Sunday, June 12, 2011

Wait... I CAN Speak Spanish!

The past week was a whirlwind!  We left on Monday morning for Santa Lucia Utatlan, where we gave charlas (presentations to students) on communication.  It was my first time in front of a class in Guatemala, and it went pretty well.  I had been really nervous about my Spanish and basically had a script written out for myself.  When I got up there, I realized that I didn’t need the script.  I was speaking Spanish, and the kids were able to understand me!  This gave me so much confidence for the rest of the week.  We got a little time to play with the kids at the school before going to lunch and heading off to another school for more presentations.  From there, we headed off to Salcaja, which was our home base for the rest of the week.

Playing With the Students in Santa Lucia Utatlan

Tuesday, we went to an aldea of Cantel, Quetzaltenango to see a volunteer site and give a charla on decision making and how to be assertive when someone is peer pressuring you.  There were eight of us, and three periods of classes to lead.  We broke up the presentations so that 2 or 3 people would lead each, while the other 5 or 6 would work individually with small groups during discussion times.  It worked really well, and the kids got a chance to get some personal attention from us, which they don’t often get.  During recess, I decided to play soccer with the kids, which was quite an experience.  The kids tend to only play with their friends from their own grade, so there were two soccer games and one basketball game all going on at the same time… ON THE SAME BASKETBALL COURT.  All the kids had the same navy blue sweater on too.  To say I was confused as to whom my teammates were is an understatement.  I was completely lost, but I still had a blast!  By the end of the game, I finally knew who I was playing with.  We returned to Salcaja in time to eat dinner at a pizzeria, which was great.  After dinner, we returned to the hotel to work on presentations that we would be giving to parents in Chuicruz, Totonicapan the next day.

 Overlooking La Estancia

Wednesday morning, we worked on presentations, and then headed off to Totonicapan, which is a beautiful city.  We were given a presentation on the goals of our project by Dr. Gonzalo Ball, our program director.  Then we learned about some secondary projects that PCVs are working on.  We went out to lunch in Toto with three PCVs.  We got these chorizo sandwiches that were AMAZING.  Plus they only cost 8Q, about a dollar.  This was good because we were living on quite a budget.  After lunch, we headed off to Chuicruz to give a 2 hour self-esteem workshop to parents.  I gave this presentation with Linnea, Elizabeth, and Brady.  It went really well.  The parents had so much to say!  The only problem was that I couldn’t fully comprehend everything they were saying!  We then returned to Salcaja to eat and prepare for Thursday’s HIV/AIDS charla.

On Thursday, we went to Chivarreto to see another site.  We then went to a nearby school to teach some 6th, 7th, and 8th graders about HIV and AIDS.  We were pretty nervous, since we didn’t know these kids, and we were going to be covering some pretty sensitive material.  Linnea and I were paired up to give the presentation to a primero (6th grade) class.  Our presentation lasted two hours, and it went really well!  The kids were interested, and they had fun during some of the activities.  Also, we had a little fan club outside the window.  There were kids that didn’t go to the school quietly standing outside the windows and watching our presentation!  We went back to Salcaja and went to a different pizza place, then met up with three PCVs to hang out for a little while and hear about life in PC Guatemala.

Linnea and I Giving Our HIV/AIDS Charla

Friday was a bit of a relief.  We left in the morning for a presentation by “Proyecto Payaso” in Toto.  This is an HIV/AIDS education group that does a presentation about how to prevent the spread of HIV.  Payaso means clown… you get the picture.  There were a few hundred kids there from different schools where PCVs work.  The organization was started by a former PCV who served in Costa Rica in the 90s.  We will most likely have the opportunity to invite Proyecto Payaso to do presentations at our sites.  After the show, we all went to Xela (Quetzaltenango) and spent a couple hours at the mall.  We even got to go to Wal-Mart, however there were no yoga mats at Wally World, so I was bitterly disappointed.  I did get some Cheez-Its, though, so I left somewhat content.  We also got some Oreos, which we used to have Oreo races back at the hotel.  I had never done this before, but it was pretty hilarious.  You open an Oreo and stick the side with the filling on your forehead.  You then have to move the Oreo into your mouth using only facial movements.  Good times.

Saturday brought our long week to a close.  On the way home, we stopped to see a PCV in the department of Solola.  He works in a community radio station, even though he is a youth development volunteer.  His project is pretty cool, and it was great to hear about different ways that PCVs are able to reach the youth.  I got home around 3 and spent the rest of the evening watching DVDs and knitting.

Interesting side note:  We had tamales for breakfast this morning, and imagine my surprise when I found a pig hoof in the middle of mine.  A PIG HOOF.  Yum.

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like a good week. Love all the photos. Everyone looks so happy.

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