The blogger, offline.

A few weeks ago, my house was robbed and my precious technological toys stolen. That is, my MacBook, iPod touch, Kindle e-reader and digital camera. Three years living in Guatemala City and never a pickpocketing. A month into my new life at the lake and our house is burglarized. Hence, my au natural lifestyle here at Lago Atitlan in the Guatemalan highlands has been unintentionally enhanced by a complete lack of personal technology (aside from my cell phone, which I had with me at the time, and is a cheap three year old phone held together by scotch tape). Fortunately, my live-in boyfriend’s iPod nano was not stolen, so we still have music to listen to, even if it is his music. (I like most of it.)

I have had pretty much constant internet connection at home since college… the past fifteenish years. And a personal computer of some sort. So the decision not to get internet at home was significant. No more constant connectedness. No more mindless surfing. No more YouTube.

But not having a computer at all is non ideal. Of course, I lost the computer itself, but also a lot of photos, music and documents. Most of it can be replaced, except for some of the photos that were not backed up. Alas. A lesson in impermanence… and sadly, in not trusting people to be kind and honest. The thief knew a gringa lived there, and he knew we weren’t home at the time. Maybe he was in cahoots with someone in the neighborhood. Maybe not. We are on the hunt for a new house, but nothing amazing and affordable is coming up, not yet anyway.

So, I’ve been doing a lot more reading and writing by hand. Lesson planning with markers, pencils and notebooks. Not blogging. Or rather, writing potential future blogs in longhand. Maybe this is good. I can’t just immediately publish anything and everything. It now requires more thought and effort.

I started my new job at LIFE School last week. We have another full week of teacher prep and orientation before students start on September 10. It is a huge change from the American School of Guatemala where I worked for the past three years. In size, of course– 90 students and 10 foreign teachers versus 1500 students and nearly 80 foreign teachers. But also in resources. The internet is spotty at best, the computers are lacking, there are no Smart boards or projectors, the library is miniscule, and the desks are wobbly and mismatched. Yet, this school is a lot richer than the public schools in Guatemala. It is all relative. And, best of all, I will have ten students in my fourth grade class. Five boys and five girls. Pretty much a teacher’s dream come true.

I may be blogging less, but I will still be blogging. Here and at Moving into Motherhood. (I’m just over five months pregnant now.) Here’s to being blissfully disconnected! Namaste.