Hiii,
Well second week down and a busy (sort of) one it was! I was really worried that I would have a hard time filling my days because of the lack of office/structure in my association but so far I’ve been finding lots of things to do to keep me busy and also to help meet people in my community. On Monday I went to a meeting with a group of women who are learning to make pan (bread). It was only the second time this group was meeting but it was so much fun (mostly because I got to probar-try the bread after we finished making it and I ate three muffins…this is why I have a tortilla belly). Two representatives from the municipal were there to teach the women how to make the bread as well as inform them of the benefits of potentially getting legalized as an association. This was actually incredibly convenient for me because I just found out that my woman’s group is not legalized either and even though the president of my association is not an actual member of the bread group she went with me and so the seed was planted for legalization of our group. Unfortunately, the presentation to try and get the group to consider legalization was more of just a mentioning of the fact that it’s an option instead of an informative session but at least it got the idea out there. I am really excited to be working with this group also because the need in our town for this service is definitely there (who the heck wants to live in a town in Guatemala that doesn’t have a panaderia-bread store? Not me.) Since we currently don’t have any panaderias closer than Chiquimula, that basically means that each little store (mostly are run out of houses in the neighborhood in my town) has to buy their bread supply from an outside source. This is not the best idea for a couple reasons… not only does it mean that my community is putting money into another community by buying their bread but it also means that the bread is less accessible to people living here. Obviously renting or buying a space and opening a panaderia is a long-term goal (things happen slowly here) but I think that it would be really awesome for our town to have and I will not complain in the mean time if I get to learn how to bake and get free samples of delicious treats.
Tuesday and Wednesday were community visits. Let me start this off by saying that since I've been at site I have been very determined to exercise and try and be healthier so I insisted to Dona Irma (the president and also the woman I live with) that I wanted to walk to the other community where some of the women in my group live...fail. This "neighboring" town took about an hour to get to and was literally directly uphill. Also, did I mention how hot it gets here? Oh I did, good. I should have believed Dona Irma when she told me that it was quite a hike but I thought she was exaggerating... I will not make that mistake again. All in all, it was a great workout and I actually am glad I did it just to get to know the scenery better (this is how I am justifying it in my mind) but I really don't think the families appreciated me showing up soaked in sweat and out of breath. Despite the trek that it took to get there, the views were gorgeous and I had a really good time meeting some of the women and their families. The first family I visited invited me back for lunch so after making my rounds I returned there for some chicken soup (first meat I've eaten since arriving at site) and a lesson on how to tejer-weave. This was really exciting for me because I have been bugging people to teach me how to weave so I can have a hobby in my down time! It's a pretty basic process for the most part but some of the designs that they have are really intricate and complicated. I also got to see some of the new products they are making, which include really pretty purses and sombreros (which obviously didn't fit my head because according to my counterpart "my cabeza-head is gigantic". Thanks Dora.) It was nice to get to see how it's all done though and what the women are making because it really makes me more of a part of it all. The walk home was much easier (literally all I could say the whole way back was "wow, downhill is so much better"). Overall, two successful days and hopefully this week I will make it back out there because I only visited a few families and there are 50 women in the group.
So Thursday was probably the most fun/entertaining day for me this past week. I was chosen (clearly just because I am the new gringa-white girl in town) to be a judge for a hip hop dance competition at the secondary school in my village. How freaking cool am I? My friend Brenda has been telling me about this competition since I came on my site visit so you can imagine her excitement when I was asked to be a judge and she was asked, by association, to be the MC (she killed it). There were 6 dance groups in the main competition and then 2 other groups, one consisted of kids from my village and the others were the "visitors". The kids from other towns were SO much better but obviously my village crew won (I tried voting for the outsiders but was overruled by the other two judges who had to go back and make their scores for the home crew higher when they realized it wouldn't outweigh the scores I had given). I will put the videos up on facebook though because it truly was a site to behold. The girls kicked butt and the boys mostly just stood in place and swayed around (not even necessarily in sync with the music but I won't nitpick). Brenda had a really good time though and I did as well so we can check that day off as a success.
Friday was the first day so far in Guatemala where I was actually really ill. I wallowed in bed all day and I think because of how fast it came on, I got really dehydrated, which clearly only made matters worse. Dona Irma pulled through in the clutch sometime in the afternoon with a bottle of pedialyte to rehydrate me and some pepto (pink minty milk paste never tasted so delicious). I was pretty upset during this episode because I was supposed to go to Emily and Brynna's site for their feria and thought that I might not be able to but I consoled myself the whole time with the thought that if it was physically possible for me to get out of bed in the morning I would go. And so I did. I was actually feeling much better and I took my bottle of pepto with me (just ask Lexi how cute I was chugging it on the micro bus as if it were the last thing I'd ever drink). Their feria was WELL worth the effort though I must say. We got there in time for lunch and then made our way to the rodeo, which was so fun and then on to the baile-dance later in the night. Dancing in the east consists of spinning as fast as possible in circles (it doesn't make any sense how people can do that for hours at a time but it was done). We all got to dance and have a good time though and I must say that I greatly enjoyed myself.
Today so far has been eventful and informative. We had a meeting this morning with some representatives of a national group that promotes the development of artisan women in Guatemala and they basically brought up every single thing I have been thinking about in regards to our group since I got here. They stressed the importance of becoming legalized, told the women how beneficial it would be to keep records and have an inventory (I already had a charla lined up for this topic, which I am still going to do because it's awesome) and also the importance of participation level of the women in the group (only 17 women were there out of 50 and it was about the same at the last meeting). I got a chance to talk to one of the women from the national group and to get her contact info but she just reaffirmed everything that I have been thinking and helped me prioritize which topics I should try and hit on first so it was really helpful. Some of the women in my group were a little defensive about some of the points that were raised but I am hoping I will be able to find successful ways of bringing certain things to their attention and promoting ideas (such as an inventory and cost of production) because I think it will really help to take their association to the next level. The rest of my week is looking pretty open with the exception of a meeting in Chiquimula with other artisan group leaders, which should be fun but hopefully I'll be able to fill my time with something interesting (if you wanna help me out by sending me an email that'd be cool too). I'll try and get another blog up next week but it may have to wait until after Thanksgiving (if that is the case, I really hope everyone enjoys their delicious turkey and all the fixings back home and hopefully mine here will somewhat resemble that as well). Love you and miss you all!
Monday, November 15, 2010
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Alacrán- Scorpion
Holler,
Okay, where should I start? So much about my life here has changed in the last week, it’s nuts! I guess I’ll start with our first day as volunteers… The swearing in ceremony was at the house of the ambassador and it was really awesome! The ambassador was super welcoming and nice and his house is absolutely gorgeous. The swearing-in was a pretty short ceremony, with speeches from our training director, the country director, the ambassador and one of our fellow trainees, Justin (who was hilarious, well done dude). I must also comment on the quality of the refreshments that were offered to us after the ceremony… they were bangin. We got to have coffee with milk (a rare and delicious treat), double chocolate secret recipe brownies and mini ham sandwiches with the absolute perfect combo of mayo and mustard. Aside from the yummy treats though (I think you can all see where my priorities lie…), it was really exciting to finally be volunteers and the oath that we took is the same as the official one we’ve all heard on TV so I must say I felt pretty legit. After the ceremony we went back to our towns to grab our bags and then took off for Antigua for the night. It was the first real night we got to go out and we had a blast. We all had dinner together at a pizza place and did superlatives, which were hilarious. I ended up winning most likely to break a bone, most likely to fall into a latrine and most likely to catch on fire? I forget what the last one was but it was something along those lines (I’m beginning to think everyone thinks I’m clumsy but it’s probably all in my head…). Anyways, Antigua was a lot of fun and a great way to say peace out for the next couple of months.
Okay Saturday… this is when the real fun began. We woke up and got breakfast at bagel barn (I already plan to eat bagels every single day when I return to the US… they are delicious). After breakfast we made the trek to where the camionetas are in Antigua (which was not fun with all our bags but I must say thanks to Thomas for carrying one of mine as well as my water bottle which had re-hydration salts in it that he made for me and tasted like dirt… I appreciate the effort greatly). The camioneta to Guate took forever and there was an incredibly creepy clown dressed as a dog sitting next to Lexi but we made it, which is the important part. In Guate, I got lunch with Emily and Brynna while we waited for Lexi and Carmen to get their wireless internet modems but we all ended up getting split up shortly after this… Brynna and Emily left together and I decided to wait for Lexi because we were going to take the same bus out of Guate. This backfired, however, because the line at the phone store was ridiculous and I had to leave without Lexi (of course I was paranoid about being late…). I made it successfully to the bus terminal and got on the right bus and off we went to Chiquimula… wouldn’t I have been so lucky. It turned out that the bus I took hated me and broke down about 3 times before actually ceasing to work… by this time it was 7 oclock (maybe later) and it gets dark in Guatemala at like 6 so no dice there. Also, buses to my town from Chiquimula stop running at 6 so again, no dice. We had to wait on the broken bus for maybe a half an hour until another bus came and got us and took us the rest of the way to Chiqui, where I stayed the night in a pretty nice hotel actually. The one saving grace about this story is that Lexi was with me! She ended up missing the other bus she was going to take and just happened to get on the bus I was on when it was already en route (the odds of this happening are not that good). So thank goodness we were both together and were able to stay in Chiqui and go shopping the next day for groceries and things of that nature. All in all, it was a looong day but ended up being okay since both of us were having some anxiety about going to site anyways… thanks for sucking bus!
Sunday was my first day in my new house and it kinda dragged. My new family here is really nice and welcoming but it’s so different than having my four little brothers running around and playing all the time. I miss my family in Sumpango immensely. My madre did send me off with a homemade banana cake that she made for me as a going away treat and also joked that it would be all I ate for the next week… little did she know that I’d finish it by Tuesday! I really haven’t eaten much else besides massive amounts of cake and oatmeal… I guess I should have taken my mom more seriously growing up when she told me to pay attention in the kitchen. I guess it’s a good thing I enjoy tea since apparently boiling water is the only thing I’m capable of. Oh, funny story here too… I was making tea two days ago and accidentally put the bag of sugar on the burner after I was finished (duh, the burner was still hot and burnt through the bottom of the bag instantly as well as melted sugar all over it, which is NOT easy to get off). I guess I actually am not even capable of making tea… it’s gonna be a long two years! I also was greeted in my room last night with a big old scorpion crawling down my wall. I immediately thought to myself “is it too late to choose the house with the rats?” Unfortunately it is too late for that and I’m pretty sure there are scorpions everywhere here so it probably wouldn’t have helped much. I ended up hanging my mosquito net (which I seriously McGuyvered, my room was not built for that type of protection). I was finally able to sleep knowing that my net was there to protect me and all the sweat (its blistering here 24/7) was worth it. Other than those few little things, my living situation is not bad. Privacy is a little more difficult here and I didn’t have any service whatsoever for my cell phone until yesterday when I bought a new one with a different service provider, which now works in a few locations in and around my house (better than none). I’m already used to the latrine and have gone running the past two mornings around the soccer field (this morning a little girl literally sat in the shade of a tree and watched me the entire time… when I said hi to her on my way out she started hysterically laughing… TIG dude) which makes the cold showers refreshing and wonderful.
This is the last paragraph I swear. I had my first meeting with the women’s group this morning and it went really well. I think all the women liked me (only 17 out of 50 showed up) and they expressed interest in me going to their houses and things like that, which is awesome considering this is my only job right now and our group only meets once a month… I need to find a hobby stat! It was really interesting to see how the meeting was run though and hopefully my Spanish will be better in a month so I don’t have to ask the president of the association to repeat every single thing that happened during the meeting to me after everyone left. I also got to hang out with my bff here, whose name is Brenda and she is the coolest 16 year old ever (and she’s super patient with me, which is awesome). We went to town and got me some agua pura so that I don’t get worms and then just hung out for a bit. Tomorrow I am going to meet her in town again and hopefully be able to post this blog (as well as check my beloved facebook and email… a week without technology seriously feels ridiculously long… maybe this is good for me). Anyways, sorry if this bored you to death but I wanted to talk for an extended period of time in English and since I am the only person here capable of doing so, this is what you get! Hope everything at home is great and I miss you all mucho!
Okay, where should I start? So much about my life here has changed in the last week, it’s nuts! I guess I’ll start with our first day as volunteers… The swearing in ceremony was at the house of the ambassador and it was really awesome! The ambassador was super welcoming and nice and his house is absolutely gorgeous. The swearing-in was a pretty short ceremony, with speeches from our training director, the country director, the ambassador and one of our fellow trainees, Justin (who was hilarious, well done dude). I must also comment on the quality of the refreshments that were offered to us after the ceremony… they were bangin. We got to have coffee with milk (a rare and delicious treat), double chocolate secret recipe brownies and mini ham sandwiches with the absolute perfect combo of mayo and mustard. Aside from the yummy treats though (I think you can all see where my priorities lie…), it was really exciting to finally be volunteers and the oath that we took is the same as the official one we’ve all heard on TV so I must say I felt pretty legit. After the ceremony we went back to our towns to grab our bags and then took off for Antigua for the night. It was the first real night we got to go out and we had a blast. We all had dinner together at a pizza place and did superlatives, which were hilarious. I ended up winning most likely to break a bone, most likely to fall into a latrine and most likely to catch on fire? I forget what the last one was but it was something along those lines (I’m beginning to think everyone thinks I’m clumsy but it’s probably all in my head…). Anyways, Antigua was a lot of fun and a great way to say peace out for the next couple of months.
Okay Saturday… this is when the real fun began. We woke up and got breakfast at bagel barn (I already plan to eat bagels every single day when I return to the US… they are delicious). After breakfast we made the trek to where the camionetas are in Antigua (which was not fun with all our bags but I must say thanks to Thomas for carrying one of mine as well as my water bottle which had re-hydration salts in it that he made for me and tasted like dirt… I appreciate the effort greatly). The camioneta to Guate took forever and there was an incredibly creepy clown dressed as a dog sitting next to Lexi but we made it, which is the important part. In Guate, I got lunch with Emily and Brynna while we waited for Lexi and Carmen to get their wireless internet modems but we all ended up getting split up shortly after this… Brynna and Emily left together and I decided to wait for Lexi because we were going to take the same bus out of Guate. This backfired, however, because the line at the phone store was ridiculous and I had to leave without Lexi (of course I was paranoid about being late…). I made it successfully to the bus terminal and got on the right bus and off we went to Chiquimula… wouldn’t I have been so lucky. It turned out that the bus I took hated me and broke down about 3 times before actually ceasing to work… by this time it was 7 oclock (maybe later) and it gets dark in Guatemala at like 6 so no dice there. Also, buses to my town from Chiquimula stop running at 6 so again, no dice. We had to wait on the broken bus for maybe a half an hour until another bus came and got us and took us the rest of the way to Chiqui, where I stayed the night in a pretty nice hotel actually. The one saving grace about this story is that Lexi was with me! She ended up missing the other bus she was going to take and just happened to get on the bus I was on when it was already en route (the odds of this happening are not that good). So thank goodness we were both together and were able to stay in Chiqui and go shopping the next day for groceries and things of that nature. All in all, it was a looong day but ended up being okay since both of us were having some anxiety about going to site anyways… thanks for sucking bus!
Sunday was my first day in my new house and it kinda dragged. My new family here is really nice and welcoming but it’s so different than having my four little brothers running around and playing all the time. I miss my family in Sumpango immensely. My madre did send me off with a homemade banana cake that she made for me as a going away treat and also joked that it would be all I ate for the next week… little did she know that I’d finish it by Tuesday! I really haven’t eaten much else besides massive amounts of cake and oatmeal… I guess I should have taken my mom more seriously growing up when she told me to pay attention in the kitchen. I guess it’s a good thing I enjoy tea since apparently boiling water is the only thing I’m capable of. Oh, funny story here too… I was making tea two days ago and accidentally put the bag of sugar on the burner after I was finished (duh, the burner was still hot and burnt through the bottom of the bag instantly as well as melted sugar all over it, which is NOT easy to get off). I guess I actually am not even capable of making tea… it’s gonna be a long two years! I also was greeted in my room last night with a big old scorpion crawling down my wall. I immediately thought to myself “is it too late to choose the house with the rats?” Unfortunately it is too late for that and I’m pretty sure there are scorpions everywhere here so it probably wouldn’t have helped much. I ended up hanging my mosquito net (which I seriously McGuyvered, my room was not built for that type of protection). I was finally able to sleep knowing that my net was there to protect me and all the sweat (its blistering here 24/7) was worth it. Other than those few little things, my living situation is not bad. Privacy is a little more difficult here and I didn’t have any service whatsoever for my cell phone until yesterday when I bought a new one with a different service provider, which now works in a few locations in and around my house (better than none). I’m already used to the latrine and have gone running the past two mornings around the soccer field (this morning a little girl literally sat in the shade of a tree and watched me the entire time… when I said hi to her on my way out she started hysterically laughing… TIG dude) which makes the cold showers refreshing and wonderful.
This is the last paragraph I swear. I had my first meeting with the women’s group this morning and it went really well. I think all the women liked me (only 17 out of 50 showed up) and they expressed interest in me going to their houses and things like that, which is awesome considering this is my only job right now and our group only meets once a month… I need to find a hobby stat! It was really interesting to see how the meeting was run though and hopefully my Spanish will be better in a month so I don’t have to ask the president of the association to repeat every single thing that happened during the meeting to me after everyone left. I also got to hang out with my bff here, whose name is Brenda and she is the coolest 16 year old ever (and she’s super patient with me, which is awesome). We went to town and got me some agua pura so that I don’t get worms and then just hung out for a bit. Tomorrow I am going to meet her in town again and hopefully be able to post this blog (as well as check my beloved facebook and email… a week without technology seriously feels ridiculously long… maybe this is good for me). Anyways, sorry if this bored you to death but I wanted to talk for an extended period of time in English and since I am the only person here capable of doing so, this is what you get! Hope everything at home is great and I miss you all mucho!
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