Author: Brendan Scott

I am an educator, writer, and photographer.

Walking and my driving addiction

Brendan Scott

Hello, my name is Brendan Scott and it has been four months and eleven days since I last drove a car.  Or as my students might say, “drived a car.”  Before I left for Guatemala I didn’t know I was addicted to the open road; the high speed freedom of 70 mph and a full tank of gas.  But I quit that high octane ride, cold turkey, for a much slower means of transportation.   Walking.  

Besides the morning ride on the micro (pronounced meek row) bus, which takes me to school.  I walk everywhere.  First I walk to the bus stop.  Then I walk to the middle school building, which involves a nice flight of steps down a beautiful hill.  Then I walk around my classes, while helping my students learn that it’s drove and not drived or loan me, not borrow me.  I’m also trying to teach them that I wont let them barrow tissue paper, because I sure don’t want it back after they blow their noses in it.  But the thing I hear the most while I’m walking around my class room is a simple question.  My students constantly ask, “Can I go to the bathroom.”  Frankly I don’t know if they can or not.  I’m not their doctor, so I don’t know their medical history.  I can’t tell what they can or cannot do.  But if they really need to go I tell the they may go to the bathroom.  It is fun having the power of permission.  After school I ride the bus to the gym.  At the gym I lift weights and run.  Then I take a nice twenty to thirty minute walk home.  On the walk home I pass three pinata shops, two other gyms, two hot dog stands, a beer factory, a park with a big star of David in the middle, and several hundred Guatemalans speeding by in their cars.  

Seeing a car gives me the shakes.  I want to drive rather badly.  I know the benefits of walking everywhere.  I feel healthier and I’ve probably saved a ton on gas, which is good because my stipend definitely couldn’t cover how much I was spending on gas before I left.  I was so addicted to driving I was traveling from Denver to Boulder almost three times a week. That drive had nothing to do with wanting to see my friends.  Now I walk everywhere and I’ve started having dreams about driving.  I guess the old saying of you never know what you’ve got until its gone is true for me and my car.  I’ll be back in Colorado in a week and I think the first thing that I want to do is drive.  Maybe then I’ll miss my daily walk home from the gym and all of the crazy drivers that swerve to try to hit me.  But for now I am longing for home, not to stay their permanently, but to be able to drive around for a little bit and recharge my battery.

Thanksgiving!!!

Brendan Scott

Happy Thanksgiving!!  This was my first Thanksgiving away from my family and so I really didn’t expect to eat well.  I also expected to be a slight bit lonesome, but as these pictures will show you I was neither friendless or foodless over Thanksgiving.

These are the friends I got to share my thanksgiving meal with.  The Parents at the school provided a huge Thanksgiving meal for everyone, almost 300 people, and the food was
 amazing!
This was the massive amount of food the parents provided for the teachers.  What a great way to celebrate an American holiday in Guatemala.  I also had a large dinner on Thursday over at my friend’s house.  Both times I left thinking that I never needed to eat again.  That’s a Feast.
And finally this was how I spent my Thanksgiving day.  I hiked up La Muela (The Muller) with some friends.  It was a beautiful hike and I had a great time.  Thanksgiving to me is about friends, family and food.  I usually spend my Thanksgiving eating and eating and watching football and eating some more.  All done with and around my family.  This year I didn’t have the opportunity to be around my family, but as you guys can see I  was blessed with a few friends to spend my Thanksgiving break with, and sometimes friends are as good as a family.  I want to close with a question.  What is Thanksgiving to you?  

Prayer

Brendan Scott
Sometimes I feel infatuated with God.  My love can be a fleeting feeling.  I want more than that for my life and the love I fill with it.  I want to love deeply and love with reason.  I want my heart to beat in rhythm with God’s, like a guitar strumming in rhythm with God’s drum beat.  My heart desires to express my love for him when I’m worn out and broken.  To love him when I’m full of awe and gladness.  My love should be deep, maybe as deep as the sky and as close as the air.  I know that at times it’s not.  I worry about what others think of me.  I know friends don’t satisfy the way God does.  I don’t want to worry, I want to be profound and to live with a strong secure love.  
Can I find joy in the simple things?  Sheets that fit.  Air to breathe.  Legs that carry.  Mountains to hike.  Hands that write and feel.  Eyes to see.  Sunsets to view.  Mouths to feed.  Mouths to chat.  Conversations in spanish.  Conversations in English.  A child’s laughter.  Ears to hear.  A child’s cry.  Friends that cry.  Friend’s laughter.  Friends to love and be loved by.  Too often I look past these moments and float on with the breeze.  My feelings flutter with the wind.  I don’t want to fly where the wind blows.  I want to be firm, yet changeable, because God’s love is at work in my life.  Changing me to be alive in him.  Making me more than I am right now.  
This is a prayer I’m praying for my self.  There’s a couple more days until Thanksgiving break.  I’m ready to sleep in and have a long weekend.  I’m pretty sure my kids are ready for the break too.  After Thanksgiving there’s only three weeks until Christmas break.  This semester is flying by and God has really taught me tons.  I can’t wait to see what’s next.

Friendships

Brendan Scott

I’ve been thinking a lot about friendships lately.  I guess I’ve had friendships on my mind because I’m relearning how to make them, in a new culture none the less.  I’ve found out that making friends here is very similar to making friends in the states.  It takes time.  Fortunately I’ve been down here for a little over three months and I’m starting to make some good friends.  Yesterday I went to a beach called Champerico with a couple of my new friends; Laura, who graduated from Union High School in Tulsa, and Kristin, who also goes by the name Scarface because she has a nice Harry Potter scar on her forehead.  

While I was at the beach the crashing of the waves started me thinking about how people change when they make friends.  Each time a wave crashes in on the beach sand is dragged back out to sea and the beach is changed.  Maybe its only a slight change, but a change none the less.  The sand that was loosed from the shore is now out to sea.   There is no stopping this beautiful natural process.  Until the end of time waves will break on the shore and pull little parts of the world apart.   
Like ocean waves friendships pull little parts of your world apart.  A good friend will crash in on you and pull you out into the water.  They will not leave you the same.  I feel like I am making a few friends that are really challenging me.  Kristin is the art teacher at my school meaning she’s payed to be creative all day long.  When I talk to her I feel challenged to be more creative with my writing and my English class.  I can tell that she expects greatness out of her friends.  A good friend wont let you slide by or underachieve.  They’ll crash in on you and pull you out to sea where life is a bit more dangerous but probably a lot more rewarding.  
I could have stayed at the beach all day long, just sat in the sun, and had a great time.  But the real fun didn’t start until Laura and Kristin got me to jump into the water and let the waves pull at me.  We played in the surf for a long time.  The waves were huge and the black sand on the beach was hot so staying in the water was a little more appealing.  Friends will take you to that place.  Little bits of you will be taken away as you go, but in the end the I think you’ll be a better person than when you started.

Seasons: Invierno y Verano

Brendan Scott

I am now ready to say that the rainy season has ended.  I arrived in Guatemala on August first and it rained.  It has rained almost every day I’ve been down here, but as of this week it has officially stopped.  The loud noise you heard last week was the entire population of central America shouting for joy because the rain has stopped.  During the rainy season it was borderline psychotic to leave your house without a rain jacket or an umbrella.  I only did it once.  

As my spanish teacher explained to me tonight Guatemala really only has two seasons.  Rainy and dry.  Notice this does not include Summer, Fall, Winter, or Spring.  During the rainy season it is warm and rainy and during the dry season it is cold at night and hot during the day.  Not much change.  I really missed the changing of the leaves last month.  I love driving through the mountains watching the Aspen leaves turn from green to golden yellow and red.  The cool crisp air biting at your lungs in the mornings.  Other than football and hunting that’s what makes September and October great.  
Here in Guatemala September and October are filled with rain, but every once and awhile the air would feel crisp and if you closed your eyes you just might be able to trick yourself that it was fall time in the rockies, only until the rain starts to fall again.  Then the air doesn’t feel crisp at all.  It just feels wet.  No me gusta mucha lluvia.  (I don’t like a lot of rain.) My spanish teacher taught me that one tonight.  But like I said the rainy season is over.  Now in the mornings it is cold, cold, cold out.  Something like forty degrees and then by the mid afternoon when the sun is at its zenith it might be eighty degrees out.  Maybe a little less maybe a little more.  It is now November and that means hiking and sunshine.  It is hard not experiencing the seasons, but experiencing a new culture seems to be worth it and I am thankful for that.  I know that I’ll be longing for a little snow here soon, but in the mean time I’ll enjoy being able to hike up the volcanoes that line my horizon.

Hallowelections!

Brendan Scott

Paul writes in the book of Romans for everyone to submit to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.  (Romans 13:1) Simply meaning God’s in control so trust in him.  God is greater than the government that is in place, or the government that is going to take control.

If you’ve been hiding under a rock with your fingers plugged in your ears while screaming lalalalala you might not know that it is election day back in the states, and everyone here in Guatemala is all a buzz.  It’s as if their country is electing a new president.  I was able to vote by mail in ballot about two weeks ago, so hopefully my ballot arrived in on time.  Before I sent in my ballot I showed each one of my classes what it looked like so they could understand what it takes to vote.  (For some of the amendments it takes a masters degree in political science to know what you are voting for.)  With all of the buzz and excitement in the air about the elections I am also sensing a little bit of fear.  
It almost seems like the election process is as scary as Halloween to some people.  People are likening one candidate to the boogie man and then the other to Chuckie.  I’ve read a couple of facebook statuses saying that you need to vote for one candidate or you’re not a true American or Christian.  That sounds like fear and bad logic to me.  I don’t think fear is an appropriate response to the coming change, cause God’s in control.  I don’t like change much, but I am learning to trust God with my future.  I took a big risk in coming down to another country to teach.  God has been with me the entire time I’ve been down here.  I came down here alone, leaving all of my friends behind.  Since arriving down here God’s blessed me with a few friends.  And I say if God can look after me, a rather insignificant person in the scheme of the world, how much more do you think he’s concerned with the United States of America.  

Yet fear and hatred still exists between the parties.  Does that amount to a lack of trust in God?  Yes, I have an opinion on they way I think the government should work, but in the end does it really matter?  Jesus says in Mark twelve that the most important thing for me to do as a follower is to “love the lord my God with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my mind and with all my strength,” and the second greatest thing for me to do is to “love my neighbor as myself.”  There are probably a thousand different ways to honor him and love my neighbor, but no matter what way I do it, what matters is that I’m loving those around me and honoring God while doing it.  I believe this is what is important and I am pretty sure that I can love my neighbor no matter who is my president.  
So this is what I’m going to do.  I am going to trust in God and believe that he will bring everything around for his glory no matter what happens.  There is no reason to treat election day like Halloween.  

Mexico and Extortion

Brendan Scott

I experienced a couple of new things this last week.  Sushi for one.  I’ll let my buddies back in Boulder take a moment to catch their breath.  I know you are scratching your head in wonder.  What got Brendan to try sushi?  We couldn’t get him to eat it, ever.  He refused and ate pizza the last time we tried.  What brought about this big change?  Lets just say some people are a little more persuasive than others.  I will also admit that I didn’t like it, but I figured I needed to try the sushi roll because I was in Mexico and you know the old saying, when in Mexico eat Japanese.  Or something along those lines.  

Mexico was another new experience.  Now I’ve been to Mexico before, but I’ve never been there to renew a visa.  Walking across the boarder from Guatemala to Mexico was very interesting.  The Guate site was very crowded, people everywhere trying to sell you something or get you to exchange money with them.  It reminded me of the Mexican side of the boarder near Juarez, dirty and dangerous.  I walked through with my hands in my pockets trying to make sure no one else snuck their hands in there as well.  While the Guate side was a reminder of third world poverty, the Mexican side of the boarder was clean and peaceful.  There weren’t any beggars or hustlers.  I know that Mexico, just like any country, isn’t all that great, but it sure seemed like a peaceful sanctuary compared to what I’d just walked through.  
After a brief stay in Mexico we crossed back safely to Guatemala.  Leaving behind cheap movies and bad Sushi.  (Side note we saw The Strangers while we were there because the main Character’s name is Kristen McKay, which is the name of the art teacher at my school.  Only she spells it Kristin.  Well, she really wanted to see the movie because of this fact.  Half way through she was scared, screaming, and regretting her movie selection.) Leaving Mexico was easy.  Entering Guatemala was difficult.  The official didn’t want to let us back in.  We’d only stayed in Mexico for one day instead of the typical three days required to renew a visa.  So, we bribed him with cigarets and booze.  Factually not true, but we did accept his request of 10 Q each to re-enter the country (should’ve been free).  I’m sure he pocketed the money.  This experience made me wonder, do you work with a corrupt system so you can continue to share Christ’s love, or do you hold to your standards, meaning going back and waiting three days?  We payed and returned to Xela a couple of hours later.  
I know that 10 Q isn’t all that much, a little more than a dollar actually, but it is the fact that there are people out there that are willing to bend the rules for profit.  This was small amount, but the guy still had an asking price.  Do we all have asking prices?  I hope that I can’t be bought off.  I mean I guess I’m not my own to sell, I’ve already been purchased by Christ.  But what about the people who see money as their salvation and are willing to put others in danger just to obtain it?  Things work a little different down here.  In the presence of such poverty money is a get out of jail card.  I’m not saying Guatemalans are greedy, more so needy.  And when you are in need money sure seems like a good answer.  Maybe that is why the man requested 10 Q from each of us.  Maybe he needed the extra money for something noble like a starving child, but most likely he just wanted a little extra cash.  Greed is ugly, it can turn a fun weekend with friends into a sour experience.

Pandaemonium!

Brendan Scott

I pooped my pants.  Not today, not this last week, and not even while I’ve been in Guatemala, at least not this time.  I pooped my pants a couple of years ago while I was skiing in Vail.  I was on my way down the mountain and only made it as fare as mid Vail.  Some of you know this story.  It is pretty funny and has always gotten some good laughs.  Well, I decided to share this story to my middle schoolers during chapel.  I thought it would be a good ice breaker.  I thought this was a good story for them to connect to me with.  I mean everyone poops.  

Well, as I wrapped up my story.  One of the eighth graders shot his hand into the air.  I thought he was going to ask a question.  He had something else planned.  “Yes,” I said acknowledging his raised hand.  “Well, this last week I peed my pants,” he said.  I told him I had heard about that, and tried to save him from divulging further detail.  He didn’t stop.  “I had to go real bad and I got ‘it’ stuck in my zipper.  I couldn’t get it out and so I started to flip it around and I ended up peeing all over my pants.”  No shame.  I was laughing hard at this point.  The other teachers rushed out of chapel crying laughter.  I couldn’t leave because I was in charge.  “Okay,” I said calmly after I’d taken a deep breath, ” yeah, I’d heard that.”  I was trying to move into my talk, but he continued.  “I got it cut on my zipper,” just like this has happened to every man, which is a false assumption.  His friend replied, “And he had to get a band aid.”  Simple pandaemonium.  Boys and girls rolling on the floor with laughter.  If I’d wanted an icebreaker I’m pretty sure a glacier had just broken free.  
I gave the students about a minute to laugh it out then told them to regroup.  This worked rather well.  Then I smoothly moved into my talk about how to be a lover in a dangerous time.  We’ve been sharing how to fit our lives stories into God’s greater story, even our poop and pee stories.  I think that the rest of my talk went well, but I don’t think anything will top the self admitted peeing of the pants.  The kids at this school are amazing.  That is all I have to say.  If you want to know more about my own poop story or about what I talked about during chapel let me know and I’ll see what I can do.  

Fantasy Football

Brendan Scott

In the last couple of months I have become culturally fluent in a couple of areas.  One is snapping my fingers together like I am tapping a can of chew.  Everyone does this down here, even the women.  If you want to fit in around Guatemala you need to learn this action.  I don’t mean you need to learn how to chew, but how to snap your fingers.  This isn’t a regular snap and to achieve the action you must touch your thumb to your middle finger and whip your hand up and down resulting in a popping sound.  I learned how to do this in the seventh grade from a hispanic kid.  Who knew I was learning how to be fluent in another culture.  

The second area I have become fluent here in Guatemala is Fantasy Football, American football that is.  Okay to be honest this isn’t really a Guatemalan thing, but more so an IAS teacher thing.  I am still fundamentally against the game.  I drafted a few players that play for teams that I hate, Justin Fargus and Darren McFadden, whom I promptly traded for Tony Scheffler.  I decided that if I was going to play a game that forced you to cheer for teams you typically hate I would fill my roster with Broncos.  For the first two weeks this worked beautifully.  Since then I’ve gone winless.  I have a good team, but they just haven’t been performing well.  I bring this up because this is what “we” do down here.  From the bus drops us off at school to the time it picks us up at the end of the day you can find someone working on their fantasy roster.  When a trade or some other type of roster move you might see one of the teachers snapping their fingers together like a Guatemalan.  
Right now I am not snapping my fingers together like a Guatemalan or enjoying fantasy football.  My status among the teachers is slipping.  I might be connecting with the students and teaching them how to speak correct English, but I sure can’t seem to pull together my fantasy team.  Living in another country sure is hard.  I feel like I’m being stretched like too little butter over to much bread.  From teaching to fantasy football to figuring out how to fit into Guatemalan’s culture I don’t seem to have a minutes rest.  I am loving it though.  I know I’ll look back at this experience and smile.  Maybe I wont win my fantasy league.  Maybe I’ll never learn the language and only be able to communicate with my Guatemalan friends through the finger snap.  But even so God is creating something in me.  I can feel it and I am excited to see what it is and where all of this goes.

Dia de los ninos!

Brendan Scott

If you can’t do you teach if you can’t teach you teach PE.  You might recognize this quote from the Jack Black movie “School of Rock,” but I’m pretty sure it didn’t originate there.  I remember living by this moto in middle school.  Even in college if anyone asked me what I wanted to do with my English major I would’ve answered not teaching, I wanted to do.  So it comes as big of a shock to me as it probably does to everyone else that I’m teaching in Guatemala, let alone loving it.  I think I am loving it because I am connecting with my students and slowly being able to share my faith with them.  

I’m real big on community.  I like being around people.  So when I was working at Cherry Hell Hole Country club and being forced to wait hand and foot on people who didn’t want to know who I was.  I knew I needed something else.  My parents challenged me to look outside of the country, which I did.  God promptly directed me to Guatemala and then some how tricked me into teaching.
Here is what I love about teaching.  The kids.  I love them and long to see them grow into adults who are actively pursuing Christ.  I still don’t think I’m the best teacher, but I sure hope God is using me.  I’m slowly getting to know my students better.  In the last two weeks I have been to dinner at one of my student’s houses and then to a party celebrating the day of the Kids.  The dinner was great and the party was hilarious.
Just incase you’re wondering, you did read the day of the kids, or the “Dia de los ninos.”  I remember, as a youth, wishing for a day completely devoted to me, other than my birthday or Christmas.  I mean parents have Mother’s day and Father’s day.  My request for a Kid’s day would always result with a reply of, “every day is kid’s day.”  Well, here in Guatemala October first is a day completely devoted to the kid.  It’s celebrated with pizza parties and presents.  I was invited to the seventh grade party after school where I was served pizza, pop, and candy, which I ate gladly.  Only to regret the food later.  At the party all of the seventh graders were decked out in halloween garb.  (Yes they are a month early, but who cares!)  They even had a haunted house.  One of the girls was dressed up as a bunny rabbit so I asked her several times how long it took her to grow out her ears and whiskers.  Oh the joys of being a teacher.  
Then today in PE I had a great discussion with my guys about life and girls.  I hope they heard what I had to say about God and his greater plan for our lives, who knows.  I really have enjoyed getting to know my students on a less formal level.  I feel like I’m their teacher, but also a person that can relate with them and share Christ’s love.  I feel like the later is happening slowly, but is happening because I’m taking the time to know them.  So I might not be able to do or teach or teach PE, but God is using me anyway.  I hope.