Everything is happening so fast...

Its been over 2 weeks since I last posted and lots has been happening. I've been very busy keeping up with everything, so i'll try to recap what all has been happening down here in Guatemala.

Music at Camino Seguro

I now have a steady schedule of guitar lessons at Camino Seguro in the mornings. Every morning I teach 2 different hour long one on one guitar lessons. These have been going great. The skill level ranges from beginners who are still trying to finger chords, to some kids who are playing, singing, and even writing some songs.

Two of the kids that I have been working with are ones that are very talented and have been writing their own songs. I have been working with the music program director, Mike McCarthy, trying to give the kids a chance to go to a

recording studio in the city and record some of the songs. Its somewhat funny because the kids are always playing their songs for girls in the project and so we have been trying to get them to focus on getting their act together if they are going to record.

The art department, or now renamed the Creative Expression program, has also been working on organizing a concert/fair/day of art for the community on July 23rd. We are starting to work with the guitar and music students focusing on performing at the event. We have also been organizing an art installation for the event involving painting old shoes. There will be outside performers as well as games, it should be an awesome day. We will be having it at a park near Camino Seguro in Guatemala City... i'll keep everyone posted on further details with the event!

English at Camino Seguro

In the Afternoons I have been working with the English department. I have helped organize their curriculum materials and put them online. I am also working on creating bigger projects for the English Department such as board games and other things that will make the program more sustainable.

I have also been shadowing and helping teach English classes with a fellow teacher, Mandy, who will be leaving in a couple of weeks. I will be taking her afternoon classes when she leaves so it has been nice to start developing relationships with the kids in the classes. This past Wednesday I led my first class and it went well, so i'm excited for what lies ahead!

Life in Antigua

Life in Antigua has been going great. I have been keeping busy playing lots and lots of music. I am currently staying at a hostel called El Ca

minante, playing for an hour every evening and staying for free. This has been an interesting experience, because it has ranged from playing for 2 or 3 people, to opening for bands during the weekend with big crowds. I also am playing at a local blues bar, Ocelot, every Wednesday from 8-10pm. The big gig that I have though which is always fun is Saturday Nights from 9-12 at Cafe No Se. This is a popular dive bar in Antigua that is always crowded and always fun.

I also have exciting new related to playing at Cafe No Se. In June 24th's Prensa Libre, the national newspaper, there was a photo of Mike McCarthy and myself playing at Cafe No Se.

It's been great getting the opportunities to play so much music. I should actually be getting some video of some of my performances at El Caminante, so I will post that when I get it.

So I have been keeping very busy at the project as well as in Antigua. I'm looking forward to my parents coming to visit me this Wednesday. They'll finally be able to see everything that I always talk about at home.

I want to thank everyone again for supporting me on my trip. I'll try to post on the blog more often, it has just been very busy. Until next time!

One Week In

It took me until the day before my flight to get my visa for Ecuador. After scrambling around to get all the different forms that I needed I went in and it took less than 15 minutes to receive my visa. I'm glad thats over with now.

June 2nd, I flew out of Washington DC to Houston and from Houston to Guatemala City. It was a fairly uneventful flight. As soon as I walked out of the Guatemala City airport there was somebody advertising a shuttle to Antigua, so I jumped in the van with a couple other gringos and was off to Antigua. When I got to Antigua I was dropped off in the Central Park and then walked to the volunteer's house I was crashing at that night. Literally, everything was the same as it was when I was down in spring of 2009. So this made it very easy to find my way around.

After I had settled in at the apartment, and watched a little bit of the Guatemalan presidential debate (with 27 candidates!), I went out to Cafe No Se, a local dive bar where I was supposed to meet some other people from Safe Passage. The English Program Coordinator, Megan, was working their that night, and I managed to just miss Mike, the guitar teacher.

Friday morning I headed to Safe Passage. The bus stop for the volunteers was the same as 2 years ago and the bus ride was as long as I remembered it being. It was a 'reunion mensual', where all the parents came to the projects, but no kids came. This made it a relaxing day to start back in the project, it let me settle into the project a little before working with the kids.

Friday night I went back to Cafe No Se where Mike was playing a gig and got to play for a little bit during his break. This was great, but was a little bit tough because there was only a mic to mic the guitar, so I just had to sing really loud. Saturday I spent most of the day looking for apartments. I looked at a couple, but none were that appealing, so I decided to move into a homestay on sunday night. This plan is temporary, as I still would like to try and find an apartment in Antigua. Sunday afternoon I ended up playing Ultimate Frisbee with a local group in Antigua. It was great, it was a group that started up about a year ago and consisted of people who had never played before to very experienced players. There was one guy from Atlanta who had played on a team that had gone to club nationals, it a pleasant surprise to find this group in Antigua.

This week started my 'real' first week at Camino Seguro. I did orientation Monday morning and started working with the English department in the afternoon. Then tuesday I started my regular schedule, music in the morning, English in the afternoon. The mornings usually consist of teaching 2 hour long 1 on 1 guitar lessons with some of the students. The afternoons this week have consisted of doing a little bit of everything with the English department. My role in the English department is essentially to fill in the gaps... I will be helping to organize their materials and curriculum, be a liaison between the support teams and the English Department, as well as help teach English classes when some of the English teachers leave in a couple of weeks.

On Wednesday night I met with the manager of Cafe No Se and booked my first gig in Guatemala, for Saturday night from 8pm-12. Right after I booked the gig I went to the local music shop and purchased the guitar which I had been looking at for the past couple of days. I spent the whole night after that playing my new guitar. It was mostly a normal week at the project but on Friday the kids didn't come in again, so I met with all of the English Department in Antigua to work. We worked on organizing the curriculum and materials and talking about ways to improve the department.

After working with the English Department all morning and into the afternoon I was invited to play soccer with a friend. I ended up riding about 20 minutes on the back of my friends motorcycle up to El Hato, which is a local community in the hills above Antigua. My friend worked as an English teacher their and was involved in a local soccer tournament. We ended up walking down a winding dirt path to get to the cancha, or field. It was amazing, it was a small dirt field with fences on 2 sides, a cemetery on another side, and a very steep drop off on the other. The view from the field was beautiful. I was one of 3 gringos playing, and everyone else was part of the local community there. It started to rain when we headed back, so we ended up hitching a ride with a friendly Guatemalan back to Antigua. It turned out that the man had been good friends with Hanley Denning, the founder of Safe Passage. I made it back to Antigua in time for dinner, and now here I am writing my blog!

Its been a busy first week in Guatemala and I wouldn't ask for anything more!