What to do when there is no school...

Thank God one of the other volunteers lives with a teacher in our school. Otherwise I would have spent all last night preparing my presentation, gotten up at 5:15 am, and arrived at the bus stop just to find that there were no teachers going to school. Even now I will have a bunch of extra food that I bought for a snack. Rule number one of giving teacher trainings is that you MUST bring a snack. This will be a lot easier when I have a kitchen (maybe with an oven…or toaster oven?) to make things myself, but for now there are plenty of bakeries everywhere that sell all kinds of delicious sweets and carbs. As if the tortillas weren’t enough. It is to the great frustration of all the female trainees that while the boys just keep losing weight from all the carbs, our bodies react in the opposite way. But I digress…

There was no school today. The teachers in our school finally decided to go to the strikes that have been going on since school was supposed to start maybe a month ago. The main reason, as I understand it, is that the government likes to wait 3 or 4 months before paying the teachers, and they haven’t sent school supplies or snack for the students. Let me stress that this is only how I understand the situation. In teacher meetings they speak really really fast and I can’t always understand the specifics of the debates. Anyway, for us no school means no work, so we had to postpone the teacher workshop that we were supposed to give this morning.

Instead I got to go to the town health center to talk to them about water regulation and quality. I found out that they really only test for E. Coli in the water and that although they do the testing, it is the municipality that is responsible for treating the water with chlorine. With a scarcity of funds a constant problem in the muni, I am not sure how often this treatment happens. In the community I work in, I don’t think the nacimineto (spring? natural water source?) is contained in a tank or structure, so water treatment isn’t really possible. It is also the most contaminated in the area, so it is really cool that Peace Corps recently donated a water filter to the school. However I don’t often see the kids drinking water… Anyway todo bien interesante and makes me excited about our work here.

On a less serious note, the pictures I am posting are real proof that I have a mysterious admirer who misses me and spells my name wrong all over the park (I am only joking, those of you who are worried about someone stalking the gringa). And FINALLY I got to take a picture in the molino (mill). The only problem was that the molino man was not as willing as he had said he would be, and only let me take a picture when my host mom told him it was just of the corn. He moved out of the way and I felt bad so I just snapped one quick one. He said he is tired of people always taking his picture and my host mom said “as if he were good looking. Ha.” I love her. I am also putting up pictures of a beauuuutiful sunset over the volcano . Enjoy.

Smells like my mom´s kitchen

Between searching out ingredients and skyping my little brother for cooking advice it took me all day- but I finally did it. I achieved a lasagna. My family took me to bargain in the market for the veggies, or more correctly, I took them to bargain in the market. My host aunt is a master negotiator, so I let her do most of the talking. There was no ricotta cheese to be found here in ******** (like that? I’m not supposed to name my town for security reasons. It makes me feel important and mysterious.) But I didn’t think it was worth the effort to bus it to the closest city just for ricotta cheese. I almost let this missing ingredient spoil my plans, but decided to forge ahead when I found the one and only hunk of mozzarella cheese in all the pueblo. The other thing that I was lacking was an oven. Well that’s not exactly true. We have an oven. It is used to store things…like salt. But gas is more expensive than fire wood so we don’t ever use it. My family was entirely ready and willing to go out and buy gas just so I could cook them some strange food. Luckily this was not necessary due to my intrepid skill at baking over a fire- huge shout out to Camp KOH…for girls and many Challenge trips. Despite the fact that I still need to perfect my recipe for homemade spaghetti sauce, I’d say it turned out pretty well. And yes- my family still ate it with tortillas…and sadly, so did I.

Skinny jeans were not made for playing soccer…

That was lesson number one of field based training.

Other related lessons include: empty street + rocks = great cancha (soccer field), and kids love to juggle with the gringos…no matter how awkward they are. It’s been a few years since I’ve broken out my soccer skills, and I must admit they are a bit rusty, but one of my favorite parts of FBT was getting to play with some of the others PCTs. Hopefully I will get more chances during my time here to use sports as a way to cross cultural boundaries and meet people. While Twin takes on the entire continent of Africa with this mission, I will do what I can with Guate.

The rest of the week was spent traveling to schools in other areas and observing ricon de salud after rincon de salud. We happened to time our visits right with carnival and were attacked quite viciously by children with handfuls of glitter and confetti…one of us even had the luck to have an egg cracked over her head. Those kids are ruthless.

During the week we toured some awesome PCV houses. One thing that I absolutely can’t wait for is to paint the room(s) in my house when I get it. Seems random, but you gotta have something to strive for. I was surprised at how nice the houses were, many with mini-fridges and guest beds (hint-hint potential visitors). It was great to get to know the other people in my training class better, especially because soon I will be paired with one of them to work for 2 years. I also found the best calzone of my life in Tecpan. And I don’t think it’s just because it was something other than beans and tortillas.

We got the opportunity to participate in a training workshop for teachers and school directors in the healthy schools program. It was encouraging to see the enthusiasm of the volunteers and teachers and get to visualize how our project works. Peace Corps is in the process of making Healthy Schools a sustainable program through implementing trainings at higher levels in the education system and hopefully eventually mandating the program by law. It’s exciting to be part of a project that has seen such results and that is working so diligently towards being sustainable in the education system even after we leave.

P.S.
I have included a picture of me in a very tropical, relaxing looking location that may make some of you again ask the question…did you really join Peace Corps? Maybe this picture will help you understand my life-strategy of making friends with ecotourism volunteers. They have water parks. Even if the one slide is deathly terrifying in its sheer speed and the shallowness of the water at the end- it’s worth it.

Gotta go. My fam is making choco-bananos for my study session this afternoon.

BEST BIRTHDAY EVER

I want to thank everyone who sent their love and birthday wishes from far away to help make it a wonderful day! For an entirely random reason, school was let out at 10:30, so I had a day to enjoy myself! I am finding, however, that school gets let out early for very many entirely random reasons. I got a phone call from Eli in Jordan at the exact moment that I was trying to buy a cuaderno, so I was the rude American on the cell phone at inappropriate times talking loudly and obnoxiously in English. That’s how much I love my twin. It was also fun when Jess called me while I was on the bus and she thought the ayudante was yelling “revolution, revolution,” when he was actually yelling “guate, guate.” I treated myself to an extravagant lunch that probably cost around $10 (Yes- that is what I consider extravagant) and even some Yogen Fruz (which I still can’t believe exists here)! All of this stuffing of my face was followed by pampering of my face with a facial at an organic macadamia farm. Mmmmm Macadamia oils…

But besides a video involving snow and tu-tus, it was my host family that really made my day. They said nothing about my birthday all day, but then came out with this huuuge dinner, bought me a beautiful cake (these things are expensive here), set off firecrackers as I was lighting the candles, and gave me presents. It was incredible. Firecrackers are a huge thing here. I often wake up to them around 5:30 am. They are used for basically any special occasion, and I felt like a real Guatemalan to have my very own firecrackers bothering the neighbors. As for the presents, my family makes their living partly by sewing, so they sewed me not one, but two BEAUTIFUL bags. I hate to make generalizations, but time and again, Guatemalans are just the most giving, generous people.

This birthday high was carried over yesterday when our group had our first training session with the teachers at our school. Our school has no running water, so if teachers want their kids to wash their hands, they have to send them down to the public pila (a big pool of water used by the community) to wash their hands and then hope they come back. So today with the teachers we made “Tippy-Tappies,” which are like makeshift water dispensers out of old bottles. Whether or not they will actually be used, we had a ton of fun bonding and lighting things on fire with the teachers. I will be sad to leave this school in a month.

Gimnasia y Ceremonias Mayas

The trainer at the gym killlled me the other day. As I walked home all I could think was “man I hope the water is back so I can shower.” Some of you have expressed shock and confusion when I have told you that I joined a gym. Am I really in Peace Corps or have I moved to the other side of the country without telling you? Here in lies the dichotomy of my town here in Guate. We have a gym with a trainer who will make you work your glutes ‘til you can’t walk home, but when you finally make it home, will you have water or will you remain stinky and sweaty?
I live not too far from the capital, have a hot shower, and an internet café on the corner of my street. But the school that I work in only about 25 minutes away doesn’t have running water, there are children who don’t have shoes, and toothbrushes seem a rare commodity. Time to get creative when teaching about personal hygiene.The mix between the modern and the traditional, the urban and the rural is part of my daily experience. As I walk down the cobble-stone streets I am passed by both horses and mini-buses that look like imperial death troopers (the cars, not the horses). In the market one can find both Abercrombie shirts, and guipils of every color.
Yesterday we got a unique opportunity to experience the more traditional side of Guatemala, participating in a Mayan ceremony. It was a special ceremonial day for the Maya- a new year. Because of the special day there were many others at the ruins of Iximche performing their own ceremonies when our group of 45 gringos and one Mayan priest showed up. All in all it was a beautiful, but long ceremony, performed in the indigenous Mam language. Although there are many Maya that still perform ceremonies such as this for a number of occasions and reasons, there are also many Mayan descendents who no longer identify with this aspect of their culture, usually for religious reasons. For example, there are teachers in our school who use the Mayan tradition of Nahuales (signs of the Mayan calendar that describe possible characteristics and energies according to one’s date of birth) to help children become better behaved, participate more, etc., but who neither identify nor agree with the traditions behind Mayan ceremonial worship. It’s been really interesting learning about Mayan traditions and their relation to the present day Mayan population. I have even been able to learn a few words in Kakchiquel from my family and the kids at school!

The post that goes with the photos of me lookin all guatemalteca

My gap sandals were not made for the terrain we walked on today. Sneakers, hiking boots, or even sturdy flats would have been the wise choice. But when my host mom asked me if I was going to wear those shoes that I had on, or my pretty sandals, I had little choice but to change foot-wear. The sandals matched my outfit better anyway. We went to visit my host mom’s mom for her birthday, and my host mom lent me one of her outfits for the occasion. I wanted to dress up like the rest of the family, but hadn’t brought any skirts I felt were long enough (aka the one I have shows my knees). So there I was walking (tripping) along a dusty dirt road in dressy sandals and traditional dress (traje). This was both a really cool and really uncomfortable experience. Cool because I love the traje and have always wanted to wear it, uncomfortable because I kept tripping in my sandals. Cool because I felt it was a huge gesture for my mom to dress me in her clothes, uncomfortable because I felt like everyone was staring at me- probably the tallest person ever to wear a guipil and corte.

this and that

Here are some pics of my town, of a festival in another town, and of me dressed in my mom´s clothes. Enjoy!

Things that make me happy

Today I felt complete elation. There are many things that make me happy here. But it is usually the small and insignificant occurrence that makes my day. Today I felt complete elation because the man who runs the molino told me to recoger la masa.
I have been going almost every day with my host mom or aunt to grind the corn for tortillas. Usually I just stand there while my mom (this is a funny term because she is only a few years older than me) waits in line, dumps the corn into the grinder, and gathers the dough as it comes out of the bottom of the machine. Recently I was promoted and got to pay. Even the five year old kids who go with their mothers to grind corn are better at this job than I am. This became obvious when I quickly demonstrated my inability to pass coins to another person without dropping them under an immovable object. With this sort of history maybe you can understand why today’s events were so extraordinary. Before today I had yet to interact with the molino-man; the noise of the mill inside his shop impedes small talk. But today he jokingly commanded me to make myself useful and gather the dough from the molino! I have secretly wanted to do this for a long time now and here was my chance. I pretended not to understand that it was a joke, and I went for it. My mom laughed, I made a fool of myself for having to bend over a lot because I am so tall, and molino-man and I are now bffs. He even gave me permission to take pictures next time we come to moler!
In case you were curious, here are some other insignificant things that make me extremely happy:

The other day we had hamburgers for lunch. Mixed into the ground meat were onion, red pepper, and MINT LEAVES. Mmmmmm.

The ayudantes at the gas station/bus stop often try to convince me that I don’t really want to go to Guate today, but would actually prefer to get on their bus and head to Chimal, in the opposite direction-.

Out of 10 internet cafes where I live I FINALLY found one that has the magic combination of both internet fast enough to download Skype, AND headphones with a working microphone!

I love that it is customary to greet everyone you pass in the street. Many people give the simple greeting “adios.” It was at first strange to me that people say “goodbye” in situations where we say “hello,” but it also literally means “to god,” which I think is pretty.

I’m on the camioneta (bus) today just minding my own business when my host dad taps me on the shoulder. I look up and see…a clown. Yep, a for-real, face-paint, rainbow-wig, red-nose clown, climbing aboard the packed bus. At first I thought he was on stilts. Then I realized he only seemed so tall because he was not Guatemalan.

My aunt bought watermelon today for a snack and I made watermelon teeth to show them! They loved it, especially because they thought I was crazy earlier when I told them I was going to make teeth out of watermelon.