Friday, December 23, 2011
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".
Saturday, September 24, 2011
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
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
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
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!
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
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!
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!
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Somewhere only we go....
Sorry again for the pauses in between post, I need to get back into the swing of blogging each week! Things have been going very well for the past couple of weeks in Tecpan. I am finally settling into life here, which has been quite a change from the toasty San Miguel. So far we have been able to visit the majority of our schools and do the surveys to see the progress each school has been making in the program over the past year. This has been very rewarding because I am FINALLY able to see what this program can do (in some schools) over a longer period of time than what Maggie and I had in San Miguel. I am enjoying my sitemates, Lauren and Betty. immensely we spend many dinners together either creating new and delicious creation or making old classics with what we can find in the market. Last week Betty and I made Black Bean,Sweet Potato burritos with pico de gillo- DELISH! Lauren and I have tried to start a Thursday night tradition where we cook something yummy, do yoga, and drink some wine. We have coined the evening Eat. Pray. Wine. Night, however because of conferences and meeting we all have a different times with Peace Corps, we have had to miss a couple of thursdays. But its nights like Eat. Pray. Wine. Thursdays and over indulgent Tuesdays that help the weeks pass quicker and make working much more fun.
I have switched around my living situation a little bit, I am now renting 2 rooms- so that I can have my kitchen in an actual room and not in the hallway that everyone and their mothers pass through on a daily basis- this makes things feel a little more at home, however I do think I am going to continue to look for another apartment that is a little bit more private- I know it seems silly, but it is the little things like having your own space down here that make life much more enjoyable.
I have discovered a coffee place in my town that serves REAL coffee, not that instant crap! it only opens from 3pm-9 pm so it makes a nice late afternoon treat!
Otherwise it is just the day to day living that I get to do in Guate. The second half of this week I get to go to a conference about project design and management which should be very interesting! it is being held in Xela so I am excited to spend some time with my friends that live around that area! I will definitely update next week- i am sure something hilarious/interesting will happen!
MISS YOU ALL until next time :)
I have switched around my living situation a little bit, I am now renting 2 rooms- so that I can have my kitchen in an actual room and not in the hallway that everyone and their mothers pass through on a daily basis- this makes things feel a little more at home, however I do think I am going to continue to look for another apartment that is a little bit more private- I know it seems silly, but it is the little things like having your own space down here that make life much more enjoyable.
I have discovered a coffee place in my town that serves REAL coffee, not that instant crap! it only opens from 3pm-9 pm so it makes a nice late afternoon treat!
Otherwise it is just the day to day living that I get to do in Guate. The second half of this week I get to go to a conference about project design and management which should be very interesting! it is being held in Xela so I am excited to spend some time with my friends that live around that area! I will definitely update next week- i am sure something hilarious/interesting will happen!
MISS YOU ALL until next time :)
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
what a crazy ride it has been....
Please excuse the long pause in between post, i know it has been close to two months since i have updated you all and for that i am sorry! Things of course have been nothing less than interesting here and I have been on the move for most of them.
For a quick recap:
May: finished up visiting my schools and settling into my apartment, there was a lot of fun goodbye parties in coban for the youth development volunteers that were leaving in the summer to return to the states. otherwise not too much to report for the end of may, just kind of adjusting to life as normal, trying to improve my spanish, things like that.
June: this is the very fun and interesting month. There had been a growing presence of military in my site, doing patrols and other things like this, so I had called Peace Corps to let them know and to see if this was normal. This resulted in a site visit from my APCD (or head of my program healthy schools) to check out security issues within and around my site, as well as get an update from my counterpart about the progress of healthy schools in San Miguel. The site visit was suppose to take at least 5 hours, but after a quick meeting with mine and maggie's counter part, Dr. Mack decided to pull us from site because of security reasons. We were given the next day to pack everything up and find another volunteer to stay with until a new site/situation could be made possible. I headed down to the department of Chemaltenango to stay with one of my good friend, Lauren Wert. It was a very nice slow week before my parents came for their trip, and it gave me a chance to see what can be done with healthy schools over a period of time (both she and her site mate swore in a year before me and replaced a volunteer that worked in a different phase of healthy schools for a couple of years). By the end of the week, we three emailed Dr. Mack and asked if i could be a permanent addition to their site and take over when they COS next march. I think Dr. Mack was relieved of this idea because it meant he did not have to look into starting a whole new site for maggie and I. So my new home became Tecpan Guatemala, Chemaltenango (a couple of fun facts: tecpan is the first capital of guatemala so it is over 485 years old, there are ruins right outside of town that George Bush visited during his presidency and the mayan priest are still cleaning because of his "bad energry" and there is a gym, pizza place, laundry place <which my clothes are very thankful for!>, and grocery store, it has over 80,000 people in the municipality, and its very cold.)
I finished up June greeting mom and bob at the airport for their vacation down here. I had a wonderful time with them, eating really yummy food in Antigua and Lake Atitlan, climbing a volcano, and spending a day relaxing at earth lodge right outside of antigua. the week they spent here seemed to fly by and it was time for them to leave, but i was fortunate that the same day they left, my good friend from studying abroad in Estonia came!
July: Morgan was here for 10 days, in which case we went to the pacific coast (black sands and coconuts) made our way to atitlan after a VERY long day of traveling on chicken buses, and finished up back in antigua. I had to return to san miguel to move all of my stuff out of my apartment, pay rent, and say my goodbyes on the last day morgan was here, but she also climbed volcano pacaya and i think she had a good time! It was so great getting to share my home with Morgan, Mom, and Bob and I can't wait to have more visitors come!
I am sure you are thinking Katelyn then returned to her new cold home and started work, which she has been busy with every since? not quite. I actually had my reconnect conference with Peace Corps starting that sunday (Reconnect is the first of four conferences that peace corps host to check back in with the volunteers after going to sites and give more training for certain things. Reconnect lasted 2 days and was followed by either mayan or spanish language training. my next conference will be IST <in service training> in november.) Reconnect was a lot of fun because i got to see a lot of volunteers i swore in with and got me excited about returning to work and starting water project and secondary projects. I only stayed for the two days of the actual conference and then FINALLY returned to site and started working and unpacking.
I am living in a small room now with a very nice family, i do have my own bathroom, although my shower is still on the fritz (i know i shouldn't complain....i have a shower in peace corps, but cold showers in tecpan where the high each day is 65 degrees, well is just painful!) but i am working on getting that sorted out. So far I have been trying to settle into my life here, going to new schools, meeting the directors i will work with for the next couple of years, and starting planning for projects that my site mates want to do before they COS in march. Some of the ideas we have are a bottle school (yes!) world map and accrediting 3 of our 18 schools for completing the first stage of healthy schools! (yay!)
Although starting over in a new site is hard, actually it is a lot harder than i thought it would be...for the first time in 7 months i have been homesick! I am really thankful that i have the sitemates i do and this site. I feel that i will be able to accomplish something here, even if it is small and I am looking forward to the challenge.
No worries, it won't be 2 months before i post again, look out for one next week!
For a quick recap:
May: finished up visiting my schools and settling into my apartment, there was a lot of fun goodbye parties in coban for the youth development volunteers that were leaving in the summer to return to the states. otherwise not too much to report for the end of may, just kind of adjusting to life as normal, trying to improve my spanish, things like that.
June: this is the very fun and interesting month. There had been a growing presence of military in my site, doing patrols and other things like this, so I had called Peace Corps to let them know and to see if this was normal. This resulted in a site visit from my APCD (or head of my program healthy schools) to check out security issues within and around my site, as well as get an update from my counterpart about the progress of healthy schools in San Miguel. The site visit was suppose to take at least 5 hours, but after a quick meeting with mine and maggie's counter part, Dr. Mack decided to pull us from site because of security reasons. We were given the next day to pack everything up and find another volunteer to stay with until a new site/situation could be made possible. I headed down to the department of Chemaltenango to stay with one of my good friend, Lauren Wert. It was a very nice slow week before my parents came for their trip, and it gave me a chance to see what can be done with healthy schools over a period of time (both she and her site mate swore in a year before me and replaced a volunteer that worked in a different phase of healthy schools for a couple of years). By the end of the week, we three emailed Dr. Mack and asked if i could be a permanent addition to their site and take over when they COS next march. I think Dr. Mack was relieved of this idea because it meant he did not have to look into starting a whole new site for maggie and I. So my new home became Tecpan Guatemala, Chemaltenango (a couple of fun facts: tecpan is the first capital of guatemala so it is over 485 years old, there are ruins right outside of town that George Bush visited during his presidency and the mayan priest are still cleaning because of his "bad energry" and there is a gym, pizza place, laundry place <which my clothes are very thankful for!>, and grocery store, it has over 80,000 people in the municipality, and its very cold.)
I finished up June greeting mom and bob at the airport for their vacation down here. I had a wonderful time with them, eating really yummy food in Antigua and Lake Atitlan, climbing a volcano, and spending a day relaxing at earth lodge right outside of antigua. the week they spent here seemed to fly by and it was time for them to leave, but i was fortunate that the same day they left, my good friend from studying abroad in Estonia came!
July: Morgan was here for 10 days, in which case we went to the pacific coast (black sands and coconuts) made our way to atitlan after a VERY long day of traveling on chicken buses, and finished up back in antigua. I had to return to san miguel to move all of my stuff out of my apartment, pay rent, and say my goodbyes on the last day morgan was here, but she also climbed volcano pacaya and i think she had a good time! It was so great getting to share my home with Morgan, Mom, and Bob and I can't wait to have more visitors come!
I am sure you are thinking Katelyn then returned to her new cold home and started work, which she has been busy with every since? not quite. I actually had my reconnect conference with Peace Corps starting that sunday (Reconnect is the first of four conferences that peace corps host to check back in with the volunteers after going to sites and give more training for certain things. Reconnect lasted 2 days and was followed by either mayan or spanish language training. my next conference will be IST <in service training> in november.) Reconnect was a lot of fun because i got to see a lot of volunteers i swore in with and got me excited about returning to work and starting water project and secondary projects. I only stayed for the two days of the actual conference and then FINALLY returned to site and started working and unpacking.
I am living in a small room now with a very nice family, i do have my own bathroom, although my shower is still on the fritz (i know i shouldn't complain....i have a shower in peace corps, but cold showers in tecpan where the high each day is 65 degrees, well is just painful!) but i am working on getting that sorted out. So far I have been trying to settle into my life here, going to new schools, meeting the directors i will work with for the next couple of years, and starting planning for projects that my site mates want to do before they COS in march. Some of the ideas we have are a bottle school (yes!) world map and accrediting 3 of our 18 schools for completing the first stage of healthy schools! (yay!)
Although starting over in a new site is hard, actually it is a lot harder than i thought it would be...for the first time in 7 months i have been homesick! I am really thankful that i have the sitemates i do and this site. I feel that i will be able to accomplish something here, even if it is small and I am looking forward to the challenge.
No worries, it won't be 2 months before i post again, look out for one next week!
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Verapaz
I thought it would appropriate to talk about the name of my department in this blog. Verapaz loosely translates into "True Peace". Something that many of us may not ever find on this planet, but is important none the less. I feel like being here, even though it has only been for a month, has begun to teach me a lesson that will probably be my hardest lesson here. Finding true peace. Not only in my day to day life and inside, but true peace with those around me. My life has slowed down since moving here to something that would have driven me absolutely crazy back in the states and sent me into a frenzy on the internet trying to find something more. Something else I could be involved in. I will not lie and say that I haven't gone into that frenzy here, but as each day passes I am finding more and more peace within myself to just be. Just be here in this community at this time with these people and REALLY learn something. Learn something about a new culture, learn something about myself. Its amazing the things that can come up in conversations with people in town. The connections that I can have. for example I bought a dining room table last week (and when I say dinning room table I really mean a small table that is now pushed up against the wall in the room that I have Dubbed as my kitchen) and was struggling to get it back to my apartment, well two guys in my town on their break for lunch threw my table in the back of the truck and took me the last block and a half to my home. While driving i was talking to the young guy and found out that he had just returned from Gastonia, NC. Working in construction. We talked a little about sonic and walmart and then it was time for me to carry my table up my stairs. But it was so nice knowing someone who sorta knew where my home was!
The more time I spend with my host family is also time that i end up feel fulfilled. Just learning about their lives before I became a part of it and learning about their families has opened my eyes to so much more. My host mom struggled to put herself through school against her parents wishes. She slept on the floor of a room, which she shared with two other girls, cleaned in the afternoons, and worked in as many on the side jobs as possible. She and her husband still have this mentality working incredibly hard so that their two oldest children can attend private schools in Coban and Salama. They are saving now so that their son can go to medical school in Cuba in a couple of years, but are always generously buying my mangos, bananas, and cokes during our talks.
This "true peace" is something I know I will carry on after my time in Peace Corps comes to an end. I am beginning to accept that my life will not be the fast pace go.go.go. that it was in college and even last fall as I waited to leave for this adventure. But I am coming to peace that I now have the time to learn how to make paper cranes, help with the local english lessons that a north american evangelical lady does every wednesday, and learn achi (the local mayan language). I am finding that now when I slow down I can actually see the beauty around me. I saw a bright blue and yellow parrot on the way to some of my schools this morning. I know that this is something I will struggle with week to week, but I hope that I can remember what this place is giving me day to day.
Until next time....
The more time I spend with my host family is also time that i end up feel fulfilled. Just learning about their lives before I became a part of it and learning about their families has opened my eyes to so much more. My host mom struggled to put herself through school against her parents wishes. She slept on the floor of a room, which she shared with two other girls, cleaned in the afternoons, and worked in as many on the side jobs as possible. She and her husband still have this mentality working incredibly hard so that their two oldest children can attend private schools in Coban and Salama. They are saving now so that their son can go to medical school in Cuba in a couple of years, but are always generously buying my mangos, bananas, and cokes during our talks.
This "true peace" is something I know I will carry on after my time in Peace Corps comes to an end. I am beginning to accept that my life will not be the fast pace go.go.go. that it was in college and even last fall as I waited to leave for this adventure. But I am coming to peace that I now have the time to learn how to make paper cranes, help with the local english lessons that a north american evangelical lady does every wednesday, and learn achi (the local mayan language). I am finding that now when I slow down I can actually see the beauty around me. I saw a bright blue and yellow parrot on the way to some of my schools this morning. I know that this is something I will struggle with week to week, but I hope that I can remember what this place is giving me day to day.
Until next time....
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