Antigua and the Mormon Temple

So last weekend I headed to Antigua with some good friends for the day. I had been to Antigua before, but always quick trips. And this was also a quick trip. Antigua is like an entirely different country. It is very touristy and expensive. Lots of english, etc which was weird. But very beautiful. And every now and then, it is nice to step back into American-esque places. I didn't have to worry about getting run over. And it was exceptionally QUIET. Apparently their is a fine for honking horns in Antigua that most definitely doesn't exist in Xela. Kind of nice. AND I got to have a pumpkin spice latte! We walked around, and my friends showed me the place where they got married (they got married in Antigua about a year and a half ago). And then we went to some neat museums. It was quite a fun day.

On Sunday my roommate and I spent the entire afternoon deep cleaning our apartment... even though it is brand new, we already have mold issues. Rainy season and poor construction will do that... So we bleached, and vinagered and scrubbed and mopped. I thought I was going to pass out from all the fumes.

And today I went with friends to check out the new Mormon temple in Xela. It is only open to the public for a few more days, and then only special Mormons are allowed inside. Its pretty intense. You can see the glowing golden angel on top from all over town. I was pretty curious to see what it was all about, especially since "regular" people can't go in normally. Also, I believe they are saying it is the largest temple in all of central America. And they are expecting a crazy amount of people to visit it in the two weeks it is open to the general public.



The outside.  No pictures were allowed inside the gates.


It was pretty spectacular...millions of dollars went into building it. And stepping onto the premises it was culture shock in the opposite way of what you might think. I felt like I had magically morphed back into the United States or really, more like some other planet. It was intense.

It wasn't some cathedral type thing like I was thinking. But just special rooms. Oh, and lots of artwork. Including many a painting of Jesus when he was in the temple when he was young. Although I never knew Jesus had blue eyes and strawberry blonde hair…

There was a baptism room with this giant jaccuzi sitting on top of 9 giant white oxen things. And a special room where people go before they get married. And an "eternity" room for married couples where there are two mirrors on opposite sides of the room so if you look into one it is like it never ends. And then a celestial room where you aren't allowed to talk, but you ponder heaven. And it was beautiful and white and very "holy" like, except all I could fixate on was a tiny pink stain on the white carpet floor....Because, 1)this building is brand new. 2) this is supposed to be the perfect holy room. 3)The placed booties on our shoes before we entered the temple so we wouldn't mess up the floor.

It was an interesting experience for sure. Thinking about how devoted these people are to their religion. To think about the differences. To think about how much money was put into making that elaborate building, when people just a few feet from the gates are hungry.

Anyway, it was neat. And thought provoking. And one of the most organized thing I’ve seen here in Guatemala. AND they gave us a cookie and apple juice upon leaving…

Well, tomorrow it is off to El Salvador for Thanksgiving. Here’s to hoping I actually make it across the border this year! 
Happy Thanksgiving!  We have lots to be thankful for!

Get a little, give a little

Another thing to add to the list of reasons I appreciate Guatemala...  We got our first monthly bill for electricity and it was only $4.  I'll take it. 

Also, I'm excited because I finally got the closets installed in my room.  This has been a two month annoyance of broken/delayed promises.  And I think it was one of my first experiences with genuine culture shock/ anger against Guatemalan culture.  The landlady would tell us one thing (probably just because she knew that's what we wanted to hear, instead of the truth) and then we would wait and nothing would happen.  Anyway, 2 months later I have closets!!  It's exciting because I can finally unpack my things and it feels like a real home.  It is nice!

On the other hand, I do feel like here you can only have a few things going right at once.  As soon as you reach your cap, everything else starts to fall apart.  Case in point, I was so excited about finally getting closets!  And the next day, I woke up and the water was turned off meaning no shower, or really anything that involves the use of water...quite an inconvenience.  And then, on top of that, I was half way through baking muffins from scratch when our gas ran out.  I called the gas man to come and exchange our tank, but he said he probably wouldn't be able to bring a new tank until Monday.  Which means we can't cook anything until then.  But such are the inconveniences that come along with the good of living here.

Today is the second and final round of elections here.  After today there will be a new Guatemalan president.  I don't know much about the politics here, but I know that there is a ton of corruption and this country truly needs a strong leader to pull them out of a lot of the mess they are currently in.  I've heard not great things about both candidates, but still praying that the people will be wise in their decision making.

Another wonderful thing this week was that I got to meet the girl I'm going to be sponsoring.  I mentioned this in a previous post, but there is an opportunity for me to sponsor a girl to be able to go to school who normally wouldn't.  Several teachers from IAS are sponsoring students, and these students would not be able to afford to go to school otherwise.  They work during the day to help support their families and then go to school in the late afternoons. 

On Friday we got to go to their school and meet them.  Because of the differences in the school systems between Guatemala and the States, they won't actually start school until January.  But it was incredible to get to meet Heidy.  She's 19 and will be going into 7th grade.  During the mornings she works for a family, cooking and cleaning...that's pretty common here.  She wants to be able to go to a university one day.  My spanish is still limited, but it was fun to talk with her.  I feel really grateful to be able to have more of a connection with the indigenous community here.  We exchanged info, and will be keeping in touch throughout this year.  Exciting stuff. 

So, quick slightly humourous story of just how exhausted I get by the end of the week... This Friday I was trying to say rhinoceros during science class and I couldn't pronounce it to save my life.  I literally called it out loud a "rhino-saurus",  like some kind of dinosaur.  And my ESL students had to correct me.  Embarassing. 

Halloween and All Saints Day

What a wonderful 2 days it has been!!  Yesterday was Halloween and today we had a break from school because of a holiday.  So Monday was kind of like Friday.  Super fun.

Halloween is not a big deal here.  Actually, many people are anti-Halloween.  But some of the teachers got together to celebrate after school and dressed up.  It was fun!



Tacky Tourists



Hit of the party- Justin Bieber.  And they even did a choreographed routine for us!

Today was one of my favorite days I've had in quite a while.  It was nice to have a break from school and sleep in, but my favorite part of the day was going to the cemetery.  So beautiful...all the colors, the flowers, and hundreds of people.  All Saints Day was one of my favorites last year, and this year was the same.  The cemetery here is absolutely incredible.  But on this day especially, because EVERYONE comes to lay flowers and visit family members' tombs.  But its not a super solemn day.  Yes, there are some tears.  But overall it is a joyful occassion.  One of the things people do is fly kites.  And this year we purchased kites to try.
It was so, so fun!  We had some trouble getting started...
But that was all part of the fun.  Some Guatemalan boys were watching and giggling, and finally showed us how its really done.  It was an absolute blast.  The weather was beautiful.  Kite flying was super fun.  And the view was incredible.  Such a wonderful day. 




It's finally up in the air! With our Guatemalan buddies looking on with approval.

 


This was the best my camera could capture, but the view of seeing dozens of kites flying HIGH up in the sky with the mountains as a backdrop is incredible. 


Afterwards we all went out to dinner.  It was just a relaxing, joy filled day!  Much needed...although I'm not quite ready to go back to school tomorrow.  Wish I could have a few more days like this one.  Hopefully it'll keep me going to finish this week out strong!