Tortillarific!

This weekend, we had both Saturday and Sunday off.  It’s the first “real” weekend I’ve had since I’ve been in country.  Yesterday, Linnea and I went with my host mom to her sister’s house to learn how to make tortillas.  It was another “gringo” moment.  The women who work there could make about ten perfectly round, flat tortillas in the time Linnea and I could each make one ugly, oblong tortilla, most likely with a hole in the middle of it.  After a while, I started to get the hang of it, and made a couple of nice looking tortillas, however I don’t think I’ll ever be able to tortillear like those women.

Linnea and I, Getting Schooled in Tortilla Making

After our lesson, I returned home to eat lunch with my own hand-made tortillas, which, however ugly, were still just as tasty as normal tortillas.  After lunch, I baked one of my favorites: coffee cake.  It was well received… at least I think it was, since, as soon as it was cool enough to eat, it quickly disappeared.  I did manage to sneak a couple of pieces into a Ziploc bag for later consumption.  Then I had time to go for a run before the whole family came over to use the temascal.  I bathed with my host sister Sheny, which was nice because I got some time to learn about her family and tell her about my life in the states.  My family’s temascal is at our “other” house, where the dog, 2 cows, and some chickens live.  Since we were all down there to bathe, my host sisters built a fire and started cooking carne asada next to the temascal, and we ended up staying down there and eating dinner together outside.  It was a really nice evening.

Today, Linnea, Brady, Elizabeth and I went on an outing to Chimaltenango.  My family owns camionetas that go from our town to Chimal, so we went on one of “my” buses and spent a couple hours exploring the market, going to the mall, and eating Pollo Campero (yummy fast food… like a good version of KFC).  We returned home around 12:30 because we have a lot of homework due this week.  On my walk home, I saw that the tailor was open, and I stopped in to ask if he could fix something for me.  He said yes, so I ran home to grab a dress that my friend gave to me.  The dress is too big, so I brought it in hoping  that he could take in the sides, under the arms.  I expected to leave it and pick it up during the week.  Instead, he did the alterations while I waited, which took no more than ten minutes.  Even better, the price was 5Q (66 cents)!  I spent the rest of the afternoon doing homework.

Next week, we leave on Wednesday for IDA (individual directed activity).  For security purposes, I can’t say exactly where I’m going, however I’ll be in the department of Huehuetenango, in the far northwest of the country.  It will probably take us 5-6 hours to get there on the bus.  I’m going with one of my friends from my training group to visit a volunteer who arrived in country exactly a year before us.  We’ll go to work with her, and spend time learning what life is really like for a volunteer.  I’m super excited for my first “big” trip in Guatemala!

I Love My Family -or- The Joys of Care Packages

This is dedicated to my awesome family.

Today was a wonderful day.  We had our first common session at the Peace Corps Office in two weeks, and I arrived to find that I had received packages from BOTH my Mom and Dad/Beth/Hannah.  It's amazing how a few things from home can really pick up my mood.  For example, gum that has flavor for more than 30 seconds.  Also, sour candy... there is a complete lack of sour candy down here.  I have to pay tribute to Colleen, too, who put some awesome stuff in the package from my dad, like some really nice soap, a handkerchief treated with insect repellant, and magazines such as US Weekly, People, and InTouch!  Hannah was kind enough to send me some pipe cleaners, princess stickers, glitter, and a balloon:

Why I Love My Family: Exhibit 1

Mom sent me a ton of Nuun, which is great because Gatorade has so much sugar and I'm getting sick of it.  She also sent me some TOMS shoes, which are soooooo comfy.  I love them.  Duct tape (non-existent in Guatemala), handkerchiefs, lotion and my recipe book added even more joy to the box of goodies.

 Why I Love My Family: Exhibit 2

To Mom, Dad, Beth, Hannah, and Colleen: Thank you all so much!  You made my day!

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 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th 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 (6^th 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.

An Uninvited Guest...

I knew I’d be bad at this whole blogging thing… however I must admit that there isn’t that much interesting stuff to talk about during training.  This past weekend was really nice.  On Friday, I invited my sobrinos Rony (14) and Jonatón (5) to help me bake peanut butter cookies.  After I made them thoroughly wash their hands, I told them the measurements, and let them do all the work.  We only had a cake pan to bake them on, so we had to make about seven batches of four cookies at a time.  Even though the oven wouldn’t really get hot enough, the cookies turned out great!  Peanut butter cookies don’t really exist here, but the new taste was very well received.  Also, while the cookies were baking, I pulled out my computer, and my nephews got a chance to talk to my dad on skype.  Rony is learning a new song in English class, and he sang it to my dad.  It was really cute.

On Saturday, the whole training group went to a traditional Mayan religious ceremony at the ruins of Iximche, in the department of Chimaltenango.  Interestingly enough, I participated in the same ceremony when I was here in 2008.  Nevertheless, it was very interesting, and I understood much more of it because my Spanish is much better now than it was back then.  We then had some time to explore the ruins, which was really nice because we don’t get much time to socialize with the trainees in the other training program (there are 15 in my youth development group and 37 in the healthy homes group).  We drove home through a torrential rain storm, and then I stayed in the rest of the evening because I’ve been sick on and off for three weeks, and I was feeling kinda gross.

 A Couple Scenes from the Mayan Ceremony at Iximche

Sunday was a lazy day.  Most of my family went to the coast to pick mangoes, and my host mom and I had the day together.  After breakfast we washed dishes together for almost an hour, and then she taught me how to do my laundry!  It was definitely one of those moments where I felt like a complete gringa.  I was trying to conserve water, but clearly that wasn't the goal.  Once I figured that out, I was on a roll and I really enjoyed being able to do it myself.  I still didn’t feel well all day Sunday, and didn’t really eat anything.

Yesterday (Monday), I woke up to find that I was really sick, and super dizzy because I haven’t eaten much for the past couple of weeks.  I spoke with the Peace Corps office, and decided that I’d lay low for the day, and wait to see the doctor on Tuesday, since I go to the office on Tuesdays anyway.  I went into the office today, and although we don’t yet know exactly what I have, it seems like it’s some sort of parasite.  The Guatemalan parasite diet has resulted in me losing ten pounds in the past three weeks.  The good news is that, to gain the weight back, I plan on eating a bunch of ice cream when I’m feeling better.

On Monday I leave for a week of field-based training (FBT), and after that I only have five weeks of training left!  It’s amazing how time flies during training.  That’s all I have to report for now, but I’ll try to post again before I leave for FBT.

Harder to Breathe...

This morning I woke up, put on my loose-fitting yoga pants and a t-shirt, grabbed my trusty pepper spray, and went on my first run in almost a month.  At 7,500 feet.  My run lasted twenty minutes and I was drenched in sweat by the end.  I figure the altitude training will be great, though.  When I get back to the states running will (hopefully) be a whole lot easier.

I'm really glad that I waited a while before running in my community.  I'm now well aware of where it is safe to run, and even which dogs to watch out for.  More importantly, I'm starting to recognize many of the people in the town, to whom I say good morning, good afternoon, and good evening countless times every day.  I even made a concerted effort, during my run, to say “buenos días" to each and every person I passed, no matter how out of breath I was.  I think this was the key to my successful - and uneventful - run.  I didn’t get any weird looks from anyone, and the older Mayan women, whom I had feared would give me dirty or disapproving looks, returned my “buenos días" with smiles on their faces.

The Peace Corps Volunteer I met on Monday told me about a super hilly (think mountains) 15K race in her town in September.  Hopefully I can train up for a race in Guatemala!

First School Visit

Yesterday we went to a NUFED (Núcleo Familiar Educativo para el Desarrollo) in Santo Domingo Xenacoj.  A NUFED is a type of middle school that focuses on more than just academics.  These schools teach life skills and vocational skills that will help students to succeed in their home communities.  Each class has an agricultural project that they work on, so that they can gain experience in farming and/or animal husbandry.  At this school, the primario (6th grade) students are raising rabbits, the segundo (7th grade) are raising chickens, and the tercero (8th grade) are raising and harvesting mushrooms.  This type of school is really amazing.  The kids have opportunities that aren't offered in most of the other Guatemalan public schools.

When we arrived, we spent some time with the kids, just talking about their school and their community.  The kids were setting up for a disco (dance), and they asked us what kinds of dances we know.  About 8 of us proceeded to show them the electric slide.  I wish I had a video of it, it was pretty hilarious.  Then they showed us some marimba, which is the national dance of Guatemala.  After that, they asked us to sing our national anthem for them.  We could not hold a tune, it was pretty pitiful.  They then proceeded to blow us out of the water with their rendition of the Guatemalan national anthem.

 Lunch in the Park in Xenacoj

All in all, it was a really fun afternoon, and it made me even more excited to get into the schools and get working.  The kids were really receptive and respectful, which made it very easy for us to talk and play with them.

I'm home sick today... I've had a nasty stomach ailment since Tuesday, and the Peace Corps Medical Office told me I'm not allowed to go to Spanish class today.  Tomorrow, we have our first afternoon off, and the plan is to explore Antigua a little, so hopefully I'll start to feel better before then.

Guatemala Top Ten (in no particular order):

• Beached whale at the piscina

• Linnea using the skin off her fried chicken as a tortilla

• Babies on motorcycles

• Futbol con mis sobrinos

• My fourteen-year-old nephew driving a bus

• Daily walks through the campo

• Being briefed on how to handle a shooting on a bus, which, as it turns out, was relevant information

• “You’re gringos, you’re expected to be weird”

• Chicken caesar salad wrap at Miraflores

• The woman nursing her child while harvesting veggies in the campo

(feel free to post any follow-up questions, and I’ll try to answer them)