A Glimpse...and Golden Arches

Who knew that McDonald's could be such a delicacy? 


I'm pretty sure I'll end up eating more McDonald's in the 14 weeks I'm here than I've ever eaten in my life. It's a favorite here and actually one of the nicer restaurants. While in the U.S., people work at McDonald's "flipping burgers" when they have no other opportunities, working at McDonald's is a dream job here in Guatemala. The service is excellent and the whole staff can't keep the smiles off their faces. We went there this morning for breakfast and as we were opening the door, a lady was running toward us trying to open it for us before we got to it. We caught the tail end of an all-staff meeting that ended in applause, and we had mealtime entertainment as new staff were trained. They were being timed cleaning messy tables. All the managers were standing around with clipboards taking notes on their cleaning performance. Ha! 


Even in the midst of the craziness, as soon as we stood up to throw away our trash, workers took our trash from us. Then, on the way out, the main manager held the door for us, smiled, and said, "Que le vaya bien!" 


I'm lovin' it. 


After breakfast, we went out to The Oasis (the girls' home I will be working at for the month of October) to visit. It's in a rural part of Guatemala, right outside a town called San Lucas de *some word I can't pronounce*. It was a long drive up the mountain on a one lane (but 2 way!) muddy road. I'll really be out in the boonies! It was also noticeably colder up there and there's no heat in any of the buildings. I might be asking my lovely sister to bring me some more sweatshirts when she visits me in a few weeks!

After The Oasis, we went to Antigua to visit the language school, see my casa, do some shopping, and eat lunch. It's a beautiful (and tiny) town! My casa is about a 5-10 minute walk from the school. I will eat breakfast with my host family in the mornings, go to class from 8-12, go home for lunch, and then have the afternoon to explore, shop, and read in the park. The Central Park is so pretty, with plants and fountains everywhere. It really feels like you've gone back in time to Colonial Spain. 


I can't wait to spend this month there preparing mentally and spiritually for working with the kids at The Oasis and Casita Benjamin!