Mi Maestra (my teacher) Elena de Aragon

You may wonder, who was my teacher? Elena de Aragon! For six months, 4 hours a day, Elena had the ______________ (insert your own word here, possibly "joy" or "challenge") of helping me learn Spanish.

Class was in a beautiful setting. Christian Spanish Academy (CSA), located in Antigua Guatemala, has about 70 teachers. The school has a great reputation, to the point that they are full for this coming summer.
The school is well run. When students arrive they are tested, assigned a teacher and a table. On Thursday of each week each student is able to shared his/her schedule for the next week, and request a new teacher or a new table. I did change tables a few times, when I felt that my "learning ability" had dried up in that particular location. On the other hand, I never did change teachers. Elena was excellent. Very quickly she "learned" to appreciate my humor and but even more important than that, she was an excellent teacher.

What happened in class?
In the first few months, we spent a lot of time working through CSA's grammar book and workbook. Even though I entered the school with a little bit of Spanish, I failed the entrance exam and needed to start at the very beginning. As I progressed through the grammar books, less and less time was spent in them and more time was given to conversation. Sometimes we would read the Bible, sometimes the newspaper, and sometimes we would go to the market and learn the names of things there. The more I learned, the less Elena would speak English. Many times in class, the first part was spent with me telling what had happened since our last class. Since class was one on one, there was no one to hide behind and the pressure was on. Of course, Elena was very patient and gracious. She continually corrected me and many times my stories would be interrupted when I wanted to know "why is it said that way?"

Elena deserves an award in Patience. Many times there were words that I had switched in my mind and needed to relearn. For example, the word for hair is "cabello" and the word for horse is "caballo." Elena particularly enjoy when I went to get my "caballo" for a haircut. And her patience was demonstrated when it took me weeks to get it straight in my mind.

Elena, if you ever read this, muchas gracias Elena por tu trabajo. Tu trabajo es un regalo de Dios. Muchas gracias.

Back in the States

Well, we are back in Minnesota for four weeks to make the transition to the Dominican Republic. Many of our friends and family have asked how it is to be back...well it is great. We are enjoying seeing so many friends and visiting familiar places. We aren't really having re-entry issues, but we have noticed some things about life in the USA that non-expats may not.

First our kids noticed right away that there are bilingual signs in the U.S. "Mom, why did they write "wet floor" in Spanish, don't people speak English here?" They were also initially fascinated that almost all the TV stations were in English and without subtitles. After 7 months of showers, they actually ask to take baths every night!

Brrr, it's cold here! We have now missed two Minnesota winters and we notice the chill of spring. The kids were shocked that the water is Ouchy cold from the tap and the rain is even cold.

Some funny things we have noticed are: music in stores is very distracting. In Guatemala any music is stores was in Spanish and pretty easy to ignore, unless it was blaring at mega-volume for a sales promotion. We are also getting used to shopping primarily by credit card instead of cash. Rick actually had to tell me, "Remember, Becky you have your credit card" after we divyed up the U.S. cash between ourselves.

After living in a small two bedroom apartment for 6 months, actual houses with yards seem huge! In fact every thing seems big: the aisles in the stores, the roads, the stores. The kids are loving playing outside in the yard where we are staying.

Foods we have missed: SALADS which we had infrequently, licorice, pickles, grilled hamburgers, hmmm not too many things. The kids are guzzling US milk. By the way, we definitely have lost our taste for U.S. oranges, processed orange juice, bananas, and imported tropical fruits. They all taste woody, pungent, or fake.

Semana Santa in Antigua, Guatemala

Easter week is called Semana Santa (Holy Week) in the Hispanic world. It represents the peak of the season in which we remember Jesus Christ's death and resurrection. On each Sunday of Lent, the five weeks before Easter, processionals are held through the streets of town. It draws crowds to Antigua that make it the largest Easter celebration in the Americas.

It is hard to describe what happens because we are experiencing it for the first time and don't know exactly what is done when and why it is done. But here is our experience, broken down into a few categories.

Processionals
In the weeks preceding Good Friday different villages close to Antigua are given a Sunday to plan a processional which is a remembrance of Jesus and His walk to the cross. Hundreds of people take part in each processional. Each one is a little different as they are decorated differently, but there are many similarities.

The procession begins at a Catholic church with Roman Soldiers, some with trumpets or flutes and drums to announce the processional. Following the soldiers are about 200 men dressed in purple gowns leading the way for the Anda. The Anda is a wooden structure dedicated to carry religious sculptures. Each procession will have 4-5 different Andas.

The first carries Jesus. It is quite large, and can weigh up to 7000 lbs. It will be carried by up to 80 men in purple. These men will carry it for a few blocks at which point a new group of men will take over. Behind the first Anda will be more men in purple and a band playing funeral marches. Interspersed in the processional are men in purple carrying pots of burning tree resin. The procession route gets quite smoky. Behind that will be another Anda which carries Mary, the mother of Jesus. It is carried by women who are dressed in white clothes with black lace head scarves. In front and in back of this Anda will be other women who will also trade off carrying the Anda. Behind them might be some other Anda's with saints, possibly another band. Finally, behind all will be men with shovels and buckets, as well as a dump-truck to clean up the remnants of the Alfombras.

These processionals will last 12 hours. Yes...12 hours, they start around noon and will continue until mid-night when they return to the church from which they started. Our apartment is just down a side street from one of the main routes of the processionals. It is quite handy for us, as we don't need to fight the crowds to catch a view. We have become used to the music and smell (from incense) of the processionals.

Alfombras
An Alfombra is a carpet-like design made from saw-dust and/or flowers to decorate the streets. If a processional is in front of your house or business, you and your neighbors will work, many times all night, to create an Alfombra in front of your house. Many times the Alfombras are finished just before the processional comes. While the Alfombra is beautiful, it is short-lived and will soon be trampled by the processional.

Each Alfombra is totally unique and each year the family works to create a new plan for this year's Alfombra. People have a lot of fun working together to make them, but they are also a serious task. They are an offering for Jesus as He goes to His death. No one steps on the alfombra until the Anda carrying Jesus marches over it. Sometimes small gifts, like a basket of flowers or figures, are placed on the Alfombra. These are picked up by the Anda carriers as an offering.

Often the Alfombras have biblical themes such as the miracles of Jesus, the last supper, and of course the cross. Sometimes they have Guatemalan themes depicting indigenous life and textile weavings.

When Rick and Elena when to view the processional from Jocatenango (nearby town), Elena was able to join in the making of an Alfombra!

Activities
During Samana Santa there are events going on all the time. The closer it gets to Easter, there are more processionals, and more activity. For example, on Good Friday, there are 4 different processionals going on in Antigua. Each church has velaciones at different times. These are vigils for Jesus or the virgin Mary. The focus on the suffering and death of Christ is powerful. Saturday night our nearby Catholic church, La Merced, has an all-night prayer vigil.

What we miss, is the focus on the resurrection. There is a small processional on Sunday, but nothing compared to all build-up that is given for remembering the death of our Lord Jesus. We are told that in other areas of Guatemala, there are great processionals on Sunday that begin at 4 AM from the cemetery and leads to the Catholic church. They are processionals of joy, to celebrate our Lord's resurrection from the dead. He is alive, for He has Risen!

The following video was not taken by us, but it is really good, showing different sights from Semana Santa 2006.

A YouTube Video taken at Samana Santa 2006

Rick's Shopping Road Rally!

With our departure date approaching, we realized that we need to weigh our suit-cases so that we do not get hit with extra charges at the airport for suit-cases that are over the 50 lb. limit. We each have two suit-cases to check and it could be expensive if they are over weight. We asked around and didn't find anyone with a scale (pesa in Spanish) in Antigua. One person was pretty certain "La Pradera" in a nearby city called Chimaltenango would have it. So, yesterday afternoon, Rick set off in search of a Pesa.

The ride to Chimaltenango was on a chicken bus. I was happy to get a seat, although I was the third person in the seat, which meant I was half on, half off the seat. The seat next to us had the same, so basically it was window to window people. Fortunately, the ride was only about 35 minutes long and it wasn't too hot. Roads in Guatemala are windy and you have to hold on or centrifugal force will take over and the people with the window seats (best seats) will be squished against the windows "enjoying" the weight of the entire row on the steep turns. Other than that, the ride was beautiful and uneventful.

When I arrived in Chimaltenango, I asked a person on the street where "La Pradera" was. It was about 8 blocks away, not too far, so I walked. La Pradera, is almost a mall. It has a large store, maybe the size of a supermarket. I was hopeful...but it they didnt' have a Pesa. One worker thought that one of the other stores in the row of stores had it, so I left for that store. Unfortunately, they didn't have it either, but suggested another store about 7 blocks away, in the same direction from which I had just come. After finding the store, I asked for a Pesa and you guessed it, they didn't have it, but fortunately they knew where I could find it. Just 5 blocks further down the road was a store that would have it. After walking to the next store, I was disappointed to find out that they didn't have it, but just 3-4 blocks from there was a store that hopefully would have it. Once again I walked and eventually found the store and wasn't surprised when they didn't have it. Of course, they had a suggestion for a store that "would" have a Pesa. While at this point I felt like I was searching for something that just didn't exist in Chimaltenango, I started on my way to the store. I walked onward for another 10 blocks, with a few turns in there and after asking a few people, finally found the store. And believe it or not, they had a PESA!

At this point, I was a little turned around. I needed to find the chicken bus back for Antigua. At first glance, it may not be obvious but buses here do have a route, they do leave from a certain spot and either I needed stand along the route or even better, find where the route begins. I asked the clerk in the store "where is a bus to Antigua?" and to my surprise, it was a a little more than a block down the road. I had walked all over, visited about 10 different stores (in my story, I didn't tell about all of them), been sent different directions over and over again, and finally found what I wanted within 1.5 blocks of where I was originally dropped off.

I was a youth pastor for many years...planned a few "road rallies" in those years. Typically I would send out the youth from one location and they would eventually return to that location. Yesterday, the guatemaltecos sent me on their own "road rally."

This kind of thing isn't uncommon. We miss the days of one store shopping and being pretty certain a store really will have what you are looking for.