Gray/Griffith in Guatemala

With some leg work by Jim we were able to find a great townhouse near the school in Zona 15.  It backs right up to a jungle ravine.  The girls have discovered avocado, lime and other assorted and yet unidentified fruit trees (no snakes yet!).  It is an oasis in our new urban home.  We awake to rosters crowing.  Abby says it is like living on a farm (remember she is 5).  Click here for a view of Jungle Jim’s Backyard.  More on Guatemala City later but so far we think it gets a bad rap.  It is not Boston or even Cleveland but with day trips to active volcanoes, the colonial city of Antigua and to the Pacific it is not a bad place to be based.

HOLA AMIGOS, AMIGAS Y LA FAMILIA! 

Jim, Jen, Emma, and Abby arrived in Guatemala City this August to begin our 2-year adventure in Guatemala.  Jim is teaching at the Colegio de Americano de Guatemala.  Although titled an “American School”  the Colegio is really a bilingual Guatemalan School with many North American teachers.  Emma is enrolled in Grade 2, Abigail in Kindergarten.  Jen is on a 2-year leave from her medical practice in Idaho.

Jim arrived first, in early August, and enjoyed a week of orientation with his fellow new colleagues.  Their habitation, “The Hotel San Carlos” is a great colonial-style hotel in the area of the city known as Zone 10, or “la zona viva”.  There are abundant night clubs, restaurants, etc., so Jim had fun with the other  20-something trainees who affectionately call him “pops”.  Jen  and the girls arrived one week later and spent about 2 weeks living in the hotel with Jim.  The girls had a blast with “the other adults, NOT mommy and daddy”.  They quite liked life in the hotel which was reminiscent of a college dorm.  See the “Antigua” blog below re:  Jim’s intensive study and preparation for life in Guatemala.

 Here are a few quotes from the early days; it was evident early on that we did the right thing exposing the girls to a little cultural diversity……..”Mom, these people are REALLY brown” (Abby in the waiting area at the airport).  “Mom, I thought that you were just kidding about moving to Guatemala” (Abby on the flight from Houston to Guatemala City).  From Emma, as we studied the Spanish phrase “No intiendo” (I don’t understand)….”Mom, we are gonna use this one a lot…”Other observations included how TALL we are, how much traffic there is, there are big holes in the sidewalk,  tropical plants and flowers in every nook and cranny that a small child might explore, lots of traffic exhaust, incrdible tropical fruit, kids with “jobs”, babies in cardboard boxes, and the list of childhood observations goes on and on…..

As part of our orientation program we went on a day trip to the colonial capital of Guatemala.  It is a 40 minute drive from the city on a six lane highway.  All the new teachers were given a digital camera and divided into groups for a sacavange hunt.  The goal was to experence/discover the Guatemalan culture.  Check out what we came up with @  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxcTlO8ia1o