Panajachel

This photo is of Hilda y Cristina in Solola and the new learning center there. The others are of Francesca's house where I am staying. I still have not figured out how to move the photos around.

Pana is a little town on Lake Atitlan. The central office of Friendhsip Bridge is here. They then interact with the regional offices in other areas, like Quetzaltenango, Solola, and Nebaj, where I am going to be working and living. I've spent the past couple of days in meetings with various staff here on both the overall organization's functioning and also with the education office on the work they are doing and that I will be helping with. It has been informative and fun!

Yesterday I went with Hilda, a Guatemalan employee in the education office, to the regional office in Solola to see the new learning center they are getting ready to open there. And tomorrow I will go to Santiago, where the picture of the little girl at the top left of this blog was taken last November. There I will visit a Learning Center there started by an American unaffiliated but friendly with Friendship Bridge. And tonight I am delighted to have been invited to the home of one of the former membgers of the board of directors who has been here in Pana doing research on women's education curriculum for the past three months.

Yesterday I spent the day speaking only Spanish between breakfast and dinner, and I was exhausted--and probably exhausted the people communicating WITH me, but it was good! Mostly it was Hilda and I, in meetings, and then going to Solola. I had dinner last night and lunch today with Erin, who is my Aaron's age and has been here since last October doing an internship that turned into a job. She has taught some ESL in Nebaj and written curriculum for there, so today we met and she filled me in on the scoop for those classes.

Tonight I am house-sitting for Francesca and taking care of her two dogs, whom I hope will also take care of me! Saturday or Sunday I will take a shuttle up to Nebaj (4 hours+) and get settled in.

I have arranged to live with a family for the first week or two, and my Spanish classes start Monday before Easter and carry on for the week, even though Wed., Thur., and Fri are local holidays. I imagine and hope I will be included in the family's Easter celebration. Meetings and classes begin at the learning center on Monday and Tuesday also, but then it is closed for the rest of the week. I'll use the time to prepare the curriculum for my first week of classes. So, all is good! I'm now getting anxious to get up there and get settled before I get too comfortable here in Pana!