Day 12

Breakfast: pineapple & french toast

During class felt an earthquake, researched to be only a registered as a 4.2.  Lots of fun with my teacher today!  We were joking about all sorts of stuff.  She also disclosed a lot of information and I gathered a lot of information about the culture surrounding families in Guatemala.  I guess I must be understanding a lot more Spanish then.  Though she does speak some Spanglish, it seemed to be primarily in Spanish. It all began after me telling her that my parents have been divorced for almost 20 years.  I told her that my mother lived with her new husband and his adult child with Down's Syndrome.

This triggered her to tell me about her own first child that she had when she was only 18.  She said he was born with Down Syndrome and that he died a few months after he was born.  She told me that for a long time she asked God why?  She said that if she had not lost that child she would not have been able to get work as a teacher and support her family.  She said that for many years her husband was very lazy and did not work or contribute to the household.  After many years and 3 children one day he just disappeared and cut off contact with she and her children.  She drew out a map and showed me that for 10 years he has lived just down the street and around the corner from her with his other family.

We talked about how common this is for men in Guatemala to have affairs and many children with different women.  Sandra informed me that there are many families in Guatemala with just a mother and the men contributing very little.  Perhaps this is only from her perspective.  I am amazed how hard she has worked over the years to keep her family afloat!  She says she has attempted to contact her husband in order to get a divorce and he refuses contact with the lawyer she hired.

Lunch: Chicken with delicious red sauce, rice, & guacamole

Laundry day!  I dropped it off at a laundromat who said I couldn't pick it up till the next day.  Somehow I had 12 pounds of laundry so when I said I would just take my business elsewhere they changed my pick up to 7pm.  I then went on the school activity.  We took a chicken bus to the village of San Juan.  Here we visited a convent and a local chocolate factory.  Unfortunately I forgot to bring water.  I got dehydrated and a terrible headache. I went home to rest and then ran to pick up my laundry before dinner but was still late to dinner.

Dinner: Potato pancake & flat peas but shaped like snap peas

Went to bed at 8pm only to wake up at 3am.  I was able to get back to sleep for 2 more hours but it was so hard to get up.  So tired!