Stress Makes Me Clever (A Haiku)
Each day it's clearer;
My theme for the next two years:
f-LEXI-bilidad.
Site Visits! Whoa. That pretty much sums that up. Things are going to be good- but not yet. My site is really pretty, with a (suprisingly clean) river running through it and palm trees all over (my favorite =]). The people are nice enough, although still fairly intimidating in their sheer unfamiliarity and...differentness. My counterpart is super nice, and I think she'll be a great resource in terms of support and hospitality.
As for work...I have really no idea. It's just me and my counterpart in teh (phoneless, internetless, printerless) office and in the three days I was there I spent one in a community watching a taller for men on women's rights, on ein the office listening to my counterpart argue with the man who gave the taller about everything under the sun, and the third briefly meeting members of the muni...and getting my nails done. I'm still not completely sure what it is I'll be doing hut I think once I get going it'll start to get clearer (let's hope).
As for the new living situation... I had two options to choose from, so my counterpart took me to look at them both when we got to my site on tuesday night. The first option was an apartmnet above a family's house, which would have been nice but expensive. No matter, because when we got there the family pulled out the old "Fijese Que..." (loose translation: we're about to tell you had news but Guatemalan etiquette doesn't allow us to just come out and tell you so we're going to hmm and haw a little bit but get ready because you're not gonna like it)- their son had decided to move into the apartment but they had a room I could use if I wanted (BUT, they made sure to tell me fifteen times, if I wanted to choose the other place, that would really be okay). The room was literally a cube with a broken bed crammed into it and no light. They also pointed out that there was no room for a stove (an obvious observation seeing as there wasn't even enough room for ME in the room), to which my counterpart replied that they would have to share their kitchen. Their response: "Oh, I don't think she would like that..." So, I got the message pretty clear that the other option was, really, my only option.
So, to Dona Silvia's I went. Dona Silvia is a seventy-something year old woman who lives with her husband (apparently irrelevant, as everyone calls the house Dona Silvia's) and had volunteers stay with her in the 80's. SHe remembers every thing about every one of them, including where they live now and teh names of all their children and probably, if I asked her, their favorite colors. My room is fine, but the closet is full of their belongings so it looks like I'll be living out of my suitcases for a while. It's certainly not home- and a far cry away from my Guatemalan home which I am more or less heartbroken to be leaving, but it will do.
Volunteers all say that the first 3 months of service are the hardest, and I can see that that's going to be true, but in the mean time I'm comforting myself with the knowledge that everyone else is freaking out about as much, if not more, than I am (thank God for text messaging and the simple correspondence of mutal "WTF?!" sentiments), getting excited to spend the next two years fighting for women's rights, and enjoying my last week here in San Luis with my family.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
You were born to be alive~
Eastward Bound (A Haiku)
Site placement results:
I’m moving to Honduras…
Close enough, at least.
So, apparently we are not supposed to post city names on blogs, but my site is a town in the department of Chiquimula, about 20 kilometers (12 ½ miles for us irrational non-metric system users) from the capital, 14,000 people, and basically the farthest east you can get before you hit Honduras. Certainly the farthest East Peace Corps site. So, it’s quite a bit out of the way from everything. BUT, I’ll be working with a women’s organization called CODEFEM instead of directly with a Muni. This is the first time Peace Corps has worked with them, and I’m super excited to be working with an NGO.
As exciting as that all is, though, at the same time I’m getting really sad to be leaving my training family. They’ve been such a huge support system for me, not to mention huge entertainment. Doña Susanna told Wilson today that I was getting ready to leave, and he just kept saying “No”. I can’t imagine not waking up every day to him saying “Ale- Hola!” Not to mention my host brothers and I have been seriously bonding over baseball.
Today we meet our counterparts and spend the day with them at headquarters...tomorrow we heat to our sites for the week to check everything out! eek! wish me luck...
Site placement results:
I’m moving to Honduras…
Close enough, at least.
So, apparently we are not supposed to post city names on blogs, but my site is a town in the department of Chiquimula, about 20 kilometers (12 ½ miles for us irrational non-metric system users) from the capital, 14,000 people, and basically the farthest east you can get before you hit Honduras. Certainly the farthest East Peace Corps site. So, it’s quite a bit out of the way from everything. BUT, I’ll be working with a women’s organization called CODEFEM instead of directly with a Muni. This is the first time Peace Corps has worked with them, and I’m super excited to be working with an NGO.
As exciting as that all is, though, at the same time I’m getting really sad to be leaving my training family. They’ve been such a huge support system for me, not to mention huge entertainment. Doña Susanna told Wilson today that I was getting ready to leave, and he just kept saying “No”. I can’t imagine not waking up every day to him saying “Ale- Hola!” Not to mention my host brothers and I have been seriously bonding over baseball.
Today we meet our counterparts and spend the day with them at headquarters...tomorrow we heat to our sites for the week to check everything out! eek! wish me luck...
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
You don’t look different, but you have changed
Forget Comfort Food
Baseball playoffs on TV
That’s my therapy.
I’m in heaven. Really, things could not be better. My host family recently discovered my love of baseball and has since more or less constantly left the playoffs on the TV for me. I have a little guilt about this, since they are clearly completely uninterested in the sport, but not enough to tell them to turn it off. Last night I tried to explain to my host mom the phenomenon that is Mariano Rivera, and her response was “oh…sí”. So, baseball clearly won’t be any sort of avenue for cultural exchange, but it sure is nice to have for my own personal sanity.
The only one who seems to show any interest at all in baseball is Wilson, who replied enthusiastically “sí!” when I asked him if he was going to play baseball when he was older (although I got the same response when I asked him if he drove a car today and if he was a penguin). We also played a makeshift game, using his hat as the ball, a matchbox as the glove, and a pen as the bat. Every time he hit, threw, or caught the ‘ball’ he yelled “goalllllllll”. So it’s a work in progress.
I once again made it back from the East. My trip to visit a volunteer who’s already had her two years in country was pretty relaxed. We met some of the families she’s close to in the community, made pizza with her youth group, traveled to one of her communities to give a training (three people showed up, so the training was cancelled, but it was fun to see one of the smaller aldeas), and basically just hung out. Everyone wanted to know if I was the volunteer that’s going to replace her, and when we responded that we still didn’t know, their next question was always “well can you request to be placed here? Can we request you?” We find out this week (Thursday!) where our actual sites are, and I’m peeing-my-pants excited.
Wilson was, once again, ecstatic when I came home. He’s talking so much more just since I left for this trip, and it makes me sad to think about leaving in less than a month. My Guatemalan family has been such a huge support system for me so far; I can’t imagine life here without them.
Nothing else very exciting going on here- I will try to keep everyone updated on my site assignment ASAP. Until then, keep your fingers crossed =)
Baseball playoffs on TV
That’s my therapy.
I’m in heaven. Really, things could not be better. My host family recently discovered my love of baseball and has since more or less constantly left the playoffs on the TV for me. I have a little guilt about this, since they are clearly completely uninterested in the sport, but not enough to tell them to turn it off. Last night I tried to explain to my host mom the phenomenon that is Mariano Rivera, and her response was “oh…sí”. So, baseball clearly won’t be any sort of avenue for cultural exchange, but it sure is nice to have for my own personal sanity.
The only one who seems to show any interest at all in baseball is Wilson, who replied enthusiastically “sí!” when I asked him if he was going to play baseball when he was older (although I got the same response when I asked him if he drove a car today and if he was a penguin). We also played a makeshift game, using his hat as the ball, a matchbox as the glove, and a pen as the bat. Every time he hit, threw, or caught the ‘ball’ he yelled “goalllllllll”. So it’s a work in progress.
I once again made it back from the East. My trip to visit a volunteer who’s already had her two years in country was pretty relaxed. We met some of the families she’s close to in the community, made pizza with her youth group, traveled to one of her communities to give a training (three people showed up, so the training was cancelled, but it was fun to see one of the smaller aldeas), and basically just hung out. Everyone wanted to know if I was the volunteer that’s going to replace her, and when we responded that we still didn’t know, their next question was always “well can you request to be placed here? Can we request you?” We find out this week (Thursday!) where our actual sites are, and I’m peeing-my-pants excited.
Wilson was, once again, ecstatic when I came home. He’s talking so much more just since I left for this trip, and it makes me sad to think about leaving in less than a month. My Guatemalan family has been such a huge support system for me so far; I can’t imagine life here without them.
Nothing else very exciting going on here- I will try to keep everyone updated on my site assignment ASAP. Until then, keep your fingers crossed =)
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
And It Takes Some Work To Make It Work
Spanglish (A Haiku)
English is muddled,
Spanish has good days and bad.
Sometimes they both fail.
Highlight of the week has definitely been our surprise party for sitemate Frank, although I’m still not sure how we managed to keep it a surprise… once again, all the families got together to celebrate. The moms (with the help of Allie and Noor; I had to “babysit” Frank) made paches, a typical Guatemalan dish made with potatoes and cooked in banana leaves. It was also Dia de los Niños, so Brenda got a piñata for the kids and Frank (the big kid). It was a great night, ending with me introducing Wilson and the twins to the magic of photobooth and all the laughs that come with it.
Other than that the week has been quiet. We visited a macadamia nut farm and had delicious macadamia pancakes. We also had a Spanish assignment to make something out of recycled materials, so I made a coin holder out of my razor blade container and decorated it with magazine cutouts. It’s pretty much my favorite possession now.
Tomorrow I head back to the east for volunteer visits. I’m visiting Reianna, the volunteer who took us up on the church roof during FBT. They say that where we are going for these visits is completely random and has nothing to do with where our sites will be; I’m not sure I believe that. Either way, we find out a week from Thursday where our sites are- I can’t wait!
English is muddled,
Spanish has good days and bad.
Sometimes they both fail.
Highlight of the week has definitely been our surprise party for sitemate Frank, although I’m still not sure how we managed to keep it a surprise… once again, all the families got together to celebrate. The moms (with the help of Allie and Noor; I had to “babysit” Frank) made paches, a typical Guatemalan dish made with potatoes and cooked in banana leaves. It was also Dia de los Niños, so Brenda got a piñata for the kids and Frank (the big kid). It was a great night, ending with me introducing Wilson and the twins to the magic of photobooth and all the laughs that come with it.
Other than that the week has been quiet. We visited a macadamia nut farm and had delicious macadamia pancakes. We also had a Spanish assignment to make something out of recycled materials, so I made a coin holder out of my razor blade container and decorated it with magazine cutouts. It’s pretty much my favorite possession now.
Tomorrow I head back to the east for volunteer visits. I’m visiting Reianna, the volunteer who took us up on the church roof during FBT. They say that where we are going for these visits is completely random and has nothing to do with where our sites will be; I’m not sure I believe that. Either way, we find out a week from Thursday where our sites are- I can’t wait!
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