Cold Devotions

Brrrr... one night recently the temperature sank to 35 degrees Fahrenheit in Chichicastenango!  The temperature inside our house fell to 52 degrees.  That made for some COLD morning devotions!

More than 1000 words

Michael has finally reached over 1000 K'iche' words in the dictionary he is writing!  Due to his back pain, he uses the computer standing up.

Little by little, by studying, translating, spelling, and re-spelling, with the help of our teacher, Carolina, our K'iche' word list is growing.  Words like "q'aq'," which means "fire", "jäb'," which means "rain", and "rch'il," which means "his friend."  The dictionary is bilingual, written in K'iche' and Spanish, so that it will be more useful to the bilingual people here.

A couple of dictionaries already exist which were written for other dialects of K'iche', but Chichicastenango's words are often very different or are pronounced and conjugated differently.

Now that we have some words to work with, we appreciate your prayers to memorize, memorize, memorize!  Really, who would have thought that salt could be known as "atz'am," or an egg might be called a "säqmo'l"???

Driving hazards

As I was driving home from town the other day, this huge screw implanted itself in my right front tire.  It is actually surprising that we don't get more of these stuck in our tires.  The pickup trucks on the road here are often correctly dubbed "a bucket of bolts."  One of them must have dropped this beauty.

It was a blessing that the tire still held air.  We called our mechanic to come pick up the car at our house, and he took it to a local "pinchazo," or "tire-fixing place."  Now we have a huge plug that is still holding well.  Praise the Lord!

Paying car taxes

Michael and I went to the municipal office to pay our yearly fee for owning a car, which turned out to be about 50 cents.  Then we went to a bank to buy this year's sticker for the front window of the car.  That cost about $132, which is more money than people here can usually afford. 

Making Mayan fabric bags

Oh, so happy!  The woven fabrics here are lively, beautiful, and so very colorful!  I have been sewing bags to help carry all the fresh fruits and vegetables that I transport from the market.

Back when I pushed my fruits and veggies in a cart to the checkout counter of a grocery store, I never realized how heavy they are!  But I am not complaining, even when my shoulders start to burn, because I love the market-shopping experience!

Then I have to wash and disinfect all those delicious purchases.  See the blog post called "Disinfecting Food and Water."

Car wash... or car dribble?

When I get gas in our car, they will hand wash the car for free... but they are too short to reach the top!  So when I get home, Michael usually wipes down the top to get off all the dirt that settles up there in our dusty environment.  The problem is our low water pressure.  Have you ever tried washing a car with a dribble???  Ha!

English class

For the past several months, I have been teaching English once a week to a girl named Haydee (Heidi) who goes to the high school down the road from our house.

English class with Haydee

After 9th grade, the students have to choose a career path, and Haydee is studying to be a bilingual secretary (Spanish and English).  There are only two students in this program at the high school, and the other girl also comes to my class from time to time.  Their English teacher recommended that they find another class apart from school to improve their English.   It seems like the teachers hardly know English themselves, and their pronunciation is terrible.

The educational system here is very lacking.  For example, I asked Haydee what classes she was taking for her upcoming senior year.  This was her list: typing (in Spanish), typewriting (in English), editing, short-hand, dictation, English, and a community project.  I kept waiting to hear about science, math, literature, or something????

Haydee is a very bright student and learns quickly.  Her pronunciation has improved drastically, and she is a joy to work with.