Back in Guate

Since I have come back to Guatemala four weeks ago, life has been pretty crazy...

Despite having a longer trip than planned, we were also a bit lucky, because when we arrived on Monday afternoon we had some time to relax and get used again to the life in the jungle. Without delay we would have arrived on Sunday at 9pm and start working the next morning at 6am... So Alberto and I went to the beauty salon in our building to receive a massage and relax after the long and tiring trip. The rest of the day we relaxed, went out for dinner and caught up with our housemate Omer. The next day I finally, after 4 months, started a job with my own responsibilities to which I had looked forward too a lot. Fortunately the training in Manchester turned out to be a very good preparation for the job and everything went smoothly. Of course I was happy to have my predecessor available on the company's chat for questions, but I was also happy to find out I didn't need him too much. But it was a lot of work (of course mainly because I was slow in the beginning), so we made some really long days, with a record of 16 hours (5am-9pm). Fortunately I really like the job and there is a nice atmosphere at the office, so it is not really a problem to work so much, but it is quite tiring of course and at times I wish I had a bit more free time, but it has improved over time, so that's good.

On the 1st of November, Guatemala celebrated day of the death. So we went to Antigua the night before to go to a friend's party and the next day we took the bus to Sumpango, where the biggest 1st-of-November-festival of Guatemala is celebrated. When we arrived at the bottom of the hill we already saw a lot of kites in the air. These kites are a way for the Mayans to get as close to the ancestors as possible. When we arrived up the hill we saw a lot of huge kites (up till a diameter of 13 meters!) waiting to be air borne, pretty impressive. But most of the day consisted of waiting, we had been there for a few hours already when the big kites finally went up in the air. And that was a bit disappointing actually, most of the kites didn't get higher than 5 meters before falling down in the audience. Nevertheless, the kites looked really nice and some launches were more successful than others. After a long and sunny day Alberto and I took the chicken bus (on a safe part of the road, not like the road to Panajachel, so don't worry) back to Guatemala. The next week was really busy at the office, we probably made an average of 13 hours per day that week..

The next weekend was relaxed. On Saturday morning we played a football game with the office and in the evening we went to a wedding in an expensive hotel close to our house and had a good time. The next we didn't do much. The week afterwards was pretty busy again, but a bit more laid back. And in the next weekend we went to another wedding, this time in the ruines of a monastery in Antigua, very nice place. Interesting detail was that the bride was only 20 years old and the groom 2 years younger, but she was pregnant, so they didn't really have an option but to get married... (not here in Guatemala). When we returned to zone 10, we went out for a bit and then went home.

The next thing worth telling is that my boss told me in the week afterwards that I will be promoted to power user (or senior analyst), which was about the biggest surprise I have experienced lately, but of course also very good news. In my new role I will have to study the processes of the other guys in the team and help them whenever they have an issue. Next to that I will have some supervisory tasks and help the team leader with his daily tasks. In other words, work if gonna be crazy the coming weeks/months, because I will have to learn the jobs of my 4 fellow team members, learn more about the system and processes and in the meantime I also have to teach my old job to my successor (and partially still perform it until he knows everything). But of course I am happy to have got so much confidence from my superiors and that I get this opportunity, it will definitely make my work more interesting and it will be a very valuable experience for the future.

In the meantime we have been to the gym close to our house a few times. It's in one of the 3 most expensive hotels of the country and has very luxurious facilities, with a tv for every cardio machine, a swimming pool, a jaccuzzi and a sauna, so we'll definitely keep going back there. And then there is also the Dutch team in which I play football every week on Wednesday evening. So don't worry, I also have quite some opportunities to relax during the week.

That's it for now, I'll update you in a while again, but we don't have too many interesting plans, so it might take another few weeks.

Saludos!

PS: pictures of the kites here http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10445&id=226700492&l=aa98f3847e