Don't read this unless you are REALLY interested in what I am doing here

Well, after an amazingly restful and fun vacation, I am finally back to work. Sometimes Peace Corps volunteers complain of not having enough work, but this month that doesn’t seem like it will be a problem for me. So instead of sharing with you some insightful cultural commentary, in this post I thought I would fill you in on what I am up to work-wise here. This post will also serve as a reference for me during future job interviews when I am bragging on how I am able to manage multiple projects at once.

This first week back, Laura and I have planned a giant workshop on Project Design and Management for our schools. The idea is that Peace Corps gave the workshop to myself and one of our directors, and together we replicate it for the director and a parent from each school. They in turn share the information with their schools and communities. We will see how successful that last step is. These past few days we have been frantically trying to make sure that all 25 directors know where and when the workshop is, and that yes, they are expected to be there. Seems like a relatively simple task in a world where everyone regularly checks their emails, answers their cell phones, and keeps the same number. It doesn’t work like that here. So we have tried every form of communication short of smoke signals and I am sure that at the end of the day tomorrow some will show up at the wrong place, with the wrong people, or not show up at all. Another complication of this mission is that directors can change year to year, so hopefully we have the most updated director list and phone tree ☺.

This month Wiley is also here visiting for his Interim, for which he is supposed to complete some kind of service project. For his project he is going to do a World Map he in one of the schools I work in. Today we went out to meet the director and choose a space for his map. Hopefully it will keep him busy, but not too busy to cook for me.

Infrastructure projects: We have been working on these practically since we got to site 10 months ago, so we are very excited to be getting started this month. The only thing is that we had expected to start in May or June, not in January. This is probably the only example I know of something starting ahead of schedule in Guatemala. In two weeks we are starting on two tanks and hand-washing stations in our big urban school, and one hand-washing station in a rural school. Our site has been chosen to train masons for other projects, so we have to find qualified masons and get the city to deliver on the money it has promised us for the projects.

We also still have the proposal underway for the new water system in one of the surrounding villages. Every January villages change mayors, so I am just hoping that either the old one stayed on, or the new one is in agreement with the project. I heard a rumor at the hardware store that they have been ordering materials to build on their water system… so who knows what is going on there.

The new Healthy Schools Peace Corps Trainees arrived in country last week and are beginning their training program. Because we live close to the Peace Corps Center we get to be involved in their training! Next week the group is coming out to spend a day at our site, and through the month of February I will get weekly visits from a group of 5 trainees to whom I am expected to impart some manner of useful knowledge about Healthy Schools and life as a PCV. Too bad I still feel in need of some useful knowledge myself.

Beside those few things on the agenda, we are also strategizing our plan of attack for the year with our schools in the Healthy Schools program. It’s the first full year in the program for most of our schools, so we will see what kind of initiative they take in setting up Health Corners, planning lessons, and implementing schedules for teeth brushing and hand-washing. I also hope to keep working with the youth group I worked with over the summer, and start a moms’ cooking class.

So there you have it. Instead of a day in the life, it’s a month in the life (mas-o-menos). Although it seems like a lot to me now, I am sure that I will still find time for 2 hour lunch breaks, the required 9 hours of sleep a night, and a trip to the beach with Wiley. Unfortunately, season three of Veronica Mars might have to wait until February.