Off to Guatemala January 11th...

Well, the travel bug in me is still alive. I thought it would have gone away after hiking the AT, but I guess not; oh well, just means I will have to go on another adventure! Yeah! I am applying to grad school for bilingual education. Unfortunately, when I asked the grad office if Samoan/ English could count for "bilingual," the answer was a clear "no." Who would have thought? So, to get my Spanish up to the level it should be in order to successfully teach in a bilingual classroom, I figured I would take a trip to Guatemala for a few quick months...

I will be leaving on January 11th and attending a Spanish school for two weeks. I will be living with a host family, attending language class for 20 hours a week, and participating in different cultural activities with the school. On January 25th, I will heading to Casa Guatemala, an orphanage in Rio Dulce. There, I will either be volunteering as a nanny or as a teacher. Volunteers at the orphanage volunteer for three weeks and then have a week off. During the weeks off, I will be staying with a different host family and going to another Spanish school which is very close to the orphange. I will be flying back to America on May 9th... Mother's Day.

I am super excited to experience another culture, to improve my Spanish skills, and to volunteer at the orphanage. It will be a fun way to start off the new year! Thanks to all who continue to read these silly blogs, support me in all these adventures, and listen to me ramble on when I return home! Happy Holidays and Happy 2010!