Recap of Language Study in Guate

Can’t believe it’s already November, and that it's been 3 weeks since I said goodbye to all my friends in Guatemala City. I thought before I started writing more about my experiences here in El Salvador, I would finish a blog post I started writing a while ago, about my time spent in Guate for language study. I've had a lot of time these past few weeks to be alone and think about everything that's been going on (sometimes that's a good thing, sometimes not...) but hence, this is why there's been more blog posts lately!
I had such an amazing time in Guatemala that I wanted to write more about it, and now that life has slowed down a bit, I finally have time to do so. 

I spent a month and a half studying Spanish at CASAS, and although I learned a lot, I still have a LONG way to go until I'm finally fluent.

CASAS is a program run by SEMILLA, the Latin American Anabaptist Seminary in Guatemala City. The Spanish word “semilla”, means seed. The mission of SEMILLA is “to prepare men and women to follow Jesus Christ faithfully and, thus, to live out the reign of God with justice and peace today”. The Seminary was started in the 1980’s, by Central American Christians who were beginning to learn more about their Anabaptist roots. Besides the CASAS program, SEMILLA runs 3 other programs: a Biblical, Theological & Pastoral Training Program, SEMILLA Publishing (which prints and distributes Spanish language editions of Anabaptist/Mennonite publications), and a guest house, (which if you’ve ever come to Guatemala with MCC, you have probably spent a night or two here – I stayed here my first and last night in Guatemala when I came 6 years ago with a group from my church, on an MCC Work and Learn Team).

All 4 departments/programs of SEMILLA are located at the same site, so I was able to meet people working in other departments as well. Everyone was so welcoming and friendly. They have a great community there (kind of reminded me of Grebel!) and all the staff meet together every 2 weeks for a chapel service, which I got to participate in twice during my stay there.

CASAS stands for Central American Study and Service. It offers Spanish classes (for all levels), accomodations with host families, and scheduled activities for the students to learn more about Guatemalan culture and history. Although I had learned most of the Spanish grammar rules in my university classes, it was a good review for me (since I had forgotten most of it!) and I'm so glad I was given the chance to study for so long, before beginning my work with ANADES. Plus, it's one thing to "know" the grammar rules, but it's another thing to actually use what you've learned while having a conversation with a native Spanish speaker! 

Plus, the CASAS teachers are great, because not only do they focus on teaching you grammar and vocab, but they also work on conversational Spanish (my teacher and I could have chatted all day if we wanted to!) and teaching you about various social justice issues in Guatemala. People can study there for university credit, or non-credit (like me), and can be there from 1-3 months. I have met quite a few people that did the 3 month CASAS program, and loved it, and have since returned to Guatemala again, in part because of the great experience they had here the first time. If anyone is looking for something to do either before, during, or after university, I would recommend looking into it! Here's the website, and feel free to ask questions!

http://semilla.org.gt/casas%20en.html

Here are some highlights from my month of studies (besides writing tests, and learning my Spanish grammar and verb tenses, of course):

-         Conversations in “Spanglish” at morning snack time and lunch in the cafeteria with the other CASAS students, as well as the wonderful CASAS and SEMILLA staff members

-         Getting to know the 3 other CASAS students better, and building great friendships with them – Aaron is from Pennsylvania, and is a fellow MCC SALTer, who will be spending the next 10 months working with the indigenous community in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala. Rachel is from Ohio, and is beginning her 3-year MCC term. She will soon be headed to Alta Varepaz, to work at Bezaleel (the school where I volunteered with my church, 6 years ago!) to teach in the nursing program. Lastly, Florian (or Flo) is from Germany, (he was the only one not with MCC) and will be working for the next year in San Salvador, with the Lutheran Church.  

-         Day Trip to beautiful & touristy Antigua

-         Playing card games with my 60 year old Spanish teacher Edna (best teacher ever!), while blasting Enrique Iglesias music

-         Trips across the street for ice cream at Sarita!

-         Making rellenitos! (hard to explain, but they’re kind of like a fried donut but made out of plantain, with puréed black beans and sugar in the middle – sounds gross, but it’s actually a really yummy dessert – one of my favourites in Guate!)

-         Trip to the beautiful Guatemala City Zoo

-         Playing Apples-to-Apples in Spanish!

-         Volunteering at a hospital down the street, playing games and giving lots of love and hugs to 30 malnourished kids, who live at the Nutritional Centre at the hospital, because their parents can’t afford to feed them or take care of their health needs

-         Learning about Guatemalan culture, education, history, politics, social justice issues (and even dating customs!) from my teacher Edna, and teaching her about Canada as well

Here are some pictures with me and some of my new friends :)



Lunch at CASAS (don't worry, lunch usually didn't come in styrofoam plates).
Aaron, Flo, Rachel and I





cooking up some Rellenitos in the CASAS kitchen! mmmmm...delicious!




Edna and I on our field trip to Antigua