6/28/09-7/4/09

6/28/09

I wasn't the only white girl in Relief Society today!! There was a new missionary from Florida. She's been out (on her mission in Guatemala) for four days!

Today I got the go ahead from the stake presidency to do the temple clothing collection project that I've been wanting to do. I am going to be collecting any old (or new) temple clothing items to bring down here. The temple is not going to have a clothing rental area so everybody will need to have clothes. A lot of the people can not afford to buy any so I thought temple clothes would be greatly appreciated here!! I was also thinking that there will probably be some families being sealed and the kids might need clothes.

It is a holiday on Tuesday here, so I don't have coro (choir) practice this week. Instead, I get to meet with the music coordinator to plan the music for church for the next three months!! Fun times!

Oh, does anybody have any ideas on how to keep your hands warm when you are playing the piano in a freezing cold church and you are extremely nervous?!?!?!?!

This evening our landlord came over. We still do not have our internet connection at the house even though it was supposed to have been taken care of before we arrived here. More than 4 months later, it still isn't done....and probably won't be. In the meantime, we will continue to use our landlords slow USB internet.

Monday 6/29/09

I don't know what it is with girls and their shoes here! There are shoe stores everywhere!! The girls all wear heels. We always see girls walking down the street in their traditional Mayan dress and fancy high heels or sandals. We refer to them as Aunt Teresa (Novakovich) shoes and how Uncle Dave would love it down here! It was pretty hilarious to watch people at the mall last weekend. Half of the people just looked like they were struggling to walk! I don't know how people can stand to walk around everywhere in those shoes!! As for me, I'll stick with my comfy tennis shoes!!

Tuesday 6/30/09

Today is our last day of freedom!! It's back to school tomorrow. We decided to venture to the market again. The kids LOVE to put all of the extra change in their pockets to go buy stuff. Here in Guatemala, they have Q1 coins, Q.50, Q.25, Q.10, and Q.05. Each quetzal is 12 and a half cents. The Q.05 is less than a penny!! In the states, Chris would always collect his change then roll it. Here it's not as easy to roll the money so the kids and I decided that we'd use that money for our market days. It's amazing what fresh produce we can get with all the loose change!! I think it's strawberry season right now. We get 3# of strawberries for just over $1. I really miss making freezer jam during strawberry season. Alysa is my helper to make jam. Maybe I can get Dave Claus to bring me some pectin down on his next trip!!

Wednesday 7/1/09

Today we went back to school but in the new building. It was very different being there. The school always has a morning prayer before school starts but the older kids weren't too used to being down at the "playground" on time. I do have to say that I was very impressed that the teachers for the younger grades got things going on time!! As for being in the new classrooms, it was pretty difficult to teach in them. The first room that I am in has windows that go into the main hallway. Each time anybody walked by, the entire class would turn around to see who it was. I need to get the window covered some how but it is the main source of light. In the second classroom, there are windows all along one window but they are covered with dark paper. It is so dark and there are no lights in the room. On top of that, there is not a door and all of the noise from the other classrooms comes into ours and I can't hear anything!! I guess it'll take some time to adjust!

Starting next week we are having "clubs" at the school once a week for the last hour of class. I was asked to teach one of the clubs (all the teachers are doing one) and to figure out what I'd like to do. The principal suggested crafts, quilting, drama, sports, etc. I spent the entire vacation thinking about different ideas and I finally came up with an idea that I thought would work well. I decided to do a quilting class where the kids get to color quilt blocks with crayons for the quilts and then applique with wonder under some bumblebees on alternating blocks. I'd machine sew the blocks together, let the kids do some lettering then tie the quilt for a wall hanging to put up in the school. Anyway, when I got to the school I asked when the clubs were to start and the principal told me that they were making the announcements that day and that the sign ups would be Friday so that they could start next week. She also informed me that she had put me down to teach a cooking class. I told her that I had planned to do a quilting club and she didn't seem too thrilled that I wanted to do something other than what she had put me down for. (Apparently this was all discussed in one of the teacher meetings that I was not involved in since it was in Spanish!! Nobody bothered to tell me!!) Anyway, they made the announcement to the kids that I'd be doing the quilting class and had me talk about it for a minute. I figured that everything was o.k. until after school when the principal approached me and asked me again if I would do a cooking class. She said that she didn't think the kids would like to just sit there and sew with a needle. I taught a simple cooking class with each of my classes and it was a LOT of preparation to get all the ingredients brought in from the students, supplies set up, etc. Plus there isn't even a stove to use. Anyway, I just don't want to deal with it!! I told this to the principal and explained what I was planning to do and asked if we could just try it. She reluctantly agreed. I was a little disappointed in the reaction after I put so much time and thought into it!!

On top of my frustration about the clubs, I got a big bruise to my ego today!! The principal's mom, Teacher Patty, was trying to talk to me about the quilting class. She doesn't know any English though and I was struggling to understand her. There was a word that she kept saying that I couldn't understand. Instead of getting another teacher to translate, she went and got my 10 year old daughter that is also learning Spanish!! Ouch!! I am extremely proud of the kids and the progress that they are making with their Spanish but it hurts a little that I can't keep up with them!!

Thursday 7/2/09

The classes were a little better today. The fourth grade class is so different with one of the kids no longer in the class. It is almost enjoyable!!

The schedules for the classes are pretty crazy. Yesterday we had recess in an empty lot behind the school. Today though, they told us we had to stay in the school yard/playground because the owner of the lot wanted to charge the school a ton of money for the use of their land. The school opted not to use the lot so we had recess with the preschoolers and kindergartners. The playground is sooooo tiny to begin with. It feels more like a prison yard than a playground and then to put all the big kids with all of the little kids, it was just mass chaos! We are going to try a different schedule next week and see how it works.

Tonight I had my meeting with the music people. There was the bishopric member over music, the music coordinator, the choir president, the chorister, and myself. It actually went pretty well. The music coordinator is very nice and was patient with me. She speaks slow enough that I can understand her better than most people. She helped me to learn some new words. Pretty much between the two of us, we got everything planned. I don't know what else happened after that but our meeting that should have been 15 minute turned into two hours!!

Friday 7/3/09

Today was the club fair. Each teacher was supposed to set up a little table so the kids would see what the clubs were about. It was so unorganized! The kids were all running around everywhere signing up at all of the tables. Each class was limited to 10 kids. I got my ten kids in the first couple of minutes so I had to turn away other kids. Well, come to find out that the kids had signed up at multiple tables and decided to go to a different group. That left me with only half of the kids that I was supposed to have and other kids that wanted to be in the club that had to be turned away. I still don't know what they are going to do. With my luck all of the kids that weren't at school that day will be put in my group and not want to be there!! This is going to be another new experience for me! Oh, did I mention that it is 1-5 grade so I might even have kids in there that are just starting to learn English.

Although the classes are adjusting to the changes and also to having me as their teacher, the chaos of the school as a whole is amazing!! The other American teacher was about to pull her hair out when it was pickup time. There has got to be a better system than what is happening! She said that if she were a parent and saw how unorganized everything was that she'd be very disappointed. She started laughing and said, "Why am I telling you this, you are a parent seeing this!!"

After we left school, we got to go up to the job site. All of the huge trees had been cut down and Chris was able to get a couple of the logs to use as chairs for our "fire pit". The kids have been working on a fire pit in one of the empty lots next to our house. It took four guys and a little bobcat machine to put the logs in the back of the minivan. I thought for sure I was going to bottom out on the way home. Especially with the crazy speed bumps everywhere here!!

Once safely back home without any major disasters, we all went to work on food for our 4th of July bbq. Cole is trying to work on his cub scout requirements and he has to help plan and prepare an outdoor meal so he was so excited to help me cook. We all worked together to make potato salad, pasta salad, jello, and we also made some bread. I got some extra long bread loaf pans in Guatemala City and was so excited to try them out. It is great except that my food storage bags aren't big enough!!

We finished off the week with a pizza party and a movie. I think this might become a regular thing!! The kids don't get to watch any t.v. so movies are the only source of entertainment. We were lucky to get to borrow some movies from the Cheney family.

Saturday 7/4/09

O.K. When is somebody going to invent some sort of contraption that will keep long hair from clogging a shower??? I have come to deal with the fact that I will have to be the one to clean out the showers when my hair clogs them up. I just can't believe that I've been here four months and I have already clogged the drain!!

On another note, Happy 4th of July. I made all of the kids change their clothes to wear 4th of July t-shirts today!! We had a bbq with the Orellana family at lunch time. The kids all had fun playing outside and we had a rare day with no rain but lots of sun and wind today!! The Orellanas brought some mole (SP?) for us to try. It's plantains in a chocolate sauce that has tomatoes, peppers, and sesame seeds. It was quite interesting but I love getting to try new things!!

While looking at some old pictures today, I realized how different everything looks here compared to when we first moved here. Here are some more updated views from our house.

6/26/09-6/27/09

****Videos have been added to the blogs for 6/16 and 6/20.****

Friday 6/26/09
The whole saying of "The Lord works in mysterious ways" was very true today! We (Chris) has been jumping through hoops trying to get this whole temporary residence taken care of. It has been an on going battle that doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Yesterday Chris called the U.S. Embassy to make sure that we could get a certificate that our passports are authentic. Well, we drug the whole family down there and they wouldn't let us in. We were standing at the front gate while Chris talked with the guard. Another lady was standing there and started talking to me. She asked if we were from the states and commented on the kids. She then asked what we were doing in Guatemala. I explained that Chris was working in Xela for a Jacobsen Construction. She got a little smile on her face and asked if we were by any chance working on the LDS temple there. I said yes and she then introduced herself as Sis. Clark. For those that aren't familiar with the LDS church, we have a prophet that leads the church. There are also 12 apostles. Then there are the quorums of the 70s who are general authorities for the church. They each have a geographic area that they oversee. Well, it just so happens that Sis. Clark's husband is the general authority that is over all of Central America. Sis. Clark was at the embassy trying to get something notarized and was also having issues getting in. It just so happened that there was a member of the church that was working there that day that she had called and was waiting for him to come out and let her in. Not less than three minutes after we started talking did the guy come to let her in. She explained our situation to him and he let us in as well. If we had been three minutes later, we wouldn't have met her and there would have been no chance of us getting in. Once inside we were told that the office that did the verification stuff was only opened on the 1, 2, and 3rd Fridays. (Why they didn't mention that yesterday when Chris called is beyond me!!) While we were waiting for the embassy to take care of Sis. Clarks stuff and ours, we had a nice little chat. She is a very nice lady and very helpful!! When she found out that my parents were recently retired she said that they could come on a mission here. She said just to let her husband know and he'd make arrangements for them to serve in Xela. So....if anybody is wanting to serve a mission in Guatemala, let me know!!!
It still boggles my mind at how many times people "just happened" to be in the same place where we have needed help! I was just talking a week or so ago with my visiting teachers and explaining to them about when ever there has been a time that I was away from Chris and nervous/scared/unsure of myself, I would turn around and see a set of missionaries there. Anywhere from the grocery store to the zoo to the restaurants. (I actually ran into Elder Cruspo at the grocery store last week. I met him our first week here and he was the one that found out what ward we were in and how to get there) Even if I ended up not even needing their help, just their presence was a great comfort to me. I have never once felt like I am completely alone here. The Lord definitely knows what we need and when we need it and he fills those needs in some pretty amazing, and at times unexpected ways!

After our amazing adventures of the morning, we decided to continue the craziness and search for some wheat. There is a lawyer for the church that lives here and his wife told us of the one place that she has been able to find wheat. We were able to contact the company and order 100#s to pick up today. I think it would have been easier to have it shipped down from the states!! Chris said that he felt like he was trying to buy weapons grade plutonium. We couldn't find anybody that could give us directions to the place and so we ended up having to buy a new map that showed the right zones. We spent a while but finally found our way to the place. We had to go through some "interesting" places to get there!! It was this huge mill in an industrial type area next to abandoned train tracks. The security guards made us leave our drivers licenses and said that I had to wait in the car with the kids. Chris went in to pay but their system went down. They didn't know how long it would be until it was back up so we decided to take the kids to get some lunch. After lunch we did some more round about driving to get back to the building. Chris went back in and spent what seemed like forever. (Yes, 10 minutes in the car with the kids at that point would have seemed like forever!!) Once he paid for the wheat we had to take the receipt a few blocks away to pick up the wheat. We went to the address that they sent us and once again we had to deal with the security. They had us drive the van onto a scale to have it weighed, then Chris had to do a bunch of who knows what before they'd let us in. Once again it seemed like forever before Chris came back out and told us that we were at the wrong place!! So, back out through security and another round about trip trying to get over one building since the road was one way. We finally made it and got the wheat!! This seriously took us about four hours from start to finish!! Luckily the kids were good so Chris decided to reward them by taking them to a movie.
Another unexpected meeting...the lawyer and his wife were at the same movie!! What are the chances of running into Sis. Clark and also the Johnsons on the same day in such random places??? Although all the people that live here for the church are EXTREMELY nice and helpful, I can't help but feel a little like an outsider. They are all older with their kids married and have grandkids. They have been doing this stuff for so long and it's a piece of cake for them. I guess I just need to remember that they started out in a similar situation to me and had to learn the language and raise kids also!! Maybe I should look at them as examples and learn from them!!



(While getting lost in Guatemala City, we saw this cool old Datsun. Chris thought it should be a collectors item)

Saturday 6/27/09


(This was our view from the hotel balcony. Notice the lack of any safety harness or anything on the guys standing on the edge of the wall!!)

Back to Xela. The kids have been doing so much better on the drives. Every five minutes Alysa announced that we've gone on 6 trips now without anybody throwing up!! We still have our emergency bags and napkins though!!

(This was an old truck that I thought was pretty cool.)

The drive back was pretty uneventful. We did stop about half way for lunch at a cool restaurant. It was a Swiss restaurant that is known for its barbecue. We got a platter of different kinds of meat that was supposed to serve 4 people. We barely even made a dent in it!! We'll have left overs for a while! It was pretty good. The best part was that it was like a cabin. When we walked in Cole said that it smelled like Grandma and Grandpa Hunsaker's cabin. They had wood stoves going and cool wood siding. It was pouring down rain outside and we could look out the windows and see all the trees. It brought back great memories of sitting on the couch in my parents cabin and listening to the rain!!

(The kids at the restaurant)

(Cole and Chris taking a little "break" from the drive)

6/21/09-6/25/09

Sunday 6/21/09
I can not wait for the time that my stomach gets used to being here!! I am sick of being sick. It was so bad today that I had to tell Cole that he'd have to come do the digital piano for me in case I had to run out of church!! He didn't like that idea and luckily it didn't come to that!
When we walked out after church, Laina pointed out that the tire was flat. It was REALLY flat!! It was also pouring down rain and Chris got to change another tire!! He said that he's changed more flat tires here in the last 4 months than he has in his entire life!! He's getting pretty fast! It was funny trying to hold the umbrella over him as much as I could while yelling at all the kids to stay out of the way!
Chris had to go back to the jail today to see if we could get our fingerprints done on their official forms. They said that they would but they'd have to charge us Q.300 ($37.50) to cover the cost of the forms. For some reason I doubt that it costs that much for 6 pieces of paper!! The guy told Chris to come back tomorrow with all of us. This has been such an ordeal trying to get everything taken care of just so that we can pay taxes here!! It would probably be easier/cheaper to just go to Mexico every 3 months!!

Monday 6/22/09
Chris dropped off the tire to get fixed this morning then the kids and I met him later to get the tire put on the van and then it was back to the jail again. This time we were able to park a little closer and Chris was able to drive (so no crying on my part!! I really do not like the downtown area!!) We got there and the guy wasn't there. They told us to come back again at 12:00. It is so much fun to drag the whole family somewhere and then not be able to take care of what we need to.
We had Chris drop us all off at the zoo for a little while to kill time while he went back to work. Oops!! I forgot the zoo is closed on Mondays!! Oh, well. We decided to walk around and have some fun. The kids really wanted to go over an overpass so we tried it out. The kids now say that they will never go over another overpass again!! It was quite rickety and scary!
Back once more to the jail and once again the guy was not there. We finally gave up and decided that we'll just send in the finger prints that we have and pray that they work. Chris was later informed by the people at work to not go back again; that we had probably pushed them too far and that the police are the most corrupt people here. They said it would be better to just stay as far away from them as we can.

(The new temporary offices on the job site)

Tonight, Cole had two milestones. The first was that he actually ate his vegetable soup for dinner WITHOUT any complaints!! It is usually a huge battle with tears to get him to eat anything with vegetables. We didn't even have to bribe him with dessert! I don 't know what happened but it was a very exciting moment for me!! He also said the family prayer tonight in Spanish. I just jokingly challenged him to try it and he took me up on it!! He did an amazing job and I am very proud of his efforts!! Of course Morgan couldn't be shown up so she had to try to say one also in her room!

Tuesday 6/23/09
Today was another lazy day with lots of rain. It was freezing so we were all wearing hats for the day.
I think that I have had too much time on my hands this week to think. Me and thinking are not a good combination!! I have realized that I am missing home. I am realizing that it is tough here!! I am realizing that I am struggling to feel like I fit in. I realized that I don't have a clue what I am doing!! I realized that my kids probably aren't getting the education that they should be. I've been constantly thinking about our trip back to the states. See, I told you that I shouldn't have time to think. I do much better when I am busy and trying to focus my energy on other people!! (:
It doesn't help that Chris is frustrated with work also. I think I need a little pick me up!
In addition our house in Vegas has been weighing heavy on us. We feel like we are just throwing money away by holding on to it but we can't really sell it with the market so low. What to do, what to do!?!??

Wednesday 6/24/09
Today is our 4 months mark. In four more months we are planning to go back to the states. We are planning on flying into Vegas at the end of October/beginning of November to get all of our doctors appointments taken care of. We will possibly take a trip up to Utah....depending on how much traveling I feel like doing by myself with the kids. Chris will meet us in Vegas right before Thanksgiving. We'll spend Thanksgiving in Nevada with Chris' family then drive to Texas. Chris will probably fly back to Guatemala and the kids and I will spend a while with my family in Texas. I keep thinking about going through our storage unit and picking out some of the stuff that we need here.... also, getting out stuff for Christmas.....going to all the restaurants that we miss.....going to the library....seeing our family/friends....going to garage sales for books....Target/CVS shopping...etc. So many exciting things to do!
Tentatively, we'll drive back to Vegas then fly back to Guatemala. The kids are excited to be able to go on a trip with the DVD player in the van!! (Not to mention straight and flat roads to drive on!!)

Thursday 6/25/09
Today we had to go to Guatemala City to try to get some more steps in the temporary residence taken care of. Chris had to work for the morning so we got to do the drive during the rainy time of the day. It was a really heavy rain today and the roads were horrible. There were mud slides all over and the roads had water pouring over them. It was pretty crazy to see muddy water shooting out of the mountains!
It was pretty late by the time we got to Guatemala City so we grabbed some dinner at TGIFridays. We have come to the conclusion that the chain restaurants are the same here as in the states...greasy! We then headed back to the hotel. I don't know what it is about the hotel but the kids love going to the Holiday Inn. I personally think it's much easier to be in our own place!! This trip was nice because the only adjoining rooms that they had were two king beds. They brought two roll aways that we put in one room so that all 4 kids could sleep in the same room. They all had enough room that they weren't up complaining the whole night that somebody was touching them!!

6/20/09

There is a little town that makes wool products here called Momostenango. We decided that we'd do something different today and make a quick trip up there to look for some blankets. On the map it shows the "main highway" with two turn offs onto smaller roads going to Momostenango. The first turn off was more direct but it was a lot longer on the smaller road so we opted to take the second turn off and go the majority of the drive on the bigger road. It was a miracle that we made it to the town!! I am amazed that the mini van made it in one piece and we didn't have any flat tires. I felt like I was in Moab, Utah going offroading!! The road started out good then it turned into a dirt road full of pot holes!

(Notice the traditional dress, and chicken bus!!)

Then the road got better with two strips of cement!! The cement would randomly end and go back to all dirt. It just got worse and worse the farther we drove!! (Yes, this is a two way road!!)



Along the way we drove past a cool little cemetary. It was just outside the one little town that we saw. The town had the smallest LDS church I have ever seen!! We got quite the looks when we jumped out to take pictures!! The rest of the time we were in the middle of nowhere. Chris called it our Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom trip.




(Laina thought Momostenango was kookoostenango!!)


After just over two hours of driving (most of which was about 15 kph = 10 mph) we made it to the town. It was quite a disappointment for Chris. He was planning on buying some blankets but he didn't realize that the town only has their market on Sundays. So....no blankets!! We drove around for a while then parked and let the kids walk around. Almost every lady that we saw was wearing traditional dress. We got even more stares than we do in Quetzaltenango!! We stopped at a little shop where a lady was selling the traditional dress. She dressed Laina up in some of the clothes. Normally, Laina would have loved dressing up but she got very shy and didn't want to have anything to do with it. It probably didn't help that a HUGE crowd of people were gathering around watching her. I think every kid in the town was there!! I doubt that any of them have ever seen a white kid before!




(This is a street in Momostenango. We felt like we were going on a roller coaster!)

Everybody got an ice cream cone and we decided that we were done having everybody watching our every move and there was nothing else to do...plus, the rain was starting so we decided to head home.

We decided to try to go back to Xela on the other road but we weren't too sure how to do it. Luckily we found a chicken bus that was going to Xela that we followed for most of the way. The road was still full of pot holes but it was at least paved and much nicer (I can't believe I am using the word "nicer' to describe the road!!!) We were back home in one hour!! Next time we know which way to go!!

6/16/09-6/19/09

Tuesday 6/16/09
Today we cleaned, and cleaned, and cleaned, then did a little homework. What a fun life. Not much different than in the states!!
Today was also a music day. Alysa decided she wanted to try to play the piano. I worked with her for a little while and then let her loose. She sat at the piano and practiced the same two songs forever!! She was doing such a good job! She wasn't very happy when I had to leave to teach piano lessons and I had to take the books with me!!
I taught the Orellana boys again but this time at the church so they could play on a piano instead of a keyboard. After their lesson, I spent the next 1/2 hour working with the chorister. After which, I spent another hour with the choir. A bunch of the choir members want to learn to play the piano. They said they'd help me with my Spanish if I would teach them to play. The bishop also came in and said that they were going to try to get some more copies of the 'Keyboard Course' that the church has. Even though I know it will be very tough to teach a class in Spanish, I am kind of excited to see if I am up to the challenge!!


Wednesday 6/17/09
This morning I was enjoying that fact that we can have a warm shower ....we are so lucky. I wonder how many people even have running water here. The people working on the new houses have a little make shift shower. Just one of those random thoughts that I have here!!
Remember how I never knew that dust bunnies really existed until I came here? I also never knew that dogs really chased cars. There's no greater adrenaline rush than to be driving down a street and to have a big dog all of a sudden jump out barking and running straight for the car!!
Today is also Father's Day here. Yes, on Wednesday!! Chris was a little bummed because he couldn't take a guilt free nap after church!! The kids were able to make him some cards also.
We went into school today to decorate but the classrooms still weren't painted or ready to decorate. I decided to work on a couple other projects. One involved laminating some cards. I was exposed to a new way of laminating here....you take clear tape and tape layers over the paper and then cut them out!! What a long process!!
Today I felt like I was doing a pretty great job of communicating with people. I am definitely making a little progress. Morgan and Cole still amaze me with how quickly they are learning. Morgan's confidence level is much higher than mine!!
My visiting teachers came again today. The little mayan lady came also. Her name is Emiliana. She usually comes to choir but has to walk so I have been taking her home afterwards. It is hilarious trying to figure out the directions! Sully and Lily had asked me to show them how to make pizza so we did that tonight. They made me do the directions in Spanish. I was able to do about 1/2 of it!! Afterwards we all ate pizza for Father's Day!!
Here is a link to a news article about the temple. It was from March and the groundbreaking.

http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/56789/Work-commences-on-Guatemala-temple.html

Thursday 6/18/09
I figured that the classrooms wouldn't be done again so I didn't even go into school. Instead Cole and I emptied out Chris' change dish and loaded everyones pockets with money to go to the market. All the kids and I ventured to the market. Morgan was wanting to make tacos for dinner so there were some things that she wanted to get. The kids really had fun using the money in their pockets to buy stuff. They also had to help carry everything!! All of the kids did a great job and everybody had a great time. On the way home, we stopped to get some tortillas at the tortillaria. Morgan and Cole went in and ordered them all by themselves.
When we got home, it was a family event to assembly-line clean, sanitize, rinse, dry, cut, and freeze/store everything. The kids were so excited to make chocolate covered frozen bananas!!
I had an extremely humbling experience tonight. I went visiting teaching with Lily to a long rectangular house that was hand build out of wood. The front of the house was a little store. Dividing the store and the rest of the house were a bunch of sheets hanging. Inside there was a bedroom, a makeshift kitchen and a little mainroom with a bed in it. I later found out that the long rectangle was divided into three homes. The first was the mom/dad and a daughter. The second was their son and daughter in law and their children. The third was their daughter, son in law, and their kids. All of the walls were made out of either sheets or cardboard boxes. The roof was a bunch of tarps and the floor was cement. The kitchen appliances were probably from the early 1900's!! It was so cold in the houses and I would be shocked if there was any running water! There was even a chicken walking around in the last house! The last two houses had clothes lines going across the entire house with clothes drying. I felt so incredibly spoiled! The father of the family is one of the choir members. He was the man that was helping me read/pronounce the words to the songs. The daughter works in the snack shack at the school and the wife I had never met. I didn't know any of the people in the second house either. In the third house, I knew the mom and one of her little boys. At each visit (each visit lasted forever!!) Lily would give the message and talk forever then she'd have me attempt to read a quote and then share my testimony in Spanish. The first time caught me so off guard that I couldn't even think of anything to say in English!! The 2nd and 3rd times I was pretty impressed with myself!!
After we finished up those visits, we headed over to Vilma's house. (The lady that came over last week with the three girls). She is a really neat lady. I was once again humbled by the living situations. The front room had a bed in it and nothing else. It amazes me at how little people have but yet they are so happy. I sometimes think that we get so obsessed with "stuff" that we loose sight of what is really important. It also makes me really want to help people but I don't know exactly what it is that I can do to help.
Morgan's tacos were soooo good tonight. I don't know if it was just how fresh everything was or just that it was so late and I was starving but it sure was delicious!!

Friday 6/19/09
I finally got to finish up the classroom today. It took about 30 minutes!! All the teachers were in a meeting and my kids were driving me nuts so even though I felt guilty, I left after a little while!
As part of the deal with us being here, we have to get a temporary resident visa. It has been a huge ordeal trying to get everything taken care of. Today we had to get everyones pictures taken and get fingerprints. We were hoping to do the fingerprints at the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala City next week but Chris called and they said they couldn't do it. They told us to go to the police station. So, after getting home and hoping to get some projects worked on, Chris called and told me that he found a place that would do it and that we needed to come down and meet him. Unfortunately it was down in the city center where I have never driven before (with good cause!!). The streets are cobblestone and tiny (they're more like alleys than streets). They are also usually one way but you can't always tell which way. It is so claustrophobic and there is no way to judge where you are at because you can't see anything past where you are!! That doesn't take into consideration the crazy driving here, the horrible unexpected holes in the road and the four tired kids whining in the background. By the time we found Chris I was in tears. That was probably the worst experience that I have had here in Xela!
Once we found Chris, he helped us park and then we went for a little walk to the fingerprinting place. Along the walk, Chris stops and starts knocking on some huge random black door. They open the door and a bunch of police officers let us in. We are then lead down a hallways to a little room. Along the way we see a bunch of men in a "yard" area. Come to find out that this is a prison!! We got to go to the prison check in room where they do the mug shots and finger printing!! Oh, how I wish I had had my camera with me to take pictures holding up the identification numbers!! That would have been a great joke to play on everybody!! The guard did Chris' finger prints then mine and then he decided to go take his lunch break and leave us all sitting in the little room waiting for him to come back to do the kids. When we did finally finish, we all left with black fingers since the only thing that they had to wash our hands with were old pieces of newspaper!! It helped a little but that stuff was so sticky!! I sure hope that I don't have to go back there any time soon!!

6/13/09-6/15/09

Saturday 6/13/09
Oh, what an incredibly uneventful, lazy day! The kids and I hung out in our pajamas for most of the morning. It was so great to not have anything that absolutely had to be done!! We also went and played tennis for a while then ate more pizza!! What a great day!! Morgan and Chris finally made it back home safely in the late afternoon. It is great to have them back and the kids were all excited to be back together again. They spent most of the evening playing "school" together. They can't seem to get enough school!! Morgan was also having fun showing everybody the new clothes that she picked out in Guatemala City.

Sunday 6/14/09
Happy Anniversary to us!! I can't believe we've been married for 12 years. In that time we have lived in three apartments and three houses...in two states (Utah and Nevada) as well as Guatemala. We've had four kids....no pets that have lasted longer than a few weeks....and too many vehicles to keep track of. I am pretty lucky to have the best husband in the world (I know some of you might argue that yours is the best, but you are wrong!!) No matter what trials come our way, we always manage to work through them together. It is great to have a wonderful companion!
At church today, I talked to the bishop about trying to do a music class. I think he liked the idea but I'm sure that he is wondering how the heck I am going to teach a class when I can barely communicate!! I'm wondering the same thing! I am also thinking that it would be another opportunity for me to be forced to use my Spanish and to learn new words!!
After church, the kids let Chris and I sit in bed and watch a movie together while they played quietly. They were actually busy making anniversary cards for us. Of course they made me start crying when they brought them up to us. They each wrote something in their cards about what they like about us. It was pretty cool.

Monday 6/15/09
Today was the move at the school. All the teachers had to be at the school at 8:00 but nobody was doing anything. I finally went to the old building where my fellow 3/4/5th grade teachers were and they weren't doing anything either. The truck wasn't there to do the move and neither was the principal to give any direction. I wasn't about to just sit there with all of my kids and wait so I backed up the van and started loading it. We got all of the supplies taken to the other school and unloaded (3 loads!!) before the principal got there. She informed us that the truck wouldn't be there until the next day. A little while later she informed us that it wasn't going to come at all. I think she was planning on all of the teacher walking everything over and it taking all day. With the time that was left, we were able to organize a little and some teacher even got to decorate their rooms. I opted not to even start decorating since one classroom has to have a wall knocked out and be painted (supposedly to be done today!!) and the other was being set up by the Spanish teacher and needed doors put on. We are also waiting for shelves to put all of the stuff on since the old building had a ton of closets with shelves and the new rooms have nothing!! I was severely disappointed to see the size of the classrooms. They aren't any bigger than the other building....at least not my rooms. The third grade classroom is huge! Cole is loving it. It even has two balconies!! I also found out from the third grade teacher that our classes will not be allowed to use the playground for recess. We will have to walk out classes out to a vacant lot somewhere behind the school. None of the teachers are happy about that. I don't know how we are supposed to do it when we have some kids that have to stay late during recess. That is also the time that I use to check work and prepare to switch to the other classroom. It'll be interesting to see how things work out.
Today I really got to practice my Spanish with all the teachers and workers.. There is one teacher, Angie, that is very nice and is Laina's new teacher. (They moved Laina to a higher group). She was talking to me and I was concentrating very hard to understand her. She repeated words for me and spoke slowly. All the other teachers and workers were watching to see what I would do. I was pretty sure that I had it figured out when Teacher Deanna came down the stairs and Angie asked her to translate for me. Before she could, I told her what I thought it was and she said that I was right. Everybody started cheering and clapping. It was pretty embarassing, funny, and exciting all at the same time!
Since I couldn't really do much more with the rooms, I told them I'd come back on Miercoles (Wednesday) and left to meet Chris. We had a quick lunch then took him back to the job site. The kids were going crazy since a circus was in town in the empty field right below the temple site. After we dropped Chris off, I stopped and let the kids look at all the animals. There were lots of tigers, camels, hippos, tons of horses, llamas, monkey, etc. I think that made their day.
The day was topped off with a huge thunder and lightning storm. We were all counting after the lightning to see how far away the storm was. Laina was doing pretty good until we didn't even finish saying "one" when the whole house shook!! The storm was right on us!

6/11/09-6/12/09

Thursday 6/11/09
With the sudden shut down of all the schools, I had to stay after school today to finish up getting all the papers for 4th and 5th grade homework packets for their time off from school. While I was there, the owner/principal of the school pretty much offered me a position. I told her that I wasn't interested in a permanent position but that I would help out until the maternity leave was over. She told me that they can't fire the teacher who is out on maternity but that she will not be returning to teach the 4th and 5th grade classes. Apparently the parents were not happy with her and so the school is going to put her in a different age group. They are trying to get another lady to come and teach but she'd have to leave early every day for her other job. They asked if I would be willing to teach just the last part of the day and spend the mornings in Spanish class learning Spanish.
That would probably be through the end of the school year. In the back of my head I thought that I would be there through the end of the year so it wasn't too big of a shock when they asked.
In addition to preparing for not having school for the next two weeks, we are also working to move buildings. The 3,4, and 5th grade classses are in a separate building while the nursery, preschool, kinder, 1, and 2nd are in the main building. The main building has a duplicate side which has been the home for Michelle's sister, Paula (the co-owner of the school). Paula decided to move her family somewhere else so that all of the grades could be in the same building. It will be interesting to see how things are run with all of the kids in the same building but with one playground and one carpool lane!!
Morgan got a special late birthday treat today. She got to go to Guatemala City with Chris for a couple of days. He had to take Dave back to the airport and also meet with some lawyers to make us legal workers here in Guatemala. Chris has been wanting to have some one on one time with the kids so he is taking Morgan to do some birthday shopping. I think she was pretty excited to go!! It'll be interesting to see what they come back with!
With Chris and Morgan gone, Alysa and Cole got to be my helpers to put together the homework packets. They had fun sorting all the papers! Afterwards they were rewarded with a movie since the Chaney's lent us a lot for the kids!!

Friday 6/12/09
Holy toledo's, I'm tired. It was quite a busy day at school today. We spent every break taking down stuff on the walls and getting ready to move. Today was our last day in the old building. We ended up staying two hours after school and we have to go back Monday to move the stuff to the main building. I really hope that the new rooms are a lot bigger!! I also have been asked to come back Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to decorate the new rooms. It's kind of awkward to be decorating a room for somebody else's classes. It's even more so since I share the room with the Spanish teacher. (We switch rooms in the middle of the day). I don't really know what/where I am supposed to be "decorating"!
By the time that we got out of the school, it was pretty late and we hadn't had any lunch. It was getting closer to dinner time so I let the kids talk me into going and getting some pizza. When we walked into Pizza Hut, my friend, Sully was there. She helped me read the menu so that I could order. After I ordered, one of my students came over to see me. I was feeling pretty popular!! I was very pleased that I was able to order the food and to be somewhat dependent since Chris wasn't there!!
The rest of the day/evening was spent eating pizza, drinking soda, eating rice krispie treats (it was a class project that I did today!! Our vocabulary words had to do with cooking so I thought I'd let them make something easy!!) and watching movies. What more could I ask for!!
I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend!!

6/7/09-6/10/09

Sunday 6/7/09
Playing the piano went much better today. I was still shaking and my hands were ice cold since I was so nervous but it went o.k. It is so hard to follow the conductors when they are never on the right beat. There are two choristers that rotate and neither of them can get the down beat right. I think on Tuesday I will turn the player piano on and practice leading the music with them rather than playing the piano. Who knows. I might not even go to choir this week since we just found out that Dave Claus is coming down again on Tuesday. I wonder what fun things he will bring this time!! (:
Relief Society brought another new experience. I was asked to sing the new practice song for the month, by myself with no accompaniment and in Spanish. I'm sure everybody loved my pronunciation of the words as well as my cracking off tone voice!! I might be able to count the music but I am not the most talented singer there!!

two days of no rain...of course on the two days that there is no work going on at the temple site.

Monday 6/8/09
After school today, Lily informed me that a lady from the ward was going to my house to talk to me about the job. I asked, "what job????" Apparently a comment said jokingly about needing somebody to do the cleaning turned into a job for somebody!! Great!! The lady, Vilma came with her three little girls. She is one of the ladies in the ward that has been very patient with me trying to speak Spanish. Her husband learned a little bit of English from his companions on his mission and really wants to practice and learn some more. Their oldest girl can speak a tiny bit of English as well. After two hours of trying to communicate (surprisingly well I might add!), they left and I had the biggest headache ever!! It turns out that her husband doesn't have a steady job, just odd handyman stuff here and there. She doesn't work either so that she can stay home with the girls. They are a really amazing family from what I have seen. I have never seen Vilma without a smile on her face.....even when she walks to church with her three little kids and her husband every week. They live further away from the church than we do!! The people here continue to impress me with their hardword, diligence, and faith!!
Another thing that I noticed when Vilma and her girls were here was that my own kids have become very dependent on each other. As soon as the other kids came, all four of my kids ran off together to play. It wasn't really a positive in that moment but, it has been great to see how close they have grown and how much they stick together and watch out for each other. Just the other day, Laina was having a tough time going to her class so Morgan took her and gave her 1 quetzal ($) to buy a gumball after class if she went. When I asked Morgan why she gave her money she told me that she felt so sad for Laina because she was so upset.
Another positive that I am starting to notice since we've been here is that Morgan and I seem to be getting closer and getting along better. We have your typical mother/daughter (that wants to be 16) syndrome. We both have very strong personalities and we often butt heads. Since I started teaching something has changed. Morgan wants to be with me at school and wants to help me with stuff. It's been kind of nice!!

Tuesday 6/9/09
School is going o.k. but it is my turn to be sick. I've been fighting this cold (or whatever it is) for a while but it finally caught up to me!! I am still able to manage though so I spent the day at school, taught piano lessons, cooked dinner with no gas, and went to choir practice.
The piano lessons seem to be going well. I really need to learn some of the music terminology in Spanish so that I can help other people that don't speak English!! It would also help out a lot at choir practice!! There were a lot of people at the practice tonight. At the end of the practice, the choir director was talking to the group and I managed to figure out that we have to meet early on Sunday and wear certain clothes. I of course double checked my understanding with Lily and she said that I was right!! YEAH!!
During the day, Dave Claus arrived. Chris and him were in meetings until almost 8:00!! It's always a surprise to see what he will bring. This time I asked him to get me some piano books from Deseret Books. He went and got them but then left them on his desk. His wife found out and gave him several beginning books and flashcards to bring to me. Apparently she's been teaching piano for years and had some leftover stuff. I was soooooo happy!!

Wednesday 6/10/09
Today I got some excellent and not so excellent news. All schools in Quetzaltenango (or maybe Guatemala??) are being shut down for two weeks due to the flu. Yeah, no school!! Boo, flu!!! Boo, I have to get all of the school work prepared to send home with the kids to do at home.....by tomorrow!! I am so exhausted that I don't know if I will be able to get it all done by tomorrow!
The gas went out yesterday when I was trying to make dinner. With Dave being here, Chris has been extra busy and hasn't been able to get a new tank. So our only option (o.k. so there were other options but I liked this one the best) was to go out to eat tonight.....Darn, I really wanted to cook!! We went to Pollo Campero and the kids had a blast playing in the playplace and driving Dave crazy! I don't know what it is about him but all of the kids were instantly attached the first time they met him. They have repeatedly slipped and called him Uncle Dave. It doesn't help that they have two Uncle Daves so that kind of comes out naturally!

6/2/09-6/6/09

Tuesday 6/2/09
After school I taught my first piano lessons. I have Juan Fer and Georgy Orellana. Morgan and Cole had school until 3:00 so Lily brought me, Alysa, and Laina home to do the lessons. However, when we got home, I realized that Chris had the remote control for the alarm system and I didn't know how to turn the alarm off. We all had to sit outside and wait for Chris to come save us!!
The lessons went pretty well and the boys are really excited to learn to play the piano. I don't really know what I am doing so if anybody has any suggestion, PLEASE let me know!! I am hoping to eventually get my Spanish to the point where I can help teach other people in the ward.
My music instruction continued at my choir meeting tonight. The chorister wanted to meet with me so I asked Lily if she could help translate. She ended up not being able to make it so I was on my own. I think we did remarkably well attempting to communicate!! Apparently she is new to this calling and doesn't know anything about music or conducting and she wanted me to help her. It was pretty funny because I kept saying 'abierto' (to open) instead of 'arriba' (up). She had to keep correcting me. There is still a lot to be learned!! I am thinking that I might start a basic music class before choir for those that want to learn to read music. I am also trying to decide if I am going to: A: follow the conductor on Sunday, B: follow the congregations singing, or C: play the music the way it is supposed to be played!!
Today was also very sad for our family. When we went to Mexico, our security guard Mario was transferred to a different job. Today we found out that this past Saturday he was killed in a motorcycle crash. We still haven't had the heart to tell the kids yet. Every day they say that they miss Mario.

Wednesday 6/3/09
O.K. So, I am officially the meanest person at the school!! I actually made a kid cry at school today. This one kid (very nice kid but with no self control at all!!) repeatedly gets out of his seat and doesn't follow directions. I was pretty frustrated with a group of the boys and I told them that if I had any more problems that they would lose their "Fun Friday". So of course the first thing the kid does is get out of his seat and start messing around. Of course I had to follow through with my warnings and I took away his Fun Friday. I felt so horrible when I looked over and he was sitting (YEAH, he was sitting!!) at his desk with his head down. I did talk to him after class to make sure that he understood why I did it. I also told him that he had one more day of school to show me how well he can follow directions and that if he is really good he could earn back some minutes.
There was a lot of rain again today. Every time it rains, the ceiling in my 4th grade class leaks. The room is soooo tiny that we can barely fit the desks in the class and I can not fit in between them to go down the aisles. When the ceiling leaks, I have to try to figure out where to put the kids that are getting wet when there is no extra room at all!! It sure takes away from the class! Fortunately, the classes in our building (3rd, 4th, and 5th grade) will be moving back to the main building at the end of the month so there will hopefully be more room and less leaks!
After Chris got done with work, we went to pick up his new car. It is so weird to see him driving a car rather than a big truck. It is definitely easier to maneuver a car here than a big truck!!

Thursday 6/4/09
So, Cesar A. (the kid I made cry yesterday) was wonderful today. I only had to talk to him once and he earned some minutes for Fun Friday (on Thursday since there's no school on Friday this week). However, I made another kid cry. Wow, I am on a roll!! I swear this other kid has a serious case of ADHD!! He can not hold still or keep his mouth shut for two seconds at a time!! UGH!! After p.e. he came in and gave me a hug so apparently he wasn't too upset!
Overall the day went much better today. The kids are really responding well to the rules (for the most part) and participating in class. We had our Fun Friday/Thursday and the kids had a blast. The fourth grade class even got cookies that I made for Morgan's birthday. A group of girls from the 4th grade made a little party for Morgan during recess but wouldn't let the rest of the class participate. I told them that I was going to save the cookies that I had brought for the party and use them for the whole class. Wow, I think I won the heart of a few of the kids with the cookies!!!
I seriously don't know how people can work full time, raise kids, and keep their house clean. Our house is a mess!! I was so excited to have Friday off from school so that I could get the house cleaned, do the grocery shopping, etc. Unfortunately I have been informed that there is no school because it is parent - teacher conferences and they want me to be there. UGH!! What am I seriously supposed to tell the teachers since I have only taught for 1 1/2 weeks and all of the grades are from before I came????? Plus, I will have to have the principal there to translate. So much for a peaceful day spending time with my kids!

Friday 6/5/09
What a waste of time!! I went in for parent teacher conferences from 7:00-2:00. There were 10 parents that showed up. It was such a pain trying to keep my kids entertained in another room while I sat with the parents, Spanish teachers, and the principal. I didn’t have a clue what they were saying and then the principal wanted me to talk about each kid. Everything had to be translated to the parents but then nobody bothered to translate any of the responses for me. I don’t have a clue what any of the parents said or how they felt or what they want!! Oh, well!
I am so exhausted. The teacher that I am filling in for only took a month off after her first baby. However, this time around she has a 10 month old and a newborn and no support system anymore. The principal thinks that she might need a little more time before she comes back. I am mentally preparing myself to finish out the school year. (It ends in October!!) I am really hoping that she comes back soon though. I really feel like I am being taken away from my responsibilities as a mother and a wife. (Not to mention the things that I want to do for myself!!....go to Spanish school, learn to play the marimba, learn to weave, volunteer at an orphanage, volunteer at the bishop’s storehouse, and work on my many sewing projects, etc.)

Saturday 6/6/09
Although it is Saturday and we told the kids to sleep in, Morgan was up at 5:30 and Cole at 6:00. I hadn’t slept well (yes, I finally caught the crud that the rest of the family has had!!) so I tried to sleep in longer. I was very pleasantly surprised to wake up to Chris bathing Laina and the rest of the kids already dressed. We spent the majority of the morning cleaning and changing their rooms. Each month we rotate rooms and who share with who. This month Morgan and Cole are back together and Alysa and Laina are back together. The system works well because it forces us to clean the rooms really good as well as all of their bedding.
While we were cleaning, we realized that we’d been so preoccupied with other things that nobody had said or sung happy birthday to Morgan. Everybody hid in one of the rooms while I “yelled” at Morgan to get upstairs and help. When she walked into the room (thinking she was in trouble!!), she was extremely happy when everybody yelled “surprise”, and sang to her.
For Morgan's birthday, she wanted to have the Orellanas over and barbecue hamburgers and hot dogs. Since we didn’t have a grill, Chris went and got one and told Morgan it was her birthday present. In addition to her new grill, she got to go shopping with Dad for some new clothes. She only found one sweater though. When she was done shopping, we went to get her cake. She wanted an ice cream cake from Sarita but the first store we went to was all out. The second store we went to only had little tiny ones so we ended up having to get two.
Morgan also got some new books for her birthday. One of the books she’s been waiting for for over a year and I think she was pretty shocked to see that I got it for her.


And as usual, the bags from Grandma Hunsaker were a huge hit with all of the kids.
To end the day we had a fun barbecue with the Orellana family.

We are so lucky that they are here and have been such good friends to us. They have really helped us out a lot. Not to mention that the kids love having some friends that can understand them!! I keep telling the Orellanas that they need to send their kids to the states with a foreign exchange program. They said that that is a dream of theirs but they don’t think it will ever become a reality.

5/31/09-6/1/09

Sunday, 5/31/09
You've got to be kidding me!! I practiced so much on the songs to play for today. (Two songs with 4 flats!! UGH) I started playing the songs and everything was going great until the congregation started to sing. They sang both songs to their own beat!! I don't know what was going on but I was playing the music and trying to follow the chorister but nobody was singing with us!! The first half of the song they'd sing really slow and then at the end they'd sing it twice as fast! I was so flustered by the end that I ended up just playing one hand and trying to keep up with them. Afterwards, Chris told me that it was the same way on his mission. The people don't know the songs so they sing them how they want. I hope it was just those two songs and not an on going battle!! I think I'll have to turn the piano up a lot more next week. (It's a digital).

Monday, 6/1/09
My first Monday at school: The kids are definitely testing me and trying to see how far they can push me. The boundaries are A LOT tighter than with their previous teacher. I can't believe how many people have commented on the 5th grade in particular as being unruly and lacking any respect for teacher authority. They've got a long couple of months coming if they think they are going to push me around!! They are definitely fighting back against the rules but I am pretty sure that they will eventually come around. I am a little confused with the lack of guidance that I have been given and for the lack of communication. I did all my planning for this week and met with the principal on Friday. She told me that they aren't going to have school on Friday for some reason but it wasn't on the calendar. That would have been helpful to know before I planned everything!! Oh, well. I am also wondering when they are going to send the notes home to let the parents know that there is no school on Friday!!
I don't know how working moms do it!! I am feeling like a pretty crappy mom after one week of working. I feel like all of my time is spent "planning" activities for class, preparing to teach piano lesson, making meals, cleaning (or at least pick up some of the dead bugs!), etc. I haven't had much time to really sit down with the kids and see how they are doing. It was really evident tonight when Cole couldn't sleep and was throwing fits. I went to lay down with him and he broke down. He said that he wants to go back to the U.S. (So he can have his own room again since him and Alysa were fighting). He then told me that he doesn't have anybody to talk to except for his stuffed bunny. I felt pretty bad for him. We talked for a while and he eventually went to bed.
Since we haven't been able to be "spiritually uplifted" at church, we are trying to make an extra effort to have "lessons" with the kids at home. For Family Home Evening tonight, we did the primary lesson for next week in English. Even though it takes more planning and motivation on our part, I think it'll benefit the whole family in the long run. Hopefully next Sunday when the kids go to their primary classes they will be able to get a little bit more out of the class since they already know what the lesson is about.
It sure feels like there is a lot of "stuff" to do lately. I hope that I can try harder to keep my priorities straight and remember what really is important in the long run!! Wish me luck!!