Guatemala 2007: First Week of Ministy Sites

So the semester was organized in two blocks of four weeks at language school with working a various ministry sites before and after each language block.

My ministry site was at a small medical clinic in a town call Magdalena, Milpas Altas. There were four of us students working in the clinic. Each day two would sit in the exam room with the doctor, listening to the Spanish used and helping with small tasks and the other two would work in the pharmacy room, getting medicine ready and explaining the medicines to the patients as they left.

This first week of working in the clinic really made me want to get into language school and get working on my Spanish. It was a good motivator.

This picture is of the doctor (in the middle, and yes she is Guatemalan) and us students on either side.

Guatemala 2007: Orientation

We had a good week of orientation before actually starting the semester. It was good to be able to get to know the group and some general concepts about the culture before living with families. We visited the central plaza in Guatemala City, the garbage dump, and the cementary. We stayed at SEMILLA, a seminary that also hosts people, during orientation. When I had visited Guatemala 3 years before while in high school, we had stayed in the same place. It made me feel at home to be staying at a place that I already knew.