Last Day in the Guate

Finals wrapped up about two hours ago.  I'll hop on a buss for the city (Guatemala City) in another two hours and then I'll fly home tomorrow morning.  I'm rather shocked that my first four and a half months are over.  I feel like I've learn a lot and am very ready for a break.  I'll be in Colorado for most of my Christmas break, save for a weekend in Tulsa for the Rice wedding, so if you want to hang let me know.  But before I fly out I wanted to write my last blog of the semester.  I've tried several different styles with this thing, and I hope you've all enjoyed it.  This is a list of the 10 most important things I'v learned while living in Guate, so have fun reading!

Never say you'll race a 6th grade student and then loose.

Always dance at your students christmas parties.  Always.

Tacky Christmas Sweaters are to be worn at Tacky Christmas Sweater Parties with friends and not out in public.

Always hike with friends.  Never hike alone.

Never be afraid to jump, the waters not that cold.

When the Teacher asks you to dress up for a presentation, you should do it.

If you can grow a stache do it, if you can't, do it.

If you see a funeral procession walking towards the cemetery join in and have some fun!

Catholics enjoy processions and you should too.

Don't ever go anywhere expecting to remain the same.

Walking and my driving addiction

Hello, my name is Brendan Scott and it has been four months and eleven days since I last drove a car.  Or as my students might say, "drived a car."  Before I left for Guatemala I didn't know I was addicted to the open road; the high speed freedom of 70 mph and a full tank of gas.  But I quit that high octane ride, cold turkey, for a much slower means of transportation.   Walking.  

Besides the morning ride on the micro (pronounced meek row) bus, which takes me to school.  I walk everywhere.  First I walk to the bus stop.  Then I walk to the middle school building, which involves a nice flight of steps down a beautiful hill.  Then I walk around my classes, while helping my students learn that it's drove and not drived or loan me, not borrow me.  I'm also trying to teach them that I wont let them barrow tissue paper, because I sure don't want it back after they blow their noses in it.  But the thing I hear the most while I'm walking around my class room is a simple question.  My students constantly ask, "Can I go to the bathroom."  Frankly I don't know if they can or not.  I'm not their doctor, so I don't know their medical history.  I can't tell what they can or cannot do.  But if they really need to go I tell the they may go to the bathroom.  It is fun having the power of permission.  After school I ride the bus to the gym.  At the gym I lift weights and run.  Then I take a nice twenty to thirty minute walk home.  On the walk home I pass three pinata shops, two other gyms, two hot dog stands, a beer factory, a park with a big star of David in the middle, and several hundred Guatemalans speeding by in their cars.  

Seeing a car gives me the shakes.  I want to drive rather badly.  I know the benefits of walking everywhere.  I feel healthier and I've probably saved a ton on gas, which is good because my stipend definitely couldn't cover how much I was spending on gas before I left.  I was so addicted to driving I was traveling from Denver to Boulder almost three times a week. That drive had nothing to do with wanting to see my friends.  Now I walk everywhere and I've started having dreams about driving.  I guess the old saying of you never know what you've got until its gone is true for me and my car.  I'll be back in Colorado in a week and I think the first thing that I want to do is drive.  Maybe then I'll miss my daily walk home from the gym and all of the crazy drivers that swerve to try to hit me.  But for now I am longing for home, not to stay their permanently, but to be able to drive around for a little bit and recharge my battery.

Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!  This was my first Thanksgiving away from my family and so I really didn't expect to eat well.  I also expected to be a slight bit lonesome, but as these pictures will show you I was neither friendless or foodless over Thanksgiving.

These are the friends I got to share my thanksgiving meal with.  The Parents at the school provided a huge Thanksgiving meal for everyone, almost 300 people, and the food was

 amazing!

This was the massive amount of food the parents provided for the teachers.  What a great way to celebrate an American holiday in Guatemala.  I also had a large dinner on Thursday over at my friend's house.  Both times I left thinking that I never needed to eat again.  That's a Feast.

And finally this was how I spent my Thanksgiving day.  I hiked up La Muela (The Muller) with some friends.  It was a beautiful hike and I had a great time.  Thanksgiving to me is about friends, family and food.  I usually spend my Thanksgiving eating and eating and watching football and eating some more.  All done with and around my family.  This year I didn't have the opportunity to be around my family, but as you guys can see I  was blessed with a few friends to spend my Thanksgiving break with, and sometimes friends are as good as a family.  I want to close with a question.  What is Thanksgiving to you?  

Prayer

Sometimes I feel infatuated with God.  My love can be a fleeting feeling.  I want more than that for my life and the love I fill with it.  I want to love deeply and love with reason.  I want my heart to beat in rhythm with God's, like a guitar strumming in rhythm with God's drum beat.  My heart desires to express my love for him when I'm worn out and broken.  To love him when I'm full of awe and gladness.  My love should be deep, maybe as deep as the sky and as close as the air.  I know that at times it's not.  I worry about what others think of me.  I know friends don't satisfy the way God does.  I don't want to worry, I want to be profound and to live with a strong secure love.  

Can I find joy in the simple things?  Sheets that fit.  Air to breathe.  Legs that carry.  Mountains to hike.  Hands that write and feel.  Eyes to see.  Sunsets to view.  Mouths to feed.  Mouths to chat.  Conversations in spanish.  Conversations in English.  A child's laughter.  Ears to hear.  A child's cry.  Friends that cry.  Friend's laughter.  Friends to love and be loved by.  Too often I look past these moments and float on with the breeze.  My feelings flutter with the wind.  I don't want to fly where the wind blows.  I want to be firm, yet changeable, because God's love is at work in my life.  Changing me to be alive in him.  Making me more than I am right now.  

This is a prayer I'm praying for my self.  There's a couple more days until Thanksgiving break.  I'm ready to sleep in and have a long weekend.  I'm pretty sure my kids are ready for the break too.  After Thanksgiving there's only three weeks until Christmas break.  This semester is flying by and God has really taught me tons.  I can't wait to see what's next.

Friendships

I've been thinking a lot about friendships lately.  I guess I've had friendships on my mind because I'm relearning how to make them, in a new culture none the less.  I've found out that making friends here is very similar to making friends in the states.  It takes time.  Fortunately I've been down here for a little over three months and I'm starting to make some good friends.  Yesterday I went to a beach called Champerico with a couple of my new friends; Laura, who graduated from Union High School in Tulsa, and Kristin, who also goes by the name Scarface because she has a nice Harry Potter scar on her forehead.  

While I was at the beach the crashing of the waves started me thinking about how people change when they make friends.  Each time a wave crashes in on the beach sand is dragged back out to sea and the beach is changed.  Maybe its only a slight change, but a change none the less.  The sand that was loosed from the shore is now out to sea.   There is no stopping this beautiful natural process.  Until the end of time waves will break on the shore and pull little parts of the world apart.   

Like ocean waves friendships pull little parts of your world apart.  A good friend will crash in on you and pull you out into the water.  They will not leave you the same.  I feel like I am making a few friends that are really challenging me.  Kristin is the art teacher at my school meaning she's payed to be creative all day long.  When I talk to her I feel challenged to be more creative with my writing and my English class.  I can tell that she expects greatness out of her friends.  A good friend wont let you slide by or underachieve.  They'll crash in on you and pull you out to sea where life is a bit more dangerous but probably a lot more rewarding.  

I could have stayed at the beach all day long, just sat in the sun, and had a great time.  But the real fun didn't start until Laura and Kristin got me to jump into the water and let the waves pull at me.  We played in the surf for a long time.  The waves were huge and the black sand on the beach was hot so staying in the water was a little more appealing.  Friends will take you to that place.  Little bits of you will be taken away as you go, but in the end the I think you'll be a better person than when you started.

Seasons: Invierno y Verano

I am now ready to say that the rainy season has ended.  I arrived in Guatemala on August first and it rained.  It has rained almost every day I've been down here, but as of this week it has officially stopped.  The loud noise you heard last week was the entire population of central America shouting for joy because the rain has stopped.  During the rainy season it was borderline psychotic to leave your house without a rain jacket or an umbrella.  I only did it once.  

As my spanish teacher explained to me tonight Guatemala really only has two seasons.  Rainy and dry.  Notice this does not include Summer, Fall, Winter, or Spring.  During the rainy season it is warm and rainy and during the dry season it is cold at night and hot during the day.  Not much change.  I really missed the changing of the leaves last month.  I love driving through the mountains watching the Aspen leaves turn from green to golden yellow and red.  The cool crisp air biting at your lungs in the mornings.  Other than football and hunting that's what makes September and October great.  

Here in Guatemala September and October are filled with rain, but every once and awhile the air would feel crisp and if you closed your eyes you just might be able to trick yourself that it was fall time in the rockies, only until the rain starts to fall again.  Then the air doesn't feel crisp at all.  It just feels wet.  No me gusta mucha lluvia.  (I don't like a lot of rain.) My spanish teacher taught me that one tonight.  But like I said the rainy season is over.  Now in the mornings it is cold, cold, cold out.  Something like forty degrees and then by the mid afternoon when the sun is at its zenith it might be eighty degrees out.  Maybe a little less maybe a little more.  It is now November and that means hiking and sunshine.  It is hard not experiencing the seasons, but experiencing a new culture seems to be worth it and I am thankful for that.  I know that I'll be longing for a little snow here soon, but in the mean time I'll enjoy being able to hike up the volcanoes that line my horizon.

Hallowelections!

Paul writes in the book of Romans for everyone to submit to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.  (Romans 13:1) Simply meaning God's in control so trust in him.  God is greater than the government that is in place, or the government that is going to take control.

If you've been hiding under a rock with your fingers plugged in your ears while screaming lalalalala you might not know that it is election day back in the states, and everyone here in Guatemala is all a buzz.  It's as if their country is electing a new president.  I was able to vote by mail in ballot about two weeks ago, so hopefully my ballot arrived in on time.  Before I sent in my ballot I showed each one of my classes what it looked like so they could understand what it takes to vote.  (For some of the amendments it takes a masters degree in political science to know what you are voting for.)  With all of the buzz and excitement in the air about the elections I am also sensing a little bit of fear.  

It almost seems like the election process is as scary as Halloween to some people.  People are likening one candidate to the boogie man and then the other to Chuckie.  I've read a couple of facebook statuses saying that you need to vote for one candidate or you're not a true American or Christian.  That sounds like fear and bad logic to me.  I don't think fear is an appropriate response to the coming change, cause God's in control.  I don't like change much, but I am learning to trust God with my future.  I took a big risk in coming down to another country to teach.  God has been with me the entire time I've been down here.  I came down here alone, leaving all of my friends behind.  Since arriving down here God's blessed me with a few friends.  And I say if God can look after me, a rather insignificant person in the scheme of the world, how much more do you think he's concerned with the United States of America.  

Yet fear and hatred still exists between the parties.  Does that amount to a lack of trust in God?  Yes, I have an opinion on they way I think the government should work, but in the end does it really matter?  Jesus says in Mark twelve that the most important thing for me to do as a follower is to "love the lord my God with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my mind and with all my strength," and the second greatest thing for me to do is to "love my neighbor as myself."  There are probably a thousand different ways to honor him and love my neighbor, but no matter what way I do it, what matters is that I'm loving those around me and honoring God while doing it.  I believe this is what is important and I am pretty sure that I can love my neighbor no matter who is my president.  

So this is what I'm going to do.  I am going to trust in God and believe that he will bring everything around for his glory no matter what happens.  There is no reason to treat election day like Halloween.