Update

Hello Hello.

Just a quick update for those that have been asking about my address. Just in case you want to send me anything cool or something.

Heather Jones
Earth Lodge
5a. Ave Sur #6 Interior
Antigua, Guatemala

Here is the lastest Las Manos de Christine newsletter if you are interested in what we've been up to over here.

Other than that everything has been going really great and life is good!

Please send me updates with your lives as welll. I'm always interested in what's going on :)

Here and Alive

Okay I'm finally going to update this! I'm here in Guatemala and probably as expected the first few weeks have been busy learning my way around two new jobs and hanging out with co-workers. I've had a "full" week of teaching which actually turned out to be more like 3 days since 2 were cancelled due to teacher training and meetings. My first Saturday teaching the older jr. high and high school students was supposed to start at 8am but actually didn't get started till around 10am and had only about half the teachers show up. Already I see many good and bad similarities in the village school I taught in last year in Thailand and my current school. Teachers arriving late, classes constantly cancelled, students extremely excited, respectful and well mannered, rotten teeth from munching on processed sugar food all day, speeches that go on for too long, and most importantly being warmly welcomed and looked after. However, there are some differences such as my students in Guatemala seem to be more outgoing and willing to take risks speaking english, which is probably from being exposed to foreigners more and having a culture that isn't as based on appearances. Here are some pictures of the village from my 20 minutes walk to school each morning.

Path through the village that I take to school

View from Earth Lodge one morning. The mountain straight ahead in Volcano Fuego and you can see it erupt puffs of ash and sometimes lava at night. We also get some good tremors from it.

Here is the path that you walk up and down to get to the lodge. It definitely wakes me up in the morning!

The village 'Pila' Laundry Room where you'll see women and children there for hours scrubbing their family's clothes. Each block in the front is a station

The english room that we spent the first 2 weeks preparing. We'll stuff up to 40 students in here

So teaching is one part of my job (15 hours), the other 20 hours I work four 5 hour shifts at Earth Lodge which is in exchange for free food and board. The duties are mainly checking in and out guests, serving food, running the bar, and other random things such as feeding the mule and fish. Since almost all my previous jobs have always been working with children, working at the Lodge has been refreshing learning something new and provides a nice balance. I can say even living outside the city in a small village living at the lodge has been 100x more social then my time in Thailand where the other volunteers and I would meet up about once a month. Literally my living room, kitchen, internet space, is in a bar. I guess I can have an excuse now for all my typos in this blog!

Other than that I have been enjoying doing some hikes through the farmers' fields, exploring the city, practicing my spanish with the chicas that work in the kitchen, socializing with the mixture of people that make their way through the lodge, and trying figure out what my Irish roommate is saying haha. I'm going to add a tab at the top for ways to contact me. The lodge its self doesn't have an address but we have a business in the city that lets us send things to them. Also, if you are looking ways to help the school I'll provide some links.

Cheers!

Hello and Welcome

Sawadii-kha...or should I now say Hola!!

Welcome to my next travel blog! For those who haven't been updated on my next adventure I'm departing early January to start an elementary school english teaching position in the mountains of Guatemala. I'm very excited to start this job because it's through the non-profit Las Manos de Christine partnered with Earth Lodge (click on each to learn more!). The specifics of the job are I'm responsible for teaching three 40 minutes english classes each morning to grades 4-6 and return to the Earth Lodge in the afternoons to help with reception duties. Also, every Saturday I will lead a non-mandatory english class to the older middle school students who are eager to learn more english from a native speaker. This is in exchange for free accommodation and food, and a living stipend of $150.

I knew after returning from Thailand and completing my first year as a TEFL teacher with WorldTeach(see my previous blog) I'd be back on a plane again to explore more of the world and continue to build my skills as an english teacher. I'm excited for what the next journey brings me and hopefully there will be some good stories and insights to share with you about my living and teaching experience in Guatemala!

**Explanation about the title of my blog "Guacamole Guatemala". The first word I think of when I say Guatemala is Guacamole. Second, the Earth Lodge has its own avocado farm which means I'll be eating A LOT of Guacamole (YUM!). I can say this definitely influenced my decision to take this job!