Guate Curios

I'm sorry for my sporadic blogging. There is so much to tell you; life here hasn't stopped. Instead of trying to catch you up on every detail, I've decided to include some mysterious curios of Guate.

Exhibit A: Obleas

One of my fifth graders recently went on a trip to Mexico. This is the child whose pencil case spills every day and who thinks fish are clothes. Last week, he brought me a gift which puzzled me--wafers with sunflower seeds glued into them. One of my Guatemalan friends, Karen, told me they are "obleas", wafers. I still don't think I am going to eat them. Speaking of Mexico, I asked my fifth graders what they knew about Mexico and I received three responses: tacos, it's big, and it smells.

Exhibit B: Softball hat

Heather and I joined a Guatemalan softball team with our friend Emily. We play every Saturday and we're actually pretty decent...best women's team in the C League=bragging rights. Last weekend, we got our uniforms, including this very stylish hat. It's debatable whether I was more puzzled by the obleas or the "I We Make a Great Team." I was finally informed that "I" stands for "Internacional" our team name. Oooh...Unfortunately for Spanish speakers, there is still an "I" in "equipo."

Exhibit C: Pan flute classics

Sadly, I have no image for this curio. But in every major shopping center there is a common soundtrack: pan flute pop songs. Aerosmith and the Beatles have unfortunately been trivialized to the sweet, cheesy sounds of the pan flute and I can't get "I Can Be Your Hero" by Enrique Iglesias in pan flute style out of my head. Thank you, Guate.

Heather and I took a wonderful trip to Antigua this weekend. Another update to follow.

Fish and Pi

Happy Fall, everyone.

I found out two things the other day: my students listen sometimes and my students don't know what clothes are.

The other day, I was teaching about early American exploration when one of my students raised his hand and said: "teacher, your baby is gone."

Hm...

Puzzled, I pursued the conversation further. "My baby?"

"Yes miss, your map--it's gone."

I had forgotten a certain episode a week earlier in which three of my students were rough-housing with my U.S. map (apparently that can happen). I scolded them by saying: "be careful with my baby! This map is precious." Definitely precious, seeing as the only map-like object Han Al has is a globe that won't stand up and has a fissure through the equator.

Since then, my map has fallen off the walls like everything else at Han Al (the humidity is killer on tape). And my students have noticed. And listened:)

This was a 9th grader. Back in my elementary world, things are not so promising. Two of my students were giving a presentation on the subarctic climate zone. Their assignment was to tell the class how they would survive in their climate zone. So I asked them: "what clothes would you wear in the subarctic?"

And they said: "fish"

This comes from the same student who placed Europe in the Atlantic Ocean on a recent map test.

Miss you all and hope you are enjoying some nice pumpkin pi.