A Ver?

A VER?

My life in pictures…would be very short because I am really bad at taking pictures on a regular basis but I do have some gems from Field-Based Training (which henceforth will be referred to as FBT because I’m lazy and acronyms are what’s hot right now).

On what’s hot right now besides acronyms- Bri has informed me that “Weak Sauce” is officially a buzz-word according to a magazine (People?) and I just have to say, IT’S ABOUT TIME. The definition went something like, “used to describe an incredibly lame person or thing.” so choice, I like where it‘s been and I love where it‘s going.

Now that I’ve established that weak sauce is in I’d like to use it in a sentence; not having any money to do fun stuff is weak sauce. I definitely am learning what it’s like to live on a budget; yes, my meals are pretty much covered by my family but when it costs Q30.00 for shampoo and I get that much for one day I find myself a little in the red over time just purchasing necessities (like shampoo… and a snicker’s bar). I read in my guide book that Guatemala is one of backpacker’s favorite places to travel to because you can basically live off of a few dollars a day, which is pretty accurate and awesome. In case you don’t know the conversion rate, there are about 8 quetzales to 1 dollar; so I have been living the high life with the little money I did come into the country with. I do have to try and haggle every time I buy something in Antigua because since there are so many gringos around pretty much everything starts off at double the price. There are these great second-hand tiendas that sell clothes called Pacas; being a thrifty gal I very much enjoy these places but as it turns out I am not very good at negotiating the price. It’s like the vendors can see how much I want something and they hold firm on ridiculous prices that I have reluctantly paid.

Here’s how the exchange goes: (*asterisks indicate what I’m thinking in my head*)

Just a day at the Paca in Antigua

kristin: may I try this on? *dude, this cute oooh and it’s forever 21 no wonder I like it...

Vendor: yes, of course

kristin: thanks *I hope this fits*

Vendor: it fits you well, very pretty.

kristin: thanks, do you have a mirror?

Vendor: Yes (hands me smallest mirror ever)

kristin: thanks *Wow can’t see myself at all, this is pointless* How much?

Vendor: Q150, very good price

kristin: No, I can’t pay that much *are you kidding me?*

Vendor: how much you want to pay?

kristin: *crap, divide by two…multiply by 4 etc etc…* Q75

Vendor: No, Q150 it’s very high quality.

kristin: I can’t pay that, Q85? *this is used forever 21 do not say “high quality;” why do I want this so bad? ahhhh*

Vendor: No, ok, Q135, for you

kristin: I need to think about it *divide by eight…how much is that?*

Vendor: Q135

kristin: (to friends) was it cute? I couldn’t even really see it *should I walk away and pretend I’m not interested? What if someone else comes and buys it while I’m trying to prove that I‘m not interested?!*

Friends: yes, very cute.

kristin: ughhh Q135?

Vendor: yes.

kristin: ok *can’t believe I just paid that, I’m such a sucker, I hope it looks good*

Later, at home…

kristin: (while looking in mirror) wow, highway robbery. Oh well.

Later, with other people who went shopping at the Paca

Friend: look what I bought!

Kristin: ah that’s adorable where did you find it?

Friend: the Paca

Kristin: how much did you pay? *seriously, that’s really cute*

Friend: Q15

Kristin: nice, I love the paca I bought this dress there! *I can’t believe she only paid Q15 for that!!! That;s like <$2.00*

Friend: how much was it?

Kristin: (SILENCE) *I suck at negotiating; embarrassing*

El fin.

Moral of the story; never pay what they ask unless it’s next to nothing and never let them see the lust in your eyes for whatever they’re selling because then they’ve got you.

Speaking of lust in my eyes…

Just kidding.

More on FBT.

Me and Lauren!

We stayed in hostels and it was so fun; just like living in the dorms (Barnhart #544 for lifeeee) school by day and hanging with friends by night. All of us healthy-schoolers got to know each other a little bit better which was great! Now I’m just wondering who i'm going to be paired up with!? a little nervous i'll admit, being randomly paired up freshman year set the bar pretty high...I wonder if my sitemate and i will move our beds together before the end of our first year together... miss you bri.

Bottom line is that we’re all here to do the same job and no matter what happens it’ll be fine.

so…I’m going to calm down about it. Very calm right now.

On that note, I got a good rush of adrenaline followed by embarrassment at the taller (lecture) that we went to in Tecpan. I was in a group that did a little dynamica (skit) on washing your hands. I tell you, once I got that mic in my hands it was just like presenting sexual wellness to incoming freshmen again…except it was hand-washing…in Spanish. I thought things went pretty well and then one of the training directors came up to me after and explained that I was using the wrong word for “steps.”

What I said: niveles (levels)

What I should have said: pasos (steps)

Boy was my face red- but whatever they got the point….and I’ll never forget the word for “steps” again…win/win haha. That’s why we run these tests!

This was also the week of carnaval (?) which is punctuated by little kids going absolutely BONKERS! The basic gist is as follows.

-vendors sell eggs that have been drained of eggy-ness and filled with confetti, glitter and general craft trash.

-children purchase colorful eggs.

-children attack each other and all gringos visiting schools, trying to learn about the education system etc…with craft eggs and dirty hands full of glitter and paint (and when I say attack I mean ATTACK; slaps to faces, pulling on scarves, throwing of eggs etc)

I am sadly still trying to get all of the crap off of my fleece jacket…I hate glitter.

Actually, tragically, as we were leaving one of the schools one of my fellow trainees got smacked on the head with a real egg by some little punk that came running out of his house adjacent to the school. All I have to say is she is a good sport; I don’t know how many people would’ve been so nonchalant about it; it was like, “well, that happened, do you think I can use your sink? can I borrow a shirt?” Dear Laura, you’re my hero. Love, Kristin.

In other news…

-I started reading Chelsea Handler’s book, “my horizontal life” and it’s hysterical.

-I am starting to feel really dumb around all of these smart people and I have to keep reminding myself that just because I’m a theater major who went to state school doesn’t mean I don‘t have anything to offer…cue scene from Bridget Jones:

Interviewer: what do you think about the el Niño phenomenon?

Bridget: Blip. Yeah, I think that Latin music is on its way out.

I’ll be sure to brush up on my current events when I can get an internet connection as to avoid above scenario haha.

- I got sick again; lucky me. I got to barf at one of the schools we visited with children playing outside of my stall door. Niceeee.

-One of the directors at one of the schools told me that I am going to steal children. Well, not exactly…but he was giving us advice and then pointed at me and said that parents would be reluctant to trust me because I have yellow hair and people like me steal children here…

Sounds like me.

Yellow hair.

So I’ve got that going for me/against me. Good to know; but seriously- do not steal children, it’s bad.

-I discovered something new about my computer and all computers everywhere that have windows XP. Did you know that if you hit ctrl, alt and one of the up arrows on your keyboard, all at the same time that it will flip you’re screen upside-down?

Well. I do. Now. It is easily remedied by hitting ctrl, alt and the down arrow all at the same time. Very proud to know this trick.

- My Spanish is improving! Barring my little “niveles”/ “pasos” mix-up, I am starting to feel like I am not completely hopeless at communicating with people which is really a welcome sentiment.

- I got to skype with Dave, Rob, Dad & Kathleen while in Antigua the other day which was really great! I also chatted it up with Kristina and Bri from the Hotel during FBT! Miss and love you family/urban family!

-I found out that for my projects in healthy schools I am not going to be able to apply for the financial support through the peace corps small projects fund and instead it sounds like I need to fundraise a different way…this does not please me. So if you’d like to donate to me doing something like…helping a school get running water, you let me know…

- I am really anxious to get my site assignment…17 days but who’s counting?

- I have followed suit with some of the other volunteers to use the expression, “A ver” which means essentially, “we’ll see” I am not entirely sure how to use it appropriately…so…there’s that.

-The volcano just made a REALLY LOUD RUMBLING!!! I hope I don’t have some wacky malaria dream involving some Dante’s Peak scenario tonight…

- I cannot take credit for the photos taken...I may have handed off my camera to a fellow volunteer to snap some memories for me because i was dying that day; ENJOY!

That’s all for now. Peace & Love!