Things I've learned in Mam class...

...other than Mam.

If you burn a caterpillar your baby will be born and stay bald.

If you put a peach in a child's belly button, the child will not be able to climb trees.

It's not good if a person goes outside with a lit fire when there is a full moon because his or her baby will get a skin infection.

If there are little hairs around a baby's penis when he is born, the mother will not birth any girls.

If a person eats a chicken heart, they'll be afraid of the dark. (This confirmed by Aura, my Mam teacher, who loves to eat chicken hearts and is afraid of the dark)

Heading to Copán, Honduras, for Halloween - Blog post + pictures to follow.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PATRICIO!

Hi friends! I suppose it’s time for the monthly blog post. Another whirlwind of a month here in Guatemala started off with an accident involving two of my friends. Both of them are in the States right now getting the medical attention they need, both with hopes of coming back. Keep them in your thoughts! Because of this, Mich and I had a five night hospital slumber party with them, where we were able to witness the differences in the ways hospitals and medical personnel work here in Guatemala. To say the least, it was very interesting.
In more positive news, I am slowly becoming busier. I started Mam classes and have had more than 30 hours thus far. My teacher is a 23 year old woman, married with a 3 year old daughter. She teaches Mam in the afternoons at a nearby school, and she was given a scholarship to study language for three years from the European Union, which she had completed by the age of 20. She is a demanding teacher and Mam is challenging, but we get along well and I learn a lot from her.
I have 3 women’s groups formed that I meet with every other week. I have given presentations on nutrition, mainly which nutrients people in the countryside tend to lack and how to fulfill those nutritional needs, hand washing, and water purification. I also planted blackberries with the groups, as they have two of the three things people lack most (vitamin A and iron). Because of the Mam I know, I am slowly gaining the confidence of these women. They love the fact that I’m attempting to spit out this language and definitely tease me. Yesterday during a presentation I was trying to say I like to eat torillas and I said either “kids eat tortillas” or “I like to eat kids” – I’m not sure what exactly came out. Luckily they have a sense of humor! Slowly I’m getting better though, as this week I went to the market and bought my vegetables in Mam – I was pretty darn proud of myself.
I went to my first Quinsiñera this month; Mich’s doctor’s daughter had a huge party. A Quinsiñera is the coming of age party, celebrated in some Latin American countries, when a girl turns 15. The family rented a huge room in the city, had a live band, a sit down meal, and a dance. It was very strange to be in the countryside in the morning, with people who can barely afford to eat, to then be in a banquet hall surrounded by suits, fancy dresses, and lavish gifts for the birthday girl. Mich’s doctor made a point to tell us we had to dance, and when we didn’t jump up right away she decided to pawn her nephews on us; they were brothers, and I swear it was a scene directly out of Night at the Roxbury! It was a fun time, but we were glad to leave at the end of the night!
I am on two committees that are taking up time, as well as introducing me to volunteers in other programs. It’s nice to be able to meet other people to get ideas of different ways to work with the community.
I’ve finally started making friends in my communities, mainly with the women I work with. They are very sweet and genuine, usually either asking me over for a meal or giving me food to take home. It’s funny – moving to a new place you usually assume that making friends is part of the deal, but in this culture it’s a lot different. The women my age are married with kids, platonic male/female friendships don’t exist for a multitude of reasons, and on top of that, people are suspicious of me.
Not too much else going on, so continue with my reading list, I will tell you the books I’ve read since my last post:

Middlesex
Destined to Witness: Growing up Black in Nazi Germany
Water for Elephants
In Defense of the Religious Right (it was a struggle to get through that one…)
Bait and Switch: The Futile Pursuit of the American Dream (currently reading)

In more exciting news, I finally cancelled my cell phone in the States, I found a brand of toilet paper I like, my sister turned 27 (man she’s old), and I still hate Malaria pill Mondays.

A big thanks for the awesome birthday cards and packages! I got a whopper of a package that was a struggle to get to the house via camioneta, but definitely worth it, even with a thick layer of spilled nutritional yeast flakes ;)
As always, thanks for keeping in touch!

As most Peace Corps Volunteers will probably tell you, the first few months in site is another transition, but a completely opposite one than training. I’ve been in site for over a month now, and it’s very slow. I started out making plans for every day in August with my counterpart, Julissa, but somehow I’d show up every day at 8am and the plans would get cancelled. I realized after 4 full weeks that she really isn’t going to help me get started right away, so I should do my own thing. I started weighing babies for a few days, which was an adventure: the kids would either be scared out of their minds of me or be in awe of this Ix’nula. It was fun, but it definitely does not have anything to do with my goals with the Peace Corps. Julissa introduced me to three promoters, and we exchanged numbers. A promoter is basically a woman who is able to organize other women and find a place to meet; she is generally well-liked and motivated, with a supportive husband. I was able to separately meet with these women, who then introduced me to several women that I will be working with. Some of the women worked with the previous volunteer, some not. I met with 6 women on Monday who I set up a meeting with next week to give a talk on water purification and cleanliness. I am really excited to meet with these women and get the ball rolling!
I was able to do some house visits by myself this week; they went well. They included 40 minute walks alone in the early morning, then meeting up with promoters to weave through cornfields to several adobe houses. Yesterday after doing these visits, Mikaela, the promoter, invited me over for lunch. I felt very welcomed while I ate with her, her brother, sister in law, and nephew. Mam is all of their first languages, so we had some fun with that while they taught me a few things! As I’ve been getting started with my own site, I’ve also assisted a couple friends in giving HIV/AIDS workshops. These are always super fun and interesting, and you never know the kinds of questions you’re going to get.
In other news, my birthday was by far the best birthday I have ever had (lacking, of course, my family and friends!). A group of 25 of us went to Lake Atitilán and spent 70Q a night each ($9) I posted a couple of pictures on the Flickr page, but there will be more when I steal Dirk and Michele’s pictures! We rented bungalows right on the lake, and sat out on the deck on Friday. Saturday we played Bananagrams, Uno, and Catchphrase, and Mich, Dirk and I took a canoe out for a while. It was picturesque.
A couple weeks ago I went on the longest and hardest hike of my life, to Laguna Chikobal. Laguna Chikobal is more than 2 hours straight up a mountain to an inactive volcano. Inside the crater is a beautiful lake, where we ate lunch and rested. The hike was well worth it, so if any of my visitors are brave enough I will be happy to do it again! There are also places to camp, so you could sleep in the crater of a volcano! COOL!
This month’s round of near death experiences include a bus and a dog. The first one, the bus, I was heading into the city and stood up in the front to get off at my spot. I dropped my umbrella and when I bent over to pick it up, the driver slammed on his breaks. All of the sudden I had my back to the front windshield and the stick shift in my lower back. I kind of looked like a fly smashed against the windshield, except I was on the inside. The bus driver yelled at me, as well as a few passengers, and they ayudante (the guy that collects money) smiled at me and in his Guatemalan accent said “Sorry lady.” I also was bit by a dog, but it was minor and I’m fine. Brookey keeps telling me that everything that can happen to me down here will, so I need to start proving her wrong = )
I recently had and got rid of fleas, which is a really fun experience. To be honest, I don’t know if I got rid of them, but I’m hoping so. It is so cold at night in my site that I am covered head to toe: socks, leggings, shorts, shirts, and fleece, and I haven’t seen any new bites in a while, so here’s hoping!
My host mom had a baby girl on Monday! I haven’t met her yet, but hopefully today’s the day. Romeo asked me to make a list of American girls’ names, because they don’t want to give her a typical Guatemalan name. I’m not sure the reason behind this, but I made a list for him and I’ll keep you all updated as to her name. Her brother, Junior, is pretty excited. He’s doing well, and we now have our own handshake- it’s really cool!

Since I’ve been reading a lot, and since I’m sure you’re all very curious, I thought I’d tell you all a few of the books I’ve read since I’ve been here:
Five Moral pieces
Omnivore’s Dilemma
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Scar Tissue
Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix
Rigoberta Menchu
Animal Farm (currently reading)

There are more, but I’m not sitting next to my bookshelf right now and can’t tell you what they are! I am trying to get into Dr. Raul’s book club, but I don’t know how enthusiastic he is about it. He’s at least willing to lend me some books in Spanish so that I can work on my reading comprehension, so that’s a plus. I will continue, however, to try to get invited to the book club… persistence always pays off!
Not too much else that I can think of. Thanks for everyone who remembered me on my birthday, and who continue to keep in touch.
Love and miss!!!!
P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLAKE!!

July wrap up

A great deal has happened since my last post over a month ago. I’ve had site assignment, site visit, swear in, and finally I’ve moved into my site. Site assignment day was pretty exciting; our APCD Basilio drove to each of our training towns and handed us each a colored folder based on what department we’re in. Mine ( which was kelly green) told me I’ll be living in Cajolá, Quetzaltenengo, for the next two years. Cajolá is about an hour away from the second biggest city in Guatemala, Xela, and within an hour of good friends. During my site visit, I learned I would be taking over for the first volunteer in this site, Ashley, and saw where I would be living. Ashley was an amazing volunteer and the more I’m here I realize that I’ve got a lot to live up to. She showed me the ropes and introduced me to a lot of people in town, including the mayor, all of the city workers, and of course all of the health workers. I had already met my counterpart, Julissa, and my doctor, Raul, on ‘counterpart day’ earlier that week. Julissa seems sweet, really busy though, so I will just have to wait and see how much we actually work together once I get settled. Dr. Raul and I get along great; I’ve heard countless stories of male doctors not wanting to work with female volunteers, or giving them a hard time. Luckily Dr. Raul was a medical professor in Guatemala City for the past 30 years and has experience working with and respecting women. He’s only been working in public health for the last 5 years so he’s still very passionate about what we do.

After site visit I had to return to a bittersweet week back in San Antonio Aguas Calientes. I hung out with Duly, Carlos, and Sandra as well as my fellow trainees. Friday, July 16, was my official swear in date. We had a ceremony at the Peace Corps headquarters with our host families, the U.S. ambassador, and all of the Peace Corps workers. Afterwards, the five of us from San Antonio took our families out for lunch in Antigua and the said our goodbyes. We spent Friday and Saturday letting loose with the group of 45, and on Sunday we went our separate ways.
I’ve been in site sine July 18 and in this short time I can say so far so good. Cajolá has approximately 2,000 inhabitants, but including the aldeas (villages) the health center serves about 14,000 people. The elevation level is about 8,000 feet, so I am usually in several layers, a fleece, and long pants; who would’ve thought I should have packed more sweaters when moving to Guatemala?? I’m definitely the only gringa in Cajolá, or “ix’nula” I should say, since I will be learning an indigenous language called Mam. Believe it or not, I am super excited about this! It will be super useful to know and I will be able to educate more people with the more Mam I know. It’s a little difficult as initially it sounds like clicking and many of the sounds come from deep in the throat, but as I’ll continue to say, poco a poco.

I live in a house with a 28 year old couple, Estella and Romeo, and their 4 year old son, Junior. Estella is pregnant and will have the baby in the next couple weeks in our house with a midwife. They did not pick the right Gokey girl to live with them, as I will definitely not be attending the birth. I instead offered to hang out with Junior. Junior speaks Mam and is just learning Spanish, so he hangs out in my room a lot and we practice together. I’ve been teaching him colors and names of common items, and I think he’s catching on.

I’ve lucked out again in my living situation; Romeo lived in the States for 9 years and understands Americans’ crazy need for privacy. They help me when I ask, and I spend a lot of time in their kitchen practicing Spanish with Romeo and learning Mam from Estella. I plan on calling a Mam teacher next week, but Estella is helpful thus far. I’m completely moved into my part of their place, which consists of a make-shift kitchen, a bedroom, and a bathroom. I almost feel guilty for how great it is, as most of my friends have latrines and bucket baths. I do recognize the fact that Romeo worked very hard in the US for several years to send back money to build this nice home. A lot of people in Cajolá have family in the States. It’s really interesting to be able to view this side of the immigration argument; it just reinforces my already strong opinions.

The past week and a half have been pretty slow. I go into the health center every day and for the most part just hang out; people need to get used to seeing me and associating me with the health center. Along with this, I’ve assisted in a couple 5 hour health charlas to different groups of teachers, sat in on a few medical consultations, and walked around to different aldeas (villiages). I was done with my work (read ‘poster making’) by 3:30pm today so I decided to go exploring (don’t worry Dad, I took a big stick and had rocks in my pockets in case dogs started attacking ). I walked in a 2 hour giant circle and met a few old women who walked part way with me. Two of them could barely speak Spanish, and since my Mam is pretty limited we had very broken conversations, but I think we understood each other enough. I also met a lady who wanted to know when she was going to get a project at her house, so as we walked I had to explain to her that I won’t be working on projects for a year and that to have a project done in one’s house, a person has to come to multiple educational charlas within the next year as well as be able to put forth a percentage of the cost and labor. She wasn’t too impressed, but since Peace Corps is pretty new here, I have to reinforce the fact that Peace Corps works with the people and local resources to mainly educate, rather than coming in and giving material goods away.

I have a lot to look forward to in the next month (lots of breastfeeding and family planning charlas AND big birthday plans!), and I will keep updating as time goes on. Pictures will hopefully be updated Saturday when I'm in the city with fast internet (I'll also hopefully be on Skype if anyone is free and wants to check in). Thanks to everyone who has been keeping in touch, it means a lot!

Congrats Jordan and Ty on your engagement!

Little by Little

The remnants of Tropical Storm Agatha and the Pacaya Volcano eruption are constant reminders of the hold that mother nature has on us all. This past week I was able to take some time off with my San Antonio group and help dig out houses that are still filled with mud. Our Spanish professor, Edwardo, has between 2-4 feet of mud in his house, depending on the room. The house was 8 feet under at one point, and it’s taken over 3 weeks to get to where he’s at now. We put on our work gloves and dumped out bucket after bucket of mud, rocks, and common household items. I don’t think the amount of damage that I saw with my own two eyes had yet sunk in until I really just stood and looked around after working for a few hours. I saw each individual cup and plate, coated in dried mud; the muddy and damp chairs, now rotting, filling our nostrils with a smell you can only imagine. I was exhausted after my two short days of work; I can’t imagine working like that day in and day out, throwing out all of your possessions, finding heirlooms, sometimes bodies.
While Guatemala is, as a whole, still recovering, as Peace Corps trainees we are still working hard giving presentations and learning about our future role as volunteers. I went on FBT- field based training- June 6-12 in San Marcos San Lorenzo. Six other trainees and I were driven 6 hours to give several charlas and learn what other volunteers in our program are doing. We were the lucky group that was able to visit 2 volunteers and see how differently they worked, yet how successful both of them were in their own ways. I personally gave 2 presentations on nutrition/micronutrients, 2 on acute respiratory infections, starred in a radio sociodrama, and acted in several skits. We put on a 4 hour HIV/AIDS workshop for a group of 65 high school students, where yours truly was in charge of, along with other things, the condom demonstration, as well as teaching the students how to put a condom on a banana (there are definitely pictures). I was also able to experience a Mayan Chuj - it's basically a sauna. A few of us girls got undressed and stepped in, while a little old Mayan woman kept coming in a throwing water on the hot rocks to make it nice and steamy. I could definitely do that again = )
Last week our San Antonio group assisted another town with a shortened version of the HIV/AIDS workshop, as well as put on the presentation to a group of 245 students in San Antonio. Overall it went well, although there were a few eye-opening questions that really shook me up. Following the workshop, we saw a man have an alcoholic seizure. We were unsure of what to do because we were informed that if we attempt to help in situations like that we will get kicked out of the Peace Corps. Two of the girls went to the health center to get help, where they told them that the guy is a drunk and there’s nothing to be done; needless to say it was a rough day.
Today is Michele’s birthday, so yesterday we went out to eat in Antigua to celebrate. It was nice and relaxing. Today I gave a hand-washing charla in the morning, and did work for the rest of the day. I leave for IDA – individual directed activity – on Wednesday and come back Saturday. They basically tell us where we’re going and who we’re visiting and say “good luck!” It’ll be another nice change. I’ll get back just in time to rest up for my little brother’s 7th birthday party on Sunday. Today I helped my host mom fill the party bags for all of his 70 friends that are coming over.
I find out my site on July 1, and I am super excited for this day!! In my interviews with Basilio, the housing director, I told him I don’t have any preferences in regard to weather or location, or anything else for that matter. I’m just excited to finally find out where I’ll be exactly for the next two years – where you all will be visiting me!!! I love my host family and my training group, but I’m beyond excited to cook for myself, have my own space, and be an adult again. I was recently able to talk to Megan Bender, who just returned from PC Uganda, and she explained that training is pretty tough for several reasons, and that it gets a lot better after. It was VERY nice to hear that!
I’ve been here about two months, and reflecting on my journal entries and interactions with my lovely group, I can definitely see myself experiencing the ups and downs of moving to a new place and living in a new culture. I’m struggling with the machismo and with women’s roles in Guatemala. I’m struggling with my American perspective of a different kind of corrupt government. I’m getting used to the constant sound of fireworks and church bells. I’m loving black beans and avocados. It’ll be a while until I’m fully settled in, but I’m getting there. Lots of love and support stateside- it’s appreciated!!!

New pictures from FBT on flickr!

A devastating time

As most of you are well aware, Guatemala has had a difficult couple of weeks between the Pacaya Volcano eruption and the wrath from tropical storm Agatha. The Peace Corps approach is not to jump into everything "go, go, go," but rather hold back to see what long term assistance can be given. Most of the Peace Corps staff has been helping with one of our language teachers, Edwardo, as his house was completely destroyed, and I've only been able to personally help in small ways, such as making bandages at the local health post. I've recently received a letter from one of my always amazing and philanthropic aunts who passed this organization along. Help where you can, and please keep these people in your thoughts.

This is part of the e-mail:

Chandra Sherin (La Crosse, WI).
""This comes from Melinda Van Slyke, my good friend, who supports indigenous survivors of genocide in Guatemala in solidarity. She just found out that the main group of weavers she does fair trade business with was hard hit by the tropical storm. See her note and request for help below, thank you."

Supporting the Guatemalan Weavers in the Aftermath of Tropical Storm Agatha
If you've been following the news you know that Guatemala has had a horrific week. A violent volcanic eruption, coupled with torrential rains from Tropical Storm Agatha, have left hundreds of thousands of people displaced. Currently, as of June 1st, the death toll is at 152. This will undoubtedly rise as the outlying communities dig out from the landslides and count their dead. Tragically, the main weaving collective that I work with in Guatemala, Trama Textiles in Xela, has been devastated. Members of their weaving groups lost their lives in raging rivers, children were buried alive in mudslides. Crop damage is extensive. Needless to say their looms and their materials have been destroyed. Here's how you can help: You can donate to Trama online at https://guatepay.com/donate-asotrama.htm . You can also help by ordering from my website. http://www.HeartOfTheSkyFairTrade.com/ Through June 8th I'll be donating all of the profits from web sales (every last cent) to Trama Textiles. This will help by a) sending them money right away so they can begin to rebuild their lives and by b) depleting my inventory so I can place another order ASAP, ensuring a steady flow of income for the weavers. THANK YOU! Please spread the word far and wide. The need is urgent. The need is great. "

News

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/05/31/honduras.storm.emergency/index.html?hpt=C2
This is the CNN article of what's going on. I'm safe, but this is a very tragic time for Guatemala - keep the people in your thoughts.