Vaca Sagrada! I'm in Guatemala!

2010-08-13T15:50:00.000-07:00

Hola!

So, I’ve been in Guatemala for a little over two weeks now (sorry for those of you who have been waiting for an update email, internet access/free time has been a little scarce), and it feels really great to be back. I spent about 3 days in Cobán visiting la familia before meeting up with the research team in Antigua. It was so wonderful to spend time with the girls and relax a bit before diving into the work portion of the trip. They were as silly and beautiful as ever and Cobán hasn’t changed a bit; it almost felt like I had never left.

On Sunday (8/1) I said goodbye to Cobán after a short but sweet visit and headed to Antigua where we quickly got started on plans for the week. (Quick recap of what we are actually doing: A non-profit indigenous women’s reproductive health organization, FESIRGUA, invited us to come to Guatemala to conduct the formative research for a weaving cooperative that they are hoping to start. Our research includes in-depth interviews with young women who have participated in an adolescent pregnancy prevention program and also analyses of artisan markets, existing weaving cooperatives, and fair trade stores. The hope is that this cooperative will give the women the opportunity to put into practice what they have learned in the program while also generating an income.) Monday morning we (Genevieve, Tilly, and I) left for a four day excursion to the Quetzaltenango/Totonicapán area. We conducted ten interviews and stopped in to a number of markets to get some ideas for potential products. Thursday we left for Lago Atitlan (maybe one of the most beautiful places in the world, I think) where we did some more market studies and had a little R&R. We stayed in La Iguana Perdida which is a funky little hostel in Santa Cruz la Laguna- I would definitely recommend it. We visited markets in Sololá, Panajachel, San Juan la Laguna, and Chichicastenango. I bartered with a girl for a mask in Chichi but when I got her down to a good price I decided I didn’t want it and she called me loca. Our main finding was that those markets were completely saturated with souvenirs and artisan products so being creative in product development is going to be big. The markets were extremely hectic and rather pushy and we were tired from a long week of traveling and interviewing so we reserved some time on Saturday to relax. We did yoga on a patio overlooking the lake and then later enjoyed the hotel’s tuj, a traditional Mayan sauna.

Monday morning we came back to Antigua where we met up with Erica and Kelly, two more girls from GW who have graciously volunteered to help us with the research. We did some more interviewing in the communities around Chilmaltenango this week and have really collected a lot of interesting and rich information. Word to the wise- chicken buses, mountains, and motion sickness are not a good combo. This weekend will be dedicated to more market studies, organizing findings, and getting ready for an entrepreneurship workshop that we are putting on for the participants next week. A group of business students from Oregon State University got here Wednesday and are going to help us put on the workshop. So far, my role in the workshop is to present a summary of the interview findings- so I have a lot of work cut out for me this weekend listening to 20 three-hour interviews! A filmmaker also came with OSU to make a documentary of our project (completely awesome!) and we decided that it would be great for me to be her little assistant so I can get even more experience in global health communications. I know nothing about filmmaking but I’m really excited to learn!

That’s what I’ve been up to in a nutshell. We still have three interviews next week along with the four day workshop so we’ll be really busy but I’ll definitely make time to have some non-work-related fun before coming home! I’m pretty sure I’ll be transcribing interviews every day until November but this has really been an incredible learning experience.

Hasta pronto!

adios

2008-08-01T16:34:00.000-07:00

I am going to begin by saying that this is the last entry that I will write in Guatemala and also apologize for being absolutely rubbish about updating my blog. I leave Coban on August 3 and will set foot once again on US soil August 5. So, this is my last week in Guatemala. I honestly cannot believe that my YAV year is over; it seems like yesterday that I was having a panic attack on the plane coming home from the placement event (funny story, ask me about it in person)!

So, let me bring you up to date. I went on a camping trip with the big kids at the student center at the end of June. I was the coolest kid at camp because I could dive off the diving board. It was fun. Then Kathryn (sister) and Becky (friend) came for an extreme Guatemalan vacation. I’m not kidding about extreme, either; we climbed an active volcano, went spelunking and then zip lining. They also got to experience the ritual of my host sister’s quinceaños. The church ceremony was really nice and I participated as part of the family which was very special. After the ceremony we headed off to a beautiful hotel banquet hall where we ate dinner and danced the night away. The other YAVs came for the party, too, and we all had a blast! I had such a great time showing the girls around Guatemala and introducing them to what I’ve been up to for the past year. Once the girls left, I headed off to Xela to say my goodbyes to friends there. Xela was beautiful, as always, and it was nice to visit and tie up some lose ends.

And now, I have pretty much spent the entire month of July saying goodbyes. I wore my traje (traditional dress) on my last day at the student center and my coworkers threw me a surprise despedida (going away party). Cake and kind words, it was great. Sarah and I went to a despedida at Cedepca, the librarians took me out for a refaccion despedida (going away snack), the group I run with took me out to breakfast after my last run, the señoras (women) at the church threw we a dinner and I have a few more despedidas this week. As you can tell, saying goodbye properly is really important to Guatemalans. My mom asked if I wanted a welcome home party but I told her I think I’ll be partied out by the time I get home.

So this week is chock full of packing, more goodbyes, and lots of mixed emotions. I’m really sad to leave all of my friends behind, anxious about whatever comes next, excited to see my friends and family again, astonished at how quickly the year passed, looking forward to the comforts of home (especially crispy bacon, my bed, hot showers, driving, four seasons and organic milk, just to name a few!), unsure of what exactly I accomplished this year, etc. etc. But even with all of these feelings floating around, I feel very content. There are some things that I would go back and change if I could but, overall, I am tremendously satisfied with my time in Guatemala and am very thankful to all of you who have been sending your love and support my way for the past year.

Hasta luego Guatemala, Hello USA!

1/2 Marathon, etc.

2008-06-11T10:22:00.000-07:00

The race was awesome! About 6,000 people raced with the Kenyans coming in first and me trailing close behind with a whopping time of 2 hours and 29 minutes. I think that’s pretty good, seeing as how it was my first race ever and I don’t have to run from lions on a regular basis. I placed 2,432 and had a great time just trotting along and listening to my music. A gazillion people came out to watch and the whole time I felt like I was smiling and waving at both people I knew and didn’t know. It helped that my number said Mary and the back of my shirt said Alejandra so people could cheer for me as I was coming and going. The Cobàn Internacional Medio-Maraton is one of the best organized races in Central America and it was so exciting to participate in it. The energy was incredible and I am definitely going to try to make running in half marathons a more regular thing. And that would give me a fabulous excuse to come back to Cobàn next year!

In other news . . . we had another retreat the week before the race at a nature reserve in hopes to see the elusive quetzal bird that is so celebrated in Guatemalan. Unfortunately, we didn’t see one but the scenery was beautiful and it was great, as always, to spend time with the other girls. We talked a lot this time about CAFTA, the Central American Free Trade Agreement, and what we as Christians should do in response to seemingly unjust policies. We also talked about reentering our consumer driven culture after a year of living simply. I’m not going to lie, I’m pretty nervous, it’s going to be culture shock to the max, and Good Will is going to get a huge donation from the Sutton household.

On a similar note, my leaving has become a popular topic of conversation. The other day one of my coworkers asked me if I could leave my eyes as a reminder of me. I don’t like the idea of leaving but it will be here before you know it. We have a retreat in Antigua this weekend, Compassion is taking the older kids on a camping trip the following weekend, Kathryn and Becky come to visit me/Raquel´s 15th birthday bash is the week after that and then vuala its July. I´m planning on spending my last month here completely absorbing all that is Cobàn. August 3rd will be the saddest day of my year as I leave my precious city and head to Antigua to meet up with some more sad YAVs and then August 5th will be a painful mixture of sadness and joy as I leave my Guatemala but arrive back into the presence of the beautiful Americans I have been missing for so long.

So that is what I have been up to/will be up to. I don`t even know if anyone reads this anymore but if you do, and you, by chance, know of some kind soul that wants to give me a job when I get home, please let me know because I have become completely obsessed with planning my life and its driving me crazy. :)

mom&dad and what have you.

2008-04-30T10:24:00.000-07:00

Ok so this is the long overdue entry about my amazing week with my parents and some other stuff that’s been going on down here in the Guat. My mom and dad came to visit the week before Easter and I could not have asked for a more fantastic visit with them. I’m pretty sure I wore them out trying to squeeze every activity possible into a week’s time and they just about wore me out with all of their questions. There are just so many exciting things to experience here that I wanted them to see and do everything! In Coban we went to Semuc Chamey, a really cool river that goes underground and then comes back up and has a lookout point that you have to hike to get to. We also went zip-lining at a coffee farm, went on a walking tour of Coban, and went to Chamelco so they could see where I work. I had a great time showing them around but my favorite part of being in Coban with them was having them meet and spend time with my host family and everyone else that is special to me here. We spent the last part of the week in Guatemala City in a really posh hotel. Thursday, one of my host mom’s cousins took us on a tour of the historic district and then we spent the majority of the morning with my mom and I shopping in the central market and my dad and our kind tour guide patiently observing. We went to Antigua that Friday to see all of the celebrated Semana Santa festivities. The week before Easter in Latin America is called Semana Santa, or Holy Week, and is very regally observed with extravagant decorations of sawdust rugs, called alfombras, and purple banners, candles, and flowers. Enormous floats of Jesus carrying his cross, called andas, are carried by hundreds of people and paraded over the rugs and around the entire city. These processions take place several times a day during the entire week in cities and communities all over Guatemala. We saw a few processions during the week but the celebration in Antigua is particularly renowned for its beautiful alfombras and solemn processions. People come from all over the world to take part in the festivities and the town was packed! One of the processions that we saw was complete with Roman soldiers on horseback! It was a very interesting to see and I’m glad my parents got to experience that side of Guatemalan culture with me. Easter is by far my favorite holiday and they really know how to do it up right here! Plus, my mom brought me jelly beans!

So after a week of gallivanting around Guat. with the folks, we said our goodbyes and I headed back to Antigua to spend a couple days before our next retreat in Santiago Atitlan. After a few days of hanging out with the gang, I went back to Coban and realized how much I missed my parents! I had had so much fun with them and really enjoyed being able to catch up that Coban seemed really lonely and boring and I was pretty homesick for a couple of days. It sounds horrible, but I had become so caught up with all of the new people and happenings of my life here that I’d kind of gotten out of touch with how incredible the people in my life at home are. I slowly got out of that funk once I got back to work. Compassion is still going well, as are my English classes. April was nutrition month and we are going to talk about the environment in May and are going to plant trees. I’m pretty excited. Other than work, I’ve been teaching Sunday school and running a whole whole lot. The half marathon is May 18 and I’m stoked! Tons of people from everywhere are coming in for it and I’ve even heard it might be on ESPN. Apparently, the Kenyans always win but that’s ok with me, I just want to finish with a somewhat respectable time and get my race t-shirt. The group I run with and I have ordered bright yellow tank tops with our names on the back to wear for the race which is just really fun in itself. I helped translate a Cedepca workshop on “integral health” a few weekends ago which was pretty interesting; a lot of talk about balancing body energies and stress management. I won’t be traveling again for a couple more weeks so now I’m just doin’ my thang here in Coban.

One last thought: It is impossible for me to sit peacefully in the park and read or talk to a friend or what have you. It appears that having light skin and blue eyes is an invitation for random people to approach me and ask for help with their English, profess their love for me, or want to chit chat about politics, war, or other heavy world issues. A recent example of this being the other day, when Sarah and I were talking in the park, this ridiculous drunk or stoned or I don’t know what guy came up to us and started talking. He asked if we wanted to meet his friends but then said we couldn’t because they were in his head. He then proceeded to tell me that he wasn’t a lion but he wanted to eat me. He said this while holding his “claws” up and holding his mouth open entirely too close to my arm. I told him that just as he was not a lion, I was not food, and he was not permitted to eat me. Very humorous, very random, very obnoxious because I really like going to the park.

marzo update

2008-03-14T16:50:00.000-07:00

Last week I went on another extraordinary translating trip with CEDEPCA. This time I had the opportunity to accompany the Presbyterian Student Fellowship from Vanderbilt University on their Spring Break mission trip. I know, I know, I have a hard job but someone’s got to do it. We went to Santiago Atitlan (the most beautiful place in the world, I think) and helped build a retention wall for a hospital called Hospitalito. In 2005, Hurricane Stan caused a mudslide to bury the original hospital. Now, plans are underway to rebuild a modern facility that will provide care to a community of 45,000 mostly indigenous Guatemalans in Santiago and the surrounding area. We spent the week digging and hauling dirt and sand, mixing cement, moving big rocks, enjoying a chocobanano or two (chocolate + frozen banana = delicious), and playing a little futbol with the workers. A little bit of sight-seeing was also thrown into the mix; we went to Chichicastenango, the home of a massive and very colorful market, visited some Mayan ruins, and spent the last night in Antigua. I had a fabulous time sharing in the mission trip and getting to know the group- there are some pretty fine folks at Vandy! I hadn’t realized how much I miss American humor! We are one funny country, if you ask me! I have to say, though, that my favorite part of the trip was the chance to share my YAV year with the group and facilitate in their discovery of the country that I have become so fond of. A little hard work for a great cause, wonderful people, beautiful country. Yup, another first-rate CEDEPCA trip.

This week I gave talks on buenos modales (good manners). I had planned to play Mother May I? with the classes but it turned out that fluoride treatments were also planned for this week so we didn’t have time for games. I spent Monday and Tuesday up close and personal with horrendous dental hygiene. I’m telling you, my little tooth brushing classes couldn’t even come close to helping these teeth! Five year olds should not have black teeth and 12 year old molars should not be rotten and falling out. It was very disheartening to see this reality in the majority of the children at the center. It took all I had not to cry as I gave fluoride to my sweet little babies and saw them cringe with pain and tremble with fear. I had to keep reminding myself that I was giving them a valuable treatment that they wouldn’t otherwise get. I had a tooth ache all day Monday. I think I was having sympathy pains.

Wednesday and Thursday I was in charge of distributing lice shampoo to the mothers of infected children. This method of louse control bothered me because even though the mothers received the shampoo there is no guarantee that they will use it on their kids or clean the infected bedding etc. in the house. Yesterday I helped treat a little girl and her sister whose mother didn’t feel like coming to the center to get the shampoo so she just shaved half of their hair off. My heart really goes out to these unfortunate kids who have to endure poor health and subpar living conditions due to lousy parenting, lack of education, poverty and countless other societal problems. Again with the sympathy pains; I made my host mom check my head for lice last night.

I was pretty busy all week what with strengthening teeth and de-bugging children and all. I also was about to burst at the seams with excitement . . . excitement because my mom and dad come tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I absolutely can not wait for them to see my Guatemala! I will be playing tour guide all next week while soaking up some parental lovin’, then I’ll spend Easter in Antigua and the following week we have our next YAV retreat. Man, marzo is a good month!!

Sea Turtles and Tooth Brushing

2008-02-20T10:20:00.000-08:00

A lot has been going on since the last time I wrote so let me fill you in on all the new happenings en mi vida . . .

Belize!

We had to leave the country to renew our visas so we went to Belize. So to avoid being deported from Guatemala, I was forced to lie on the beautiful beaches of the Caribbean for a few days. It was rough. We went to Placencia, a cute little town that is mainly accessible by boat or plane and whose “main street” is a side walk. It was a really nice getaway and we all had a great time playing and catching up. It was also refreshing to see different looking people, white, black, and not just Guatemalan. Guatemala is definitely lacking in it´s variety of people. And the Caribbean culture is so chill! We went snorkeling one of the days and it was incredible! Our guide picked us up in a boat on the beach outside of our house and we spent all morning snorkeling. Who knew there was so much going on under the sea! We saw gigantic star fish, a sea turtle, and a sea cucumber (which are really gross!) and watched our guide hunt and spear lobsters. We later docked on a private island where the captain of our boat prepared a seafood feast with the lobsters that we’d caught, fish, and conch. It was fabulous! We did some more snorkeling after lunch and then headed back. It was such a fun day and a great retreat that ended all too soon! Definitely a recommended way of renewing one’s visa!

Compassion

Compassion continues to be a joy in my life. First of all, I don’t think I mentioned that I decided to only work in one of the student centers instead of two. This way I can be more involved in Chamelco instead of having to divide my time between two places. So far it’s proven to be a good decision. Cograts, Al! I substituted a 1st grade class last week and kept the kids pretty much mesmerized with my magical ability to count in English. I really didn’t realize English was so entertaining- they are constantly asking me how to say things in English and amazed that my family and all my friends at home speak English and not Spanish. After I counted to 100 in English and left the kids thoroughly impressed, we colored. I must admit, I make for a pretty good sub.

I started teaching health classes this week. YAY!! We have planned that each month will have its own topic- February is Hygiene Month. I made some pretty stellar posters and talk for about 15 minutes about what we can do to maintain a good personal hygiene and the proper way to brush your teeth. Then we go out to the pila (large outdoor sink) and practice brushing our teeth using the bottoms of soda bottles, toothbrushes and shaving cream. The soda bottles resemble teeth and they work as models so the kids can make sure they cover the whole tooth with tooth paste (shaving cream). It’s a really cute activity and the kids really enjoy it; although, I have to keep an eye on the shaving cream so they don’t eat it or spray each other with it! The kids are adorable and say the funniest things. Today a little boy interrupted me to tell me that he has a cow at home, a girl wanted to tell me that her dad uses Vic’s vapor rub, and another boy wanted to know what time I get back to the US everyday. They are def. entertaining! And I now have a Compassion work shirt. I´m so official!

So what else, what else . . . I am now a singer in my church’s worship band, I’m translating a Bible study for the women’s group at church, I’m training to run in the Coban International Half-Marathon in May (so excited about this!), and my English classes start up again on Friday. I also witnessed my first serenata (serenade). My 14 year old host sister’s boyfriend woke her up (and everyone else in the house!) on Valentine’s Day with a mariachi band serenade. I was pretty ticked to be woken up at 5am but it was really sweet and I’ve decided that that might have been the most romantic thing ever and I would like to be the recipient of a mariachi band singing outside of my window at some point in my life. The cold and rainy “winter” has come to an end and now it is the perfect spring day EVERY DAY! It’s gorgeous! Sure beats putting tortillas on your face (which is what I would do to warm myself up on particularly cold days)! I’m translating for another CEDEPCA group the first week in March and my parentals are coming for a little Guat- vaca the week before Easter. I’m super excited for both and can’t wait to see my mom and dad! Ok, I think that’s all the news for now. Ciao.

El Salvador

2008-01-22T09:50:00.000-08:00

Last week I had the opportunity to accompany my first CEDEPCA group. I traveled to El Salvador as one of the interpreters for a workshop for women on domestic violence. We left Friday morning and arrived in El Salvador around dinner time. El Salvador is much warmer than Guatemala (than Cobán at least!) and a lot flatter. We stayed in a retreat center that was actually a former home for children that were “lost” during the war. The history of the retreat center kind of set the pace for the rest of our time, as the majority of El Salvador’s people still remember the atrocities of the war.

Saturday we did some sight seeing in the morning and planned for the workshop in the afternoon. We visited the UCA, the university where several priests were assassinated for speaking out against the war, and we also visited the tomb of Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was also killed for having a voice against the injustices of his country. Sunday we went to Suchitoto, a small touristy town about an hour from San Salvador, for church. After a very moving sermon given by one of the group members, we put on a puppet show for the kids. It was so much fun and they seemed to really like it! Then we had lunch, did some souvenir shopping, and went to a lake. It was so nice to be a tourist!

The workshop started on Monday and ended on Wednesday. It was jam packed with emotion as the women (and we) dealt with the troubles related to violence of all types. The women responded well to the information that they learned and it was really awesome to see them building trust and coping with unexpressed feelings. I could get really deep here, but I won´t. I´ll just say that violence and war are very dark aspects of our human reality but spending time with these women helped me relate, if even just a little, to what the people in El Salvador and most of Central America have lived through. We all got pretty close during the workshop and even stayed up late talking "slumber-party" style the last night. So, although the topics of conversation were pretty dense, it turned out to be a lot of fun and I learned alot.

I discovered that I really enjoy interpreting, although, in retrospect, it was a tad on the frustrating side in that the interpreters did most of the talking but never actually said anything themselves. And it´s tiring! I felt like I never shut up! It was still a really cool experience, though, and I´m looking forward to the next time I work with CEDEPCA. We got back to Guatemala City late Wednesday night and after sleeping in and a fabulous last breakfast with the group, I made my way back to Cobán.

The Holidays

2008-01-09T19:47:00.000-08:00

My host family and I began our Christmas holiday with a cross country road trip to attend a quinceanos in Xela. We did some sight seeing along the way (there sure are some gorgeous mountains here!) and then had a good ole time at the party. Then I spent the week in Xela for the YAV’s Christmas retreat. As always, it was wonderful to see the gals and we had a great time celebrating Christmas American-style (complete with a pretend Christmas morning and homemade Christmas dinner!) before experiencing Christmas a la Guatemala. After the retreat, I spent a couple days in La Antigua Guatemala before meeting up with the fam. in Guatemala City.

We spent Navidad with Irma’s goofy aunt and cousin who were an absolute trip and really made our visit fun. I helped them make tamales (mushed up corn with sauce, meat, and some other stuff wrapped in banana leaves- sounds gross but they’re actually really good) and they had a good time picking on me because mine were really messy and looked like they’d gone number 2 in their leaves. Christmas Eve is the big day here and we went to a cousin’s house to celebrate. We danced, ate, and set off some fire crackers until midnight. At midnight on Christmas Eve it’s customary to set off fireworks and then eat tamales. I’m pretty sure no one strays too far from tradition because it sounded like World War III started outside! I have never seen or heard so many firecrackers in my life! It was awesome!! Then we all hugged and wished each other a Feliz Navidad and ate tamales while the little kids opened their presents. Christmas Day we went to an ex-aunt/sister-in-law’s house for lunch and I spent the afternoon playing twister and hide-and-seek with the little cousins. Apparently, it’s also tradition to set off more firecrackers on Christmas day at noon and again at six, specifically red firecrackers that look like 20ft long snakes! They were huge and really loud and rather scary if you happen to be a foreigner who’s not familiar with such traditions!

After 2 weeks of vagabonding around Guatemala celebrating this and that, we finally moseyed on back to Coban where I hardly had time to breathe before the New Year’s festivities began. We rung in the New Year with a prayer and thanksgiving service at church and then had a bon fire and set off firecrackers (yes, Guatemalans really like pyrotechnics. . .) at home. It was really nice to bring in 2008 with all of the new friends that I have made in Coban. On New Year’s Day we went to lunch at a friend’s finca and I learned how to milk a cow! You may not know this, but milking a cow has been on my list of things to do for quite some time. Sadly, however, it was somewhat disgusting and left me rather disappointed. Me, being the product of the suburbs that I am, didn’t know that a cow’s utter is nothing more than a huge, warm, hairy nipple (and this one had moles, eww!) and I was slightly grossed out and kind of felt like I was violating her. Oh well, at least I started off the new year by trying something new!

Diciembre

2007-12-13T10:14:00.000-08:00

Now for a quick review of December thus far. . .

The first week in December, I went to a CEDEPCA Christmas party in Guate which was really fun. We had a short devotional and then ate the traditional Guatemalan Christmas meal of tamales and ponche (warm fruit punch). Then we went to one of my co-worker’s houses where we played a bunch of games and had a gift exchange. I wasn’t part of the office gift exchange but they gave me a really cool bag that has patches of the trajes from all around the country. It’s so colorful!

The student centers and English classes have pretty much wound down for Christmas vacation. The centers have their Christmas pageants next week but I will be in Xela so won’t be able to go. So that means no more work until 2008. I’m going to miss all my kids!

This past weekend we went to the 5th birthday party of the daughter of my host mom’s best friend at a coffee finca. We had churrasco (grilled meat and vegetables which is a staple party food here), and then went for a hike, played soccer, hit a piñata, and ate Barbie birthday cake. Then we roasted marshmallows on a bonfire and listened to Christmas music. It was quite the little party!

Today was Día de la Virgen Guadalupe. Everyone wore their typical traje and took their kids to get their pictures taken in front of little nativity scenes in the park. There was a parade and fireworks. I went Christmas shopping so didn’t see the parade but the kids in the park looked really cute in their little outfits and the fireworks were pretty.

Tomorrow I’m going to a birthday party for kids with December birthdays at the center in Tactic and then have a youth group Christmas party at night. I am just a party-going maniac!
Friday morning my family and I are leaving to go to a quinceaños in Xela. Then Sunday I’ll meet up with the other YAVs for our Christmas retreat (also in Xela). I’ll spend the week Christmassing with my fellow Americans and then the following Sunday I’ll meet up with my host family in Guatemala City where we’ll spend Christmas day and then a few extra days seeing the sights. It’s so different to hear familiar Christmas songs in Spanish and for it to be Christmastime but tropical outside with palm trees everywhere! I’m really excited to see how Christmas is done Guatemalan style but also extremely happy that I get a quasi-traditional American Christmas via YAV.

Feliz Navidad y que la pasen muy bien!

November recap

2007-12-13T10:09:00.000-08:00

Ok so I win the award for being the worst blog entry writer on the planet. Cuantos dias han pasado desde que escribí! Here are a few highlights of the happenings in my life since the last time I wrote:

Retiro en San Felipe
The 11-16 of November the YAVs we reunited at last for a retreat at La Finca Santa Elena in San Felipe, Retalhuleu. Santa Elena is a working coffee plantation and we had the opportunity to take a tour and learn about the coffee growing process and different social issues that it faces. We spent a morning picking coffee with the plantation’s workers. I picked 20lbs worth of berries in three hours and would have only made the equivalent of one US dollar for all my hard work. The experience was very successful in opening my eyes to the inequalities of the coffee industry and made me appreciate even more every cup of coffee that I drink. According to the owner of the farm, the best way to be socially conscious when buying coffee, aka help out the coffee pickers down here in Guatemala, is to choose coffee approved by the Rainforest Alliance. He also said that Star Bucks does a good job taking care of the “little people” so you should feel good the next time you drink a mocha latte! (I’ve heard differently about Star Bucks from other sources but for the sake of this entry, Star Bucks is good.) AND, you should make sure to keep a look out for sun dried bananas from Finca Santa Elena, coming soon to a Wal-Mart near you, they are to die for! So, in summary, the retreat was educational and fun all rolled up into a really good time and it was nice to see the other girls again.

In between the retreat and the next big event, I started taking piano lessons, did things such as play basketball and sing Christmas carols at work, and went to a CEDEPCA meeting in Guatemala City where I found out I’ll be translating for a mission group in El Salvador in January (so excited!).

Thanksgiving
I’m not going to lie, Thanksgiving was hard. I was so excited because I love Turkey Day but pretty much no one cared or even knew what it was. I spent the day being secretly envious of all Americans enjoying their mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. But then Sarah and I met for a grand makeshift Thanksgiving Dinner Extravaganza at Pollo Campero, Guatemala’s version of KFC. I had never been so thankful for fried chicken and French fries in my life! And they even had pecan pie! We both strung off a list of things we were thankful for and dug in. After dinner I called home and got to talk to everyone which was fabulous. So even though it was hard to spend Thanksgiving away from home and family and traditions, it turned out ok thanks to greasy fast food restaurants and calling cards.

Quiceaños
The fam. took me to my first quinceaños. A quinceaños is a customary coming-of-age type party to celebrate a girl’s 15th birthday. The best word that I can think of to describe it is extravagant. The party began with a huge lunch where the birthday girl wore a prom-type dress and entered the room accompanied by her 14 attendants, one for each year that she has lived. The family made speeches in the girl’s honor, everyone ate and had a good time and then smashed the birthday girl’s face in the cake. After the lunch we went home and changed into our formal evening attire (they decked me out in a blue cocktail dress and high heels). Then the real party started! The place was beautifully decorated and we were seated at very elegant tables to eat a delicious dinner (that did NOT include tortillas!). The birthday girl was announced and entered, again accompanied by her damas, dressed in an elaborate gold ball gown with her hair and makeup all done up. She looked gorgeous and far from being 15! Her attendants wore matching dresses and they all performed a dance before dinner. After dinner we sang Happy Birthday and danced the night away. I don’t even remember what I did for my fifteenth birthday but this party sure took the cake!

Then there was more work and had vacation Bible school where I scolded a kid for the first time in Spanish!! A little girl kept sticking wads of paper in between my toes and after the 10th time I fussed at her. She looked kind of upset but five seconds later she was sitting on my lap and asking where my baby was. Oh six year olds!

I think that pretty much sums up the month of November. I can’t believe its December already!

Day of the Dead

2007-11-05T14:24:00.001-08:00

So last Thursday, Day of the Dead was celebrated throughout Guatemala and let me just say, that it is one seriously cool tradition! All week long my host mom prepared the "fiambre," a sort of cold meat and vegetable salad topped with cheese and more vegetables and on Thursday we went to a cousin´s house to eat the Thanksgiving-esque meal. It looked kind of gross in the pot but it actually was really fabulous! Then once it got dark we all headed out to the cemetery so they could show me the real fun. My family, being protestant (Day of the Dead is a mostly Catholic tradition) and the hip Ladino (Guatemalans of Spanish decent) family that they are, doesn´t really celebrate but they wanted me to get the full experience. On Day of the Dead people go to the cemeteries to clean, paint and decorate the tombs of their deceased family members (think New Orleans above ground type cemetery). People fly kites in the cemetery during the day and then at night they light candles and bring food for their loved ones in hopes that their spirits will stop by for a little snack. It´s really just an ornate way of recognizing deceased loved ones. I didn´t see anyone sharing a taco with the ghost of old Uncle Pepe or anything but I did see a huge fiesta in the graveyard! There were food vendors, mariachi bands, loud reggaeton music playing, and TONS of people hanging around tombs that were beautifully decorated with flowers, candles, and ribbons. It was really neat to see the somewhat "modernized" version of this antiquated tradition that I´d read so much about!

Attention Clemson Fans- I saw a Clemson sweatshirt hanging in a paca (used American clothing store) the other day! Clemson is world-renowned! GO TIGERS!

Compassion International

2007-10-25T10:37:00.000-07:00

Everyone reading this entry should go out and sponsor a child through Compassion International today! Because it’s awesome! There, I said it. Now I’ll explain. . .

I absolutely LOVE my job! I volunteer at two student centers run by Compassion. The centers provide afterschool programs for local children that meet the specific requirements of the program. Basically, it’s a chance for considerably underprivileged kids to come for fun, fellowship, and food! We sing songs (even though I don´t know the words yet), have a Bible lesson, play games, do a little teeth brushing, learn a little, and have a snack. We even had a big birthday party last week to celebrate the October birthdays! So far, I’m just observing, getting to know the kids, and serving as the in-house freak show. The kids like to stare at me, pet my arms, stroke my hair, poke my freckles, ask me how to say things in English and then laugh at how silly it sounds, and hang all over me. I don’t really mind all the attention since I’m sure I look pretty funny to them (at 5’5” ¾, I stand reasonably taller than all of the teachers and some of them have never seen a white person up close before) but sometimes I have to fight back feelings of 7th grade self-consciousness. The other day a girl asked me if I have lice and then another asked if I eat people. She was dead serious. I told her only on Sundays and then had to explain that that was a joke and that no, human beings are not customarily eaten where I come from.

Eventually I will be giving little classes on basic health and hygiene. I’m really excited and am already decorating posters in my head and have thought of some topic ideas but if anyone thinks of a good one, let me know. I think they also would like it if I would check for lice and skin infections and the like since I’m kind of the resident “health specialist.” The only problem there is that I don’t know what a louse looks like nor do I know what to do with one if I find it. Same goes for skin fungi. I think I’ll have to Google it at some point. I’m pretty sure that sponsoring a child provides them with regular doctor’s apts. anyway so maybe I could just send the licey little angel to the doctor. . .

So there ya go, sponsor a child so they can come and sing songs, play games, and stare at me. I’m really happy with the work that I’m doing here and I like the people I work with a lot. Although, they do like to switch from talking in Spanish to Kekchi or Pokomchi (not spelled right but they are the local Mayan languages) and confuse the mess out of me. I tell them I’m just gonna start speaking in English and see how they like it. Son buena gente (they’re good folks).

I still like my new fam a lot and am getting into a nice little routine. I start teaching English at a library on Friday. Apparently, I’ve got 30 people signed up to take classes. I’m pretty astute at the English language but can’t say that I’ve taught it before so we’ll see how that goes!

I miss everyone and will get pictures figured out soon.

Slight Change of Plans. . .

2007-10-11T08:32:00.000-07:00

So there has been a big change of plans and, long story short, I am now living and soon to be working in Cobán, the capital city of Alta Verapaz. We had our last day of class and said our goodbyes last Wednesday and headed off to Guatemala City. Thursday morning we had a get-to-know-you meeting with CEDEPCA, an ecumenical Christian organization that works primarily with women and is where Sarah and I will be working. I will be working with CEDEPCA as a translator/interpretor for mission groups that come to Guatemala with their intercultural program. The people that I will be working with are very energetic and I’m really excited to start working with them!

After our meeting we set off for Coban with a few stops along the way. We stopped in a town called Tactic and while asking for directions, a borracho (drunk guy) walked right into the van! It made a really loud noise and at first we were all worried that he’d hurt himself. Thankfully, he had not and after picking himself up he came up to the window and said, “Ya’ll are Japonese. Why’d you kill me?” but in very slurred Spanish making it that much funnier. After our driver laughed considerably, he said, “Señor, you’re alive,” and we drove away. It was hilarious and will probably be an ongoing joke for the rest of the year.

We finally arrived in Cobán after quite a long journey (4 hours from Xela to Guate and 4 hours from Guate to Cobán). And it is exactly what I was expecting Guatemala to be like! It’s beautiful! Very warm and tropical and SO GREEN! The city is quaint and surrounded by lush jungle-like mountians. It’s very bright and colorful and sort of Mediterranean looking with a definite German influence so the architecture is different from what I’ve seen in other parts of the country (from what I’ve read, Germans took over as the head-hanchos of the coffee industry years ago. And not just the buildings are different, some people even have blonde hair!). We did a lot of visiting on Thursday and Friday to the places where Sarah and I will be working. Along with working with CEDEPCA, my new assignment is to work with a project of Compassion International in two local schools. The project works to weigh, measure, and feed children struggling with poverty and malnutrition. I will be working two days a week at each school and also volunteering as an “English recourse” in a library on the days that I’m not at the schools. The people that I will be working with seem wonderful and are very welcoming and the kids are adorable! I start on Monday so say a little prayer!

Friday night we met my new family and I am happy to say that they are awesome! Irma is my new host mom and she’s young and cool and I also have two new “sisters,” Andrea and Raquel, who are both really sweet. I’ve met lot’s of cousins and aunts and uncles along with a zillion new people at our church. My new family and I attend a Baptist church where my new supervisor is the pastor. This past Sunday, we had a breakfast at the church where I was welcomed by some really great people. I’m excited to be a part of a smaller church community, especially one in Guatemala! At breakfast, however, a lady (who I’m assuming to be sightly on the loca (crazy) side) asked me if I was Irma’s new boyfriend and then asked me if I was a man or a woman. I’m trying not to take it personally, although maybe the haircut wasn’t such a good idea. . .

Saturday the rest of the girls returned to Xela leaving Sarah and I here to get settled in with our new lives. I really enjoyed Xela and language school and it will be weird not seeing the other girls every day but I am pumped to finally get started! I spent the weekend in a bubble of awkwardness, getting to know the fam and my new surroundings. It never fails that when I get to a new place I kind of clam up and can neither think in English nor speak in Spanish. I’ve said many a time in the past few days that I was married (casada) when I meant to say tired (cansada). Oh well, I’ve set the bar pretty low and now the only way to go is up. Yesterday, my supervisor’s husband took Sarah and I to some aguas calientes (hot springs) as a way for us to get to know the area more before we get busy with our work. It was a very relaxing day, the drive was absolutely breathtaking and I couldn’t help but be overcome with gratitude for the hospitality of my new family and the friendships that I’ve made during the past weeks, and with enthusiasm to finally begin mi vida Guatemalteca.

Life´s a Beach. at least for a day.

2007-09-28T16:27:00.000-07:00

Ok so I´m going to try to keep this entry short.

We didn´t end up going to Coban because little Joshua was sick so we just hung out in Xela for the weekend and then went to the beach with our maestros on Monday. I was sad for Sarah that we didn´t get to see her city but the beach was really fun and we definitely needed a break. And it was my first time seeing the Pacific Ocean! It´s very similar to the Atlantic, at least in Guat. anyway. Other than our little excursion to the beach, we´ve just been trucking along in Spanish class, becoming really good friends with our maestros, and getting ready to move to our communities.

Tommorrow we are going to Yajabcu Signup to meet my new family and to have a chance for everyone to see where I will be living this year. I am so excited! And also a little bit on the nervous side. . . Jaime (my maestro) told me that I will probably have to, or at least be asked to, kill a chicken. I´m not really sure how I feel about that but I suppose I will just have to see what happens. Anyway, so we will be spending the weekend with my new host family, going to my new church, and I, at least, will be completely overwhelmed with all of the sights and sounds of my new home. That means, folks, be prepared for a really long entry next week!

Silly girl, rabbits are for food!

2007-09-18T16:09:00.000-07:00

Many an event, both humorous and other, has occurred since I last wrote in this here blog. Saturday was Guatemala´s independence day so the entirety of last week was spent going to parades and concerts, setting of fireworks, and going to the fair. Our teachers took us to a parade Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday and let me just say, one was enough! A Guatemalan parade, at least in Xela, consists of almost every student from almost high school in the area (and there are a zillion) marching down the street in their school uniforms, led by girls wearing really short skirts and high heeled boots semi-salsa dancing with sticks that have bells on them and followed by sad little marching bands that could rarely carry a tune and were completely overpowered by xylophones. The first parade was cute, the second ehh, and the only thing that saved me from pulling my hair out during the third one was the excitement of the crowd (this one was actually on independence day and there were masses of people lining the streets and rooftops). Still, if I never hear a xylophone again in my life, I´d be A-ok.

Friday was really cool. We went on a field trip to a town called Momostenango where we visted a family of rug-makers. Their house was awesome, and very earthy and serene and close to what I imagine pioneers living in years ago. They told us/showed us how they sheer the sheep, clean the wool, spin the yarn, dye the yarn, and use this cool machine to make the rugs. AND they let us try! That´s right, I spun yarn and helped to make part of a rug! It was so cool! It´s pretty much magical how they make yarn, if you´ve never tried, I suggest putting it on your list of things to do before you die. The machine just pulls the wool into yarn like ¨Presto! There´s your yarn!¨ It´s crazy! They also had a big cage full of rabbits so I went over to pet them and one of the little boys walked by so I asked, ¨Are these pets?¨ And he said, ¨No, they´re rabbits.¨ So I laughed to myself and asked, ¨So, do you, um, eat them?¨ And he looked at me like I had a monkey growing out of my head and said, ¨Uh, yeah.¨ Everyone got a pretty good laugh out of that one. So then we we did a little shopping and ate a fabulous lunch of freshly made tortillas that were cooked over an open fire, cheese and beans. And the señora let us try our hand at making tortillas!!!! That is definitely a skill that non of us even came close to mastering during our afternoon in Momo but it was really fun! Friday night the maestros made dinner (thank heaven we didn´t have to cook this time!) and it pretty much blew our attempt out of the water. Then we went to a concert and watched fireworks as we rung in independence day.

Sunday we went to Samantha´s church and it was really cute and welcoming and the sermon was really good. It´s really fun to see where everyone will be living and working this year and it makes me really excited for the coming year. Sunday night David and Jeneanne invited us over to their house for a fantastic dinner and it was so nice to have familiar food. . .lasagna! My fav!! Yesterday we went to the fair with the maestros and had a really good time even though the rides were a little on the sketchy side. I think sketchy rides are more of a fair thing, though, and not a Guatemalan thing and kind of add to the overall excitement. On one of the rides my friend Jairo looked at me and said, ¨You have a deformity in your eye.¨ I was like, ¨Huh? No, that´s a freckle.¨ Then he asked me if I ever got made fun of at school for it. It´s a tiny little imperfection in my left eye, no cause for jokes. Maybe you had to have been there for it to be funny, but it was.

So that´s all I can think of right now. Oh yeah, just a word of advice, never tell a foreign host mother you like to eat anything that comes from the inside of an animal, such as liver. There´s a story behind it but I´ll just leave it at that.

We´re going to the Xelaju Super Chivos soccer game tomorrow. Should be fun. Then a trip to Coban this weekend to visit where Sarah will be living.

Must get going now, I´ve got a lesson in churro making.

Clouds and Ketchup Spaghetti

2007-09-09T14:42:00.000-07:00

So let me preface this entry by saying that apparently I didn´t do a good job of spreading the word about my haircut. I got about 7 or 8 inches taken off and am now the spitting image of my kindergarten picture. I´m still not sure how I feel about it but it´s easy and will grow so I guess I can´t complain.

Alrighty, so this past week has been really busy. We have class everyday for 5 hours. That´s five hours of making forced conversation with the same person. It´s really not that bad actually and my teacher, Jaime, and I take lots of breaks for coffee and to kid around with the other groups. We also took a field trip to the cemetery and one to a glass blowing factory, both interesting in their own way. Every afternoon we have an activity planned through the school like salsa lessons, political lectures, or visiting nearby towns. The salsa lessons are by far my preferred activity and, apparently, there´s no dancing in Yajabcu Signup so I´ve got to enjoy it while I can. We went on a hike yesterday to see a sacred Mayan lagoon. It was a 5 hour, almost vertical climb in the clouds to the top of this old volcano and when we reached the top it was so foggy/cloudy we couldn´t even seen the lagoon! Our teachers claimed that it was fog but we were definitely in the clouds.

Funny story of the week: So as kind of a tradition at the school, the teachers and students take turns cooking dinner on Friday nights. This past friday was our turn so we went to a little tienda (store) in search of ingredients to make a good old fashioned spaghetti dinner. We got lots of noodles, sauce, bread, sausage (couldn´t find ground beef so we improvised), and even bought some cake mix for desert. Then we went back to the school and started cooking only to find that the sauce that we bought was actually ketchup. So being the good cooks that we are, we unsuccessfully added worsteschire sauce, salt, garlic, oregano, and who knows what else to make the ridiculously sweet kethcup taste more like tomato sauce. It was revolting. So then we added an absurd amount of garlic to the bread in order to balance out the sweetness of the spaghetti. That also proved to be a bad idea leaving us with both horrible spaghetti and gross garlic bread. So then we were left with our cake to save the night. And who can mess up boxed cake mix? We can. Soon after preparing it and sticking it in the oven we read the box only to find that we were baking icing and not cake. And as delicious as the final product was, it did´t really help to save our dinner from going down in history as a complete dud. The teachers were really nice about it though and some even asked for seconds but I think next time we should just order Dominoes.

(I would just like to state for the record that I am actually a phenomenal Guatemalan chef. Thus far my host mom has taught me how to make smushed bananas, deep fried with beans and cheese inside, hamburgers a la Guatemala and empanadas, which are my specialty if I do say so myself.)

So that´s all I got for ya. No school tomorrow because elections were today and they need a day to rest. Gotta love it!

Estoy Aqui!

2007-08-31T16:14:00.000-07:00

Hola from Guatemala! So, writing in this thing is going to take a little more effort that I thought. Here’s a little snipit of what’s going on so far.

My week in Chicago was really busy but nice. We had a lot of seminars on safety and globalization, among other heavy world issues, Bible studies, worship, and get-to-know-you time. All of the YAV participating in the program this year were there so it was fun to get to know the other volunteers that will be living all over the world. Chicago is a really neat city.

Ok, so now for the fun stuff! Guatemala! The other volunteers and I (there are 4 of us, Ali, Audrey, Samantha, and Sarah) left Chicago at 3am and arrived in Guatemala city at 12pm. It was raining so it took us seven hours to drive from Guatemala to Quetzaltenango, which is also known as Xela. We spent the frist couple of days with our coordinator, Marcia, her adorable baby, Joshua, and a missionary couple from NC, David and Jeannene, getting to know each other and the city. Wednesday we went out for my birthday dinner in an Indian restaurant. Marcia, David and Jeannene brought cake and presents and we had a really good time.

Thursday we started Spanish classes. We have private instructors which is really cool and I think my Spanish is going to be pretty spectacular by the time I move to my placement site in October. My teacher also is going to teach me some words in Kanhabal (the Mayan language in my placement town). Did I mention that we’re the only students in the school? It’s pretty sweet. We ate the rest of my birthday cake and the teachers made me take a bite and smushed my face in it- apparently that’s customary for the birthday girl. I, also, moved in with my first host family. It’s a mom and dad, 3 daughters, and a granddaughter. They are really energetic and say I’m part of the family already. It’s a nice house, about a two second walk from the school, and my “mom” is a good cook and wants to teach me all of her Guatemalan recipes. It was nice to unpack after weeks of living out of a suitcase.

So, everything is so-far-so good on the Guatemala home front. It’s been really rainy the past couple of days but Guatemala is a really pretty country. Xela is a cute city and I’m excited to get to know it better and spend more time with everyone before I go to my town. Which, by the way, it’s called Yajabcu Signup, my host family has 10 kids, the mother doesn’t speak Spanish, and I’ll be teaching workshops on basic health and hygeine, AIDS, and first aid to women who also don’t speak Spanish so I’ll have to find a translator. I’m going to be working with David a lot, too, translating for mission groups that come from the US. That’s all the info I’ve got as of now, I’m pretty excited.

We’re going on a field trip to some hot springs tomorrow and going to visit Audrey’s church on Sunday. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to spend the year with and I love having to speak Spanish all the time. I have a fun-filled night of journal writing and reading ahead of me so that’s all for now. I'll post pictures soon. Over and out.

On my way. . .

2007-08-17T21:27:00.000-07:00

Well, I don't have too too much to report as of now. I still can't believe I'm leaving tomorrow! I'll be in Chicago from Aug. 19-27 for orientation and then it's off to Guatemala, finally! I really just want to bypass Chicago and go straight to Guat. I've been looking forward to it for so long that I'm about to bust! The only comments I have as of now are that saying goodbye = no fun and I hope I have packed enough/haven't packed too much.

I hope I'll be able to write while I'm in Chicago but I might not get a chance to until I've arrived at my final destination. So that's all for now. Say a little prayer for me!