Rocking that *International* Paradise

I, my friends, am spent.  And who wouldn’t be, after the week I had?  To start with, last week I was in my 3 rd Framingham class.  I’ve mentioned my masters classes a few times before, but never discussed them in detail.  The program that my school partners with for teachers to earn a masters in International Education from Framingham State University was one of the major reasons I accepted my position here.  I am now 1/3 of the way through the program.  The way it works is really pretty cool.  A professor comes to Guatemala, and for two weeks, we have class Monday-Friday from 4-8pm.  It makes for a long two weeks because we still of course teach every day until 3pm, but it’s really not that bad.  I’ve loved my classes.  This last one was on Curriculum, and so it was completely applicable.  I was able to plan a few units that I am really excited to teach soon.  The class was also, of course, a little bit draining, so I’m breathing a sigh of relief that this week I’ll have my

Last weekend was my second full weekend back in Guatemala, which meant it was time to get out of the city for a night.  Amy, Kenra, Chris, and I therefore spent Saturday night at a place called Earth Lodge just outside of Antigua.   This weekend was kind of a milestone for me in Guatemala, too, because it was the first outing that I have planned and organized on my own.  Coming from Puerto Rico, where I was more or less the self-proclaimed group tour guide and planned most of our weekend trips, I had missed that comfort level and feeling like I could plan something the way I used to be able to.  This was just a small trip, but it felt good to be back in planning mode. We left a little after noon on Saturday, after a productive morning that for me included a 5 mile run and test driving a car, and before we got to Antigua, we were hungry.  We stopped at a shopping plaza in San Lucas hoping for some frozen yogurt.  We were not disappointed…and in the process of finding the sweet tr

Okay Wisconsinites…go ahead, shame me all you will.  I can’t bite my tongue any longer.  I shivered my way through my first week back with my students in Guatemala this January, and last week as well. Go ahead, say it.  Tell me how two weeks ago you in the Midwest saw high temperatures of -15 degrees Fahrenheit.  Tell me how your lows were in the negative fifties.  Ask me how I can complain in my tropical climate and give me that smug “Central America has made you soft” look.  I can take it. But hear me out first. I’m willing to bet that last week, if you went out into the cold at all, it was bundled up in a winter parka, hat, scarf, books, and mittens.  I’m willing to bet you didn’t stay out very long, and when you came inside, it was to a heated building where you could shed most of your layers and remain comfortable.  I know you’d kill for the 50 degree weather we had last week.  I realize if you hit a 50 degree day, you’d shed your coats and don flip flops and

Forgive me if this post is a little bit all over the place.  It’s been over 3 weeks since I last wrote. Half of that time was spent in the United States, and the more recent half has been experienced from Guatemala.  So there’s a lot to cover. When I was in college, I spent a semester in Mexico.  Before leaving, we were required to take a class to prepare us to study abroad.  In the class, we spent a majority of the time discussing culture shock.  Part of that discussion was devoted to something called re-entry shock which some people experience coming back from study abroad.  Basically when you suffer re-entry shock, you come home to your family and friends after this amazing experience and you feel like you’ve grown and changed as a person and are suddenly different from those you used to be so close to.  You may feel like no one wants to hear about your experiences, even though that’s all you want to talk about.  And so it can be frustrating. I never experienced re-ent