Site placement & Swear In

The moment we had all been waiting for--our site placements! We were all told to close our eyes as our trainers and PCV leaders guided us to our site on a huge map of Guatemala. After my trip to Huehue, I decided I wanted to be out there, dropping some very obvious hints to our trainers. When I felt myself being led in the opposite direction I started to worry I was in Baja Verapaz, Chimaltenango, Totonicapan or Quetzaltenango. Instead, I ended up in the one place I had completely forgotten about--the coveted department of Sololá, renown for Lake Atitlan. My site is a smaller municipality about 15 minutes past Panajachel, one of the major tourist destinations in Guatemala. I can’t say that I was disappointed but rather, quite surprised. I immediately recalled when I first met the volunteer stationed there who told us that she was selected because she was responsible and took her work seriously. Because of the site’s close proximity to Panajachel, it would be easy for the wrong people to spend their two years partying at the bars instead of working in the communities. As I was remembering this, Sergio, my boss took me aside to remind me of the added responsibilities and temptations of my site, and that I was very carefully selected to be placed there. I assured him that I was here to integrate in my community though I must admit feeling a bit overwhelmed and honored by the placement.

Two days later, we had our swear-in ceremony at the American ambassador’s house in Guatemala City (I.e. third most dangerous city in the world). We were allowed to invite two members from our host family so Doña Susana and her sister, Maria, came as my guests. All of the volunteers and their host families piled into specially-rented camionetas and we rode them into the city. The embassador’s house was large and opulent, a bit embarrassing for most of the volunteers since our host families live very simply, some of them on the brink of poverty. The back yard was enormous with a huge tent built to accommodate the 400 or so guests, composed of all the volunteers in country, PC staff, trainees, host families, and some PC staff from Washington, including the chief of staff. The ceremony was lengthy but full of great speakers, anecdotes, and our inauguration. To be honest, the ceremony was more geared towards PC celebrating its 50 year anniversary and honoring the PCVs about to close their service, acknowledging each of their endeavors. Every time we heard the accomplishments of one of the volunteers, I think all of us new PCVs thought, “What will they say about me in two years?” It’s exciting to think of it as this blank slate to be filled. [I've attached a link that isn't working (copy & paste!) to a story about our swear-in in the Prensa Libre, Guatemala's equivalent of the NY Times. We made the front page!]

http://www.prensalibre.com/noticias/Cuerpo-Paz-celebra-anos_0_451154918.html

After the ceremony, I said goodbye to my host family. Wilson refused to say goodbye so picked him up and gave him a kiss. I love that kid! I had already given my family a photo album full of photos of them and us together, a beautiful woven apron for Doña Susana, a coloring book with stickers for Wilson, and earrings for Brenda. I was so overwhelmed by love and gratitude for them that I felt like I couldn’t say what I wanted to without getting emotional. Thankfully, I was rushing to catch the bus so we parted ways almost nonchalantly since I was usually rushing to catch the bus. This was fine though because I know that I´ll see them again soon. After all, they're family.

IDA--I forget what this acronym means...

To catch up from my internet absence, I’ll write about my IDA trip. This was an opportunity for trainees to visit Volunteers dispersed throughout the country. The farthest site was 8 hours away and the nearest only 30 minutes. Guess which one I got? A lovely 8 hour bus drive on four different buses to San Pedro Necta, Huehuetenango near the border of Mexico. I couldn’t have enjoyed it more!

I visited another solo Healthy Schools volunteer, Mari, at her site in lovely Huehuetenango. She lives in a large town nestled amongst green mountains. It is one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen in Guatemala thus far. While there, I helped her put on a four hour sustainability workshop for her teachers, we attended a school football game when classes were canceled, swam at a local pool in the woods, hiked through some coffee plants, ate in a comedor, made mini pizzas, watched a few movies, attended a Life Planning class for teens put on by another volunteer, played cards, and laughed a LOT. When I proclaimed that I felt like I was on vacation with a friend of mine, Mari replied, “Guess what? This is the life of a volunteer!“

Only in Peace Corps does a random stranger show up at your door to share your bed, your food, and your jokes only to become a friend within hours. At one point we were watching a movie in which I noticed the characters were driving in a car with seatbelts. I turned to Mari saying, “I feel like I never wear seatbelts here!” To which she responded, “You just stood in the back of a pickup truck all the way down a huge mountain.”

Good point.

Another Surprise Revealed!

As Healthy Schools volunteers, the majority of us (35 trainees) will be paired off and placed in order to cover larger districts with up to 30+ schools. Since we discovered this, we have been obsessing over who our pairs would be. One person remarked, “When you look back at your service, that person will be there.” A bit intimidating! We filled out questionnaires, did speed dating, and then left the decision in the hands of our Program Director, Sergio, who would decide partners with the help of our language teachers, trainers, and Peace Corps Volunteer Leaders (PCVLs).

Yesterday was the day. We waited until 9:30 when Sergio finally entered the room and announced that eight of us would be solo. Once they announced my friend, Jenn, as one of the solo people, I realized that I would be solo as well. The two of us had spent our Field Based Training together and had spent a lot of time talking with our trainer, Marta, about our expectations for service. Everyone seemed concerned about how I felt about being placed alone, but I’m really excited and comfortable with it. I could have gone either way quite honestly. It’s funny because the whole time, I was hoping for my partner to be my new best friend, someone to challenge me, someone to learn from and grow with. It turns out that someone is me! I’m up for the challenge though. This is what my initial idea of Peace Corps was anyway. I feel as though having a partner would possibly hinder my integration into the community since I would always have the possibility of just hanging out with them instead. Possibly. Who knows? Either way, I’m excited about it and looking forward to finding out my site at the end of March.

Later on that day, we voted on who would be our speaker at the Swear-In Ceremony. Whoever was elected would have to carry on the duty of giving speaches at our mid-service meeting and our Close-of-Service (COS) ceremony. I was nominated by two of my peers and ended up being the run-off candidate though a Sustainable EcoTourism trainee, will be doing it--she's great! Nonetheless, I felt deeply honored to have been nominated to represent our group at such formal and significant occasions.

Beans, Beans, the musical fruit. The more you eat them the more you...

A lot of people have asked me how the food is. It’s great! Actually, my host family asked me what I used to eat in the States. I responded beans, eggs, avocado (when I went to the store), cheese, and bread. They laughed since it sounded pretty similar to what I eat here. Being a vegetarian has proved unbelievably easy here. The only problem comes with refusing or skillfully eluding food with meet offered by schools and other entertaining organizations. I have no problems with my host family though. My host mom, Doña Susana, is an amazing cook. She makes a mean soy protein meat sauce for my pasta and also some delicious eggplant in red sauce. Today I had chow mein for lunch. Stews or soups with assorted vegetables and meat are also common. There are also lots of tortillas, tamales on special occasions, tamalitos and chuchitos. All of these are variations of the same thing--masa, corn meal. Tamales are by far my favorite. They have the masa (similar to polenta) in a red sauce with a bit of spice and a piece of meat in the middle or capers and olives, in my case. Then they’re wrapped in a huge palm leaf and boiled to cook. A bit difficult to explain, but delicious to consume.

Have I mentioned beans yet? OMG. I eat so many beans. Daily. For breakfast and dinner. Colados, parrados, y volteados=Liquefied, whole in a bit of the broth, or refried. I personally love the colados. Let’s just say that after eating all the beans, I’m glad I don’t share a room. And that it’s isolated.

Independent Study

So what else is new? Once I finished my language classes, I started my independent study, which has given me the opportunity to meet with several different organizations. By the end of training, I’m supposed to have a finished product of sorts. So far, I’ve met some really interesting, inspiring people. I’ve been working with the Municipal Women’s Office (OMM), Los Patojos, and Cambiando Vidas.

I’ve tried scheduling a meeting with the director of OMM in Antigua (local tourist city), but it hasn’t quite worked out yet. The office works in empowering women through organizing workshops that give them skills so that they can earn an income--anything from pastry-making to sewing. While that may sound like a luxury, knowing those skills can help women step out of the home, earn an income, and be financially independent. This is especially important in situations in which women are in abusive relationships and finances restrict them from leaving their spouse. Hopefully, I will be able to meet with the director (who is also the mayor’s wife) and help out at one of the workshops.

Another organization that I work with is called Cambiando Vidas, a Montessori method-based school for low-income children. When I first visited, I played with the kids and taught a by-request English lesson on the fly. Last week, I had the opportunity to do 20 minute charlas on teeth brushing, which meant lots of singing and a race to brush a coca-cola soaked egg. I’ve also teamed up with some volunteers to paint a world map on one of the courtyard walls. When I returned on Monday for the map after teaching my Friday morning charlas, I was greeted by not only the teachers who remembered my name but by tons of smiling, waving students, shouting “Seño! Seño!” to get my attention. Some even started singing the song I had taught them. It made me realize the importance of building relationships with kids and teachers in the schools.

The last organization that I’ve been working with is Los Patojos, quite possibly my favorite. It’s an after school program for kids and teens in Jocotenango, the next down over from Antigua. It was founded by a young Guatemalan, Pablo, who believes in popular education and giving kids the space and resources to be creative individuals and agents of change. The organization has two buildings--one for little kids and one for the pre-teens and teens. The first time I visited, I played with a bunch of kids and taught them some hula hoop tricks. Since then I’ve spent my time hanging out with the older kids. At their center, they have time set aside for homework, but also for beat boxing, creating music for films (with their 5 acoustic guitars, keys, and drum set!!!), break dancing, hiking (on special days), and other assorted projects. Last Friday, a group of young filmmakers came and showed four different Guatemalan shorts to the kids. Then they discussed the importance of Guatemalan film and how it contrasted to that of Hollywood. I was really impressed with what everyone shared. Throughout this, the filmmakers took a bunch of still shots while one of them recorded the audio, leading me to believe that they’re creating a really sweet piece of mixed media. Afterwards, they had the kids go around and create a character and a story based on it, everyone adding something different. It was really fun and inspiring to see these kids so motivated, intelligent, and active. Tomorrow, if all goes according to plan, I’ll be teaching some girls how to do yoga.

It’s really inspiring, encouraging, and quite simply, beautiful, to see Guatemalans working hard to empower one another, especially the youth of the country. When I talked with Pablo the other day, he admitted that his dream was to study music in the capital city. He wanted to develop his art, but instead he’s sacrificing his dreams for the dreams of all the kids he’s working with. He explained to me that his culture is not one of “me, me, me,” but rather, us. Because of that, “It’s not I eat, but we eat. It’s not I write music, but we write music. It’s not I paint, but we paint. It’s not I dream, but we dream.” Puchika.

Check out the websites here:
Lospatojos.blogspot.com