H is for Hogar

August 8, 2009

I find it hard to believe that I haven’t written a post since the fair. The time has certainly flown by, but in a way it seems like that happened ages ago. Part of the problem is that I have, as usual, been very busy. However, it is also because I have moved out of everything-is-so-new-and-different-I-can’t-wait-to-share-this mode and into this-is-normal-life-why-would-I-write-about-this mode. In fact, I’m writing this as I am sitting on my back patio sipping a mocha and nibbling on garlic sea salt bagels. Before you start writing your congressmen and women about the financial crisis and the cushy lives of Peace Corps volunteers, I would like to clarify. I made the bagels myself (with the help of an early-Christmas kitchen present from Aunt Jeanette XO) and the mocha is a concoction of powdered milk, cheap cocoa powder, instant coffee, and sugar. I would be happy to share the recipe for either, but I think that for most of the people reading this a trip down the street to Breuger’s Bagels would be much more convenient ;). However, for those adventurous individuals who want a taste of the Peace Corps (Morgan style) here they are: (just for fun I’m also throwing in a salsa recipe that I winged for a party last night)

Moca Mix (Thank you, Lourdes!)

In an averaged size mug (not one of those Giant Gulps from the gas station that hold enough coffee to surely cause some sort of caffeine poisoning):
3 Tablespoons Powdered Milk (you may have to go to the Piggly Wiggly for this one)
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder (the cheaper the better)
1 Tablespoon instant coffee (again, the cheaper the bitter.. I mean better)
2 Tablespoons sugar
Fill mug with hot water to an inch from the top and stir well. Serve with beans and huevos rancheros.

Bagels (Thank you, Travis!)

4.5 Cups Flour
2 Tablespoons Dry Yeast
1.5 Cups Warm Water
4 Tablespoons Sugar
1 Tablespoon Salt
Mix the flour and yeast. In a separate bowl, mix the water, 3 tablespoons of the sugar, and salt. Pour this over the flour mixture. Beat together for 3-4 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl. Turn it onto a floured board and knead for 6-8 minutes. Add more flour or water as necessary to form dough. Cut the dough into 12 portions and form into balls. Punch a hole in the center of each one, pulling gently to form a larger hole in the center. Place on a greased baking sheet and let rise for 20 minutes. Boil a pot of water with 1 tablespoon of sugar. Put 4-5 bagels in the water at a time and boil for 7 minutes. DRAIN THE BAGELS WELL. Bake for about 30 min at 350F. To add a topping like cinnamon and sugar, sesame, or sea salt, sprinkle on the bagels before baking. These also work in a Peace Corps oven (known to the rest of the world as a Dutch oven). Feel free to mix your own fun ingredients into the dough as well, and let me know what turns out well! NOTE: For real Peace Corps flavor, cream cheese and butter are allowed nowhere near these bagels.

Pineapple Salsa Dip (This one is my own and estimated in a big way, use at your own risk.)

2 Tablespoons Sunflower Seed Oil (or other oil that has a high burning point)
2 Cloves of Garlic Finely Chopped (4 if it’s the small garlic bought in the markets in Guatemala)
1 Large White Onion Finely Chopped
1 Red Bell Pepper Finely Chopped
2 Jalapeño Peppers Finely Chopped (seeded, unless you’re brave… which I’m not)
1 Small Pineapple Finely Chopped
½ Cup of Sugar
1 Tablespoon Salt
1 Block of Cream Cheese (I know, I know… this throws the bagel rule out the window, but I looked all over and made a special exception for this recipe)
1 Bag of Mucho Nacho Tortilla Chips (Sorry, for all you people in the states, you’ll have to find a knock-off brand. ;))
In a large pan over low heat, cook the garlic, onion, and peppers in the oil until onions are clear and peppers are well cooked. Add the pineapple, salt, and sugar (and chili powder to taste if you want an extra kick). Stir occasionally and cook until most of the water from the pineapple has evaporated. Allow the mixture to cool. Place the block of cream cheese in a serving bowl and pour the pineapple mixture over the top. Serve with tortilla chips or saltine crackers.

So, along with spending lots of time in the kitchen I have also been nestling into my wonderful little house. I finally made a trip to the “lumber yard” and bought a few 8’ boards to make a long block-and-board shelf in my room. This means that my clothes and books are no longer in piles on my floor. Small project, big difference. I’m also figuring out how to make hanging pots out of plastic balls that the kids buy at the stores here for around 3 Quetzales. For less than 50 cents, they don’t last terribly long as balls. I’ll be sure to post pictures when I have some herbs growing. I’m also working on finding some old tires to make some little vegetable gardens. Again, when I have them figured out I will be sure to post pictures.

While I have certainly been settling into my home, I haven’t spent all of my time in my house. The past month I have been working with the Municipality on a campaign to get people to put their inorganic garbage in plastic bottles. Right now we are focusing on 6^th grade and kindergarten students. Two weeks ago we held a workshop for 6^th grade teachers (between 20 and 30 showed up) and this past Friday we held a workshop for kindergarten teachers (around 50 showed up). At each of the workshops I gave a presentation on non-formal and environmental education and we handed out a manual that I had written (all based on Peace Corps training, I just put it on paper in Spanish). Then, the municipality introduced a competition between the classrooms to see who could collect the most plastic bottles filled with inorganic garbage. The top three classrooms in 6^th grade will win 100 lunches from the Municipality for their graduation ceremony. The top three classrooms in Kindergarten will get piñatas from the municipality for children’s’ day. The teachers have to sign up with the Municipality in order to be part of the competition and each of the children in the classroom and the teacher sign and “agreement” with the municipality saying that they take responsibility for their part in taking care of our environment.

After they are signed up, each classroom gets a bin in which to keep their full bottles, t-shirts, baseball caps, stickers, and tri-folds about the environment. So, as a part of that I have also been going around to classrooms to talk to the kids about what we are doing and to help hand out the materials that they get for signing up to be a part of the competition. I have been absolutely amazed at the initiative that the teachers and students (as well as the Municipality) have taken! Almost every classroom we visited already had dozens of bottles filled with inorganic garbage! I put the information down on paper, and threw out a few ideas to get the ball rolling, but SO much of this has come from the Municipality and the community, and I am just tickled pink! To me, small projects that will continue in the community long after I am gone are a much bigger accomplishment than any big thing I might be able to do on my own. I don’t have words to describe how proud I am to be able to share time and experiences with such a wonderful community of people.

For those of you wondering why in the world we are encouraging people to put garbage in bottles (and spending a good chunk of time stuffing garbage in bottles myself), you should take a look at the website www.puravidaatitlan.org. We aren’t working directly with this organization, but the website is a wonderful example of just what can be accomplished with trash. Currently, Long Way Home (another US organization) is working on building a school with the bottles we are collecting, and in the near future we hope to be building our tourism office and artisan market from bottles filled with the trash that is currently littering the streets and streams. It’s a big project, and a big problem, but there are numerous benefits. I am hoping to share this technique with individuals in the states when I get back. While it may not be used there to build houses or schools, it could be used for sheds, chicken coups, planters, benches, or whatever you can dream up!

I tell the kids here all the time that they have a lot more power than they know. What they do and model affects what their friends and family do, and what happens here affects the whole world. Conversely, the choices you make in your home affect Guatemala. We’re all in this together, and I am proud to have such excellent company!

Go well, give of yourself, god(ess) bless.

How to Eat a Tortilla

June 25, 2009

For the first time in quite a while, I have a chunk of time where I am able to curl up in bed and write a blog post. This is partially due to hours upon hours of dancing yesterday, getting to bed at two in the morning, food poisoning, and an almost unbearably hot morning turning into a surprisingly cold and very rainy afternoon. To begin at the beginning (of yesterday), the 24^th of June is the feria in my site. It’s pretty much like a county fair except that there are lots of religious activities as well. I’m not Guatemalan, and I’m not Catholic, I think it is centered around their patron saint, but don’t take my word for it. What it meant for me was a great opportunity to get to know more about my site and the people in it.

The morning started with a stroll through a market that was even bigger than the market that we usually have (which is impressive), and a look at all the things there were to see. I still haven’t tried the traditional sweets here (which are infamous), but a good friend promised me we are going to sample some this weekend. I am normally not a sweets person, but I can’t wait! After looking around all I could without becoming the odd gringa just wandering the market, I ran into a coworker from the muni who told me that there would be soccer games starting at the soccer field at 9. After a quick stop home to get my sunhat, I walked over to the field only to find that five minutes after the game was supposed to start, there was still almost no one there. People slowly trickled in and the athletics director pointed me in the direction of the tent that was set up for the municipal workers. The women’s team played first, and started at 10. The team has been practicing together for just a few months now and played the national women’s champions from Chimaltenango. They held their own, and they seemed like a great group of women, which is great, because I start practice with them this Sunday. I won’t be able to compete with them because I don’t have cleats and shin guards (you can’t find them in my size in Guatemala), but the practices will give me a great chance to meet other women my age!

After the men’s game, I was beat from the heat and it was time for lunch so I headed back into the center of town to find something to eat. Despite Peace Corps recommendations, I indulged in some Guatemalan fair food. It was yummy, but is probably contributing to my being at home in bed at the moment. After that it was back home to freshen up and rest up for the dance! I don’t think I would have gone, except that I got in free because I work in the muni. Working with the government anywhere can be difficult and daunting at times, but it certainly does have its perks. Like the early bird I am, I was one of the first people there at 8. They had two stages with two bands alternating, so the bands got a break but the people dancing didn’t. Despite my showing up to the dance alone, I think I sat out five songs all evening. Two of them I just about had to beg for. When I finally left with a group of friends at one, I was exhausted. My head hit the pillow at two, but due to aforementioned food poisoning, I didn’t end up sleeping much.

One of the bands that played was a large multi-tasking marimba band (they played a little bit of everything). I already felt obvious and a little awkward being the towering, slightly oddly dressed individual that I was. I really enjoyed watching the bands while dancing, and then a couple of the guys from this band started making faces and waving at me. This may give you an idea of just how conspicuous I was, because this dance was held in an auditorium about the size of a gymnasium with a balcony over the back third. Both levels were packed with people shoulder-to-shoulder, and you could spot me at a glance from almost anywhere thanks to both hair color and height (which high heels didn’t help). I would dance one or two dances with one guy and then excuse myself and walk to a different part of the room. On one of my trips I ran into (almost literally) one of the men from the band on their break. He asked me, in English, what my name was and where I was from. We chatted for a minute since it’s a nice break for me to speak in English, and most of the time people appreciate being able to practice. During their next set the dedicated a song to “Morgan from Minnesota in the United States (but in Spanish).” Since I was the only gringa there, it was pretty obvious who they were talking about, and it felt like everyone turned to look at me (although that probably wasn’t the case). I felt my face turn bright red and had quite a struggle trying not to laugh out loud (out of surprise and nervousness). I was so caught off guard that I missed a couple of steps and caused the man I was dancing with to step on my foot. Oh my.

Needless to say, I slept in very late this morning. I finally took a couple of Pepto and headed out to face the day sometime just before noon because I had a meeting with a student from one of the Universities in the capital. He is majoring in business administration and he is using my site for the subject of his thesis. I have to say I was a little bemused as to why he was looking for information with the one person in my site who probably knows the least about it. Oh well, I was able to give him a little bit of information on the projects that I am working on personally. On my way to meeting with him, I ran into the alcalde who invited me to a lunch to celebrate teachers’ day. I couldn’t turn that down.

I felt a little odd taking advantage of the free lunch since I am not a teacher, and I didn’t want to crash their party. However, with being sick, I really didn’t have the energy to make my own lunch today, and I can’t seem to stop losing weight (not that I am complaining or deprived by any means). I have never been so deeply grateful for a well-balanced meal. In the course of my life I have been thankful for food, or felt guilty about it, when I saw the Christian Children’s ads on TV or when we were having something I was particularly fond of for dinner. However, it was a more of a “Good bread, good meat, good God let’s eat” type of thankfulness, and life and dinner continued without much more thought. Today, it didn’t matter so much what the food was in front of me. It was simple, it was clean, and it was balanced and healthy for my body that is not feeling so healthy today. It was humbling.

My relationship with food is all together different here. There is no stocked pantry to go to when I feel like a snack, and snack foods are mostly imported and expensive. Foods are bought raw in the market when and as they are needed, and I am much closer to the life and death of my food. Meat doesn’t come in Styrofoam and plastic. The cows are walked down the street in front of my house when they are moved from grazing area to grazing area, and the meat I buy is hanging on hooks and cut in front of me. I know what raw meat smells like now, and the vegetarian in me doesn’t like it. But, it also occurs to me that we, as humans, are omnivorous and this how the cycle of life functions. The cows here are grass fed and raised in small herds by farmers who sell them to local butchers. This is the kind of contact and relationship that some of our grandparents had with their food, and these generations are missing that opportunity. We are the only carnivores on the planet that do not see our food die, and the only herbivores on the planet that do not smell the dirt in which our food grows.

I am sure that between Barbra Kingsolver and In Defense of Food someone has already written volumes about what I am thinking, but I firmly believe that it is something we should take a closer look at. I know that a few of my vegetarian and urban friends will have an “ew gross” reaction to part of it (as do I occasionally). I also think that contact with, knowledge of, and participation in where our food comes from is a good dose of humanity and humility, and we could all use a little of that.

Just let it be found.

As some of you have seen in my album, I found a new house. I thoroughly enjoy where I am living now, but with all of the differences and challenges that I encounter as a part of my work, I find myself wanting sufficient space to dig in and reflect at the end of the day. I was very fortunate to find the place that I did; it is a space with amazing light and peace. I can also have a dog there, which is a big bonus since Lexi (a rescue dog I found at Animal Aware) has already snuggled her way into my heart. I have been moving a few things in here and there since it is available and I hate moving everything all at once. I was there last night waiting for a delivery and I had to call Jeanette because it took my breath away. There is a large garden in the back with avocado trees, peach trees, rose bushes and day lilies. I had never been there at night and I was enchanted to find that the whole garden was twinkling with lightning bugs!

Along the lines of healing, I have been able to download podcasts to an SD card on my computer, and Speaking of Faith has been a great companion in the evenings cooking dinner and watching the sun go down. I was listening to an episode recently that was entitled "The Novelist as God." The woman being interviewed said, at one point, that maybe we should all own up to being agnostics since none of us can claim to know the infinite nature of god. How true I am finding this to be.

At the moment, I am sitting in a coffee shop called Rainbow Café in Antigua and enjoying the free cup of coffee that came with my purchase of a copy of the Popol Vuh. The Popol Vuh could be described as the Mayan Bible, if you could squeeze the Mayan religion into Western terms. Despite the fact that a vast majority of people in my site are Catholic, over ninety percent of them are indigenous and carry the influence of the Mayan language and traditions. Nearly everyone I have met there (with the exception of the non-indigenous individuals or Ladinos) are bilingual and speak both Spanish and Kaqchiquel, the regional Mayan language. Kaqchiquel is proving to be very difficult for me, but I am fascinated by the Popol Vuh, and I hope to find some insight there into myself and the culture I am living in. Very near the beginning of the Popol Vuh the Grandmother and Grandfather, as they are called, say as they set out the days:

Just let it be found, just let it be discovered,
say it, our ear is listening,
may you talk, may you speak,
just find the wood for the carving and sculpting
by the builder, sculptor.
Is this to be the provider, the nurturer
when it comes to the planting, the dawning?
You corn kernels, you coral seeds,
you days, you lots:
may you succeed, may you be accurate.

Your Garbage Can Kill You, and Other Exciting News

Phew, my meeting meter is ramping up. On Saturday, as usual, I had my INTECAP class in the capital. Sunday I went to check out one of the only animal rescues in Guatemala. Monday I headed back to the capital for a meeting with INGUAT, and today I had a presentation on solid waste management. I am certainly glad that I have my laptop here! It has made it so much easier to continue getting work done (not to mention keeping up with all of you lovely people) while running around to all of these different events.

Normally my class on Saturday is a time for me to learn and to hang out with people who have very quickly become my friends. We seem to understand each other well most of the time. However, this past Saturday had a bit of a communication glitch. We were talking about the goals of INTECAP. They train people not just to make better cakes or to take better care of their cars; they train people to start businesses in the field in which INTECAP has trained them. Some of my classmates raised issues of government support, recommending that the government give people the building and materials to start their own business since many of them do not have to resources to do so on their own. I suggested, though apparently not terribly clearly, that as facilitators and teachers one of the amazing opportunities that we have is to tell people about the power that they have to make things happen. This is not going to solve the world's problems, and it is nowhere near as easy to do as it is to say. However, in the few teaching experiences I have had here I have noticed that in many cases no one has ever told these students that they have a power to change things. They may only have the power currently to change very small things, but I saw light bulbs go off when I told a group of 14-year-olds that they have power with their friends. They can set a good example by not littering, and by asking their friends not to littler. This is not a giant step, but it had never even occurred to some of them that they could have an influence with other people. This power to choose and create with our own two hands is one of the few things that is uniquely ours and cannot be taken away from us. When we as teachers, facilitators, or people with some level of authority do something for someone instead of guiding them through the processes, or when we give someone something instead of helping them acquire it for themselves, we rob them of that power. When we ask that something be given to us or done for us, we willingly hand over that power to someone else. Unfortunately, I think it came across as an opposition to assistance, and one of the other students responded (summarized) that I was an American with lots of opportunities and couldn't understand.

That was probably one of the most difficult moments I have had so far in my Peace Corps service, partially because the stereotype of "spoiled American" is something I have been working so hard to combat. That, and the idea of handouts or pity. There seems to be both an expectation and a resentment of the organizations that come, build or donate, and then leave. However, as with anything, it all depends on the person to whom you are speaking. Again, it all comes down to enabling people and working together. As I discover my own beliefs about development work, and the feelings of others about the work being done here, I am more and more proud to be serving the Peace Corps.

Sunday was an amazing, happy day. Chase and I went with Jimmy and Ingrid to Animal Aware, one of the only animal rescues in Guatemala. Jimmy and Ingrid are looking for a dog, and I have been considering one. I went along with them to learn more about the rescue and thinking that I might come back another time to look seriously at getting a dog. However, as fate would have it, I fell in love with a little girl that is between 3-6 months old. She is a complete mutt, but looks a little lab. She is a spitfire! When she first came in, she had such a terrible skin condition that the workers gave her the name Scratchy. As charming as that is she will be getting the name Lexi when I go to pick her up on Sunday. She will be staying in Antigua for a month with Chase until I move into my new (very own) house. It has a very big yard where she will have lots and lots of room to run around! I am very excited about the house as it is absolutely beautiful. The only catch is that it has absolutely nothing in it, so I am starting from square one buying furniture. First things on the list are a bed and a stove. From there I will be digging through lots of Pacas looking for various things to organize the place. Thank goodness we have such a huge market here where I can buy plates and pans much cheaper than buying them in the store. Still, it feels like about the time I am settled it will be time to move out again. Fortunately, there is no one there right now and I have access to the key, so I am free to come and go to get the house ready in the month before I move in.

Yesterday I headed back to the capital for a meeting with at INGUAT, the national tourism organization. Since my counterpart here is one of the heads of the Mesa de Turismo Comunitario de Guatemala (Table of Community Tourism), I am acting as the Peace Corps representatives to the Mesa. It is an interesting experience since there are people from all different projects, areas, and backgrounds working in this group.

Today I gave a presentation to the COMUDE, which is a group with representatives from all the important community groups for the municipality, on solid waste management. I was really nervous before I started, but once I started I felt very comfortable. One of the trainers at the Peace Corps was kind enough to take time to go through the presentation with me last week. He gave me lots of information to use and interpreted the presentation for me to make sure that I understood everything (since I was not the one who originally put it together, though I did clean it up a bit). There were one or two people here and there that might have been sleeping a little bit (there were many people presenting at this meeting), but I think that overall I had a good impact. After that presentation, the process is out of my hands, but at least they have the information and hopefully a bit of motivation. With no waste management to speak of tourism is going to be a tough project to bring to fruition. I think it helped that the top two leading causes of death (on a national level) in Guatemala are respiratory illness and diarrhea. A lack of proper waste management (mainly the burning of garbage and the use of riverbeds as landfills) directly contributes to both causes of death.

This evening, just before writing this, I went to look at my new house for the first time. My camera battery had died, so I don't have any pictures YET. However, like I said, I do have access to the key, so I will be going back to take pictures soon. You can also bet that there will be lots and lots of pictures of Lexi up next week!

Well, Microsoft isn’t quite so evil…

Sunday, May 17, 2009

I discovered, quite accidentally, that in Microsoft Word 2007 when you create a new document you can choose between a document and a blog post. With the blog posts, I can connect word to my blog site and automatically publish them when I connect to the internet. This is just one less barrier between my adoring public and me, or between the few people who read my blog and the obnoxiousness that is constant blog posting. ;) The only issue with this is that my blog cannot tell the difference between when I am writing my blog and when I am posting my blog, so I will try to remember to put a date in here somewhere or other to keep everyone on some semblance of a timeline. I have to say that when I am not fighting it tooth and nail, I love technology.

The other big news in my little world is that I have started taking classes with INTECAP in Guatemala City. INTECAP is a national organization that is a little bit like a technical school in that they offer courses in various tracks like pastry chef, mechanic, and hotel receptionist. It is a much-needed service here, and I personally think that they are doing a wonderful job. It seems to have a great impact. In addition to these tracks, they also do continued education for professionals in things like management. They also do training of trainers, and send individuals out into rural areas to teach classes like basic computation to groups of 15-20 students who are willing and able to pay the several hundred quetzals class fee. The class I am taking is a certification of trainers, and the process that they use to certify teachers in this class was ISO9001 certified in 2002 and recertified in 2006. I am not going to go into ISO certification here, but I recommend that those of you who don't know what it is look it up on Google because it is a pretty awesome detail of my class. I am taking the class to certify myself as a trainer with INTECAP so that the English classes that I will be teaching for the guides will count towards their hours of class to keep their guide certification with INTECAP. This is all ending up sounding rather diluted and complicated, so you may just have to take my word for it that this is a neat opportunity for the guides to whom I will be teaching English and me.

So, aside from all the wonderful benefits of being certified, the classes themselves are amazing! The classroom has huge windows and it is in the capitol where I feel like if I just kept walking South I could end up in Uptown. The instructors are all careful to ask me if they are talking too fast or if I need any help (since I am the only non-Guatemalan in the class), but they have asked me during a break and not in front of the whole class. My classmates are people from all different professions. In the class, there are; a veterinarian who works with dairy cattle, a teacher, a mechanic, a man who teaches English for INTECAP, someone from corporate Dominoes, and a woman who works for a chain of water parks. Saturdays feel like life in the states. I have made many friends in class, and I hope to keep in touch with them throughout my service. I chat with them as I would chat with many of my friends in the states. We go to McDonalds for lunch or bring our own, and we sit on the benches at the end of the hallway near the windows and look out at the city.

I have dedicated this morning to homework, keeping in touch, and relaxing after nine hours of class yesterday. Since I had to be out of my hostel at 10:00 I went to the market and then over to a friend's house where I used my newly purchased pancake mix to make strawberry crêpes. This can be done by following the recipe on your favorite box of pancake mix (NOT the add water only kind) but adding twice the eggs called for. Then, put the mix in the blender with a cup(ish) or two of chopped strawberries (or other soft fruit) and blend as desired. Put butter in a hot pan and spread evenly, then add a dollop of the modified pancake mix to the middle of the pan and swirl the pan until the mix forms a thin layer over the entire bottom of the pan. Bubbles will form on the top. When they have popped and the top of the pancake/crêpe is spongy, it is ready to turn over. You only need to cook it briefly on the second side. The whole process is much easier on low heat. I like to put the rest of my batter in a Tupperware in the refrigerator so I can make one quickly in the morning. Now there is just the matter of the toaster oven I would like to get my hands on and I may actually be on my way to some semblance of cooking. I will have to be careful or I may recoup the 30 pounds I have lost since getting here.

Well, adventure calls. We are heading out on a quick hike to work of the wonderful breakfast that we ate. Then we may be heading back to the market to buy some of the beautiful avocadoes they have there. Guacamole is on the menu for a light lunch. In my album of My Life as a PCV, I have pictures posted of my most recent hilarious attempts at cooking. If you have yummy, easy, and cheap toaster oven recipes they would certainly make the purchase of a toaster oven well worth my while.

Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’…

Thursday, May 21, 2009

While I haven't seen huge changes in Guatemala in the four-and-a-half months that I have been here, I have noticed big changes in myself. I could have told you when I was packing my bags that I wasn't going to save the world by joining the Peace Corps, I just hoped to make a small difference in people. What I couldn't have told you is that it really has nothing to do with me. I am still happy to be here, and I feel productive and I can see that I have an impact in the friendships I am forming here and the information that people seek. I am not discouraged or disappointed. My goals haven't changed, much. How I want to reach my goals has changed, and I realize that I have too. When I got here, I was focused on my list of things to accomplish, on things I could say "I" have done. Being me, I will always be conscious of results, but now it seems to me to be a much bigger accomplishment to have someone ask me for information so they can accomplish something. I guess that is what is at the heart of the Peace Corps.

Many people have expressed their admiration for what I am doing, or mentioned that they are living vicariously through me. I am proud to have such wonderful people who are proud of me, but there is so much that needs to be done that that one person can't possibly even find the beginning alone. One of the most apparent causes of many problems here, and in many countries, is a lack of family planning. Fortunately, there are other organizations doing wonderful work in this field. Alas, or Wings in English, is a group that works in education and funding for family planning in Guatemala.

http://wingsguate.org/

Another problem that I come literally face to face with many times a day here is the number of "wild" dogs, and the general treatment of animals. This is a very difficult problem for me since I know that there is no way to address the treatment of farm animals especially, with a community that is struggling to feed their children. When people are unable to provide for their families (family planning comes in here again) the humane treatment of animals and conserving natural resources is a luxury. However, I do believe that education in this area would go a very, very long way, and rescue shelters and adoptions agencies are too far and few between. I am very lucky to live within bussing distance of a no-kill shelter, and one of the only shelters I have found in Guatemala. They also work to educate children about the humane treatment of animals, and have a spay-and-neuter clinic.

http://www.animalaware.org/

I have posted a general notice on my blog that the views expressed here are mine and mine alone. I would hope that the websites I have posted here are not controversial, since they are working tirelessly to promote education and opportunity. However, it is worth saying yet again that these views are mine and mine alone. Working for the Peace Corps has given me a chance to travel and live outside of the United States, and it has given me the opportunity to obtain a unique view of the world that is uniquely my own. Please take the time to visit these websites and see some of the wonderful work that is being done here, and what wonderful work still remains to be done.

God(dess) bless, Go well, Give of yourself

April 28th – Still Catching Up!

So, despite the continuing frustration of being unable to get my computer to connect to the internet (although I now think is a problem with the internet and not my computer), the last several days have been very rewarding. On Friday we had our first big rain of the season, complete with hail. It decided to start while I was visiting the new Despensa Familiar (a WalMart owned grocery store chain). Before you hit me or congratulate me on my visit (depending on your individual view on WalMart) I would like to be very clear that I will not be going back. I only went to see if I could find peanut butter or instant hot chocolate which are the two things I miss most that cannot be found in the local market alongside pineapples and carrots. They had neither. WalMart is back to being completely useless and a giant eyesore. However, I did get to try out the awesome lime green lace-up rain boots that I bought at the market in Antigua. They make all the rain completely worth it.

Friday night I had a candle-light meeting with our tourism committee (CAT which is made up of representatives of many different tourism and artisan organizations that we have here). Not many people showed up, but we were productive none-the-less, and I feel like I have some really concrete steps I can take to keep moving forward. I was also told, by the president of the committee, to take a weekend vacation outside of my site to have a breather, which makes me feel like my work and need for downtime is recognized. It won't happen for several weeks, and it will be filled with errands and work, but I do have a weekend away on the books.

Saturday I honestly have no idea what I did, but on Sunday morning I got up early to go out and observe a school that we have here that is held only on Sundays. The woman with whom I share an office (who has been a godsend in navigating the municipality) is a volunteer math teacher there. It is really amazing; different members of the community volunteer their time on Sundays from 8-12 to teach subjects like natural sciences, math, typing, and Spanish in an old building on the edge of town. She invited me knowing that I was working on environmental education. Before Sunday morning I really had no idea what they did there and I was just planning on observing to see what type of education the community was already offering. Instead, I ended up teaching an hour-long natural science class to 25 14-year-olds. Not to pat myself on the back, but I think it was really empowering for everyone involved. We did an interactive activity that illustrated the interconnectedness of everything in our environment. They are not at all used to interactive activities since nearly all the classes here are lectures, so they were taken aback at first and very shy. However, by the end of the class several of the students were asking me about global warming and what the environment is like in the United States. We also talked about the power that they have in their homes and with their friends. I can only hope that some wheels may start turning about the little changes that they can make that can have a BIG impact here.

Sunday afternoon Chase came to visit me, and since we didn't have a whole lot of time we just wandered around the city and chatted. However, we did find a restaurant that has really good burgers and even better French fries (they were almost like fries in the states). Also, he brought me another blanket which will be much needed now that the rainy season has started and it is a little chillier at night. I have certainly slept better the last couple of nights.

Yesterday I went to work for just a few hours in the morning, and spent the rest of the day sleeping. Thank goodness I haven't gotten seriously sick yet (no giardia), but there have been a few days here and there where I have no energy and just feel generally shaky and blah. So far I have just let myself sleep when I feel like that, and maybe that is the reason I haven't gotten anything worse. Haha! I have such good little white blood cells.

Today was back to action. I got into the office really early and got some writing done on my manual for the teachers on non-formal and environmental education. Then, for the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon, I went to a meeting of all of the groups of the municipality. We had presentations on electrical and water development projects, reforestation projects, HIV and AIDS education projects, presentations from the municipal firefighters and many, many others. The alcalde (mayor) also presented me to the whole group. However, sitting with me through the whole meeting (in my lap) was a little baby bird that just about literally fell into my lap while I was waiting for the meeting to start.

Baby, as of yet, does not have a name. I looked and looked for a nest, but all of them were far too high up in the ceiling to reach, and leaving him/her was out of the question with all of the big feet and wild dogs running around. I think it is some sort of sparrow or chickadee, but I am not quite sure. I have sent pictures out to several people to help me identify the species so we can find out what baby's favorite foods are. So far I have been using a syringe to feed a watery corn mixture, and it has eaten a few fruit flies that I so skillfully managed to catch. At the moment, baby is curled up with its head under its wing in a towel between two old pop bottles filled with hot water inside a box next to my bed. Poor little thing has had a really big day and is downright exhausted. I didn't really plan on having a pet here, but I guess one has found me. Anyone have suggestions for names?

Well, it is about time for me to put my head under my wing as well. Tomorrow is lots more work and more meetings. One of the other volunteers has a workshop here in my site tomorrow and Thursday so I will have company here tomorrow night. It is pretty exciting having another volunteer here to get to know and it will be nice to have someone to visit with since the woman who owns the house I am living in is in Norway for three weeks. Her brother and the house keeper are here sporadically, but we don't visit quite so much. Okay, my battery is almost gone and the power just went out so it is time to sign off for now. Vaya bien!

A Bit of a Backlog – April 15th

First of all, I have to send out a big "Hooray!" to Dad for the fact that I am sitting in my comfy bed (thanks to Doña Juanita), eating a peanut butter and honey sandwich (for which I owe a big thanks to Chase), and typing on my new computer (this is where Dad comes in). My computer (an HP mini which I have named Black Bean), I have to say, is just the cutest darn thing with an AC adapter I have ever seen, and it works like a dream. I am well aware as I sit here that, while I still have troubles from time to time, any sacrifices I am making pale in comparison to those made by individuals like Eric's brother and his wife, Jon, and Craig (among many others) when they served in the Peace Corps in the days before e-mail and Skype. Even people serving in Guatemala several years before me didn't have the now mandatory cell phone. I am truly blessed to be in such a wonderful site (it gets more and more amazing here every day) at a time when technology still allows me to stay in touch with all of the people who are so important to me back in the United States (and even a few more thanks to the viral-like presence of Facebook ;)).

So Dad is the genius behind the computer, but even he couldn't overcome the Guatemalan Postal System. How, you ask, did my computer get here? Well, it just so happens that my Training Director at the Peace Corps is from Minnesota, and his parents and some friends of theirs came down to visit for Easter. The friends (since my Training Director's parents are living in FL) were kind enough to carry my computer down here for me (they have even been described as guarding it with their lives). It was even brought out to me in my site, the added bonus being that I had my first ever tour group. We had a great morning (although we were a little short on time). Our first stop was my house where we had a quick snack of some of the tastiest pineapple I have ever had. They are able to assure anyone who still has doubts that I am living in an above-par location. Next, we went out to Jimmy and Ingrid's house to see how they process and dye the cotton yarn that they sell and use for weaving. Of course, after that we had to go to Jimmy and Ingrid's store to see the final products (several of which have a new home in Minnesota). The store is amazing and took plenty of time so we made just a quick stop at the house Maria Elena, the granddaughter of the famous painter Andres Churuchich. Sadly, we didn't have time to listen to all of the history, but we did find a few more treasures that will be making their way back to Minnesota. Last, but certainly not least, we had an amazing lunch waiting for us at another house. The Doña there also makes textiles and beautiful napkins, one of which was given to each of the women as a gift. I have to say; my eyes leaked a little to see the wonderful and heartwarming interaction between the amazing people from my home state and the amazing people that make up my new home.

Also in this edition; before I left I made a mix that I gave to a few close friends and family members. However, I didn't have the time (or rights) to give it to nearly as many people as I would have liked. It is a series of songs that have inspired me and/or kept me going through the whole process of applying to the Peace Corps (which is much tougher than it sounds) as well as songs that have little bits and pieces of how I see the world. I can't type nearly fast enough or take even close to as many pictures as I would need to share this experience with everyone, but some of these songs bring me one step closer. I am also adding songs that were not in the original mix (in italics).

Blog Bonus: Morgan's Peace Corps Mix

1. Now that I Know (Acoustic) – Shannon McNally
   
2. Every Single Soul – Michael Franti & Spearhead
   
3. Little Victories – Matt Nathanson
   
4. Don't Wait Too Long – Madeleine Peyroux
   
5. Oxygen – Willy Mason
   
6. Extraordinary Machine – Fiona Apple
   
7. Shroud – Ani Difranco
   
8. Life Uncommon – Jewel
   
9. Rise – Flobots
   
10. Hard Hand to Hold – Willy Mason
    
11. Better Way – Ben Harper
    
12. Let It Be – The Beatles
    
13. Where is the Love – Black Eyed Peas
    
14. Backbone – Wookiefoot
    
15. With My Own Two Hands – Jack Johnson
    
16. Joy to the World – Three Dog Night
    

The Light at the Beginning

After two and a half long months of training I have recieved my site assignment from the Peace Corps. Idealy, this is where I will be for the next two years. I am working on cultural tourism in a city in the department of Chimaltenango, and I am on my first full day here. I met my counterpart (my host country national half) the day before yesterday and arrived here yesterday afternoon. I have a week here in the city to find a place to live, meet local authorities, get to know the place where I will be working, conduct an analysis of current tourism conditions, meet my other counterparts, and generally get my ¨site legs.¨ Then, for a week I go back to the Peace Corps training center to review my site visit, learn some Kaqchikel (the Mayan language that is spoken here), and swear in as a Peace Corps Volunteer!

My life as a Gringa

Having blonde hair, blue eyes, and a mysterious inability to tan, I have always been and always will be a Gringa. Where I live doesn´t change that. The difference is that living and working in Guatemala I am noticed for it. When I turned in my application for the Peace Corps I knew that I wasn´t going undercover. The differences, I thought, would be one of the greatest parts of the adventure. People, I was sure, would see me and inevitably wonder what I was doing, where I was from, and how I got to where I am. It would give me a chance to share my story and be a wonderful oportunity to learn theirs. As it turns out, I got it half right. I have no doubt that people wonder who I am and what I´m doing here, but rarely does it turn into a cozy conversation.

At first I thought that peoples´reactions, though not what I had expected, were quaint. Little kids stroked and tugged at my pigtales while I was teaching a class, locals looked a little shocked when I greeted them in Spanish, people at the bus stop would flag the busses for me (which is more difficult than those of us accustomed to designated bus stops might anticipate). Unfortunately, it hasn´t taken long for the novelty to wear off. There have been times that I have wanted to stop people and tell them (and myself), "My name is Morgan. I work here... I live here." It´s not that it´s offensive, or even particularly difficult. In fact, most of the time it still makes me giggle, but each times it happens it reminds me sharply that being a part of a community here is going to be a job.

Today the bus almost flew past my stop (with me stuck on board) because the bus driver assumed I was headed to Antigua (a favorite spot for tourists). Today the barista stared at me, open mouthed, for the better part of the hour that I was sitting reading my paper (in Spanish). Today someone shouted "Gringa" at me in the parking lot of the shoping center. Today the gringos were out en mass. Today I realized that we gringos stare at each other with the same wide-eyed, open-mouthed look we get from most other people here. We are just as eager to know what that person is doing here and where they are from, and we are just as reluctant to ask.

Field-Based Training

So, for those of you who are not familiar, field-based training is a week of Peace Corps Training where they pull us out of our comfy training communities for a week of intense (and intensely cold) technical training. In place of four hours of Spanish class we have a week of eight hours a day of learning all sorts of surprizingly fun stuff like making park signs and trails. Don´t worry we had plenty of just plain ol´fun mixed in there too. I´m going to skip over the details of the lectures and highlight the fun stuff. There´s plenty to write about without giving you a crash course in eco-tourism.

FEBRUARY 14: Happy Valentine´s Day! I think I have pictures of the almost 80 valentines that I made for our training group, my whole family, and the staff at Peace Corps Guatemala. We were picked up by the Peace Corps vans again this morning to drive way the heck out into the highlands. I don´t normally get car sick, but this was one heck of a trip through the mountains. It was well worth it because once we got there we helped build the first wall of a building made of plastic bottles. All of the framing is done pretty tradicionally with either wood or metal and then the walls are lined with chicken wire and filled with plastic bottles packed tightly with chip bags and other plastic trash. Later the whole thing will be covered with a thin layer of cement mix so it will look just like a normal wall. It cleans up the community, it´s cheaper than block, and the bottles are more forgiving than block durring an earthquake. Granted, I don´t think it would fly in the states (though it might work for a chicken coup) but it´s pretty darn nifty here. When I got home from my day trip there were several Valentine´s day presents from my family waiting for me. My host mom, Kelly´s host mom, and my host sister got me hand towels (they are a very popular gift for all occations here ). One of my host cousins brough me a beautiful iris. One of my host aunts bought me a bag of cookies that were a lot like Grandma´s jam bars, and one of my host uncles drew me a beautiful card. Also, I got to have a really tasty dinner with Kelly and her host mom, complete with cake and hot chocolate. And to top it all off I learned to cut leña (firewood) with a machete! It was a wonderful day that captured the spirit perfectly! P.S. Start saving up those bottles and chip bags so I can build a house for my chickens when I get back to the states. ;)

FEBRUARY 15: We left for FBT. Lots of crazy driving again. We were just plain exhauted by the time we got to Totonicopan and went to sleep after a quick lecture and a not-so-quick campfire.

FEBRUARY 16: Today we learned how to make paths and trails and park signs. That meant I got to use lots of tools (including power tools, YAY)! We even learned how to make tools to measure the slope of the trails out of sticks and string and rocks. Again, maybe not a life-skill, but something that comes in handy here.

FEBRUARY 17: Today we spent the afternoon taking turns for our first bath of FBT. The women working in the kitchen boiled copious amounts of water so we would have warm bucket baths since it feels like Minnesota in September right now. While one person took a bucket bath, another guarded the door that didn´t stay shut and the rest of us learned how to make arts and crafts from garbage. This included mats made from woven newspaper, candle holders from pop cans, piggy banks made from 2 liter bottles, and flowers made from the tops of 20 ounce bottles. It was just like being in elementary school all over again, which is perfect because the kids here don´t really get exposed to arts and crafts. This is a great way to let them play and clean up the community at the same time. Not to mention what great mother´s day gifts they make. Moms love anything. Thanks moms!

FEBRUARY 18: Today we got to go to a school near the park we are staying at and teach the kids some of the crafts that we made yesterday. Erin and I were in a first grade classroom making bottle flowers. There were 32 kids in the classroom and they were amazingly well behaved and VERY affectionate. As we were working I was going around the room checking on everyone and after each step each of the kids would run up to me, proud as punch, saying ¨teacher look.¨ I need to expand my vocabulary for well done. After finishing our project with the kids, singing a song, and washing a metric ton of glue off of our hands we went outside for recess and snack with the kids. Some of them, usually little girls, would come up to us and give us pieces of bread. Being a rural area I am fairly sure that that was all some of them had brought to suplement the hot milk and corn flakes that the school provided.

FEBRUARY 19 : Today was worth sleeping in the freezing cold for the first part of this week. We got to go on the biggest zipline in Guatemala! This being Central America, and slightly lax on liability laws, we were able to go Superman style attached to the zipline by the back of our harness. One of the other volunteers took videos of each of us, and I´ll be posting mine soon. Words could not do this experience justice. The flight had a great view of lake Atitlan, and I felt just like a bird. When we got back from that we had an ecocamp with a class from one of the local private high schools. We all had a blast, and I think that the kids learned a lot.

FEBRUARY 20: All we really had today was a lecture, but it was pretty amazing. It was given by a man who has his PhD in Environmental Interpretation, which means that he figures out ways to make signs, paintings, demos, or what have you to interpret both environmental and cultural tourism sights! How awesome is that? I even wrote a pretty stellar little piece of poetry as part of a quick assignment he gave us... masters program anyone? I will certainly have to keep it in mind!

That about covers Field Based Training. As usual, I am behind in my writing and I have lots more to share, but that´s all for now folks.

Living on Guatemala Time

There is a joke here that if someone is half an hour late they're on time. Apparently I have adopted this ideology where my blog is concerned. I realized this morning that I haven't really shared anything that has happened since late January when we had the tremor! I will try to highlight all of the wonderful things that have happened since then without turning this into a novel!

JANUARY 31: In the morning we had a community interchange with one of the Health Schools groups. We made a little treasure hunt for facts around our Municipality. I have to say it was much more interesting for me to see the other town than it was for me to lead people around ours, partially due to the fact that the town that we went to was Pastores. Pastores is on the other side of Antigua and it is known for boots. There are stores upon stores lining the streets where you can see people cutting and dying leather to make any kind of boot you could possibly imagine, although the majority are cowboy boots. They aren't terribly expensive either. Certainly something to keep in mind if you are planning to head down for a visit. In the afternoon Kelly and I went to a festival in San Luis with her host mom. I am still a little confused about the occasion, but we ended up leaving 15 minutes or so after we got there. I guess I was expecting lots of people milling about, things to do, and neat things to see. It ended up being a pickup with large speakers on the back followed my a crowd of dancing men in drag. I wish I could answer your questions, but I am really baffled on this one.

FEBRUARY 1: Today Kelly and I were invited to my "uncle's" birthday party. It was fairly small, but lots of fun. Everyone ate like crazy and, of course, there was cake. As horribly as we eat in the states, there is a chunk of sugar and salt in everything here. This evening there was another birthday at home so we were graced with even more wonderful food... and cake. When it rains it pours, huh?

FEBRUARY 5: This afternoon each of the four people in our group gave charlas at the park at which we are working. This has been a stress factor for all of us for several weeks, and I think that we are all quite glad to be done with it. While our Spanish is getting good enough to communicate our thoughts and feelings on a daily basis, giving a semi-formal half-hour presentation to nine park guides and several managers from the muni is another animal all together. My charla was on how to write an effective mission statement. We started with a puzzle that I made from a piece of construction paper (that was darn difficult, if I may say so). I handed out a piece to each person and then asked if they could put it together alone or in small groups. "Of course not, we wouldn't have all the pieces." Then I asked them to work together to try and put it together. They got pretty far, but couldn't quite get it all to fit. Then I gave them another piece of construction paper with the solved puzzle outlined on it (representing a mission statement) and asked them to try again. Pan comida (piece of cake). We talked for a while about the similarities between a company and the puzzle, and then we looked at the mission statement for Polaroid (which is something along the lines of helping people capture their memories), and how it really gets to the heart of what the company is doing and allows them to evolve with technology. No, I didn't use that phrasing. I used pictures that I cut out of the newspaper. Also, no one needs to tell these guys that Polaroid isn't doing so hot, it was the thought that counted.

FEBRUARY 7: Today was one of the most exciting days for me since we have been here. All 32 of us were picked up in our communities this morning and we drove out to a Mayan site to be a part of a Mayan ceremony. It was a private house where they had unearthed an old Mayan altar. Originally the owner of the property had built his house over the altar, but upon moving in he suddenly began drinking heavily. He tried unsuccessfully to quit several times, and the problem got so bad that they called a Mayan priest to the house. The priest explained that the reason he was having issues was because of where he had built his house. The house was moved and the site excavated, and according to the owner of the house, he hasn't had the urge to drink since. The ceremony itself was very intense, even though we didn't use the altar. The fire was made in the common area outside the owners house. We were all allowed to participate by placing candles in the fire at several times during the ceremony. I ended up very sunburned but it was vale la pena (worth the price).

FEBRUARY 8: Kelly and I had a sleepover at her house last night. She and her host mom were at a baptism yesterday afternoon, and they came and got me after dinner. We went back to the baptism (which was more like a wedding reception and kept going long after we left at 8), and I had my first dance in Guatemala. Before any eyebrows go up I would like to explain that my dance partner was a short, stout, and fierce Guatemalan woman who rocked from side to side so vigorously that I thought she was going to tip me over.

FEBRUARY 13: Today we (Anthony and I) went into Antigua with the Marketing Director of Senderos De Alux. I had been under the impression we were going to shadow him while he presented the park to various Spanish Schools in the city. However, when we got there we were each handed a stack of pamphlets, assigned several blocks, and told to meet back at the car in two hours. Not only was it hotter than sin, but there weren't enough Spanish schools to occupy two hours, and the car disappeared until it was time to meet up again. I still love my job, but I didn't think that "Tourism Evangelist" was on the description. Still, it gives us lots of good suggestions that we can include in our POA (Annual Operating Plan) for the park. I do have to say it was a good thing that I was able to find a good cup of coffee today, because I was up half the night last night making 70 valentines for my training group and some of the staff at the Peace Corps office. However, the lack of sleep has been well worth seeing the smiles on peoples' faces (even if I have had to explain the occasion to some of the staff here).

Well, that about sums it up for now. I am going to be at Field-Based Training for the next week, which means that I will be out in the boondocks. If I don't get back to you, know that I am still alive, I'm just spending all my time in classes and zip-lining down mountains. You can bet that I will have lots of pictures and plenty to write about when I get back!

Vaya bien,
Morgan

The 'Boring' Parts

So, plenty of people have been asking about my family, living situation, daily rutine, etc. This is my attempt to address just a few of those.

I am currently living with 6 other people in a single-level house. My host mom is the head of the house, and I live with her, her husband, their daughter and her husband, and their one-year-old son and one-month-old daughter. It isn´t particularly crowded, but I don´t think we could fit many more. I do have a room to myself with a bed, a nightstand, a desk and stool, and some wire racks where I store clothes. I also have a window right next to my desk which is great for airing out the room, but the view consists of the bars over the window and the VW bus that has been parked outside since I arrived. We do have power constatly (thus far) and I am able to plug in my iPod and speakers now and then to listen to a little bit of music. The only real shortage I´ve run into relates to the bathroom. With five adults in the house it is in high demand, but no crisis thus far. :)

Though reserved, everyone in my family is very friendly. The only tension was with the one year old boy, but I can hardly blame him. I am living in what used to be his room, and I arrived barely one week after his baby sister. Talk about some major changes for the little guy! However, we are getting along much better and this week he started to put his arms up for I hug when I came home. I´m looking forward to doing more playing in the recent future!

My daily schedule is a little bit more difficult because it changes a bit depending on the day. Mondays I am at the Peace Corps office for medical, technical, safety, and cultural training. On those days we are in Santa Lucia all day so our lunch is packed for us (it´s a little bit like being in kindergarten again). There are also random days for technical training, meetings, and activities, but an average day with Spanish class looks something like this;

6:00am - Wake up, shower (hopefully not too cold), get dressed, clean room
6:45am - Go outside and around the house to the kitchen door, and go into the kitchen where breakfast is usually waiting for me. Average breakfast: eggs, hot milk, and bread.
7:30am - Go back around to my room to pack my bag for school
7:45am - Leave the house and go to get Kelly (the other female volunteer) so we can walk to the house where class is being held that day.
8:00am - Spanish class
10:00am - The Doña of the house brings us a yummy snack
12:30pm - Go back home for lunch. Average lunch: soup, vegitables, atol (any thick hot drink), and bread.
2:00pm - Leave the house and go to Kelly´s to work on whatever project we are currently supposed to be working on and Spanish homework. A snack is usually involved.
6:30pm - Go back home and visit with my family
7:00 - Eat dinner. Average dinner: beans, atol, meat, more bread.
8:00 - Bedtime. I usually read a bit and review more Spanish words while listing to the really loud music from the evangelical church with which I share a wall.

As you can see food, and bread, are in good supply here. Needless to say, the Peace Corps diet is more likely than not a myth. I have heard rumors that the average weight change of a Peace Corps volunteer is an addition of 13 pounds. Drat. Still, some of you have asked my about care packages. I know that mailing things internationally is expensive, so I certainly don´t expect anything (except maybe a letter now and again), but here is a list if you feel so inclined:

- Sugar-free speramint gum
- Sunflower butter
- Cinnamon Teddygrahms
- Cheddar Goldfish crackers
- Dark Chocolate (I promise, it doesn´t exist here!)
- Nonni´s biscotti
- Hot chocolate mix
- Your hugs

Vaya bien,
Morgan

Temblor

First of all, this is much safer than it sounds. I felt my first earthquake today! It wasn´t really an earthquake (terrimoto) so much as a tremor (temblor). It wasn´t even enough to rattle the cupboards, but we were definitely able to feel it. I was sitting on a bench at the time, and it felt like someone was shaking the bench back and forth rather slowly. Actually, I think we all felt a little dizzy and really excited about it. There is one person in our group of four from California, but I am fairly sure that this was something new for the rest of us. We´re easily amused and very well informed about earthquake safety.

Volcano Pacaya

Today being a Sunday all of the Peace Corps volunteers had the day off (with the exception of mass most Sundays), and one of the volunteers was wonderful enough to coordinate a group expidition to Pacaya. Pacaya is a volcano that was dormant for over 100 years prior to 1965. It erupted violently that year and has been fairly active since. We hiked up to and on the lava flows today and even roasted marshmallows and warmed our hands over the vents.

Our morning started at 5 this morning with getting up and getting ready for a big day of hiking. My group met around 6 to head into Antigua where we met the rest of the group at 7. We had hired a minibus to drive the 40 minutes or so to Pacaya, which was much more comfortable than riding in a crouded camioneta. The hike was intense since we were some 8,000 feet above sea level. The terain is also rather dusty, and I ended up having some problems breathing about half way up. However, I did make it all the way to the lava flows (which were not flowing today), and all the way back down safely, though I think I will be talking to the medical office in Santa Lucia during training tomorrow. They warned me during my medical intake interview that asthma may be a problem here due to the air quality and altitude, but they have an amazing staff here and are able to accomodate a variety of respiratory issues.

Most of the walk was through forest type terrain, though the pitch was sufficiently steep. It was well worth it ´vale la pena´and the lava flows themselves were amazing. We were able to see for miles and miles! I have pictures of cities and lakes miles away that I will be posting soon. We could also feel a lot of heat from the vents and siting on the ´cooled´lava was only possible for 15 minutes or so and then it got a little too toasty. While we are working extremely hard here on new Spanish vocablulary and technical abilities, Sundays give us the chance to get to know other parts of the country. We are strongly encouraged by the Peace Corps to take trips with our families to get to know all we can about Guatemala, and there is plenty to keep us busy for two years of weekends. For how small the country is it offers an amazing variety of landscapes and cultures. I am sure that Pacaya, in all its glory, was only the beginning.

Vaya bien,
Morgana

Digest Two

Bienvenidos from Guatemala!

I apologize for the giant size of this blog and the lack of pictures. There is lots to write about, and I promise that I will be sending pictures soon. Since there have been so many things going on I´m going to try to break it down by days since I last wrote. For those of you who don´t have a whole lot of time you can read a day at a time and make it last longer :).

JANUARY 15: I am beginning to learn the Rosary in Spanish fairly well. Many afternoons when I get home from class the whole family is in the common room just outside my bedroom doing the Rosary. It does give me time to write. Being in the Peace Corps is a little bit like being in a tame warp. Most of the time I feel like I have so much time on my hands, but when it gets to the end of the day I look back and it has gone so quickly. An average day so far has been waking up at 5 when the buses start running and enjoying the warmth of my bed until 6 when I get up to take a shower. I go into the kitchen to talk to Doña Eva and eat my breakfast around 6:30, and then pack my bag for the day and head out for class, training or work between 7 and 8. If we are close enough I came home for an hour to have lunch and then it´s back for four more hours of class, training, or work. I get back about an hour before dinner and work on something in my room while the family is in the common room. I gets dark around 6 and dinner is usually at 7, so that´s the end of the day for me. I am happy to go to bed early because I know that tomorrow will always be a busy day.

JANUARY 16: Today was, overall, a good day. My shower this morning was pretty cold, which was a bit of a let down after the other night´s hot shower. I was early for Spanish class which gave me a chance to pal around with Kelly, the other female volunteer in my group. We are working on the preterit/imperfect which is still a bit difficult for me. Lunch was quick and then the whole group was off to the municipality in San Lucas Milpas Altas to meet with Don Roberto, the director of the park where we are working. We interviewed him about the attributes and pitfalls of the park, it was fun and he is very willing to work with us, but all we really learned is that he doesn´t really see the park as having any pitfalls. That may be a little interesting. He also invited us back to San Lucas for their patron saint day in October. After the interview the four of us stopped at a little cantina so the boys could have a beer. It was great to sit and get to know my group better and relax a little.

JANUARY 17: Today in Spanish class we watched a movie called Voces Inocentes about the war in El Salvador during the 80s. It was one of the saddest movies I have ever seen. I was shocked that something like that was going on while I was growing up, and I don´t remember hearing anything about it. I guess I was busy being a kid, and it certainly made me realize how grateful I am for the childhood that I had. After the movie we hiked up to the park (which is a 20 minute hike up a forty or fifty degree incline). This time we actually got to walk around the trails in the park, and it is more amazing than I imagined! There are rope bridges and tree swings that swing out over cliffs. Of course, we all had to try those out. Again, I will be sending plenty of pictures soon. I really don´t even have the words to describe what an adventure this park is. When we got back to San Bartolomè Doña Eva brought me over to her sister-in-law´s house to make real tortillas over a fire. I love spending time with the women here.

JANUARY 18: I got to sleep in a little today since mass doesn´t start until 9. However, sleeping in here really just means staying in my nice warm bed since only the dead can sleep through the busses honking their horns down the street :). After mass was the most fun I have had since I have been here (with the possible exception of swinging over cliffs yesterday). Doña Eva and her sister-in-law (a different one) Doña Marzia (who lives next door) took me to see the ruins of San Fransico cathedral in Antigua, and then we went to the market in San Felipe which is an aldea outside of Antigua. Doña Eva bought me this amazing woven purse that I haven´t put down since, and then we had atols (which are any thick hot drink and very popular here) in the open market. Doña Marzia´s daughter Christina came with us and Christina´s three sons who are 11, 9, and 6. The boys were a ton of fun to joke and run around with. My atol was arroz con leche, which is a lot like a runny rice pudding and reminds me a lot of home. Doña Eva also invited me to help with dinner when we got home, which is a first. I´m starting to really feel like a part of the family.

JANUARY 19: Today was exhausting. It was my third big day in a row. After having so many things to do I keep thinking that the next day must be boring, but it never is. Eventually it will sink in that every day is an adventure here. Toady's big trip was to Guatemala City which is the capital of Guatemala. With the exception of group trips, specialized medical needs, lab tests, and trips to the embassy it is off limits to Peace Corps trainees and volunteers. To be completely honest, I don´t really mind. The city can be best described as any large American city with subtitles. On the upside, I did get another fantastic cup of coffee (which always makes my day) and a book in Spanish. I am sure it will take me forever to read, but it will help with my Spanish. Not to mention that the longer it lasts the better because books are a little hard to come by here.

JANUARY 20: I´m sure that today was a big day for everyone. I hope that you all had a chance to watch the inauguration, so I won´t bother filling you in on that. They rearranged our class schedule so that the whole group was able to watch Obama´s speech at the Peace Corps headquarters. What an amazing place to be for such an astounding event!

JANUARY 21: Today was Doña Rosa´s birthday. Doña Rosa is Kelly´s host mom, and she is an amazingly sweet lady. She made lunch for some of the neighbors, our group of four Peace Corps volunteers and our teacher. It was a beautiful day out, and after lunch Kelly, Enrique (one of the neighbor boys), and I played with the poi that I brought. Kelly and I then headed to the Internet with every intention of working, only to be sidetracked by a game of basketball that turned into an afternoon of basketball. Sadly, all good things must come to an end and (exhausted) I headed home for dinner. As we were finishing dinner, someone came to the door asking for Doña Eva who is a type of community nurse. I haven´t quite figured out what she does or what organization she is working with, but we have a family health organization sign outside our door, and people frequently come to the house for shots or medical questions. On this occasion she needed to leave the house and asked me if I wanted to come with her. We ended up riding in someones pickup further out in San Bartolomé than I have ever been to a small house. The room we entered was almost entirely occupied by a bed, and in the bed was a woman almost lost in blankets. She was the same woman about whom the municipality had been making announcements all day. She is in need of surgery and since the family did not have the money to pay for it the municipal building made an announcement over the loud speaker asking people to donate at the office until the need was met. I can´t yet understand or explain all the feelings that I encountered being in that room. There is an amazing sense of community and family here that is, at times, overwhelming.

JANUARY 22: Phew, after yesterday this is short. We had technical training this morning and met our mentor who is a current volunteer at a sight that does volcano tours. This afternoon was Spanish class as usual, except that we convinced Jesse to give us a brief ukulele performance before we all went our separate ways.

Briefly, I want to also let you all know that I know that these e-mails are getting a bit long. In the interest of saving everyone´s inbox, I am thinking of moving all future e-mails to a protected blog. In other words, instead of e-mailing everyone I will simply post to a website that I will grant access to. If really important or awesome things come up I will certainly still sent out e-mails. I will also be able to post pictures to the blog. I will let you know as soon as I get it set up.

Vaya bien,
Morgan

Week One

Bienveniedos! I found an internet cafe in San Bartolome where I am working, so I will be able to send e-mails more often, but this keyboard is pretty sticky and tricky so it is currently taking me a long time to type. This has been a wonderful week, and the more time that I spend here the more I know that this is where I am supposed to be.

Earlier this week my group was introduced to Senderos de Alux, the park where we will be working. I haven't had a chance to take picture of it yet, but it is a beautiful forest with a cliff overlooking dowtown Guatemala city. The whole project i absolutely breathtaking. I am a little sad that it is my training project and I will only be there for the first few months. After that it is most likely off to the backwaters of Guatemala. However, I am sure that I will be just in love with whatever part of the country I end up in.

The first few days with my host family were a little rough as my host family is very reserved and my Spanish is currently less than stellar (but improving rapidly). There were a few days that saw a loss of apetite and an increase in sleep, but yesterday was absolutely amazing and marked a new chapter with my family. First, when the group had finished with our daily 4-5 hours of Spanish class we decided to take the afternoon off and take a bus into Antigua (the Gringo city). I wasn´t terribly impressed with the city itself, but it was a good chance to see what it was like, get to know my coworkers a little better, and blow off some steam. San Bartolome is fairly small and as an American woman there are always people watching to see what you are doing. We didn´t actually act any different in Antigua, but not having to worry about it for a little while was a relief. Also, knowing that we could navigate the busses by ourselves was empowering. Maybe best of all, I got an amazing cup of coffee while in the city. In San Bartolo if I have coffee with breakfast it is instant coffee, and any milk is powdered milk.

When I got home the trip to Antigua provided plenty of conversation that was within the limits of my vocabulary. With so much class it is easy to run out of conversation material fairly quickly. Another downfall is that as trainees we are hand fed, and my family is very careful not to ask much of me. I occationally have to sneek in to do the dishes or I am scolded off. However, last night after dinner Doña Eva began tortillando (making tortillas, litterally torilla-ing), and I expressed an interest. I am anxious to learn local trades like making tortillas and weaving. Not only did she teach me to shape a mean tortilla, we made chuchos together. Chuchos are like small tomalles. You flatten a round of dough (like you are making a tortilla) and place a cube of chicken in the middle (bones included, apparently people like to chew on them). Over the chicken you spread some tomato sauce and then close the dough. That is placed in a corn husk and covered with a little more tomato sauce. Then the corn husk is folded closed and tied with a string of corn husk. Chuchos may be my new favorite lunch! Incidentally, it also happens to be the word for the stray dogs that are so prevalent here.

After that I was in need of a shower. As you might have guessed, a shower here is an adventure. We are fortunate to be in a moderately sized city with running water (no bucket baths for us), but there are VERY few places in the country where there is hot water. Instead showers are equipped with ´calentadores´ which are electrical heaters attached between the pipe and the shower head. At first, it looks like one would have to be crazy or suicidal since it is usually a mass of water pipes and electrical wiring, but I am told that they are very safe, and I have yet to have a shock. Since the calentador can only heat so much water at a time, the trick is to turn the water down until it is warm enough to shower (the water doesn´t really get hot here, it just gets less cold). Days when a shower fogs up the mirror are good days. Last night I was actually able to turn the water down low enough to get a HOT shower!

I am getting to be a fairly heavy sleeper. My bedroom shares a wall with an evangelical church (here you are either evangelical or Catholic... I've opted for Catholic), and on the nights that I go to bed before 9 (which is all of them) I fall asleep to loud and slightly off-key Spanish Christian rock. It is also common practice here to set off fire crackers outside someones door on their birthday, and it´s usually done around 5 in the morning. I woke up in a cold sweat the first couple of times, now it just makes me smile. I may have to move in next to a fire station when I get back to the states ;).

Well, that´s about it. I do want to say that reading over what I´ve written I have chosen not to change anything, but there are things that could be taken negatively. Please know that I adore each and every one of these experiences, and I wouldn´t change a thing! I am very fond of all of the people here, and they are bending over backwards to make me comfortble. Each of the challenges I have mentioned are things that I think about and smile. I hope that they will do the same for you.

Vaya bien,

Morgan

Here at last!

I really wish that I had the time to e-mail each of you individually, but the computers at the Peace Corps headquarters are in high demand. I'll try to include enough detail to satisfy your curiosty while staying breif enough to bring any of the waiting voluteers to tears. If you can think of anyone that I have missed on the mailing list, please forward this to them and send me a quick e-mail so I know to include them in the future.

Our first day here was really a blur. We checked out of our hotel in Washington DC at 1:30 in the morning on Wednesday and spent the first part of the flying and waiting in airports. It was a good chance to get to know the rest of the (tierd) volunteers. Getting into Guatemala was much easier than I had expected. We gave all of our forms to one of the individuals from the Peace Corps office and passed through customs without pause. We loaded our luggage into vans and hopped on a bus to Santa Lucia Milpas Altas where the Peace Corps Headquarters is located. It is a beautiful compound, and very secure. We spent the night in pairs with host families. I am with another girl in the Community Tourism group, and I could not have asked for a better family for my first few days in Guatemala. They have two children; an eight year old girl and a three year old boy. Their home is beautiful and cozy. I'm sleeping in a lovely bed, and there is a bathroom with a shower attached to the room. The water isn't always reliable, and the showers are usually luke warm, but I am in love with Guatemala already.

Yesterday was filled with lots of rules and regulations. In between all of that we had interviews in Spanish. So far, that has been the most nerve-wracking part. I must have done better than I thought because I ended up in a high intermediate group. We are divided into four person groups according to our Spanish level, and tomorrow our groups will be sent out to our training site where we will work with a language instructor on our Spanish, and work as a group on a small assignment to help the community. I have been assigned to a project in San Bartolome Milpas Altas (a 20 min. bus ride from Santa Lucia) working with a park to develop promotion materials. REMEMBER this is just the project that I will be working on during training in my group of four. I am still a very long way from knowing what my permanent project will be.

I haven't taken many pictures yet, and I don't have my connection with me. However, we will be coming back to the training center from our training communities on Mondays, and one of these weeks I will be sure to send quite a few pictures for all of you.

Salud!!!

Morgan