17.12.13

we´re just country boys and girls gettin down on the farm

This past weekend my amazing counterpart, Riva, invited me to spend the weekend with her and her family in a town called San Carlos Sija!  It was the town fair, and so there was lots going on...

First there was the Female Convite (women dress up in these incredible costumes and dance intricately coordinated moves to live music)



This costume was my favorite!


At the end of the event the women take off their masks so that everyone can see who they are!


Riva´s family had their corn out drying in the sun...  Check out the variety!

I named this cutie Moonbeam!  (Santa, all I want for Christmas is a baby cow)

Riva´s kids and her nephew and niece, as we walk to town from the house...

Sija´s soccer team playing verus Cabrican

Sija´s female basketball team playing for the championship!


The last day there was an Argentinian Horse Race!  All of the men watching were decked out in boots and cowboy hats...  Check out the little cowboy (too. cute.)



3.12.13


Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope that you had a wonderful time with family and friends.  This year (drumroll please) I made my first turkey!  A few weeks ago my host dad told me that he wanted to do the ´real american thanksgivng´ and so, we got ourselves a 12 pound, south carolina turkey (yup that´s right, imported). 


My host mom with the turkey all set for the oven!

The hardest part?  We only had 24 hours to defrost it!  After a frantic google search turns out you can leave the bird in water for a half and hour and then change the water, for 6 hours.  It worked!

Along with turkey, we had stove top stuffing (thanks to my mom, and my aunt Nancy and uncle Jim who brought it with them on their visit), steamed green beans, and rolls.  The whole family came together to sit down and eat (18 of us!)...


The evening ended with all the women cleaning up, the men watching tv and the kid cousins being crazy hooligans...

23.9.13

My life lately:  
The people I work with at the Independence Day parade!

My best photo bomb ever!

Officemates (Hector and Susie)

Big school newspaper project I just finished...

Forum for International Indigenous Peoples Day


Went all out in the traditional Zunil traje for the parade!


Maria learned how to wave!

Zunil's Independence Day parade


My dad hiked Mt. of the Holy Cross (my inspiration this month)!!!!


25.7.13

Life is good.  And by good I mean:  hard, happy, tiring, sad, fun, restful, stressful, really sad, painfully sad, inspiring, educational.  Life is good.

As you might guess, things have grown into a hairy jungle of events/obligations/chores/outings/responsibilities that most of you know as life but as a 24 year old, I am still getting used to this ´grown up´ concept. 

All of a sudden I am worried.  About?  Wrinkles.  Work.  Mouth wash.  My best friend´s mom.  My boyfriend´s mom.  My mom.  My family.  Colonoscopies.  Jobs.  My credit score. My dog´s rabies vaccine.  What I will eat for dinner.  Savings accounts.  Drinking too much coffee.  Sunscreen.  The 401k that I don’t have.  Dying on the chicken bus.   If my compost worms have enough to eat. 

No wonder my niece calls me ´crazy Aunt Sam´ (in a condescending 4 year old voice).  But honestly, it´s been a bit rough.  My doctor says it´s normal, a mid-twenties coming-of-age if you will.  I say, culture shock from returning from THE AMERICAN EXTRAVAGANZA OF 2013.  Who knows.  All I know is that I am mortal, and I can´t believe I´ve gone 24 years without flossing.  WHAT WAS I THINKING?  (answer: Obviously not about gingivitis. )

Life lately:  




Reading Fair with middle schoolers 

´Reading without reflecting is eating without digesting´

A tent at the Reading Fair

Bingo at the Reading Fair 

A man weaving thread to make the traditional skirt (corte)

´Future Journalists Workshop´  I led in Almolonga

My girls at the Garden of the Gods, CO

No caption necessary

If you haven`t seen it, you need to!

Awarding the winners of a drama contest in El Palmar

Acting as a way to promote reading!

24.4.13

'life lately according to my iphone'

 
(yeah right)
 
Basketball with the girls

From the left: Rene, Myself, Pia and Manito the turtle (portrait by Rudy on cement wall with ash from the fire)

Cruz's weaving, isn't it beautiful!?

My sister! (note the two different colored socks) what a cutie!

My friend Rosa got hitched at city hall! (she was beaming!)

The party!

Rudy and Victor learn to play a Dora the Explorer game on the computer

Pia sees herself in the mirror and freaks out that there's another dog in her room... ZA WUPPIES!

9.4.13

Semana Santa

I’ve gotten to this great place in my life.  And it’s part of this journey, this coming to an understanding with one’s self about the realities of life (mostly that I will never be Julia Roberts).  I don’t know where I’m going- I’ve got ideas, I just have to figure out how to get there.  Thank god for the wonderful people in my life- some who have been there since day one and some who have crossed paths for only a moment.  You have made all the difference. 
Forgive the 20-something type of thought process (i.e. ‘poor me, what shall I do with my life?).  But the truth is that March was a month of putting one step in front of the other, instead of just talking.  And those first steps are always hard. 
My third year extension finally went through.  Aka I will be a Peace Corps volunteer until April 2014.  I’ll be working at the state superintendent’s office to help implement a children’s literacy program in the schools (called Leamos Juntos). So I’m officially not a Healthy Schools volunteer and Monday I start at the office!  And as much as I planned and pushed and actively participated in the process, it was still unreal to watch my friends pack up their lives here and say their goodbyes.  Being left is always scarier than leaving. 
I had the opportunity to help out on a trip to Guatemala hosted by the National Peace Corps Association.  It was 10 days with some incredible people, honestly incredible.   They were so open and curious and interested and kind and the best huggers.  Those ten days helped me to recharge, to get centered, to talk in English, to talk to people who have the same culture and the same way of processing things and people who started out just like me (aka peace corps volunteers) and went on to do wonderful things with their lives.  People who believe in me.  And I just really needed that, at that moment (I get choked up just writing this).
 
Easter week was beautiful here in Zunil.  Each day leading up to Easter there are activities: processions, mass, special foods.  My favorite activity:  One teenaged boy is declared Judas and other teenage boys are declared ‘the jews’ and the whole town comes out into the streets to capture and hang Judas in the park.  Sounds less than impressive, but if you could have seen hundreds of people chasing this teenybopper into the mountains, you would have thought it was cool too!  Thursday night there was a special mass to commemorate the last supper and then a candle lit procession with everyone singing hymns in the streets.  I ate lots of sweet bread (averaged 5 pieces a day) with sweet garbanzo or miel (not honey from bees but just a sweet mix of fruits and garbanzo).
Highlight of this month was talking to my Grams.  I love her oh so much!
 
Some pics from Easter week:
 
 The church in Zunil, all prettified for Semana Santa
 
 
One of my host brothers (Victoriano) showing off his noisemaker while watching a procession

Soldiers in a procession (wish I could explain but from what I got, there really isn't a good explanation)

Huge noisemakers that (go figure) make lots of noise.

Procession

5.3.13


What do you eat?  For some reason Guatemalans always like to ask me this, mostly to determine if they might invite me to lunch or not.  It's kind of a hard question to answer, and in the states we would most likely respond, 'I eat everything'.  WHICH IS A LIE!  No one on the planet eats everything, but it's the easy way to say that you're open to try things.
 
 
This strategy does not work here.  A general 'I like all foods' always gets a 'like what?' response.  So it's better to be specific.  I like everything that isn't meat.  Okay, now we're getting somewhere.  Do you cook?  Ummmm, sort of?
 
 
I thought I'd show you what I had for lunch a few Saturdays ago.  I LOVE AVOCADO! So, just whip up some chunky guacamole (avocado, cilantro, tomato, onion and lots of lemon and salt) throw some tortillas on the stove with some cheese inside and you've got the kind of food that I love.  
 
 
It's hard eating here, not because the food aren't delicious, just because I don't have access to the foods that I used to depends on (wheat thins and brie!).  But, bit by bit you go transforming yourself and before you know it peanut butter no longer is appetizing.
 
 
Buen provecho! Bon appetit!

28.2.13


My favorite Guatemalan celebration: CARNAVAL!


What is Carnaval? Basically it’s Fat Tuesday, but way more crazythan anything you see on channel 5 reporting live from New Orleans. It is always the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday and it is ridiculous. The idea is that kids act like little devils because when Lent starts there’s no more fun.

 
In Guatemala the celebration is mostly in the schools (lucky for me) and revolves around eggs. Yup, that’s right, eggs. Back in the day one would crack eggs on the heads of their friends and enemies (this is still done in some schools). Now kids save egg shells, once they’re dried they fill them with confetti and use tissue paper to close them. The final touch is some paint. The final product?A cascaron, to be broken on the head of friend or foe. (read: confetti in your hair!)


The confetti here is called ‘pica-pica’ and it’s beautiful. Imagine little polkadots of every imaginable color. You can also mix in some glitter (which is EVIL, it’s really hard to get glitter out of your hair). So kids come armed to school with around a dozen cascarones and at least a pound of pica-pica in a bag. And the war begins.


400 kids in the school patio having a confetti war. I told you that it’s the best holiday EVER!


So, after being sneak attacked all day (I’m kind of tall so it makes for a good challenge to crack the cascaron on my head), I was ready for some payback. My two host brothers had attacked earlier and I told them to watch their backs as I retreated into my house. So, I went to the market and picked myself up TWO dozen cascarones and a pound of pica-pica (it was on sale at this point). Then I called for reinforcements.


Rene is an expert, I mean, he’s got years of carnaval up his sleeve. We had ammunition and just needed a strategy. Our strategy: we’re a lot bigger than them plus they are super ticklish. Result: BAD. Those kids are good.


In the end: