January 18th update and pics

January 15^th Saturday – Day 4:

Fuemos al mercado en Antigua. Aventura in Antigua. We all went into the tourist city of Antigua to buy some supplies and change some money. Our first family trip on a Chicken Bus! Chicken bus = old school bus that is pimped out with odd stickers and paintings. The bus drives as fast as possible and fills up far beyond comfort levels. Seth thought it was great the he could stand up on the bus seat during the drive! Chicken buses are as close to videogames as Seth will get while in Guate ... the driving is just like he drives on Mario Kart Wii.

We met up with friends from Outta Town, Lance and Sheri, for coffee and then hit MacDonald's for lunch. Seth bought a ball in the grocery store and we all got a lot of sun!

In the future, we plan to do shopping trips without the kids. Antigua is beautiful but very busy and boring for kids. Live and learn!

January 16^th – Sunday (Day 5):

We got to attend the Church that is associated with Global Shore (El Calvario – Avivando el Fuego). We ended up attending 2 services today, as we did not realize that the evening service was geared to the Canadians and was translated. Seth was a champ, making it through a total of 6 HOURS of church in 1 day!

Canadians in Guatemala right now – a group of 30 Canadians arrived on January 15^th for the grand opening of the new school. These Canadians are the heads of Global Shore (Robert & Carolyn Conrad and Julie & Ken Wall) as well as all of Julianna's brothers and sisters and some of her aunts and uncles. Other Canadians in the group of 30 include the school's 2 English teachers who will be here all year and other Canadians who have volunteered with Global Shore in the past. They have all come to celebrate the opening of the new school building (and help get it set for classes to start on January 24^th). Most of the people are staying until January 25^th!

Church in Guatemala – We'll give you a little description of church in Guatemala....it is alive and very refreshing. There is a strong sense of God's presence and freedom to worship HIM. Worship is very heartfelt as the whole congregation dances, sings, shouts, runs, and claps to honour Christ. Seth has really enjoyed the services, as he loves to dance and use his maracas (shaker) to praise God.

January 17^th – Monday (Day 6):

Today started the work we came to do. We all (Heath, Seth, Eden and I) were at the old school building bright and early to get ready to move things to the new school building. Heath was charged with harvesting coffee beans while I worked on translating my literacy workshop into Spanish with one of the school teachers. Seth found a new Canadian friend – Ethan (age 9?) who played soccer and Nintendo DS with Seth all day! Eden, as usual, hung around (literally hung in the snuggli or slept in the stroller) while I prepared the workshop for the 7 Guatemalan teachers who teach in the school.

In the afternoon, Julie Wall, gave her portion of the workshop on literacy while Julianna (Global Shore head in Guatemala) translated. Seth and Julie's 2 children (Ethan and Mackenzie – both aroudn 10 years old) helped Julie demonstrate how we teacher early literacy skills in Canada. The Guatemalan teachers were very receptive!

Seth's adjustment to Guatemala – by supper time (6:30pm) Seth was asking to go to bed. Exhausted from playing all day and not napping, he has been falling asleep within minutes of lying down!

January 18^th - Tuesday (day 7)

Heath breaks a sweat! Diane, Seth and Eden got through the rest of the play and literacy workshops with all the teachers today. I was able to give most of the presentation in Spanish with some help from my dear friend Paula (aka translator). Slowly, but surely my Spanish is coming back. The teachers are excited for this school year as we plan to develop reading centres, shared reading, guided reading, and establish classroom libraries....plus more!

Heath got to work like a Guatemalan today! For whatever reason (possibly the fact that the workers are being paid by the hour), thousands of bricks were unloaded off of the delivery trucks into a pile right onto the spot that they needed to be laid down on the ground...so he and 3 other men had to move the piles of bricks from one location to another. It took over 7 hours and they moved about half of the bricks...guess what he is doing tomorrow??

Life in Guatemala – Seth has been learning to play like a local! He has been outside roughly 8 hours a day, climbing trees, running around in circles, covering himself with sand, and just having fun. He has made several friends (yes, Seth IS coming out of his shell). Today as I spoke to the teachers for several hours, Seth and several children played as the older children took care of the younger children. It is such a different approach than in Canada, where we schedule our kids so strictly.

Here are some pics of the week's events as well as the status of the school.

Beautiful Eden

Old School building classroom at the top of the building (up several flights of stairs)

Old school building - 1 set of stairs

Kids playing in old school building

Mackenzie, Ethan & Seth - Canadian kids

Literacy workshop for all the teachers

Seth climbing tree

New school building entry way view from inside (parking area)

New school building - looking at a house (where the arches are, Julianna & family will be living there)

New school building - notice brick floor/ground, these are the bricks Heath was moving

Inside New school building - this is the large meeting room, auditorium

Inside building - notice partial roof...almost there, and yes we start classes on Jan 24th!

Roof

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Workers having pizza at the end of the day

New building - looking at hall way and courtyard..almost done The bottome floor will have 7 classrooms and then the top floor will have another 7...for Jan 24th we need the bottom 7 rooms ready!