LUBU!

I got a puppy! It wasn't one of those spur of the moments, I am sad and lonely and want a puppy. No, I have wanted my own pup for quite some time now. I brought little Lubu home this afternoon after a few complications. Cathaleen got another puppy from the same litter on Sunday and told the family I would be back to get one too. I really wanted a girl and there was a girl and a boy left. I fell in love with the girl right away. The family said I could just have her so I left with her and went to visit another family in the small village. While I was at that family's home a lady came and told me that the girl had already been sold so I couldn't have her. I was really sad as little Lubu has been sleeping in my arms the last 30 minutes. I didn't want it to be an issue so Cathleen took little Lubu back and brought me the boy. The boy was also cute but I really wanted a girl. After another 30 minutes I was about to leave with the boy and then the same lady said she talked to the boy who bought the dog and he said I could have the girl and he would take the boy. At this point I didn't even care. They kept playing games with my heart! In the end I left with the girl and now Lubu is sound asleep in her bucket bed. I think she may be a bit sick and underfed. I had to hand feed her tonight and she hardly ate. I am hoping she eats more tomorrow. I am just so excited to have a little friend in my life!

If you are wondering where the name came from let me explain. There is a candy bar here named the Bubu Lubu. It is not in every store but somehow it was in the Peace Corps training office vending machine. One day my friend Sam and I were SO hungry but neither of us had any money. We look in the machine and the absolute cheapest thing is this Bubu Lubu candy bar. We then go on a machine to scrounge up the Q2.50 to get the candy bar. After asking a bunch of people and realizing the machine doesn’t take 10 cent coins we finally got our Bubu Lubu. I don’t know if it tasted so good because we worked so hard to get it or if it actually is good. Now Sam and I are addicted to Bubu Lubus and mostly we just like saying the name really fast a bunch of times in a row. So that is how my little baby girl became Lubu.

Weekend Welcome Party

This past weekend was the welcome party for El Quiché and Huehuetenango volunteers. I was so excited my state was combines with El Quiché because most of my best friends here are in that state so it was an excuse for all of us to get together. The party was held in my state capital, Huehue. Also a few other volunteers from Quetzaltenango made the trip up just because they knew it would be a good time- and it was!

Becca and I traveled the 4 hours south early on Friday morning. We have been more or less stranded up north for 3 weeks so we had a lot of errands to run and needed to hit up the big supermarket to get some important things, like cumin and chili powder! Friday night my loves from El Quiché, Susie and Sam, got into town. I think I almost knocked them over when I hugged them. It is such a great feeling to be reunited with my friends here. My friends keep me sane, give me the advice I need and understand what I am going through because they are here too. Without their support this whole thing would be impossible for me. Anyways having them there this weekend made all my stress from site disappear. Friday night we had dinner and went out to a bar in Huehue.

Saturday some more friends came into town and all the volunteers, old and new, went to these pools in Aguacatan, a nearby town. It was amazing to finally get in a pool. I have spent every summer of my life in a one piece suit either with swim team or guarding and the last few months just haven’t felt like summer without that. Sam and I were like kids in a candy shop when we saw the pool. We dropped our bags and dropped our pants and jumped right in! There was a slide and a Guatemalan style diving board and I couldn’t have asked for a better afternoon. I hardly got out of the pool the entire day. Ahhhh sooooo fun!

Saturday night we went out to the same bar and took over the place. The bar tenders let us put on our iPods so we had control over the music and we were all getting down on the dance floor. After a few drinks there we went to another dance club. I did not stay long since I am sick and was losing my voice. But I had a great time this past weekend. It was the break I needed. I am here to work but I am also here and fun can be had so I am going to have it! I now have the energy to work hard for another month until I can see my friends again!


Sam and Susie putting on sunscreen...safety first!


Me and Sam having WAY too much fun! I need to work on my air time (but i did only jump off the side, not the board).


This is an action shot of me jumping out of the water but my face is just so extremely hideously comical I felt everyone needed to see it. We laughed for a good 10 minutes straight after seeing this one.


I am just SOOOOOOO happy to be in a pool!!!!!!!


Sam and I underwater


Fountains


Melissa and Sam


Susie, Sam, me, Cat and Melissa loving life.


Sam and I acting like 9 year-olds at the public pool. We had to do the George Washington hairstyle.


Sam on the slide...SO happy! SO much fun!

The School

Yesterday I began working in the elementary school of Pet. There are 19 teachers and a LOT of students. Each grade has 3 sections of about 30 kids per classroom. I met with the school director in the morning and he told me the classes I would teach in and then he sent me out there. I did my lesson 4 times to 3 classes of 3rd graders and one class of 4th graders. The kids paid great attention while I was speaking but the trouble came when it was time for questions. The Peace Corps teaches us to use the Experiential Learning Cycles which requires the active participation of the students. Unfortunately, here in Guatemala children are taught to sit quietly, copy notes and not participate in any way. Because of the years of this type of teachers the kids are too embarrassed to speak in class. It is especially noticeable with the girls. I asked a very general questions and one girl muttered what I thought was the right answer so I asked her to repeat it for the class to hear and she just shut down and put her hands over her face and would not even look at me. Women here are taught to be so submissive it kills me. I want to just tell all these girls they are smart and they should be proud and they are just as good as the boys. However, society is a much stronger influence than my tiny little voice and so many of these girls will never feel proud to be a woman.

Today I was supposed to return to the school to give health talks in 5 more classes. I arrived and found the director and he told me, “oh today they actually have exams so maybe you can come back next week.” So typical. I really wasn’t that disappointed though because I have plenty of time here to do health talks. I did stay and chat with the director for about an hour. He turns out to be a very forward thinking, down to earth man. He talked all about the corruption in the government here and how it affects the education system (negatively, obviously). He talked about how sad it is that Guatemala is slowly losing its culture. He has worked at the school in Pet for 17 years and he described the changes he has seen within the town and with the school itself. I feel very luckily to be in this site. So many other volunteers live in big town where most of the population is ladino (not indigenous) and there is not the striking culture difference. As many challenges as this site has already given me and will continue to give me I am thankful to be here. I am learning all about this culture by really living with the people. This is very truly Guatemala is all of its beauty.

Work!

I am finally getting to do some work! Yesterday I went to the school and met with the principal about doing some charlas with the students. Of course the only thing he actually wanted me to teach was English but I told him that I am only here to teach about preventative health. Every conversation is becoming a replay of the previous- I am here to teach preventative health NOT English. One of the male community leaders came with me too but arrived late. I will continue that story later. I held my ground about why I am here and I am giving charlas to 8 different classes over the next two days. They did not seem to understand doing the same charla 8 times in a row was just too much. However I think I have the support of the principal and I am excited to work with the kids. Some know my name and yell at me from across the school yard while others look at me and run away giggling.

In the afternoon yesterday I met with all of the community leaders. It was a group of about 20 people that belong to different committees and commissions that I will be working with. To my delightful surprise the majority of the leaders are women! This is very unusual because men dominate society here in every aspect of life. Some Guatemalan women are even forbidden by their husbands to leave their houses. To see that many women with power made me smile a bit because it will make my job a little easier! During the meeting I presented about what the Peace Corps is and what my job entails. However during the two hours I maybe understood all of 15 minutes of discussion as the leaders all prefer (and some only know) to speak their native Kanjobal. I sometimes could understand the gist of the topic but mostly I was lost. The same male leader who went with me to the school in the morning translated everything for me but I know I was missing some details since it came down to 10 minutes of translating for an hour of discussion. At the end of the meeting it was decided I am going to meet with the whole community again and then start doing home visits next week. The meeting felt productive and at least it got the ball rolling a little bit on my job. I told them I want to focus on health promoters, womens groups and youth. Afterward, one of the female leaders, Candalaria, who works as an auxiliary nurse, invited me to accompany her on her rounds the next day. I jumped at this opportunity.

This morning I walked uphill for 45 minutes to a very small and remote village named Onona. Candalaria and her team gave vaccinations to many of the town’s children. One of the men in town asked me if I wanted to work there too and I said yes I would be more than willing to come give some charlas. I hope this doesn’t fall through as it was apparent to me this village has a much greater need than Pet. After the vaccinations we visited the small two room wood shack of a school house. They asked me to “entertain” the kids so I went in there and sang a health song about washing your hands to the tune of Frere Jacques. The kids loved it! They wanted me to stay and sing more but I do not know any more songs! I told them I would learn more and come back. I had a mini discussion after the song and we reviewed the most important times to wash your hands. Hopefully at least one of them will remember!

After the school visit we went to visit two “senoras” who are widows and are taking care of a mountain of children. The first lady was 79 years old and was very sick with respiratory infections. Candalaria took her blood pressure and gave her some vitamins. The worst part was that she had some sort of flesh eating infectious disease on her nose. He middle bridge part of her nose was utterly gone and only black, caved in flesh existed in its place. I can only look at this woman and imagine the lifetime of struggles she has endured- losing a husband, losing children, a civil war, diseases, no food, no bathroom, barely having a place to sleep and who knows what else. It makes me appreciate all the small things I do have.

Finally, back to the story about the male leader. This man has been on point with every meeting and was one of the community men who came to Xela to meet me for Counterpart Day. He is a smooth talker and gets things done. Without him I would have already been in a few sticky situations. He clearly understands my job here and helps me explain to the people who I am and why I am here. He is a great ally to have. So yesterday morning he shows up to the school meeting late and clearly hung over. My suspicions were confirmed when the principal made a joke that he was sick with “Fiebre de Gallo” or Beer Fever. I was upset because I had hoped and hoped that he was not like every other Guatemalan man and did not drink too much. Unfortunately he falls prey to the Guatemalan alcoholism. So many, and I mean almost all, men are binge drinkers. It is very unfortunate to see and hard to deal with. I have a hard time trusting any man who may or may not show up drunk. He did profusely apologize to me but still…GRRR! However that afternoon he redeemed himself at the community leader meeting when he remember all the facts about the Peace Corps with JFK and 1961 and 1963 in Guatemala and 200 volunteers here now. That impressed me and showed me he does care about my job and takes it seriously. It is just frustrating for me to never know when one of these great men will fall off the bandwagon. I wish there was some lesson I could give about alcoholism but it is such a huge problem and I do not know if I have the “ganas” to deal with it. As long as this man can keep his head on straight most of the time that is all I ask for.

Latrine and Loneliness

I finally have a latrine with my house! Now I do not have to pee in the cornfield or run to my neighbor’s bathroom 100 yards away. It took 2 weeks to get everything settles with money and materials and labor but once it was started it went right up. A man worked on it for about 3 days and now it is all done. The style of the latrine is about as simple as possible- a deep hole in the ground with a little wood hut on top. And when I say little I mean LITTLE! It is probably about 5 feet tall which means I have to duck every time I use it. It also has this weird backward tilt to it so I feel like I might slide off backwards. However those are minor annoyances. I am just so thankful to finally have a latrine.

Day 1


Day 2


Day 3


Day 4


Finally DONE!


I have officially been in site 2 weeks and a few realities are setting in. First, I may never learn the Kanjobal language. I am trying to study but it is so difficult and I doubt I will ever become conversational in it. My host grandmother does not speak much Spanish and whenever I am over there she just talks like I understand her. Maybe this will help me learn it but who knows really.

Second, I am very isolated out here. A little bit of loneliness has been setting in. I am sometimes surrounded by people who want to talk but the problem is I cannot share completely with them how I feel due to language and cultural differences. Sometimes during the day I have nowhere to go, no work to do and I get a little too lost in my thoughts. I am trying to journal to help with this but it is difficult. The one good thing is that I now have internet all the time. It is so ironic that people out here have nothing but everyone has a cell phone and with cell reception I can use my internet modem. I have been able to Skype with people and send e-mails which I think is going to keep me sane the next 2 years. On that note…I would love to hear from all of you via e-mail, Skype or regular mail! Keep me updated on what I am missing in the states!

Q'anjob'al, Men and Site Pics!

This week I started classes to learn Q’anjob’al, the native Mayan dialect they speak in my region. Becca, Cathaleen and I have four hours of class every morning in the main city of Santa Eulalia. We are working with a man, Pedro, who was recommended by the former volunteers. We started with the basics of the language- pronunciation and the alphabet. The language has lots of sounds that are made in the throat and almost sound exactly the same to the untrained ear but I am slowly picking up the differences. Also the grammar structure is completely different from Spanish and English. I am really trying just to get a basic understanding of how the language is set up and also the basic phrases. I have no intention of trying to become fluent but I just want a working knowledge since I know it will help me gain confianza with the people. Pedro says we are catching on faster than most so he thinks we will be able to progress quite rapidly.

I have been trying to get someone to talk to me about actual health work but I am struggling. The fact that my town lacks a Health Post/Center is proving to be one of my biggest struggles as far as work goes. No one really understands why I am here. I tell them my title- Preventative Health Technician- but that doesn’t mean much to them. I also keep bugging the community leaders to schedule a meeting so we can sit down and I can fill out my schedule but that also is next to impossible. One of the male town leaders was supposed to take me to meet the school director this week but then the town decided to do work on the main dirt road so all the men in town have been preoccupied with that. I guess that is Guatemala for you.

On another continued note-Guatemalan men. I am not sure how to act when men come by my house just “to chat.” I have been warned by almost every volunteer that most men have bad intentions as far as young American women go. This one younger man came by my house once when Becca was still staying with me. He said he just wanted to chat with me. I thought it was a little weird and I did not invite him in (that is a big no-no here…no men alone with you in your house). Today he was back at my house waiting for me just to chat. I do not get a bad feeling from him but my nature is to just assume he is a good person until he proves me wrong. I think I made it pretty clear this time that I was very busy and I did not want to chat with just him. Then he invited me to his family’s house in August for his mother’s birthday celebration. I am not sure what to do. I do not know him and cannot trust him but he may just be innocent and his family may just want to meet the gringa. I do not want to put myself in a bad situation but I can’t feel this one out. UGH. I have until August 12th to decide what to do! Also, Becca told me today that ANOTHER man in town has been asking about me. He told her he really likes talking to me and wants to “pasear” with me (spend time with me). NO NO NO!!! I think I need to put my ring on and start making it a point to talk about my fake boyfriend who lives in the states. I do not know how much more of this male attention I can handle.

A different view of my house. I live in the little green part.


A view of the large municipality, Santa Eulalia.


Another view of Santa Eulalia.


A view of my aldea (village),Pet, where I live.


Another view of Pet. Notice how all the houses are so spread out and surrounded by cornfields. There is no real "town center" except the school which is the large-ish building in the center in the distance.


Every afternoon the huge storms blow in. This afternoon looked so beautiful with the storm and the sun still shining.


A rainbow right outside my front door!

Pics

Here are some more pics of my home and some of the kids in my huge extended host family:

My host grandmother, Magdalena, bringing in the pig. She speaks almost no Spanish and speaks to me in K'anjobal like I understand it perfectly.


The part on the left is the corner of my house. The house in the distance is my "host family." The field there is where I play soccer with the kids...with sheep and streams and all sorts of obstacles


My little house. It used to be the kitchen of the bigger part of the house on the left. I only live in the one room though.


Looking out from my front porch as the clouds start rolling in. I literally live high up in the clouds


Tico and Fermin...two kids from my host family. Fermin is at my house everyday all day.








More of life in the clouds...