GUATEVER.

I saw the title of this blog on a t-shirt and if it hadn´t been red i would have been all over that.

I just killed an ENORMOUS spider. I feel a little bit sad that I squashed it so badly that I couldn’t even capture its enormity on my camera but it had to be done- there was no time for negotiations with this spider as it’s proximity to my bed was a deal-breaker.

I went to a Baile (dance) this weekend in one of the neighboring aldeas (towns). The festival was kind of nuts; from a US point of view it was a mix between Halloween, Disneyland, and a gay pride parade… although I’m not sure that was necessarily the goal. Children wearing masks and running about, people dressed up as sponge-bob square-pants, and men in heels- Guatemalan men are crazy! I wish I got a photo of all of the men dressed up in drag but I didn’t know how to politely ask. I did capture a few of the Disneyland -esque scenes; people were in cartoon character costumes dancing together in the street. It was awesome. One of the disadvantages to being a white person in Guatemala is that there is no way not to stand out. It makes it really difficult to do anything under the radar- like nod your head with the music at a baile… at one point in the festival I made this mistake my friends and I and were grabbed into the circle of scantily clad “women” (read: men in drag) dancing while everyone else stands watching; horrifying but a good time none the less. I found out that there was actually a contest going on over who had the best costume and who was the best dancer among those in the circle; there were Q. 400 (Quetzales) at stake. I really hope the guy in the pink ball gown won…he was dancing his butt off spinning around a pink parasol and sporting a floppy sunhat; glamorous.

I also went to a Finca (plantation) for coffee last week and am now determined to make my own roast from my own coffee tree. Basically the steps are as follows: (1) you have a coffee tree and it grows some berries; (2) pick the berries when they’re red; (3) break open berries and harvest seeds inside; (4) dry seeds in the sun for several days; (5) shell the seeds, e.g. harvest the coffee beans from inside seed; (6) toast the beans; (7) enjoy awesome coffee. Ok…so there’s a few more steps than that but those are the main ideas. So all I need to start this adventure is a coffee tree! There is the minor problem of the plant taking about 5 years to mature to the point where it makes berries…but I feel like I can figure out a way around starting from scratch… like being really nice to someone who has a 5-year-old coffee tree. Game on.

If you want to be popular when you come to Guatemala you may want these things; (1) Fireworks- people go NUTS for fireworks around here; I’ll explain more later. (2) Any type of ball and dog treats- if you want children/animals to like you/ not eat your face and (3) the willingness to say, “Buenos Dias/tardes/noches” to every person you see.

Things you might want to stay sane in Guatemala: (1) earplugs- it‘s noisy here, I’m telling you they LOVE fireworks, (2) a Spanish-English dictionary and (3) the ability to laugh at yourself…can’t even begin to stress the importance of this.

Things I would like right now:

-Another book to read; have recently finished Barbara Kingsolver’s, Prodigal Summer and Bridget Jones’ Diary by Helen Fielding.

-A book on how to cite documents…as am unsure I did so accurately above…ugghhh

-A new CD mix of music to listen to

-A freaking taco or tostada
-A good cup of coffee/dark beer simultaneously.

Would also love to get some mail from friends/family- must look up my address to guilt you all into it properly…

Those of you that know me well know that I can sleep through anything- lights on, music blaring, parties, class, while in the middle of eating a burrito… you know; there’s very little that comes between me and sleep. That being said, my sleep has only been slightly disrupted and I share these stories for enjoyment and vicarious-living purposes only-

About the noise:

-if you’re lucky enough to live close to a highway (like I do) you get all of the benefits of Camioneta (chicken bus) noise pollution; a thrilling orchestra of honks, tires on gravel, and the room trembling as they go by.

-Until I moved here I was under the misapprehension that roosters crow at dawn, this is just simply not true. Gallos (Roosters) will crow all day everyday and all through the night. This makes sleeping continuously through the night difficult and has dispelled any sort of farm fantasy I had about waking up to the rooster crowing at dawn. What’s for dinner? ROOSTER. That’s all I’m saying…

-For the love of fireworks! Fireworks are huge here- they are a must to celebrate every occasion, especially birthdays. What people like to do on the morning of someone’s birthday (by morning of course I mean 3-5AM) is light off fireworks on the person’s doorstep to wake them up (or give them a heart-attack; whichever). So while you’re lying in your bed enjoying another 3 hours of consecutive sleep-hours (in-between rooster crows) you awake to the sound of gunshots thinking the civil war has broken out on your doorstep but don’t worry- it’s just someone’s birthday. While at first I was opposed to this as a means to celebrate someone’s birth I am now leaning towards pirating this tactic and implementing it for rousing the birthday girl/boy back in the states; friends this is your only warning- I’m really looking forward to your birthdays.

Things I might have:
-bedbugs or fleas…

I have a series of bites that have emerged of late. This does not please me. I shouldn’t have given the dog treats, please revise list above of things you might want accordingly. Haha.

-a growing dependence on sugar as a major food group.

People like sugar here almost as much as they like fireworks…its started a vicious love/hate relationship that starts with me not wanting any sugar, drinking some coffee (read: sugar water) and then subsequently craving more sugar for the rest of the day; must find way to stop this.

-Mental problems/ADD.

I just read through this post.

More stories to come I’m sure. Until then - I’d love to know what’s new in your lives! And maybe some tips on how to get rid of potential bedbugs from a down sleeping bag (sorry Rob, thanks for lending it to me…)

XOXO!

El tiempo la dira!

These are some things that are new in my life:

- I have started shaving my face. Well…at least that’s what the little girl at the tienda across the street thinks. I went over to buy a razor and she looked at me for a very long time and then told me that I was saying the wrong word because razors are for your face. I assured her that I knew what to do with it and after some coercing she reluctantly gave me the razor. Can’t wait to buy another one.

- It appears I misunderstood what My dog (Loba) is being attacked by- apparently she’s not recovering from a dog mauling incident but rather, “rat’s with wings” (as my madre explained to me, aka “bats“) during the night which is great because bats totally don’t carry rabies…wait a minute….snap. On the plus side the dog has not died yet which means that it probably doesn’t have rabies and that I don’t need to worry about the little love-nip I received when carelessly feeding the cat from the table (lesson learned) Other than that little scrape the treats are working! Loba actually jumps up to greet me now…my clothes may be covered in paw prints but she likes me. I’ll take it.

-I have made friends with neighborhood children and everyone wants to be on my team in sports (shocking I know).I also have found that my body doubles as a jungle gym for the little kids. Last night I played the most violent game of baseball ever. I tried to explain the rules to them about how the game is actually played on playgrounds and baseball diamonds in the US but apparently I am very wrong. America’s pastime- Go figure haha.

- I learned how to make tortillas! Just in case you were wondering there is an actual verb here for making tortillas and it is tortillar. As in yo voy a tortillar esta manana (I am going to make tortillas this morning) NUTS. It is really much harder than it looks, it takes a certain finesse that I’m not sure I’ve got just yet. Practice makes perfect!

- Luna Nueva (aka New Moon) is for sale here on DVD…yes.

- I climbed a volcano! I hiked Pacaya with a group of 9 other volunteers last weekend and besides being really out of shape and not seeing any flowing lava, I quite enjoyed myself. It’s actually possible to roast marshmallows over the heat from the rocks up there. Pretty sweet. We ended up meeting this group of Canadians (which has reaffirmed my love for Canadians in general) who were climbing the volcano as part of their pre-wedding activities. The bride was from Canada and the groom was her Spanish teacher Guatemalteco. QUE CHULO! (how cute). After climbing down from the rocks they offered to give us a ride back to Antigua in this huge party bus that they rented for their wedding party which was beyond generous and much appreciated.

- My family started making fun of me for changing colors in the sun; current status is very freckled and a little red-ish despite efforts with my SPF 60+ (thanks bri!) Reapplication is KEY.

-I got a cell phone…if you wanted to get a calling card and call me I’d be happy to give you the number…if you play your cards right.

A day in the life:

So here’s how a typical day in the life of Kristin is going- I get up around 7 and eat breakfast and get myself ready for Spanish class which takes place about 10 min away at one of the other volunteer’s host family’s. A typical breakfast for me has been some variation of egg and beans or (and this is my personal fav) a sliced up hot dog and eggs or beans on French bread; odd but filling. Then I head to Spanish class from 8 until noon upon which I return home for lunch. In Spanish we pretty much learn new vocab, using appropriate tenses of verbs and talk about the Guatemalan culture vs. US culture (in Spanish). For lunch I typically eat some sort of chicken and vegetables with rice or in a soup with corn tortillas. Then it’s off to Spanish class for the remainder of the afternoon where I try and figure out why I can remember all of the lyrics to Ace of Base songs but for the life of me cant remember how to conjugate pedir… We end class around 3ish when I return home and work on my homework and decompress with the family. We eat dinner around 7 and then everyone pretty much retires to their rooms. Sometimes I play games with the kids in the street right in front of our house which has been pretty fun until about 9 when I retire to my bed and try and read for about 10 minutes before passing out to start all over again the next day.

I hope I’ll have new cool stories to share soon. El tiempo la dira! (time will tell!)

AY AY AY! GUATE!

I’ve been here in Guatemala for a week now and it is both familiar and foreign. Riding in the Camioneta (fondly known to americans and extranjeros alike as “chicken bus”) I couldn’t help but feel like I hadn’t left the states with a Taco Bell billboard on my right, Burger King on my left in Guatemala City- so far, so good. There was of course the cautionary tales about the water and how there is basically not a drop of uncontaminated water in this country and the fact that I took out my earrings after de-boarding the plane (as to not be a target for crime) to remind me that I’d left the shallow end of the pool. I wish I could say that the transition was breezy but the reality is that it’s more difficult than I expected.

My first few days were punctuated by my moving in with my first host family and hours upon hours spent at the peace corps office in outside of Antigua. My first host family had many-a-times had peace corps volunteers stay with them and one RPCV (Returned Peace Corps Volunteer) happened to be visiting them when I was there which was an added benefit. He had maintained a relationship with these people over the past 6 years; I cant help but praise his generosity as I soon found out that he was helping to put their children through a private school in the city to help give them a chance to go to college. So far, the bar’s been set pretty high. Ha ha.

After a short stay with my first family I was moved into my host community where I will be spending the next 11 weeks. I have Spanish class daily for about 6 hours (I can’t tell you how much I need this) except for Tuesdays when I get to ride the Camioneta to report to the PC office for more technical/safety/medical training and the remainder of the time I spend with my new host family. Again I wish I could say that my stay in this host community has been all flowers and sunshine however it has been a little less glamorous. I am currently in a small pueblo about 20 minutes north of Antigua. This particular pueblo has never had PCVs (peace corps volunteers) before and so there has been a lot of adjusting that continues to happen. My family is the picture of Guatemalan friendliness and welcomed me with open arms - and corn tortillas. Mi madre has four children, two of which have special needs, ages ranging from 8-20 and has been a single mother since the passing of her husband some years ago. After spending my first whole afternoon crying to myself about how bleak her situation seemed I decided to suck it up and focus on how happy this family is despite their obvious challenges. I would like to say that I was really unselfish and didn’t feel sorry for myself at all; but that would be a lie and I’m embarrassed to say that instead I was jealous of my fellow volunteer’s relative ease of transition and hot showers. SO LAME. Bucket-baths are actually really cool…

Admittedly, during this transition I also became extremely ill of a food/water-borne illness; just another added benefit of living in a place where people really do think that having diarrhea and throwing up is completely normal because that is the reality of their daily lives. So I wake up at 4 in the morning feeling like I’m going to vomiTRON and as I’m running out of my room and towards the toilet the dog lunges to attack me. And I’m thinking…this dog is a problem. The dog’s name as it so happens, is “Loba” which means, as I later found out, “female wolf”….very fitting. Haha. And as a little side note- this dog is scary, I mean in an “I’m-going-to-catch-something-from-that-dog” kind of way. It looks extremely malnourished and has recently survived a brutal attack from another dog which has me thinking it’s a real possibility that this dog’s got rabies (it’s very common in street dogs or “Chuchas” as people call them) So I’ve got that going for me. I tried to go to Spanish class that day but as it turns out, vomiting all day is a buzz-kill; so instead I hauled my butt home and stayed in bed with clear liquids for the next 30 hours. And while I was laying feeling pretty bleak and wanting a hug or a cuddle or something I remembered that I had brought my snuggie and, I feel silly to say it but, IT CHANGED MY WHOLE LIFE when I slipped that blanket-with-sleeves on, no joke; back in saddle again! Haha, go figure.

Yesterday was my first day back at near full-steam and while I still have some apprehensions about eating, well, anything, I am glad to say that I feel really good about where I’m at. No, the dog doesn’t like me yet- but I got phase 1 of my pre-rabies exposure series and a pocket full of dog-treats so I’m feeling pretty good about my chances. The photos are from my new digs; pour some tap water out for your hommie! More to come my friends, I miss you guys! The adventure continues!

from PDX to Washington DC!

After not knowing when and where i was going to be going for so long it seems surreal to finally be on my way! It's my first time in the Capital and I have to say that it's pretty cool here; already I've experienced more diversity here just popping into coffee shops than i have in my whole life in Lake Oswego and on the UofO campus combined (not surprising i know). I stood outside the White House in the freezing cold to wave to the Obamas (i'm sure they totally saw me and waved back from inside) and I met my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers. The other volunteers seem really nice and down-to-earth; i'm excited to be a part of such a great group of people. We check out of the hotel tomorrow morning (3:30 in the morning!) and are off to the airport to catch our flight out of the states! I am both psyched and nervous to start my life in Central America and i will miss you special people in my life very much while i'm gone. To those of you who i do not get a chance to call before i leave I am sorry and thank you so much for wishing me well and supporting me on this adventure!