In the U.S. whenever I would tell my students about my family, and about my parents getting a divorce, more than half of my students would raise their hands to share a similar story. “I live with my grandparents now,” one of them would say, “because my parents split up, and now neither of them are responsible enough to take care of me.” Or another student might chime in: “That’s nothing.  I’ve watched my mom get married AND divorced three times already.” I could go on and on, not just about the stories they tell, but how freely they share them as well.

And this is just one incident of cultural differences that I’ve experienced in Guatemala. Another one that still shocks me, is how common it is for a girl of 16, 17, or 18 to be with a man who is 25, 26, or even 30. While divorce is surely something to shun, a girl dating a man much older is completely acceptable.

In this U.S., it’s exactly the opposite.  Not only is this illegal, but it’s taboo as well. Rarely would parents, friends, or a community be accepting of a teenage girl dating a man in his twenties.

But I am not saying one is right and the other is wrong. Not at all. It just goes to show that who we are, and how we think is influenced a great deal by the culture in which we are raised.  Our culture often determines our religion, our taste in music and food, our daily activities, the sports we play, and even the type of people we’re interested in.

This is one reason I love to travel so much. I’m able to look at aspects of a culture, stand back, and decide for myself what kind of culture I want to create for myself. I can take bits and pieces from all that I’ve seen and become a sort of cultural mutt.

It is so true though: What we believe is largely what our culture has enabled us to believe.

“I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.”

- Mahatma Gandhi

My favorite videos to produce are ones where students get to display their talents and artistic abilities. Maybe that’s why I had so much fun making CAG Idol. It focuses on the musical gifts of students from my school and demonstrates how freakin’ good some of them are. Children rock! Literally.

Oh, and congratulations to the first ever CAG Idol, Javier B!!!!

While we were in Santa Catarina (a small town next to Panahachel on Lake Atitlan) Amanda and I stayed at a bed and breakfast called Nimajay.  The owners, Joe and Kerry, not only guided us into town late at night over the phone, but they completely took care of us the entire time we were there.  We went on a boat tour around the lake, ate at some great restaurants, and relaxed.

Below are some pictures of the bed and breakfast and the lake.

Y, cuando estoy en cualquier lugar, la gente me da respeta y las personas son amables porque yo tengo piel blanco, ojos claros, y pelo rubio.

Entonces estoy perdiendo perspectiva un poco. Pero, hoy, tengo mi pura perspectiva otra vez.

¿Por que? Porque ví una película se llama Recylced Life. La película es sobre la pobreza de Guatemala. Mas specificamente, la película muestra imagines de la personas que viven en el basurero. La gente tiene el nombre de Guajeros porque ellos recogen la basura y toma la basura a sus casas o ellos venden la basura.

Mi perspectiva se cambia por la mejor, porque yo estoy suerte. Yo estoy en una posición muy raro y necesito estar feliz que tengo todas las cosas yo necesito.

Ahora, recuerdo porque estoy aquí!

Car horns are wailing. People are sprinting up and down the streets screaming. Fireworks are exploding. And last time I checked Guatemala did not have a Super Bowl, nor a World Series.

So why all the commotion and ruckus?

Carlos Peña, that’s why! A Puro Chapin! A native of Guatemala City! And he has beaten Ricardo Caballero to become the new Latin American Idol! I completely understand that for some people this appears to be a ridiculous thing to be exuberant over, but if you were here, in Guatemala City, you’d understand.

There’s overwhelming pride, and even though I’m not from Guatemala, even though I’ve only been living here for a couple months, I feel it too. It’s powerful. His face was just on my shirt earlier today as I walked around campus sporting a black Carlos Peña t-shirt and now people are honking their horns to show their support for his victory. (And I’m blogging about him.)

But this is all because he wasn’t just singing for himself. He was singing for an entire country. He was representing Guatemala, and even now as I type this people are outside screaming his name in unison because he has shed positive light on his country.

And I think we forget this sometimes. We fail to realize that we are not independent of our families, friends, countries, jobs, etc. How we carry ourselves, and how we act does end up representing our ethnicity, age, gender, country and so much more. If only we’d realize this more often, and truly understand how powerful and impacting our actions can be we might alter them a bit.

I even wonder if we’d act differently knowing a whole country was supporting us? And I wonder if we’d act differently if our actions supported an entire country?

Yo apoyo Guatemala y Carlos Peña!

If you hadn’t noticed, the world changes every day. It spins, it rotates, it gets colder, cloudier, dirtier, cleaner, wetter, and even drier. And the people…oh the people get happier, sadder, healthier, and fatter.

So who are you to think that you can’t change it? Who are you to sit on your $100 pair of jeans and think that you have no say in what happens with this place? Well wake up! because we change the world, and we change it daily.  For the better, for the worse.  For the long-term and the short.  Yet we IRREFUTABLY and INCESSANTLY change it!

Then yesterday, as my world was changing, and I was helping to alter it, my students and I were discussing this. So one, very profound young man at just thirteen years old, standing much taller than I, said this…and I will never forget it:

“I set out to change the world, but realized the world was too big and I couldn’t change it by myself. Then I set out to change my country, but realized my country was also too big and I couldn’t change it by myself. Then I tried to change my community, but my community was too big and I couldn’t change it by myself. After that, I tried to change my family, but realized my family was too big and I couldn’t change it by myself. So finally, I set out to change myself and by changing myself I slowly changed my family, my community, my country, and even the world.”

Like I said, the world keeps on changing, and whether you’re willing to admit it or not, you’re changing it too.

It’s the most fascinating thing too, because they’ll come in, hop up and down on their two fragile legs, bobbing their heads forward and back, looking for food. Every once in a great while they’ll even be brave and nudge somewhat close to me. And although I’ve never done it, I’m always a little tempted to close the door with them inside to see what will happen. This might sound cruel, but it’s just the curious side of me that wonders what they’d do. Would they attack me and peck my face? Or would the sit at the door and wait like a dog until I let them out for their daily pee on the tree?

More than likely they’d probably fly around the room until I opened the door, but relax, I would never do this because I like their company in the morning, and I’d hate to scare them away.

Guatemala…the land of eternal spring and visits from birds in the morning.

¿Has tratado aprender una idioma nueva? ¿Tu sabes cómo defícil lo es? Todo es defícil. No es solamente las palabras. Puedo aprender verbos y sustantivos y adjectivos y preposiciones. Esos son faciles. No, que es horible es cuando estoy usando las palabras y no las puedo pronunciar o cambiar.

Y a veces me siento mejor cuando aprendo nuevas palabras cada día, pero despues yo recuerdo que hay miles mas que no conozco. Por ejemblo, cuando estoy hablando con una persona de Guatemala y está hablando en español yo solo sé unas pocas palabras que usa. Y muchas veces necesito decir, “Otra vez” o “Lo siento, no entiendo.”

Tengo frustracion. Tengo verguenza. Pero, es vale la pena. Voy a aprender porque yo entiendo que es normal para sufrir un poco cuando estamos aprendiendo cualquier cosa.

It’s a yearly thing I do. I have students set goals for themselves because I believe it’s important to have a plan, a quest even. And yet, while I do set goals for myself all the time, I rarely write them down the same way I have my students do it. And you know…that just ain’t right, is it?

So here goes. Over the next two years while I’m in Guatemala, I want to set some goals: short-term, long-term, specific, general, fun, serious, professional, personal, and just plain crazy goals. Here goes:

1. Become Fluent in Spanish:
a. By fluent I mean I’ll be able to carry on a conversation with someone in Spanish without using a dictionary, without saying, “Que?” and without nodding my head and smiling, pretending I had any clue what was just said to me.
b. And how will I do this? Well…easy. I’ll have to actually speak the language once in a while. I’ll have to open a book and study some Spanish verbs. And, this is wild, but I’ll have to stop hanging out with Gringos so much and immerse myself in the culture of Guatemala.

2. Travel throughout Central and South America:
a. By the time I leave Guatemala, my goal is to have visited every country in Central America (I’ve been to Mexico and Belize, but there’s also Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Panama, and Costa Rica). I also want to travel to at least three countries in South America. Preferably Colombia, Brazil, and Chile or Argentina.

3. Help ALL of my Students Improve their English:
a. This is a very general, broad goal, but by improve I hope they can speak better, read better, and write a little bit better by the time they leave my class. The best way to do this is by making class engaging and interesting.

4. Learn to Cook at least 10 different meals:
a. This is more specific, because it needs to be. I am 26 years old, and damn it, I should know how to cook more than a few different dishes. So, with the help of friends, my maid, and the Internet, I hope to learn how to cook.

5. Climb a Volcano:
a. Guatemala has volcanoes like California has sign twirlers. It seems like every time I turn my head I see another one. So, it would be a shame if I never went to the top of one. This goal I should be able to accomplish soon.

6. Write EVERY Day:
a. One time I read that people who journal, or who simply write on a regular basis are healthier, and get sick far less often than those who don’t. This is only one reason why I want to write every day though. The main reason is to capture this experience so I can fully appreciate it now and later. Each time I write I’m forced to focus on specific details throughout the day, which in turn forces me to be more aware of each day. So much can get lost if we don’t stop and reflect.
b. A sub goal for this would be to write in Spanish at least twice a week. Es un poco deficil ahora, pero voy a mejorar y vamos a ver si puedo escribir mejor tambien.

7. Read at least THREE books in Spanish.

8. Win a basketball tournament.

9. Learn to Scuba Dive.

10. Make a film about my experience here.

11. Fall in love and get married. (Maybe not in the next two years…but sometime soon would be nice.)

As you can see, now I’m starting to stretch my goals a bit.

And after one month in Guatemala, I am finally there. Here’s why:

• I’ve moved in to my apartment, met my neighbors, and even memorized my new address.
• I’ve set up my classroom, I know all of my students’ names, and I feel as though this is now my school.
• I’ve met new people and gotten to the point where I can already refer to many of them close friends.
• I’ve opened a bank account.
• I’ve cooked in my own apartment…not very well…but I cooked.
• I’ve established a routine.
• I have a maid coming on a regular basis…this is still a bit weird for me…nice…but weird.
• I’ve played basketball.
• I’ve done a little traveling.
• I’ve been to the grocery store several times, and been confused by products several times. What’s with this sweet milk not being cold anyway? I’ve never heard of warm milk…but it works I suppose.
• I feel at home.

Now, here are a few pictures of my classroom, my school, and my apartment.