Sofia Somewhere

After moving to Guatemala, the question I get asked most often is (naturally), "Why Guatemala?" At first, I wasn't specifically looking to land myself here. After leaving Spain, all I knew was that I wanted to go to another Spanish speaking country. I looked at several countries in Central and South America, and in the end, finding a job at UPAVIM pushed me in the direction of Guatemala. So it wasn't a dead-set vision of coming to Guatemala that brought me here, but over the course of my first year here, I came to love it. Traveling around Guatemala introduced me to the country's captivating culture. Living in La Esperanza and meeting so many wonderful women and children exposed me to the warmth of the Guatemalan people.  And my every day life in the city manifested Guatemala's similarity to the Philippines -- from city and provincial life to government and politics to quotidian habits; I've lost track of how many times I've said to others, "Just...

It's been some time since my last post; as usual, life's been busy. In November, I said goodbye to La Esperanza , and moved to Antigua, a city I've come to love with my frequent visits. I spent November relaxing in Antigua and traveling a bit around Guatemala, and then to New Orleans in the first week of December. The rest of December was spent with family at home for the Christmas season, and I was back in Guatemala by the second week of January. The past four weeks flew by. I started a new job at a private bilingual school in a town next to Antigua. I had actually started working for a week in November, but there was still so much to do once I arrived. I spent the first week in meetings and workshops, and decorated my classroom in between. Then we had a meeting with the parents on Saturday, and bright and early on Monday morning, the kids arrived in school. At this school, I'm teaching English to third grade which has two sections. Section A has 18 students, and i...