kab'lajuj ey.

Our classroom in Florencio's house.

from the rooftop.

Here is the view from the rooftop of our new classroom in Tecpan, Chimaltenango.

new digs.

Today, we moved west to Tecpan, which is also in the state of Chimaltenango but at a higher altitude. The weather today is very nice but I am told that I can expect much chillier weather this week, especially at night.

Here you see the whole group relaxing in Ixim Nik´te´s living room before lunch & the best shower I´ve had in a while. I´m really enjoying myself here in Tecpan.

aldea.

Today, Magda´s sister Kristi took Meghan & I to an aldea & lots of milpas & bean fields. (Aldeas are little towns on the outskirts of bigger towns & milpas are corn fields.) It was interesting to see how these food staples are grown & also, we climbed to so high of an altitude that we could see all of Comalapa far below us.

market day.

Hoy, fuimos al mercado. Aqui en Comalapa, los dias del mercado son Martes y Viernes. En estos dias, hay mucha gente en el mercado, vendiendo y comprando muchas cosas. Queria comprar un mango, pero no tenia ningun moneda porque no quiera atraer un ladron.

new classroom.

We switched classrooms today & I love the new digs. It´s a beautiful old tourist center that has a flushing toilet! The biggest draw for me, I must say.

wäy.

This is Magda´s sister Christy, making our morning tortillas. (Wäy is the Kaqchikel word for tortillas.) She taught me how to make them by just patting out the balls of dough & laying them on the stove, which you can see in the picture. It´s a piece of rock with a fire underneath. Very resourceful.

host sister.

Here are some of the little girls with whom I live this week. The taller one on the left is Magda´s daughter Megan. The other girls are her cousins, I believe. I never see any of them frowning & they´re rarely ever without a smile. It´s wonderful to see people so content and happy, even without luxuries like running water. They realize that there is more to life than convenience.

home (for now).

Here is my new home! This is Magda´s house; very rural, no running water... I am adjusting. But I´m meeting lots of nice people & the town (San Juan Comalapa, Chimaltenango - look it up on Google maps) is very peaceful. Traveling was very tiring, but the afternoon has been relaxing. Classes start tomorrow!

ready.

My bags are packed & the summer's Guatemala excursion begins tomorrow at about 4 a.m. I guess after today, I'm officially a travel photographer. So be sure to check back for the next ten weeks to see the sights I experience in Iximulew (the land of corn).

Also, you may notice that I'm apparently the new poster child for Land's End. Go figure.

not in kansas anymore.

The forest surrounding Katherine's apartment building made me feel like I was in the midst of a foreign rainforest. So peaceful and removed from the rest of Kansas City.

got quilt?

This is a quilt Katherine made; all the squares are made from t-shirts she wore in middle school, high school & college. Also, Katherine got her master's today. So that's why she gets to be on the blog. Rebekah gets to be on it for two reasons: she came back from Italy (without an STD, according to Katherine) & she named this blog.

day 100.

Making a human 100 is easier said than done, especially when you're working with siblings. There are just so many people going in different directions. Either way, I wanted to remember the day that my blog made it to day 100.

pure spec-ulation.

I got new glasses! I love them & actually chose them over contacts tonight.

h2o.

I like this shot because the water looks as cold as it actually was. Also, apparently I am obsessed with fountains. Yesterday, my photo was taken at the scholarship hall fountain, and today, at the Chi Omega fountain.

spring cleaning.

Wow, someone went stir crazy during finals week. Either that or they thought that nasty fountain water needed a good cleaning.

cookies & candy & soft drinks, oh my!

In honor of finals week, Kelsey made her bi-annual trip to get loads of junk food at Checkers. Sellards girls go crazy over this, trust me. Even though Kelsey didn't get back until almost midnight, most of the residents stampeded the kitchen to take inventory of their dining choices for the week. From sour gummy worms to Twizzlers to vanilla-flavored coffee to Gatorade, I dare to underestimate even the Sellards girls' eating skills this week. And if we manage to eat it all, I will eat my own words.

justice was served.

As our closing shift, Kuckelman & I cleaned out the attic all morning. It was dusty & messy, but fun to see all the old stuff left by past Sellardites. I love looking through the old photo albums & seeing the crazy clothes & hair styles. Here's a gavel, circa 1965, that I assume was actually used to keep order at house meetings. In the words of Bri, "Justice was served."

pita pit, stupid foxes & basketball.

Millie & I went to Pita Pit for supper, where we met a completely smashed guy who didn't stop talking to us the entire time. In fact, when I snapped this picture, he yelled at me not to take any pictures. It was pretty funny though, just sitting there, minding our own business, eating pitas, & having some guy tell me how much he loves basketball & how stupid my fox picture on my cell phone is - because yes, he grabbed my phone & saw the fox picture. He asked me if my phone number was on there & I told him no, I just use my cell phone to keep fox pictures. Millie was cracking up at my inconvenient dinner conversation, which went something like this:

"I love basketball. Why do you have a fox picture? Foxes are stupid. Foxes are stupid. They're stupid. Do you eat foxes? Do you eat squirrels? I bet you eat basketballs, since you hate basketball. We can't be friends anymore, since you hate basketball. Soccer is stupid. David Beckham is stupid. He just plays to get all the girls. How do you score in soccer?"

Yes, it was illogical & one-sided.

skippy.

It was fate when I came across a red fox on the very afternoon Millie was coming to visit. In fact, she's sitting here blogging with me right now. We love red foxes - an obsessive kind of love - so the fact that I saw four foxes in person makes me feel so privileged.

birthday & bordeaux.

In honor of Adam's birthday, he made it to the blog! Here you see him kindly offering water to the man in Wyldewood Cellars. But apparently, the man is too good for it.

stop week excitement.

Only thirty minutes of class were holding me back from not only the end of the school day, but also the end of my structure class for the entire semester. Without warning, as this usually goes, the fire alarm started blaring. I don't think there was a fire, but I don't know who would have pulled the alarm, because as we exited the building, no one else was leaving except for our class.

Most students would view this as a lucky excuse to get out of class half an hour early, but on the last day of class? It just wasn't possible. So we sat on the grass & finished our final presentations; at the same time, the wind, which had picked up suddenly, swirled around us, blowing papers and skirts everywhere. We pressed on, though, & finally made it through everyone's presentations.

When I think back to my Kaqchikel structure class, this is definitely one of the days that will flit through my mind.

to study or not to study.

That is the question. In the end, "Schindler's List" won out over Kaqchikel medical translation. I needed a movie night.

plaque. (the good kind.)

I got New Woman of the Year at Sellards! To be fair, it was a tie between me & Rachel. But I also got elected Vice President, so it's been an exciting evening. My name and Rachel's will go on the above plaque.

tea.

My mom's prized tea set. She got a bunch of tea for Mother's Day, so I imagine she will be setting tea parties for herself & my brothers for the next several weeks. I'm not sure if my brothers enjoy the tea & the company or just the little cookies my mom sets out.

tz'ikin.

David pointed this bird's nest out to me in our front yard. The mama was faithfully nesting, but I scared her away after the second shot. It actually looks like those egg-shaped Whoppers for Easter.

P.S. Tz'ikin is one of the Kaqchikel words for bird; I title this post como asi for Lauren's pleasure.

them.

Actually... it's Those People!

Caught those people at their last improv show tonight. The action in this shot is indicative of the whole night. I was thoroughly entertained.

lantern.

Here's part of the lantern Dayna brought to our room. I guess this is my second to last week with it.

gangsters still like their ice cream.

Having to write five research papers this semester, the last week has been a little stressful. When I finished #2 tonight, I knew it was cause to celebrate, so we went to Sylas & Maddy's - Terrific Tuesday Tradition. Rachel may look all ghetto in this shot - granted, she is from Topeka - but just remember that gangsters still like their ice cream.

coffeecoffeecoffee.

In a paper-writing frenzy tonight, I had to desperately drink several cups of coffee to keep me focused. I spent several minutes trying to think what substance would give me a superhuman attention span, & since I'm not one of those addy-popping fiends, I decided coffee was my safest bet. Safe? In moderate amounts, maybe. But since my day totals about 72 ounces of coffee, I might actually have to have my stomach pumped. I was working my way into a caffeine coma when my bladder shifted into high gear; I've frequented the loo about seven times in the past hour. Look, it's rough being an addict. You probably think that, next, I'm going to discourage kids from drinking coffee. On the contrary, coffee still has my full backing & I encourage all kids to drink it black.

crab cracker?

Crab legs are creepy, smelly & sharp. But even so, Sellards girls sure can put them away.

Also, crab cracker? I was informed that is not the correct term.