Sofia Somewhere

I'm going to be cliché right now and say that I can't believe how fast time flies, and that I've been here for almost three months. We've had about two and a half months of school and I feel like I've finally found my rhythm. I have a better grasp of my students and my class, which makes most of the days pretty smooth sailing. Up next, round two of some teaching stories, the little things we've been up to. :) Like the Philippines, Guatemala is a predominantly Catholic country and they have their fair share of Lenten and Holy Week traditions. On Fat Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday), the carnaval tradition is to decorate cascarones (eggshells), crack a small hole, fill them with pica pica (confetti), and finally cover the hole. Then the goal is to smash the egg on an unsuspecting victim's head. (Yes, I was one of those unsuspecting victims). Students making cascarones in class On the left below some of my students' decorated cascarones...

At just about an hour away from Guatemala City, Antigua can actually be done on a day trip. But the city is so beautiful, and there's so much to do, if you're visiting, it's best to stay for a couple of days to see everything it has to offer. But for those living in the city, it's an easy weekend escape. A CISV friend of mine, Rafa, picked me up three Saturdays ago, and we spent the day in Antigua. It was a lovely day of catching up with each other (we had last met at a camp 12 years ago!), and having him show me around La Antigua Guatemala (the Old Guatemala, or simply  Antigua ). A few pictures from the day below, if you'd like to see. :) With my lovely guide Rafa We left Guate at around 11am and arrived in Antigua about an hour later. Before heading into the city itself, we made a detour to San Cristóbal . Located on a hill, it has a restaurant, bar, organic farm and garden, and a beautiful view of Antigua. Antigua from San Cristóbal We walked ar...

Work has kept me quite busy in the three months that I've been here, but on the weekends I've gotten to explore a bit of Guatemala City , also called  Guate or la Ciudad (the City) by the locals. I technically live in Villa Nueva, a municipality right outside Guate, but is still very close to the city (in fact, La Esperanza is closer to the edge of the City than it is to downtown Villa Nueva). Cenma (which is 10 minutes away) is the first stop (Centra Sur) of the Zone 12 line of the Transmetro , Guatemala City's public transportation system. The Transmetro is a bus rapid transit system (which is similar to the TransMilenio of Bogota, which in turn was modeled after Curitiba's, and interestingly, both of which I have experienced), in which the buses run on designated lanes, so it can even turn out to be faster than taking a taxi. It's also considered one of the safest ways to get around the city because the drivers don't carry any money, and there's a les...