Road Trip
Ooof, it has been a few weeks since my last entry...So I owe you guys big time now! I am half-way done with training, and will be swearing in at the U.S. Embassy as a volunteer in just five weeks (if I don't first give them a reason to put me on a plane home, that is). The next three weeks will be crunch time for grant writing and the emergency action plan, and after that I will be visiting my future site for a week (I still don't know where it is). So time will be flying!
Speaking of flying, I hardly slept a wink last night for fear that my corrugated metal roof would be taken off in an impressive windstorm. The thing was straining and buckling all night long, what a racket! My neighbor Edy lost his T.V. antennae, and I lost a pair of boxers from the line, but other than that no damage done. There was a tremor as well around 2AM...one of those nights when it really felt like Nature was trying to do us in!
In other news my fellow Environmental Education trainees and I just returned from a week-long Field-Based Training. We zipped around the shores of the beautiful Lago de Atitlan in a microbus with our tech trainer David and Spanish teacher Oscar...it was fantastic! (Some of you who followed my prior Guatemalan travels will recall that I spent a month studying Spanish on the Lago in 2005.)
Some highlights of the trip:
-We visited the site of a tragic landslide that occurred during the heavy rains of Hurricane Stan in 2005 and killed hundreds of people as they slept in their homes. We went to the 'temporary' shelter village where most of the survivors still live, as well as interviewed the fire chief who led the rescue effort. It was very interesting to learn how a disaster scenario might play out in Guatemala.
-We conducted earthquake drills in a school with several hundred students. It went alright, but I imagine in case of the real thing it would be utter chaos.
-We conducted a workshop with 45 Magisterio students training to be teachers. The workshop focused on participative educational techniques and designing effective lesson plans. Though my assignment is to be an Environmental Educator, most volunteers in my program spend a lot of time trying to get teachers to use instructional techniques beyond dictation.
-We found time to take a speedboat to a remote part of the lake for some cliff jumping, and the last night of the trip we hit the disco in the tourist town on Panajachel and shook our booties. So there was time for fun too.
I have some photos to post but I can't do it on this terminal, but they are coming soon! Love to all, take care!
Speaking of flying, I hardly slept a wink last night for fear that my corrugated metal roof would be taken off in an impressive windstorm. The thing was straining and buckling all night long, what a racket! My neighbor Edy lost his T.V. antennae, and I lost a pair of boxers from the line, but other than that no damage done. There was a tremor as well around 2AM...one of those nights when it really felt like Nature was trying to do us in!
In other news my fellow Environmental Education trainees and I just returned from a week-long Field-Based Training. We zipped around the shores of the beautiful Lago de Atitlan in a microbus with our tech trainer David and Spanish teacher Oscar...it was fantastic! (Some of you who followed my prior Guatemalan travels will recall that I spent a month studying Spanish on the Lago in 2005.)
Some highlights of the trip:
-We visited the site of a tragic landslide that occurred during the heavy rains of Hurricane Stan in 2005 and killed hundreds of people as they slept in their homes. We went to the 'temporary' shelter village where most of the survivors still live, as well as interviewed the fire chief who led the rescue effort. It was very interesting to learn how a disaster scenario might play out in Guatemala.
-We conducted earthquake drills in a school with several hundred students. It went alright, but I imagine in case of the real thing it would be utter chaos.
-We conducted a workshop with 45 Magisterio students training to be teachers. The workshop focused on participative educational techniques and designing effective lesson plans. Though my assignment is to be an Environmental Educator, most volunteers in my program spend a lot of time trying to get teachers to use instructional techniques beyond dictation.
-We found time to take a speedboat to a remote part of the lake for some cliff jumping, and the last night of the trip we hit the disco in the tourist town on Panajachel and shook our booties. So there was time for fun too.
I have some photos to post but I can't do it on this terminal, but they are coming soon! Love to all, take care!
posted by John Engler at 7:52 AM
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