Rain, Rain, make your way, make your way and change my day

One of the most important lessons that I have learned while living in Guatemala is the ability to be flexible. It is a very useful skill here. As a matter of fact, the electricity just went out. I am sitting in Wendy's (on of my favorite places to use the internet due to the central location and closeness to my house). I had great plans this afternoon to wash dishes, get a few things done for graduation (the reason I'm using internet in the first place), and make my way out to the gym...(sidenote, I was just locked in Wendy's...Em, this reminds me of the shady airport in China! Haha...if you don't know this story, remind me to tell you the next time I see you!), and then make it back for dinner. Wendy's was my first stop. I went to order my water and it quickly started DOWN-POURING.I decided that I didn't want to get out in the street that would soon be a river given 10 minutes and thought this would be a great time to reflect and write a blog. It seems like lots has happened.
The second half of my time down here has been wonderful. I can't really describe the peace that I feel right now in my life. All I know is that it is good. I am looking forward to spending at least one more year down here and actually moving into an apartment. I have been so transient the last four years that it is nice to know where I am going to be this time next year. I can actually put pictures up and make a place for everything. It's quite comforting.

Let's see, what else is going on. I went to the old director's house this weekend. I really think that heaven will look something like this place. Their front porch is one of my top three favorite places in this world. I'm serious. It's that great. And the company was great as well. We had a great meal, great conversation, great front-porch-sitting time, and a wonderful cup of coffee (the have a coffee plantation! It's superb!) It was raining (of course) when we left and Randi and I walked down to the road to catch a bus. Well, as we were walking down the drive way, I, of course, slip and scrape my knee up. It just happened to be the one that I had surgery on a couple years ago meaning that the scar is still fairly sensitive and shredded it once again.But the saddest part was that I tore my favorite pair of jeans (again Emily, this made me think of you when you were in Norman for your Pe-et reunion!) I know that it is only a pair of jeans but I can't just jump over to Penn Square Mall and buy a new pair, I'm like 10 sizes bigger than all the women down here! I'll be back in the land of GAP and J. Crew soon enough...

Also, unfortunatly, I have been having stomach 'issues' for about two weeks now. I finally went to get a test yesterday. I quickly found out that I was hosting a growing fungus in my stomach. Not. Cool. At. All. I got medicine and I think it is now taken care of. It nothing else, this strengthens my immune system, right?

School finishes up this week. This blows my mind. I don't feel like I'm at the end. This is probably a good thing considering I am not really at 'my' end, only the end of the school year. Most of my friends are leaving on Saturday meaning that I will have a week and a half to get organized, hit the gym, and get settled as principal. The kids this year were wonderful. I am looking forward to working with them another year and hopefully helping them stay out of my office!

Well, the rain has stopped (for now) so I think I'm going to make my way to the grocery store. I'm going to leave you with a few of my favorite rain quotes from the songs that I was listening to as I wrote this as well as some of my other favorite rain quotes.

If you haven't figured it out yet, it rains a lot here. A LOT.

Viva La Vida,

Liz



Quotes from rain songs that I like:
"You're still here like a flower in rain, You get knocked down then you rise up again " Stephen Kellogg

"oh let the rain fall down
and wash this world away
oh let the sky be grey
cause if its ever gonna get any better
its gotta get worse for a day" Bishop Allen

"When it rains, I pour!" Grethen Wilson (This one really cracks me up!)

"Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain."

"Some people walk in the rain...others just get wet!"

Playlist:
(a special playlist made for the rainy weather)
Rain and Snow by The Be Good Tanyas
Rain by Bishop Allen
Bring On the Rain by
It's Raining Men by The Weather Girls
Why Does It Always Rain on Me by Travis
She's My Kind of Rain by Tim McGraw
Flower in Rain by Stephan Kellogg
She's Like a Rainbow by The Rolling Stones
Rain by Patty Griffin
Rainy Day Lament by Joe Purdy
I Love the Rain the Most by Joe Purdy
Fire and Rain by James Taylor
November Rain by Guns n Roses
When It Rain by Grethen Wilson
Every Time that it Rains by Garth Brooks
Rain by Bishop Allen (one more time...I really like this song)

Life is Good

Here are a few pictures from the last month or so. My mom came down for a week visit at the beginning of May. We had a wonderful time laughing, cooking, and just spending time together! Also, I have made a decision to stay down here next year. I was offered the principal position which I gladly accepted. I will have an extra bedroom for anyone who wants to come visit! I would love to host you! I hope this finds everyone well. I return to the states June 10 and will be around until July 22. Please let me know if you will be in the Oklahoma area during that time frame!

liz

Randi, my roommate, and I

Lorrie, Connie (Lorrie's mom), me, and my mom in Pana

Aaculaax. The amazing place we stayed while at the lake.

Me, Ed, Scott, and Randi. (Ed and Scott are our English friends. They are great.)

Mom and I during our cooking day!

Me, Danielle, and Zoe (the newest addition to the IAS family)

I just wanted to let you all know that I haven't forgotten about the blog, I've just been busy lately. I am finishing up writing my five finals this weekend and I will try to get some new pictures/stories up this week! Hope everyone is doing well!

Semana Santa, pt. 2!

As promised, I will now enlighten all of you on the second half of spring break!

When we left Belize, it was definitely bitter sweet but I know that I will return to that little slice of paradise one of these days! We headed to Peten (the northern part of Guatemala) because part of our group had never seen Tikal. I was lucky enough to see it last year so I just hung out on a beautiful lake for the first day. But the highlight of the last part of the week was the Guatemalan circus!When we arrived, we saw an incredible sight! It was none other than a Big Top (obviously it was smaller than the norm since we were in Guatemala!) We knew that this was how we were going to spend our evening. We made out way to buy tickets early to make sure we would be able to get 'good seats' and found a place to eat a delicious pizza dinner. We headed to the circus about 20 minutes before it was suppose to start. When we walked up, we were the only ones there. We walked down to the lake until we saw someone else and then walked in. Our tickets were taken by a girl that we later found out was 1 of 6 performers. We waited around for another 20 minutes for the first act. Boy were we surprised to see that the opening act were three girls in three green sequined bikini's doing three very risqué dances! There were a total of 20ish people in the audience so it wasn't easy to hide our laughing faces in what we could only describe was a very awkward situation. And this didn't last for 30 seconds, it was a good four minutes! After the three 'dancer's' were finished, two very inappropriate clowns came out and divulged in some very adult humor. Mind you, this was suppose to child appropriate. Some of our favorite performances were the two inappropriate clowns talking about a women being a 'milk store' and the older she got, the bigger the store became. There was a contortionist that was the only real talent of the whole show, but what did she do as her last pose? That's right, she smoked a cigarette.Out of the six performers (maybe I should say staff because they did everything! Including taking tickets, running the consession stand, and being the 'hydralics' for the 'trapeze') we decided that two of them were siblings. So, you can imagine our disbelief when they had a 'sniffing' scene where they proceeded to smell eachother in all areas of their bodies (including but not limited to necks, armpits, butts, and crotches). I never quite figured out why they were doing this but the children thought it was quite hilarious! I, again, was just laughing out of awkwardness! Another favorite was when one of the clowns came out and pretended to be gay and sang to a few chosen males in the audience, including one from our party! The clown would become so overwhelmed with emotion that he would shutter! Again, another awkward situation but so funny! My favorite had to be the three dancing girls dressed up as Barney, Winnie the Pooh, and (I don't remember). They came out to the Spanish version of "I love you, You love me" and then proceeded to do their dances once again but this time with hip thrusts! I will never view Winnie the Pooh the same again!

This was by far the highlight of the second half of Semana Santa but we enjoyed many other things as well. The place that we were staying was owned by an expatriated French man. It was beautiful! We stayed in a tree house like loft that had open windows and wooden floors.

By Saturday, it was time to head home so we boarded our night bus once again and departed for Guatemala City. We arrived at 5 in the morning and made our way to another bus station and went home.

Looking back on the trip as a whole I can't help but smile. It was such a great trip, with incredible friends, to a beautiful place! I can't wait to continue my adventures in the year to come (if you didn't catch the hint, I am staying next year! More on this in a few weeks!)

I hope all of you are doing well!

Viva La Vida!

Liz


Playlist:
Whatever It Is by Zac Brown Band
Eres La Musica en Mi by High School Musical (Spanish Version)
Girls Like Us by Tandy
Perfect Day by Lou Reed
Shine On by Rascal Flats
Open the Eyes of my Heart by Josh Edington
Lua by Bright Eyes
I Will Posses Your Heart by Death Cab for Cutie (a favorite from last spring!)
Kid A by Radiohead
If It Makes You Happy by Sheryl Crow
Viva La Vida by Coldplay

Deal of the week!

2 pineapples, 1 cantaloupe, and 3 avocados for 20 Q (roughly $2.50).

This makes me love Guatemala a little more...

An un'BELIZE'able time!

My spring break started with a 24 hour bus trip and ended with a smile. What happened in between those two things will only be understood by those that were there. There were eight of us that ventured off to Caye Caulker for Semana Santa (holy week aka spring break) for the best vacation that I have been a part of.

The adventure began Friday afternoon when our bus left at 2:30 for Guatemala City where we caught a night bus to northern Guatemala. We switched buses Saturday morning in Flores after 9 hours of sweat filled slumber (the AC was broken, ugh!) and boarded the last of three buses headed to Belize. By the time we got to the boarder, we were all anxious to get to the sea and soak up the rays. Little did we know, we had 3 more hours until we reached Belize City. Luckily, we arrived 15 minutes before the next water taxi was heading to the my new love, Caye Caulker. We bought our tickets and headed to the island. We arrived exactly 24 hours after we began our journey the day before but from the moment I set foot on this slice of paradise, I knew the voyage had been worth it!
We checked into our hotel, put our swimsuits on, and headed to get something of substance in our systems before anything else. No one had eaten much on the trip and the fresh red snapper was calling our names! After our indulgence of fresh fish and the local beer, we headed to The Lazy Lizard at the split (pictured above). As we approached, we noticed a slogan written on the side of the building. This slogan quickly became well known within our group and will always be associated with this place, “A Sunny Place for Shady People.” How suitable! After treating ourselves to a number of rum punches (2 for 1, of course!) we decided it was time to head on. We made our way to Oceanside (another place that we frequented nightly).

Something that I haven’t mentioned yet is my popularity on the island. I know this is a rather strange this to talk about but it was so outrageous that I have to state it! I have never been that girl that the guys flock to. My role has always been the sidekick and to make sure everyone gets home safely. I often reap the benefits of my beautiful girlfriends but this week was full of the other 7 (yes, guys included) reaping the benefits of my influence. It was quite fun but I have to admit that I was happy to get back to my normal role when we returned to Guatemala! There’s just something Belizean men like about a curvy redhead!
So, back to Oceanside…the crazy 8 walked in and quickly took over. The guys were all about the darts and the girls ruled the dance floor. I was able to talk the bartender into giving us free music all night long and we were quickly singing along to all the “Songs Your Know By Heart” by Jimmy Buffett and feeling the rasta beat with Bob Marley. We made friends with a few locals that joined our group for the rest of the week. One in particular, Big Steve, (pictured above with myself and my roommate, Randi) was our snorkeling guide, advice giver of great food, and the entertainment on more than one occasion!
On Monday, we headed out to snorkel. Big Steve, Medium Steve, and Zues were our guides for the day. It was by far the best snorkeling I have ever done. We swam with sharks, rays, turtles, groupers, baracudas, and SO much more! They took us to the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. It was incredible. Luckily, we were able to SCUBA there a few days later and venture a little further below sea level. While we were snorkeling, Meduim Steve told us that there was a cave that we could free dive through. I didn't hesitate and dove down the 35 ft. to swim through. After we were done with our three snorkeling spots, we ate fresh conch ceiviche and sailed home. We thought this was a great oppurtunity for a pirate picture (below)!
There were so many other escapades this week but I have to save a few for 'face to face' story time! I will include a few more pictures but next time you see me, don't forget to ask about the other times of Caye Caulker!
Viva la Vida!
Liz

Coming soon: The second half of Semana Santa (including a Guatemalan Circus!) and the birth of Zoe Xela Schnyders!

Playlist:
I feel it All by Feist
We Can Work It Out by The Beatles
Politik by Coldplay
All I Need by Matt Kearney
Limon y Sal by Julieta Venegas
Baby’s Got Her Blue Jeans On by Mel McDaniel
Open Hands by Snow Patrol
Rodeo or Mexico by Garth Brooks
La Isla Bonita by Madonna

Beachside in Belize

Just wanted to check in and let everyone know that I am having the time of my life in Belize. We arrived on Saturday after a 24 hour bus trip but it has been totally worth it. This place is beautiful and the people are great. My friends and I are having a wonderful time together as well and I couldn't have asked for a better semana santa (holy week/spring break). I will include pictures when I get home but a few highlights so far have been snorkeling with sharks, sting rays, and eels as well as sitting for hours playing cards doing nothing...life it good!

Liz