Viajar = to travel

The way Peace Corps works is that it assigns each person a country and a “role,” mine being Guatemala Food Security. This means I’m basically an immigrant American farmer. Cool. But there are also programs here within Guatemala such as “Municipal Development” “Healthy Homes” “Education” “Agricultural Marketing” and whatnot. Anyway, after that, different organizations or communities WITHIN Guatemala solicit for a volunteer. They have to go through a lot of paperwork showing that they have work for a volunteer, and that they can provide security and support for a volunteer. Part of this is that each volunteer has a “counterpart” that is a host country national, usually an employee of the organization that solicited the volunteer that will work with the volunteer throughout their two years. It’s a pretty great system.

As I explained in my last blog post, I finally got my “site assignment” which is where I’ll be living and working for the next two years. I’ll be in the department (aka state, kinda) of Zacapa, working for the municipality (government) and sponsored by a guy within the Office of Municipal Planning. There’s actually another girl, Brynna, in my training group going to my same town, and she’ll also be working with the municipality, but as a “Municipal Development” volunteer, and mainly working with the Women’s Office. So the following Monday (a week ago) after I got my site assignment was “Counterpart Day” at the office, where I finally met Sergio, my new boss. I don’t know exactly how to describe the feeling, but it’s almost like “bring a parent to school” day, since we all had our bosses there, and were awkwardly meeting them and trying to make conversation with them in broken Spanish. I think it really hit us all that we’ll actually be splitting up soon, for all different corners of the country, without our constant American support system.

The next day, Tuesday, we all set out for our “site visits” where we’d go see our communities for the next few days, and get accustomed to where we’ll be living for the next few years. So we packed up as much stuff as we could, and crammed into a pickup truck to head on our 5 hour trip to our new home. It was actually a pretty funny situation, and very Guatemalan, because at first we squished 6 people in the truck, with 2 riding in the back with the luggage. Then the two in the back got out and went their separate way. Then we somehow picked up a different volunteer and their counterpart during lunch, while people got in the back with luggage again. Then we finally dropped off one last person, 6 people were in the truck again, until finally we dropped off the two people we had gained halfway through the trip. Make sense? Not really. I actually ended up falling asleep during the ride, and had my head forced on Mary’s (Brynna’s counterpart) shoulder. So nice. By the way, Brynna’s counterpart, Mary, is CRAZY. Boobs everywhere, glittery makeup, tight jeans, and lots and lots of inappropriate jokes, BUT she can’t dance because she’s Evangelical. I love it.

After we got to Zacapa, I met my new family, and I’ve got to say, this will be a COMPLETELY different experience than living where I’m at now. The people I live with now are extremely conservative and reserved. The new family is a loud group of jokers, with constant reggaeton music in the background, and a carefree attitude that’s really infectious. I think I’m going to get along great with them. I now have 5 new siblings, ranging from about 25-5, one of which is married with her own kid, and one of which is grown and lives in Guatemala City. The other three are younger and pretty cool. One of my new brothers is about 17 probably and loves walking around with his shirt off. Reminds me of home. He’s adorable, and teases with his sisters, and I’m pretty sure the one I’ll be closest to. My oldest sister is the married one, and she has the cutest little baby. He’s not even 2 and knows how to count in Spanish AND English, can recite the sounds animals make, and sings “Happy Birthday” in English. Actually, the volunteer that was at my site before me is his godfather. Random, right? The oldest brother came into town to meet the new gringa, and he’s extremely nice too. He, and the rest of the family, included me in their jokes and teasing immediately and made me feel right at home. My two younger sisters are 9 and 5. The 9 year old is a little adult, and tried teach me how to make tortillas, and had the best time making fun of my ugly tortillas. The youngest one is a precocious little thing, and is constantly talking to me, even though I pretty obviously only understand about 80% of what she’s saying. Doesn’t deter her one bit. My new madre is the bomb, is laid-back, and says she can’t wait for me to be like one of her daughters. My padre is a little on the quiet side, and is almost always chilling in the hammock, and he also makes his own AMAZING fruit liquor. Chilling in a hammock, getting a tan? I’m totally meant to live there.

Anyway, we stayed in Zacapa from Tuesday night to early Saturday morning, going on a ride around to see the smaller towns that make up the municipality and the pool (yup, they have a town pool, way too cool) and meeting the people that I’ll be working with. On Friday, I actually met the mayor of the town, who seems like a pretty legit guy, and went to a beauty competition for the “flower of the feria” which is in 2 weeks. Cute little kids doing the competition, then boys dressed up as girls competing for “Ms. Guatemala” and half-dressed high school girls shaking their booties on stage during the breaks. It was part extremely amazing, and part jaw-droppingly inappropriate. Apparently they have “dances” all the time in Zacapa, and this Friday was no exception, so after the competition, the lights went out, and all the families (myself included) hauled ass to the door so the 18-30 year olds could “enjoy the evening.” It was pretty funny, because all the girls in Zacapa wore REALY tight/short/inappropriate clothes and the highest heels ever to the community event before, with their families and whatnot. It was like a Friday night in Miami, except at a children’s beauty pageant. So random. My madre is making me go to the next dance during feria, and I can’t wait for the awkwardness that will surely follow.

If I could name any downsides to my new site, it’s that I’m a little worried about what my role will be, working with the municipality. I don’t want to be in the office ever, really, and I hope it doesn’t turn out that way. Also, I’ve already had the mayor tell me he’s “single in Zacapa” because his wife lives in another town, I’ve had another guy ask me if I didn’t just want to be his “personal secretary” instead of “work in the corn” and I got confused looks by a few women on why I dress so “conservatively” even though I was wearing a spaghetti strap dress with no sweater, something I would never do where I live now. It’ll be interesting adjusting to the new life, and the pros definitely outweigh the cons. The town is EXTREMELY small, and everyone knows everyone, and I’m pretty sure that after a few months the novelty of a gringa will wear off and I’ll have gotten more of an image of a worker than of a new blonde girl.

Anyway, the next morning I woke up to catch the 5am bus back home, and found myself sitting on the curb in the dark waiting for a run down school bus. So Guatemala. After the first 4 hours, we landed in Guatemala City where we somehow managed to get a cab to take us to the next bus stop, but not until after we found a Burger King and got some fast food breakfast. So delicious. A short hour ride home, and I was happily back with the family I’ll be leaving in one short week.

Also, in the interest of full disclosure (you asked for it, readers) I finally faced and will hopefully survive my first case of fever-inducing diarrhea. Almost as soon as I got home on Saturday, I got intense chills and called my mom crying, thinking I was dying. Then the liquid green poo started happening, and to be honest, hasn’t let up. I survived the night, and made it through today well enough, but I’ve been alternating between sweating my ass off and freezing to death. A little dramatic? Maybe. But I’m sick, so cut me some slack. Anyway, there’s nothing more fun than having every member of your family know that you destroyed their toilet for 24 hours straight. My padre actually told me “I know you must be really sick because you refused food and your hair isn’t washed.” Great. Well they say you know you’re getting old when you talk about your bathroom life more than your sex life. …….Or you’re a Peace Corps Volunteer.

Side note: the dogs at my house keep barking for no reason. They must not know I’ve kicked puppies for less.

Vaquero = cowboy

We all sat nervously in the kitchen of my padre’s house, listening to Sal’s (our boss) last minute speech about how we should “stay focused during the rest of training” and that “you still have 2 weeks and a quiz left before your done” but all any of us could think about were the thin yellow folders in his hands. Even the donuts on the table weren’t enough to distract us, and as he used he folder to gesture, our eyes followed its every movement. Finally, he looked up, and said “And the first folder is for the person that wanted the very hot place……Emily” Hurray!!!! I hurriedly opened my folder, ignoring all the other noises around me and for the first time, saw the name of the place I’ll be living for the next two years. I can’t put the exact place I’ll be at, but I can say I’ll be in the department of Zacapa , which is in the East, and is known for having lots of cowboys and drug lords. Hurray! I’m about 5 hours away from the Peace Corps office, and 2 from the capital. Not too bad. I’ll be working for the municipality, which means I’ll be living in a slightly larger town of about 6,000 people, but working mostly out at the smaller towns around it. My main work will focus on reforestation, family gardens, soil conservation, and natural compost (with worms and normal kind.) The place is 100% ladino, and apparently very Western, with all people carrying pistols and sombreros, but I hear the people are very kind and I can’t wait to get out there. The temperature of my town ranges from 82 degrees in the winter to 89 in the summer, and is one of the cooler areas since it is still in the mountains. Perfect! The only part about my assignment that makes me a little nervous is that I will have an office space. I know to most people that sounds normal, but since I’m suppose to be working on a smaller scale, in a more rural setting, I’m not exactly prepared to be tied to a schedule. Also, I don’t have enough cute office clothes.

Anyway, I’m so excited I could bust. This is exactly where I wanted to go. What makes it even better, is that one of my super good friends, Kristen, is going to be right next door in Chiquimula, only an hour away, and some other really awesome volunteers are going close by as well. If any of you try to google Zacapa, make sure you’re reading about the department, not the town. My town is much smaller, and is one of the 10 municipalities of the whole department. So now all I have to do is get prepared for meeting my boss on Monday and going out to my site for a weeklong visit starting Tuesday. No pressure. Oh, and I also have to pack up ALL of my stuff this weekend, and live out of a backpack for the next few weeks. Yikes. Honestly, taking all of my luggage on a camioneta is probably the part I’m the most nervous about!

So we have site visit the 19th – 23rd, then we’re doing a family “thank you” luncheon on the 24th, orientation 25th – 28th, a Friday of rest, SWEARING IN on Saturday the 29th, and then after a night of festivities in Antigua we’re heading out to our sites just in time for Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). Time here has flown by, and I can’t believe I’ve been in country for almost 11 weeks. I’ve gotten used to a lot of my surroundings here in Sumpango, and I’m ready to be shaken up again by the move to the Big East!

This last week was fairly uneventful, since our minds were taken with site assignments and training is starting to wind down. Last weekend we had another go as vaccinating chickens, and this time I DIDN’T cry!!! Hurray! Then again, I didn’t really have to give an injection. We mainly did eye drops, and the wing lancets (where you actually puncture the wing) so I stuck with the eyedropper, although I did do one lancet, and did it without freaking out. I’m improving every day. We took our final Tech quiz, covering small animals, chemical fertilizers, and other stuff I’ve already forgotten. We also went to visit our Training Director’s house to see his rain harvesting system, which is pretty amazing. He also served us a block of cheddar cheese, which may sound silly to bring up, but you have no idea how good it was. Kristen and I have also been trying to cook for our families together, and we made the most AMAZING pasta with chicken and veggies and homemade alfredo sauce. We ate a disgusting amount, but it was too good to be true. We’ve also tried sweet and sour chicken, which was delicious, but a little too weird for Guatemalans, and we made “tacos gringas” which is basically regular U.S. tacos, and are known as gringas because they use flour tortillas. We didn’t do as good a job on those, but we still hoovered them like it was our last meal. I get teased regularly about how fat I am, but then still get food pushed at me. I think they’re just amazed I eat so much!

I’ll be honest, I feel like my Spanish is in the downhill slide. I’m at the point where my brain is overwhelmed with conjugations and vocabulary, and whatnot, and I can’t even form a sentence anymore. It’s turned into a brick! Hopefully I’ll have a weekend of break to let my brain remush back up so I can squeeze more stuff in. I’ll just watch some American TV. That should do the trick. Maybe I’ll start with the terribly boring Georgia Tech game today. Middle Tennessee? Really?

Anyway, it’s been nice hearing from everyone back home. I love you all tons and I guess I be in touch after site visit! Wish me luck!

P.S. Last weekend, I was accidentally in a religious Catholic parade. It's a little hard not to be some weekends, since it's basically just a group of people in suits wandering around town. Either way, it was awkward.

Olvidar = to forget

Baby chickens in a bag (about to be vaccinated!)

View From Libby's Toilet

View from one of the ladies' gardens

Amazing, right?

So it’s been a while. At first, I had nothing new to report, then we went out of town for a week for training (Field Based Training) and then so much stuff happened I got a little overwhelmed. Three weeks ago (gosh, how time flies) the Food Security crew of the Agriculture department all got on a bus and headed out for our FBT in Jalapa, where we spent a week of visiting current volunteers’ sites, and learning a lot about what it’s really like to be a volunteer. The two volunteers we visited are pretty great, and seeing what they’ve been up to is exciting and intimidating at the same time. And we got to stay in the most amazing places. Double bonus.

So the first day, Monday, we headed up to Alene’s site in Los Flores to visit the women’s group she’s working with, see their gardens, and look at their chicken project. Little did I know this would be one of the top most embarrassing days I’ve had in a while. Hurray! As part of our training we have been learning about chicken vaccinations, and how to properly do them. Yikes. So for FBT they planned for us to get some practical application and actually vaccinate some chickens. There are 3 types of vaccinations you can give a chicken depending on what type of medicine you’re transmitting: a injection, which is a normal shot you put in the chicken’s breast; a lancet, which has two needles on it that capture the medicine, and has to be shoved all the way through the wing and pulled back out (imagine poking a pen through cardboard and pulling it back out); and an eyedropper, which is used for the little baby chickies. We arrive at a women’s house, walk past our audience of about 10 women and their children, and file into the chicken pen. A few people grabbed chickens so the others could give shots, and we got ready to begin. Well, this is about the time I start getting extremely nervous, sweating like I never have in my life, and giggling awkwardly. I told my trainer I was really nervous, but he assured me that he would help me out, and that it was nothing to worry about. I got in line, ready for my first try at giving an injection, walked up to the chicken, and….broke down sobbing. That’s right, in front of my boss, I started uncontrollably bawling and shaking, and had to have someone else force my hand to give this chicken a shot. Ultimate failure. I stepped away, dried my eyes, looked up into the faces of my fellow trainees, and felt so embarrassed I could’ve died. Everyone was really nice, but I could tell what everyone was thinking, myself included: “REALLY???” So long story short, I tried again, cried again, tried again, and cried again. It was horrifying. I’ve always been fairly trepidatious about getting shots, but who knew giving them would be worse?? I then had to give a lancet shot to a bird, and failed all over again. Let’s be honest though, if I was bawling about having to put an injection into a chicken, who in their right mind would think I could shove a needle THROUGH a wing? I tried about 4 times, and each time I just stabbed it, and freaked out and ran away. RAN AWAY. Terrible. Those poor chickens were probably more begging for some other gringo to give them their shot. Needless to say, my mom was pretty embarrassed when I told her. Her advice though? “I should’ve let you practice on me before you left!” Oh sure, I would’ve loved to see how that day went. Anyway, after the chicken debacle, we also went to visit some of the women’s personal gardens and see their egg production project. It’s amazing to see how each person tackles their unique gardening challenges.

On Tuesday, we woke up and went to visit a different volunteer’s site in Pino Dulce, where we got to visit a lecheria (dairy processing) in the morning. I’ve never seen cheese made, so it was really interesting seeing that process. Also, the guy that ran the dairy was pretty amazing, since he talked about how he gave the people who looked after the dairy a place to live, and gave away the unusable part of the milk for free to the ladies to feed to their pigs. Just goes to show helping people out can still earn you money. It also reminded me of the time I went on a Mayfield Dairy tour in Tennessee, except I’m pretty sure Mr. Mayfield would die if the saw the lack of sanitation in this place. Not that I’m a huge stickler for rules, but even I was surprised by how little attention was paid to sanitation. But the cheese tasted amazing, and I wouldn’t have changed a thing about it. After the dairy, we also got to visit the house of the volunteer, which is spacious and cozy, and see her own personal (beautiful!!!) garden. When we returned to the hotel that night, everyone was diligently working on preparing their charlas (small informational talks) for Thursday. Everyone except me. I got bored, and set out in search of a place that would sell a book, magazine, or something to read. What I found instead was the hotel manager and his assistant, who became my new best friends, and even drew a picture for me, and the next night brought me something to read! Random, but hilarious.

Wednesday we went back to the original site to learn about nutrition and cook a delicious lunch with the help of some of the ladies in a different women’s group. We divided up the recipes for lunch, and a few of us headed up the hill to make a radish salad. For the first time since I’ve been here, I found that I had a pretty significant communication problem that had nothing to do with the language barrier. At first, it was very hard for me to find topics to discuss with the lady we were with, since we’ve led such different lives, but eventually we landed on family, and anyone who knows me knows that this is an inexhaustible topic for me. The lunch was delicious, and I now have a new recipe for chicken soup!

Thursday was charla day, and everyone in our group gave a 30 speech, most to a women’s group, but some (including me) to a group of men. All of the talks went well, and it’s amazing to see how much we’ve all improved over the last few months. It’s also funny to see how involved the women get here in games; there is literally nothing funnier than women crawling around blindfolded trying to grab pieces of paper. They had a great time, and were very patient with us. We also traveled to our new hotel for the last night, and Oh. My. God. It was literally one of the most beautiful places I have ever been! We pull up into this amazing green rolling land, where chickens, turkeys, and sheep are roaming around freely, and get out to take stock of where we would be spending the next few nights. The cabins are all thatch-roof design, and spread sparsely enough around so that they easily blended into the scenery. Mountains surrounded the whole places, and the only thing cutting into a perfect view is the zipline cords spread around the place. A short hike takes you past the adorable poolhouse and pool and into the deeper forest where you can zipline across a huge ravine. All in all, definitely a place I would recommend to anyone. That night, after a great dinner, we stayed up sitting around a fire, playing Mafia, and gossiping.

Friday started off rough, since we found out we were to leave that afternoon, a day too early, because of the incoming storms. This meant we missed out on the ziplining, but we still had time for an early morning lesson in soil conservation and terracing. We learned how to construct and use an “a-level” and tried to help out, although the men we were working with did their portion in about 1/10th of the time we did. Way to go, gringos. We traveled back afterwards, and after a brief stop at Wendy’s for a frosty, we were home again, and in my newly cleaned room with my freshly laundered clothes. Oh, the rough life.

Since FBT, we have done a lot of other smaller projects, including a visit to an integrated farm, hearing a returned PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) give a talk on adult education, a visit to AGTECH and ICTA (today, actually), a few more trips to our local school to give talks, and general technical training. The integrated farm was great, and really showed how feasible it is to supply a household with everything they need just from they land they work on. Plus, the family was extremely warm and inviting, and served us fresh ricotta cheese, which was to die for. The speaker we went to hear served in Guate about 20 years ago, and was entertaining, although I definitely have differing ideas on the importance of adult education techniques compared to basically everyone else in Peace Corps. I guess coming directly from a fast-paced, learn-or-you-fail, school environment (thank you, Tech) it’s hard for me to wrap my head around talking to people the way we’re supposed to, with few, general topics, and icebreakers every 5 seconds. I like my information direct and to-the-point. Obviously PC has been doing this way longer than me and so knows way better what works, but it will definitely take some getting used to. Our visits to AGTECH and ICTA were both interesting, not only because we got to reinforce some technical skills, but also because we got to see what long-term aid projects look like here. Both institutes work in research, but also in the betterment of farming in Guatemala, by raising awareness to new techniques and best-practice methods. The school charlas have been a little rough for me, since I don’t like to give a speech to people that don’t really want to listen, and also because I actually really like kids, and want to establish a relationship with them before I bust in and randomly start preaching about veggies. But it’s all good practice, and at least now I’ll be prepared for how hard it is to understand kids.

So that’s all the technical stuff we’ve been doing, but daily life here in Guate is interesting and fun too. Despite the nearly non-stop rain for all of September, I’ve managed to not be a grumpbutt 100% of the time. We’ve celebrated another birthday in the family, when Gerson turned 19 (where I accidently tripped during my birthday hug to him, and ended up holding him a little too long; awesome) and went on an overnight visit to Comalapa for Independence Day (Sept. 15) to meet my madre’s family. Seven girls in one family!!! And they all look alike!!! I was calling everyone madre by the end of our trip. The family owns 2 Saritas (the nice ice cream store here) so I ate about 4 ice cream cones, and later went to the streets to try the “elote loco”, which is an ear of boiled corn covered in mayo, ketchup, salsa verde, and cheese. Holy shit. It’s amazing. When we stayed there, we all shoved into my abuelo’s house, and I shared a mattress with Leslie on the floor, which made me miss my own sister. Sad. I’ve also gotten to hang out with my fellow trainees, and we celebrated another TWO free days, one at some hot springs and one around the town of Antigua. The hot springs were ridiculous, and squeezing 13 gringos into a “private bath” was probably not our best decision. Antigua was fun as well, although we got back a pretty late and had to ride in a camioneta in the dark, which was a little scary. We’ve also made smaller trips to play soccer, visit San Lucas, and even go to a CASA DEL WAFFLE!!! That’s right, guys, we ate at Waffle House. I got ribs. They were amazing. Anyway, I’m sure there’s tons of stuff I’m leaving out, but I’m also sure that’s plenty of blog for one time. The next time I write (exactly one week from today!!!!!) I’ll know where I’m spending the next two years of my life!!! Hurrayyyyyyyyyy.

P.S. Not sure how many people saw this but yea, it's awkward. wtf, America?

Bisabuela = great-grandma

The garden before.....

...the garden after digging!

Our group diligently at work.

Me, doing nothing.

I feel like with as much stuff as we’re doing here, it’s hard not to write about my adventures instead of some of the interesting aspects of the culture. I’ve literally started about 3 entries about something more than just what I’ve been doing, but can never seem to find the time to finish them. This is going to be another boring account of what I’ve been up to. So last weekend was our first free weekend. Almost all of the people from my program, and a good amount of people from the other program went to Antigua, so we had a nice little group of gringos walking around the town. Antigua is touted as one of the most touristy places in Guatemala, and although it seems cliché to go there, I was pretty pumped. I imagined a small throwback town, like those that are so popular in the U.S., with little fancy window shops everywhere, and maybe a fountain or two spread about. Antigua is also known for its old ruins and churches (I mean, it isn’t called “Antigua” for nothing.) I definitely wasn’t disappointed, as Antigua is an exact picture of a quaint little town, complete with cobblestone streets, a beautiful park, tons of perfectly aged churches, and of course, lots and lots of white people. I have to say though, that even though everywhere I turned there was a sign in English, I never quite forgot I was in a developing country. Maybe it was because I rode in on a crowded camioneta; maybe because we passed through the run-down houses on the out-skirts of town; or maybe because even though we were in the most touristy area in Guatemala, a guy in our group was still able to buy a goat head in the market, but I never really thought I was escaping to a tourist’s paradise. Obviously I’m not saying this as a bad thing, and I think it’s pretty great Guatemala can retain its culture even where it’s most densely populated with fanny pack and cameras. The place was clean and bright, and we couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day there. We were able to socialize for more than an hour or two for the first time since that fateful day in D.C. when we all met up. We also were able to put to use some of our safety training by having a DT, or Designated Thinker. Long story short, much fun was had by all.
This week also was the start of our “charlas” or small talks. We went to a school to give a small presentation on the parts of a plant and to identify what parts of what plants we eat. For example, you eat the seeds of corn, the root of potato, and the flower of broccoli. It went fairly well, although I personally feel like I’m having a difficult time being taken seriously. My trainer says I don’t need to worry, and it will be better with older groups, but it’s hard to look at a group of 13 year olds and know you only look about 5 years older than them. We also gave a talk in groups to others in our tech program, and Meghan and I talked about pest identification and organic pest management. The next day we reiterated the importance of composting and pest management to the entire Agriculture group, and got to hear their presentation on cost-benefit analysis of vermiculture. It has been a pretty intense few days of learning, and I can now say that I feel pretty comfortable talking about pest management, composting (worms and regular!), and how best to start a garden. We have also reviewed some problem-solving techniques, and I’m pretty sure I can McGyver a worm compost area out of anything. We’ve also completely planted our community garden, and some beautiful little sprouts have come up. We’re such proud mommas.
Monday I got my hair cut. It's short again, and I tried bangs for the first time and I pretty much hate them. Ahhhhhhh. It's times like these I'm glad I'm in a foreign country, and no one knows me here well enough to make fun of me.
Wednesday was a pretty awesome day, since I got to go to my first birthday party!!! And a hell of a birthday party it was! It was for my great-grandma, the oldest lady in my town, who turned 100. My god, that’s old. The last time I was around someone that old I was about 8, and it scared me to death. I reacted a lot better this time, and even though she wanted to sit next to me and kept patting my hair, I think I handled it ok. My great-grandma is pretty awesome: she speaks Kachiquel, like the rest of my family, but she switches to Spanish so I can understand, and has been through so much in the past 100 years. She made it through poverty, starvation, a civil war, and has raised an amazing family of people. My family has a long-running joke about her “caja de muerto” or casket that she bought 9 years ago, and they say that every birthday when they sing “Happy Birthday” they’re also singing it to her casket. Too funny. Anyway, birthday parties for my family here start with 3 hours of singing religious music and a sermon, just like a normal Sunday, and end with the women serving a MASSIVE amount of food to everybody. Then we all sit around and talk, and I got home at about 2am. Yikes. The best part of the whole night was at one point during the quiet part of the sermon when my great-grandma leans over me and says loudly in Spanish “I DON’T KNOW ANYBODY HERE!!!” I tried to keep a straight face, but I leaned over and said “ME NEITHER.” We were quite the pair. The only two in the room that almost fell asleep during the sermon. Love you, granny. Also at the party, they served “ensalada rusa” which was basically mayo on potatoes, and reminded me of home so intensely I thought my mom was going to come through the door claiming to have made it.
Also in recent news, I don’t know how much media attention this has been getting in the States, but Guatemala has recently been overwhelmed with rain and mudslides. This has been the heaviest rain in 60 years, and has led to over 200 landslides, and over 50 deaths, and all this right on the tail of Agatha that passed through in May. It’s pretty grim news, prompting the President to call a National State of Emergency, and has affected the whole country pretty seriously. Every time I watch the news here, read a paper, or even listen to my padres talk, I have to remind myself that this country is the size of Tennessee, that each “department” is the size of a county, and that when the Pan-American Highway is knocked out like it was for almost a week, it’s like if I-75 was shut down in Georgia. It’s hard to explain to my parents sometimes that in a country the size of the United States, we are far more removed from the deaths of others in distant states, and that crime or even natural disasters can happen in our own country and not affect us. It’s very humbling to see the compassion the people have here for their entire state and people. The infrastructure of Guatemala is just not able to handle a natural disaster of this proportion, and as our trainer reminded us this week, the whole country, Peace Corps included, will probably be cleaning up the mess of the last week for years to come.
So that’s all for now. Tech won last weekend (obviously) 41-10, and they’re playing Kansas this weekend. I’ll be watching a Mayan religious ceremony instead of the game, but I’ll be thinking of all you tailgaters. I also hope to cook a delicious meal for my family soon, so if anybody has any easy American recipes that I can make without an oven, let me know! Love you all too too much.

Llovedera = pouring rain

Ahhhhhhhh. Another week or so has gone by! I feel like I don’t even measure weeks by weekends anymore, since we never really have spare time. I only know it’s been another week by our weekly visits to the Peace Corps headquarters. Since the last post, several VERY exciting things have happened:

· We visited Guatemala City, the capitol! And I got a super amazing new sweater there! It says “Super Shine” and has a rainbow, and when I wear it, nothing can go wrong! I also got to eat an amazing salad (I know that sounds random, but you wouldn’t believe how hard it is to come across uncooked veggies) and I bought ugly new closed-toe shoes. What a find!

· On said trip to Guatemala City, we rode on a school bus from NORTH GEORGIA!! Holy shit! I wanted a picture SO BAD of the North Georgia sign right next to the name of the bus, which was something like “Cabriacenalita” but since we were sitting 3 to a seat on both sides, it just wasn’t possible. Que triste.

· We went out to visit a current Agriculture volunteer in Patzun. He showed us around some of the gardens he helped implement, and described some of the ways he facilitated seed distribution among his community. In his time there, he also worked with some of the ladies from his community and neighboring ones to start a mushroom-growing operation. Since many of the women in Guatemala work in and around their homes all day, there is a little bit of down time that could be used for income generation. And thus, a project was born. They bring in a lot of money; they grow quickly; they almost always produce well. Boom. It was amazing to see, and to talk to the ladies who started this program. I have to say, though, after the visit I got extremely intimidated. This guy has really done a lot with his community, and has obviously gotten a lot of trust and respect from these people. I guess I see why they really push for us to understand the importance of integration.

· It was the weekend of feria in our town, and we went out and celebrated as a group. We had a lot of fun, especially on Saturday, when we broke a few rules, ate a little street food, and rode some pretty dangerous Guatemalan fair rides. They have this one Ferris wheel that goes about 80mph forwards and backwards. Needless to say, I didn’t get on.

· We finally got our official technical trainer for Food Security. His name is Dale. He’s from Texas. I joked a lot about how I wasn’t going to like him before he got here, but he seems like just the person our program needs. He’s a pretty chill guy, and really seems to know a lot about agriculture, and told us on the first day that he’s laid back, but at some point we’re going to hate him. Perfect! I’m actually looking forward to having someone push me and he’s been a great motivator and resource so far. He reminds me a little bit of my dad, because he’s down to joke around and enjoy work, as long as the work is actually getting done.

· We get to an actual city alone this weekend!!!! Will the fact that it’s Sunday morning stop me from treating it like a Friday night? No way. I want an icy cold beer and a medium rare steak (or Indian food. Or cake. Or Mexican. Or a hamburger.) Anyway, we’re all pretty excited and are looking forward to planning.

· I did NOT have to go to my family’s church’s all-night vigil! Huzzah! They didn’t even really put up a fight when I said I would rather not go to church from 8pm-5am. It was touch and go there for a second, but it basically made my weekend when I dodged that bullet.

· Saturday = college football gameday. Boom. Although I don’t really want to think about how much I’ll miss one of my favorite parts of college (the all-day boozing/socializing, not the actual football game) I’m excited Tech is starting a new season. I’ll be dreaming of 100 degree weather, sundresses, Natty Lite, and cornhole while I’m giving a tour of my town in the rain. Alas. Give ‘em hell, Tech!

Anyway, I’m still enjoying Guate, despite having bummed my way through a cold and way too much rain. That must be good, right? We’re also hopefully going to be planting soon in our new gardens and we’ll be starting our series of “charlas” or “talks” as well.

Embelequero = "rubber-neck"; person who likes to see what is happening

So here's the link to where I'm putting up my pictures. So far I have only ones from the feria parade this past weekend. I also have some amazingly hilarious videos (at least to me they're funny) but I'm having a little trouble uploading them.

http://picasaweb.google.com/esanford3

Also, thank you all for your support and comments! It's really great to hear back from everybody and I'm slowly but surely responding. I love hearing from you all, miss yall tons.

Canche = blonde or light haired person

Pictures of the Parade!
(more to come when I get my Picassa up and running)
Traditional "Traje" de Guatemala
Traditional Men's Colthing

"Don't forget our Sumpangan Traditions"

Check out these kids beards. Too cute.

All the important men in the town

So I’ve officially been in my training site for a week. I’ve lasted 2 trips to the market, 2 Saturday-night tamale dinners, 2 visits to church, and 4 weekend nights in bed by 9. I think at this point I should write a little more about my daily life here in Guatemala during training, and what I’ve been up to the past week. The newness of everything is finally starting to wear off here, and I’ve made it around town the last 4 days now without getting lost. I’m sure my family is a little disappointed I’m getting more comfortable with the city, since they love hearing stories of the dumb stuff I do, but I’ve found other ways to embarrass myself or be awkward.
My family, by the way, is amazing. It’s been overwhelming how accepting and supportive I’ve been the past week, and how much they try to help me succeed here in Guatemala. Communication hasn’t been a problem for us at all, since my Spanish is improving “poco a poco” and they take the time to explain words to me or even act out what they mean. Whenever I have a grammar, pronunciation, or even cultural question, any one of them will work to make me understand. We’ve gotten to the point in our communication abilities where we can joke with each other, and laughing for hours after dinner around the table is a common occurrence. Like when I told them about how a little boy threw rocks at me in the street when I was lost. Or how I mistakenly told a store owner I needed to buy “ham “to wash my clothes with instead of “soap” (cut me some slack, “jamon” sounds a lot like “jabon”). Or that I tried to eat something raw that is only meant to be eaten raw by animals. I’m so cool.
My padre is hilarious and calls me Rambo, because I seem to be breaking or tripping over something, or am just big in general every day. My hermano, Gerson, is very quite, but since he’s studying to be an engineer, I’ve spent the last four years preparing to interact with someone like him. He currently hasn’t been going to classes during the day because his school is closed down because some students are trying to take over it. The article about it is here in Spanish(I can’t figure out how the get the English version), and it’s pretty amazing to read about. The students are fighting for what they call “human rights”, since the government is trying to make the public school become private. This would make it basically impossible for nearly all the current attendees to attend, since private schools here are ridiculously expensive. I’ve also heard from several people that the public schools turn out better prepared students because they actually have to work to not get kicked out, and can’t just pay to stay in. I told them it was basically the exact same in the U.S. (just kidding, you private school babies!) Anyway, Gerson is planning on getting his Masters and probably Doctorate, and I’m making a big push to turn him into a Yellow Jacket. My hermana, Leslie is a medical student and studies a lot too. She’s adorable and hilarious, and doesn’t mind going out with me in public even though I awkwardly get attention called to me almost every time we go somewhere. She also has this funny affectation she does when she’s making a joke or being sarcastic that I have to learn to adopt. Joking here is entirely different, and if you can’t do the Guatemalan snort after you make a funny, no one knows you’re joking. I learned this the hard way. My madre is probably the person I spend the most time with, and the person that works with me on my transition here the most. She’s tireless and constantly calm and collected, and will listen to me prattle on in broken Spanish for hours. She makes all the meals at the house, does almost all the household chores, and travels 2 hours both ways, three days a week to work in her family store in Comalapa. She’s the first one up in the morning making breakfast and packing lunches, and the last one to bed, after all the dishes and laundry are cleaned by hand. And despite all this work, after a long day, she still wants to hear every detail of my day and make sure I’m caught up with my homework. She truly is the backbone of the family, and an amazing supporter, and is always content. Since I’m an old lady here (I would put the average age to marry at 19) she seems to consider me her peer, and we’ve talked about everything from family problems to how to be attractive and conservative (although since she always wears the traditional “traje” it’s not too hard for her to be conservative).
A lot of people have asked about what I’ve been eating here, and I have to report back that I’ve been eating massive amounts of “delicious”. Seriously. I was made to eat this type of food every day! My new favorite veggie is güisquil, and is amazing. I’m sending some home asap. A local dish here that is probably one of my new top favorite foods is pepian (this isn’t the best recipe, since it doesn’t have güisquil), and is basically like a Mexican “mole” without the chocolate. It’s amazing, and my madre says she’ll teach me how to cook it the next time I have a free day. There’s also a lot of beans and tortillas, of course, but more surprisingly for me is that there’s a lot of veggies or other things dipped in egg and fried. I like the whole green beans done that way the best.
Anwayyyyyyyy, more about what I’ve actually been doing, I guess. I get up every morning about 6-6:30 and get ready for class, which starts at 8, but changes locations almost every day and I have to walk/take a bus to get there. I eat a full breakfast of about 3 tortillas and whatever eggs/beans/veggie thing there is. Then most days I have 4-6 hours of Spanish/culture class, where we go over grammar or go around the city visiting sites and learning new vocabulary. I also have started my 2 hours of technical training every day, and will soon be outside getting into some small-scale farming. Although I get extreeeeeeemely tired of Spanish classes (I swear I’ve gone to more class in the past week than I did all of my senior year at Tech) it’s not too bad, and I’m really enjoying my technical classes. It’s a good group of people, and there’s a lot to learn. So after class I hang out with my family, have some down time, eat dinner, and am in bed by 9 usually. It’s a simple, albeit boring, life but I am enjoying my time here immensely. Every day has some really enjoyable aspects and knowing that I’ll be prepared for my future site is a great motivator.
The goals for the Food Security Volunteers is to have at least 5 family gardens and 1 school garden in each of the communities we work in, and we’ll probably be working in 3 communities. We also will start nutrition classes and proper chicken care of at least 1 backyard chicken coop. I know this sounds small-scale, but in a community of 200, where most the people are related, if we can affect 5 families and a school we’ll have started a big change in a town. I have to admit, I’ve gotten a little overwhelmed at some of the stuff we’ve been learning recently. It’s not my specific agricultural project that has me worried, but how to implement them in the communities where there are so many other problems. Because I’m a a Food Security Volunteer, I’ll most likely be sent out to a very rural area where hygiene or sanitation isn’t a top priority, and where the “trash problem” (basically they throw it down the hill when it rains) is taking over the land. How can one start building a garden if it’s in a community where the pigs are free-roaming and literally pooping the garbage they eat right next to a garden? I don’t want to worry about it too much, since I don’t know my site or conditions yet, but if sanitation is a problem where I go, there will be a lot of work to do before I can implement my gardens. I guess for Peace Corps Volunteers across the world this is a potential problem in every community. I mean, hey, it is a developing country.
So this weekend was a special and exciting one here in Sumpango. Not only was it the beginning of feria, complete with huge parade and carnival food, but it was also the birthday of one of the other Trainees here, Kristen. On Saturday, after our 8am clothes-washing class (holy crap, it’s going to take me forever to ruin/wash my clothes on laundry day) we threw a surprise birthday party for Kristen. We took up a collection, bought a cake, and snuck over to her house. I had asked her madre the day before if we could come over, and they were extremely accommodating, and even let us listen to gringo music. After that, we went to visit another friend and ended up laughing that day for hours. It’s nice to socialize with other people going through the same thing, and joke about knowing we’ll hit a breaking point and how we’ll react. Sunday was amazing as well, since I woke up at 6am to the neighbor playing Backstreet Boys, ate some amazing pancakes, and went to watch the parade. Parades in Guatemala are COMPLETELY different from ones in the U.S., mainly because about half the town and 100% of the kids are in it, and it takes roughly 2 hours to watch it pass. It was great though, because you can see what things are universal, like cute kids, angsty teens, and overbearing parents. I commented to my madre that there was the parade going by with an equally long parade of parents walking along the sidewalk watching their kids, and she said “just wait until it gets down to the center of the city and at least half of these kids lose their parents for a few hours”. We went to the downtown area after and hung around the mercado, and broke a big Peace Corps rule by eating street food. I haven’t gotten diarrhea from it, but if I do it was totally worth it. When I walk through the streets here, I feel like a giant. A giant blonde person, stomping through the streets. I usually get some looks or stares, and can almost always here whispers (and sometimes shouts) of “gringa” when I walk by. When a group of us is walking back from class, we make almost every 13 year old boy giggle. But the day of the feria I was walking along when 3 old ladies, who looked vaguely like the tree in Pocahontas, stopped me to pat me down and call me “canchita”. I have realized since being here how little we touch people in the states and how quickly I need to get used to it. After feria, we ate lunch and relaxed. Then was church. Ohhhhhhh, church. I’ve realized that I’m not just awkward at church, but actually intensely uncomfortable. I’ve explained this to my madre some, and I don’t think I’ll be going next week to the all night vigil. I came, I experienced culture, and out of respect for both them and me, I’m going to back off on going to church.
So today was the first day of classes at Tech. I got a little sad, and a lot happy that I wasn’t there. It’s amazing where you find yourself in a year’s time. Good luck to everybody still in school, and hurray for a new pledge class of AXOs.