First of all let me just say- i'm sorry...very SORRY that I haven't updated in quite some time... as a newbie blogger and sporadic journal-keeper I sometimes find it difficult to write about what i'm up to...especially when there's a lot going on; so here we go- headlong into my first two-weeks in my new home!
Semana Santa
My first week in-site was during the biggest celebration of the year- Semana Santa (Holy Week). it was a great time to be out and about in my community, get my face seen and meet some people. The main event for Semana Santa is the procession through the town. Basically there is a "parade route" of sorts mapped out through the town and it is sectioned off and then invaded by people in the community who make these elaborate drawings out of colored sandand flowers and beans that are then sort of cemented to the pavement by a process i am unfamiliar with... little kids with spray bottles mainly and are left in the street to be viewed.
I walked around and took some pictures of these "alfombras" (rugs) and then went down to the church to watch the beginning of the procession which consisted of a large homecoming-type float with a religious scene on it being walked through the town by a group of men in robes along the alfombra; effectively destroying it...followed by a crew with brooms who then sweep up all of the sand, flowers and beans.
It is kind of amazing to me that they spend all of this time on making these alfombras only to be walked over and ruined in an instant...of course it's no stranger than my obsession with those sand bottles that i had as a kid- you know the ones where you stack the different colors of sand in the bottles and make art with them...once the bottle's full the fun is over because you can never get the different colors of sand apart to try it again...don't act like you didnt have a sand art set haha. To each his own. 
I am living in a house with a teacher who works in one of the schools that i will be working with. It is really nice to have someone to practice my spanish with and even nicer to have access to a kitchen! I have been enjoying getting back into cooking and hopefully back into eating healthier now that i am not at the mercy of whatever's put in front of me. Turns out that cooking without a microwave is a real pain but i'm up to the challenge. I have access to all sorts of fresh vegetables and fruits which is really nice; the trick of course is going to be learning to disinfect and prepare them all in delicious ways...i'm optimistic.
My first week in-site was during the biggest celebration of the year- Semana Santa (Holy Week). it was a great time to be out and about in my community, get my face seen and meet some people. The main event for Semana Santa is the procession through the town. Basically there is a "parade route" of sorts mapped out through the town and it is sectioned off and then invaded by people in the community who make these elaborate drawings out of colored sandand flowers and beans that are then sort of cemented to the pavement by a process i am unfamiliar with... little kids with spray bottles mainly and are left in the street to be viewed.
I walked around and took some pictures of these "alfombras" (rugs) and then went down to the church to watch the beginning of the procession which consisted of a large homecoming-type float with a religious scene on it being walked through the town by a group of men in robes along the alfombra; effectively destroying it...followed by a crew with brooms who then sweep up all of the sand, flowers and beans. It is kind of amazing to me that they spend all of this time on making these alfombras only to be walked over and ruined in an instant...of course it's no stranger than my obsession with those sand bottles that i had as a kid- you know the ones where you stack the different colors of sand in the bottles and make art with them...once the bottle's full the fun is over because you can never get the different colors of sand apart to try it again...don't act like you didnt have a sand art set haha. To each his own. I am living in a house with a teacher who works in one of the schools that i will be working with. It is really nice to have someone to practice my spanish with and even nicer to have access to a kitchen! I have been enjoying getting back into cooking and hopefully back into eating healthier now that i am not at the mercy of whatever's put in front of me. Turns out that cooking without a microwave is a real pain but i'm up to the challenge. I have access to all sorts of fresh vegetables and fruits which is really nice; the trick of course is going to be learning to disinfect and prepare them all in delicious ways...i'm optimistic.I have outfitted my room so far with a bed and two chairs for reading and relaxing (but right now they're just acting as a place for me to stack my clothes and healthy schools materials because as of yet i have not gotten a dresser or any sort of table or shelves). I stopped by a carpenter today and ordered a desk to be made for me. It was really cool because i could ask him to make it however i wanted it; turns out, I wanted my desk to be taller than your average guatemalan desk and i wanted a bookshelf on one side, his response, "no problem, how big?" how rad is that? you just can't find that in the US...well... to be fair, i didnt really look, but you know what i mean. And the best part? it's going to be ready for my by Saturday! I am really looking forward to having a workspace if for nothing more than a place to stack all of my books and free up one of these chairs for sitting in again.
Turns out the money for buying stuff for your house doesnt go very far around here so i have yet to purchase anything else but over the next few months i intend to acquire a few more choice items, they may include:
- dresser
- table
-guitar
-sewing machine
- bicycle
- television
The dresser and table are the things I will definitely get and the other items are more...fun-oriented...obviously. I would really like to learn to play guitar and feel it is time to start. I have a lot of down time in the afternoons and I am feeling a lot of creative energy right now; better put it to good use. Maybe i'll write a song about washing hands... who knows.
Other than that i've just been reading a lot. Today i finished reading a pretty good book called, "backpack" its about this gal who goes backpacking through Asia; there's also some murder mystery in there...and well, i dont want to give it all away but turns out the murderer is someone close to the protagonist, shocking.
My next book of choice is entitled, "why girls are weird," I'll let you know what it says, i'm interested to know myself.
As for my work...
I had my first day of work today! My work-partner, Damian and I visited 3 of our 24 schools and did introductions. It was great to see the schools that we'll actually be working with and it also gave me a lot of ambitions for projects to work on with them... For example, one of the schools that i visited today had all of these computer moniters and hard-drives stacked up in classrooms, collecting dust. it would be SO great if we could get those up and working to start computer classes for the students and parents in the communities to build basic typing and software skills. Of course...this type of project would fall way behind the primary concerns of the schools- which in two of these three we visited today appears to be water- there is not sufficient water for the school during school hours; i'd really like to do a project to build rain-catchmans and depositos for these schools so that they can utilize all of the water from rainfall during the rainy season during the dry season, but this is not my job. Infrastructure projects are not what i'm here to do. it's really hard for me to stand on the sidelines when i want to do a project so badly but the reality is that i have too many schools and to try and take on projects like that would be spreading myself too thin...and it would be unfair to choose just one school to work with when so many would benefit from a project...can't pick favorites. annoying.
I had my first day of work today! My work-partner, Damian and I visited 3 of our 24 schools and did introductions. It was great to see the schools that we'll actually be working with and it also gave me a lot of ambitions for projects to work on with them... For example, one of the schools that i visited today had all of these computer moniters and hard-drives stacked up in classrooms, collecting dust. it would be SO great if we could get those up and working to start computer classes for the students and parents in the communities to build basic typing and software skills. Of course...this type of project would fall way behind the primary concerns of the schools- which in two of these three we visited today appears to be water- there is not sufficient water for the school during school hours; i'd really like to do a project to build rain-catchmans and depositos for these schools so that they can utilize all of the water from rainfall during the rainy season during the dry season, but this is not my job. Infrastructure projects are not what i'm here to do. it's really hard for me to stand on the sidelines when i want to do a project so badly but the reality is that i have too many schools and to try and take on projects like that would be spreading myself too thin...and it would be unfair to choose just one school to work with when so many would benefit from a project...can't pick favorites. annoying.
I am going to visit 4 more schools tomorrow and then 4 more each day until i've been to them all and then we're going to go back to them and complete surveys to figure out where we're at, to mark our starting position and begin to make change and chart progress...
when it comes down to it there really is so little time and so much to do.
as for building confianza (trust)...
I went on a camping trip with a group of teachers from one of the schools. They had planned the trip as a despedida (goodbye-party) for my sitemate, Kristina who's been working with their school for the past two years. We went to Laguna Brava which was absolutely stunning. it was about a 3 hour hike down into the lagoon and a 2 1/2 hour hike out (how we made it out faster than in is a mystery, i can only guess that we really hauled up the mountain, my thighs are killing me). The Lagoon was absolutely beautiful- it's the picture of what i thought of when i think "lagoon" it really reminded me of these stories my dad used to tell us about felix and the lagoon. Supposidly there are spider monkeys that live there but try as i might I did not see any. Regardless, it was a great chance to get to know some of the teachers and work on my spanish as well as just swim around in the lagoon, get some exercise, ride in the back of pickup trucks, and relax. A great time had by all.
here are some pics of the lagoon
Well, that's all i've got for you for now. I'm almost done downloading episodes of grey's anatomy from itunes and i feel like a snack.
more to come; i miss you all. write me letters if you've got some free time and extra money lying around for postage... my new address is :
more to come; i miss you all. write me letters if you've got some free time and extra money lying around for postage... my new address is :
Kristin Morton
Voluntaria/ Cuerpo De Paz
Jacaltenango, Huehuetenango
Guatemala, Centro America.
until next time! Peace & Love!
until next time! Peace & Love!
Great update!! Sounds like your site is going well. I think after you visit all your schools you will know the most dire needs, and can then decide if indeed water is the best goal....you can't was your hands without water!! I think it's okay to have favorites, that's human nature, right???
ReplyDeleteWrite that song!
best wishes, Lauren's mom, Linda