things are speeding up in sleepy alaska

So sorry it has been a while since I blogged; of course many things have happened since I last blogged which is why I haven't written as much as you guys would like to know!

I ended up having to find a new place to live because one of my roommates decided that she simply could no longer live with us.  This was sort of a shock, although she had found a gentleman friend and was never at home, she also did not seem very unhappy when she was home.  So when she informed us she was leaving, we knew we were in trouble because we couldn't afford the rent.  After about two weeks of searching and 15 apartments later,we finally found the one we could call home! It is a small two bedroom (I am happy to report I have my own room in this apartment!) that is near the university.

Being near the university is great for a couple of reasons:
*we are now on both the blue and red line that run all day on the hour until around 9 pm- big change from the yellow line that only ran until 6:30 and took a two and a half hour break in the middle of the day.  Also the yellow line only went to a handful of places in town, now we have access to pretty much anywhere! so YAY!
*we can walk over to the university, sit in cute used books and coffee shops, and participate in activities on campus (like the Ice Rock Wall!)
*there are actually less lights because we are near Creamer's Field, so we can see the northern lights much much better!

SO having to find a place to move to, moving, and now getting settled has been a stressful experience to say the least, i feel like moving is the underlying theme to this blog! Hopefully this is the last one for the year!  But in the meantime, while all the moving was going on some other exciting events took place!  About a month ago the Yukon Quest dog race started in Fairbanks and ended in the heart of the Canadian Yukon.  It is over 1,000 miles and is the old dog sled routes used for mail and gold rush.  It is actually a bigger deal in Alaska than the Iditarod that will be starting this following weekend! Many of the same dog mushers compete in both races and the favorite this year is Lance Mackey.  He has actually won both races in the same year (a feat that is very very hard to do) He is kind of like the Michael Jordon of Dog Races.  He did not win this year's Yukon though because he is racing a new sled dog.  The winner,Hugh Neff, won by 22 seconds! Very exciting? The dogs of course were adorable because they were so excited to race and they all either had booties on or actual dog sledding socks. I have to say it was an exciting Saturday~ if you want to learn more about the Quest go to:http://www.yukonquest.com/.

Work is picking up rather quickly and for the most part my days are packed from 8 am to 5 pm running around Fairbanks, advocating for youth, promoting the after school program, and general making connections throughout the community that we can use in the future with our consumers in the youth in transition program.  Some days I am stuck in the office catching up on paperwork and organizing things for the program.....i have found these are my least favorite days.  The days that I can go out and interact with people are the days that I enjoy the most.  I think this comes from my Peace Corps experience where, every time I walked out of my door and interacted with host country nationals, I was doing my job (a job that I came to love).  So for future employment options I think I am going to have to find something that allows me to be outdoors!. I really enjoy the youth advocacy that I am getting to do, so maybe something that allows me to advocate outside of an office?  Who knows!

For those of you interested, here is the link to the iditarod's home page.  There are only 4 days left before it starts and this will give you up to date information on the race and who is in the lead! http://iditarod.com/


Today is another snowy day in Fairbanks and the temperature has dropped back down to the single digits.  I am just glad it is not in the negatives again! Having your nose hair freeze is something that is only enjoy able the first couple of times you experience it! Although it is still very cold and very snowy, having the sun as a prominent presence throughout the day makes it much more livable! by the end of this week, including twilight times, we will have 12 hours of sunlight! the sun never gets very high in the sky, but it is nice to have it there! Makes things feel like they are slowly waking up from their winter slumber!

Well I think that's all for now, pictures to come!

Santa Claus' favorite coffee

Hello again!

I have officially made it 2 weeks in this years coldest place on earth. I am starting to get the hang of living here- as long as I am dressed appropriately normally the cold really isn't too bad! I finally received the huge box of blankets, jackets, snow pants, and other warm clothing so I feel much better equipped to handle being in -30 to -50 degree weather everyday. The weather man keeps telling us that we should have a break in the cold and it be up to a toasty 25 degrees ABOVE zero by tomorrow, but I'm not so sure!!! This past weekend it was below -50 so we ended up staying inside watching movies, playing board games (Chris my roommate is a fanatic when it comes to board games) and praying we didn't have to leave the house! Chris and I did venture out long enough to throw hot water from a pot and see it freeze in midair which is what the picture that looks like a bomb went off is!!! It's funny talking to native Alaskan's about doing things like that because they all say "it never occurred to me to try that!" I guess it's like flying kites at the beach for us! Even though it was cold by Sunday both Chris and I were going stir crazy and decided during the afternoon when the sun was out to bundle up and venture to the grocery store, Fred Meyers, about a mile away. It was really nice to get out but by the time we arrived we both had an ice mustache, our eyelashes were completely white with frost, and all my nose hairs were frozen. It was pretty hilarious looking! The good thing about this kind of weather is that it is so dry here as soon as you walk back inside you immediately shake the cold! Fairbanks is actually considered a tundra/desert so I have to constantly remind myself to drink water! While in the grocery store we discovered santat claus' favorite coffee: ST. NICKERDOODLE! hahahaha I thought you all would enjoy that! I thought it was quite charming! Well time to get back to the grind but look out for more post next week!

Settling into a winter wonderland!

Greetings from north of a north pole! Ok so I am not really north of the north pole but I am north of a town called the North Pole. Things seem to be going well, after a very long day of traveling Wednesday, I finally arrived in Fairbanks- was taken to my home, put my stuff down and ran out the door to go to karaoke, which we later found out was cancelled due to remodeling but went to UAF's on campus bar instead and enjoyed some of alaska's fine microbrews (already a plus from Guatemala!)
On Thursday I was up early to start my training at Joel's place. Joel's place is a non-profit that allows a safe place for youth to hang out. It is a skate par, a coffee bar, and offers one hot meal a day. It was founded in response to the many runaway youth in Fairbanks 12 or 13 years ago. I know its hard to believe that there would be runaway youth in Alaska, but it is actually one of the biggest issues. Having places like joel's place help cut back on drug use of teens, prostitution, and deaths by freezing. So it is really awesome to be working with a program that was made solely to help protect vulnerable people.

yesterday we met up with this lady named sister Barbie. Her nickname comes from the various charitable things she does throughout the north star burrow. She has been very helpful in helping us locate furniture for our home and connecting us to several different organization which is very kind of her, but I have to admit she is by far the most eclectic person I have met in Alaska thus far. We went to her house outside of the town North Pole to meet her for our grand furniture adventure. She was wearing a custom made beaver coat that went down to her ankles, with neatly curled blondish white hair. I quickly learned that she was a born again Christian that loved to tell stories! Which oh lard we heard some stories while driving all over the frozen north in search of the furniture that had been moved from one of her 3 storage units to another one. After we finally found the furniture, she treated us to dinner at Pikes. Pikes is an incredibly spendy (that's Alaskan for expensive) restaurant right on the river front. The river front is frozen over right now so it has actually become an ice bridge! There is a pool of money every year for the person who guesses the time and day the river will have thawed out enough for a car to fall through!!! Hahaha I think you can actually win quite a bit of money too! After dinner we politely declined her invitation to hear jazz music and be on a Christian radio show because we were so tired from the day.

Yesterday was a lazy day, we laid around and enjoyed the last bit of our weekend before starting at our sites today.

So far my service site is very nice! I am in charge of an afterschool program that assists youth in achieving career goals by helping them attain their GED or high school diploma and though career development trainings. Today. I worked at a fair for the homeless community of Fairbanks. It was amazing all the resources this fair pulled together! Most of the booths required a referral form for future appointments but Joel's Place was handing out winter clothing that had been donated, a salon was giving away free haircuts, and there was a free manicurist and pedicurist to help clean up the appearance of the homeless people there. It is a great program that the town of Fairbanks offers every year! I am slowly learning how people just lose control and find themselves in situations they never thought they would be in. And this can range from drug and alcohol use to wrong investments to being fired from a position and not being able to get int the system long enough to stay a float. Today was very eye opening for me and I am excited to learn more and participate more in this side of life. I am hoping it will further my education of the "real world" and allow me to grow ever more open, patient, and understanding.

Where did 2011 go???

It's so crazy to me but it's only a little over a week before the end of 2011. And what a year it has been! I promised myself that one day(maybe sooner rather than later) i will write a novel about this year- everything from crazy sickness to being homeless to scorpions in my sink to finding a home, losing a home, getting chased out of my site by the drug cartel, Los Zetas, having a llllooonnggg vacation with family and friends, finally getting a new site-only to have my police station blown up. That is where my Peace corps experience ended, coming home to rest and find my next adventure, which after about 2 months I did. This time in the United states ALASKA! Ok so it is outside the mainland but they speak English at least. Many have looked at me upon hearing this and rolled their eyes: asking" are you ever going to settle down?" or "do you have any idea how cold it is there?" but this is the only way I know to respond- "I wonder as I wander". Sure it is freezing (actually its way below freezing) yes once again I am venturing into the unknown. I know it's crazy. I know that it is high time to settle down and join the "real world" but that's not me- at least not yet. I have too much wanderlust to stay still right now. So I will leave with my response "I wonder as I wander".

Once Upon a Time in Mexico.....

Buenas Dias!

Well this past week has been spent on a much need vacation to a little pueblo in Mexico called San Cristobal de Las Casas.  San Cristobal is a very charming spanish influenced town that has a lot of amazing food and touristy stores.  It reminded me a lot of Antigua, except that the streets aren't cobble stone and easier to walk down, but it was a lot cleaner and the locals were a lot more respectful to the tourist.  It took us about 7 hours to get there from my friend's site in HueHuetenango (pronounced WAY-WAYtenango) and immediately we went for Mexican beer and tacos! the tortillas instead of being corn were made of flour and were delicious! We thought we would be lucky and get to drink cheap Coronas the entire time, but they must be made closer to the American Border, so we settled for XX, which in my opinion is actually better!

After exploring the town a little bit, we decided to do a day exercusion to the ruins in Palenque, little did we know this 12 hour outing would turn into an almost 24 hour outing! We left bright and early at 6 am and headed to a river called aguas azules, normally the water is suppose to be the color of Samuc Chempay, a turquoise blue that people can swim in, but because of recent flooding the river along with all the walk ways was covered with brown, extremely fast flowing water! It was wild to see! the water fall looked gigantic!  It was amazing to me how much damage water can do, it definitely seemed like it had a mind of its own.  There were a lot of little restaurants and taco stands that normally would be on the river bank, but the floors were covered by the water. It was wild! The next stop we had was at another waterfall, this one was a lot more tame and just fell like most waterfalls do, they had made a path behind the waterfall though which was really really neat, but you came out completely soaked! And finally our last stop with the ruins at Palenque.  Palenque was also a Mayan city, used more for the burial of kinds and worship of the different Gods. They, like Copan, Honduras, had the court where the Mayan men had to knock a ball off their hips and elbows into these basket-like things, kind of a mix between soccer and basketball.  The temples were amazing, we were able to climb up some of them which was really neat and walk around inside of them.  The stairs at the temples are really skinny and high so that you have to look down when you are walking up them.  The Mayan's purposefully did this because they wanted anyone approaching either the Mayan king or temple with a bowed head. Which I thought was really neat.  They were not as artistic as the Mayans in Copan, Honduras, but had some carvings to depict different stories.  There was one of the Snake god dancing and smoking cigars, which I thought was funny! It was definitely the best part of the tour for me!

So we all climb back into the micro (but we all had our own seats and it was airconditioned...BIG STEP UP from Guatemala!) and start the 4 hour trip home.  About an hour and a half in we come to what looks like a traffic jam.  The driver tells us its a protest and we might have to sit tight for a little bit.  The other passengers all of which are Mexican start to look really worried and ask if there is no other way to go (which there isn't) but the 5 of us are cool- Guatemalans block roads all the time, but always (it literally never fails) they will pack up around 7 pm and go home for dinner.  Being that it was 6:30 pm at this point we figured we would be sitting max. 30- 1 hour. WRONG! our driver informs us that it should end around 8 pm.  8 pm comes and goes, now the end time is 11 pm.  At this point we are all getting a little ansy and a little grumpy.  11 pm comes and goes, and the driver informs us the earliest we will get through the blockade is 6 am but more than likely it will not be until 8:30 am.  Non of us are happy at this point; we had already bought and paid for another tour of a canyon for the morning and it looked at that point we would miss it, and if we didn't miss it be waaaayyy too tired to enjoy it.  so we all try to fall asleep and stay positive that maybe we can get through earlier.  Around 1:30 am the driver starts up the engine because the protesters have agreed to open the highway for an hour.  They meant business.  When we were passing through I saw at least 25 dump trucks that had been moved off the road, that were used for blocking ( in Guatemala, the most people do is put rocks in the way and then stand on the rocks).    We ended up getting home around 4 am and did not make our next tour, instead we spent the day doing some shopping and resting.  I am so glad we got through when we did because the negotiators were not able to reach an agreement until 9 am the next morning!

A couple of things that I noticed to be different between Guatemala and Mexico.  For one it is obvious that the country of Mexico has more money.  The highways were clean, paved roads and even the public transportation had a schedule in which you needed to buy a ticket in order to use. The towns all seemed to have actual trash systems and there was no trace of trash being burnt because you could not smell it (like you can on pretty much any day in Guatemala).  There was military throughout the state we were in because it was a border state and they all had nicer and newer guns than the Guatemalan Military.  However it does seem that the wealth, although apparent by these small even unnoticable things to some,  has a horrible trickle down effect and it seems to stop right before the poorest of the people in Mexico.  Many of the towns we passed on the way to Palenque were much like what you would find anywhere in Guatemala and there was a lot of street kids that were made to sell items such as gum, cigarettes, and other candy.  Most were not more than 5 to 7 years old.  They actually reminded me a lot of the begger children in slum dog millionaire- it seemed to have some sort of system for them to beg. This absolutely broke my heart.  While waiting for the other girls one night myself and Lauren (another PCV) bought two little boys hot dogs at a gas station like store.  They were 9 and 11 years old and even though they have an entire system for this kind of thing, the fact that they have to work at 9 and 11 was more than i could take.  Its sometimes really hard for me because I know that I am only experiencing a glimpse of what it is like to live in poverty and I can pack my bags and go home whenever I want, but it seems so embedded in their system that I don't know why a solution can be......


We made the long 12 hour trip home the following day, stopping back in HueHue and finally making it home to Tecpan yesterday.  I was glad to be home.  This trip was definitely the trip i needed to jump start me back for the next couple of months until school starts back but it definitely wasn't relaxing! haha.  This next week I am headed to the office in Santa Lucia for some spanish classes and then we have our first meeting with Hug it Forward (the bottle-school project)  to hopefully start the process to build a classroom out of plastic bottles for one of our schools! I am also starting some secondary projects that I am hoping to help integrate me more into the community for my last full year here! I cannot believe that this time next weekend we will be starting Oct! man how the times fly down here!

Anywho until next time....
Kata

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY....(or in Guatemala) WEEK!

Hello Everyone!

Well besides the first of two elections coming and going this past weekend, things have been pretty tranquilo here in Tecpan.  Peace Corps put us on a 3 day standfast for the weekend of the elections, this meant that we are not allowed to leave where we are- in most cases (unless you are on vacation) this means you cannot travel outside of your site.  I took up residence at my sitemates apartment, where we baked, watched movies, made falafel, sweet potato black bean burritos, sandwiches (which sounds ordinary but are a commodity here in Guate!), and Barret's baked potato salad. Needless to say I gained about 3 pounds in the 3 day standfast! I guess I am just practicing for when I come home in November!

The election, at least in Tecpan, was pretty calm- besides the church that was trying to raise money through a loud speaker and bando music, overall it was pretty quiet! Most people came out to vote in their nicest clothes and brought the whole family along, it was very different from in the USA where you squeeze voting into your 30 min lunch break, people come from the villages outside of Tecpan to vote and want to feel proud to do so.  We do have a new mayor in town, which I feel is what the majority wanted because there hasn't been any burning  buildings or cars and the general feel of the town is a good one.  I was talking with my host mom last night and she told me that their previous mayor had promised a lot but had done very little and was glad to see him go. The country still does not know the president.  There will be a run off race between Perez and Baldizon on Nov. 6, the person who receives the highest percentage will be the new president.  This is very controversal election because if elected (and it looks like this will happen) Perez wants to fight crime in the country with "mano dura"  or firm hand.  This was briefly tried in the early 2000s in El Salvador to fight the drug cartels and gangs, but ultimately failed and caused more human rights abuses than anything else.  So the international community is a little worried about Perez being elected not only because of that but also because he was a high level military official during the internal conflict that lasted close to 36 years in Guatemala and many have blamed him for some of the biggest massacres against the mayan people during that time.  Unfortunately it seems that it Guatemala will be stuck in its present situation a while longer.  But this is a democracy and the people will choose who they think can represent their needs the quickest and most efficient and they seem to believe that mano dura is the way to do this. 

So the next election will be Nov. 6th.  Peace Corps is already predicting another standfast for this so it should be another fun weekend with my sitemates! But this week is also an exciting week because it is Guatemala's independence from Spain! Which means on every street corner in Tecpan there are taco stands, people are selling Guatemalan flags for insanely low prices, fireworks are being lit in every street, and people in general are feeling a sense of community! But unlike the USA the celebrations go on for about a week and a half which means no school and no work for healthy school volunteers, but we are finding other things to fill our time.  I have started to dog-sit for a woman that owns an NGO that I am trying to also work with.  There are huge celebrations all over the country, the biggest are in Xela, so my sitemates and I are going there for the weekend to see the huge ferris wheel and catch up with some other volunteers and then next week we are headed to MEXICO! for a much needed vacation!

well that is about all that is going on here, watch out for next week- hopefully i will have some humorous story about mexico! 

the weeks begin and the weekends

Here we are again (estamos aqui ultravez), another week down in the glorious Guatemala.  Things seemed to have calmed down since last Tuesdays excitement, when a police officer, off-duty and "supposedly" on drugs shot a taxi driver 7 times, and the town's response to the incident was to burn the police station down, resulting in the police leaving Tecpan.  NOT TO WORRY> i was safely in my home and didn't find out about the unrest until the following day when everyone was going about their usual daily business.  Unfortunately this is a reality in Guatemala because the police and government are so corrupt that many times the people feel that they must take matters into their own hands so that they can see the results that they feel are necessary.  There has been no retaliation or return of the police since the incident and Peace Corps is keeping a good eye on the situation, ready to pull us 3 tecpan volunteers out of the site if necessary, but I honestly do not think it will be necessary!


Otherwise I went to PDM (Project Design Management) last Wednesday-Friday with one of my fellow teachers at a school that we are hoping to give a water project to.  It was very informative and my counterpart really seemed to enjoy himself and learning about how to approach asking for funds and executing plans for infrastructure projects.  I was able to stay with one of the girls i got very close to during training which is always fun and we were able to talk about future projects and maybe trying to do a GLOW camp (GLOW camp is a worldwide peace corps initiative that focuses on empowering girls to go out and approach their dreams).  So hopefully with school ending we will be able to do one of those in December.

After that it was back to site.  I started an exercise program called "Insanity" and very quickly quit it.  It just wasn't for me, so I am back to trying to run around town, I have found some dirt roads that get less motor traffic so it is easier to breath.

We have finally finished our surveys of all the progress within our schools and are taking it easier this month because of the election (no school for the friday and monday before and after the election day on Sept. 11) and the Guatemalan Independence day  on the 15th which also means there will be no school the week of the 15th.  But we are going to enjoy this time by traveling to San Cristobal de las Casa in Mexico for a couple of days and I have about a week of spanish class to keep me busy the last week of sept.  SO no worries, I am sure between the elections and the 15th there will be plenty of stories to tell!

Hasta proxima ves!