Lee Vartanian

The colors of Antigua are rich and diverse.  The walls of each building are painted in bright earth tones that, over time, achieve a natural patina.  Tile is very common in many Spanish-speaking countries, also.  I think this tiled Stop sign is a nice touch.

My day:

I get up at 6:30. Breakfast is prepared for me at 7:00.

From 8-12:00, I practice Spanish with my tutor, Sergio (also a drummer), sipping tea occasionally.

From 12-1:00, I eat the lunch mi madre de la casa (house mother) prepared for me.

After that, I practice with my afternoon tutor, Sylvia, for 2 hours.

At 3:00, following my afternoon lesson, I am free to wander around until I eat dinner at 7:00 (also prepared by my house mother).

Yesterday, I went to a nice cafe and drank a latte while studying Spanish and then met up with some chicas for a free salsa lesson at 5:00.

It would fit into a well-worn narrative to describe my experience here in Antigua as being a pampered American dealing with the difficulty and inconvenience of living in a developing country. However, as you can see, the opposite is true!

Lots going on.  Getting acclimated to Antigua, Spanish, and living under a volcano.  Check it out:

Those clouds are covering it’s peak.  Just follow the lines of each side and you get the idea.  Things have been such a whirlwind that I don’t yet know the name of it.  Instead I’m trying to learn the names of a million other things (i.e. la cuenta = the check/bill) and trying to remember when to say un, una, los, las, de, a, al, lo, la, ti-da…

I just started Spanish classes today.  Each day, we spend 4 1/2 hours speaking one-on-one with an instructor.  I have 2 different instructors, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.  After my last session, my brain was pretty exhausted. It’s quite an experience trying to force the small words you know into something logical, much less correct.

Everyone says that by the end of the week I’ll see a huge spike in my Spanish.  I hope so.  I’m working hard at it.  In fact, I need to run back a mi casa to complete my tarea (homework).  I don’t want to disappoint mi maestro, Sergio!

Got into Guatemala City at around 9:30 last night (11:30 G’wood time) and was picked up by Anastasia, a GVI intern. Anastasia is an English student from Portland. She volunteered with this project last year and couldn’t get it out of her system, so she came back this summer. Along with another volunteer, Sarah, we rode in a shuttle van to Antigua, where we will be staying for the duration of the trip.

I slept pretty well in my room at the 5 bedroom guesthouse/hotel I they put me in. In the morning I heard some mumblings of familiar accents coming from the patio outside my window. After getting dressed, I walked out there to see who it was and be friendly. It ended up being 2 retired couples, who had come down here from Atlanta for a week of Spanish instruction. When I told them I was from Greenwood, one of the men said, “I was born in Greenwood!” We chatted for a while as they waited to catch their shuttle to the airport. They said they had a great experience here. Small world.

After that, me and the other 5 volunteers met at the GVI house to receive instructions. The interns giving the orientation were extremely thorough in explaining the goals of the project, the population we will be working with, and precautions to take. Part of our orientation was reviewing the “Risk Matrix”. There were 47 items on this matrix (I love saying “matrix”!). Most of it was common sense stuff (which streets to avoid, how to safely get money from an ATM, etc.). It was not only meant for our protection but to prepare us to serve the students and communities we will be working with.

From what I’ve seen so far, of the other volunteers, interns, and project managers, I feel confident that I am in good hands and that this will be a worthwhile experience. Tomorrow, I begin Spanish instruction. I can’t wait! I’ve already clumsily communicated with a few people and it was such a cool feeling.

Anyway, my stomach is empty and my brain is feeling a little loopy, so I’m going to find some food. I’ll try to check in tomorrow, and perhaps, share a few pics. Adios!

Summer 1990 – On the eve of my 10th grade year (1990), I thumbed through an L.L. Bean catalog, and pointed to this backpack. My Mom picked up the phone and ordered it (pre-Internet).

1990-93 – Used every day of high school

1992 – Bought a patch symbolizing my favorite drummer, John Bonham. Mom kindly sewed it on the rear pocket.

1993-7 – Regular use during college.

1998 – Used as a flotation devise in the Jordan River (northern Israel). I inflated plastic bags and stuck them in the central compartment. Worked well.

1999 – Was my lone piece of luggage for a 3 month trip in Eastern Africa. The lady at the Delta check-in counter saw it and said, “You’re going for three months and just taking that?”

I smiled knowingly, “It’s all I need.”

2000-7 – Intermittent duty as beach bag, workout bag, pool bag, or weekend bag

Summer 2008 – my “carry-on” for Guatemala

There are plenty of new and exciting backpacks out there (the newest ones have little portholes where you can snake headphones from your iPod!). Though road-worn, this bag is in perfect condition–no rips and the zippers work great. One must celebrate these things. Thank you, Green Backpack.

Ten years ago, I arrived back home after 2 years of living/working/traveling in Israel and southern Africa. I packed a lot of experience in those 24 months. In the years since then, I went to grad school, taught elementary school, bought a house, started a new job as a professor, etc. All the while, I thought about where my next big trip would be.

Since my job allows me this flexibility, I decided to use half of my summer to go somewhere I’ve never been. I had two goals in mind: 1) I wanted to learn another language, and 2) I wanted to do something related to my profession (teaching).

I found what I think is a promising fit with an organization called Global Vision International. On Saturday, I travel down to Guatemala to participate in a six week volunteer teaching project (see Global Vision Int’l: Phoenix Project link under “Blogroll” to the right).

A lot of folks (four!) have asked me if I was going to “blog” about my trip, so I decided that I would give it a try. Blogging requires: 1) something to say, and 2) a connection to the Internet. I’m sure I’ll have a lot to say, but I’m not sure how regularly I’ll be able to access the Internet (weekly?). That being said, I intend to post to this site, as much as I can.

For those of you interested in checking up on my progress, you can check this site for updated posts, or subscribe to the RSS feed by clicking on the link to the right.

In trips like these, as much as you read and prepare for them, you never know what they will really be like or, perhaps more importantly, how you will react to your new situation. All I know is that I am excited about learning a different language and working with kids again.   But, as I like to say, we’ll see!