It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!

I am quite literally writing this by candlelight! I feel like Abraham Lincoln! The power has gone out, following at least a day of heavy winds. I spent last night in Antigua, and only noticed that the wind was slightly gustier than normal, especially in the open spaces of Central Park, but evidently it was so strong up on the mountain that staff and guests had trouble sleeping!

This morning was my last day of proper teaching at Máximo, next week, I'll just go in for two days to give the quizzes and then go over the answers. I cannot believe how quickly the week went! I’ve so missed being a teacher, and I fear this week substituting was just a quick fix that will leave me hungry for more!

Today was chock full of odd events…. After the 7am High Basic class, one of the students- a sharp, talkative woman, the oldest in the class, hesitated before leaving and wanted to ask me a question…. which turned out to be the typically Guatemalan query of if I have a boyfriend or not. I blushed (stay tuned! This wasn’t an isolated reaction!) and told her no. Turns out, she has a son who works for a zip-line tour company close to where I live, and she has been telling him about her ‘new teacher’. I wasn't quite sure what the proper reaction would be to that one, but we laughed about it, and here's hoping he doesn't decide to walk her to class next week!

My age and relationship status have never been questioned more than in my few months here, even complete strangers who come in to the bar for lunch will ask me! and the chicas who work in the kitchen are constantly telling me that I need a "novio", and that they’re going to find me a nice Guatemalan man. I’ve never experienced a culture so eager to fix people up, or so open and warmly affectionate in public once they’re together; it’s truly taken some getting used to!

Side note, did you know that “it’s” can mean “it has” along with “it is”? That came up in one of the English classes this week, and completely blew my mind! It’s crazy how little I consciously thought about my native language before I began teaching!

Anywho, I ran a few errands, checked the quiz packets for completeness, and then headed to Central Park to meet up with Enio. For some reason, stretched out along the length of the Park, there was this awesome street food fair, full of vendors selling a wide variety of traditional fare, and I wandered through it and listened to some live marimba music! I'd never heard marimba before coming here, but every once in a while, a marimba band will set up in the Park, or along the famous arch street to play, and it's absolutely lovely! Enio told me today that in uni he was president of the marimba club, so now I'm conspiring to somehow get him to play a part of a song on one for me! 

Lunch, for me, was chiles rellenos and sugared figs- and I got to try ponche for the first time! Ponche is a hot fruit drink that is only served during Christmastime, and I am completely enamored by it! 

But while we were walking through the tight, crowded aisles between vendors for the second time, I got separated from the others by a family. The mother turned to me, and asked, in Spanish, to take a photo. At first I thought she wanted me to take a photo for her, but no... she wanted one of me and her ten year old son... Now, Emma has told me that this used to happen to her all the time when she worked in Korea, but here in Antigua, it's not like there's a dearth of foreigners. In fact, it'd be quite easy to stay for an extended period of time in Antigua and never speak a word of Spanish- there are that many expats and foreigners around; and my light skin and eyes really aren't anything unusual. But I told her she could, and we halted in the middle of the bustling crowd for a picture. It was random and slightly uncomfortable, and Enio teased me later that my face turned bright red, because I wear all my feelings on my sleeves... 

After lunch, Enio told me to take him to my favorite place in Antigua, and then he would take me to his, which is an impossible task, because I am incapable of having only one favorite. 

So I took him to a favorite place, a spot that my college pastor Vance brought a few of us to when I was in Antigua in May of 2011: the ruins of the Catholic Church that lies along the east end of Central Park. Most of the unfinished building was destroyed by an earthquake, so only a tiny portion is open for religious ceremonies, but the expansive ruins behind the functioning church are absolutely gorgeous.  

I have been here several times; by myself, with my roommate, with my friend Cassie when she visited me over summer break. . . something about this place keeps calling me back. . . .

And, of course, every time I visit, I have to find something to climb on. . . . 

Which is probably frowned upon. . . .

Enio's favorite is the first University ever built in Guatemala, but we didn't have time to explore it fully, as I had to get back up to Earth Lodge to work the night shift. But it looked absolutely lovely as well, and I can't wait to go back!!

I left Enio listening to marimba in the park, and grabbed a shuttle back up the mountain, along with Kerri and Lewis, a young couple from England who were working at Earth Lodge when I arrived in July and are now teaching in the Yucatan. We've missed them so much, and it was so perfect to see them again and to have them back for Christmas!

Our Tree has been up for a few weeks now, but this evening, we started playing Christmas music for the first time this season, and with Kerri and Lewis finally with us, it's actually starting to feel like Christmas!

Oh! And my last piece of good news is that today, an El Salvadorian guy who works as manager for a hostel I've gone to several times now in Antigua has asked me to tutor him in English! It seems he needs to be able to speak English better to keep working in tourism and hospitality- and he's willing to wait until February when I get back from my vacation to the States! I'm excited, because it's proving to me that I'll be able to teach adults as well as children next year- which is the best of both worlds, and will help me make ends meet next year- in a way that I love! I'm pretty sure I would do private tutoring for free just for the fun of it, and getting paid to do so? A dream come true! 

Night!