First, here is a picture of Maria-Elsa, the woman who shares her meals with us. She is originally from El Salvador, but she fell in love with her husband Manuel and moved here to Guatemala. Manuel is quite a character- a very short, skinny guy who is always laughing and cracking jokes. He is perfect for her because she is also very funny and seems like she is always laughing, even though she works really hard. She teaches as a maestra at the language school for 6 hours a day, hosts borders at her house, and also cooks meals for the people staying there + James and I. On top of this she also does the usual mom stuff for her two children, Claudia (20) and Jocelyn (16). Women here do not have the luxury of the things we take for granted at home. They have to care for all the matters of the house without modern convienences-- she washes the dishes by hand, cooks meals practically from scratch, and does all of their laundry by hand. Despite how hard she works, every day of the week, her attitude is still very light-hearted and fun. It amazes me how much work she does yet always has such a positive attitude. She is a Jehovah's Witness as well (very rare in Guatemala) and attends church a few times a week and goes door-to-door on Saturdays spreading her faith.
Below is a picture of Helen, my maestra. We've been good friends because we chat in Spanish for four hours every day. One of the most rewarding things about learning more and more Spanish is that I feel like we can have more in-depth conversations, and every day I learn more about her and her views on the world, and vice versa. Helen is 24 years old and is still completing her university degree in Social Work. She's been working at the language school for 5 years to help support herself while she is finishing school. The way she describes them her parents are pretty progressive (considering how traditional of a country Guatemala is) and her views are very modern as well. She doesn't want to get married until she is in her late twenties and she always wants to work so that she and her husband will be equals, not like many marriages here where the men are very macho and do not let their "women" work outside the home or have their own opinions about things. Like many Guatemalans her family is very important to her and most of her weekend activities involve her family (and like almost all young Guatemalans she will live at home until she is married). Helen has a very very large extended family-- she claims to have over 100 cousins.
Helen is really fun to talk with and right from the beginning we got along perfectly. Our personalities are very similar. Sometimes it seems like we spend almost half of our 4 daily hours together just cracking each other up and talking about boys. We do talk about serious topics too though, and its a great cultural exchange because of course I want to know everything I can about Guatemalan life and culture, and she is very curious about America and the other places I've traveled. She watches a ton of American movies and has actually asked me about American movies I've never even seen before. I just let her borrow "He's Just Not That Into You" in spanish, so I'm interested to hear what she thinks of it. I wish she could come visit the States and hang out with my friends and me there- I think she'd fit right in!
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