it's been a month since a post.. and a little over 5 months here in Guatemala!

Helllllo all wonderful family members and friends!! I hope that you all are doing splendid in the US!!! It’s been quite a while since we’ve connected.. my apologies, I really don’t have access to internet tooo often since it’s not in my site. I thought I’d write this one on my own without internet right now so I can take my time and talk to all you all and get all my thoughts so when I get to internet.. bam!! Here’s a post!! Soo it’s been a while. What’s been going on with everyone? I wish I could hear all your stories!! Well I guess that’s for Christmas time, wooo!!

Soo let’s see, what’s been going on here? Lots and lots of stuff.. I’ve been working a lot.. I’ve continued for the past few weeks with classes in all of my schools! Soo working with about 12 classes a week! I’ve done a couple communication charlas about how to give an assertive message and they all presented their assertive message in a role play in front of the class! And to reach that level of assertive messages, we had had 3 previous weeks about targeting our behavior—what is attacking and what is avoiding and trying to find the middle ground of assertiveness.

We also played a self esteem game and wrote nice things on the back of each other’s backs and then we all present what our card says, “Yo soy Sarah and y yo soy amable, una Buena persona, dulce…” and each person goes in front of the class and presents themselves.. they really liked it! Then I hold a discussion with them with questions like, “what happened here?” “how does this activity make you feel?” “what did you learn?” and “what do you want to do now with the information you learned?” “How does this relate to your future?” and these types of open-ended conversations I have at the end of every charla (presentation) I give, because the kids can carry the conversation and discussion in any direction and it’s really good to hear them thinking critically about these types of activities because in reality, they don’t do activities like this in their classes, so it’s new and different and fun for them! Some of the kids put mean stuff on some of the cards, even after I told them not too, so we talked about that too—how negativity affects our self-esteem and our future visions. So all good stuff there even within the negative.

Let’s see, in another few of my classes we played a profession guessing game in groups. There were like 7 people in a group, so there’s like 4 groups in the class—and they have to write as many professions as they can think of and whoever guesses the most gets points. Then people from the groups act out the profession without words and the other classmates gotta guess what the profession is and then those groups get points that guess right.. they loooved that one! This game was with the tercero basicos (basically 8th graders), because it gets them thinking about professions, because a lot of kids in all reality drop out of school here after the 8th grade. So we talked about the importance about continuing in school and how there are a lot of opportunities if they want to continue in high school and the university. I know that I don’t these kids very well yet but I really believe that I can be a positive role model for them and I feel like all the time we are affecting people without knowing it, and better yet, when we realize it, we can focus our energies to asking questions and inspiring others so they can positively affect their own lives. I really believe in this and I really believe in inspiring these youth to create a vision for their future and a vision for their present lives as well. And I know they inspire me all the time, and they will continue to do that for me, too. Anyways, then I asked them to take this personality test that links to professional choices that mesh well with their personalities, so I hope that some of them take it and come back with some results to discuss next week!

Let’s seeeee, we also played a survival game in a few of my classes—where they split up in groups and then we read a story that we are deserted from a plane crash. We have 15 items and each group has to order these 15 items from most important to least importance within their groups. And then some groups presented their order in front of the class and then we read the expert survival rating of these 15 items. Then we talk in a discussion with the questions I explained above. And instead of self-esteem and education themes for the last two I just discussed with you- this conversation was based around working in groups and how that relates to our future and what’s easy and what’s difficult working in groups. And then I’m going to follow-up next week in this class with defining “group” with them, tips on how to work in groups, the importance of listening to others and hearing the opinions of others- all of which they will come up with them in the flow of the discussion. Because really rarely in my classes do I say, this is this, that is that, this is how it is.. I rarely take the role of speaking a lot- i think it is more empowering for them to respond to my questions and then I repeat what they say and that can bring me to ask another question and lead the discussion in whatever way it goes. I like those kinds of discussion because I think it is more powerful and meaningful for them to talk more than me, because rarely in class do they have critical thinking discussions like this. I’m getting better at it every class- it’s still difficult at times to understand what they are saying in Spanish, but the kids help me understand it in other ways most of the time. And I learn new words and expressions that way, so that’s cool! So, I’m excited about carrying this on next week! School’s almost over in the next couple weeks- they have their exams, so I really probably only have two more full weeks in the schools with all my students.

Oh yeah, in two of my classes with worked two weeks on making community maps in groups. So there were different groups split up of groups of girls and groups of boys. They drew up a map of El Chol, with all the major landmarks- churches, buildings, schools, futbol fields, streets, police station… and then wrote symbols for places they like the most/most important in their community, places they frequent the most, places they do not like and places that they would like to improve upon. Most of the kids said they did not like the cantinas in town, or bars with usually drunk men. Some also didn’t like the police station and the municipal and they wished to make those places better. I think that in terms of working with them in the Municipal, we have a little library there- it’s got books, a lot of them are super old, and they are not organized or anything. There is one desk for kids to work on and two couches. The University here worked on a project for the library and got 10 computers donated with cool computer encyclopedia on it. Since the kids showed interest in bettering the Muni—one key way to do that is to expand the library- maybe have study time/homework help/story time/poetry sessions/computer classes for research or how to use the computer programs, world discovery classes.. getting more books, getting more desks and shelves. So there is a major resource of space and potential in this library and I definitely going to work at it during the summer months, because it could be an incredibly more effective space for working in groups, for research, for individual study, for hanging out with friends, a place to go when you’re not in school, and other things, limitless possibilities. Better yet, I want to work with some youth this summer on these types of library projects. And I’m already a part of the Library Committee with 5 other community members, so I got an in! anyways, so I’m really excited about this project for the summer months and for the rest of my time here, too!

Anyways, so that’s about my schools- some themes and classes that we’ve been working on. Next week, I’ve planned 3 more charlas (presentations)—about leadership and role models—one more in depth about listening and communication—and another one about defining personal qualities that we like within our selves, analyzing our strengths, interests, skills and weaknesses and how we can improve on these weaknesses and reinforce our strengths. So next week will be filled with classes in all my schools too!

Sooo, yeah, that’s a lot about my work in the schools. That is one major part of my job here, right? Well the other parts been going well too—accumulating to my community of 2,000 people! That’s been going smoothly for the most part. A couple of nights of the week, I have coffee and eat dinner with different families, getting to know parents and kids and talking about everything under the sun (of course under the somewhat limiting knowledge of Spanish sun)… but that’s going really well, too, though honestly. I’m amazed at times that I can actually speak Spanish! It’s like I’ve slipped into a whole other dimension of communication, meaning, and thought, because language itself as a concept embodies all these elements—of different ways to interact and greet each other in this language, different connotations and use of words and connotations of them, and then thought in terms of how to think about how to say something- just the different tenses of this language symbolize and relate to the meanings of how they see and interpret the world. It’s really cool that I’ve slipped into this and I’m just going to keep going further as I keep getting better, I hope!

And my soccer teams been doing well!! We’ve been playing every Sunday except for this one because we we are taking a rest. But I scored my first goal, I think in my life!, two Sundays ago, that was sooo cool!! It was a great pass to me from one of the other girls, and bam! Right in! soo cool! We still lost, but that’s not the point of playing anyways, right? And we lost last week, but then again, that’s not the point.. but that’s what all losers say, huh? Haha. No, but really it’s just so much fun to play with them, pass, work together, cheer each other on.. and I’m part of a team! And so are they! Woo!

Let’s see, so that’s a big wrap up about what’s going on around here. There’s been a few activities here and there since the big independence day—that was crazy! I went on 4 trips with schools, a zoo, 2 times to a mini waterpark and another trip to another water park! Maaaan, that was fun!! Then we ran ran ran with the torch to the center of town until my legs literally felt like they are going to fall off.. I was kind of miserable, I’m not gonna lie. I really kind of despise running. But literally really fun to be with all the kids and parents and celebrating this day and their school’s involvement!!! That night before the 15th, we came in running with the torch at 11 p.m.. lots of people in town we waiting for us- cheering us on and throwing fireworks. Then there was a 7 piece band that was playing too until 2 a.m.!! Que alegre! (How delightful!) Then for the 15th, there were dances and gymnasticas (when the kids dance around to music and then do tricks like cheerleaders- but its boys and girls)- ohh man it was a hot day. I ate lunch after the Independence Day activities and then went to these natural cold pools called Aguas Calientes with a director of one of my schools, Seno Evelyn, and her husband and three kids- we swam and ate salsa and crackers. It was fuuuun, I did a lot of swimming that week! And a lot of hanging out with members of the community!
I’m going on another trip with one of my middle schools to Lake Atitlan.. which is a huge lake in the center of the country where a lot of tourists go because apparently its gorrrrgeous. Its bluue and its surrounded by volcanoes! Hey if YOU come, we can go there, too!!! Yyyeahh!! So I’m going on a trip with them there next week to celebrate the end of the school year! We’re staying overnight in a hotel for one night all together! And we are also going to be taking a big boat out on the lake!

I’m really happy that in my town there’s a lot of out of school activities- for such a small town- they LOVE to celebrate! I love that- it’s a really celebrating culture for all the holidays, there’s lots of cultural presentations and dances. There was a fundraiser dance at 10 a.m. in one of my middle schools last week! We danced for a couple hours- I’m like, I can get into this- dancing at all hours of the day! Usually these kinds of things are at night, but sometimes, here, they just gotta happen before lunch! One of the directors of the school, a really wonderful and soo well involved woman in the community, Seno Evelyn, she was teaching me some of the Spanish dancing moves to different types of music with different beats. That was cool because I don’t want to be the fool that is the only one dancing completely different than everyone else when I think I’m doing a greeeat job dancing. Mmhmm. Soo, yeah, all good stuff happening- the music here is fun- I’m gonna bring some back to listen to with you guys- there’s a lot of different kinds, too. They are a big music culture, well I guess all cultures are, but they are also very visual too- very artistic, too! I’m so amazed at how talented some of my youth are in drawing and art.. it’s amazing. Another great potential there in how we can tap into their art talents as a project. We’ll see, all these things will come together, I know.
Oh yeah, I would like to share one of the poems that one of my students wrote because I have read it about a million times and every time it captures me intensely because it is just so incredibly sad and real and so well-written. First in Spanish, then in English. *This homework was to write an acrostic (words or sentences starting with each letter of your name.)
Her name is Ingrid and this is her talented work:

Inolvidable es mi dia cuando
No te puedo ver,
Grito tu nombre y el silencio se
Rompe, que
Ingrato
Dia cuando no estas a mi lado.

Unforgettable is my day when
I cannot see you
I scream your name and the silence
Breaks itself, that
Ungrateful day when you are not at my side.

Isn’t it powerful? I talked to her earlier this morning and expressed my adoration and impressiveness of her poem- and humbly she did not say much to me- only a polite thank you. I told her I’m excited to read more work like this from her next year and I told her to continue to succeed in this form of expression of writing her thoughts in poetry. She seemed slightly flattered. She is so sweet. What do you think of when you read this poem? We all may have our different ideas. I was incredibly struck by it, and still am every time I read it. It is so honest. I just wanted to share this with you.

Yesterday in all of my 6 classes for the day, we talked about our strengths, interests and weaknesses- about reinforcing our strengths- about using our interests to build a career- and thinking about how we are going to improve upon our weaknesses. Then each student made a “Coat of Arms” and inside the Coat of Arms, there are 5 questions: What talent do I have? What activity do I like best? What is a characteristic about my personality that I like best? Who is my mentor? (and they did not know what was a mentor so we talked about who is a mentor and what the role of a mentor is in the lives of others) and the last question was, Where do I see myself in 5 years? (in this question, they all put they want to study and have a degree- so when walking around and talking with the students individually I asked them, “well what do you want to study? If they did not have an answer, what are your interests? Well then, there are careers in this, that and the other. They seemed happy that I was taking the time to ask them and you could tell they are nervous and uncertain about their futures because they laughed when I told them that they could actually go to the university and they COULD actually do what they dream. They smiled.

I really felt in this exercise I connected with some of the kids—I wish I could take the time in every class like this one to talk to the kids individually, but the reality is that I cannot do that. So at least I was able to do time with the majority of the students, and I gave my all to connect with them about their ideas and visions for the future and gave my all to encourage them to follow these visions. It’s more complicated than it seems though because things happen like, parents move to the US, they get pregnant, their girlfriend gets pregnant, they have to take care of their brothers/sisters, they have to take care of their parents or grandparents, their parents get sick and cannot take care of them, their parents do not believe in education, it costs too much money to afford, they are expected to be at home with the family or expected to start their own family, the parents do not want the kids to continue because it’s a pride thing and education is sometimes threatening to tradition—there’s a million and one reasons why they would not be able to continue with school. And we are going to be learning about life skills such as good communication, self-esteem, developing professionalism, sexual health, how to make good decisions, establishing goals and personal values and finding opportunities and outlets in education- and hopefully with the support of class next year- some of these kids can use these skills to support their thrive towards their education despite possible roadblocks.

And I know how much the parents a huge part in the lives of these youth- in all reality- the parents make most of the decisions about their future- so the youth are not empowered to making their own decisions. And that is why next year I want to start off the school year by holding a Parents’ Night in each of my four schools. So that’s four Parents’ Nights- I’ll bring refreshment and snacks. And I will invite all the parents, in a typed-letter explaining what parents’ night is and why they should come! I don’t know how many parents will actually come because parental involvement in school is sadly extremely limited- but it would be an excellent way to greet as many parents as I could- have them know me- and talk about what we are going to be working on in my life skills class with their youth. I think I’m definitely going to plan this for the following school year in January.

And then also this summer I want to continue planning my idea for a Book of my Life for not only 8th graders (which has already been created), but also for 6th and 7th graders and also for my high school students (because I also work at two high schools!). This Book of my Life will be an investigation of the history of this kid and their childhood, the history of their parents and the history of their grandparents- what the town was like, what kind of work they did, how they felt. All these elements to the book are completed through a series of conversations and interviews with members of the family. It is a year long project and the youth have homework involving research and interviews every week in class. I am constantly reminded of how important this is when I think about how much of a storytelling culture this is- and how much over the years because of their illiteracy and also their focus on verbal storytelling, they do not have documents of their family or documents of their history or anything- and how cool to begin through the eyes of a youth- and how cool if the youth can feel some type of security and knowledge of who they are through having written done where they came from. And how cool if the youth could share with their parents what their grandparents have told them. And how cool if this could open up age barriers and open up windows for communication between generations. I just think it could be such a neat project to do with all my students in my 4 schools (I’m going to have almost 500 students next year!!! Woah, that’s a lot of students and lots of Books of my Life to read!!!) But I’m here to work hard and I feel this and I know it. And I have been working hard and I will continue to work harder because that is exactly why I am here. I have a fantastic job, I really do love it!

And I try to constantly remember how lucky and grateful I am to have the opportunity and privilege to leave my home country and learn a new language and work and live in a new community. This is something so special and unique and for it I owe great consideration and thanks-- the opportunity to travel around the world and the sad fact is that most of the places and people that we visit in the developing world could hardly ever realistically travel from their home town to visit where we are from or even to visit other places in their home country. This is the sad fact of the great inequality in this world- an injustice of opportunity and wealth- and injustice of so many more things as well. It seriously kills me to hear the stories how these peoples’ family members have travelled for a month through the desert of Mexico to get to the US- how some of them have not had food for days and some starved to death and some were shot and killed by the police and some they have no idea what happened to them because they have not heard from them since they left- imagine a family member disappearing and never knowing where they are, what happened and if they will ever come back, or if you will ever know what happened to them at all. This kills me because we should not have to risk our lives for our family in this way- we should not have to endure such pain and torment to ensure better futures for ourselves and our loved ones- we should not have to suffer in these ways- it just seems so unfair to me- it seems so incredibly unjust and wrong and completely sad.

It’s absolutely horrible to think about because we are all humans- we all share the same sense of feeling and emotion- we all share the same love for our family- we all share the same pain in life no matter whose side we’re on. Humans share much more than we don’t. We share much more than we think or acknowledge because we have been fighting against one another for so long that we forget our common humanity- we forget about what unites us as individuals because we are so focused on what tears us apart- and what separates us within this world. I really believe our strength is in our ability to acknowledge our common ground always- our common vision and our common struggles- our commonality in all- between peoples, between cultures, between countries. And not to forget our differences too, because these differences also are incredibly important and real- but the importance and significance of our communion as humans and peoples, first and foremost, triumphs these differences because our significance as one human race is more powerful than the historical and socialized differences that have come thereafter.

There is some food for thought for myself and maybe for you all too- wow. Sorry sometimes I can really go in a whirlwind of thought, in all honesty. Sometimes I do not know how to stop. Anyways- I’m going to get going because I have a date to drink coffee and chat with this woman, Dona Mari, and then I’m going to a youth group dinner at a evangelical church in my town.
I wish you all the best today and every day- with all the happiness, contentment, peace, sense of fulfillment, health and love that you can imagine. I love you all very much, and I really do appreciate whole-heartedly the fact that you take the time to read my words about my thoughts and my life here. This type of sharing, though somewhat distant, is really something beautiful. Thank you always and I look forward to seeing most of your during Christmas time! I love you all with all my heart and take care of yourselves and others always. I love you!
Sarah

12th of September...

hellllllllo lovely people of my life!!!
i hope all is well over there in the united states.. oh quite a day today. May God rest the innocent souls whose lives were taken this horrid day. And may God rest all the innocent souls whose lives are taken every day as a result of war, genocide and violence in our world. I hope all is going as it should in rememberance of these lives today and every day.

Important people of my life, I am glad you are still alive and well. I wish you all health and love and contentment and fulfillment in your lives today and every day with all the sincerity of my heart I can offer you.

Here in Guatemala things are going suuuper well!! That day that i wrote that blog last weekend, ooof, after that, my day was a little rough I´m not gonna lie. I was walking around with rebecca and talking to a whole bunch of people and everyone kept saying, how rebecca spoke muuuch better spanish than me and how i still need to learn more and blah blah blaaah. and she was hardly even talking, i was doing most of the talkinggg!! ohh man, it killed me. and after i heard it about 3 times, i was pretty much done with the day. i know that they say it all with love and they want to me to get better at spanish but whyyy sooo much thaaat day!! ah then something else happened with a very angry drunk man that i really don´t want to go into detail because it really made me sad to encounter someone with so much anger in his heart and anger towards americans. though, i do know some of the past politics of the US and some of it is really quite horrible, especially in guatemala and other parts of central america, and i could see how he could be angry at us for our social and political involvements. and for that reason, let´s sit and talk about the history of the politics between the US and guatemala, please, let´s discuss and i want to hear your experience and your knowledge. but as far as i´m concerned, it made me very upset as to how this man expressed his anger towards me. and when i told a few people of the pueblo, they were all very surprised to hear my story and they said that this man must have not been from el chol. and when i talked to my sitemate she told me that this has never even close to happened to her before. so this experience is hopefully going to be a solitary one, but it sure was both saddening and humbling for me as a foreigner living in a completely different community in a different culture who all have their various opinions of me and my country. it was humbling, to say the least.

anyways, after that day, it was only uphill because ooof that one was rough. the next day, i think it was the next day, there were dances at one of the schools with all these elaborate beauuutiful costumes and dresses. and each dance apparently tells a story about a different event or theme in guatemalan history. it was really coool. oh man, i´m getting these days all confundled. anyways since i cannot quite remember the days of last week, let me talk about this week... there´s just been so many activities!!

so mooonday, i had a class and we were learning how to give assertive messages involving explaining our feelings, our requests, listening to a response, finding agreement and giving thanks. and this is all in response to their overwhelming interest in learning better communication skills. but oooh man, it was much harder than expected! i made copies of a paper with these steps to assertive messages and gave them scenarios and 20 minutes to write their assertive messages but they had a million and one questions about this that and the other and one group turned theirs in but they didn´t do it right.. so next class we´re gonna spend the whole day on these assertive messages and scenarios.. and my directions are going to be super clear and direct.. because that´s what they are used to and that´s what is just more affective anyways. so i´m learning a lot about how to be a more effective teacher. so next year after vacations (vacation is from november until january), i can come in and be a better teacher for them!! wooohooo!!

so then the next day, i went to a few teachers and parents and a whole bunch of kids, packed in a minibus, and i mean PACKED IN A MINIBUS to Xemap, a mini water park with a couple waterslides and pooools to swiiiim in!!! ahhhh, so much fun!! we left at about 3 in the afternoon, and the bus was so packed that the majority of the people on it had to get out of it when we were going up some steep hills and help push the bus up! ohhh, quite an experience, it happened like 6 times, i´m not even joking! so we stayed over night in these open windowed ranches together.. first played basketball and soccer with the kids, ate dinner, talked, danced, listened to music and sleeept! woke up at sunrise, ate some eggs, beans and tortillas. and then played basketball and played on the jungle gyms and then swaaaam, sunbathed and swaaam some more! went down the waterslide about 30 times, teached some kids to swim a little bit, do handstands in the water and diiiive in!! it was really fun!!

then on the way back, we ran with the torch with the kids and parents through pachalum )where tiara is living, and then through saltan (where ryan is living, another volunteer) and then through granados (where rebecca is living), and then finally arrived to el chol at about 8 in the morning, tired but still happily energized with endorphins, to run through el chol... then there was a ceremony to thank God and all the participants for coming and then we ate hot chocolate and tomales!!! then yesterday one of the schools put on folklore, dances and plays in the afternooon. that was fun to watch, there´s been activities in the afternoon every day this week and some of last week to celebrate 15th of september coming up, which is there independence day of guatemala!! sooo, another school is presenting today!! and tomorrow i´m going to Xemap another time with one of the high schools i work with for the day to hang out with them and run through all the towns and ours another time to traer la antorcha (bring the torch). and then i´m going to another waterpark this wweekend to bring the torch with one of the middle schools at work at!!! we´re getting back monday night at 11 p.m. and then there´s a dance til odd hours of the night! and then the next morning is independence day!! ahh, it´s really fun, these activities!! i´m soo happy to be a part of them and get to know every one involved from the community!!

well it´s time to go eat lunchhhh.. i hope you all are happy, safe, healthy and content on this friday! i wish you all pleasant and fulfilling weekends! i love you all very much! and can´t waiiiiit to seee sommmeee ooffff you for two weeks in december and january!!!!!!! woooooooooooo!!!! mucho mucho amor!!!!!!

sorry!!

sorrry all!! i can't download photos right now-- it's taking foreeeever!! i'll be showing you all fotos in the near future.. stick arouuund!!! i love you all enjoy your dayyyyysssss!!! : )

wooooahhhH!!!

ohhh man!! just saw the biggest flying beetle i've ever seen in my whole entire liiiife!!!!! ohhh maaaan!!! i couldn't stop screaming, thank god i live with a family because i start screaming when i see a spider or a cocroach and they come and help me get it out of my little house!!!! aaahhh, i hate seeing these bugs move around. it's one thing to see them sitting on my walls, but then when they move, booooy they move sooo fast!!! ahhh soo scarrry!!! it's unearthly their speeed!! ohh man. quite the experience! saw my first scorpion last weekend in pachalum.. luckily i haven't seen any in my house!! only biiig spiders and maaad cochroaches!! harmless, they say, but oh man they still scaaare the bigjeeeezes out of me!

anyways, enough with the bugs!! so my friend rebecca is here, she's another volunteer living about 30 minutes away! sooo i'm using the internet here, thanks to her!!! soo we've just been hanging out!! the past three weeks, don robert (the head of the household in the family i live in), well his brother and wife and 3 kids (who were born in canada) are visiting from canada! they've lived there for 20 years, so they speak really good english! so we've all been hanging out a lot! it's their last night tonight, so we were sipping on atoll (a drink made out of milk, corn and lots lots of sugar) with them and don robert's neice and her 3 kids! oh man, it's a full house around here! and tonight there's gonna be another party for saying goodbye to all of them leaving tomorrow morning! so it'll quiet down around the house here again, just three brothers- juanfra, anthony and abner, and dona chayito and don robert.

but there's a lot of bussstle in the town. it's their independence day the 15th. it's a reeeally big deal around here! all the schools go on different trips, some for the day, some for a couple days, so they all go different places around guatemala! so two days ago, i went to the zoo and a kids museum in guatemala city with like 70 little elementary school kids (they call them chicatitos) and their parents and teachers, all packed like chickens in a big school bus!! ohh man!! it was so much fun though!! we left at 3 oclock in the morning-- wait correction-- we were all waiting from 3 in the morning until 430, when the bus actually came to pick us up! i'm really learning a lot about patience here, let me tell you! soo then we left, went to the zoo.. it was so cute, it was smaller than in the states but it was soo cute with all the decorations and beautiful trees (thank god there was so much shade! i feel like its impossible to find shade in the zoos in the states, but here, there was soo much shade!!).. soo yeah then we went to the kids museum which was sort of disappointing compared to like the boston children's science museum which is like the coolest thing ever, right? but yeahhh it was fun for what it was!! i had a fun time with the kidddos!!! then on the way back, our bus broke down at about 9 at night in the middle of nowheeere! so we waited about an hour-- the bus driver fixed it! and we're off again- apparently this happens A LOT hereee!! so we returned and we all got out the bus a little outside of el chol and ran with a torch screaming and woo hooooing through town to the park. (the whole tradition here to go on trips with your school and then upon return, you run and scream into town holding a torch celebrating your school and your trip of the day!!) soo yeah, that was that!! it was my first experience of it!!

and wooo i'm going on 4 more trips this week and next week!!! i'll let you know how all of those go!!! i'm going with another elementary school to a sports morning in another aldea-- we're walking 10 km to get there!! wooo!! and then the next day i'm going to xemap.. a place where there's pools and monkeys and we're camping there with another elementary school!! and then a couple days later, i'm going back there with one of the highschools i work with for the day! and then two days later i'm leaving again at 3 am to go about 6 hours away to the department of el progresso and we're visiting a sort of waterpark place, apparently!! and then we're coming back late in the night that night!! and that trip is with one of the middle school i'm working at! soo it's gonna be a fulll weeek of trips with kids and teachers and parents from my town!!! and then on the days i'm not tripping with them- there's gonna be different dances, food tastings, folklores and plays in the park as cultural movements prepared for by the schools! soo it's a full week of cultural events, movements and trips!! i'm excited!! glad to share it all with you!!!!

mmm.. so as far as work goes, this is part of it!! which is pretty much the coolest job i could think of!! yeeess!! but as far as work in the schools- i had a week full of charlas last week- getting to the know the kids, having them work in groups to answer questions about their communities, their schools, their thoughts about education and things like that.. as sort of a youth analysis to base my future work in! soo last week was full of preparing and working in the schools!! i really enjoy the work that i'm doing, it's fun and i love getting to know the kids and i feel like we're all gonna learn alot in the classes!! i mean i learn a lot from the kids all the time and i know it's gonna be a neverending eye opening experience. and then they seem interested in the types of youth topics we're gonna be working with- and through conversation with parents and the kids- i know they need it too. so that's exciting!!

did i tell you i'm on a soccer team here? we've played 2 times and gotten second place (out of 3 teams, but wooohooo).. so we've travelled about an hour away these two times to other towns (aldeas, they are called) within the municipial of el chol on the back of a pick up truck with 10 girls about 14-17 years old.. they are my team members!!! and so we drive in the truck of another teacher, grace, whose also on the team, and her husband who is really cool too and verrry into the success of our team. it's funny. it's really fun and we're playing again tomorrow in el chol.. beginning the tournaments with other girls' teams in el chol! wooo!!

sooo that's about it over here!! i've totally been hogging rebecca's computer and i'm sweaty and haven't taken a showeer and it's soo hotttt here!! i'm gonna get going now!! it's been so fun to connect with you all, one-ended i know!! but i hope to see most of you on my trip back home for twwwwoooo weeeeekkkksss!!! woooooo yyayayayyayyyyy!!!! i'm gonna try to download some photos for you now!!! i hope you all the best of the best in everything that comes your way these days! i love you all very much and take care of yourself and others always!!! mucho mucho amor!!!! I LOVE YOUUUU!!! have a great day!!! : )

sarah! : )

woooo hooooo!

heyyy all of my lovely family and friends!!!!
i´m sending you a raaapid post of what´s poppin down here in baja vera paz, guatemala!!
how are you alllll dooooing? i love you and miss you like crazy, sometimes i´m just like, ahhhh i wish everyone that i love is here with me too because it´s really a beautiful experience that is happening and i wish to share it oh so closely with you all!! you all are here with me, everyday, and i know that, too! mucho mucho amor!!

anywhoooo, so lots lots been happenin here! woooo! let´s start since we´ve last spoken.. soo the next week after pachalum, i continued observing classes, lots and lots of classes to get more grounding of the subjects, the teachers, the students. ooooh so there was a 35th anniversary for one of the middle schools in my town, oooh that was so much fun!! there were activities all week!! to start it all off there was this beauty pageant, to elect the senoritas of the schools, they looove beauty pageants here.. they are entertaining for sure. anyways so in the middle of all of that, a group from coban (a city in alta vera paz, which is just a little north of here), so a marimba dancing group (you know the marimba is like a huuuge xlyophone made out of wood), it´s my favorite, it´s awesome, like a dream listening to it, so freeing i feel like i could just float away with the clouds, love iiiit! so they played that and danced to it! theeen the next day there was some dancing and singing and guitar playing competitions at the school for like 5 hours, i seriously stayed the whole time because i loveee stuff like that and i was just mingling around talking to the students, watching the performances!

oh yeah, that reminds me for another one of my schools, i sang to the class because they had spent time performing their songs, so i was like, hey! think i can sing something? they were all like, yeeeah! so i sang soulshine by the allman brothers with a little addition that i wrote after! soo that was cooool! then later to another school i read a poem i had wrote to them because they had all been reciting poems for the class! they just shared so much and i felt like i wanted to share too. sharing is a beautiful thing in the many ways of which it happens in our lives!

so yeeah, the anniversary of the school. the second day, all the kids were making different salads, like chicken, vegetable, pasta salads, and i got to go around and taste most all of them!!! Oh the luck!!! i loved it. i love eating!!! and especially trying multiple different types of food! then after there was a dessert competition, oh the smell of those desserts, to diiie for! but i was outside talking to a girl jaclyn about her dreams of travelling the world and then about her family and the mountains and all sorts of stuff, that i completely forget to try those! the conversation was more important.. there will be more desserts, but we may never get the chance to have such a conversation again! then after that, there was a competition for arranging flowers, ohh man, the arrangements some of the kids came up with, all sorts of things. this one little kid took leaves and sticks and made them into turtles, i was like whhhat, so creative, right? then another girl made flowers out of wire and pretty colored strings connecting them between the wires, ohh sooo coool! so i took pictures of every one of them, the kids were really excited about that, they all wanted to get their picture taken and look at it! ohh it made me soo happy to see all their creations and take part in these wonderful activities!! so yeeeah!! there´s gonna be a lot more things like that, too!! wooohooo!!

so then that weekend, the volunteers from baja and alta vera paz got together in lanquin, a tourist area with caving, rafting, swimming, monkeys!!! we saw two HOWLER MONKEYS in the trees, making their howler noises and all!! that was by far the coolest thing ever, suuuper duuuper cool!!! monkeyssss ahhh!! sooo yeah, that was at the end of the second day!! the others days i just swam and swam and swam in the river, which was like torqouise.. soo beautiful!!! and it rained the first day, but i just keeept swimming because it was just soo nice and relaxing and beeautiful!!! and then i ran into my friend hallie´s little sister at the hostel we were staying out!!! we nearly had a heart attack when we realized!! AHHHHH!! it was so coool, so random, but so right! we talked for hours next to the candlelight about the ends of the world. it was beautiful, it was so lovely to run into her! we promised we´ll stay friends and meet up again, she´s a wonderful person and living in guatemala for right now!! yeees!!

so my boss just came in, looking for his internet back! i think i´ve overstayed my internet welcome, most honestly, i don´t know if i´m gonna get the chance to use his internet again! but oooh i´m so thankful for him letting me use it!! my trip last weekend was so lovely, and so rich in conversation and in meeting new friends and connecting with my friends here!! and the jungle of alta is just breathtaking and beautiful!! and hottttt!!

i started my classes this week in two schools, did some activities with them, went over rules of respect, showed them photos of all of you!! talked about all of you!! and they asked questions, oooh they love the photos and they loved hearing about all of you!! it was truly special, i felt closer to you guys while talkign about you to them, and i think they felt closer to me seeing pictures of my family and friends!! mm hmmm!! i´m continuing some classes next week, too!! it´s good fuuun, trying to keep it interactive for the next class while also teaching them things, as well.. my classes next week will be about positive communication because after reading all their responses about youth themes that are most important to them, an overwhelming number of kids said communication!!! so in response to the calculated need, woooohooo, the next class is about positive communication!!

i love you all so much. it gladdens my heart to connect with you all, even though only through my rapid words and thoughts an dmemories!!! i hope you are all well and i wish you all love, peace and everlasting happiness, as always!!! take care of yourselves and others, as always!!! and i love you and miss youuuu!! and we shall connect soon on the road ahead!!!! mucho mucho amor y gratitud for you all in my life for now and always!!!!! hugs and kisssses!!!

oohoyyyy!

helllllo there wonderful family and friends who are oh so splendid and good to me to read my blog!! so sweet!! thank you!! : ) i hope all you all are doing reeeeaaalllly weeelllll!!

I'M IN PACHALUM, QUICHE!! wooo!! my first night out of site!! i'm staying with my friend tiara in her site, pachalum! it's a little city, big town, 2 camionetas, 3 hours away from me in el chol! the drive was beeeautiful! over the mountains and hills, through the corn fields, squished next to all sorts of interesting people, alongside the colorful flowers overgrowing the walls next to the roads, the sweeeet smell of clean fresh early morning air, and then also the feeling of, my golly there is dirt all over me right now because these roooads!! my stomach hurts a little from the bumpiness f the dirt roads.. or it could be the teeny tiny bit of river water (straight from the faucet) that was in my coffee cup this morning after i cleaned it, and before i put my coffee in it.
the w ter is sometimes sort of clear, sometimes seriously brown. hmm, it puzzles me as well. i try to stay cleeear of it, because it's not cleeear at all! that's my motto, just decided right now!

anywhooo, wow, i feel so calm because tiara is in the shower and i can just sit here, very calmly and write to you guys. because i've always been rushing around with internet time. soooo, what to talk about, what to talk about! how are you all doing? hehe. i sooo wish you guys could answer me right now! si si si! so since you cant, i should probably just talk to you guys instead! soo about my site! oooh, it's really splendid! i walk down the street and people refer to me by name, and i have never met them before! and then i ask them their name, and we meet! it's really nice because it's a small town- 2,000 peeeps, so i'm gonna get to know a lot of people reeeally well! and they are gonna know me! what else? it's preeettty hot during the day, but oh man, when the sun starts to set, the clouds light up and a rich beautiful breeze brushes through the pueblo and it's just so lovely and wonderful. and at night, the temperature is nice and cool, like a perfect summer's night. me and my homestay brothers and some kids from the school have been playing soccer in the afternoons and the view of the sunset from the field next to the mountains is breathtaking! the cobblestone streets still make me smile every time i walk down them because they are just so cute! and every day i awake and walk out of my room, i greet the parrot that chills on our balcony! it's so cute.. and so i kind of run where it cant see me anymore and then it tries to move to catch my glimpse, then i run again and it does the same. it's fun for me, and i think for him too! he's green and then has some rainbow feathers and deep dark eyes that are just so cute!i want to hug him all the time but i really don't think he'd like it! anyways.. so that's a little bit about the environment of my site. when i walk to the two high schools down the dirt paths, like 10 minutes from the site.. they are both along the river and next to all these plants, and it just smells so rich and fresh.. i really enjoy those walks. i really enjoy walking all around my site because we all just say buenas to each other and it's just a really friendly happy atmosphere! we looked at the moon last night, it's almost full! it was coming up over the mountains, so magnificent!!

oh yeah, speaking of things that are magnificent to the people here- chicken feet! there were chickens feet stickin out of all the soups at the table yesterday at lunch.. except for mine, thank God!!!! but im pretty sure that what was in mine was like the heel or something because its like no part of the body i've seen before. but.. yeah, at least it wasn't toes and nails.. oh man, yeah, i think i might have to ask politely for me not to eat that. but then last night we had mac and cheese with some onions and spices.. so life is gooood!

sooo about my work here!!! so far i've visited all my schools a few times. this week i observed full days of classes!! it was really great to sit through the classes and watch because i can totally see what the style of teaching is here and why my position is what it is because so much of the teaching is solely busy work and the teacher reading things from his notebook for the kids to copy into theirs. and it's not a very conducive environment for learning and growth and intellectual development for these kids.. ya know? it's not really the way we learn, we learn by doing, we learn by being active, working in groups, exchanging with the teacher, positive encouragement, critical thinking, all those things. so as my position of working not only as a teacher, but also working on teacher training and teacher development, i am getting a sense of the challenges before me in terms of the habits of teachers here. but don't get me wrong, there are a couple teachers who reeeally impressed me during their lessons, they are energetic and did comprehension activities, and asked questions to the students, and were just like boom boom boom.. and so i have a lot to learn from them, and i will, and i also would like to ask them to help with me teacher training since they have a very positive foundation of actively teaching and engaging the students. all of this will go much smoother if i can work with key members o fthe community to work with other members of the community- and that is what i plan to do because that's what is sustainable!

so that's all in the future, buti've been thinking a lot about that as i've been reading a lot of my materials from the peace corps office from training. like a book called, first days of school about positive encouragement and classroom management. and then others about different ways of working with youth and then another with different activities to do with youth! so my mind is just spiiiinning with so many ideas! but i'm starting small. next week i'm going to observe classes again, and then meet with each of the directors of the four schools that i work at and ask them if it would be okay if next week i do a couple icebreakers with each of the classes to get to know the students names and whatnot!! because that's reeeally important to me, i want to learn all of their names! i'm preetty sure that i can!! so yeah, i've been thinking about different icebreakers, i was thinking about bringing options to the directors and asking them which one they think would be best for the classes. so yeah, that's next week!! i'm takin it slow. doing what feels comfortable.. but i'm really excited to get in there are starting working more with the students and teachers! i feel like more than not, i'm reeeaddy and they are ready for me, too! beacuse they keep asking me when i'm gonna start! so that's a little about my work right now!! i'll keep you updated!!

and for right now, i'm sitting in tiara's living room and we're gonna go get some breakfast-- i'm craving some eggs and beans!!! never in a million years would i think that i would crave that, but nevertheless, it's exactly what i want!!! and tortillas... hmmmmm!!! and then a couple more of our peace corps friends are coming to visit and stay the next two nights, too!! yeees, i'm soo excited to be here with tiara and then meet up with our other friends!! yeeesss!!! you all take care of yourselves, thanks for listening!! i love you all lots and lots and lots and i wish your days to be filled with love, peace and everlasting happiness!!! : ) take care!!!! : )

ahhh my first time with internet here!!!!

helllllo wonderfuls of my life!!!!
thanks for your comments on my posts of my town and my home! and katie! i didn't do most of the decorating.. the plastic over the table.. it's a guatemalan thing! and i'm not 80! although i don't have tv, internet and i wash my clothes by hand.. i'm not 80!! hehehe, you make me laugh! i'm glad to catch up with you guys here, right now because it's going to be few and far between, i fear! i'm sitting at a pollo campero.. i guatemalan fast food restaurant in san juan sippin on cafe, eating flan and chatting with my friend rebecca who is living 30 minutes away from me! she has portable internet on her computer.. woah.. right? and so she's being so kind as to let me use it!!

so about my site and my life the past two weeks!! we missed our bus on the way out here because we were running around like crazy people in antigua the day we were supposed to leave.. and so missed the second of four buses to get to our site.. so we went back to antigua stayed the night and went to the carnival! what fun! next day, we made it out, barely, on the last bus!! its a 3 hour bus ride but they were doing a lot of construction on the road as usual, but this time.. we waited 3 hours for them to clear the roads for us!! we laid down on top of our luggage beneath the cloudy sky atop the microbus and rested until it was time to go! it was an unexpected length of time, as we usually wait 3 times for about 30 minutes.. this time 3 hours! but, it was relaxing and a unique experience, probably not the last time either! wooo!!

so the first week at my site from tuesday until sunday.. i probably left the house eh, i'll give myself.. 6 times. i was just so tired, a little depressed, nervous to go out into a town which i do not know anyone at all, and just not feeling confident about what i was doing and a lot about being here. i slept a lot, finished the alchemist by pablo coehlo.. and began and finished another of his books called, i sat by the river piedra and wept. they are incredible incredible books, i suggest them to anyone!! so much wisdom in such a simple and beautiful format! oh man, i was sooo happy reading them. i had to stop multiple times to screech a little bit because of what they were saying, especially in relating to the love story entertwined in both of them!!! oh man, i loved them!! but yeah so i slept, read and wroooooote a whoooole lot!! although i was depressed, confused, scared, lonely and sad, and felt like shit that i didn't really want to leave the house ever.. and felt like i would feel better IF i left the house.. i really needed the time to think, to be in my own head, to feel the emotions of this huge change that i've made, and to dive into the depths of my mind and my perceptions of myself and my life here and there and all. it was a tough week, but this week i feel much calmer in myself and feel better about what i'm doing- both confident in an idea of my work and in understanding my fears and doubts, as well. i so needed that time and this past week i've felt sooo much better, honestly and truly!!!

what really changed my sense of this was i was in my office, oh yes, i have an office and a computer there! woooah! and i was talking on the phone to rebecca and i was like, i don't exactly know what i have that i can give or share with this community, because i was just feeling down and lonely and you know. i just wasn't feeling confident. then within 10 minutes after, a man comes in and asks me to help him with his project of learning numbers 1-100 in english! sooo! we sat down together for an hour and went through each number up to 42 and wrote down "1 one guan".. so the number, how to write it, and how to write the pronunciation! and then the next day he came back and he had written numbers 42-49.. and then we spent the next hour with 50-100!!! and he was so happy!! and i was sooo happy that i could help him!!! and honestly, that just turned me around because i realized that i did have something to offer, as simple as that, with spending time with one person, helping him with his homework! it was so special and for the first time since i've been here, i felt like i was doing my job as a volunteer!! wooo!!!

so after that, i was feeling so much better! i've gone to visit all my schools, two middle schools and two high schools!!! i met with all of directors and chatted with them and planned my schedules for next week to come and observe the classes!! i've played soccer a couple times with my homestay brother, abner, whose 10, and a few kids from the middle schools!! the campos where we play are at the edge of the mountains.. soo beautiful!! along the way we picked guava and ate it!! it was speciaaal!! i went on a drive into the mountains with my homestay family and saw el chol from afar!! ooof, it's really gorgeous, the town, the mountains, the flowers, the trees, the plants, it is all just so beautiful!! there's lots of fruits everywhere too which i loveee!! it's soooo hot though honestly and truly, hot hot hot!! i'll get used to it, the fruits and flowers and plants definitely make up for all the heat!! it's worth it!!

yesterday was a big evening of folklore, all the kids from the middle school put on plays about the history of mayans, and the spanish conquistadors, and the history of their annual fiesta (fairia) every year!! this year is the 50th, big deeeal! so that was a big community event in the center of town!! the best, and scariest part, they put a box over a kids head with fireworks attached and set them off as his skipping around the center of town! it was reeeally scary and looked incredibly dangerous, i could not believe that it was actually happening! there was so many fireworks!!! ooooiiiii!! one of them fell in the crowd, thank god that everyone moved!! ooof, they reeally love fireworks here, i hear them every day somewhere in town!!

so yeah, as for my family, they are super sweet, really fun and we talked last night about how we feel really good about each other living together. we get a long really well.. i've been eating every meal with them! and let me tell you, i've had some interesting meals- so far.... cows tongue.. wrapped up in tortilla with some honey mustard.. pretty good! then i had chicken intestines.. questionable to say the least.. and then two days ago i had cow's liver.. pretty good, not gonna lie!! i had mac and cheese last night.. so the meals range from crazy to mmm comfort!! yeeah, so that's that!!

i'm really happy with my site, i think i'm adapting pretty well.. i'm starting to get to know the kids and the directors and the people around town!! it's really cute and everyone is really friendly!! i've seen way too many spiders and cockroaches, of which i do not want to talk about anymore because i want to pretend that they do not exist in my life here. but yeah, it's so good to express to you all what's going on in my life!!

in two weeks, we have our welcome party in coban, which is about 3 hours away from el chol. we are staying overnight in coban, which is a pretty big city i think.. and then the next day we are going white water rafting!!! wooooooooah!!! i'm so scared of whitewater rafting which is exactly why i feel inclined to do it!! and then we are thinking about some hot springs somewhere in there!! sooo i'm reeeealllly excited about that, we're hanging out with all the 25 other volunteers who live in baja and alta vera paz!! wooo and some adventure, yaaay!!!

so it's time to go or i might just miss my bus from san juan back to el chol, the 3 hour dirrrrt road!!! hate to miss that!!! no but seriously, the drive is spectactular through the mountains! but boy is it bumpy!!!

I'M SO HAPPY TO CHAT WITH YOU ALL!!! I WISH I COULD TELL YOU MORE OR I WISH THAT YOU ALL COULD BE HEAR WITH ME SHARING THIS EXPERIENCE!!!! I MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH AND I LOVE YOU ALL SOOOO MUCH!!! THANKS FOR ALL YOUR COMMENTS AND THOUGHTS, YOU ALL ARE IN MY THOUGHTS ALWAYS!!!! I'M SENDING MUCH LOVE AND CARE YOUR WAY UNTIL WE TALK AGAIN!!! I LOVE YOU ALLE VERY MUCH AND HOPE THAT ALL IS HAPPY, SAFE AND HEALTHY WITH YOU!!!! UNTIL NEXT TIME, TAKE CARE OF YOURSELVES AND OTHERS!!! I LOVE YOU!!!! AND THANKYOU!!!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!!

the center of my town & my home!

so here's some pictures of the center of town from the view from the top level of my house, it's a huuuge open balcony! wooo! and so the center is pretty small, because there's only 2,000 people in the town, but it's bustling. well not in these pictures because it's 6 am. but all the other times, it is. kids playing basketball, walking around, eating food, playing soccer, just kicking around, hanging out. it's really awesome, there's a lot of activities in it. to the right is a huge beautiful catholic church. and then to the right of that is a huge community center with little shops and then big open space for different community activities. once every month there's a huge celebration of some some sort with food and dancing and everything with most all the members of the pueblo! so that's really cool, it's a tightknit community with lots of stuff going on! and then we have a market twice a week so people from the surrounding pueblos come to sell and buy all sorts of fruits and vegetables! so i love that!

and then, here's some pictures of my room!! it's got a tin roof which i LOVE because i really enjoy the sound when it rains. it's really calming. so they made it all up for me with shelves, a dresser, a bed, a table! i still have to buy a stove and chairs, but other than that, i'm set! so that's great! so here's those pictures-- i posted a lot! i hope you all enjoy!

btw- no internet in my site!!!!! i'm pretty sure that i'm the only site of the volunteers without internet, so that's a unique experience!!! i've enjoyed speaking to you all so frequently, but it just can't happen like this when i move! i'm sorrrry!!! but if i could, i totally would, you know it!!! i love you all very much! hope all is well in the states!!! woooooooo!!!! mucho amor!!!! : )

here's some pictures of baja vera paz!!!

these are pictures of my town.. the streets and all.. there's one of my schools and the volunteer i'm replacing.. and then to the left of her is my counterpart, the superintendent of the schools, and the director all the way on the right. then there's another picture of my school with the bridge in it. there's 2 rivers that run through my town with cool big rocks around them! and then another picture of the dirt road i walk down to get to that school. but it's really cute, surrounded by mountains, in the middle of nowhere, 3 hours down a dirt road! ah, but it's gorgeous, there's such little population out there so there's just mountains and mountains and it's so lush and green! and it's super safe too because it's the last stop on the really long dirt road, so no one goes there unless they live there or live near by!

some photos of the wedding of my homestay sister! and my san mateo family!

so here's some photos of the wedding that was a couple weeks ago! it was really nice, the bride and groom and everyone walked down the street of san mateo and arrived in the downstairs of our home where like 75 people were waiting. and the whole legal ceremony took place.. and they kissed and everything, and it was really cute!! then we all walked over to the church where they had the religious ceremony.. and there's a picture of us in front of the church. and then the other picture is of my homestay mom and dad, my little brother (oh really he's my nephew because he's my borther's son), and then my other little brother, edy.. we're really close, playing uno for hours always, and i help him with his homework a lot tooo!

my san mateo family!!

these are some pictures of my homestay brother and sister and my cousins in front of a fountain in antigua!! and then some of my homestay mom and dad and grandma in front of the church!! yaayy!!! and then we all piled into a pickup truck.. like 15 of us!! ahh!!

some more of the ruins & wedding preparation & the walk to get baptized

these of some more of the ruins & huehuetenango, the city! others are of the buuuge amount of women making tomales for the wedding!! they made sooo many tomales!!! all of us taking the camioneta and walking to the big beautiful church where my little brother got baptized!!! wooo!!

huehuetenango mam ruins & my family in san mateo!

so these pictures are from everywhere. the ones you see of people are my family here in san mateo.. the ones you see of ruins are of the ruins in huehuetenango.. hours from here, where i went to visit another volunteer!

my site!!!

hello all!!
i hope all is well with you all!! i miss you lotsss and love you lots!!! thanks for checking in!!
so my site! ah! it's the cutest thing ever, i love it!!! its 3 hours on a dirt road.. ahhhh!! gotta take 5 buses to get from here to there. it's pretty crazy, totalllly totally out there!! it's the last stop in the middle of nowhere.. so i gotta backtrack if i wanna go anywhere else.. it's reeeally tranquilo and super friendly and really cute with cobblestone streets and a really nice big park and a couple futball fields and little tiendas. i live above a pharmacy with a family, i live in a little apartment behind their house.. it's really cute and they completely furnished it for me!! i'll show you all pictures! my site visit was sooo packed with activities.. and apparently that's how it's gonna be always.. up early and activity activity activity of all sorts.. so i'm gonna be on my feet lots and moving around!!

soo yeeah, the first day i got there we all planted trees, all the kids, the parents and everyone.. it was a reforestation project that the volunteer, hannah, that i'm replacing and other members of the community planned as a response to the increasing pressure to log their land for major companies. then there was cultural night in the huuge community center thats in town.. and then there was a maaagic show!! ahh!! it waas really fun. then we hung out and ate pizza and the magician performed card tricks for us! the next day, i watched hannah give an HIV/AIDS presentation. which was awesome! i'm gonna be doing a lot of hiv/aids work in my town and the surrounding towns.. which is so important on so many levels, most honestly. so i'm really excited about that!! then we ate some egg sandwiches and then i helped judge a debate among the kids about the death penalty and abortion.. really heavy topics for them and it was their first debate, so it was a really big deal. they did an awesome job though!!

the next day, there was a huuge meeting with all the directors of all the municipal (so my town and all the surrounding towns that are part of the municipal).. so i presented myself in front of like 35 directors from all the schools. and then later on i went around to all the schools with my CTA (who is the superintendent of all the schools.. and one of the people that is going to be helping with me projects and stuff).. so i met all the directors more personally of the 4 schools i'm going to be working at-- 2 middle schools and 2 diversificados! then later that night i ate dinner with my family and uppacked some stuff and yeah, went to sleep! woke up and took 5 buses to get home to san mateo! and now i'm here! ah! i'm gonna download some photos for you all to see because i love you all so much!!!!!!!!! : ) all the best health, happiness and love for you all!!!!!!!!!

ahhhh!!

hey lovely friends and family!
thanks for the birthday wishes all!! i miss you all a whole lot and i apologize for it being a while since i've posted! it's been preeettty busy round here! last weekend i went to a wedding on saturday for my friend robyn's sister! it was the first time that i heard wedding music for real! so that was really cool! then the next day i went to the baptism with my whole san mateo family! seriously left the house at 800 in the morning with over 20 people, piled in the back of the bus a juntos. it was a graand day! we waited outside of this beauuutiful catholic church right in front of the park in antigua for about an hour before the baptism. my brothers, sisters, cousins and i walked around the park, took pictures, ate icecream, watched the people walking around. it was very relaxing and nice for so many people to be together for such a special occasion. i took pictures of bryan with the water and everything, so i'm totally gonna make a photo album for them soon before i leave.

so i found out where i'm living for the next two years on my birthday!!!! my birthday was absolutely marvellous. i woke up really early and my homestay mom gave me a hug and wished me a feliz cumpleanos!!! then i went upstairs and my homestay brother presented me with a beautiful red rose that smelled sooo wonderful! i helped him with his homework for about an hour. then my homestay sister presented me with a beautiful card that wished me health, happiness and long life! and then i ate pancakes with honey.. mmm!! and coffee!! and then my little cousin helen gave me a little paper box with feliz cumpleanos and she decorated it! it was so cute!! and then i went downstairs to get changed and my other homestay sister norah, the one with the litttle cutie baby boy, bryan, gave me a beautiful bracelet made out of volcanic stone that has pictures of jesus and mary on it! oh! and my friend tiara gave me a sweet friendship bracelet of pink, red, yellow and orange, the colors of passion and fire!! i love all my gifts, it was just such a special day from beginning to end in all possible ways!!! it was marvelous, i am so grateful for my friends here, and my family who truly showed me how much they care about me on that day. it was wonderful, i was almost in tears when i kept recieving such cute gifts and the thought behind them is so pure and sweet!

then we went to san miguel and we found out our sites!!! i'm going to santa cruz el chol in baja vera paz!! at first, i don't think i said a word for about an hour because i was just so surprised and taken aback!! but then i talked to my boss about it more and how beautiful it is and how much the volunteer there loves it and how great my counterpart is (the person who i'm working with on the projects, whose gonna help me get to know the community and all), and all that jazz! so then i got suuuuuuper excited! i'm gonna be near a couple of other volunteers, and i'm about 2 hours away from the jungle where there's monkeys and beautiful flowers and its really greeen! there's lots of places to go hiking, swimming, caving and all that outdoors stuff! my site has a central park, cobblestone streets, and apparently a beautiful old church!! so it sounds phenomenal! i'm going to visit it tomorrow, ahhh!!!

then we all piled in the van to go to antigua! we all went to burger king!! yaaay!! and i got a birthday crown, yaaay!! and free icecream!!! yaaaay!! and then we went to the restaurant and hung out a bit, i showed all my pictures of all you guys!! and then we went to another restaurant and hung out and talked a whole bunch, which was splendid!! we ate some pizza and then i read a spoken word poem that i had been writing for a few weeks, which was really meaningful and special to me, especially on my birthday. i had never read aloud anything that i've written at all, nor have i ever really completed anything to read before. i recited it again, along with my friend sidney on the drums, at the 4th of july party! i will type it up for you all to read, it all rhymes and has rhythm. it was really liberating to write and definitely more to actually say.

today we went with our counterparts, mine is really nice and seems extremely dedicated to the program, which is awesome! tomorrow me, rebecca and ryan are piling in a car to our sites to stay there for four nights. wooohooo! ah! i can't believe tomorrow i am actually going to see where i'm living for the next 2 years, this is so crazy to me! sometimes it just hits me how incredible and unique this whole experience is. sometimes its overwhelming, a little sad and confusing, and sometimes its like i'm on an awesome spinning ride at a carnival, i would say rollercoaster, but i was never a fan, i like the spinny rides instead. and then you get off the spinny ride and the world is topsy turvy, your feet trying to find their grounding, your head trying to make sense of the surroundings, your eyes not really believing their sights or how to make sense of what they see, which is so much a different sight than before the ride, before the spins, before the adventure. and since i've gotten off the plane, the ride has begun. and now as i'm moving into my new sites, in a new home with a new family and community and job.. the ride is increasing in acceleration, in speed, spinning more and more. i will let you know along the way how it is all going! ahhhh! quite a riiiide!

thanks for listening, thanks for your thoughts, thanks for your love, thanks for your support, thanks for being a part of my life here. i hope you all are having a wonderful week and day! and i hope your 4th of july was fuuuun!! i'll be gone until next saturday, about 4 hours away in my new home, SANTA CRUZ EL CHOL!!! yaaaaaaaay!!! i'll let you all know how it goes!!! adios!!!! : ) i love you alllllllllllllllllll!!!! me amo todos!!!!!!!!!!!! : )

hey all!!! it's been a while!!!

hey there lovely friends and family!! it's wonderful to connect with you all again, it's been awhile, oh man, i've been preeettttyyy prettty pretty busy.
katie, to answer your questions. the kitchen with the pretty pots, the lena, or firewood goes into a door on the right side of the stove. we light up the firewood beneath the stove and boil it all on the top. and as for my laundry, my homestay mom does some of my laundry, and i do some in the pila, the sink that you see in the pictures. it's the same sink for washing clothes, brushing teeth and washing dishes. thanks for your comments!! amor!!

i'm so sad to be leaving my homestay family in a few weeks, seriously. they have been so kind to me and we all get along so well. and it's gonna be time to get to know a completely new family, which is gonna be pretty difficult for me, since you all know i like my comfort in life. i like to be comfortable. but i'm flexible, i'll get used to it!

so we find out where we're gonna be living for the next two years on my birthday, for those who forgot, JULY 1ST!!! ahhhhh!!! estoy muy nervioso!!! i told them it better be good because it's my birthday. haha, but anywhere that i get will be perfect. it's all in attitude, it's all in perception. this job is what i make of it, all in all. i'm really excited for it all.

yesterday we all talked to someone from the US embassy. he came in for a couple hours to speak to us about what the embassy does and his role and the role of the US. it was really interesting, some parts of what he said hard to believe in my cynical mind, in terms of US involvement in the history and the present. a lot of it was pretty overwhelming with the reality of the situation here, the violence of the past with the civil war against the indigenous populations, 400 villages that were invaded by the military over the course of 35 years.. it makes my heart stop, honestly. i cannot imagine such violence for i've been so fortunate never to be so close. i cannot even minimalize the impact by writing about it for my words could never actualize what is still so real for so many people. this is where i stop.

as for the current situation, extreme corruption on all levels of society. families paying gangs monthly to protect themselves, bribery and deception of these peoples towards police to ensure territory and their interests for whatever trafficking they are doing. threatening their families to get what they want, paying off judges to favor their sway in court. 97% of the murders here go unsolved. no accountability by any means whatsoever. it's known and its expected, and people know they can do whatever violent act they want and get away with it. it all doesn't sit right in me. protests every week all over the country against the president and the mayors of towns. there was a protest in the city i stayed near last week, huehuetenango, because the mayor closed a negoitation for a private company to take care of the trash. he decided to take care of the trash himself, so he asked the government for 40,000 quetzales and only used 10,000 on the trash collection. and he tried putting the trash on people's land but they didn't want it there. they found out about his stealing money and now he's in hiding, it's been two months. there's trash all over the streets, outside of homes, all over the place, because there's no collection anymore. the mayor is nowhere to be found. so the people of huehuetenango had a protest a couple weeks ago with bombs and fireworks and set the police station on fire. people are mad, and for good reasons, it's completely unsanitary, unhealthy and horrible for the environment and he stole 30,000 quetzales from his people!!!

the reality of the situation here is unsettling. complete dishonesty, corruption, untruthfulness, disception, violence, lack of transperancy, accountability and justice on all levels of this society. there has to be a better way, it has to get better. it's no way to live, to grow up, to learn, to thrive. the positive thing about the people here is that they are passionate, they know what's right, they are willing to fight for what they believe in, they are by no means passive, they are incredibly active. the person from the embassy said that the best thing we could do is invest in programs relating to health and education. for with education and critical thinking comes action and the inspiration and desire to make things easier for ourselves and eachother. and with health, we live longer.

i really feel fortunate to work with youth, they are such a key group, the key to the future, to change, the future of their communities and families. we're gonna be working together on critical thinking, positive decision-making, health prevention, self-esteem, leadership, community projects, professional development.. all from a grassroots level, working with teachers and parents, with the community.. all of these things organizing from the bottom up. i find it all very inspirational. and although i could say so much that makes me unsettled about the reality of the situation, i could say so much more about how lucky i am to be working here and how much i look forward to working with these youth and learn from them and they will learn from me. and together, we can do great things, whatever they may be, i don't know, but it'll all be positive, and it will all be communal and collective. for together we can do so much more than apart. and with inspiration and a sense of strength and empowerment, we can do anything we want. and i really believe that.

well i gotta take the camioneta now back to my homestay family's house. tonight we're gonna eat dinner, probably play some uno. then early in the morning we are going all going to a wedding of the family that my friend robin is staying with. ah! my second wedding, how exciting! there's another one next week for my homestay sister! ah! and then there's a baptism for my homestay brother on sunday! today, there were probably about 40 women making tomales in the basement of my friend robin's house. all the women, for every grand occassion, wedding or funeral, all get together, all the women from the neighbor, to make food for the wedding, while the family provides breakfast lunch and dinner for them all! my homestay mom got there at 430 am and is still there right now! it's quite a process, it was really awesome to see all of them at work! so i got a big weekend ahead of me. and a big week next week with finding out my site on my birthday! ah!

i hope all is well with you all, thanks for listening. i didn't mean to be so negative about the situation here, honestly you wouldn't know it if you didn't know because everyone is always smiling and friendly. i love being here, i'm falling in love with this place more and more each day, and my job is becoming clearer as i learn more about the history and the challenges before me. there is a lot. one day at a time for us all is the best. i love you all, thanks for listening! take care!!! we'll talk soooooooooon!!!!!!!!
mucho amor, salud and suerte por todos!!!!!!!! love love love!!!!

last pictures for today!!

the bambi one my homestay sister marlin, whose 16, made it for me the night before i left for field based training! i was gonna cryyy its so cuuute!! the rest are of my friends here, other volunteers!! enjoy!!!!! : )