Life with my Guatemalan Host Family!

As part of the SALT program, I get a month of Spanish language training before I start my volunteer placement in El Salvador. For me, this means studying in Guatemala City at CASAS (the Central American Study and Service school), which is a program of SEMILLA, the Latin American Anabaptist Seminary. For the past 2 weeks now (I can't believe how quickly the time has gone!) I have had Spanish classes every morning from 8:30-12:30, which are going very well. CASAS is a great program, but I will save talking about it for another blog post, because right now I want to tell you all about my wonderful Guatemalan host family!

In order that students get a chance to practice their Spanish and be fully immersed in Guatemalan culture, CASAS finds host families for the students to live with, while studying at the school. I was lucky enough to be matched up with the amazing Kaehler Lopez family. You may be wondering why I’m living with a family in Guatemala City, with a German last name like Kaehler! I know I certainly wasn’t expecting that! Turns out my host dad’s father moved to Guatemala from Germany during WWII. But even though their ancestors are German, this family is definitely Guatemalan through and through! My host mother Astrid is a stay-at-home mom and a wonderful cook, and is always making sure I am well fed and comfortable! My host father Gustavo works at a restaurant an hour and a half out of the city, so he’s only home on weekends. I also have 4 wonderful host siblings all living at home (it’s normal for kids to live at home with their parents until they get married, and sometimes even after they get married). Karla is 29, Diego is 26, Carlos is 24, and Carolina is 21. My brother Diego also has an adorable 5 year old son, Josue, who lives with his mom during the week, but with our family on the weekends! Also, Karla’s boyfriend Tono, who also happens to be our neighbour, is over all the time, and is pretty much another member of the family! And last but not least, we have two small dogs that live in the garage/front yard, and bark a lot. Coincidently, one of the dogs is named Nala, and she is a cockapoo, just like my family’s dog back at home, Nellie! (Sorry, I realize most of you didn’t care to know that…but I thought it was a fun fact! haha.) Anyways, that about sums up the Kaehler family! As you can see, it’s a pretty busy household!

They have all been excellent at helping me learn new words and phrases in Spanish and are good at speaking slowly (most of the time, at least!) so I can understand them. They are a loud, outgoing and fun Catholic family and love to joke around and make fun of each other (including me!!) so even though I have only been with them 2 weeks, I already feel really at home with them and like I truly am another sister and daughter in the family. Unfortunately this means it’s going to be really hard to say goodbye to them next month when I leave for El Salvador. But I’m trying not to think about that now!

The house is nice and fairly big, they seem like a middle-class family (although of course not compared to North American standards). I share a room with my youngest sister Carolina, but luckily have my own bed. We have 2 bathrooms in the house, but only 1 shower (with hot water about 75% of the time), so mornings are sometimes a bit chaotic! And on weekends when everyone is home, we don’t quite all fit around the dining room table! Other than that, can’t think of anything else of interest to share!

Some highlights of the past couple weeks with the Kaehler family have been:

-         having “Spanish class” with my little nephew Josue!

-         learning more about soccer or “futbol” – since arriving in Guatemala, I have already watched 4 soccer games on tv and 3 games live, so I am starting to learn the rules of soccer, and am actually enjoying myself!

-         One of the 3 games I watched live, included last weekend when I went with my host dad, brothers and some neighbours and friends to a FIFA World Cup Qualifier game! It was Guatemala vs. St. Vincent/Grenadines, and we won 4-0! Guatemala is in the second round of Qualifiers for North and Central America and the Caribbean, for the FIFA World Cup in Brazil in 2014. Tickets were cheap (only $3!) but the stadium was packed full with people and the fans were insane! We didn’t get there early enough to get a seat, so we stood in the back but we still had a good view of the game and it was a lot of fun! And when I got a bit bored of the game, I would just people watch! Guatemalans love their futbol and really do show their emotions on their sleeves. I imagine it’s kind of like the equivalent of Canadian fans at the Olympic gold medal hockey game in Vancouver!

-         Being woken up last Sunday morning at 9am by my host mom, telling me to get out of bed because our family was going to the park! When we arrived, I found out it was actually a small amusement park! So I got to go on a boat ride where I got soaked, and a few very small, but still fun, roller coasters! There was also a small zoo inside the park – I think I was just as excited to see the animals as my nephew was!

-         Finding out that our neighbours have a litter of 10 (yes TEN!) adorable little puppies!

-         Learning about Guatemalan culture, education and politics (among many other things) from my host family. Guatemala’s 2011 Presidential Elections will be held tomorrow (Sept. 11^th) so it’s been kind of an exciting/interesting time here!

The list of highlights could go on but I think you get the picture: I’m having a really great time here in Guatemala City, learning lots and having lots of fun!!

For those interested, check back next week for a post on the results of the Guatemalan Presidential elections, and some info about Guatemalan politics in general.  

For now, enjoy some pictures!

Cheering for Guatemala at the FIFA World Cup Qualifier game with some family, friends and neighbours!
The 3 guys on the left side of the picture are my brother Diego, dad Gustavo, and neighbour Tono. 

my host brother Carlos and I at the game

with my host family (minus dad and one sister) at the amusement park!
From L-R, Carlos, Karla, me, Astrid, Diego, and Josue in front

my host sister Carolina and I