Salud, Amor, Dinero

In Antigua there is a woman who wanders through the city day in and day out. Nobody seems to remember her name, but her life story is almost a legend. As a young women she was apparently quite beautiful. She married young and lived in relative wealth. However, only a couple years after her marriage she began to show signs of insanity. Her husband took her to doctor after doctor but no one was able to help. As she drifted farther and farther from reality her husband felt the embarrasement of a man of his station having such a wife. He also feared that his children would be the same. He left her and their two children in the large house they lived in and moved to Guatemala City. At first the people of Antigua thought the husband had done such a generous thing by giving his wife their beautiful house. In reality the woman in her weakening condition was unable to care for the house. It became filthy and infested with insects. Her children, a son and a daughter, were not taken care of. Not even a year after her husband had left, the womans children were taken away from her and placed in an orphanage. This was the final straw for the woman. She totally lost her touch with reality. Today she begs on the streets. Some days she is calm and sits in her corner of the street, but on other days she flies at people in the streets screaming that they give her something or begging for her children. While I have only seen her on her better days, several other students have been chased down the street or had things thrown at them by her. Dr. Lopez thinks she probably has some form of dimensia or schitzophrenia. It is just such a sad story with a hopeless end. She is one of those people you would do anything to help but cant even come up with a clue as to what to do.

Sorry to have dropped off the map for awhile. I was fighting the flue. I have a much better outlook on school as I go into the weekend. I think I was just so surprised by the whole situation that I didnt know how to react. I have figured out better ways to study and talked to other students about how they handle things. I have a group of friends from school who are fun to hang out with. We have regular Sunday night dinners set up. I really do love Olga, my teacher. I am glad that I got a younger teacher, although I am sure I could have been just as fine with someone else, I dont feel like I have to act so serious about learning. Olga knows how much I want to learn this language and the culture but she can also really indentify with my shall we say, less focused side. At the same time even in our first week we have had some really deep and thoughtful conversations about religion, crime, the world as a whole, etc.

One of the funnier things about CSA is the table game. The school is set up around a central courtyard. All around the courtyard are tables where each students works with their teacher. Different tables are better than others. Do they get good light, are they in a place that is warm but not hot, is there a breeze, is their lots of space around it, is it upstairs or downstairs, the list goes on. Each week the principl comes around and talks with each student, sees if they need anything and one of the options is to ask for a different table. It is sort of a risk asking for a new one. You dont know if you will move up in the table world or down. I am not going anywhere because my table is pretty much prime real estate. The perfect amount of sun, gets a good breeze, is dry when it rains, on the second floor, lots of room around it, yeah it is table heaven.

I put up some new pictures. There are photos of my house and my room, some more general pictures of Guatemala, and pictures of the Childrens party. I pulled a few others out to make room and to keep things new and interesting.

This morning for breakfast we had the perfect example of a traditional Guatemala breakfast. This consists of scrambled eggs, beans, tortillas, coffee, and cream. The cream tastes sort of like a cross between yougurt and cream cheese. I really like it. This seems like a really odd breakfast compared to an American one. I actually really love it. It is lots of carbs to get you going and it is a bunch of different tastes all in a freshly made tortilla. Kristen, another student, really does not like the beans for breakfast thing which is understandable. However it is really funny watching her try to politely eat them.

Pablo and Jessica are both studying pretty much all day for their upcoming medical exams. School in Guatemala ends in Oct/Nov and then picks up again in Feb/Mar. They are both in their first year of university. Doing well on each final exam as gets you into better and better classes. Jessica has a son so it is harder for her to focus but she still gets in a couple hours a day. On the other hand, Pablo, who is my age, has been studying almost every hour of every day since I got here. He stops only to eat (sometimes not), get more coffee, and to sleep maybe two hours a night. He told me at supper yesterday that I could do the sleeping for him. I really dont have any objections to that. I honestly have never met or heard of anyone who can study like he does. It is incredible. He will probably be a lot more fun after this upcoming week.

That is about all I have for you today. Oh, an interesting little thought for you. In Guatemala the first time a person sneezes you say "salud", health. In responce to the second sneeze, you say "amor" (love). If they sneeze yet another time, you say "dinero", money or wealth. So, salud, amor, dinero, that is a winning combination.