Feliz Año Nuevo!

Despite pressure/encouragement from friends and family back home to update my blog regularly, I am disappointed to just now have my first post of the New Year. It’s not for lack of things to write, but more because of pure laziness. I think that the chill and tranquilo Guatemalan lifestyle has definitely infiltrated my way of life, making me lazy about mostly everything; bathing, cleaning my apartment, washing clothes, exercise, cooking. I’ve even been too lazy to watch TV lately. But besides being completely “huevona” (chapin for “lazy”) these days, life is pretty great. I had a wonderful New Years, which I spent at beautiful Lake Atitlan, a crater lake surrounded my mountains and volcanoes - one of the must-see places in Guatemala. The main town on the lake is called Panajachel, but the lake is surrounded by lots of little towns that you can travel back and forth by public boat (kind of reminded me of Venice in that sense, except replace the well-dressed Italians with gringo hippies and Kakchiquel-speaking Guatemalans). A bunch of my training-group friends and I stayed at an awesome hostel in Santa Cruz La Laguna, which was a great place to relax, catch up, and eat good food. Unfortunately I was feeling rather ill the whole time, but the trip consisted mostly in laying around in hammocks anyway, so I couldn’t have chosen a better place to have a fever and respiratory infection for four days, plus it prevented me from drinking = big money saver! :) It was definitely strange to be in a place where there were so many tourists, after living in Huehuetenango for 2.5 months now where the only gringos I ever see are other PCVS, college alternative break-ers, or missionaries. It made me angry when we would get overcharged for things like food and boat rides at the lake, but also makes me realize how much I’ve gotten used to standing out, when back in a situation where I blend in with other people who look more similar to me (or according to Guatemalans at least!).

Right before we rang in 2010, I had my quarter-century birthday in Guatemala! It was a very nice and low-key day, and in the evening, I celebrated my 25 years of existence on earth with some other PCVs and ladies from the muni and local NGOs, with a “fiesta de traje” (potluck). Many thanks to everyone for the phone calls, emails, and well wishes – it all meant a lot to me!

Last week, I coordinated an activity that will for sure be one of the highlights of my service. It was a camp for 30 adolescent girls called GLOW (Girls Leading Our World, or “Estrellas de Hoy”, en español). GLOW is a Peace Corps global program, and the volunteer that I replaced in Chiantla had been working hard to organize a camp that wasn’t able to take place during the timeframe that she was still here, so it was one of the first projects that I jumped into when arriving in site. Given my previous work with youth, it couldn’t have been more of a perfect project to get involved in, so I feel really fortunate for having fallen into it. Nine other PCVs came into Chiantla to assist with implementing the camp, and we conducted workshops dealing with self-esteem, reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, citizen participation, small business development, nutrition and exercise, among others, and with fun activities like a scavenger hunt, t-shirt tie-dying, talent show and of course, campfire s’mores, which none of the girls had ever done before. We invited señoritas from all over my municipality, including girls from really rural communities in extreme poverty – it was shocking to me that two of the 16 year-olds who attended had never even been to the Chiantla town center before. The camp was a huge success, minus the fact that it was three of the coldest days I’ve felt in Guatemala, and we were able to reach the girls on some very important issues. Something that has shocked me in Guatemala, especially in rural areas, is how females are so de-valued in society. Machismo, in displays of cat-calls and such on the street is one thing, but families pulling their daughters out of school and getting married at very young ages is a completely different story. Through workshops and games, we were able to communicate to the girls that women are not born to “tortillear” (make tortillas) and have as many children as their husband thinks they should have, that a man controlling the family finances and demanding to receive all income is a form of domestic violence, and talked about subjects that are not taught in any public spaces, like how the female body works and forms of contraception. It made me feel really good that the girls were comfortable to ask questions openly, because they never receive any type of health or sexual education in school – things like “Is it OK to bathe with cold water when on your period?” and “Can having sex when you're pregnant make you have twins/become double pregnant?” En fin, it was a really great experience and I am looking forward to continuing to developing a relationship with the girls who participated and helping them to conduct their own workshops and projects in their towns – part of their responsibility for now being “Estrellas de Hoy” after the camp ended. And hopefully, I’ll be able to help other PCVs do GLOW camps in their sites too!

Now that the camp is over, work in my office is starting to pick up. We will soon begin our “trabajo comunitario”, or community visits, to our women’s groups and training them on various things (citizen participation, domestic violence, how to apply for development projects like water tanks, etc). We will also be doing campaigns to get the women to register to vote, which I am really excited about. Another big project coming up is planning a “jornada medica” (medical mission) for a rural community that lacks access to medical services.

Chiantla is also in the midst of preparing for Feria, which takes place in two weeks. It will be a weeklong party and celebration of la Virgen de Candelaria. This past Sunday, the first event took place leading up to the commencement of Feria, which consisted in a flatbed truck parading the Virgin through the streets of the municipality, followed by a bunch of men dancing in costume. It was a truly remarkable and entertaining experience. There are few words to describe, so just enjoy the photos and video clip!

Please keep the emails and blog comments coming, it is really nice to know people back home are actually reading!


La Virgen de Candelaria, on the back of the truck
People literally hanging off the muni to watch the dancers
Chapin Michael Jackson!
More costumed dancers

GLOW Campers and PCVs
GLOW Camp Talent Show
Learning how to properly put on a condom (on a banana)
The girls in my bunk! They pushed the beds together at night because it was sooo cold!
Roasting marshmallows.
Giving the Domestic Violence workshop with my counterpart
Ice Breaker activity
With other PCVs at Lake Atitlan, watching the sunrise...definitely worth waking up at 5 am!
Beautiful volcanoes surrounding Lake Atitlan

We Gringos Will Do Anything For a Good View

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of climbing Chachaj, the highest mountain in the Cuchumatanes, the mountain chain surrounding Chiantla. It started out as a fun Saturday afternoon idea with some other Huehue area PCVs and ended in (somewhat) disaster – but an unforgettable time nonetheless! We had just left my house in the Chiantla town center to catch the bus going up the Cumbre (note photo of my fellow PCV friend below, who ended up standing next to a turkey the whole way). When we reached the destination, it was rather cloudy, but we figured that the worst that would happen is that our view just wouldn’t be as good. Well, we were quite wrong. We were minutes from the summit of the mountain when boom, the cool clouds that had just been whizzing by our heads started pouring on us. And since it neeever rains in December, we were far from prepared. Three of us found ourselves falling behind the others, since we were trying not to fall on the slippery rock and mud, and when we reached near the bottom, we realized we were lost. In the Cumbre. Where houses and people are few and far between. So, we continue down some muddy roads, as it continues to rain and then begins to hail, trying to figure out how to get back to the main road. We finally approach a house where someone was home, and this nice old lady points us in the direction that we wanted to take. I waited thirty minutes for a micro, and an hour later was back home, still soaking wet. It was about an hour and 5 cups of hot chocolate before I felt completely defrosted, but it was definitely a Saturday afternoon that I won’t ever forget. And I really do look forward to hiking Chachaj again on a clear day – I hear the view from above is spectacular!

This past week was Christmas, and I must admit that I did not have the best holiday. First, I was feeling homesick and missing my family. And my plan to celebrate with my host family did not quite work out. See, I live in an apartment within the property of an elderly couple. My host mom/landlady is totally sweet, but half deaf and somewhat “losing her marbles”, so to say. Before the holiday, I had joked that I should remind them that they invited me to spend Christmas, but in reality I should have acted on that, because they changed their plans last minute and forgot to tell me. So, I spent some time with them on Christmas Eve and then was pretty much flying solo on Christmas Day. I did enjoy some 12:00 midnight fireworks on Christmas Eve and spent most of Christmas Day reading and watching DVDs, so it wasn’t the end of the world. And the next day, when the family returned to Chiantla, I had a nice three-hour lunch with them that made me feel a lot better. But thanks regardless to all my family and friends back home who wished me happy holidays and sent me fun surprises in the mail :)

Two days prior to Christmas, the municipality had its annual party, which was an interesting experience. The lunch for the 200 muni workers started very “hora chapin”, about two hours late, and they brought out bottles of rum before they served the food. I was staving at this point, and that rum hit me pretty hard. But it came in handy when I won the raffle and had to go up to the mic and give a mini speech in front of everyone! It was pretty terrifying but worth it for the awesome plastic sippy cup and Tupperware container that I won.

A few days after Christmas, this really nice couple in my town who are great community leaders invited my counterpart and me to participate in the annual donation delivery that they do through their church. This year, the church had selected a community of Chiantla that is high up in the mountains and really difficult to access. Going up the road to the Cumbre, sitting on bags of corn and stuffed animals, was a treacherous adventure. We were in the back of a very old pickup, which was completely stuffed and quite low to the ground because of the heavy load. Halfway up, on a particularly steep uphill, the truck got kind of tired and we started rolling backwards. While my life began to flash before my eyes, luckily one of the guys in the truck was a little faster to think on his feet and jumped out to quickly put some large stones under the back tires. This literally happened six more times before finally reaching our destination, but by then I was getting accustomed to the feeling (not really, but I didn’t freak out quite as badly). The drive took about three hours, one and a half of which was on a very rocky unpaved road, but it was really beautiful. This community up over the mountains looked somewhat like how I’d picture Scotland to look – lots of herds of sheep, really green land, few trees, weird giant rocks sticking out everywhere. The sky was gray and misty the whole time because we were literally at cloud level. There were about 150 people waiting for us when we arrived in the community and we immediately began sorting the trashbags of donated items – beans, corn, clothing, shoes, toys, etc. I was put in charge of the little boys’ clothing, which was really fun. Some of the kids would cry when separated from their mothers and forced to come over to my area where I gave them pants, a sweater, and a t shirt, but they always left with a huge smile and very confused look as to who is this stranger with white skin and light brown hair who just shoved a “Grandma Went to San Antonio, Texas and Brought Me Back This T-Shirt” shirt into my hands? Flat out donations do not quite fit into my definition and goal of sustainable development, but it is without a doubt incredibly gratifying to hand out clothes, food, and toys to people who literally have one pair of shoes.

I am excited that in addition to Becca coming in late March, my parents also just booked their tickets for either that same month. I can’t wait to show all my visitors my beautiful town and experience some other parts of the country with them!

Wishing all my friends and family a very happy and healthy Año Nuevo!

Pushing the loaded truck up the hill

The kids in the back of the truck happy with their new toys. Although they thought "Barnes & Noble" was a strange name for the teddy bear
Apparently the whole West Virginia Mountaineers team decided to donate their shirts, lucky for the men in Tunimá Grande
With my mountain of clothing for niños
Line of families waiting to receive their donations

With my colleague Gloria and our Christmas baskets from the muni
Red and green rice crispie treats, my christmas gifts to people in my town
Before the hike/pouring rain began
Barrett with the turkey on the bus

Video clip - the cloud whizzing past us on our hike

I’ve been in my site for a month and a half now, and there's definitely not one specific emotion to describe how I feel here. Every day, I see or experience something new, beautiful, gross, challenging, mind-opening. I’ll describe one of my early morning runs from last week as an example:

I met Don Manuel outside my house at 6:15 and we begin running up my street on a new route that he is showing me. We then started up a very large hill that leads to the Cumbre (summit) of the surrounding mountains.
Beautiful- The view from even a short distance uphill was spectacular, looking down on my town and even further down on the city of Huehue covered in a layer of clouds and surrounded by more mountains.
Gross- The exhaust coming out of the trucks and buses that whizzed by. This is something unavoidable on all streets in all parts of Guatemala and one becomes accustomed to holding their breath when the camionetas drive by, but gasping for oxygen while 2000 meters above sea level and running up a mountain, I couldn’t help but breathe in the disgusting exhaust fumes!
Challenging- Seeing a large goat with its limbs tied together, on top of a microbus as it headed up the Cumbre. The microdrivers show no mercy even when there’s 30 people packed into a space designed for 15, and the situation was no different with this live goat on top of the vehicle as the driver ignored the speedbumps and sharp turns. The awful sounds that the goat made and just seeing it on top of the bus made me feel so sad and sorry for it, despite knowing it was to become a good meal for someone, it is still something that is hard to look at and accept in a certain sense.
Mind-opening- A woman breastfeeding her baby in the back of a crowded pick-up truck. The candidness with which women breastfeed in Guatemala is something that surprised all of us upon arrival to the country and usually never surprises me anymore, except that this particular woman was so squished into this truck and managing to hold on and feed her baby at the same time. Quite impressive.

The month of December has actually been rather busy, which is surprising because all PCVs warned us that not a single thing gets accomplished during this month, as everyone is either mentally or physically on vacation and preparing for the holidays. I’ve kept occupied by working with my office on the 2010 Annual Plan, which will include some exciting projects and initiatives, like voter registration campaigns and medical missions, as well as starting up my English classes, and helping another PCV with a kids’ environment camp in her site.

I’ve only done a few English classes so far, but the turnout of interested students has been really good and it’s actually been really fun. As I wrote earlier on, teaching English was something I was not thrilled about doing, but this particular group that I’m working with (the staff of a youth development NGO) is showing so much interest and motivation that it’s very easy for me to want to be doing this. Plus, I think of how learning another language changed the course of my life…I distinctly remember my first day of Spanish class in seventh grade, repeating over and over, “Me llamo Cara. Como TE llamas? Como SE llama?” Luckily I eventually moved on from the “my name is” stage, but if I had never learned Spanish, the last ten years of my life would have been completely different – what I studied in college and grad school, where I studied abroad, the jobs I’ve had since, and of course, the Peace Corps.

The environment camp that I helped with was in another PCV’s site in Huehuetenango. It was really fun to see another volunteer’s site and to help with the camp, which can only be described with one word: pandemonium. Please see the video link if you need more proof. There were 50 kids expected, ages 6-12, but 71 kids showed up, ages 3 and up. The objective of the camp was to give the kids who are now on vacation from school something to do that would occupy their time and teach them about different important themes related to the environment…one day was the forest and animals, another day was trash, another was water, etc. There were crafts, lessons, games, and even snacks related to the environment theme of the day. The kids were adorable but trying to get them organized, paying attention, not hitting each other, etc. was an arduous task. They were literally climbing the walls, stealing each other’s crafts, throwing water at each other…it makes me exhausted all over again just writing about it. Although overall it was really fun to participate and a good test of my patience :)

People have been asking me to describe my daily routine here, so here it is: I wake up at 6 and either go for a run, or convince myself it’s too dark/cold/early to run and go back to sleep. From 8-1:00, I am in the office or at a meeting or training, although stop at 10:00 for refacción (snackbreak) without fail, and then from 1-2:00 is lunchtime and I head home to eat or go to a comedor for a quick and cheap meal. From 2-4:00 I am back in the office waiting for the time to pass, as it seems that nobody really likes to work in the afternoons. After work, if I'm not doing English class, I usually run to the market to buy food, or I take advantage of the sunlight left in the day to wash clothes on my roof. In fact, I’d say that doing laundry takes up a really good chunk of my time here. To think that back in DC I would wash clothes every two or three weeks, and even then complain that it took me two hours to wash four loads of laundry! Then I make dinner, watch whatever crappy dubbed movie is on TV, go online, read, clean, etc. The pace of life here is so much more relaxed and tranquilo than in the states and more than DC especially, where everyone is constantly stressed out and running around. Although sometimes the slowness of things here can drive me crazy, I feel more relaxed and stress-free than ever before. I feel like my life prior to arriving here consisted of squeezing as many things into one day as humanly possible – work, exercise, happy hour, errands…no wonder even laundry day felt stressful!

I recently had the opportunity to attend a quinceñera (a “sweet fifteen” I suppose you could say) for the daughter of my friend’s counterpart in Todos Santos, another Huehue town which is famous for its Feria on All Saint’s Day and traje tipico (traditional dress). While women in indigenous communities in Guatemala almost always wear their traje, it is not common that men maintain the traditional dress, and Todos Santos is one of the few towns where men do still wear traje. The party was fun, with more people squeezed into this house than one would think humanly possible, and tons of tamales and meat and potatoes cooking in the largest pots I’ve ever seen. There were easily 100 people there. It was an interesting experience to be in an environment where everyone around me spoke Mam, the native Mayan language of the town. It made me feel thankful in a certain way to be living and working in a town where everyone speaks Spanish as the primary language, although Todos Santos has such a rich and beautiful culture that is unique to indigenous communities.

With the Christmas holiday around the corner, Chiantla is dressed to the nines for the festivities, with ridiculously tacky lights and decorations hung everywhere. It’s funny to see decorations of snowflakes and snowmen in a place where people have never seen snow in their lives, but I suppose without them, it wouldn’t really feel like Christmas! One thing that is so prevalent in the US during this time of year that has been absent in Guatemala – which I don’t miss at all - is the over-the-top consumerism. While street vendors are selling annoying musical lights on almost every corner, the annoying advertisements, sales, and pressure to find the perfect gift for everyone on your list don’t exist here. I feel that the reason is because Guatemalans are generally very religious and observe the holidays with more of a sense of family (and food – everyone obsesses over their tamales, typical Christmas food), plus they don’t have the extra money to spend on lots of gifts.

I'll be spending this Christmas with my "host" family (I live in an apartment on their property. We haven't had a close relationship but they are super nice) and then New Years with a bunch of other PCVs at Lake Atitlan which I am super excited for. Wishing everyone back home very happy holidays!!!

My wonderful counterpart Rosario and me with our little Christmas tree in the Oficina Municipal de la Mujer
The most adorable girl at the San Sebastian Environment Camp
The last day of environment camp, being smothered with hugs

The view coming down from the Cumbre early in the morning, above the level of clouds and seeing volcanoes in the distance. Amazing!
The boys at the quinceñera anxiously awaiting their cake
Cooking lunch in the world's largest pots
Most of Todos Santos headed towards the party


Chaos at Environment Camp...

A Chapin Thanksgiving

This Thursday, I celebrated Thanksgiving in Peace Corps Guatemala style! A while back, my friends and I decided that I would host Thanksgiving in my site, due to my larger living quarters and proximity to the city of Huehuetenango (Huehue – “way-way”). Slowly, the numbers grew, and my Thanksgiving ended up with 11 other PCVs from the department of Huehuetenango and 1 from the neighboring department of Totonicapan. I was able to buy a frozen turkey in Huehue (the Maxi Bodega store had three. Obviously not too many people celebrating Thanksgiving around here!) and asked Doña Reina, the women who prepares all the snacks and lunches for our women’s meetings to cook it, since I lack an oven and any knowledge about how to make a turkey.

Thanksgiving Day started out in typical Peace Corps Guatemala way…first, I had just returned from a nice sweaty run with my new running buddy, and my water was cut off because a pipe had broken. Normally wouldn’t be a huge deal, except I didn’t have a drop of water stored in my pila and twelve people were on their way to spend the night at my house. So I ventured into the market, praying that the water would return when I got home. Thankfully, it did, around 10 am. Of course you can imagine how much I was freaking out, not just about not being able to shower that day, but not having running water and cook, flush the toilet, etc. on a day that 12 people are staying over would have been a disaster. Then, my credit card was denied at the store. I went to the bank, still in a panic, thinking that someone had gotten hold of my credit card number, but in actuality, I had just spent all my money for the month! (Crisis averted…kind of)

Back home, finally bathed and able to start cooking, I made the filling for the sweet potato pie, put it in a glass pie dish, and set it inside my Peace Corps oven (a box constructed of metal sheets that you place over the burners on your stove). The first time I tried to use the oven to make brownies, I filled my entire apartment with thick smoke and burned the brownies to a crisp. This time, I managed to avoid almost burning down my house, but instead I heard a big “POP!” noise, looked inside the oven, and saw that the glass dish had cracked and that pie filling fell all over the stove. But alas, I scooped up the surviving pie filling, put it in a smaller aluminum pan, and kept it cooking in my toaster oven. It turned out really delicious, and luckily nobody swallowed any shards of glass. And oops, while the pie was cooking, I forgot to take the plastic plates off the top of the toaster oven, and they turned into warped Frisbees that looked like one of those disaster art pieces in a modern art museum.

Then, it was time to pick up the turkey from Dona Reina’s house! We arrived, and she told us about the variety of special condiments that she used to baste the turkey, including the apple juice and garlic that I gave her, and then with her own special touch: wine, pepsi, pineapple juice, soy sauce, I can’t even remember what else. I must say the turkey looked and smelled delicious, but then we start to carve it with my vegetable chopping knife and discover that it is – still uncooked inside. But as we PCVs are such creative and flexible people, we whipped out the frying pans and pan-fried the rest of our turkey!

Nothing else went wrong the rest of the day and we really had a beautiful Thanksgiving. The food that everyone made was awesome, and until almost 2 am we ate, laughed, played guitar, and drank beers on my rooftop. I called my parents and brother earlier in the day, and although I was sad to not be with my family, I couldn’t have asked for a better Chapin Thanksgiving or better people to spend it with.

The next morning, I woke up at my normal 5:45, unable to go back to sleep despite having slept for only three hours, made blackberry-strawberry-banana-chocolate chip pancakes for everyone, and watched Home Alone (dubbed in español – however still a great movie!)

Despite being far from home, I definitely have plenty to be thankful for this Thanksgiving – having not yet gotten any amoebas or stomach viruses, great family and friends who are so supportive of me, and the opportunity to work here in this amazing country where I know I will have a challenging and inspiring two years and an awareness of the privileged life that I have.

I hope that everyone had a nice holiday and ate lots of pumpkin pie for me!

Thanksgiving dinner spread
A "thankful for" toast before we all ate
Peace Corps volunteers get creative when the can opener breaks
Playing cards and eating Guacamole
My Peace Corps oven

Feasting on our delicious dinner
Getting ready to carve the semi-uncooked turkey

My kitchen!
My living room. Note the fake couch/bed and concrete block shelves :)
My bathroom
My room
My rooftop; with the pila (or washing machine, I guess you could say)
The mountains surrounding my town. Note the faint "Chiantla" written with white stone in the mountain, wanna be Hollywood style
With the other Chiantlecas at the literacy training
With new friends at literacy training. Maria, the one on the left, rocked a puma jacket with her traje (traditional costume) every day
Teaching syllables
The women at our Dia de la No Violencia event
The Muni marimba playing at our Dia de la No Violencia event
March through the streets
The stilt walkers that accompanied us on our march. The quetzal costumes don't have much to do with preventing violence, but it at least got everyone's attention
Inside our community room
The registration table. For women that can't sign next to their names, they use the inkpad to stamp their thumbprint.

Although many days in the office and many evenings at home have consisted of doing nothing – literally – I feel happier with every day that passes here in my site. I feel like I am, for once, learning to relax and take things a day at a time, which is easier said than done, especially coming from Washington DC where sometimes, things feel anything but relaxed! But poco a poco, as they say, I am meeting people in my town and finding things to stay busy. I just finished my second week of literacy training (and am now officially able to teach!), which has been very interesting in some ways (like learning how to tie together the teaching of letters with important themes for women in rural areas, like domestic violence) and NOT interesting when discussing things like inverse syllables. Regardless, I’ve met some great people through the training program and it’s been a nice way to jump-start my service. Everyone is super curious about the gringa who is going to teach how to read and write in Spanish…they ask me some really great and funny questions, like why I always carry my water bottle with me. One of my new friends told me that it looks weird; I was laughing hysterically when she said that. They’re also super surprised at how I’m able to write well in Spanish, which I try to explain to them is easier than writing in English because the words are spelled exactly as they sound; there’s no “there-they’re-their” or “two-too-to” kind of rules that make it hard.

I’m also going to start volunteering with a youth association here in my town, which will be great because I miss working with teenagers. The staff at the youth association has asked me to give them English classes, not something that grabs me necessarily, but if they are asking and willing to commit to learning than I am definitely happy to teach – plus it’s a good way to make friends! And I began running again in the mornings, with one of the men on the municipal city council, which has been great. He has showed me some beautiful areas to run, although running through the mountains I definitely feel the altitude and lack of oxygen hit me pretty hard, but vale la pena! (It’s worth it!) Definitely beats running in circles around the soccer field.

In my office in the muni, we planned an event for the Día Internacional de la Lucha de la No Violencia Contra la Mujer (International Day of the Fight for Violence Against Women Day…or something like that, it’s a mouthful). A bunch of women from the communities of Chiantla came to attend a presentation on violence against women, and then we did a march through the streets with signs. It was a really fun activity, especially because violence against women is a huge problem here, and many of the women traveled from really far away communities to take part in the event. See, the department of Huehuetenango is broken up into various municipalities, including the one in which I live, and the municipalities are broken up into smaller communities. However, most of the 100+ communities of my town are in the mountains and as far as 3-4 hours away. So it’s great to see community leaders participating in these outlying areas, which lack good transportation and many basic resources.

In other news…
- I told my office coworkers that I wanted to have them over for dinner one night. They asked what I was going to cook, and I said, pasta probably. They asked me in a giggly whisper if it was really true that there is a kind of pasta called “penne” (pene means penis en español)
- The volunteer who I replaced gave me a bed, stove, and many other household things that she was using in a temporary apartment before heading back to the US. Once she left, I had to move the stuff over to my apartment. I asked my coworker to help me get some guys in the muni to move everything. She ended up getting the men, including one of the police officers, along with the municipal ambulance, to move my stuff. On a Monday workday morning. Talk about a good use of public resources!
- I opened an egg carton while making breakfast one morning and there were feathers stuck to the egg. Food just doesn’t get fresher than that!
- As you may remember in a previous blog post, my host aunt was wearing a shirt with a funny English saying on it (“my boyfriend is out of town”) Since then, my training group and I have been keeping a “Best Of” T-shirt with stupid English sayings list (Guatemalans buy these shirts for really cheap at used clothing stores, and pretty much never have a clue what they say). Some of my favorites since the aunt/boyfriend t-shirt: “Proud to be Irish” (worn by the young woman who used to babysit for the kids in my hose family’s house); “World’s Best Dad” (worn by my favorite store owner…a female one); and most recently “You’re Better Off Without Me” (worn by a very stocky guy at one of our community meetings). My friends texted me the other day with a good t-shirt sighting: “Do I look like a f---ing people person?!”…I think that one takes the cake!!
- And finally, my best friend Becca was the first to book her trip to come visit, which will happen during Semana Santa (Holy Week) in late March. I can’t wait!!