two stories I forgot

There are two stories I wanted to write about in my last post yesterday but forgot:
1- Yesterday after work while we were walking back I bought a little baggy full of coconut milk and coconut meat for less than 50 cents. It was delicious and extremely refreshing. I bought it off the side of the street and just poked a hole in the bag to suck out the agua de coco.
2- Two days ago Jordon and I got back to our host house and unlocked the door to the house (no one was home) and the loudest craziest alarm ever started going off. We just stood there not knowing what to do. After what felt like awhile our neighbor came over to turn off the alarm. After she had put a stop to the siren she introduced herself and asked our names in extremely fluent English. She was Honduran and I had assumed she would greet us in Spanish so for a wonderful split second I thought that she was speaking Spanish and I had become completely fluent because I understood her so easily.

Internship

As I said in my last post we have arrived here in Siguatepeque in Honduras. We are staying with a couple from Argentina in a very nice house. We have worked three days at the internship and I am starting to get a feel for the rhythm of the days. The first day was probably the most exciting because after an orientation and getting a computer station set up (we had to get a really old computer from the attic out of a 'graveyard' of computers and it took hours to find a combination of keyboard, monitor, and computer that worked) we went, in the afternoon, to a small town about an hour out of town for a ceremony. One of these pictures is of the car we were in as it fjords a river on the way to the town. The other picture is of the crowd that had gathered to watch the new mayor be inaugurated. When we got there I didn't really know what was going on and we were just standing in the crowd when all the sudden i heard them announce their thanks for Proyecto Aldea Global (our organization) and we were ushered to these special seats in the front. All in all it was interesting to watch the ceremony and in teh end I understood that the reason we were there was because Aldea Global was receiving an award from the town for their help in development.

The last two days of the internship we have been putting numbers into excel worksheets, which is mundane but at the same time valuable experience to understand office work. Basically we are working with the health and disease prevention part of the organization and therefore the data we are inputing deals mainly with health statistics of the various communities and medecines that were distributed. Another thing I enjoy about the office is the people we work with, it is good to practice spanish and fun to just get to know people. A few of the younger guys have invited us to go hiking in a national park with them this Saturday so I am looking forward to that.

We have arrived safely in Siguatepeque. It has been a long few days of travel. Friday morning we seperated from the group and stayed at a house in Guatemala City that was very nice. The seperation went well except a small miscommuncation about the time we were supposed to be picked up at the airport but after waiting awhile I was able to use the phone number for the language school to get that sorted out. Our bus for Tegucigalpa (honduras) left at 530 in the morning and arrived in Tegucigalpa at 6pm (with an hour stop in El Salvador) this was uneventful and the borders were fine. When we arrived in Tegucigalpa it was immediately apparent that the city is more dangerous than those in guatemala, but we were fine and got a taxi with a friend we made during the bus ride (Danielle she is from Spokane and volunteering with another organziation). The hotel that had been recommended to us was in a pretty sketch part of town so we just got a room at the same hotel she was going to. this worked out great cause then we went out with the other volunteers from her group (all 5 of them are a few years out of college) and watched the US vs.. Honduras soccer game (US lost 3 - 1 whcih is probably for the best given that there was some hostility in the restaurant we were watching it at).
This morning we bused to Siguatepeque from Tegucigalpa and are now staying at a very nice place here (the director of the scripture unions house). Tomorrow morning we are going to Aldea Global at 7am to start our internship!

This town is a very different and smaller town feel than the other places we have stayed (but apparently it is bigger and more modern than it was even a few years ago). We had lunch at the church of our host parents, which was very nice since we had not eaten since yesterday.

End of langauge school and time in Antigua

Tomorrow Jordon and I seperate from the group as they fly back to the States tomorrow morning. We will be busing to Honduras early Saturday morning. The time here in Guatemala has gone so fast and I am excited for the next leg of our journey. So many great memories and activities since my last blog but I will just focus on what comes to mind here.

We are staying at a retreat center in Antigua for the last couple nights in Guatemala with the group. It is nice to have a change of scenery, but Antigua is much more touristy than Xela. Things here are also more expensive, it didn't take long for me to get used to getting full meals at nice restaurants for the equivalent of a few dollars (which is much harder to come by here). It was sad to say goodbye to my host family and teacher in Xela, it is incredible I quickly i became accustomed to life there. Starting the trip with the group has been great, not only has it built on my spanish skills but having this first leg me fairly structured with activities and a good group dynamic has been invaluable.

These pictures are of the last days in Xela. The first one is of some political grafitti that means "Justice: not just for capitalist," I probably have half a dozen pictures of grafitti from Xela, for the most part it is political messages that for some reason I find very interesting.

the second picture was taken after we played soccer with a group of guys we 'challenged' to a game at a futbol field in Xela (we lost 5 to 7). It was by far the most fun soccer game I have played here and Jordon scored! The game pictured here is with a group of young guys we just encountered. Before that game we had played with an organization that helps children who are street vendors as a group. That was fun and it was incredible for me to be juked and beaten by very small children.

The final picture is of Jordon and I on top of La Muela, which is a hill near Xela. We had a free afternoon and trekked up there with Courtney. It was gorgeous and there was some pretty fun scrambling up rocks to reach the peak. In the background is Xela.

Some pictures!

So here as some pictures! I guess if I spent more time I could probably get it so that my words would go with the corresponding picture but as it is I will just give a short description of each picture. Most of these correspond to the things I talked about in my last blog. Also they are not chronological at all.

This first picture is me at the hot springs... It was very warm especially by the rock wall I am at and extremely relaxing.

The second picture is of a Mayan ceremony that we just had demonstrated for us. It was interesting to hear about the beliefs of the Maya and everything. We also go to help lay out all of the things in this circle (they had to be laid out counter clockwise). The man conducting it was dressed in western clothing and is a part of these traditions. he has been charged with educating other people about Mayan beliefs. It was interesting to hear about the emphasis they place on taking care of the earth and the balance between humanity and the environment. Everything we placed in the circle is significant of various parts of nature or various ´protections´against ills. It is also all very flammable whcih made for an exciting finale to the presenation. Also GOOD NEWS the world may not be ending in 2012! but Dec. 2012 is an extremely significant time in the Mayan calendar. Apparently the Mayan calendar is in cycles and the one ending in 2012 is the longest one (the long count) at over 5000 years. Whenever a count ends there is a significant change in the world, which he says is a great danger but also oppurtunity.

There is also a picture of my teacher and I at the zoo. He is super funny and always joking with everyone, especially the ladies, at the language school. This day we took a field trip with another student, teacher pair for the second half of our class.

The next picture is of the church we visited in San Diego near Lake Atitlan. It is interesting because during the long civil war here in Guatemala (whcih lasted from 1960 to 1996) many bodies were thrown in the lake. Also the pastor of this church was killed by government troops inside of the church. Politics here are very interesting and I am glad I did the report last year on the role of the CIA and United Fruit Company in the coup in 1954, but in reality that is only the beginning of US involvement in Guatemala including the supporting of the repressive government before and during the civil war.

Current politics are also interesting. Just today all the newspapers in this city were sold out because everyone wanted to know about this investigation that was just completed. Anyway my host brother told me all about it (in spanish) so more or less this complicated tale boils down to this: about 8 months ago a troubled man from the upper class (the upper and middle classes here do not all like the current president because he has increased taxes to fund social programs, but he does enjoy wide support from the lower classes) hired assasins to kill him and set it up to appear as though the president had ordered it. He left a video before his (alleged) elaborate suicide accusing the president of all sorts of atrocities (like killing a hundred people). Anyway there was a huge international investigation and apparently he was a fraud and was just trying to discredit the president. This is, according to my host brother, illustrative of the class tensions here.

This last picture is of Jordon and I on the way to San Diego across Lake Atitlan. It is beautiful because there are volcanoes all around the lake and little cities nestled between them.

More Guatemala Stories

I feel like alot has happened since my last post (that could be related to the fact that alot has happened!) This last fin de semana on Friday we went to the fuentes, hot springs, they were way up in the mountains but very relaxing and fun to swim in. When I am able to figure it out I will have to post fotografias of the springs because it was really pretty.

On Saturday we left Xela and took a bus to Lake Atitlan. We stayed at a hotel near lake Atitlan and went sightseeing and shopped in the market ! it was a big market and I remembered my bargaining skills from Kenya which helped! I got some pretty good deals. It was also good Spanish practice...The lake was beautfiul. Other people got sun burnt but I was like a shade magnet so nothing bad... it was interesting becasue the town we stayed in was alot more touristy and therefore different, but I like Xela better with our host mama. We also took a boat across the lake to a little town and went to this beautfiul church... there are alot more indigenous people and the culture was different. When we got back there was this other lady from Canada living in a room next to Jordon and I´s ... that was a surprise! She is nice enough but I liked it better when it was just us two up there and we had all of mama Flors attention!

I got to know some of the other guys on the weekend trip better, they are pretty fun and random. Also it was super windy and the hotel was rickety and we were on the top floor so all night there was banging and it felt like the roof was going to fly off!

Last night a group of us went to the same place to play soccer, it is pretty far so we took a bus on the way there but for some reason we walked all the way back, which took like an hour! So by the time we had walked girls back and returned to our host house (which I am convinced is the farthest) it was like 10, but then we went back out to get dinner cause our host mom had already gone to bed. Also this guy who works had McDonalds had promised to give Jordon his Big Mac tie if we came back at 11... It was nice to go out and get something to eat not to mention that Jordon got an awesome tie for free! I guess the only downside was that I had to do my homework after we got back and we have class early every day.

Yesterday an old man stopped Jordon and I in the street and told us (in English) to ¨go away yankees! get out of here...s$%·¨ I didn´t know what to say so we just kept walking.

I did laundry yesterday! it was super easy, I just took my laundry before class to the place then picked up afterwards all clean and it only cost 4 dollars (whcih sounds liek alot here cause I am used to the cheaper prices, when the guy said ¨that will cost 32 Q¨I was upset and thought it was super expensive cause you can buy so much for that (like two meals at nice restaurants) but then I realized that it is only like a dollar or two more than I pay at school for the machines and way easier!

Anyway today we also went to volunteer at a school for the second time, it was pretty fun playing with the kids, but different than my counselor job at the YMCA. Also today during class my teacher and I teamed up with antoher student and teacher and went to the zoo... it was pretty small but free! I like it when we go on fieldtrips during our class times, it is pretty open and while we have specific grammar things to look at the other times we can just talk about what I want to or going on little ´field trips

I guess that is all for now! I hope to put up some pictures soon!

A few pictures that go with yesterdays post.... if I can figure this thing out

One picture is of El Parque Central and the cathedral that is there. This is typical colonial spanish construction with a central square that has banks, government buildings, and a cathedral on its perimeter... Jordon and I walk through Parque Central multiple times every day (at least 6) as we go and return to school, lunch, and activities...

The other picture is of us making chocolate, which I describe in my post... It was really fun, but I talked to my host mama about it and she said that the method we used wasn´t as authentic as the one she used in her pueblo growing up because she used sugar, and an oven whereas the way her parents did growing up was with fire and stones... but I guess the method we observed is still the most natural chocolate I have ever seen or tasted!

There is also a picture of us playing futbol at the field, which I also describe in my post. I also have pictures of my knees all bloody because the turf is like little black rocks (i don´t know what they are called, but they are like artificial turf or whatever) and I tore up my knees pretty bad, but I figured that this picture better captured how much fun it was.

Guatemala

We are here! The trip so far has been full of activities and adventures so this is the first time I have been able to sit down in an internet shop (which are all over... think Starbucks in Seattle). The language school has a computer lab but more than half of the computers do not work and the ones that do are very slow with strange keyboards... Anyway I hope to give people an idea of what I have been doing but also some of my impression with this post.

After being dropped off at SEATAC around 8pm I met up with the group and we flew to Houston en route to Guatemala City. We then took a bus to Xela (the nickname for Quatzeltenango), the bus ride was exciting because it was great to look out the window and see my first glimpses of Guatemala. Initially I was simply struck by similarities between Guatemala City and Nairobi... burning trash, buses driving crazy, little shops all over etc... Throughout the trip thus far I have also noticed a large amount of foreign businesses, unlike in Kenya there are so many chains and other things here... there are Mcdonalds, Burger Kings, Pizza Hut, stores owned by Walmart, and many more. It is interesting to me... this probably represents a large amount of foreign capital that is coming into Guatemala from the States but I wonder how it is impacting local businesses. My host mom said that the Walmart store she goes to has driven some stores out of business... it is interesting that this is also occuring in guatemala. This kind of global phenomenon are certainly a result of globalization and will probably continue.

Anyway it was hard to sleep on the 5 or 6 hour (that is another thing I have less concept of time becuase I always used my cell phone to tell the time but now I do not have it...I think I will need to buy a watch, but it has been interesting to just not know the time sometimes.) bus ride because of the winding roads that we climbed into the hills. Once we arrived in Xela all of the host parents were waiting for us and we searched for our host mama, once Jordon and I found her we went to get our luggage. When we turned around we could not find her! Suddenly we saw her get in the car with two other students Tommy and Ryan, they had inadvertently stolen our mama! In the end we are staying with the lady who was originally there mama which has worked out great. We are a 15 or 20 minute walk from the school and the house we are staying at is wonderful. Our host family is well educated and relatively well to do. We each have our own room and a bathroom just for the two of us! In addition to our host mama her husband, (who during the week teaches psychology at a university on the coast) her son, (teaches engineering at a few universities here in Xela and is 30)and her daughter, (is a nurse here in Xela and works long days and is in her late 20´s)live in the house. There are all very nice, I have connected and talked to Mama Flor the most though.

Sunday we did not have classes but explored the city, I prefer exploring when I am not with the whole group but just a few guys... of course I stick out no matter what but something about 30 gringos is a little alarming (Gringos is the word used in latin america for white americans... my Spanish teacher told me that during the Mexican American war the american soldiers wore green hence "green go" became Gringo). Anyway i do stick out, I realized this the first day when a few of us attended a church service in the main cathedral by Parque Central. We were in the very back with hundreds of people in front of us, but I had no trouble seeing, in fact I believe I am at least a head and shoulders taller than most Guatemalans. This has lead to me hitting my head numerous times on various doors but also to the conclusion that right now I am probably the tallest person in this whole city.

I will now lay out a daily routine:
-We eat cornflakes con leche
- walk to class which starts at 8am- my teacher is named Luis and is very good natured. I feel like even after two days it has been helpful. The classes go by fast because in between grammar exercises we just talk about things (in Spanish of course!)
-After class finishes at 12 30 pm we return to our casa and eat lunch (the meals are delicious, don´t worry Ariella I am taking pictures of food! She makes soup, tamals con pescado, salads, chicken)
-then around 230pm we meet up with our group and have some sort of activity... for example today we learned how to make chocolate. It was incredible! we went to a ladies house and she showed us how she takes cocoa beans and peels them and mixes them with sugar. She then bakes them into cake-like things. Then we helped her hand-pound slices of the ´cakes´ into bars for eating our making hot chocolate. It was so good! very rich and natural!
- Whenever our afternoon activity finishes we have free time for exploring and homework. For example last night a small group of us went with Jaime (a young teacher at the language school= and took a bus to play soccer. Taking the bus was an adventure of its own! Rocketing down narrow streets in a minibus with a guy hanging out the side and the driver flirting with a lady in the front seat. Once we got there we played futbol with Jaime and his friends... So much fun!


Anyway I have many other stories to tell already but I want to save some for when I come back!