Rainy days and Mondays always seem to get you down

So these past few weeks have been interesting. Definitely rainy (It's cold at 8000 feet)and Mondays really are the worst day of the week. But I wouldn't necessarily say that I'm down. I've had lots to do and now with October in full swing I can dream that the rainy season is over. It hasn't rained in like 8 days. I don't really know what to do with myself. It is also "fall" like weather which makes me incredibly happy. I forgot how much I loved fall: Pumpkins and all baked goods pumpkin flavored, coffee, scarves, and the crunchy leaves... None of these things are here but the dry crisp weather is. Betty also showed me a neat trick of putting cinnamon in my coffee before it brews. Can you say delicious and fally? So as the time passes and Guatemalans tell us we are entering "verano" aka Summer, I know they just don't know that really this is Fall.

As for work, it is difficult to get to school just to say thanks for all your hard work this year & we look forward to next year because there have been so many events like "dia del nino" you know kid's day? Also, our towns fair was last weekend. Causing lots of cancellations and trips on the Ferris Wheel. I would equate Feria with Apple Blossom but more run down and sketchy. Lots of Guatemalan carnies come to town and set up games, there is food and lots of times to go out on the town for some quality fun. I rode some rides probably against my best interest but I lived to tell the tale. First bumper cars, pretty standard and fun. It was so weird to be "behind the wheel", made me miss driving in the US but not too terribly. Then there was this crazy flying saucer thing... I never rode this things in the US I don't know what encouraged me to do so here. Cultural PRESSURE! Anyway, then the Ferris Wheel, oh how nice?! Unlike Ferris wheels in the US where the riders slowly pass in order to see the heights, Guatemalan Ferris Wheels go at breathtaking speeds encouraging all riders to scream in terror. I was riding with twelve year old Alejandra so I tried to keep my cool and prevent vomiting but I don't think I'll be doing that again. Now it's done and I can say that I did it and all is well.

Alejandra and the sketchy spinny ride that required me to sit down for about fifteen minutes afterward in order to ensure no sickness would transpire.






View of the Ferris Wheel seats










In other news my dear friend from training Brent has gone home. He will be missed muchly here but on to bigger, better, and different things I suppose. I'm sad for his departure but know that we have a friendship that will last, it is only disappointing to not have him here in the same country and time zone any more.

I guess all in all I'm really learning a lot about myself and things I want to do with my life. Also, what is important and necessary to be happy? All this and only 9 months in. I miss you all so much, lots of love.

Friday Night Blog

So it's Friday night and time to blog. Things in Guatemala have been crazy for the month of September. Let's start with the weather. So much rain. Rainy season is terrible. However, it has led to a lot of time in my apartment and site. Lots of dinners with Don Pedro and Dona Mercedes. Lots of Tae Bo. Lots of Cat time. Manchitas is so cute and big. Love her so much... I'm thinking she might be done with her mess making. She better be. Anywho, the rain led to lots of terrible landslides, some fell on actual buses and of course Tecpan was right smack dab in the middle of that. Luckily no one we know was injured and every was safe, dry, and unharmed. Along with the rain cutting into the work schedule everyone was preparing for Independence day celebrations. September 15th is a big deal in Guatemala and I think all of central America. Celebrating 189 years of independence from Spain since 1821.

This means school serves even less of a purpose than normal. Everyone learns to bang a drum or play a portable xylophone. How cute? NOT. Not when they practice every day the same terrible songs and who ever is the instructor has no musical background whatsoever. Ok that sounds mean but really I watched a lot of parades and heard a lot of bad music. The xylophones are just dumb instruments to begin with. It just sounds like a bunch of baby toys going off at once. Then the drums are played by mostly boys and I literally think the "Band Director" instructs them to beat their drum as hard as possible. Evident by students carrying drums that are taped back together. I will give some schools credit. They try and some had some fun songs or tricks. But for the most part it was a little glimpse of torture. Imagine the Macy's Thanksgiving day Parade with really bad marching bands. It was still fun because it's so unbelievably hilarious. Anywho, parades were held Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Sadly it rained Wednesday night preventing the fireworks show. However, we got to hear plenty of fireworks because it doesn't have to be dark for them to be used. In fact they love that popping noise that sounds like machine guns for most holidays... Including birthdays. If someone really wants to wish you a happy birthday, they'll set off fireworks you can't even see in front of your door at 5 am.


It was fun to see schools that we work with and cheer for them in the parade. Same with seeing the Grandchildren. All in all it's been a fun holiday time.

Lauren and Betty take on Guatemalan Parades


The little Drummer Boy


Guatemalan "Float" that plays music for people to dance to

RAIN RAIN RAIN

So the past few days of rainy season have been full of too much rain. I used to like rainy days when you could sit inside, read a book, take a nap, eat soup... I don't like rainy days in Guatemala. I've spent a lot of my time wet, my apartment feels wet, and everything is just damp and not pleasant. Also lots of landslides which are scary but not to worry. I'm safely held up in my apartment with my cheerios, kitty, and host family below. Love

End of the Month

So August is ending and I've almost been in country for 8 months. I can't believe it. I'll be in the teens... as in 19 months left! That's crazy. Time has been going fast but I've hit a little slump. The past week has been crazy. A lot of things have made me super emotional but I've been busy which is good. Lots of school visits and presentations to fill the time. We also met with a local NGO and will be giving a workshop on HIV/AIDS prevention to teenagers in the next two weeks. I'm nervous about it but excited. It is such an important topic and I'm sure after the first one I will feel more confident to keep spreading the word. Also I've been thinking a lot about my parents who still continue to do great things with their lives. I'm looking into my future after PC already. Also, thinking good thoughts for my mom as she spends the next 10 days in Haiti doing medical relief work. I love hearing about everyone from home's adventures. It keeps me motivated and looking for new and exciting things to do.

This past week we had a group of new trainees come and visit Tecpan. It was cool to show them around and to remember how crazy life was during training. They have only been here for about two weeks. I got to show them my apartment which was fun because I remember seeing other people's places during training. It was just exciting to hear their questions and to remember how much of a whirlwind training was and how glad I am to now be in site and working. Also, the next training group to arrive will be HEALTHY SCHOOLS! Not until January but I'm excited at the prospect of meeting new people and helping a lot with the training of the HS program. One trainee is living with my "old" host family. I've done a horrible job of keeping in touch with them but tomorrow I'm heading over to their house for lunch. YUM! Also, I'm really excited to see them. I've missed them a lot and it's hard to remember what life used to be like in Guatemala during training, let alone in the US. Things are changing so much... it doesn't feel weird to not flush my toilet paper! Although right now lots of people have been traveling home and I have been feeling more homesick. I'm just reminding myself to get through everything and soon enough people will be visiting and it will be 1 year in country before I know it.

So buy those plane tickets and know that I'm thinking of you all and missing you dearly. love love love

I've got beans

So tonight was tamale dinner at our friend Brenda's house. Brenda is 22 and not married. I.E. We need to be friends. She is really sweet and a teacher at one of our schools. She is also my neighbor and Don Pedro is her Uncle. Sadly, they do not have a very good relationship related to some rumors about Brenda having dated a married man last year... when she was 21 but you know it was totally her fault and thus she shouldn't be trusted or talked to. It's a little hard actually because I want to respect Don Pedro and Dona Mercedes with their choice to talk to someone or not but it is hard when they turn their nose down at me when they know I have spent time with Brenda and I'm sure this dinner will hurt their feelings but I mean at some point I have to make decisions on my own and having a 22 year old friend seems pretty good right now. Anyway, her mom made us delicious tamales and gave us beans. Ha sometimes pity tastes so good. Now I've got beans in my fridge and I'll be able to heat them up on my new stove. Well, that would be the case if I had gas. Next month. Hopefully we can keep this friendship alive to keep sharing food. We also have set up a movie night complete with popcorn. I guess we will just see what happens.

I bet you are thinking it's pretty sad that you have a stove with no gas but I mean it's not so bad. Gas is EXPENSIVE. I eat dinner with DP and DM pretty much every night. So I only have to worry about breakfast and lunch which surprisingly I can scrounge around enough to have something pretty good. Also, Betty and I together can pull off a pretty good lunch pretty cheaply and totally culturally sensitive. Beans, Eggs, and some type of salad (usually cucumber, tomato, onion and then lime and salt! YUM)So slowly but surely I will be a great little chef... haha Seeing as right now I can't get my huge water jug open, I'd say my skills are not in the kitchen. I also don't know which is more embarrassing a stove with no gas or a water jug that you can't open? You tell me.

In other news, Manchitas is really fat. She is getting so big. Also she loves to leave presents on my bed when I leave. This is really testing my patience. A)because it is really gross B) because it is a huge pain. I do love her though I'm worried she might have fleas and I don't have enough money to get her fixed until next month so I'm terrified she's going to get pregnant, keeping pooing on my bed, and get so fat that she won't be able to move. Any cat advice welcome.

This week starts more meetings. Tomorrow we are meeting with a local NGO to share what our project is and hopefully brainstorm ways we can work together. Should be exciting. Well that's the brief update for now... Love and miss you all. Let me know you are still reading.

Market Day

The month of July has flown by and tomorrow makes 7 months! I really can't believe it. We had so many conferences this month and Betty's parents visited for the last week as well. So things were busy busy busy and it keeps on being busy. With lots of school visits to make this month, Betty and I are trying to stay on our toes. Going to school, fixing up our apartments and keeping up with our pets... Ok it sounds a lot more busy than it actually is. We have adapted to the lifestyle of not being able to multi-task or work for long hours. It just makes you so tired. Anyway, things are falling back onto normal schedule because we don't have any more meetings at the center for a while and we are just able to focus on life at home in Tecpan.

I'm trying to get the house cleaned up after I returned to a DISASTER. Who knew a small kitten could do so much damage. It was disgusting and awfully messy when I returned after 3 nights away from home. This little kitten is so needy. She wakes me up everyday for feeding at 6ish... Then constantly has to be with me and cries when I don't give her every ounce of my attention but I guess that is ok because she loves me and even though sometimes when I go to sleep I'm alone, she's always with me and for the moment without Fleas.

In other news, Today I went to the market and did some serious shopping. I bought Veggies which are currently sitting in Chlorine in order to be edible. I bought 2 knives, a pineapple and some HONEY! However, I'm not so sure about the honey. It tastes like syrup... processed syrup. But maybe that was just because it isn't as good as Woodland Ave Honey. I don't know. I'm pretty sure it's not syrup. It looks like Honey. and Syrup would be more expensive than Honey and I only paid 10Q for the bottle... So we'll see. I'll try again. I really am going to try to start a Honey project with my friend who is working on a Tea Farm in Alta Verapaz. That could be really fun and a nice chance to perfect my bee skills. They are definitely rusty.

I guess things are moving along slowly but surely and I'll try to keep you guys updated on my happenings but I mean not a lot happens. Anyway, love and miss.


HONEY


My widdle baby that drives me crazy


Little Manchitas loves to Cholorinate veggies

LIfe Update

Let's hit the highlights...

-Manchitas, the cat formerly known as Lady Sadie Pickles is doing very well. she's growing a lot and learning that not all humans were put on this planet to terrorize her. In fact whenever I'm home she enjoys spending most of her time at my side, perching on my shoulder or on top of the computer and getting her paws on anything she shouldn't. It's really cute if I do say so myself. She does have a strange fascination with the toilet... It's gross. Betty suggested I litter train her to use it. vamos a ver?

-The other day I accidentally put the chair on Maria's foot. She squawked like crazy and still can't put weight on it. I think this happened Sunday. Now her poor foot is all black and disgusting. I feel bad but she still tries to attack my toesies so I guess now she knows how it feels to have an injured foot. DP and DM have assured me that they have done this many times themselves and that I shouldn't feel bad.

-This upcoming Friday the new volunteers swear in. It's pretty exciting. First of 6 groups to pass through before I COS (close of service). I can't believe that much time has passed already and I find myself feeling like such a vet when it comes to the life of a PCV in Guatemala. Still got lots to learn and more to see/do. Next week our training group will be reunited for RECONNECT, which is after the first 3 months of service and we all come back together for more training and language classes. Fun times!

-I've recently had some "breakthroughs" at work. It really is amazing how going to a school and seeing some little 4th graders wash their hands will really turn around your day. The same difference when you are sitting outside the school bathroom and the kids come out to wash their hands but there isn't any water. It's pretty heartbreaking. All for the sake of washing your hands a habit that I think even lots of Americans are lacking. Today I also made about 20 new friends. Man do I miss the 4th grade. They all keep asking me words in English which is usually pretty annoying but for some reason it was so precious. Cause I would say a word and then they would try to repeat it with completely the wrong emphasis. It was interesting to hear the English words how they heard them. They also loved my hair which has gotten kind of long and pretty blondeish... I made the mistake of wearing my hair down so I was getting lots of great hair dos... Hopefully my next blog won't be about lice infestation but it actually felt worth it. Feeling a connection to these kids even for like an hour was really nice but it made me have second thoughts about how my job is supposed to work. I love the hands on interaction with children but I really don't get that now. But it's all still beginning and we'll see how many more friends I make.

-LOVE THE MAIL!!!! I have been receiving lots of mail recently and it really makes my day. So sweet of everyone to send me anything. It is so nice to walk into the post office and have Don Luis tell me there is something for me. So I just want to say thanks and that slowly my confidence in the mail system is growing and I'll try to send some snail mail home.

Anywho, I think that is the highlight for now. Love and miss you all so much and love hearing from you. love love love