Chickens, Sunrises, and Spanish

We’ve had a bunch of experiences and stories this month so there are going to be short segments of many of them.

San Pablo: Last week we had the chance to go to San Pablo La Laguna to visit Shauna’s sister Brittney and her husband Joel. They live about 3 hours away and we spent a few days with them. It was great to be able to spend time with another married couple and have fun together. One morning we woke up in time to see the sunrise. Another morning/afternoon we took a boat ride on the lake and hiked 3 ½ hours along the lake. The pictures below feature some of the sights we saw! We were also able to see the area of San Pablo, visit their neighbors, and see some of the kids Brittney and Joel have to their home four days a week.

                   

               

                  

Chickens: So Carlos, my Spanish teacher, and I were having lessons one day at our house and he looks up and says, “You know there’s a chicken in your yard?” Since that time we have had three different types of chickens in our property. Here is the one in our tree :) 

House utilities: I love how cheap electric and water are here. Our electric bill averages around Q120/ month (roughly $16) and our water bill average has been Q10 (around $1.45). Also we were running low on gas for our stove and so we ordered a new gas tank and within five minutes a guy arrived with the tank strapped to the back of his motorcycle. That’s called service! (it is quite rare to get service like this so I was a little surprised)

Spanish: When I have Spanish lessons I usually go to Carlos’ house twice a week and he usually comes to mine once a week. However , sometimes we change things up and go to a different location. Yesterday we went to a macadamia nut tree farm. It was a 30 minute bike ride to get there and back, but the farm was so cool. We had a little tour ( the tour guide talked in Spanish and I understood most of what she said!) then we had lessons at a table in the garden/sitting area. Did you know macadamia nuts can be used in sunscreen, lotion, soaps, and candies? Anyways my Spanish is definitely improving and my flash card piles are becoming bigger and bigger J I have had good practice when we have our neighbor kids over once a week. This past week we played the game memory with them and I learned some animal names I didn’t know so that was a plus: Pulpo is octopus and cabra is goat.

Jalapa: We took a trip early this month to Jalapa, a town four hours away. We visited five or six families to provide some food, formula, diapers, and evaluation of how their doing (health wise). We also visited this place where they do ministry for older adults. Behind this buiding there was a school where I was able to meet a physical education teacher who teaches all kinds of sports to kids there. We exchanged contact information and he said if I ever wanted to volunteer or help out I was welcome to. So that could definitely be a cool learning opportunity as I think about starting sports ministry here.

Anniversary: We celebrated our first anniversary on the 24th – hard to believe it has already been a year! We went to Antigua for the night and spent part of the next day there.

Antigua
Central Park Fountain

The restaurant we went to for dinner
was super busy!

A cool spiderweb on a
door near our hotel

We would love if you would continue praying for:

-Our neighbor kids as we build relationships with them

-Learning Spanish

-People who would be around our own age and stage of life to be able to be friends with

We would also love to know how we can be praying for you. Let us know. We also are encouraged by friends and family who have e-mailed and talked to us just to see how things are going. Gracias

Andi and Shauna

Shopping and cooking in Guatemala

Now that I am back in Guatemala, I can cook the way I like to... with fresh fruits and vegetables! It was hard while we were in the U.S. because these things aren't cheap, but here, it is one of the cheapest way to eat. Here are some average prices of foods we get (the exchange rate is about 7.50  quetzals for every U.S. dollar):

Sweet Bread

Potatoes - Q3/lb

Onions - Q4/lb

Carrots - Q1 for each carrot

Avocados - Q5 for 2

Bananas - Q5 for 6

Strawberries - Q5/lb

Pineapple - Q10 for a large one

Peppers - Q1.50 each

Tomatoes - Q3/lb

Zucchini - Q1 each

Sweet bread - Q1 for 3 pieces 

Tortillas - Q1 for 4

There is a tienda (these are small stores right on the street that are usually the front room of a house) right at the end of our street where we can go to get rice, beans, flour, sugar, ketchup, mustard, snacks (they even have real chocolate candy bars), drinks, fly traps (very much needed), and many other things. There are also at least 5 other tiendas on this one block so if one doesn't have something we need, we go to the next one to check. We can get fresh tortillas three times a day if we want (again, right at the end of our street). There are also small fruit and veggie tiendas everywhere. There are some things that we can't buy in these small tiendas so we have to walk two whole blocks  to the Bodegona (our grocery store). This is a new addition to our town in the past year. It used to be that we had to go a couple towns over for a real grocery store so this is a huge blessing. 

I could leave the house at 12:00, spend Q10 ($1.30), and be back at 12:05 with an avocado, a couple tomatoes, an onion, and 8 tortillas. A few minutes later, I am eating fresh tortillas with guacamole... Mmmmmm!

Here are some of the delicious meals we have made:

Baked oatmeal with fruit

     

Flautas

Grilled cheese and salad

             

Pollo/Piña stir fry

Black Beans and Rice

Chicken Tacos

Eggs, Strawberries, Toast and Coffee

  

Nachos

About three weeks ago, we were talking to some of our neighbor kids and invited them into our house. They played in the courtyard for a little bit, climbed our orange tree, and then asked for some oranges. We shared some with them and now, they ask for more every few days. We don't give it to them every time, but we decided to invite a bunch of kids over one afternoon. So this past Thursday afternoon, 7 kids showed up at our door. We taught them how to play Uno and we gave them juice and oranges. Some of the older ones are helping us with our Spanish and they are having fun practicing the English words they know. We have decided that we want to make it a weekly gathering. 

Andi and I also learned how to drive a motorcycle! We are still practicing, but it's going well.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge Chicago Cubs fan. Anyone who knows the Cubs knows that they haven't won a World Series since 1908. And anyone who follows baseball knows that the Cubs not only made it to the playoffs, but they won their Division Series and they are in the National League Championship Series this week. This is extremely exciting news!! So that means we are spending a lot of time over at my parents' house watching the games. Go Cubs Go!!!

We love our town! 

Learning and Processing

Some fun facts about Guatemala:

Phone #: Instead of 7 digit phone numbers we have 8 digit phone numbers. As far as contacting me it is best to use e-mail or facebook as the number one option. I also do have international calling and texting on my phone plan so you can use my number if needed (make sure you know your international costs :P). Let me know if you would like my number.

Greetings: Everyone you see or pass while walking or biking it is common courtesy to greet them using the phrases Buenos dias, buenas tardes, or buenas noches. (Good morning, good evening, or good night).

Music: Around town, at stores or tiendas, in the city, or even your neighbors houses are places you can hear music. It is surprising how much pop music you can hear that is in English as well as different techno music. 

Animals: Apparently roosters do not have any consideration for time of day. Our neighbors have a pig. You see dogs roaming the streets everywhere. Cebus (You may not remember what a cebu is until you watch this clip to the left) are as common as cows are.

Tiendas (Small convenience shops): There are 15 or so tiendas on our seven minute bike ride from our house to Shauna’s parents house. These tiendas sell small packaged snacks, chips, certain sodas, teas, Gatorade, other various drinks, Saldo (minutes) to purchase for your phone, candy, veggies, eggs, ice cream novelties, other basic foods, and other various small items.

These are lichis (prounounced lee - chez)

 Fruit: We have an orange tree in our small back yard/garden area. So if anyone wants fresh oranges come and visit us :). Also we eat the sweetest pineapple on the face of the earth, bananas picked off a nearby tree, bright red strawberries, and really sweet lichis.

La Dia de Independencia: September 15 is Guatemala’s Independence Day. It is tradition the day before to form groups from respective schools and do antorche (torch) runs. These runs take place on roads all over Guatemala. People with torches, horns, noise-makers, flags, costumes, and some face-paint run in parade like formations. At the back of the parade there is some sort of vehicle or vehicles (either pickup trucks, vans, or buses) with more people riding. It is also tradition for people to watch from the side of the roads and throw water on the people participating in the antorche runs. You can watch the video for more detail!

Now for some personal stories.

Spanish: Estoy aprendiendo espanol! So the other night I was feeling pretty confident so I decided to go and get my Spanish/English Bible and see if I could start reading the Spanish side. Well let’s just say it didn’t go to well :P I went back to reading some easy Spanish readers. However, overall it is progressing fairly well! I have two nice sized stacks of flash cards and do homework each day I don’t have class. I also usually have a paragraph or two to write and/or translate each day about different topics in Spanish. Pray that I will continue to push and challenge myself to learn!

Sport Ministry: We went on a trip five hours north of where we live a couple weeks ago. Shauna mentioned this in her blog a couple of weeks ago. A group of five of us went and we helped at a medical clinic. The morning we were there I had the opportunity to go kick a soccer ball with two boys out in the courtyard. The one young man was completely deaf and the other had some brain damage due to being in a three month coma earlier in his life. It was challenging, but so rewarding using different ways of communication than I normally would (using hand motions and Spanish). As I was kicking the ball back and forth a sense of God’s presence came over me. This is what God has called me too. I was building relationships with these two boys through kicking a ball back and forth. The joy radiated from their faces through their laughter and smiles. They were so happy that someone would take time to play and interact with them. This is my vision and passion: interacting, playing, and leading children through sports that they can see the love of Jesus Christ. This time only lasted about ½ hour, but God confirmed with me through that time that this is what He has laid on my heart.

House maintenence: So our house has been fantastic so far. However, we have had a few interesting and 'fun' experiences so far. One morning our bathroom sink fell off the wall. However within two hours we had it remounted (more securely this time) and new plumbing hooked up to it. A few days ago the piece that lifts up the rubber flapper in the toilet broke off, but again by the end of the day that was fixed. We've had to shave off the bottoms of a few of our doors because they rubbed when you opened them. We also have a little patch of lawn to weedwack/mow every ten days or so as well. Overall though we have been so blessed. First of all our landlord gave us an amazing price. Secondly he speaks some English. Next he is close by because he owns the hardware store down the street. Finally he let us know that if anything breaks or needs fixed he will come up to fix it!

I also wanted to update you on the prayer requests I had listed on my last blog post.

• That we would be able to find a bike or two for a good price (to make it easier to get around in town) 
• We were able to get two bikes for pretty good deals as we were out shopping and have used them a ton! Here is a picture of Krishauna's! 
• That we would be able to get all the bigger kitchen appliances, bed, and some sort of living room furniture at good prices when we go later in the week.
• We bought all of our furniture and appliances for under $2500!
• As we adjust to more of a Guatemalan style lifestyle when we move into our house. 
• We have adjusted really well. We have loved the location as it is not on a main road, but we are still within a minute and a half walk from quite a few tiendas. (Side note we finally got internet at our house on Wednesday!)

Thank you for your prayers and we can see how God answered all the ones from last month! Continue to pray for us as we process and trust God to open doors for us as we look for our more permanent location to live here in Guatemala. 

Thanks,

Andi and Krishauna

Feeling settled... kinda

It has been just short of a month since we left the U.S. and we are finally starting to feel settled here in Guatemala! :)

So we aren't repeating ourselves too much, here is a link to Andi's last blog post that tells about some of our adventures over the past month of being here: http://andibrubaker.blogspot.com

After multiple trips to Guatemala City, Chimaltenango, and Antigua to get all our furniture and other household items, we got to move into our house on September 7th. Since then, we have been figuring out how to adjust ourselves to this new and different lifestyle.

This is our kitchen (left). Like most Guatemalan houses, we do not have running water in our kitchen. Instead, we came up with our own makeshift kitchen sink (right). One large jug has purified water for drinking, washing fruits and vegetables, and cooking (if needed). The other jug has tap water in it. This is used for washing off hands while working in the kitchen, rinsing dishes that may need it immediately, and for any cooking that doesn't need purified water. You can also see here that we also do not have real cabinets in the kitchen. This means we need to check for bugs and dirt on the dishes and usually wipe them out before using them.

Our pila is outside off of our courtyard. A pila is what is used to wash dishes along with doing laundry. The middle section gets filled with water and is scooped out with a small dish into the sides where the washing is done. The left side has grooves on the bottom to use to scrub the laundry, but that is something I really don't like to do if possible (it takes so long) so my parents are letting us do laundry at their house using their washing machine for now. We will have to eventually decide if we are going to get our own washing machine or if I will get over my stubbornness and start hand washing our clothes.

Here is how we are supposed to get hot water in the shower. It is called a widow maker. It uses electricity to heat up the water right there in the shower head. So far, we haven't had hot water (or even warm water), but it hasn't been really cold water. You can step into the water without shivering, but it doesn't make you want to stay there for long. I got a little shock once when I tried to adjust it... I think I will just leave it alone from now on to keep from making it mad.

We have a tin roof on our house. This is fine because we have quite high ceilings so it doesn't get too hot inside, but we have a couple fans that are on pretty regularly. One morning, I woke up suddenly to something hitting our roof. I ran outside to see what it was. Our next door neighbors were knocking Güisquil (right) off of the vine growing up the tree that hangs over our house so it was falling hard and hitting the tin roof. Not my favorite way to wake up. On the positive side, the rain sounds amazing on the tin roof! It can be difficult to have a conversation when it is raining too hard so maybe we should learn sign language :) 


Open air houses mean that dirt gets everywhere. We're still working on getting used to sweeping and moping more often to try to keep things clean. It also means we can hear everything the neighbors do. Sometimes is sounds like someone is walking through our courtyard, but we realize that they are in the next house over. They also like to blast pop and techno music. Keeping a fan running helps to block out some of this noise. 

Bombas (colorless fireworks) being set off during the night can be quite scary. Especially when it is coming from right next door and in the middle of the night. This was something I had gotten used to when I lived here before, but I am having to readjust to this again. 

Only in Guatemala... do you get asked by your neighbor to turn off the light in their property because the switch for that light is on your property. Now we put tape over that switch so we don't accidentally turn it on again.


These days, we are staying pretty busy.
Andi is taking Spanish classes for 12 hours a week (4 hours each day on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) and he has homework to do after each class. Please pray that Andi will pick up the language quickly. While he is at class, I am teaching Checha (Cesar) who lives at Hogar de la Esperanza (my parents' home). As far as we know, he has never had any formal education so at almost 18 years old, he is learning to identify and write letters, addition, and other basics. I am very excited for this opportunity to work with him. He is excited to learn and even asks me to give him homework. Please pray that he will continue to be excited to learn and that he will not be discouraged through the time of learning the basics (he understands that he is behind for his age and this can be discouraging especially if he is having trouble with a concept). And pray that I will know when to push him and when to back off and give him a break.

We are also taking trips with my dad. These are ministry trips to different villages where we take wheelchairs, medication, and food to families and get to spend time talking to and praying with them. This gives us an opportunity to see different areas of Guatemala and seek God as to weather or not He wants us to move to those specific areas in the future. I was able to go to Jalapa (Andi couldn't go because he was sick at the time) and then we both got to go to Canillá, Quiché. These are really neat experiences for us. Please pray that we will have open ears and hearts to follow God's call no matter where He leads us!

Thank you for all your prayers!

Krishauna