Casas Activities

We started Spanish lessons today and I think everyone is very excited to learn a new language. After spending time at the youth forum and using our few spanish phrases, we re anxious to know more. My class includes Joel, Cass, Trevor and myself. The group is split into different classes based on levels. There are the intermediate crew which include Sarah, Christine and Kathryn as well as the super advanced which is only Tanya!

Now that we ve been to both El Salvador and Guatemala I ve noticed many differences between these countries. Even the weather. The difference in weather from El Salvador to Guatemala is extreme. In El Salvador it didn t rain, but in Guatemala rain is pouring down hard... All the time! The rain hasnt stopped our spirits from being high. We are all bonding very well and are becomign a mini family. I think is important since we have been and are going to be going trhough alot together.

The youth forum in El Salvador was an important time for our group. It was really touchign to meet the youth here who are all so hungyr for social change. You can tell it is in their blood and always on their minds. Despite the tragic stories their families have endured they arent stopped from having fun and partying and dancing. I have to say, for being a bunch of gringos we danced alright. I should especially give a shout out to Caleb who impressed alot of Latino girls.

Anyways my time is kind of ticking on the internet so I hope thigns are well in Canada

Olivia Golding

Back in Guat!

Buenos Tardes!

I´m posting this message from a little internet cafe blarring some sorta Spanish music as the enlace crew are taking in the sites of Guat city,zone one. The city is divided into zones based on the date they were built. After yesterday´s day long van ride back from El Salvador (filled with much singing,laughter and intense heat) we are excited to begun plunging into the culture of Guatemala.

This morning we learned about the history of this city from an incredibly passionate university proff and then spent an hour or so in our first Spanish clases. Divided into 4 groups we sat in little rooms with teachers who only spoke Spanish and were pretty happy to realise that we´ve already picked up a few words and phrases over the last week. THere is no better motivation for learning a language than to spend 5 days tryign to communicate with others through charades and translators. After the lessons we loaded back into our van that many of the students now call home and headed here to zone one.We are spending this afternoon walking around the oldest part of this city and observing the differences betwn guat and el slavador. Its raining buckets outside and we all feel like quite the tourists decked out in our brightly coloured rain coats and newly purchased umbrellas... funny how the warning that it would rain even though it was sunny outside this morning didn´t seem possible until a giant black cloud rolled in as soon as we had to get out of our van.

I have so much more to write but times up and I need to run back out into the rain to meet up with the others before we tour the palace belonging to one of the dictators of guat city built during the 1940´s. We are learning so much and look forward to sharing everything with you once the internet is back up at Semilla! The rest of this week will be spent in Spanish classes, and learning tours, focusing on the disparity of the riche and poor...something that we are starting to see more and more of as the palm trees and colonial style building fade into the background and we start to see the life of this city. This weekend we will be heading to Chichi, where we will be visiting a market place, spending time with some local famillies and to the excitement of all...checking out those myan ruins we keep hearing about.

In short...we´re having an amazing time and can´t wait to share our experiences with all of you..

adios!

El Salvador

Hola!

We want to start by saying sorry to all of those who have been religiously checking this blog hoping for new posts and information. Tuesday afternoon we headed to El Salvador and haven´t had internet available. We hope to have posts more frequently but are learning that nothing is quite certain!

The group had an incredible experience in El Salvador. We headed straight from Guate city on Wed morning to ANADES a development centre just outside of the capital city San Salvador. Here we had a fabulous meal of tradition pupuas and spent the night. THe following morning we moved around the city learning about the liberation theory and the inspirational life of OScar Romero who was archbishop of El Salvador during the war and who stood up for the poor and victimized. His words ¨Even if I die i will reserect for my people¨ are very true as his life continues to be inspiration for people today.

We moved on that afternoon to the Youth Forum. Here we spent four days with youth from all over central america- honduras, costa rica, guatemala, nicaragua. The group spent those days in seminars learning about the current issues faced by central american youth such as - ramifications of injust trade agreements, HIV aids, wealth disparity, north american capitalism. The second part of the weekend was dedicated to talking about actions and next steps to transform central american society.

The group took in much information during those days. Our eyes were opened wide to the impact consequences of north american decisions, governmental and individual, on the lives of central americans. Perhaps most positively impacting was the ability to gain perspecitive - to be able to look at the world without the blinders of North American society. In a debriefing session afterwards the group coined the phrase - apathay is no longer an option. It was truly an inspiring and motivating time to reflect on social justice and the need for action.

Not only did the group learn loads during our time at the forum - we had a lot of fun! We made lots of friends despite our little spanish, played sports, hiked a mountain, and danced to some tradition al salvadorean music. The general concensus of the group was that they loved the time at the forum and think the enlace group should go every year!

If you havent received an email from your participant - dont fear! We really havent hadchance at email. Everyone is doing happy and well. Illness has been minimal. Hopefully all will get a chance at internet connection soon!

Much love,
the enlace group

The Arrival!!

After a sending ceremony we embarked on our adventure. At least thats when it started to feel like leaving for Guatemala was real. We piled into the vans and headed to Kat´s house ' right near the airport. We were all too excited to sleep and stayed up past midnight chatting and giggling. That would have been all wee and good if our flight wasnt leaving at 6 am. After a hurried breakfast we discovered that one of our group members didnt have their passport! Luckily our group has wonderful parents and after a hurried transaction at the airport everyone was set to go.
Our flight on American airlines to Miami was rather uneventful. We had a three hour lay over in which I learned to play the popular Mennonite game dutch blitz.
I was so excited when our second flight touched down in Guatemala city. The first glimpse of the mountains was very beautiful. The drive to SEMILLA was eye opening. The things I couldnt get over was policemen and security officers carrying around guns.
We were all happy to get to SEMILLA. It is just beautiful here!

After a long and very needed nights sleep we are just about ready to leave for EL Salvador.

We´ll have more posts soon!

Cass Bangay

We're almost off!

With only two weeks remaining before we leave – the anticipation in the group is high!
Plans are all set and soon we’ll be headed to Pearson International to begin this adventure.

Our schedule for the next 5 weeks looks something like this;

Week 1: Arrival and travel to El Salvador for International Youth Forum
Week 2: Spend time with CASAS in Guatemala city
Week 3 -5: Travel to rural communities of San Marcos participating in work projects, educational meetings, living with families, and getting involved with recreational activities; hiking, volcanoe climbing, and swimming.

What a blessing it is to be able to travel; exploring, learning, and meeting new people.
Keep checking in at this blog in order to share this experience with us. We hope to keep it as updated as possible while we’re away.