Back to School

Today, I move up to Asunción – the school in Xejuyup. We went and visited yesterday, and I’m glad that we did, because it got me much more excited about being there. I think I’m going to be incredibly busy; looking over the notes that Kristen, the last volunteer left, I can see that a lot of work goes into teaching these classes. My day won’t start until 1:30, so I’ll have the mornings to prepare things, but then after that class goes until 6 pm, followed by dinner, then a little evening activity with the girls who board at the school. Luckily, just in the hour or so that I was there poking around yesterday it was very evident that the students are excited to have me there. Every time we turned around a new little gaggle of girls had assembled behind us, waiting for a chance to introduce themselves. I think I’m going to have to insist on nametags or something.

My room is quite nice – it’s much larger than I expected, and has a private shower and toilet. The shower was especially appreciated once we took a little tour of the school, and I saw the girls’ “shower.” It’s a giant, tiled room with a huge tube somewhat like a cathedral baptismal fount in the middle. They all stand around together and dump buckets of cold water on themselves. Apparently it’s a “traditional” style bath house, and what the girls requested when it was built, but I’d rather have my Americanized alternative. (By the way, apparently when I was told that the shower was a waterfall, they were referring to the source of the water, not the actual location. The water is cold and fresh off the mountains, but it comes through a pipe into my room. Better.)

Once I get up to the school I will no longer have internet access, and I’ll probably only make it down to town about once a week. That means that these blog posts will probably be infrequent and long; get ready for it. I may try and make it into town with greater frequency, so I can communicate with people at home (and in Africa…) more often, but it takes a surprisingly long period of time to get between Xejuyup and Santo Tomas. Even though it’s only about 3 miles, it takes over 20 minutes on rough roads.

I was feeling pretty nervous about starting school, but I think it will be very nice to be surrounded by people and with plenty of work to do. I just need to have some purpose in my day, otherwise it’s pretty unfulfilling to sit around the mission and try to keep myself busy. I’d offer to help with stuff, but they already have way more staff than they can keep occupied, and I just get in the way since I don’t know how they want things done.

Anyhow, I’m going to head to the market and pick up some fruits and veggies to take with me to the school, then I’ll be moving up. I’m not exactly sure when the next post will be, so just keep checking!

Hasta entonces! (Until then)

Jenna

PS – my address here, in case anyone was wondering, is

Jenna Maria Emerson
Casa Parroquial
2a Calle 0-440
Zona 1
Santo Tomás la Unión
10017 Suchitepéquez
Guatemala, Central America