Series of Unfortunate Events (Yet We're ALL FINE); My First Impressions and Where We Go From Here

It's Day 4 and much has changed since I woke up tired (after Wednesday night salsa classes). The food is still incredible, the weather is still grey and rainy (yet exotic in the valley covered in mist Antigua sits in), and the route to Sevilla from my home is only getting more familiar, but Thursday's developments have clearly affected some anxiety in me. For one, on Thursday morning at the school in San Pedro, Sergio and I discovered the irregular schedule of our sixth graders and the time frame that we would have difficulties fitting our envisioned science lessons (part of our PGP) into. Secondly, the eruption of the volcano Pacaya (safely 60 miles from Antigua) has cancelled classes for today and has thrown off our lesson plans further.

OK, here is where I make the clarfication. We are completely safe! During my Thursday language class at Sevilla, I did feel the slight tremor that shook the ground of Antigua, which was an exhilarating yet mysterious experience at first, but since then there has been no actual sign of impacts of a disaster (that IS affecting Guatemala City). At my host family's home the TV has been on all day, but everything is running normally in Antigua. The streets may be more empty because of the lack of public school children, yet the Centro is still packed and it's business as usual at Sevilla. Additionally, my Spanish teacher assured Maurina and I for 10 minutes that volcano eruptions are a normal event for Guatemalans, meaning there may be a State of Emergency in the capital city but life goes on for Antiguans. There may be a lot of "but"s in my thought process, but I truly feel safe and trust Mr. Cantu and our team leaders 100%, as well as all the students, to responsibly react to the adversity (which was expected when we left for Guatemala) that we are being faced with.

The reality is that with such an incredible experience there come dangers and risks. However, we are behaving and making wise decisions when it comes to managing the accompanying risks of being foreigners (of relatively wealthy standing) in situations that are unusual to most of us. The consensus from our first journal-sharing meeting was pretty clear on this point: we're realizing how fortunate we are and how important it is to be respectful (yet also aware) in our relations with our host families, local citizens, and the kids in San Pedro.

Personally, I'm doing very well. We all have our minor issues with food, with our peers, or with our physical state (minor fevers or colds), but we're all intact and are looking forward to the breathtaking sights of Lago Atitlan. Every day is another step forward (a philosophy Alex previously referenced), and I'm optimistic about the doors I'm going to open by expanding my skill with Spanish and breaking ground in creatively inspiring San Pedro's kids with lessons about their world from the scientific perspective. In sum, I'm living by postive-minded phrase "lo vaya bien", with hope and determination.