Who works and who plays on Sunday afternoons in the park

August 30, 2009

After spending most of the day inside yesterday, today, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather in Guatemala City and venture outside. Just a few blocks from our house is Avenida la Reforma, which is closed to cars on Sundays – making it a haven for pedestrians, cyclists, and skaters.

We made our way to Avenida la Reforma around 1pm. We walked for a couple of blocks until we reached the Obelisco. On the other side of the Obelisco, Avenida de la Reforma turns into Avenida las Americas, which has a huge divider down the middle where children can play.

The first thing the girls wanted to do was to go horseback riding. We had no trouble finding one of the groups of people who rent out horses for kids to ride. After their getting their horse-riding fix, we went to the huge playground that is on Avenida las Americas.

On a Sunday afternoon, it is full of families. Although it is a park, it is a space for play for some, yet for work for others. In addition to the families having their picnics and the kids using the playground equipment, there were many people trying to make some money on a Sunday afternoon. There was a man who rents out bicycles. Tatiana and Soraya were happy to see that, as they had been asking for their bikes all afternoon.

There were also many people selling toys, peanuts, cds, phone chargers, and all sorts of other things.

As we were sitting, watching the children play, a boy came up to us and asked if we wanted to buy some of the pirated dvds he was selling. I asked him how old he was. He was eleven, and has been selling dvds since he was ten. I noticed that a lot of the boys selling dvds were quite young. One was no taller than Tatiana and Soraya. He told me he was ten years old.

For some, the park is a place of play. For others it is a place of work. For some, childhood is about playing most of the time. For others, it is about working most of the time.

Where in the world should I live?

There are a lot of things about the United States I don’t like. I am not in favor of the war. I don’t like the fact that people in the US think it is okay to use all of the world’s resources. I detest the fact that people in the US live in big houses, drive big cars, and eat outrageously big meals while others are deprived of these things. Perhaps I dislike most the widespread idea that people in the US deserve all of these things because of their hard work. As if people in poor countries don’t work hard.

Despite my misgivings about the US, I have decided to make my life there. For the most part, at least. Today, I was with a group of people who work for the United Nations who have lived all over the world. A Uruguayan man asked my husband, Fernando, how he likes the US. Nando said it has its ups and downs.

Feeling inclined to contribute, I pointed out that, although, there are things I dislike about the US, I also see it as our best option. I love a lot of things about Latin America. I enjoy the spirit of conviviality and friendliness, and the more open nature of society. However, I have a hard time dealing with the extreme inequality.

As I see it, if I were to live in Peru, for example, in order to have a decent living, I would have to work somewhere like the United Nations or USAID. The salaries of university professors are pitiful, and would never be enough for me to be able to visit my family in the US or to travel abroad. At the UN, however, I could have a decent salary. But, a job such as this would mean living in an elite neighborhood in Lima, surrounded by other elites. In Latin America, class divisions are very stark. My children would go to school only with other elite children, and all of those families would have maids that they would treat as less worthy than themselves.

I don’t want to live like that either – with all elite people in an enclosed neighborhood, surrounded by poverty on the outside. I don’t want my kids to grow up in a society where one small sector of the population thinks itself much better than the other.

As I was talking about this, a Colombian friend of ours pointed out that in the US, racial divisions are very stark. I agreed with him about that. In US cities, it is very hard not to live in a segregated area. In most cities, you have to choose if you want to live in the white, black, or Latino neighborhood. That would be another hard decision for my family.

In Lawrence, Kansas, where we live in the US, we didn’t have to make that decision. The town is primarily white, and there is not a lot of segregation. Of course, the issue is that my kids will grow up in a primarily white environment.

In any case, I feel prepared to deal with issues of race in the US. I can talk to my kids about race and teach them what I know about it. In terms of the tremendous class inequality in Latin America, I feel less comfortable.

At my friend’s house today in Guatemala, the owner of the house told the maid that she could take home a broken toy guitar, as the boy of the house got a new one. The boy, who is five, said to his mother: “Oh, I know why she took it. She gets all of our broken stuff.” The mother, who is Spanish, was devastated. She did not want her boy to grow up thinking that some people get all the broken things, while others get the good stuff.

I feel the same way. I don’t want my kids to grow up feeling entitled to anything. They don’t deserve things just because of who they are, and I want to be sure they know that.

Funny how, at the end of this essay, I came back to what I initially said I disliked about Americans – that sense of entitlement. Maybe I need to re-assess where I want to live.

For now, at least, I can do what I can to pass on my values to my children, no matter where we live.

Sunday Trip to Antigua

On Sunday morning, Nando and I took the kids to Antigua for the day. This involved taking a taxi to the “Trebol” in Zona 7 of Guatemala City where the buses depart to Antigua. When we got out the taxi, a transit police officer directed us to where we should wait for the bus. A few minutes later, a bus that had “Antigua – Guate” on the front pulled up and people began to ran towards it to try and get a seat.

The buses that go to Antigua are US school buses that have a second life in Guatemala.
Cheese Bus

Instead of two kids on each seat, as I remember the buses from my childhood, in Guatemala, the seats are meant to hold three adults. On the way back, we decided to splurge and buy each of the kids a seat, which cost $1.00 (8 Quetzales) each. Having Raymi sit between Nando and I gave us a bit more room. On the way there, however, the bus was more crowded, and Raymi sat on my lap, which meant she didn’t have to pay her fare. But, she did squirm quite a bit.

It is a fairly short ride – less than one hour, so it wasn’t that bad. And, if I sat straight up in my seat, I could avoid hitting my knees.

The bus lets you off at the market in Antigua, and it is just a few blocks to walk to the main plaza. The central plaza was full, typical of a Sunday morning. There were churchgoers, vendors, tourists – gringos and Guatemalans – and locals enjoying the beautiful weather.

Central Park

Being in Antigua reminded me that Guatemala is a major tourist destination for Americans and Europeans. I rarely see tourists in Guatemala City. In Antigua, they are all over the place. Antigua is well-known for its language schools, and it is a charming city, so the presence of foreigners is no surprise.

At the plaza, Tatiana, Soraya, and Raymi spotted two clowns making balloons for kids, and rushed over to make their requests. After that, it was nearly lunchtime, so we set out to look for an economical lunch. As can be expected, the restaurants near the plaza are fairly expensive and have tourist menus. We figured that if we walked away from the plaza, we could find some cheaper and more authentic options.

A few blocks away from the plaza, through the arches, we came upon the Plaza de la Merced, where there was a small market. There were several vendors, and we decided to try and have lunch there. We ordered cheese pupusas, flautas, chicken, rellenos, and a chile relleno sandwich. Some of it was pretty tasty; other items, like the flautas, were not very good. With all the options, though, everyone got enough to eat. We spent less than $10.00 for all of us, a pretty good deal.

Plaza de la Merced

After lunch, we took the kids back to the plaza, and they got their treat for the day – a ride around Antigua on horseback. The kids love horses, so this was quite exciting for them. They seemed not to mind the smell emitting from the burlap sack that the horses wore as a diaper. I kept a safe distance, taking pictures and making sure the kids were safe.

The kids were a bit restless after that, so we decided to look for a playground. On the way, we passed by an old church that looked as though it had been destroyed in the 1717 earthquake. I asked the kids to guess what they thought had happened to the building. They guessed hurricane, tornado, snowstorm, and other events before getting to earthquake.

The playground we found was in a part of the town called San Felipe. There were a few other kids there, and the kids had a good time swinging on the bars, riding on the slides and swings, and running around and getting dirty with the other kids.

Turns out the procession of the Day of Our Lady of Mercy was on Sunday as well, and that the procession began by the playground we were at. We left the playground and went outside to see the procession. It began with a long line of people, and was followed by about fifty people carrying on their shoulders an enormous float with huge statues on it. I don’t know if it’s called a float when you have all of those people carrying it, but you get the idea.

The "Float"

Part of the tradition in Antigua is to make elaborate designs on the streets with flowers and sawdust.
Flowers on the street


After watching the procession, we went back to the Plaza de la Merced, and had tacos. I had carne adobado, and the kids had chorizo tacos. They were quite good. It was getting late, and we decided to make a final stop in Pollo Campero to have a beer and use the clean restrooms before heading back to Guatemala City. Getting the kids off of the playset in the Pollo Campero wasn’t easy, but we eventually succeeded.

When we made it to the bus stop where the buses leave for Guatemala City, there was a bus leaving. It was standing room only, so we decided to wait for the next bus. This meant we got seats, but had to wait until it filled up.

We finally got to Guatemala City at 8pm. It was dark, and the bus let us off in the middle of the road. Luckily, we found a taxi, and made it safely back to our apartment.

Another Day in Guatemala City: Meetings, Books, Walking and Gymnastics.

This morning, my research assistant, Oliver, came to pick me up at 8:30am. We had a morning meeting with Professor Miguel Ugalde. We had planned to take the bus, but Oliver unexpectedly had a car, which made the trip there quite a bit easier.

Oliver had originally suggested we walk to a bus stop about a twenty minute walk from my house. When we drove past the bus stop, I thought to myself that Oliver likely walks very fast, as it did not look like a twenty-minute walk.

Our meeting with Miguel was very productive. He gave us a list of at least ten people who work on issues related to migration that I should contact. I likely will not need to talk to all of the people he suggested. However, it is great to have so many leads, as that means I should be able to pick and choose the nice folks.

There are a lot of people, institutes, and agencies who work on migration in Guatemala. Eleven percent of the Guatemalan population resides abroad, and remittances (the money migrants send home) is the largest source of foreign currency in Guatemala. It tops tourism, coffee, and international aid. No wonder migration is such a big deal here.

After our two hour meeting with Miguel, Oliver dropped me off at a bookstore not too far from my apartment. I picked up one book for myself – a book on the Postville Raid by Eric Camayd-Freixas – in addition to several books for the kids. We may or may not home school, but, in the meantime, it seems we should be teaching them something.

When I got home, I spent about an hour with the kids, first doing a math assignment, and then moving on to some Spanish reading instruction. The book we have starts out by pointing out that Spanish is the easiest language to learn to read in the world. That is encouraging.

Once our lesson for the day was over, it was time to go out again. I had an appointment for a trial class for the girls at a gymnastics academy in the wealthy zona 14. Oliver told me it was about a 25 minute walk from our house. I figured that it might be a bit farther, but that we could try walking anyway. We set out from the house, made a left on Calle 12, and then a right on Avenida 6. After about four blocks on Avenida 6, I noticed the numbers were going down instead of up. I asked Nando about that, and he told me we were walking towards the city center. Oops. That was the wrong way. We asked another pedestrian where the Plaza Futeca was, and he told us we needed to get bus #101 on Avenida la Reforma, two blocks over, and in the opposite direction.

We made our way to Avenida la Reforma, and found bus #101. The driver confirmed it did go to Plaza Futeca. After a rather convoluted journey, the driver let us know it was time to get off, and let us off the bus at the intersection of Calle 20 and Avenida 10 in the zona 14. Just ten blocks from the Plaza Futeca. With no buses or taxis in sight, Nando, Tatiana, Soraya, Raymi, and I set out walking towards the Plaza Futeca.

Luckily it was a nice day. And, they were ten short blocks. About 20 minutes later, we were there. BabyGym is a nicely equipped gymnastics center, with all sorts of things for the kids to do. I wasn’t sure exactly what our trial class would consist of. I was hoping it would be that they would get to participate in a class with other students. Turns out it was a private one-hour gymnastics class with Tatiana, Soraya, and Raymi as the only students. The kids had fun and got a good workout. At the end of the class, I asked them if they wanted to come back. Tatiana and Raymi were displeased with the idea of being in the same class with their younger sister, Raymi. And, Raymi thought she needed to be in a class with at least one other five-year old girl. Other than that, they said they had fun.

I asked the receptionist about the other students, and she told me that they don’t have many students at the moment. There is one other eight-year old girl that Tatiana and Soraya can take a class with. There also is a four-year old boy Raymi can have a class with. That makes it a bit better, but doesn’t really solve our issue with the lack of socialization of the kids if we end up not being able to send them to school. It is funny – a private gymnastics class sounds fabulous in principle. But, when you are looking for friends for the girls, it is less attractive. Let’s hope they like the one other person in their class, if we decide to enroll them.

In the same plaza where BabyGym is, there is a great gym for me. I definitely need to get back to going to the gym. It wasn’t convenient in Kingston, and I am feeling a bit out of shape. That is one more reason to enroll the kids in BabyGym, as I can go to the gym while they are in their gymnastics class. Plus, if we walk there, I could get a decent walk in addition to the workout.

We told the receptionist we’d think about it. I suppose I will wait to see whether or not the kids ask to go back to the gym. Plus, we might check out other gymnastics centers, if we can find any. As we were leaving, we asked how to get back to our house.

The receptionist told us to walk a few blocks over to a Taco Bell, where we could get a bus going back our way. This was a bit of a shorter walk. When we got to the main street, however, we saw the bus going by. It was very full. People hanging out the front and back door full. I suggested to Nando that we walk. He wasn’t sure how far it was. We asked a young man, and he said it was about eleven blocks down. So, off we set, this time in the right direction.

On the way back, there was a nice playground in the Parque del Obelisco. The kids played there while Nando and I sat down and figured out our budget. I wanted to make sure we could afford to send the kids to this gym, and, if we did, how much we could afford for their schooling. Turns out we have enough, at least on paper.

The walk back was very nice. It was on a big avenue, but the avenue has a hug divider, which is like a little park in the middle of the street. So, the kids ran around, played on the statues and in the grass. Eventually, we made it home.

As you can imagine, the kids fell asleep almost immediately after dinner. I would have to, but I procrastinated too long on writing this blog post.

Writing with a Full House

Today is not going exactly as I had hoped in terms of writing, yet has been quite productive in other ways. I started out on the right foot with writing. I promised myself I would devote at least thirty minutes each morning to writing a proposal for a writing fellowship, due in mid-September. This morning, I spent 38 minutes on that project and made some real headway.

The next step, in my mind, was to make the online revisions to a chapter of a book on immigration policy that I am finishing up. However, a series of other issues took over before I could get to that.

First, I got a call from my research assistant. Last night I met with Oliver, an Australian who has lived in Guatemala for a few years. He agreed to work as my research assistant. He will help me set up interviews, accompany me to the interviews, write up fieldnotes after the interviews, and do other various tasks for me. Having a local expert will be a great help, as it will take me a while to learn to navigate Guatemala City. In addition, if I have an interview at 7pm in a poor neighborhood on the other side of town, a male companion is not a bad idea.

I was glad to hear from Oliver this morning, even though it took me away from my writing. He called to tell me that he has set up an appointment for Thursday for us to meet a friend of his who is very well connected in terms of migration issues. However, talking to him reminded me that I also need to get some documents ready for my interviews, and that I needed to contact Professor Miguel Ugalde to set up an appointment. When I called Miguel, he told me that he has arranged for us to go to the military airport where the deportees arrive on Friday. This is fantastic. I am anxious to witness this process, and potentially get contact information for deportees.

Once my phone calls were over, it was 9:30am, and time for Cecilia to come over. Cecilia is a private tutor, and we planned to talk with her about her home schooling the kids for us, or at least helping out with developing a curriculum and getting the kids on track. Despite my misgivings about home schooling, it may be our only option. Most schools in Guatemala are nearly done for the year – they finish in mid-October – and do not want to take new kids at this point. There are schools on a US calendar, but they have outrageous school fees - $6,000 just to enroll one child! We chatted with Cecilia a bit. She said she would suggest some schools to us, and that, if we decided to go with the home schooling, she’d be happy to help us out. Cecilia seems quite qualified. However, there are two things that give me pause. First, she charges US$15 per hour. That is a lot for Guatemala – la señora found it scandalous. Secondly, when I told her about the principal saying the girls were restless (inquietas), she recommended I look into the Monarch School, which specializes in kids who have ADD and other similar disorders. I take offense to even the implication that my kids might have ADD! So, we are not sure about working with Cecilia. For now, we have decided to ask around and continue to weigh our options.

Of course, this indecision means that the kids were running around the house all morning, and not really letting me get much work done. I was able to translate a document for my interviews – the Project Information Sheet. I sent that to my research assistant, Oliver, to look over. I also asked him to translate the Interview Guide. I was tempted to do it myself, but I convinced myself of the importance of delegating what I can.

With the kids in the house, it was difficult to make much progress on any other writing tasks. I spent most of the rest of the morning calling different schools, looking for teachers online, and searching for other activities for the kids. I set up an appointment for the kids to visit a gymnastics center this week. At least if they will be home schooled, they will have the opportunity to meet other kids in the gymnastics classes.

It looks like tomorrow will be a productive day. Miguel agreed to meet with Oliver and me to go over a list of contacts for people who work on migration issues at 9:30 in the morning. That will get the day off to a good start, and will get me out of the house. In addition, we may visit another academic institute in the area in the morning, as I heard they have issued a report on deportees in Guatemala.

After lunch, I gave into the fact that the kids weren’t going to let me work anymore, so long as they were in the house. I asked Nando to take them out. He agreed, and I got them ready. Finally, at 2:00pm, they left me in peace, and I set about writing this blog entry to get my mind back on track about what I have to do.

As soon as I sat down to write, la señora knocked on the door, inviting me over for coffee. I politely declined, telling her I really needed to get some work done, now that the kids were out of the house. She seemed to understand. I felt a bit bad about declining her invitation, but I have a list of things I need to do before the kids come back.

First step is to put the final touches on Chapter Five of my forthcoming book on immigration policy – Immigration Nation? Why Immigrants Come to the US and How US Immigration Policies Tear Families Apart – under contract with Paradigm Publishers, and due on August 31!

How hard can it be to get the kids in school in Guatemala City?

Bright and early this morning, we took our three kids to a nearby school to enroll them. The teacher and the principal were very welcoming and told us about all of the benefits of their school. We agreed that we would like to enroll the kids in the school. It would cost us $200 per kid a month, $600 overall, but we decided that was probably our best option. The American School in Guatemala costs much more, and has a several thousand dollar enrollment fee. Public school seems not to be an option, because of the kind of visas we have.

Nando and I left Tatiana and Soraya at the school, and took Raymi with us. The principal explained that Raymi’s teacher was out sick, and that Raymi should meet her teacher on her first day. So, it would be better for Raymi to start the following day when her teacher was back. Raymi was quite disappointed, but we appeased her by telling her we would buy her some new shoes for school at the store. The kids have been running around in sandals, and it is a bit colder here than in Jamaica.

Nando, Raymi and I went on a shopping spree to get snacks and other things for the kids to take to school, as well as new tennis shoes for Raymi. After that, we came home and had lunch, and at 2pm, Nando went to pick up the girls.

Around 3pm, I got a call from the school. The principal told me that, she was sorry, but she didn’t think it was a good idea that the girls enroll in their school. Wow! I couldn’t believe that they wouldn’t want the extra money. According to the principal, Tatiana and Soraya are at the right level in math, but are behind in Spanish language reading and writing. (Here, they teach kids cursive first, and the kids read more English than Spanish, so that wasn’t a surprise.) She also said that the school year is nearly over, so it doesn’t make much sense. Finally, she pointed out that Tatiana and Soraya are restless. (She has a point there.)

In all, after spending the morning getting the girls into school, we find out that we are back at square one. Well, not exactly, the principal recommended another school to me, one that has the US calendar, and should be starting up right about now. I gave them a call, and they said they would let me know if there is space for the kids. Unlike the other school, it is not in walking distance. And, it may be more expensive. They didn’t want to give me the price over the phone. I imagine that means it’s not cheap.

Thinking about how much we will have to spend on school fees, it occurred to me that $600 per month is likely quite a bit more than a teacher earns in Guatemala. In Peru, teachers earn $200 per month, and it seems as though the prices in Guatemala and Peru are about the same. The minimum wage in Guatemala is about $150, so I would guess teachers earn about $300. One online forum I read indicated that teachers start out at about $200 a month, and max out around $600 after twenty years of service. All that to say we likely can afford a private teacher.

As I was thinking about this, la señora, the owner of our apartment, came over to ask me about the school, and to offer her suggestion that we hire a teacher. She apparently did the math as well, and insisted it would be less expensive to hire a teacher. The idea sounds attractive, but there are some drawbacks.

One of the major drawbacks is the lack of contact with other children. If we hire a private teacher, it will be just the three of them. I suppose one solution would be to use the money we save by hiring a teacher to enroll the kids in some sort of dance, music, or art classes. There, they might be able to meet other kids. Only issue with that is that Tatiana just told me she wants to take gymnastics, Soraya, Kung Fu, and Raymi, ballet. That could get a bit complicated.

I just found a website with kids’ activities in Guatemala City. http://www.laguiadeguate.com/public_laguiadeguate/?MainSection=categorias&cat_id=289 This has lots of options! Perhaps we could take the girls to see the martial arts and gymnastics places to see which one they prefer. The gymnastics place offers a free class. We just have to make an appointment. Sounds like a plan!

Settling in to the Zona 9, Guatemala City

While we were still in Jamaica, I found our apartment in Guatemala City online. In terms of what we were looking for, there were not many choices. I was pleased to finally find a furnished three bedroom apartment in a busy residential district not too far from the US embassy. We found the place at avguatemala.com.

Nando and the kids arrived at the apartment four days before I did. My first day in the apartment, the owner came over to introduce herself. She was very friendly, and gave me a big hug. She told me she had been like a mother to the kids while I was away. She had even brushed the twins’ hair, and lets them “borrow” her little pet dog whenever they want. I thanked her for her help.

Over the course of my first day, the owner came over several times. This makes me a bit uneasy, because, as you can imagine, with three kids and most of our stuff still in suitcases, the house is not exactly in order. Plus, it’s hard not to feel as if she is checking up on us.

When Nando was out at the supermarket, the owner came by and asked me if we could talk about payment. Apparently, what the agent told me and what the owner expects are not exactly the same. We agreed that I would go to the bank and give her more money to cover the deposit. I was pleased she offered to accompany me to the bank, as that takes away my nervousness that I could be robbed on the way back. If I hand the money over to her in the bank, then I don’t have to worry about that.

After asking around, we found out that, inside the very fancy hotel, El Camino Real, there are three ATMs, one of which dispenses dollars. This was nice. The ATM is all of the way inside of the hotel, and is guarded by two security guards. So, I felt completely safe taking out the cash, counting it, and giving it to the owner. This is very different from Lima, for example, where I would take a taxi to the ATM, have the driver wait outside, and then have to worry we might be being followed.

It was also interesting to walk around the El Camino Real hotel. It always amazes me how similar fancy hotels are from one country to the next. Inside the Camino Real, it’s as if you are no longer in Guatemala. You could be anywhere – San Diego, Paris, Barcelona, Kingston, inside any major global city, at least in the West. I haven’t been to fancy hotels in Japan or China, so am not sure if they look any different. Inside the Camino Real, though, I saw people dining in their exquisite dining room, a man getting off the elevator in workout clothes on the way to the gym, executives exchanging information in the hotel lobby, and lots of security guards. Perhaps the abundance of security guards would differentiate the third world fancy hotels from those in other parts of the world.

Chatting with the owner on the way to and from the bank, I was able to glean a little information about the kind of person she is. She has one daughter in Colombia, and another in Taiwan. Her grandson is about to enter the university. And, she thinks that most places in Guatemala City are dangerous. She especially told me not to go to Zona 1, the city center, as it is dangerous. I asked her where the market was. She told me it was in Zona 1, and I shouldn’t go there, as it is dangerous. I asked her about Parque Central, which I saw on the map. She said that is dangerous, even in the daytime. What is safe, in her world, however, is the area where we live.

I also found out that she owns or at least manages the whole building, which includes about six large apartments. That allowed me to relax a bit, as there are at least four other families she has to worry about. She lives in the apartment across from us, but, surely she must also have to tend to the other apartments.

Where we live is quite spacious. It has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a full dining room and living room. We haven’t figured out how to set things up. We could set one of the bedrooms up as a playroom. But, if we do that, it likely will be after my brother visits. Ian is coming to Guatemala with his two kids in a couple of weeks. I am very excited about seeing them.

In Guatemala City, we live in Zona 9, about a block from the Plazuela Espana. About three blocks from our apartment is a Pollo Campero, a chain chicken restaurant in Guatemala. We went there my first night night for dinner. As soon as we sat down, the servers all lined up at the front of the restaurant and sang a theme song about Guatemalan national pride. I am not sure if they do that every night, or if yesterday was some sort of national holiday.

The highlight of the night, however, was the fact that there is an indoor playground inside Pollo Campero. The kids got into a soccer match with some other kids there, in addition to sliding on the slides and just jumping around in general. In a city with a relative lack of green spaces, especially ones that are accessible at night, Pollo Campero turned out to be quite a find. Even if we don’t eat there all of the time, we can at least take the kids there for ice cream on days they don’t get much of a chance to run around.

Hopefully that will change soon, as I hope to put the kids in school soon. Unfortunately, Guatemalans are just about to finish the school year. So, they will be entering at the end of the school year. Either way, it will be good for the kids to interact with other kids and to improve their Spanish skills.

Travel, Conferences, and San Francisco

Writing has become, for me, a habit. This means, on the one hand, that it is a hard to stop writing. On the other, it means that once I stop, it does not seem as easy to pick it up. It has been several days since I have written, and it is hard to just jump into it. However, experience tells me it will happen if I just do it, so here I am, typing away.

Since I last posted, I have been lots of places. I had a three day trip to Montego Bay where I met deportees, other contacts, and found a place to stay next summer – a condo overlooking the beach! I also spent some time on some of Montego Bay's absolutely beautiful beaches. Unfortunately, I returned to Kingston with an awful sore throat and painful ear. Even worse, I had only two days to wrap things up in Kingston, pack, and prepare to get my family to Miami and myself to San Francisco.

Miraculously, and with an abundance of help from my husband, we were able to get our apartment cleaned, our bags packed, and ourselves on the plane to Miami. We made it to the airport on time, and, after relieving our bags of the excess pounds, had no trouble checking in. We even had time to sit down and have breakfast before boarding. Even more amazing, as we were eating breakfast, an older woman approached us and complimented my girls on their good behavior! That was a first!! Usually, we get disparaging looks from folks who don't like to hear or see children. But, this lovely woman from St Louis was kind enough to come over to us and tell us how much she admired how well the children were behaving. Perhaps she didn't notice them playing tag when we were waiting in line to check in. Nevertheless, that set a nice tone for the day.

My husband, Nando, and my three daughters will spend three days in Miami before heading to Guatemala, while I go to a conference in San Francisco. Once in Miami, Nando's brother picked us up and took us to the Ocean Surf Hotel, where Nando is staying with the girls. Before leaving them, I got to spend some last few moments on Miami Beach. At 8pm, I caught my flight to San Francisco for a conference, the American Sociological Association Annual Meeting. After a five and a half hour flight, I made it to a hotel close to the airport, where, with the help of some antihistamines, I had a good night's rest. I woke up early to take the train into town for a preliminary conference in Berkeley.

At first, the conference was a bit of a culture shock. After hanging out with my family and doing research in Kingston, it was a bit of an adjustment to be in a room full of sociologists, where I was supposed to be networking and talking in academic-ese. I was very glad to see a friend of mine, Jessica, as I knew I could be myself with her. Nevertheless, I was surprised at how quickly I was able to get back into the groove. This was made substantially easier by the fact that everyone was quite friendly.

The preliminary conference was called “Making Connections,” and was organized by the International Migration Section of the ASA. These specialized conferences tend to be friendlier and easier to navigate than big, disciplinary ones. In addition, the international migration scholars were very friendly. People who sat next to me extended their hands in greeting and smiled. This level of friendliness is not always the norm in a roomful of PhDs, so I was pleasantly surprised.

At the end of the day, however, I was exhausted. I came to my hotel room in downtown San Francisco with my room mate, Wendy, and tried not to fall asleep, as it was only 8pm. Wendy and I chatted about the ups and downs of our jobs, and I was able to stay awake until 9:30pm. I managed to stay asleep most of the night until 6am, when I really couldn't sleep anymore.

I got up and got ready to conference again. (For us academics, yes, “to conference” is a verb.) I went to two sessions on transnationalism, which is a subfield my work on deportations is engaging with. I also ran into tons of people I haven't seen since last year's conference, or since I left Kansas in May.

I am debating with myself how much I want to take advantage of my time here and enjoy San Francisco. Despite two nights of rest, I am still exhausted from all of the travel. But, the weather has been gorgeous here, and it would be a shame to waste all of this sunshine we have been seeing.

Hopefully, I will be able to get a good night's rest tonight. I am a bit nervous, as Nando is flying to Guatemala first thing tomorrow morning with the girls! I am hoping he has no problem getting out of the country or getting into Guatemala! Really, there should be no problem, but the potential for things not going right worries me. I asked Nando to call me as soon as he gets into the waiting area to get on the plane tomorrow, and again once he gets to Guatemala. Hopefully, by this time tomorrow, I will have nothing to worry about.