{"id":432,"date":"2010-01-19T12:25:32","date_gmt":"2010-01-19T16:25:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/blog\/crosscultural\/?p=432"},"modified":"2010-01-19T12:25:32","modified_gmt":"2010-01-19T16:25:32","slug":"first-report-from-guatemala","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/2010\/01\/19\/first-report-from-guatemala\/","title":{"rendered":"First report from Guatemala"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Guatemala\/Mexico<\/a>Oh my goodness, I’m in Guatemala. \u00a0CRAZY. \u00a0I don’t know where to begin. \u00a0Get a hold of yourself, Brent. \u00a0Okay, here we go.<\/p>\n

We spent our first night in Guatemala at CASAS, the school where we’ll be studying. The next day (Friday the 15th) we met our host families. \u00a0It was probably one of the scariest moments of my life. \u00a0I was extremely anxious all day. \u00a0I was about to pass out when they called my name and introduced me to my host father. \u00a0Let me tell you a little about my family! \u00a0My parents are Luis Roberto and Elsa Recinos Illescas. \u00a0I have three siblings: Andrea (20), Pablo (18), and Ilse (15). \u00a0And they’re all really nice! \u00a0Andrea works at CASAS, so I go with her to school every morning — we have to take three buses to get there. Pablo and I share a room, and we’ve talked about everything from driving to movies to Guatemalan history to our plans for the future. \u00a0Ilse has been pretty shy but she’s a Glee fan like me, so what’s not to love?<\/p>\n

Here are some random thoughts about my time with my family so far: There is no hot water, so cold showers are quickly becoming my friends. \u00a0I have eggs for breakfast every morning, sometime with beans, always with bread. \u00a0My suitcase takes up half of the floor space in my brother’s bedroom. \u00a0I have about a zillion aunts, uncles, and cousins, and all of my little cousins are adorable (one tried to talk to me in German, which is not the same as English). \u00a0I feel like an idiot every time I speak — I say “si” and “bueno” all the time. We went to church and I may have lost my hearing but it was the best church service I’ve ever been to — so exciting and passionate even though I didn’t catch many of the words.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, we took a group trip to La Plaza Central with Don, Esther, and two women from CASAS. \u00a0We had to go on a scavenger hunt of sorts that required us to read a map (not one of my strong points) and ask questions to Guatemalans (also not one of my strong points). \u00a0But it was actually a really good experience! \u00a0Most of the people we talked to were incredibly friendly, and we didn’t even get lost all that badly. \u00a0The market is intense and slightly terrifying. \u00a0I tried to barter but this little girl shot me down and made me pay the full price. \u00a0Fail number one in Guatemala. \u00a0I’m sure there are many more fails to come.<\/p>\n

So far I’m exhausted but exhilarated. \u00a0I’m not homesick in the least, which kind of surprises me. \u00a0There’s so much to do and see and learn! \u00a0I feel extremely out of my element, more so than I ever have before. \u00a0But in a way it’s a good thing. \u00a0It’s incredible.<\/p>\n

-Brent Anders<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oh my goodness, I’m in Guatemala. \u00a0CRAZY. \u00a0I don’t know where to begin. \u00a0Get a hold of yourself, Brent. \u00a0Okay, here we go. We spent our first night in Guatemala at CASAS, the school where we’ll be studying. The next day (Friday the 15th) we met our host families. \u00a0It was probably one of the … Continue reading First report from Guatemala<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[235],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guatemala-mexico-2010"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":438,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432\/revisions\/438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/intercultural\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}