My Life In Guatemala

Who I am? I am a Guatemalan and an American woman, throughout my life I have grown up in a misogynist society, my first language is Spanish and most of my education has been in Spanish. All my life I have lived in Guatemala and El Salvador. Since my childhood, I had the influence of two different mentalities. My mother is a Guatemalan and graduated from sixth grade with a very traditional education and my father from the United States who graduated from college with a four year degree in biology and is more analytical and scientific. I enjoy many of the aspects of traditional life in Guatemala but also have enjoyed my Dad’s inquiring mind and varying perspectives. In my education, most schools have been based on traditional education, i.e. the teachers know all and
I had a drastic change in my life in 2012 when the opportunity came to be able to attend the Antigua International School. My father was offered a position in the Peace Corps that came with educational opportunities for his children which allowed me to attend this school. At first I felt fearful of this change and would not be able to adapt in the school system and to my classmates. The first day of school I was demure in all my classes and it was a challenge to get used to the transition of receiving classes in English instead of Spanish. After I started becoming more comfortable to receiving classes in English, I was still afraid to express myself even though the environment promoted everybody’s participation. This was like a whole new world to me, a world where I felt I could express myself and really be myself even though I lacked the confidence and I was still afraid to speak. My first year in high school was mostly like that but over time my confidence gradually increased. Eventually I started to have faith and trust in myself and I became more optimistic in every aspect of my