So, as many of you already know, I am writing this from a computer in Guatemala. I came on the Newman study abroad trip with six other Newman students. If I were to try and explain everything that I have already learned and experienced it would take hours. Between the exploding volcano, tropical storm, sink holes, and mudslides, you could say it has been an experience. Fortunately our group is safely in Xela and in the middle of our second week at PLQ language school.
Guatemala is absolutely beautiful in so many ways. We have seen rolling hills, jagged mountains, natural waterfalls, and green plants and trees everywhere. It feels like there is more plant life in this country than in all of the midwest. I think I’ve taken probably 300 pictures of new flowers alone… ones that we certainly do not have back home. I absolutely love every one of them.
To briefly summarize the past few weeks, we entered Guatemala City on May 18th. The city is so alive! There is constant movement everywhere. We spent several days there before going to La Labor, a small community just outside the city. La Labor holds the Guatemalan branch of the ASC mission. Our sister school is located there and we spent a day teaching English to the kids.
What we found and experienced in La Labor was wonderful and inspirational. Although there is great poverty, there is also great love and faith. I met some of the most Godly people I’ve ever had the chance to know. They lead simple lives, but they give everything they have for the good of the community and the good of others. They love unconditionally and with their full heart. We also passed out the PROJECT SONRISA toothbrushes to THANK YOU TO ALL WHO DONATED!
After 8 days in La Labor we traveled to Santiago Atitlan. This, of course, was when all the interesting natural disasters began to happen. Not even an hour after we passed a beautiful volcano it errupted. We found out at dinner that night and it was… shocking. I’m sorry to anyone back home who was worrying like crazy.
The next morning the rain started…. and never ended. It downpoured for two and a half days straight, thanks to Storm Agatha. I had some very interesting experiences in that rain which included having to dump out my rain boots in the middle of the streets because they had completely filled to the top with water… again.
We were stranded in Santiago Atitlan for an extra night due to the mudslides and the damage of the storm. Before we left we went to go see the communities that had been affected by the mudslides. What we saw was terrible and very sad. So many who were already living in poverty lost their homes due to the mud. The homes were not strong or well built and it didn’t take much for them to be swept away by a river.
We were able to get out of Santiago Atitlan by way of a boat across the lake. From there we made the long drive to Xela, often having to drive on the wrong side of the road due to giant bolders that had fallen from the mountain sides.
By now we are all situated in Xela and our new host families. Mine is lovely 
We go to school for five hours a day with one on one tutoring. Needless to say I’m learning A LOT of Spanish. Our afternoons and evenings are kept extremely full with activities through the school. Some days we climb mountains, other days we watch a movie. The mission of the school is not only to teach Spanish but to educate its students on the history of Guatemala and the pain of the armed conflict.
I have learned so much through the past three weeks, and more than simply how to speak Spanish. There are things that are very hard to explain… the culture and the life is so different. However, there are some things I’m learning that have started to change the way I view the world and life back home.
Below is a journal entry I wrote this afternoon for my Civ and Culture class. I wrote the entry after watching a movie on the involvement of American Economics in other parts of the world and the negative affects of globalization. I had also been pondering a movie I had seen on the injustices of the armed conflict and the United States influence in Guatemala.
“There’s something brewing in my brain that is rocking my world and all my dreams for the future. It is emotionally draining me, as well as my profesora this week. As I said at Noche Newman, I am being forced to re-evaluate my life over and over again. I feel overwhelmed due to the movies, books, conversations, and reality checks I’ve been forced to make. I feel as if all my plans for the future were naive and in a way self centered. Slowly I feel a new dream developing in my mind. It’s going to take time to fully develop, but luckily I have that time.
Before I came to Newman my plan was to go into International Business. Since Newman did not have a very strong program for that, the plan changed from International Business to plan Business to Communication because I don’t like math and I figured I would be getting my MBA before I left anyway. I’m not exactly sure how I even ended up in the business department. After high school I was one of the few in my group of friends who had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do. For a long time my dad had urged me to consider law school because of my rational thinking and ability to win an argument. However, after working at Kansas Legal Services several summers ago, I knew that’s not what I wanted.
So when I enrolled at Newman I put Business under the chosen major line. I had no intention of going in as an “undecided” major. For whatever reason that seemed extremely aimless and a little bit pathetic (for all those undecided majors out there, I now know that it’s not). I knew I was smart enough to succeed in the business department, even if I didn’t exactly have a passion for it. What I really had a passion for was music and family, neither of which could support me while I tried to find a husband who could. I suppose I’m a bit of a traditional girl. I enjoy learning, but I’ve always dreamed of working only until I had kids if the situation was possible. I want to be a full time mom. I suppose my real dream was the picture perfect house with a picture perfect family and a husband who loved me more than life itself. I still want those things, but somehow they are no longer enough.
I switched to a Communications major because I loved the classes. I’m willing to admit that I think I’m a fairly decent writer and I enjoy finding the right words to express ideas and concepts. After my Mass Communications class I fell in love with the idea of journalism. I had never thought about it before, or if I had I had dismissed the idea due to lack of practicality. But I loved touring the television stations, magazine production office, and the newspaper press. I’ve always been a bit of a news freak. I watch Good Morning America every day and then read the paper in addition to that. Within that class I began to realize that maybe I could do something I actually loved and live off of it. Mass Communications.
What I’ve realized on this trip is that a “picture perfect American life” is not exactly what I want. I’m still frustrated that I was never exposed to these foreign affairs as a child. My parents did a very good job of keeping me informed and letting me read the papers, yet there is so much history that I have never been taught. Why is foreign policy and affairs not taught in schools? At least… they weren’t in mine. Until I enrolled in the Guatemala Pre-Depart class, I am ashamed to say I didn’t even know the United States had ever had a military presence in this country. Whether it was right or wrong, I didn’t even KNOW about it. When my dad told me he didn’t want me to take this trip I didn’t understand because I didn’t know the history. It was after I learned about the armed conflict that I began to realize what made him afraid to let me come here.
The things I have learned have made me re-evaluate my plans for the future. What exactly was I planning on doing with an MBA and a Spanish minor? Well, at one time I thought it would be working in the global market. That doesn’t look so appealing anymore.
I’m still trying to understand why I was kept so blind to the United States interaction in other parts of the world. I said in Noche Newman that I had briefly considered teaching because I was so frustrated at my own lack of education; unfortunately, I feel like I lack the patience to teach. I realized, however, that I could teach through my writing. I could pursue journalism in whatever form I choose and set out to inform USA Americans of the events outside of their realm. Instead of International Business, why not International Journalism? I want to spread awareness about the world to those who are ignorant. Because if I was ignorant, there are a whole lot more people who don’t have a clue.
I’m realistic to know that I won’t be able to start off touring other parts of the world to get a story. It will be necessary for me to establish a name as a writer and credibility… and part of me still holds on to the love I have for health and fitness articles. Still, if I can find a real way to change the world, I’ve found a very real dream. This dream makes everything seem more worthwhile; my school, my work, this trip, and my plans for the future. Is it possible? And would I even like journalism? Or will I be back at square one… without a plan.”
I guess you could say this trip has forced me to do some heavy thinking. Sonja described it as this: When we stepped off the plane into Guatemala City, almost everything that we identified ourselves with was taken away from us. For me it was my family, my close friends, my language, my music, and i admit it: my phone. What was left was my faith and my desire to learn. But we all began to go through a deconstruction process of self.
I have adapted to not having my phone, I’m trying to adapt to the language. But having so much of my identity removed makes me re-evaluate what that identity is. I guess slowly it’s a reconstruction process without any distractions of back home. I guess I’m thinking about things I never would have back home. But I am CERTAINLY seeing things I never would have back home, and therefore, I’m learning. A lot.
If you have ever considered coming on this trip… it is worth every penny. Thank you Newman University and Sonja Bontrager.
. Anybody interested in giving me a ride to the airport on thed 16th of May? Ok great, I will see you then, ha!
