A Death in the Family

This past weekend was quite an emotional experience.  Only a week before, the patriarch of the family, Ceferino, 76, was completely healthy, waking up at 5 every morning and working until dusk.   Tuesday, I came across him when he was out working in the milpa (cornfield), and he told me he was feeling a little sick, and he thought he had the gripe (means the flu, but is used generally here to describe a host of illnesses).  Wednesday, he was feeling a bit better.  Thursday night, however, he was rushed to the hospital in San Marcos because he was having trouble breathing.  Friday morning, his daughter Lidia told me that the situation was grave, and that she and her siblings were heading down to the hospital to see him.  When they returned in the afternoon, they thought he was doing a bit better.  Saturday morning, I woke up to go running with Deysi and Mildred, but they didn’t show up.  Instead, I opted to get a long run in.  When I got back, I ran into the girls near the house and asked them why they hadn’t come.  They informed me that their grandpa had passed away during the night.

I walked up the little hill to the house to find a huge crowd of people in the courtyard, all crying.  I was wearing running shorts and a t-shirt, and was covered in sweat, so I quickly ducked into my house to pull myself together.  There were neighborhood women using my pila to wash clothes and blankets for the family, and other people were using my bathroom, so I didn’t feel comfortable bathing.  I toweled myself off, ate a 
bowl of cereal, and prepared myself to offer the family what consolation I could.

I stepped out of my house to find that the crowd of visitors had grown exponentially.  In Guatemalan culture, when someone dies, everyone who knows the family comes to the house to offer condolences, and the family feeds everyone that comes to the house for a few days following the death.  In the case of my family, this amounted to hundreds of visitors on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday (one of the members of the family estimated that between 700-1000 people visited during that time).  Every guest was offered coffee, bread, and a meal.  It was quite a production.

I won’t go into all the details of the funeral, because this post would turn into a novel of sorts, but I will say that, through all the sadness, something truly beautiful took place over the weekend.  I had the opportunity to spend time with my host family during a very trying time, and as a result, I became closer with them than I would have ever thought possible.  They insisted that I eat every meal with them, and they invited me into the various rooms of their house to pass the time.  During this time, I had a bunch of opportunities to talk to them about myself and my culture.  They asked me what funerals are like in the United States, and I explained that it depends on the religion of the deceased.  Then they asked me about my religion, which is a subject that I’ve been a little nervous to broach with them, since I’m neither Catholic nor Evangelical, which are pretty much the only two options around here (when someone asks you, they don’t ask “what religion are you?”, they ask “are you Catholic or Evangelical?”).  I decided to take the opportunity to explain that I’m Jewish, and then explain a little bit about Jewish culture.  They were both understanding and accepting of my differences.

After the burial on Sunday, I returned to the house with the family, and one of the daughters of Ceferino, Imelda (mother of Deysi and Josue), invited me into her family’s room to watch to Spain v. Brazil soccer game.  We all sat on the two beds, and all of them fell asleep within minutes.  I quietly took my leave, exhausted from a very intense weekend, but content with the relationship I now had with my host family.

Sorry there aren’t any pictures to accompany this post… There was not an appropriate time to pull out my camera during the weekend.

A Week in the Life...

Sorry it’s been so long since I posted…  I knew I’d be bad at this whole blogging thing.  I’ve been in my site for almost a month now and I absolutely love it here.  My house is coming along really well, and I feel like I have almost everything I need to live very comfortably.  My schedule right now is pretty laid back, since school here is only ½ day, and I don’t yet have a ton of work to do out-of-school.  

On Mondays, I visit the telesecundaria in Tojcheche from 1:00 to 4:00.  Tojcheche is an aldea that is a 25 minute walk (all uphill) from my house.  The school in Tojecheche is my smallest, with 64 students.  A telesecundaria is one of the types of básicos (middle schools) in Guatemala.  Telesecundarias have televisions or projectors in the classrooms, and the classes are given using a video curriculum.  There are teachers as well; however they are paid very little because, technically, they are just facilitators.  The problem in Tojcheche, however, is that there are no televisions in the school.  Each classroom has 2 or 3 textbooks, and nothing else.  For this reason, the teacher slowly reads out of the textbook and the students copy what is read, word for word, in their notebooks.  As I sit in the classrooms to observe, I continually wonder what, if anything, is being absorbed by the students.

View from my walk to Tojcheche

The school in Tojcheche

Boys working on community mapping project in Tojcheche

Girls working on community mapping project in Tojcheche

Walk home from Tojcheche, trying to beat the rainstorm

 Tuesdays, I go to the Instituto por Cooperativa in aldea Chixal from 1:30-4:30.  A por cooperativa is a básico that functions somewhat like a coop school in the United States, with support coming from the government, the municipality, the teachers, and the families.  This is my second smallest school, with 67 students.  Chixal is located on the other side of a sizeable river gorge.  It takes me about an hour to walk there, and I typically arrive sweaty and out-of-breath.  Despite the hike, I really like the school in Chixal.  The director is a university graduate, and is constantly telling me he is at my service for anything I need.  Like the school in Tojcheche, Chixal has very few resources, however I think that the quality of the instruction is possibly slightly higher. 

The river valley I traverse to get to Chixal, which is located on top of the hill on the right side of the photo

The School in Chixal

Chixal

View from Chixal, Volcan Tajamulco in the middle, behind the clouds

Better view of Tajamulco (tallest mountain in Central America) from Chixal

After school on Tuesdays, my sitemates and I have “family night,” and we get together to cook meat and speak some English.  It’s really nice to have one dinner a week with my fellow volunteers.  My sitemates are Lauren, from New Orleans, who is a Healthy Homes PCVL (Peace Corps Volunteer Leader – a third year volunteer in a leadership position).  Lauren has been in Comitancillo for 2 years, and will be here for 9 more months.  Charlie, from Ohio, is a Food Security volunteer, and he’ll be around until November, when he will be replaced by a new volunteer.  Emelye is from New Mexico and she was in my training class, however she is a Healthy Homes volunteer.  We also have Tina, originally from Saudi Arabia, and now more or less from North Carolina, who lives in Tuilelen, an aldea about 40 minutes away by bus.  Tina was also in my training class, and is a Healthy Homes volunteer.

Charlie grilling on family night

My sitemates!

Wednesday is the day I go to aldea Taltimiche from 1:30-4:30.  Taltimiche is a 45 minute walk which more or less takes me over a mountain.  I think it’s a little better than the river gorge, because I get to end on a downhill, which tends to reduce the odds of me arriving dripping in sweat.  Taltimiche is a slightly larger school, with 144 students.  The director has a habit of canceling school without telling me, or just not showing up, so I haven’t actually gotten a chance to spend any time in the classroom yet.  The students in Taltimiche have taken to me pretty quickly however, and I think it will be fun to work with them, if I ever get a chance.

Looking back at Comitancillo from the road to Taltimiche

View from the walk to Taltimiche

The school in Taltimiche

Thursday is my “office day.”  Technically, I spend the whole day, from 8-5, in the office of my counterpart, the superintendent of my schools.  Right now, I don’t really have 8 hours of office work to do, so I go to my biggest school, the INEB in Comitancillo, and play basketball in the morning.  I’m officially a member of the girls primero sección “b” basketball team, which basically means that, yes, I’m on a 6^th grade girls’ basketball team.  I need to note here that I really suck at basketball.  What I lack in shooting skills, however, I more than make up for in height.  I’m about a foot taller than everyone else out there, which makes me their secret weapon when it comes to defense.  I blocked like 10 shots during our last game, and we won 48-6.

Thursday evening, I have my Mam class from 5-7.  Mam is the local language in Comitancillo, while Spanish is their second language.  Learning a completely new language is proving to be pretty difficult…  I’ve mastered a few greetings and the numbers 1-10, and that’s about it.  The crazy thing is that I’m learning a third language using my second language.  I think the classes are helping my Spanish skills a little bit too.  Even though I don’t know much at this point, everyone loves it when I throw a word or two of Mam into a conversation.

Friday mornings, I go to the INEB in Comitancillo, which is by far my largest school, with over 250 students.  I spend the whole morning there, from 8-1.  Luckily, it’s only about a three minute walk from my house.  As with my school in Taltimiche, various activities and cancellations have kept me from spending any time in the classroom at this point.  I have a feeling like this will be my most challenging school, mostly because of the size, but also because it seems like the students aren’t as well-behaved as the ones in the aldeas.

The INEB in Comitancillo

Saturday, I eat lunch at the home of Wendy, the director of the telesecundaria in Tojcheche.  Wendy and her mom are attempting to teach me how to make tortillas.  I must say that I am getting better!  Last week we made blue corn tortillas and caldo de res (soup with beef and veggies), and it was quite yummy!  Like me, Wendy is 26 years old; however our lives are so different!  She is married and has two young children.  She’s also the director of a school, and works in her family’s store in the mornings.  I really like Wendy, and I think we’ll become good friends over the next two years.  Two days ago, she called me in the morning to tell me to stop by her house because she had prepared me a lunch that I could take home and reheat.

Sunday is market day, and I really enjoy walking through town and talking to people.  I’ve been here less than a month, however wherever I go people already know my name and want to stop and talk to me!  On Sundays, I buy a bunch of fruits and veggies, which are crazy inexpensive here.  I don’t know how I’ll be able to go back to buying $3 avocados in the U.S., when I can buy them here for 50 centavos (about 7 cents).

For the most part, that’s what my weeks look like.  I’m so new around here, I haven’t started up or gotten involved in any secondary projects.   During the week, I also spend time with my host family.  I occasionally join them for a meal, and I like to sit and talk with Lidia and Imelda, two of the women in the family.  Two of the girls, Deysi and Mildred, spend a lot of time with me.  We like to play basketball and soccer together, and they come over (sometimes with a whole crowd of neighbors) to watch movies about once a week.

Movie night at Lucy's!

I’ve also been trying to run more, however I’ve had some sort of bronchial infection since my swearing-in about a month ago.  After I run, I tend to spend the rest of the day coughing up nasty yellow stuff.  Regardless, I’ve been on some beautiful runs.  The people here are accustomed to seeing people run, and I always feel perfectly safe.  I even get to wear shorts!  Deysi and Mildred are probably going to come running with me this Saturday.

All things considered, I’m really happy, and I feel blessed to be living in Comitancillo.  The village is very tranquil, with virtually no crime.  I’ve yet to feel unsafe or threatened when I’m out and about.  When I met with my APCD (program director) a couple of months ago, he asked me what type of site I wanted.  I told him that I didn’t have a bunch of prerequisites or requests, because I was open to anything.  The only thing I told him was that I wanted to feel safe.  I feel like he put me in the perfect place.  I don’t think the next two years are going to be easy, however the fact that I have a home and a community that I love will certainly help.

My Commitment to Service

Today, at the Peace Corps office, we had a session titled “Commitment to Service.”  All fifty-two of us sat in a huge circle and shared our sentiments regarding our commitment to service in the Peace Corps.  Many of my friends had beautiful and heartfelt things to say, and I was on the verge of tears several times throughout the session.  I had a million things I wanted to say, but I was so close to crying that I opted for a simple story about the moment I realized that my integration into my host community might be more natural and easy than I thought.  After I spoke, I continued to think about my commitment to my Peace Corps service and why I know that I will still be here two years from now.

Let me start at the beginning.  I’ve been a very lucky person and I feel blessed to have had the experiences that I have.  I grew up in a relatively wealthy family and I was given the opportunity to travel the world starting at a young age.  My travels often took me off the beaten path, where I was able to experience first-hand many distinct cultures.  As a thirteen-year-old, I taught mathematics in a school in Zambia when the teacher failed to show up for work.  At fifteen, I walked through the favellas in Sao Paolo, Brazil, and later that year discovered the mysteries of the labyrinthine souks of Marrakech, Morocco.  Five years ago I spent time by myself exploring the streets of Paris, and not long after that I traveled to Moscow and St. Petersburg and experienced Russian culture first-hand.  Last year I had another opportunity to explore Russia by myself, and I also spent some time wandering around the Polish countryside.  During my travels, I had the opportunity to see how people live, both rich and poor, in many distinct regions of the world.  These experiences fostered in me a deep interest in the way the world works – politically, economically, and socially.

In college, I studied political science and peace and conflict studies.  I believe that studying global conflict is central to the study of political science.  When one studies history and political science, one inevitably studies the history of conflicts, their sources, reasons, and rationalizations.  I focused most of my academic attention on studying post-conflict regions and the nation-building that was (or was not) taking place after such conflicts.  I wrote my thesis on the current nation-building efforts in Rwanda, however I also spent a semester studying the civil war and genocide in Guatemala.  My interest in this region brought me to Guatemala in 2008 with a group of students from Haverford College and our professor Anita Isaacs.  We spent time with an NGO that was started by a Haverford College Alum, and I was offered a position to come to Guatemala after my graduation to spend a year running the Guatemalan part of the organization.  After graduation, I found out that my housing option In Santiago Atitlán had fallen through.  At the same time, I was grasping on to the last threads of a failing relationship.  I used my loss of housing as an excuse not to go to Guatemala.  Deep down, I blamed my then-boyfriend for my not following my dream of working abroad in a post-conflict society.  This brought about the end of our relationship.

Two years later, I found myself on the verge of going into the Peace Corps.  I was also in a very happy, strong relationship with someone who I still consider the love of my life.  In March 2011, I received my invitation to serve in Guatemala.  I need to take a moment here to say that I’m not a very religious person, and I don’t consider myself a “believer,”  I do, however, believe that I was invited to serve in Guatemala for a reason.  I never told anyone in Peace Corps about my previous opportunity in Guatemala, yet this is where I ended up.  This was my second chance to prove to myself that I am strong enough to put my life and my relationships on hold so that I can serve the people of this incredible country.  Leaving home was heartbreaking, as I was (and still am) unsure of the future of my relationship.  I, however, know from experience that if I hadn’t come to Guatemala, I would have blamed him and it would have ultimately killed our relationship.  Not one day goes by that I don’t think of him, however I have never once thought of going home.

I am in Guatemala because I need to be here.  This is my path, and if I don’t follow it I will regret it for the rest of my life.  I am committed to bettering myself through service to those who need it.  I am committed to the goals and the cause of the Peace Corps.  I am committed to living outside my comfort level so that I may help others.  I am committed to furthering the education and life-skills of Guatemalan youth.  I am committed to Peace Corps service.

I’m also stubborn as hell, and there’s no way I’m going home before my two years are up.

New Address

I forgot to add in the last post...  My new mailing address is really awesome:

Lucy Cutler
Comitancillo
San Marcos
Guatemala
Central America

The postman will give me a holler whenever I get mail.  Gotta love small town living.

It’s Finally Happening!

Three days from now I’ll be an official Peace Corps Volunteer. 

Sorry I haven’t posted in almost a month, I’ve been really busy, and I honestly feel like there’s so much to say that I don’t even know where to start.  Also, it’s been really hard to write about my experiences when I’m not supposed to say where I am in the country.  For that reason, I made my blog private.  Anyone who wants to read it can just e-mail me and I’ll add them to the invite list.

Now for the exciting stuff:  I just returned from visiting my new home, Comitancillo, San Marcos, and I LOVE it there!  I don’t think there could have been a better site for me.  The pueblo is absolutely beautiful: it sits on a ridge with rivers running along both sides.  The entire area is surrounded by green mountains.  The landscape is so spectacular!  It’s also close to the tallest mountain in Central America, Volcan Tajamulco (which I plan to climb as soon as the rainy season ends).  The pueblo is also really safe, with almost no crime.  The people are friendly and warm with outsiders.  Most of the population of the pueblo speak Spanish, however many of the people in the rural aldeas only speak the local Mayan language: Mam.  My new sitemate, Emelye, and I have already hired a Mam teacher so that we can at least get a (very) basic grasp of what is apparently the most difficult Mayan language.

 Looking towards the cemetery - taken from the top of the municipal building

Now to rewind a little bit…  On Monday last week, we met our Guatemalan counterparts at the Peace Corps office for a day of orientation.  My counterpart is the superintendent of twelve middle schools in and around Comitancillo.  He is really nice and super excited to work with me.  I’m the first Peace Corps volunteer to ever work in the schools in Comi, however there are agriculture and health volunteers there already.

On Tuesday, My counterpart and I returned to Comi together with ALL of my stuff.  Luckily he had arrived in a car, so we didn’t have to take my stuff back on a camioneta.  We got to town in the evening (it took about 6 hours to get there from the Peace Corps Office), and I settled into a room I rented from a local family.  I then met up with my sitemates, Lauren (will be in site for 9 more months), Emelye and Tina (both from my training group).  We had a light dinner at this amazing little café that serves espresso, hot chocolate, and awesome food.

Wednesday morning I went with my counterpart and my other sitemate, Charlie, to look at houses.  The first house I looked at was basically a boarding house, with 6 unrelated people sharing one small bathroom.  I would have a room and nothing more.  Also, the family was unwilling to invite me to share any meals with them, which is an integral part of the host family experience.  The next house we went to is owned by one of my school directors, and is about a ten minute walk from the center of town.  It’s a really cute two room house, however it’s definitely “country living.”  It’s also completely unfurnished, so I have some serious shopping to do (unfortunately I don’t have serious money to spend).  Here are some photos:

View out the kitchen window

Looking into the kitchen (note the awesome dutch door)

My bedroom (and my barrel of corn)

Front porch, aka future hammock site

 Bathroom and pila

I spent the rest of my three days visiting my four schools and meeting influential community members.  All of my schools are really excited to have me, which is going to make my job a whole lot easier.  Also, my counterpart is giving me my own desk and computer in his office!  We worked out a schedule, so I’ll be in Tojcheche on Monday afternoons, Chixal on Tuesday afternoons, Taltimiche on Wednesday afternoons, and at the School in the center of town on Thursday Mornings.  I’ll have office hours all day on Fridays.  Tojcheche, Chixal, and Taltimiche are three aldeas of the Municipality of Comitancillo, and I will walk 30-45 minutes to get to each of them.  Municipalities in Guatemala are kind of like counties in the U.S., with the center, or pueblo being like the county seat, and the aldeas are the rural villages within the municipality.  My house is in a tiny aldea (Aldea Agua Tibia) right on the edge of the pueblo, only ten minutes away on foot.

Here’s some info about my site:                                      

Population of the municipality of Comitancillo: ~60,000

Population of the pueblo: 3,000

99% of the population is indigenous (Mam)

Number of aldeas: >50

Climate: Temperate to cold, average temperatures in the 60’s

Altitude: ~7,500 feet

The municipality of Comitancillo has the highest rate of child malnutrition in Guatemala

Comitancillo is considered one of the poorest municipalities in Guatemala

Illiteracy rate: 70%

On Saturday morning, we boarded a camioneta for the 7 hour trip back to our training towns.  Luckily, when we arrived in Xela, we were able to hop on a pulman (coach bus) for a much more comfortable ride.  Sunday was a day devoted to thanking our host families for all they’ve done for us.  We cooked up a huge pot of chili, a bunch of guacamole, and two cakes (funfetti!), and a bunch of our family members came to my house for a goodbye lunch.  While we were cooking, my host mom came into the kitchen and told me she wanted to dress me up in traje so we could take pictures of me cooking while wearing it.  I’m not gonna lie… I kind of loved wearing it.

 Cooking lunch while wearing traje

 With my awesome host parents

At my host family’s request, I’m going to wear traditional traje from my host community for my swearing-in ceremony at the U.S. ambassador’s house on Thursday.

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!