bienvenidos a zona 6

Tom and I had the wonderful opportunity to stay with Guatemalan families while we were taking our Spanish classes at CASAS.
We were placed with families just across the street from each other in Zone 6 of the city (I do not know much about this area-other than the fact that it is residential and doesn't show up in the guide books as a place to visit. I believe it is a poorer area of the city, but Carina can correct me on this if i am wrong)

the families we were placed with were fantastic.
It was a challenge for tom at first being all by himself in a house full of people who don't speak the same language as him, but as time went on he learned to communicate better and he did really well.
We were welcomed into their homes so generously and were cared for very well with delicious meals (lots of beans and eggs....and i had my first chicken drumstick in who knows how long. i didn't want to refuse the food they were so graciously offering me so i was happy to eat the chicken, it was a little weird though.)

My "dad", i found out, used to be a soccer player in the national league in Guatemala and now he works in a factory where they make clothing. He cuts the fabric for someone to sew together. I asked him if liked the work (unable to get the thought out of my head that this wonderful man might be working in a sweat shop to make cheap clothing for us to buy at Zellers...) and i was incredibly relieved to hear him say that he enjoys the work quite a bit.
I think he is really proud of it. one night he brought out all these shirts he had made and showed them off to me. He was radiant about the fact that he could make clothing to then give to his two grand children (who were very very sweet and live above his house).

Every evening my "mom" went out to a little church a few blocks away. The first night i stayed at home and watched tv with my dad. After watching a bit of "Brave heart" dubbed into spanish (who knew mel gibson had such a great accent!) we watched some of the evening news. this was hard to watch, mostly because of how my dad responded to it. He kept telling me that Guatemala is really difficult right now. There are lots of issues with gang violence (mostly with the gang Barrio 18) and it really scares a lot of people. My dad constantly reminded me of the importance of never going anywhere alone. One day, after taking us to the central plaza, he made sure that we took a cab home because he wasn't comfortable with us taking the bus.
It was special to have him care for me so much, but it made my heart ache to think of all the pain in this country.
It feels like it is never ending....
so many years of war, immense poverty, and now these problems with gangs.
it made me feel quite hopeless and despairing to see the eyes of my father so ripe with tears.
I just don't understand suffering- How God deals with it, and how I should deal with it.
I trust God is working here in this country, but i can't grasp the idea of so many people having to suffer and die in the process.
it is hard to reconcile in my head and heart
I spent a long time journaling and drawing and turning over my questions and aching to God- He knows how to hold it far better than I.

On the last night I was there my mom asked tom and i (very excitedly) if we would like to go to church with her. She was especially excited because it was the birthday of two congregation members and birthdays mean (you guessed it) PASTEL (cake)!! We, of course, jumped at the invitation (not necessarily because of the cake- which ended up being all soggy. You could literally see water dripping off the cake as it was placed on a plastic plate. must have been frozen for a while!). At 7pm we wove our way through the darkened streets alive with kids, adults, dogs, and blaring radios. We arrived at the home of one of the members celebrating a birthday and found some seats as the room quickly filled up with people. Soon a HUGE speaker arrived which was placed at the back door facing INTO the room so that the music and singing could be EXTRA loud (just in case we couldn't already hear everything in this small living room- tom was pretty sure he heard the music every night in his bed room even though the church was blocks away!)
It is always a treat to be part of a church service in a different country and to witness how the people there worship. I loved seeing the immense devotion of the people sitting in these plastic maroon lawn chairs as they closed their eyes and sang passionately to God. The pastor's "short" message (which was longer than most i have heard) was a great reminder of how blessed we are to have so many years in our lives- that birthdays are not days to complain about getting older, but to rejoice and thank God for giving us one more year of life.
How often we need to remind ourselves of this.

On our last day tom and I bought roses for our "moms" in the market for a ridiculous price of only $4 for a DOZEN beautiful roses!
I had sneakily found out my mom's favourite flower before hand and was very excited to offer these to her as a thank you for her gratitude and hospitality.
Tom got some for his mom as well and they both loved them and promptly displayed them on their tables. (perhaps a bit out of place against the concrete walls, but a beautiful symbol of gratitude).

Overall the experience was wonderful.
Unfortunately i wasn't able to get photos of anyone in my family except my mom (who was just...the greatest. She told me that her home is my home if i am ever in Guatemala again...and i only knew her for 3 days!). Out of desperation i took photos of pictures hanging on the wall so at least i have SOMETHING to go by!
Tom got some great photos of his family when they (his mom and dad) were using the camera to see how it worked
but, alas, they are on that silly memory card so we will have to wait to show you them
que lastima (what a shame).