EIL Intercultural Learning

Once again, apologies for the delay in getting my blog updated!

Ok where to begin and what to say. There is much gong on here every that it is simply impossible for me to even touch on everything! Anyhows here goes my attempt!...

I can safely say that I am really loving my experience here in Guatemala! I can't say that its all easy or fun but I can say that it is all worth it! There have been difficult times and great times, and I am thankful for them both. Both the good and the not so good work together to create an all encompassing experience that is allowing me to get an insight into some of the really difficult challenges that some people are faced with here, while at the same seeing and feeling the fruits of your labour as I receive a tight hug or a toothless smile from a beautiful child oa a local passerby.

To explain the title I'll say that it did take me a while to settle in here and I had some days that it was truely a struggle to hold back the frustration in my voice or the tears that wanted to escape from my eyes. I had a breakthrough before long however, and suddenly realised that I was the only person holding myself back from becoming fully imersed in my situation, and after that day I began to really live the full experience. I think I suffered from a bit of reverse culture shock in my first couple of weeks here to be honest! Originally it was planned that I would be placed in a little indigenous village in the highlands for my volunteer project, and as much as I thought that I was coming to Guatemala with a totally open mind and a readiness for whatever challenges were ahead of me, after a couple of days here I realised that that wasn't quite the case. I had mentally prepared myself for a different set of challenges than the ones that were before me, and so was finding it difficult to adjust to the situation that I was in. Instead of living and working in a little rural village in the highlands as I has expected, I was now to stay in a town not far from Antigua, and travel along the highway in a jam-packed camionetta every day to go to work. At first I found this difficult to deal with, purely because it wasn't what I had expected, but as time began to pass by I began to love it! Being close to Antigua meant that I could fufill by working week and still have enough time to hop on a bus somewhere else to do some weekend explorations! Oh and what better way to get a real taste of a different culture than by using their local transport system! Some days I'd share a seat with three others, some days I'd stand in the aisle, amongst the mass of legs intertwined at odd angles and the arms raised high to clutch the railings for some support against the challenge of the winedy roads-other days I'd be clasping with all my might to the doorway as I hung half inside-half outside of the racing camionetta!

I began my time here with two weeks of Spanish classes. I would breakfast with my family in the mornings before heading off to the next town of Santa Lucia, either by foot or by tuc tuc, where I would meet with my Spanish teacher (who spoke no English whatsoever!) and set into our four hours of lessons. Having a teacher who spoke no English was a little bit frustrating at times, but it is actually amazing how much can be explained through diagrams, pointing and gestures. Ok I did have to use the dictionary a couple of times when a truely hilarious attempt at explaining something in a different langauge fell through, but that wasn't a common occurance! All in all we generally had a great laugh every day as we went about crossing the language barrier and learning some things about each other's cultures. At the Spanish school in the mornings I often met with some of the other volunteers, and it was really nice to have people to chat with in English now and then, before heading off for the day of total cultural immersion!