an absolute blast.

It will be a weekend full of love and happiness and I feel so lucky to be a part of the special day. Congratulations to the happy couples and I wish you only the best as you embark on this new journey! :)

Fine Dining

Tonight my family and I went out to eat at a super nice restaurant. It is so out of character for us because we never go out to eat. Well the call for this special occasion was to celebrate my brother's graduation, which is definitely worth celebrating.

Don't get me wrong I was glad that we could celebrate Will, but I am just so turned off by the whole "Fine Dining" atmosphere. I felt like I couldn't act like myself. You had to know exactly what to order and how to order it and you feel dumb otherwise...that's why I went for the fish, no special requests with that!

My parents went on to ask me what I wanted to do six months down the road for my graduation. I said not go to eat especially not at a nice restaurant and they seemed to be offended by my response. Seriously give me something we can do and experience together as opposed to spending a ton of money on food. I guess I just can't justify spending $30 on one course for one person as opposed to spending a night together doing something fun and active. My parents tried to tell me that it was nice to treat yourself to something nice, but I personally don't consider spending money on food treating myself to something nice. Sure it's satisfying when you eat it and the few hours that it subdues your hunger, but what do you have after that...an empty belly.

I am sure that a lot of other people disagree with me and that is completely fine. I'm just curious what others think about fine dining? What does fine dining mean to you?

Back Home

I had a few more reflections to post, but I figured since I am back home, I would skip the last two reflections.

It was so hard saying bye to everyone and everything in Guatemala. The kids were amazing and it was so hard saying bye to those kids knowing that you will probably never see them again. I absolutely loved the school and of all the teachers there was only one that was truly dedicated to what she was doing. She had so many different engaging activities for the kids. I want to be like her some day. Go to a school and give kids the spark that they need to know they can do well. Many of the kids that went to that school were the first in their family to attend school and they were trying so hard. I loved every minute I was in that school and I would absolutely love to go back some time.

As for the families, I cannot begin to describe how amazing they all were. We had such a blast the last night at a little dance party at Rocio's house. It was fun just to get together with everyone and have one last good time. I was amazed at how much fun we had especially when some of us, mostly myself, was not able to communicate everything I wanted to. Dorita, my host mom, was such a blast and I grew really close to her. We made up a dance together and performed it numerous times in front of people. She was truly an amazing women and I was so lucky to have her as my host mom. The whole Gramajo family was caring and helpful throughout the whole process: helping me with my Spanish, taking care of Melanie when she didn't feel good, driving us everywhere, and making sure that we had a good time in their country. They are a beautiful family and I look forward to reuniting with them again in the future.

Being back in the United States, I have grown to miss some things in Guatemala. Here are some of the things that I will miss the most:

Being able to stop traffic with your hand
People randomly putting on their hazard lights
Speaking/Listening to Spanish
Belting out Spanish songs in the car with Dorita
Getting great big hugs from the kids at school
Beans...kind of surprising, but they were good! :)
Having at least 4 meals a day
The scenery
The music
Waking up early...yes I said it. I felt like I was so much more productive with my day
Kissing people on the cheek everytime you said hello or goodbye
And most importantly...THE PEOPLE!!

It was a great experience. This has definitely given me the spark to explore more of the world. I am so ready to see everything else that is out there!

Day 13: June 3rd...BIRTHDAY! :)

Birthday Day!!! I woke up nice and early as always and took my usual shower. When I came back to my room, I was greeted by a huge sign that said ‘Feliz Cumpleanos Maggie!’ It was made by Mafer and it was a great way to start the morning. Dorita had music blaring once more, but this time it was a Spanish “Happy Birthday” song. Music blaring and a huge sign made the morning perfect. I also got a small gift from the family: a picture frame and worry doll.

At school, Melanie started telling some of the kids that it was my birthday and they all wanted to take pictures. I had fun taking pictures with the kids at recess. The kids were infatuated with my camera so I let them take pictures. The recess bell rang and Melanie and I walked into the classroom. The students stood up and started singing “Happy Birthday” to me. They sang the English version and then the Spanish version which goes as follows:
“Ya queremos pastel, ya queremos pastel, aunque sea un pedacito pero queremos pastel!! Jaja”
And then the students started counting my age! It was such a blast and I was so glad to be able to share the day with the kids.

After class the whole crew came back to Dorita’s. We kind of hung out talking about the trip and just reflecting on everything. To eat, we had a wonderful chicken soup to calm the stomachs of many. After we had, Dorita and some of the other host mom’s brought out a chocolate cake with a candle on top. I had two versions of Happy Birthday sang to me. It was great to be with the group to celebrate the day. We then packed into the car and headed to the pool at the Holiday Inn. It was so nice earlier in the day, but as we were leaving we could see incriminating clouds in the distance. We still went hoping it would clear up. Sadly it didn’t…it actually poured.
Since we had just gotten to the pool we didn’t want our host families to turn right back around and pick us up. The entire group, all ten of us, went to the restaurant next door to the hotel. Most of us ordered drinks. I got my first Gallo, the official beer of Guatemala. As we were enjoying our time, a mariachi band and the group told them it was my birthday. So the group sang a birthday song to me which was fun. We wrapped up our drinks and headed back to the hotel to wait for our rides to pick us up at 5:00pm. It turns out that the traffic was so bad that it almost took two hours to come pick us up. Everyone was pretty frustrated, but we were glad to see some familiar faces when they arrived.

When Rosio came to pick us up, she told us that we would not be able to get back to Dorita’s for dinner. Melanie and I were pretty disappointed because we knew that Dorita had something planned for the evening and it was frustrating that we couldn’t celebrate with her, but alas there was nothing we could do. It was completely out of our hands. The group that was left: Bobby, Melanie, Molly, Monica, Carina and myself went to Pizza Hut along with Rosio, Gladis, and Gabby. The Pizza Hut was so nice and it appeared that couples were actually going there for dates. It is just so surprising because the fast food restaurants here are so much nicer than back in the states. While we were eating, yet again the employees came to the table and sang a Pizza Hut verision of Happy Birthday. Lots of Happy Birthday’s for the day so it was a lot of fun!

We finally got back to the house at both Melanie and I were pretty excited to see the family. We were talking with Dorita and she convinced us to have some margaritas with her. The three of us had fun just drinking small little glasses of margaritas and trying to talk about the day. And of course the day would not be complete without Dorita breaking out her CD of music. She made me get up and do our little dance in the living room. It honestly was the perfect way to end my day. I was happy to have spent my birthday somewhere new with a lot of really great people that made the day extra special! :)

Day 12: June 2nd

Today was a pretty uneventful day in the school. We were able to see the students actual learn some material. One of the subjects that were taught was mathematics. The teacher was working on greater than and less than. She had a pretty interesting way to teach the concept. She compared every number to see if they were less than or greater than. It was a new way that I had seen and I enjoyed getting to see the students learn the material. The students were put into teams: boys vs. girls. They then had to come up to the board, write the problem, and solve it first. The students also worked on grammar at a later part in the morning. I did not know what all of the sentences were saying, but with the help of my handy-dandy dictionary I was able to translate the sentences. The teacher worked on nouns and modifiers for those nouns. The teacher didn’t really do anything that was exciting or different. She just wrote the sentences on the board and had students underline the modifier and noun.

After school, everyone except Kimberly and McKenzie came back to Dorita’s house. We all ate lunch which was sandwiches, but three people were not feeling good: Melanie, Jenny, and Monica. Monica stayed at Dorita’s house well the rest of us went to the artisans market by the airport. The market was much nicer than the one in Antigua. Each vendor had their own individual indoor port and we were able to shop a lot nicer. People did not bombard us and I felt a lot more comfortable walking around by myself and scoping out the goods.

Later in the afternoon, Melanie was not feeling good so she stayed home for the evening. Corina, Dorita, and I went to the soccer game of Julio and Emilio, sons of one of the host families. On the car ride, Dorita played one of her favorite CD. The first song was called Secreto Amor, Secret Love. Dorita sang as Corina translated. I was so super excited to see a soccer game in another country. It was a small field, but there was a good cheering crowd: Molly, Mckenzie, Bobby, Kimberly, Dorita, and Rosio. It was so much fun to be with Dorita at the game. The team we were cheering for were doing pretty bad until the end. Dorita went crazy towards the end and she would get up and scream every time the team came close to scoring. It was a great game and Canta Bingo ended up winning the game! The car ride home was just Dorita and I. Dorita played her favorite song once again and we danced and sang the entire way home. I learned a little from the song and I sang along with her. We had a great time in the car ride and even when we got back home. Dorita blared the music, which actually woke up a couple people. We danced and shimmed until I went back down to bed. It was definitely an entertaining evening!

Day 11: June 1st

Today Melanie and I taught two lessons for our third graders. I was so super excited to get to teach lesson, but just a little apprehensive on how the language barrier would pan out. The first lesson was “She is a…” with four professions following: doctor, student, secretary, and writer. To start the lesson, Melanie and I wanted to act out the profession so students could get a visual of what the profession actually was. I acted out a student and doctor. It was so much fun because I came into the classroom and sat at a desk and pretended to be one of the students yelling “Yo, Yo, Yo!” “Me, Me, Me!” The kids definitely got a kick out of it. Next I was a doctor. I had a stethoscope that I borrowed from the family. I put on the gear and started walking around the room and picked out one kid. I felt his head, and then checked his heartbeat. The kids were laughing hysterically. It was a lot of fun. We did a lot of repetition with the words to make sure that the students knew what they were saying and how to pronounce it.

One thing that I noticed was the kids were having trouble pronouncing ‘student.’ In Spanish, student is estudiante. The kids were pronouncing student, ‘estundent.’ In Spanish an ‘e’ comes before an ‘s’ word so the kids were having a hard time pronouncing that. After lots of modeling how to pronounce the word with my mouth and having the kids repeat it went pretty well. We also played a game where kids held up notecards for the appropriate profession that matched a picture I had drawn. The kids did really well with the tactile, hands-on approach. Finally, after writing and drawing the sentences in their English notebooks, the ESL teacher, Byanca, wanted us to give the students a worksheet as a form of assessment. The students did fairly well with thirteen of the twenty-one scoring 100%. I thought this was pretty good considering this was the first time they were introduced to the material.

After our lesson, Dr. Herrera suggested that we try something different. She suggested the strategy “Quiz-Quiz-Trade.” It seemed kind of confusing and I was worried if the students would understand, but Melanie and I had prepared and changed our lesson in order to incorporate this into the next lesson. The second lesson, “He is a…” started off well with boys coming to the front and acting out different professions. We again did lots of repetition and used lots of visuals. Halfway through the lesson, Dr. Herrera stepped in and took over the lesson. We had talked about doing a game called “Quiz-Quiz-Trade” with the kids. We were getting ready to do a review with the kids when Dr. Herrera decided to model it for us. She ended up teaching the last twenty minutes of the period. We got the kids organized to play the game, but we had to play inside the room because the older kids had recess outside. Some of the kids understood the directions, but it was still pretty hectic. With five minutes left, Herrera left and we had to finish the mess that had been started. We played two more rounds and then finished by giving the kids worksheets that the ESL teacher wanted them to have. I thought for the most part of lesson went well, but it did get really confusing and I was really disappointed that Melanie and myself did not get the opportunity to teach our entire lesson as we had planned.
After we were done with school we went to see a topographic map of Guatemala. There were lots of mountains, and volcanoes that were proportional to all the actual mountains and volcanoes in Guatemala. Dorita pointed out a lot of different places within the country. We learned where Dorita worked, where the recent earthquake was, and various other places we had visited. It was very interesting and I am really glad to see one of the main sights of Guatemala.

As the park was closing one of the guards escorted us out of the park. He actually ended up taking us to an amusement park that was closing. There was a huge slide that we were allowed to slide down. No one was in the park and the guards gave us special permission. We were able to slide down on old potato sacks. One of the employees’s sprayed extra gasoline on the slide before we slid down to make us go extra fast. We were able to go down twice for the price of one! It was such a blast. Afterwards I was going to get up on a step to take a picture, and I tripped over the step. It was honestly bringing me back to the days of being a kid: going down a huge slide, tripping in front of everyone, and getting laughed at. It was so much fun though! I loved all of it. After the slide and the trippage, the guard took us on a tour of the park. It was an old park and it was really interesting to be able to get a personal tour of the park. As we finished the afternoon, we walked back to our car. There was a man that had been sitting there for awhile. Apparently he was ‘watching’ the cars and we were told that if you don’t pay those people than they will do something bad to you. It was just an interesting situation and I had never been in a situation like that. Of course it was nothing bad, just interesting.

The car ride home was long car ride home. We found out that someone committed suicide on the bridge that we always use. We took a much longer tour of the city. It was really neat to see different parts of the city that we had not seen before. Much of the city that we saw was considered the old historic part of Guatemala. We even heard a story from Dorita about a women that got a ride from a taxi driver right outside a graveyard. The taxi driver dropped her off and said he would come back in the morning to pick up the money she owed him. He came back the next day and the people that lived in the house said that that lady had passed away two years ago. Oooooo…creepy. We passed the graveyard that apparently the lady was picked up at. It was a huge public graveyard. Dorita told Melanie, Carina and I that people had to pay to keep their loved ones there. If the fees were not paid than the bodies would be taken out of the grave and put in a mass hole.

For dinner that evening we had a great meal as always. I had some good conversations with the family that evening as well. I talked to Luis about learning different languages and he suggested that I listen to romantic Spanish music in order to better learn the language. Luis also suggested that I watch Spanish television. I am definitely going to take those suggestions into consideration as I try and learn the language a bit better.

Day 10: May 31st

Today was a pretty uneventful day. Melanie and I were both pretty exhausted from Antigua the day before. We were able to sleep in which I was very excited about! For most of the day we worked on preparing for our lessons we would be teaching the next day, Monday. The two lessons we planned were “She is a…” and “He is a…” We had to teach about different professions that people could be. There were eight vocabulary words that we had to work with. I made pictures for each of the professions while Melanie wrote on note cards for the students to use. After we made and gathered our props, we scripted out what we wanted to say in Spanish. We didn’t know how much English the students knew so we figured we should give some directions in Spanish. It was pretty difficult trying to say what we wanted to say in Spanish, but our host sister Luisa helped us with the translation.

After a long day of working on homework, we had dinner: plantains and beans…so good! While we had dinner we watched America’s Next Top Model and Survivor, in Spanish of course. It was just so funny watching those shows in Spanish just because I know how the people in the shows talk and it was just entertaining to hear it in Spanish. I also noticed that the shows were from a few years ago. The family didn’t care, they still really enjoy those shows and they were excited to watch it together. It was a pretty low key night, but fun nonetheless.

Day 9: May 30th

Antigua Day! We woke up pretty early and got to Rosio’s house a little after 8am. We jammed into the Isabella’s van once more to make the trek to Antigua. We were all still pretty frustrated we would be coming back today instead of tomorrow, so it was a bit tense for the ride. Finally someone decided to say something and we got an explanation from our teacher. We were all still pretty frustrated about not being consulted about the decision but we decided not to let it ruin our day. After a fairly short drive of forty minutes we were there. The van rocked back and forth and we drove on the cobblestone roads. We started the day by eating at the Bed and Breakfast we were supposed to stay at. The owner had already ordered food for all of us, so we pretty much had to eat there. It was such a cute little place, with a beautiful garden surrounding it. Breakfast was scrambled eggs and mixed beans, which is a very popular meal. We also had a food that was similar to oatmeal, but I liked this lot more.

Finally, after spending too much time at breakfast we made our way through the city. We started by going to this hotel that also was a museum of some sort. It was absolutely gorgeous, but very expensive. Macaw birds rested on perches while numerous fountains trickled with water. The view was absolutely breathtaking. We walked to this church area and it looked like a perfect place for a wedding. I honestly would love to get married in a place like that, but on a teacher’s salary I can tell you right now that isn’t going to happen  Next to the church was a small candle shop. We were able to see some of the employees sculpt the candles that were displayed from the ceiling. It was a pretty neat little store.
Then, we went to a jade museum. Apparently there is a lot of jade found in Guatemala and there are so many different shades of colors. It was pretty interesting, but the jewelry was so expensive. Again, since we were in such a large group it took forever for the twenty of us to get out of the store. It felt like we were wasting precious time just waiting for people, mostly the older individuals. However, we finally made it out of the store and made our way to the market, which we had all been waiting for. We were all so excited to finally start buying things for people back home. The market was filled with people outside and then inside this decrepit building. It was hard to shop because vendors would come up to you and tell you that they were selling so and so for a special price. At first I was pretty constant with the prices I wanted and didn’t really budge a whole lot, but I ended up not buying a whole lot the first time around. We had a chance to go back after lunch and I was much quicker with my purchases and got a lot more than the first time around!

For lunch, we went back to the Bed and Breakfast. I had a grilled chicken that was amazing! And not surprising, but beans accompanied the meal as well. I also had a chance to try a drink called “Mush.” It is a type of flavored water. It is really hard to describe, but it is sweet and tastes pretty good. We finished the meal with chocolate cake, which Melanie and Molly were very happy about, and this other dish with a pastry filled with bananas and no surprise…sweet beans!  During the whole lunch, Dr. Herrera’s kids were playing with another little boy that was at the restaurant. I just love seeing kids from different countries and languages play together. Yes, Dr. Herrera’s kids do speak some Spanish, but it still just amazes me to see kids from different countries play together, a lot like Jardine. There is nothing in the way: no stereotypes, no inhibitions, nothing.

After having another pretty long meal, we then were able to go back to the market. We then walked to one of the older churches in Antigua. We walked under a clock structure that survived an earthquake that destroyed the entire city. It was beautiful scene looking at the bright yellow with the dark volcano basking in the background. I just absolutely loved the colors of the city and it was such a vibrant town. After looking at the arch, we went and looked at one of the oldest churches in the town. It was beautiful. White designs popped out on the yellow background. From what we were told, the design is from the Baroque period. We went inside and there were loud voices coming from the speakers. There were a few people at the front of the church that I thought were preparing for a wedding. I got closer to the group in the front of the church and figured out that they were practicing for a play. The loud noises echoing from the speakers were in correlation to the people practicing for the play. It was a pretty church with lots of really intricate figurines dedicated to different saints.

We then went to a restaurant called Mono Loco, Crazy Monkey. The area we went to I noticed a ton of tourists. It was kind of weird seeing so many people that looked similar to us, but you could tell it was a popular tourist attraction. The restaurant was a lot of fun. Most of us ordered drinks and we celebrated Ashley’s 21st birthday. It was just nice talking with our group and Rosio’s daughter just about our culture, our experience thus far and random other topics. I was so excited because we then had enough time to go dancing for a bit. I absolutely love dancing and the bar we went to next door had an open dance floor. Our group took over the dance floor and showed off our awesome moves! Even Jenny broke out and did the worm on the floor. It was such a good time and I was glad that we were able to cut loose and have a fun night together.

Day 8: May 29th

In the schools, the students were, from what I understand, finishing up there testing. The students took a computer and language test. During this time, I worked on the platforms for the portfolio. At recess time, I played a game with the kids called Mermoria, or Memory. It was such a simple little game with cards that were made out of flimsy cardboard, but the kids and I still had a good time playing. It was also great because today the students in our class gave presentations on their eggs that they had made. Two students would get up at a time, a boy and a girl, to present their eggs. Melanie and I thought that the students were the parents and their eggs were their kids. Students in the class would ask questions like, “What is its name?” and “How old is it?” The teacher would also point out the clothing and the bed of the eggs. I also noticed that while the students were presenting, the teacher made them stand up straight and tall while they were presenting. It was somewhat frustrating because kids were talking as their peers were presenting. I just wanted to stand up and tell them to be respectful and listen, but of course that is not my place. I think that it is terrifying as it is to get up in front of your peers to present and having them all talk over you can make it even more difficult.

The rest of the day was devoted to going to the National Park of Guatemala. On the car ride over, I rode with Carina and Rosio. Rosia told Carina about our changed plan for the weekend we had planned on going to Antigua. We were supposed to spend the night, but our professor had changed the plans and we were only going to spend the day there. I was so disappointed because not only was I looking forward to spending time with the group, going out Saturday night, but we were also suppose to stay at a bed and breakfast. It was just a really frustrating feeling to have something that you were really looking forward to change without the group even being consulted. We were all pretty upset not only about the news, but the fact that our host families had to tell us instead of our professor.

We finally got to the park and we stopped once we entered the park and took a look at the view of the lake. It was absolutely gorgeous. It was a really pretty lake, but the guide told us that it is very dirty from all kinds of pollution from the city. However, apparently it is really difficult to clean the lake because so many people leave their trash everywhere in the city and eventually it ends up in the lake. They are trying to get it clean by 2014, but they think it could take up to twenty years. The group packed a lunch and we ate at tables within the park. It was a wonderful meal, but we were bombarded by bugs. It was so frustrated trying to eat with bugs congregating around our table. After lunch we walked around before our official tour. There was a path that looked like it led down to the lake. Some of us started walking on the path when we noticed a couple bulls walking in our direction. I moved to the side, but there was a man leading the bulls and he told us to go away. So I went to the other side of the fence, but the bulls walked right through and started coming in our direction. I was with Jenny and we got freaked out and started running and everyone yelled at us to walk, so we tried to calmly walk as fast as we could and the bulls eventually went away. It was very comical reflecting on it, but very scary at the time! :)

After our little run in with the bulls we started our guided tour. My host family met up with us after lunch after being gone for dentist appointments. I was really excited because Dorita, Mafer, and Luisa were all able to join us. There was an area of the park devoted to famous replicas of Guatemala. We saw a miniature town of Antigua, Tikal, and finally the national tree of Guatemala: Ceiba Pentandra. On the way Bobby and I saw a see-saw that we were able to play on while we were waiting on others. Eventually, we were led to a park of the park that had team games for us to play. The games were very similar to ones that I have played in Wildwood, and Rock Springs.

The first game was the one where one person falls and everyone else catches them. Bobby went first and it was pretty funny because before Bobby went, Molly kept telling him to fall straight back and not bend your knees. Well when Bobby fell into our arms low and behold he bent his legs and we struggled to hold him up. Monica gave it a shot and did much better. Next came the spider web game which we all played. There were ropes that we had to maneuver through to get to the other side. It was so much fun because even Rosio, one of our host mom’s and main coordinators, gave it a try. The next came was the Kings game. Unwillingly, Monica and I were chosen as the Kings. We sat on these swing type things and everyone else had to carry us a certain distance. Next was the ladder game. Rosio made a joke that one side was Texas and the other side was Mexico and we had to make it across the border. The stepping game was a series of steps that we had to step on to get to the other side. Next was the Diamond game where two people had to hold hands and make their way across this diamond figure. I went with Bobby and sadly we failed and he fell and actually ripped his pants a bit. I felt so bad! Finally there was another ladder game, but no rungs to use to get over. People had to be hoisted up over the ladder to get to the other side. It was up to Bobby to get over himself and he did by running up the ladder and making it to the top.

It was a lot of fun bonding with everyone in the group including host families. We then made our way down to the lake by car. You could definitely smell the difference by the water. We were told that it smelled bad because of all the pollution. Next to the lake, there were a lot of vendors along with little open-air restaurants. Many of the people that were selling items were very poor, wearing no shoes and looking disheveled. There was even one boy that came up to Luisa after she bought a small treat and he just stared at her. She had a bag of chips that she just gave to him and he thanked her and ran away. It is just something that you don’t see a whole lot in Kansas and it is just so disheartening to see little kids in that predicament.

We ended the night by making Hawaiian pizza back at the house. Melanie and I talked with Dorita, and Luisa. Then Dorita asked us to tell us about our day all in Spanish. I told them about our day with the assistance of Melanie. Of course it wasn’t perfect, but I felt pretty proud of myself. It was very difficult, but I know that I have learned a lot and I know that I will continue to learn a lot in the last week we are here.

Day 7: May 28th

The voice of my host mom woke me up very early this morning. As I lay in my bed, I slowly rocked back and forth until Dorita opened the door, made a hand motion, and ran up the stairs. I looked at the clock not knowing what time it was. 2:30 the clock spelled out. I was so confused. Mafer told us it was an earthquake. Both Melanie and I were so confused because we really didn’t know what we should do. I laid my head back on the pillow and could still feel myself rocking back and forth. Earlier, I thought that I was just dizzy or something, but it all made sense. I was experiencing an earthquake. It was the first earthquake I had ever been it, and it really wasn’t that bad. It was just a slow rocking motion. Neither Melanie nor I got up at all because no one besides Dorita had gone upstairs. It lasted about a minute, which according to the family is a long time compared to the ten to thirty seconds they normally last. I later found out that the earthquake that we felt was part of a ripple from a 7.1 earthquake off the coast of Honduras. At this time, four people have died and some think the number could rise.

We all talked about our experiences one we got to the school. Some had felt the earthquake, while others did not even wake up. When we arrived, all of the kids were still taking tests to we waited a bit for them to finish. I actually noticed thought our class was taking the English test. They had to color an object according to the color listed, spell the color as the teacher said it, and finally fill in the verbs into the correct sentence with the assistance of a word bank. I found out from one of the teachers that all of these tests are considered standardized tests.

Melanie and I were told by the ESL teacher in the school that we would be teaching the English lessons next week. We will be teaching two lessons on Monday and no more for the rest of the week because when the teacher teaches English it is not when we are in the schools. We will be teaching a little bit about professions. The content is pretty strict. We need to teach: She is a….doctor, student, secretary, and writer for one lesson and He is a … lawyer, dentist, worker, and engineer. I thought it was kind of interesting the gender bias of the two professions. I still do not understand why we can’t teach the professions and then have the students answer He is/She is according to pictures. I just want to make sure that students understand that they can be whoever they want to be and I hope that this lesson will not limit their understanding of professions and working.

During recess time, I sat next to Bobby and a little girl that I had met, Beverly. Beverly showed me a large cut that she had on her foot. She was bleeding a little bit, but there was not a first aid kit at the school to help her cut. Bobby told me that she had got her foot caught in a motorcycle of some sort. I felt bad for this poor girl that was hurt and had no way to help aid her wounds. The school is just so impoverished. There is no toilet paper or soap for the kids. There is some in the teacher’s bathroom, but nowhere else. At recess, the kids were really crazy too. The girls and boys were chasing each other and they were pushing people out of the way to get away from the boys. It was kind of a hectic recess and as I had mentioned earlier, none of the teachers really seemed to care. No students were reprimanded for pushing people out of the way. It is just so much different from schools in the US, but I am definitely learning a lot and I still love the kids so much. It has been a wonderful learning experience in the school.

In the evening, we went to a party at one of the host family’s house to celebrate all the birthdays. We started by introducing ourselves and saying our favorite color. For those that spoke English as a first language, we had to say that line in Spanish. For those that spoke Spanish, they had to say the phrase in English. We had a great time hearing from everyone and watching everyone practice what they were going to say. We then played a game similar to bingo. We had eight spaces to draw pictures that you can find in a house. After we drew these pictures, Heidi, the host mom, pulled out words from a bag that had to do with a house. If we had that object, then we could cross it off our board. The person that had all eight of their objects crossed off won. All of the American students actually won a small bracelet. After we played bingo we played charades with a game called Mim-ik, like mimic. It was a fun game, but kind of hard at the same time because people were guessing in both Spanish and English so it was hard for the presenter to distinguish the correct guess. We finished the party by eating a food similar to enchiladas, along with tiramisu.

After having a great time at the party it was time for Dorita, Mafer, Melanie and myself to go back home, except Dorita decided to take us on a tour of the city. I must say it was probably the best car ride I have ever been on. Mafer turned on the radio and I started dancing to the songs that I knew. I love to make up small dances to songs and one of the songs we listened to was ‘Hot and Cold’ by Katy Perry. I showed them my little dance and they loved it! It was such a blast! Even Dorita was showing off some sweet moves during the trip. I was so ecstatic when my favorite song played on the radio: ‘Everything’ by Michael Buble. I sang most of the song, but there is a part where you can sing ‘La’ so I told everyone to sing along and we all did. It was so much fun! Other songs that we listened, danced, and sang to were “Boom Boom Pow,” “We’re All in this Together,” “Kissed a Girl,” “Bleeding Love,” and “One More Time.” We traveled most of the city looking at churches and statues lit up by the city lights. I think it would be great to see the churches and statues up close and actually explore the places another time, but for last night it was perfect to just watch the city pass me by.

Hasta Luego

Day 6: May 27th

We started the day with another breakfast with pancakes. I love the pancakes because they are so big and fluffy. My host sister, Mafer, cooked them for us, so I will definitely have to learn from her how to cook better pancakes. We traveled to the school and started the morning by meeting for our practicum class. While we were meeting my third grade class was working on their cross-stitching once more. We actually learned that it is for Father’s Day. It is suppose to be some kind of wrap for their fathers.

When it was time for recess, I had my book and notebook out as I talked to the kids. The kids have been so intrigued with my little Spanish book. Since I don’t know much Spanish, I would point to a phrase in the book, say it in Spanish and then say it in English. We eventually got to body parts and colors. The students knew colors really well, but body parts not as much. I would point to a part of my body, say it in Spanish and then say it in English and they would repeat. It was just so much fun sitting with the kids and communicating with them in some form or another. The kids have been so happy to have us here. They love to hug us and just get affection from us. I have even had a few little boys give me a small kiss on the cheek. It is so different from the United States because we are told over and over again to be careful when coming in contact with the kids because it may be seen as something inappropriate. All we have been told to do is a side hug. Here, it is so different and I actually really like being able to give the kids a big hug. I think that a lot of these kids the attention they need back home so if a hug can brighten their day than I am more than happy to do it!

After recess, the third graders took a Geography test of Guatemala. The test I believe was still part of the ‘standardized’ testing. Similar to the Religion test, this test had multiple ways to assess the students. The first part, the students had to unscramble letters to make a word related to Geography: olga=lago=lake. They would then draw a picture of that specific feature. The next part was a word search of some sort. Next, the students had to label certain states in Guatemala. Finally, the students had to identify what type of map the picture was displaying: relief map, physical, etc.

For the rest of the day, the students worked on their cross-stitching, for the third day in a row. We actually learned that the piece that they are making is for Father’s Day coming up in June. It is suppose to be some type of shall to go over their shoulders. The design does not have any significance; it is just a neat design that the teacher created for the kids to replicate. A little before noon, a few students left to get snacks for the class. The students brought back a container of water filled what was called ‘mush’ and a basket full of bread. Soon after their snacks it was time for the daily prayer.

After school, Jenny and Ashley came with our host family for the afternoon. It was nice for them because they had the chance to use the internet and communicate with their family. While the girls were working on the internet, Luisa took me outside to see their backyard. It is a small yard, but it has an amazing view. Large hills served as a backdrop for the backyard. It was just incredible and I really enjoyed the view. The family also has a small fruit tree that they use in many of their meals. The fruits look orange but they actually taste like a lemon or a lime. I am not sure of name of the fruits, but I know that they are tasty.

We had some time to work on our school work and soon after, we went to the mall. The mall was huge. It was called MocoFlores, I think. It had a lot of American stores like Tommy Hilfiger and Victoria’s Secret. I actually went into the book store to look at the children’s books. I bought three children’s books for four dollars each. I thought most of the books were a pretty good price in comparison to the prices in the United States. I later found out that it wasn’t just the books that had a good price, but the movies as well.

All of the host families got together to go to the movies at the mall we were shopping at. Apparently, Wednesday is half price movies, which was 19 queiztalas or less than three dollars! I was absolutely shocked! It was such a cheap price to go to a movie. In the US, it is fun to go to the movies, but it is so expensive that it really isn’t a popular past time for a lot of people. We waited around after we got our tickets in the food court area. I was so excited because one of the stores sold crepes. I love crepes so much and the last time I had a Nutella crepe was in Paris, so I was definitely excited to have another one! The price of the food was really cheap as well. To buy a large popcorn and two drinks it was six dollars. It usually costs an arm and a leg to get some kind of snack, but it was not the case here.

The movie we choose to see was “Night at the Museum.” There were previews just like any other movie, but some of them were already released and out on DVD like, “Mad Money.” The movie was in English with Spanish subtitles. I thought it was such a cute movie, and everyone in the group seemed to enjoy it as well. One of the things that a lot in the group talked about was if the jokes that were said in English translated well in Spanish. It was a really cute movie and I hope that all of our families found it funny and entertaining as well.

Day 5: May 26th

The morning started with pancakes for breakfast. It was wonderful as always. We had fresca, strawberry, jam that accompanied our pancakes and a nice cup of Guatemalan coffee with it. We left for the school and when we arrived the students were taking tests. I believe that the tests are similar in the United States, state assessments. However, at this school they are not super strict with the behavior during the tests. Some students sit outside the classroom while taking the test and it seems like they can get distracted easily. There are a lot of kids that run around while other classes are taking the tests. Doors are always left ajar making it easy for noise to travel in and out of the classrooms.

The test that the students were taking was a religion test. There were different forms of assessment within the test: fill in the blank, matching, sequencing, and finally an essay question at the end. It was very similar to tests that we have in the United States, but not like our state assessments, which are just multiple choice. I think that these types of test, while still may be difficult for some students, is a more authentic assessment of the student’s knowledge in comparison to a test that is solely multiple choice.

At recess, I wandered around the school watching what all the kids were doing. The boys played soccer while the girls congregated around the monkey bars. I did find one group of boys off in a corner playing a game that I was not familiar with. They were playing with what looked like pogs in the United States. The boys would hit the pog, a small, flat, round object, against the wall and the one that had their piece go the farthest would get the other boys’ pogs. It was a very interesting game and I tried to follow it as best I could.

Once recess was over with, my third grade class continued working on their cross-stitching. There were lots of students working very hard on their projects. Some were close to finishing while others were well behind their peers. About five minutes after the students got back to the classroom, the boys were escorted out of the room into another room. I believe that they were getting in trouble for something that neither my partner nor I knew about. We stayed in the room with the girls while the teacher was away. The classroom was so quiet. The girls were working very hard on their projects and did not speak at all. I was pretty shocked at the change in the tone when the boys were gone. When the boys came back, they were quiet for a few minutes and little by little one boy after another would start talking. Eventually the noise level was back to its original level of craziness.

Right before we left the school for the day, the ESL teacher talked to Melanie and told her that we needed to review English terms with the students. It was a fly of the moment teaching opportunity and we took full advantage. Melanie wrote some pre-made phrases on the board and the students had to fill in the blank with the correct verb. For example, one sentence was “I¬¬_____________ mathematics. I study mathematics.” After Melanie did the verbs, I reviewed some of the colors with the students. I pointed to a lot of the colors around the room. I also used Spanish to support the understanding along with the visuals. For example, I would point to green and say “Verde es quel colora in ingles?” The students were so happy to answer the questions and they knew almost all of them. The only color they had hang-ups on was white, blanco.

We only got to teach for five minutes because right at noon the students do their daily pray. I am still uncertain what prayers they are saying, but the students know them all by heart. We left the school soon after and we were on our way to pick up Mafer from school. Again, the driving is very scary. Our host mom was actually driving and talking on her cell phone. I had thought that that was only a problem in the states, but apparently more people talk on the phone and drive than I thought. After we picked up Mafer, Melanie and I were dropped off at Luisa’s university. I can’t remember the name of the university, but there were many similarities to K-State. There was a main plaza area in memory of those that have died. All of the different kinds of studies are in different buildings. For example engineering is in one building and agriculture is in another.

We went to the area where Luisa studies, engineering. There were lots of outdoor tables with umbrellas covering them. It seemed to be a popular hangout for a lot of people. As we walked to the tables, there were a lot of people that were looking at it. It was obvious that we were not from here, and I am sure that everyone knew we were American. There was even a group of people that said ‘hi’ to us. It was just interesting being the person that stood out in a crowd of people. I did not feel uncomfortable by any means, but I just noticed the people around me and their reactions. We meet up with some of Luisa’s friends, one of which loved speaking English. She was really excited to speak in English because she said that she does not get the opportunity to practice her English as much as she would like. It was kind of interesting because when Anna Maria was talking to us she was also with her boyfriend. They were all over one another. This behavior was seen all over the campus. There were lots of people making out and hanging on one another. It was just interesting because in America, it is looked at differently when people show a lot of affection in public.

We walked to the student union where there was a vendor sitting by the front door. The prices she had for the items that she was selling were really cheap. There were a lot of people in the union, congregating around computers of a small food shop. We also ventured to the library where Luisa helped me check out a book in Spanish. There were lots of pictures for support and I hope to gain some new knowledge from ‘reading’ the book. When we got back home, Luisa actually got a lot of her kid’s books out for me to look at. I hope that if we have enough down time, I will try and ‘read’ a book or two.

Again, I went to another Karate class, but this time it was just me and Mafer. The class was not as hard as the night previous, but I still learned a lot and got a good workout. There were a few black belt students at the class and they were a great support. When we learned new moves, they helped me get down the correct movements. It was a lot of fun and I am really starting to like it a lot. The best part is at the beginning of class when we run for close to 15 minutes. I love and miss running so much so it have been fun doing that. It was really funny because during those fifteen minutes people kept stopping because they were tired and a couple people were shocked that I actually ran the entire time! :) I thought it was pretty funny!

For dinner, I had beans and eggs with cream cheese. I really don’t like eggs too much, but I really loved this dish. When I finished dinner, Melanie and I had a long conversation with the family just about anything and everything. We were so tired, but I really enjoyed talking to them. It was well worth the lack of sleep. The family talked about our upcoming trip to Antigua and things to look and watch out for. The described Antigua as a beautiful place with lots of flowers covered in cobblestone roads. We also talked about our families and different types of music they like and we liked. I talked about what type of music my dad liked and Luis, the father, found so many similarities between the music that they both listen to. He loves Credence Clearwater and I thought it was so neat to know that people clear across the world can like the same type of music. We also talked about beautiful churches that are nearby. I know that the family is a very religious Catholic family so I would not be surprised if they took us to either their church or churches nearby. I really enjoyed just talking with the family. I did not do a whole lot of talking because considering it was so late it was hard to translate what I was trying to say, but I could understand them a lot more than I could speak. I can tell that the family is much more comfortable talking to us and we are both learning a lot. We are learning Spanish and we are teaching them English. Dorita has learning ‘hungry,’ ‘Let’s go,’ and ‘hot.’ I am sure that she will learn a lot more just like we will as well!

Hasta Luego!

Day 4: May 25th

Today, we started of the morning fairly early, 6:30am. We had a breakfast of Honey Nut Cheerios, fruit: watermelon and papyus, and bread with jam. While Honey Nut Cheerios is a familiar cereal the way we ate it was much different. The night before, Melanie and I had told the family that we had never had warm milk before. The family was shocked because their grandmother had a cow and they use to milk the cow and drink the warm milk. So this morning, we had our cereal with warm milk. I can’t say that I was too fond of the taste because it reminded me a lot of oatmeal, which I am not a big fan of.

After a rushed breakfast, we scuffled out the door for our first day at the school. We were one of the last groups to arrive at the school. When you walk in, it is a large open area and the classes are in places all around the main area. When we got there, the ESL teacher was introducing all of us K-State students. When entering each classroom, the students would stand up and in unison repeat a phrase. I believe that the teacher was asking, “How are you?” and the students would respond in the same manner and then ask the same question back. I wasn’t sure of the direct translation, but I think that was the main jest of what was being said. We went into all of the classrooms and we also saw the recess area.

When our grand tour was finished, we waited for our professor to arrive so we could find out what classes we would be in. As we were waiting, we met a few people from the school. Byanca is the ESL teacher and Jessica is the principla. We were told that we would split up into two’s and work in one classroom for the two weeks. Melanie and I were sitting next to one another and everyone else paired up and choose a grade so we were kind of put with third grade, which I was perfectly fine with, especially considering I am student teaching in third grade. We broke off into our respective classrooms. The third graders were really excited to see us, as were all the kids in the school. Students brought us chairs and we sat and observed the students working. At the time we went into the room, the students were working on a sewing project. The teacher, Senorita Vicki, made a very beautiful and intricate design through sewing that looked similar to cross-stitch. The students were working hard, some much faster than others.

I was finally getting tired of sitting, so I walking around the class to see how the students were progressing. I was not able to communicate a whole lot with the students, but I exchanged names with many of them. There were a few students that stood out a lot this first day. Christian sat in the front row and he was definitely the trouble maker of the class. He would threaten to poke people with the needle, poke his own skin with the needle and just get off task easily. There were some students that were way ahead of the rest of the class. Hector sat in the back corner, but he was the farthest along out of anyone. After about twenty minutes of working a bell rang and the students left the room. Many of the students had sandwiches so I wasn’t sure if it was lunch or snack time, but it was only 9:30. I really enjoyed this time because many of the students came up to me and the other group members and were just so interested in us. Many would just come and hug us. They were adorable!

Once the second bell rang the students went back into their classrooms. Our students continued working on their projects. It seemed like they worked on the project for a good portion of the day. By eleven it was time for another break and all the students worked on was the sewing. For this recess, Melanie and I went to play basketball with the kids. It was such a blast. We really didn’t know how we were playing and some students like Christian were being ball hogs and not sharing. There was one instance where a boy was hit with the ball. He started crying and all the students gathered around him. Not knowing much Spanish I shooed them away so the boy could get some air. All I could communicate with him was water and he nodded his head in acceptance of water. We walked away to get some water and he was fine after that. It was just so hard not being able to tell him it was going to be okay because I couldn’t speak his language. Another incident happened a few minutes later when Christian was being rowdy with one of the other boys. They almost got into a fight, but then Christian ran away and the other boy sulked by the wall. I went over to him and he tried to explain the situation, but again I wasn’t able to understand. I just hugged him and told him “Estoy bien.” I even tried to do a little dance to make him feel better. He soon shrugged it off and was back to playing ball.

Those two instances were in way a bit different than recess in the United States because with as many teachers as there are in the school, none of them were in the basketball area. It is off a ways from the main area, but where we were there were a ton of kids playing. Normally there are teachers looking out to make sure that everyone is playing safe, but that was definitely not the case with this school. Before we got back to the classroom, I had a conversation with a few kids. They have all been fasicanted with my Spanish book and the kids were looking through it. One of the things I pointed out was soccer, futbol. We ‘talked’ about the different types of sports. One page talked about tennis and the students didn’t understand what that was. I tried to describe it to them using my limited vocabulary and actions. The seemed to understand the different sports and were satisfied with my response.

Again the bell chimed and the kids hustled back to their classroom. At this time, a new teacher was in the room. She disrupted a test about the student’s family, one similar that she had just given to the second graders. The students had to write down the title name of members in their nuclear and extended family and then draw a picture. Before the test was handed out, the teacher asked the students to move their desks. Some students moved their desks outside of the classroom, while others shifted their desks in the classroom. The rest of the time we were in the classroom, the students were taking the test. From what I saw, most of the students did well on the test and knew the vocabulary words, but of course I don’t have the numbers from the assessment to know exactly how well they did.

Melanie and I were later picked up by our host mother. We drove a little farther than I thought the house was and we actually ended up at our host father’s place of work. We had learned the night before that Luis worked in a pharmacy. There was a room in the back filled with medicine that could be sold. Right next store to the shop was Luis’ grandmother. She was such a sweet lady. She was so tiny too, but she was absolutely adorable. We then ventured out with Dorita in search of tortillas. We were told that we would be making them soon, but today we were going to buy them. We walked past a few vendors that were selling all kinds of foods. Inside the tortilla shop, three women were making tortillas very fast. They were very skilled and the only thing I regret is that I didn’t have my camera with me to document the process. We got our tortillas and were ready to go back to the house.

One thing that I have noticed and been pretty nervous about is the traffic. I feel like if I were to get hurt in any way on this trip, which I sure don’t wish for, I think it would be in a car accident. People cut each other off, there is absolutely no room between passing cars and it just seems like a free for all. On top of that, my host mom also drives an automatic which seems like it would be a lot more difficult in that kind of traffic.

Once we returned we had a meal with Doria and Luisa. It was tortillas, guacamole, salsa, and some kind of meat. I was so delicious. I ate a ton of tortillas and guacamole. It was probably the best guacamole that I had ever had. The conversation at this meal was a lot better than the night before. The mother was talking more and using more hand signals. I felt like I could understand more of what she was saying, but when neither Melanie nor I could we would look to Luisa for support. It was a good meal and I felt a lot better after being able to speak with the mother a bit more. After lunch, we went to pick up Mafer from the private school she attended. Through much weaving in and out of traffic, we got to the school. We walked out with the mother and went to the door. At the entrance a women stood with a microphone. She would call each student as their parent arrived. Much different than anything I had ever seen before. Overall, I am more confident today than I was yesterday. I think yesterday was a combination of being tired and just overwhelmed with everything. I hope that by the end I will not only be able to communicate more with the family, but with the students as well.

We actually just got back from a karate class!! We went with our host sister, Mafar. It was super hard. I was not dressed in the proper clothes really for an intense workout, but it didn't matter. We had a wonderful instructor who made sure that we knew everything they were doing. While he mostly spoke in Spanish, it was easy to know what he was saying because he acted it out as he was saying it. Melanie and I had a lot of fun, but we are exhausted. The rest of the evening we plan on having dinner and then watch a movie en espanol later! :)

Day 3: May 24th

We started the morning pretty early and ate the usual breakfast at the hotel. Once we finished we were greeted by a lady named Isabella and her son. The two of them were our escorts for the day. We fit into a small van to go to one of the host mom’s house to drop off our luggage. It was great to finally see more of the city than the ten minute radius that we had gone into. Right as we left the hotel we learned that there was a marathon going on in the city. It was to support children with cancer. There were people all over the place of all ages running. As we passed the runners, on another road of course, I just took in some of the surrounding businesses. One really caught my eye and it was Cartridge World. I was so shocked to see that store in Guatemala.

I was able to see a lot more of the city as we traveled by van. We left the comforts of Zona 10 and entered into different zones. The one that had the most activity was Zona 1, which was one of the more poor zones. There were people selling all kinds of things. Large piñatas lines store fronts, men were standing on street corners ready to squeeze fresh lemonade, and there were even weight scales for sale in the market. There was a lot of action in the city and a lot more people than we had seen the day previously. One of the things that I was a little anxious about was the traffic in the city. Stop, alto, signs really don’t mean anything and people make their own right of way. There aren’t any rules about waiting to pass, people just cut in with inches to spare between cars. It was pretty nerve-racking but Isabella did an excellent job navigating especially driving an automatic van full of people.

We arrived at Rosa’s house to drop off our luggage. After a quick introduction to the family we all piled into the van once again to go to the Mayan ruins called Iximche. The drive was an hour and a half, but again it was great to finally ‘experience’ more of Guatemala. We saw decrepit buildings everywhere, dogs roaming the streets aimlessly searching for food and cows walking alongside their owners. There were beautiful trees and mountains that painted the landscape. It was also exciting to see a few volcanoes spewing out plumes of smoke. The names of the volcanoes were Fire and Water in Spanish because when they erupted they let out fire and water respectively. I am not sure how true that is, but that is what was said.

Approaching the ruins, we entered a quaint little town called Tecpan. It had very narrow roads, but it was bustling with activity. It was a bit nicer than the towns that we had ventured through earlier that day. It sat atop a hill so there was a very picturesque view. After traveling through the town, we entered the ruins Iximche. There was a little museum that was right before the actual ruins. I was not able to understand a whole lot considering it was in Spanish, but I did learn that Ixichem comes from the combination of the words corn and tree. I am not really sure how the two words combine or how that relates to the ruins, but that’s what I got from one of the signs :)

We soon entered the ruins and I was blown away by its beauty. The ruins were obviously run down, but there was greenery everywhere. There were a few trees growing atop the ruins and it was just an absolutely gorgeous day. I was not able to decipher what all the different areas of the ruins use to be, but it was just neat to walk through the first capital of Guatemala. Apparently, while we were there, there was a ritual that was taking place. Two of the girls saw an old women lying on the ground convulsing with a lot of people around her. We figured it was a healing ceremony, but the rest of the group did not see this ritual under the advice of our professor.

Upon departure from the ruins, we decided to go and eat a late lunch. There was a restaurant called Paulino’s, which I later found out from my host family was a tourist attraction. There were many things for sale surrounding the restaurant. I bought a few small items and then experienced haggling for the first time when I bought a shirt, but of course I had the help of one of my classmates. We ate lunch with a large group of people that knew the main trip coordinator Rosia. I tried to practice my Spanish more throughout the meal, but it is still pretty limited. While we were eating a huge rainstorm passed through. It was really interesting because the drain brought attention to the drainage system that they use. I actually noticed the drainage system all along the roads on the drive back.

Once we got back to Rosia’s house, we all waited for our host families to arrive. I was getting a bit nervous because I did not know how much English our family would speak. Many families came to get their new ‘children’ and we were one of the last ones left. When the family arrived two girls stepped into the doorway. We spoke to one another in what little Spanish we knew: “What’s your name, how old are you, etc.” My partner, Melanie, and I learned that the eldest daughter was twenty years old, while the youngest just had her quinezara, fifteenth birthday. The mother soon followed her girls into the house. Melanie and I were a bit apprehensive of the whole situation and we weren’t as talkative as we normally are. We soon said our goodbye’s and got into the family car. The drive was not long to the house, but in the midst of the drive the eldest daughter, Luisa, soon realized that we spoke very little Spanish. She tried to speak to us in Spanish, knowing we didn’t know a whole lot, but I am sure that our faces with plastered with confusion so she soon switched to just English.

After arriving at the house, we got settled into our room. The house is very quaint, clean, and unique. The family has one perro, dog, named Pucho. It actually reminded me of a friend’s dog back home in Kansas. Luisa continued to try and talk to us in Spanish, but she said that she was only going to talk to us in English for two days and then she was going to speak only in Spanish and we would have to ask when we didn’t understand. I was starting to become exhausted trying to translate what the family was saying in Spanish and then thinking about what I wanted to say in Spanish. I could tell that Luisa was getting tired of translating what her family said and what we said. It was just very difficult to try and communicate when you have such a limited vocabulary. By the end of the night I was emotionally and mentally exhausted. My brain was fried and I was not able to comprehend much that was being said. I think the whole family understood and we went to bed early.

I can see how students coming to another country may have difficulties in their studies. It is so hard knowing what you want to say but not being able to communicate it. I feel like this experience is so authentic to how my future CLD students may feel. I can understand if the students are tired and can’t work because they have been focusing their energy on understanding what is being said. However, with the energy that I have expelled on trying to understand what is being said, I also feel like I am picking up a lot more of the language, by listening and connecting words that I do know.

Hasta Luego!