Feliz Navidad!

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Feliz Navidad y Feliz Año Nuevo a cada uno de ustedes! I hope you are all enjoying the holidays 😊

All in all December has been quite the slow month. With all the kids in my village out of school for a couple months on vacation, families working in the cornfields sun up to sun down, the energy in the center of town is not nearly the same as when all the kids are in shcool, playing outside during their breaks and recess. I have been trying to embrace these slow days and take advantage of the extra free time December brings. I bought a few different colors of paint and have been painting my walls and ceiling in my new house, even a few of my 6 host-brothers have been joining and helping me paint a couple of times! I painted my wooden table first with Moises Fernando, the second youngest brother. I designated a wall for them to paint whatever they want so that has been fun to share creative expressions through art with them, especially because the youngest is just learning Spanish thus we cannot communicate very well at all. I have never had a brother, now I have 6! They are full of energy and eagerness to learn and can express themselves with much creativity through their art I am observing. One day we even made clay figures, too, and it was fun to see what they created! I made a snowboarder and then taught them what snowboarding is and explained how it was one of my favorite activities to do in the Winter when I was living in the States. It will be interseting so see our progression in communication through out the next two years as I learn more Ki´che´ and as they continue to learn more Spanish in school.

In addition to my new host family last month I am renting my house from, I also have acquired a new member to my house.. a puppy cockerspaniel! I got her a few weeks ago, and she is almost 3 months old, hence we are still potty-training. She is being introduced to this new world where when she walks outside my house she is confronted with 4-5 turkeys, 2 pigs, chickens, a few dogs, and whatever other animal happens to be passing by along with several kids always playing or helping out their family outside. My village could be explained as one big farm, there are animals everywhere since very few have little houses or fences to keep them within a certain area. Canela, my new puppy which means Cinnamon in Spanish, is learning quickly her place as she gets confronted by these other animals and kids, but she loves to play with the kids which is something fun for them to do, as well. It is amazing that the dogs here do not eat and attack the chickens, they learn early to not to so because it is expensive to buy a turkey or a chicken, and the dog could very well likely be killed or beaten, and if their animal were to be killed by a dog, then the owner of the dog has to pay. I am trying to teach Canela now that she cannot attack other animals! All in all I have been so grateful of her presense in my life. It is nice to have a new presence and energy in my houe and to have a companion through out the day and night. She loves to play, yet is very loving and enjoys cuddling and likes to take several naps, always staying nearby if not in my lap. It is great!

It is actually an interesting story of how I found Canela, although I like to think of it as she found me as the universe brought us together one sunday evening in December, a week before my birthday. I was looking for a ride back up to my town after going to the sunday market in San Cristobal, a town nearby. But during December there is a tradition in this town, as well as many others, called the Dias de Los Diablos, or devil days, and young men dress up in costumes, masks, and paint their bodies and run around town causing havic and ´´hitting´´ people, it can get pretty intense sometimes. They were blocking all the exits where i needed to go to find a ride and the sun was about to start setting, and they stole my friend´s keys out of his door and ran away. I was walking back after attempting to leave and heard keys jingle. I turned back and saw the Diablo that had taken his keys and was jingling them infront of my face, I asked for them and he pointed to his cheek (although was wearing a mask) asking for a beso (kiss), so I had to kiss him on the cheek to get back his keys then headed back to my friend´s house to tell him I had his keys. He was not there, out looking for his keys I imagine, but his neighbors invited me in for coffee and bread, so I agreed as we waited for my friend to return. When I walked in their house, it was then when I saw these two adorable puppies, as well as both their mom and dad. I fell in love with Canela, she slept in my lap all evening and I came back the next day to bring her home with me!

With December being slow, we have put our bottle project on hold until January since not many community members nor those we are working with on this project are able to meet with us and begin the construction aspect. However, we are still having our Environmental Camp with the kids during their vacation. So far we have done a lot of recyclable crafts such as using old plastic bottles to make devices to wash your hands, fly traps, activities to learn about organic and inorganic trash, games, painting old cans and cartons, and we made environmental posters to raise awareness about taking care of nature and putting trash in its place. It has been fun to do lots of recyclable activities with the kids, especially since they show a grand interest in using old things such as used bottles, cans, and cardboard boxes to make new things!

I still have my cooking classes with the womens groups, crochet groups with the women and younger girls, and english classes with the kids. Cooking has been interesting for they have been still getting together to make cake and other foods, even when I cannot come due to being sick or another meeting. It is really encouraging to see them still cook even when I am not there, because before they would cancel till the next week, but a few groups are taking on their own schedule and cooking! I love to see their progress, and hopefully in the future they can teach others in the community thus making my work here that much more sustainable, which as a Peace Corps Volunteer is our overall goal. Working ourselves out of our job so we are no longer needed. However, now that I have been living almost 6 months in my village and 8 months total in Guatemala, it has been difficult since more are hearing about what I am doing and I am getting asked more by others to teach them. I already have a decent schedule going and since there is only one of me and almost 5,000 in my village, I cannot help everyone nor say yes. I am learning to say No more and I feel bad, but if they ask a few times then I know they are serious about learning and I try and work something out with them, because there are a few groups that have started then ended due to lack of committment due to various reasons. Thus my work here can sometimes be overwhelming, especially when I cannot explain thoroghly what I am doing here and what my job is here, especially since Spanish is both my and their second language, and the Ki´che´ I am learning only goes so far since I am learning the basics. However, through my experiences I am realizing more and more how important food, art, dance and laughter are for cross cultural communication!

I am still in the beginning process of possibly working with international computer organizations to help put computers in the schools, but little by little I am getting in communication with various people to make this happen. I have noticed and heard a need in the Basico School (middle school age) of putting in a computer lab, but they do not have the means to do so. Thus I am hoping this will be another side project I will be working on, because the students can go that much further in their studies and resesarch when they have access to a computer, as well as being able to set up emails for the students, espsecially when they start thinking about college and applying for jobs. I have already heard back from one organization that sounds promising and I would be helping them translate into Spanish their health computer programs for schools they already have in English. I am excited to see its progress through out the next few months!

As we all just experienced, December also brings the wonderful holiday of Christmas. Feliz Navidad... It is a unique experience spending Christmas in a different culture. The last several years I have been celebrating Christmas in the snow and taking part in my own family and friends´ traditions which I have been adopting over the years. This year, Christmas 2010, was especially different. Although I found myself sad at times missing my family and own personal traditions, overall I enjoyed spending Christmas Eve with my host family. (This host family is who I was living with when I first got to my village in July for the first 3 months). They invited me to take part with them in their Christmas traditions which for them means making Pache, a traditional Christmas dish made of ground cooked rice with red pepper, prunes and pork cooked in a red tomato based sauce.

I arrived at their house, which is just down the dirt road in the center of town from where I live, on Christmas Eve in the morning and we started to make hundreds of Paches. My job was wrapping and folding the rice mixture in a big banana-looking leaf, almost comparable to a burrito with a leaf instead of a tortilla. Then they all go into a huge cooking pot full of water for an hour. We ate a few for lunch, then afterwards, one of the brothers and I both had to go to the market in Xela to buy fruit and a gift for the secret santa exchange that night. We took the bus down that afternoon and got to talk and get to know eachother more. Since only a few speak Spanish in this family, they typically talk in Kiche for the majority, so after being unable to understand much of the morning that I was there making Pache with them, it was nice to speak in a language we could communicate in better. He is studying math and physics at the University in Xela. (Quick side tangent.. it is great to see so many more youth in my town going to school and becoming educated. It is still a problem among some in my village where the dad either will not let their daughters go to school because he prefers them to get married, or for the boys who will go to school only up to a certain grade then start working with their family or work on their own at a young age, too. I am always encouraged when I meet those in my village with an eagerness to learn, study and want to help make a positive change in their village). In Xela, we met up wtih 2 of my friends for ice cream, did our shopping, and headed back on a very packed bus heading up to our village. Everyone goes to the markets Christmas Eve for buying the traditional flowers, grapes, apples, cookies, lights or decorations, and any gifts. The market has expanded the past few weeks with extra booths and aisles full of toys, christmas decorations and music playing christmas lights, flowers and christmas trees. The energy in the market is always so alive, especially during this time of year. It is definitely an interesting experience going to the markets.

That night, the brothers of this family are community leaders and regularly talk on the local radio show for my municipial, which is based out of the village next to mine. We all drove in their car to first go pick up the Mayor of our town, then to a family´s house who puts on the radio there from their home. There were a good amount people, mainly men, inside and outside the radio room listening and hanging out, putting off firecrackers, and taking part in the program they were doing which is buying and giving gift baskets to families in the villages. One brother who was talking on the radio even gave me a little shout out for Peace Corps (Cuerpo de Paz) for being there celebrating with them, it was a special night seeing all the giving and loving. They would get callers from the villages offering to buy a basket for a family in their village in more need financially wise, or they would call to wish a family member or friend a merry christmas. It really was a night of true peace and love, as they mentioned several times through out the radio show what Christmas and this night is all about. When we returned back to the house, we sat around the wood fire burning stove and ate more paches and talked for a bit. It was still fairly early in the night and their tradition is to celebrate at midnight by opening gifts, drinking sparkling cider, eating apples and grapes, hot chocolate with boxed christmas cookies they were selling all over the market . This culture really appreciates their holidays and traditions, and it was beautiful to witness such a united, close family celebrating, laughing, smiling and enjoying each others company. We took a nap for a couple hours before celebrating at midnight, so it was nice to have a little break. At midnight we lit off fireworks as did hundreds of others in the village so the sky was full of fireworks, firecrackers and bombs going off. We played Christmas music during the fireworks, then went inside and started the gift exchange. A couple weeks ago we picked the names out of a hat, and I got one of the 5 year old boys, so I bought him a transformer toy and spiderman stickers from the market. It was a nice way to spend Christmas with the family I had lived wtih for a few months and who makes me feel welcome.

I think that is all for now, I am heading out on vacation for the next couple weeks at the lake, beach and ecological farms. I am excited to explore more of Guatemala and bring in the New Year with a fresh, relaxing and enjoyable start traveling with friends. Happy Holidays, may the new year bring you peace, love and success with your current and future endeavors! Until next time...

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