I just returned from six entire days away from my site, which felt like a short eternity (I know that’s an oxymoron, but whatever). On Tuesday, my entire training group reunited in good old Santa Lucia Milpas Altas (the town where the Peace Corps Guatemala Headquarters is, between Antigua and Guatemala City) for “Reconnect”, which is when Peace Corps brings us together after three-ish months in site for, yes you guessed it, reconnecting. We shared our successes and frustrations in site, which at first I was afraid would just turn into a day-long session of complaining, but in actuality it was a really nice day that left me feeling energized and hopeful about things that have frustrated or stressed me out at work and about Peace Corps life in general. I found myself appreciating my training group friends more than I ever had before, as we were able to offer each other good advice and support, and commiserated about things that drove us crazy about Guatemalan society and working in the municipalities (Disrespectful men yelling catcalls on street? Check. Corrupt and unsupportive mayors? Check. Lazy and unwilling coworkers? Check. Firecrackers going off at all hours of the evening? Check.) In the same room where we’d sit every Tuesday during training for the first two and a half months of Peace Corps Guatemala, the place where we were bombarded with information about parasites and diarrhea and bus robberies and the Guatemalan civil war and “being culturally sensitive”, my fellow Muni PCV gave a wonderful speech that made me reflect a lot on my service thus far and how I’ve changed since arriving to Guatemala. During training, all I could often think about during our various sessions was what my future in this country would be like. Now that I’m in my site and working, that question still remains but with a lot more things certain. I’ve definitely become more independent, patient, and appreciative of relationships, whether with my family or friends back home or here in Guatemala. I feel like I can at times be harsh on myself about how much I’ve accomplished so far (or not accomplished), in terms of work, cultural integration, etc, but as my friend noted in his speech, we have only completed 14% of our service, so we have to cut ourselves some slack too.
Without a doubt, the best part of Reconnect was the PACA t-shirt contest. You may recall from previous blog posts my explanation of how Guatemalans buy used clothing from the US at very cheap stores called PACAs (I don’t know what it stands for) and how you often see Guatemalans wearing t-shirts with ridiculous English phrases on them, and they don’t have a clue what the shirts say. So a few months before Reconnect, I emailed my whole training group (30 people) that we should have a PACA t-shirt contest and whoever had the most ridiculous shirt would win a prize (my delicious chocolate chip banana bread). Well, I was thrilled that people got really into it; I’d say about half my group was sporting the shirts on the day of Reconnect. The best part is that during training, Peace Corps is always lecturing us about dressing professionally - not wearing flip flops to the Center or to work, dressing conservatively, maintaining ourselves looking clean and well-groomed (easier said that done, especially for my friends without running water), etc. So the fact that we all show up with these shirts saying things like “Stop Picturing Me Naked” and “Looking At A Memorable One-Night Stand” was pretty hilarious. Everyone submitted two votes, and the winner was one of my fellow Muni volunteers, who found a black shirt with a hot pink unicorn that said “I’m Horny”. See photos for more fun t-shirt entries :) (I'm posting the link to my facebook album with the pics because my internet is too slow right now to upload them to the blog - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2187359&id=7400486&l=1d4cd8b2dc)
After Reconnect, I had some meetings at the Peace Corps center and doctors appointment in Antigua, which made it convenient for me to stay around Antigua all weekend and spend way too much money and enjoy the company of some friends. Then, I headed to the beach for the weekend in the southeastern part of the country. We rented a really nice house close to the beach and enjoyed some pool/sun/extreme laziness for the weekend. This particular beach is not at all touristy, so we were pretty much the only ones there, which was great. But you know how leaving your home always makes you appreciate it? Well, despite how awesome the beach weekend was, I really appreciated Chiantla after being there. I used to think I wanted to live in a hot site, but this part of the country was over 100 degrees and humid, so it made me thankful for the weather that I have here in the mountains. And although I’ve been suffering from fleas pretty much since I arrived, I really appreciated my fleas after being devoured by mosquitoes all weekend. Plus, after traveling 11 hours by bus/micro/boat/taxi made me really happy to be home in general.
So that’s the latest for now. I’m happy to report that things are still pretty busy at work, and that my parents arrive in Guate this weekend, which is very exciting. I hope that you all are doing well back in the states! Please continue to keep me updated….it really makes the distance feel a lot shorter :)
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
Six Months Already!?
I can't believe that I have been in Guatemala for six months now (well, on Friday, I will have arrived in country six months ago). It's amazing to think of how much I've learned and how much my life has changed since I arrived here, but also how much I still have to do/learn/accomplish during my time here, which is really flying by (although some days sitting in the office here, I wonder if I will even make it until lunchtime!) 21 months left to go now... :)
I recently started my literacy classes, which are going well. After Wednesday, my students will have learned all the vowels :) Some of the women have had some schooling, and others absolutely none. There is an older woman in my class who can barely hold a pencil. But she and all the others are trying so hard, which really encourages me as well. The literacy program teaches by means of a socio-political method, so that the students learn about important themes along with the letters. For example, I taught the letter "A" by discussing "A for Amor (love)" and what constitues a healthy relationship. And the letter "I" for "Igualdad (equality)" and discussing equality in gender roles. It is really nice to feel like I am "doing something", as compared to many other days during which I literally sit in the office and the women gossip and read the newspaper.
Another fun distraction in Chiantla has been the Feria, which is formally a week long, but there are still vendors and rides even though it ended over a week ago! The Feria is to celebrate the Virgen de Candelaria, who lives here in the Chiantla church :) and all week there are food vendors, games, rides, music, and fireworks going off every night (every night, ALL NIGHT, I should say. It was reallllly annoying) I enjoyed lots of street food, like milkshakes, french fries, pizza, churros, tacos... and went on the giant ferris wheel once which was a terrifying and exhilirating experience.
The best part of Feria was: on Saturday, my boyfriend and I went out for a jog, and this guy starts running alongside next to us, and telling us that on that Tuesday, there would be a 12 KM race, which they do every year on the most important day of Feria, and that they needed more women to enter in the race. Even though I have not been running hardly at all since New Years due to cold weather and laziness, I decided to give it a shot, for lack of better things to do on my day off :) So on Tuesday morning I show up to run, there were only two other females in the race of about 25 participants. The flag went down indicating the start, and everyone took off sprinting. Well, being the "seasoned runner" that I am, I figured they would all run out of energy after a few minutes. That was completely not the case - I was behind the entire time, lost sight of everyone, and the only one that followed me was the muni ambulence guy, who had to follow the last person in the race. So after a little over an hour, I came across the finish line, where the race directors and all the participants were waiting for me to finish so that they could conclude the race. But the best part was that despite finishing the absolute last place, I won THIRD PRIZE for the womens' category!! This included a 50 quetzal cash prize and a huge boost to my self-esteem - plus a good story to boot. And 50 quetzales (about six dollars) may not seem like a lot, but it's enough money for me to eat a nice dinner here, or travel on the bus to Antigua, or spend a night at Lake Atitlan, so it was kind of a big deal!
So what else...I recently found a sweet pool in my town, only 15 min away, which will be nice now that the weather is warming up a lot. I also had a party for the Superbowl with other Huehue area PCVs, which was fun. We pigged out on lots of junk food and watched the game with Spanish commentary. Since I never cared too much for football, it was disappointing that the Guate channel aired mostly Mexican commercials, so I couldn't even enjoy those like I usually do. But it was fun to hang out with everyone regardless. This month will be much busier with work, travel to Antigua for meetings at Peace Corps, a weekend beach trip coming up, and my parents' arrival at the end of the month!
This blog post is dedicated to 1) Fiorella and Alex, who booked their tickets to come visit in April, 2) Aaron Weiss, who is always demanding more frequent blog entries, and 3) Alaina, Stefanie, and Aaron, which whom I video-chatted with this past weekend. A great way to keep in touch and it's FREE - so anyone who has a computer and camera and/or microphone, let's make a date!
On the Feria Ferris Wheel
Keeping on the family tradition of Superbowl wagers
View of the Cuchumatanes mountain chain from the top of the Ferris Wheel
The kids of the women of my Literacy class. They decorated posters of the "letters of the day" while their moms looked in the newspapers for the letters to identify and circle
Feria treats for sale
The inside of the church with a million candles lit for the Virgen de Candelaria
Selling candles outside
My race number and prize money!
I recently started my literacy classes, which are going well. After Wednesday, my students will have learned all the vowels :) Some of the women have had some schooling, and others absolutely none. There is an older woman in my class who can barely hold a pencil. But she and all the others are trying so hard, which really encourages me as well. The literacy program teaches by means of a socio-political method, so that the students learn about important themes along with the letters. For example, I taught the letter "A" by discussing "A for Amor (love)" and what constitues a healthy relationship. And the letter "I" for "Igualdad (equality)" and discussing equality in gender roles. It is really nice to feel like I am "doing something", as compared to many other days during which I literally sit in the office and the women gossip and read the newspaper.
Another fun distraction in Chiantla has been the Feria, which is formally a week long, but there are still vendors and rides even though it ended over a week ago! The Feria is to celebrate the Virgen de Candelaria, who lives here in the Chiantla church :) and all week there are food vendors, games, rides, music, and fireworks going off every night (every night, ALL NIGHT, I should say. It was reallllly annoying) I enjoyed lots of street food, like milkshakes, french fries, pizza, churros, tacos... and went on the giant ferris wheel once which was a terrifying and exhilirating experience.
The best part of Feria was: on Saturday, my boyfriend and I went out for a jog, and this guy starts running alongside next to us, and telling us that on that Tuesday, there would be a 12 KM race, which they do every year on the most important day of Feria, and that they needed more women to enter in the race. Even though I have not been running hardly at all since New Years due to cold weather and laziness, I decided to give it a shot, for lack of better things to do on my day off :) So on Tuesday morning I show up to run, there were only two other females in the race of about 25 participants. The flag went down indicating the start, and everyone took off sprinting. Well, being the "seasoned runner" that I am, I figured they would all run out of energy after a few minutes. That was completely not the case - I was behind the entire time, lost sight of everyone, and the only one that followed me was the muni ambulence guy, who had to follow the last person in the race. So after a little over an hour, I came across the finish line, where the race directors and all the participants were waiting for me to finish so that they could conclude the race. But the best part was that despite finishing the absolute last place, I won THIRD PRIZE for the womens' category!! This included a 50 quetzal cash prize and a huge boost to my self-esteem - plus a good story to boot. And 50 quetzales (about six dollars) may not seem like a lot, but it's enough money for me to eat a nice dinner here, or travel on the bus to Antigua, or spend a night at Lake Atitlan, so it was kind of a big deal!
So what else...I recently found a sweet pool in my town, only 15 min away, which will be nice now that the weather is warming up a lot. I also had a party for the Superbowl with other Huehue area PCVs, which was fun. We pigged out on lots of junk food and watched the game with Spanish commentary. Since I never cared too much for football, it was disappointing that the Guate channel aired mostly Mexican commercials, so I couldn't even enjoy those like I usually do. But it was fun to hang out with everyone regardless. This month will be much busier with work, travel to Antigua for meetings at Peace Corps, a weekend beach trip coming up, and my parents' arrival at the end of the month!
This blog post is dedicated to 1) Fiorella and Alex, who booked their tickets to come visit in April, 2) Aaron Weiss, who is always demanding more frequent blog entries, and 3) Alaina, Stefanie, and Aaron, which whom I video-chatted with this past weekend. A great way to keep in touch and it's FREE - so anyone who has a computer and camera and/or microphone, let's make a date!
On the Feria Ferris Wheel
Keeping on the family tradition of Superbowl wagers
View of the Cuchumatanes mountain chain from the top of the Ferris Wheel
The kids of the women of my Literacy class. They decorated posters of the "letters of the day" while their moms looked in the newspapers for the letters to identify and circle
Feria treats for sale
The inside of the church with a million candles lit for the Virgen de Candelaria
Selling candles outside
My race number and prize money!
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