Guatemala Part 1 "La Escuela"

08/09/2011

 
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     Amy and I (Rachel) just got back from Guatemala . What a life changing experience!  So emotional.Since we experienced so many different things, I would like to write about it in sections. This blog will be about our visit to  a school for indigenous children which happened to be right across the street from our hotel.  We had brought some extra crayons stickers and lollipops that we had left over from backpack drive. Early Friday morning, we walked over unannounced in hopes that they might invite us in. We had to wait a while because the woman waiting at the door spoke little english so she went to find a teacher who could understand us. Just looking through the rod Iron bars you could see all the kids play basketball and kickball as if we were watching our little sisters or brothers playing. They were all in uniforms having a great time. Soon, an older Nun and a teacher came with the keys and let us in.We were led into a classroom of wide eyed first graders. They were all hyped up seeing Americans. They were full of questions about the United States and one boy even  asked us  about the weather. I am so glad my Spanish  teacher prepared me  because I understood exactly what he was asking.(Thank You Ms Frechette!) We explained how we get snow in the winter and they were so amazed because they have never seen snow in real life before. At this time, Guatemala was in their winter season but the coldest it would get would be around 50 to 60 degrees. As soon as we took out our cameras they all leaped all over us to try to get in the pictures. They were obsessed with Lauren's hair because it was curly and the normal hair style in Guatemala was pin straight. Looking in the corner of the room you could see that the classroom had very limited supplies. This information we would take back to the United States so we could work on getting them more things. After saying, "Adios" we took a tour of the rest of the school and saw that the high school was directly attached to it. We were able to see their computer room which was secured behind a door with 6 padlocks! . Schooling is so different here compared to what we are used to.We have computers, televisions, overhead projectors and so much  equiptment available to us and to see how little they have but yet can achieve the same goals.   It would be really great if we could exchange letters and ideas with some of the high school students who are trying to learn english while we learn spanish!
 


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