IT.IS.SO.COLD

Soooooo let me describe for you what my hygiene life looks like now that it's winter.

First, imagine that you live in a house made of cement bricks. Now imagine that somewhere in the house there are gaps where there is direct contact with outside air (i.e. a gap between the walls and the roof or a HUGE space between the door and the floor where air and dust creep in.

Now imagine that it's....oooooh between 38-41 degrees fahrenheit. (When I originally looked up the temp is said 55 but I'm pretty sure the ground and plants don't freeze at 55 degrees fahrenheit....I'm just sayin)

Now let's add the most important detail of all-there is no central heating (or heating of any sort for that matter) and NO insulation.

Let's recap:


Cement block walls + gaps where outside air can seep (or flow) in + no central heating.

What does that translate to?
Looking like this INSIDE the house between the hours of 4pm to 10am.
I'm talking a heavy jacket, long-underwear, long socks, a hat and a scarf.
And of course less time spent here...

showering.

Yep you heard right. Sometimes I won't shower aaaaaaall week.

Now you might think that's appalling. Under normal circumstances, I would tend to agree. BUT when it's so cold that you can't possibly sweat and you refuse to work out both because you're almost at 8,000 feet (aka the air is too thin to inhale once walking velocity has reached faster than a stroll) and because Guatemala is extremely-extremely mountainous (where 80% of the time you honestly do walk uphill both ways)...are my failure to exercise excuses sounding valid? In any case, the main point is that the reasons for showering have also declined.

There. My secret's out. I don't shower in the winter.

But think it through. Most of you have no idea what it's like to actually live in a cement building with cement floors and gaps in the walls. Now picture trying to strip down like your clothes are infested with fireants and jump into your cement shower before the freezing air can touch your ashy skin (again a product of the intense, indoor cold).

Trying not to convulse too violently, (lest you chip a beautiful tooth) you soap down. Finally the bathroom is heating up to a bearable temperature but you're already thinking about how you dread shutting off the hot water.

Although you know that running the shower directly affects your electricity bill, you say "screw it, it's too cold to get out" and bask in the warmness/continue to worry about how your this will aversly affect your electricity bill. BUT you remember that this is your first shower all week and it's Thursday and take those few extra minutes to enjoy those minutes of bearable temperature that you so desperately need.

The "fireants in your clothes" speed returns for steps 1-3 (dry off, put on lotion, put on clothes) and finally you're back to the status quo-two jackets, scarf, hat and visible breathe.

Aaaaaaah winter in Guatemala : )

Slightly Frustrated

Some random pictures to get us started before I start ranting and raving. Students practicing healthy habits at the handwashing station the school principal built (using his own time and physical labor : )

A great idea by some of our teachers to hang soap in pantyhose so it doesn't get lost. Builds up a nice lather too!

Me with some students at one of our schools in the mountains.

So during one of my school visits today the principal asked me to go to a meeting the the president and right-hand man of the parent's association. I of course agreed, knowing how valuable face time is to building "confianza" or repoire with the community.

*Sidenote about "confianza": this idea doesn't really exist in the States outside of the realm of personal relationships/friendships. However, here in Guatemala, a lot of one is able to accomplish in their two years of service depends on the confianza or personal relationship they have with their communities and colleagues.

In the states, one is judged by their resume, accomplishments, recommendations etc. Their WORK. But here, even if you were the former president and you started working in a little town with the locals, you would be judged based on your relationship with your co-workers or neighbors rather than your credentials. I had always heard about this phenomena but coming from the states, it's just so hard to imagine that anyone would judge you based on something other than your accomplishments and education. Sometimes its frustrating.

Back on topic, why I'm irritated.

So during this meeting, I carefully laid out the need for and explained the key aspects of the program: If you ask any 5 year old what they should do before they eat they will tell you "wash your hands". But how many of them actually do it? To be healthy in word and in action, the students will all have a toothbrush and toothpaste to school so they can start practicing healthy habits. Also, we will be checking different aspects of their personal hygiene every day to encourage them to come to school with clean clothes, a clean face, hands and nails, etc. (in more detail of course). I wrapped up by asking for questions, concerns or doubts.

Do you know the ONLY question they had?

"So basically all your're bringing is moral support? Are you gonna do any projects or give an economic aid?"

I was half furious, half full of pity, half angry at foreign aid policy (I realize that's a lot of halves but I was feeling a lot of things). They warned us about this in training. All over the world but specifically here in Guatemala, international aid policies and well-meaning but completely ignorant foreigners have ruined any sense of personal-investement or stake in the future that Guatemalans had/could potentially have by creating a reliance on hand-outs.

It's sad to see how much damage can be done when people have a "receiver" mentality based on a constant stream of donted resources. I mean I've certainly done my fair share of donating: clothes, toothbrushes, old electronics, so don't get me wrong, I'm not throwing any stones. This is just something interesting to think about for anyone who still reads this blog: what kinds of traits we are fomenting in the people we are trying to help?

When we tell the teachers that the parents will be responsible for buying their children toothbrushes and toothpaste etc, there are always a few in EVERY group that are quick to inform us that the parents will be unwilling to cooperate or to suggest we look for donations from Colgate the (monopolizing) toothpaste company in Guatemala. Some even angrily ask us why the government isn't providing the children with toothbrushes. This is NOT the government's job! Each parent needs to invest in the health of their children because, in the end, the government won't be there to pay to extract teeth, to buy giardia medication etc.

Being an outsider, it's pretty easy to see how years and years of thoughtful donations has done severe damage to the Guatemalan mentality, making it extremely difficult for sustainable progress to occur.

This damage can even bee seen in terms of non-tangible resources. We always begin our meetings by explaining (in various ways) that we will not personally give health lessons to the students or train the parents 0n health concepts on behalf of the Health Center. Why? Because when we return home, the teachers and professional will not be able to carry on the work because we organized and did everything ourselves. Therefore, it's better for everyone in the community that we train the professionals to give any necessary workshops and build up the knowledge base and competency of those who will remain in the community.

Despite explaining this multiple times in various ways, the idea has yet to sink in for our teachers and Health Center that we should not and are not there to do their job for them. It's very difficult to get everyone on the same page. In the past, the presence of volunteers/aid was a clear indication that the locals should step back and allow the more knowledgable, better equipped foreigners to handle everything. After working only a few months in development, I can see why this is indeed easier for the volunteers.

Training professionals requires patience, extra resources and a fair amount of time in both the long and short-term. But avoiding the necessary has not only stymied real and sustained progress but ingrained in Guatemalans a mentality that the onus lies on the volunteer and that the outsider is more capable than the local.

So now that that's all out...I feel only slightly better. But the real question is where do we go from here?

That's tough. But one thing I do know: from now on I will think twice before donating material resources. It's important to be mindful of the long-term effects of our actions, no matter how generous or pure our intentions. Giving "stuff" is hard to label as bad when people need shoes and toothbrushes right? I would say not exactly. The average family living in the villages that I've lived in/visited buys Coke or Pepsi products regularly, has a TV (many have cable) and buys other non-necessity items. Receiving the necessities via donation more deeply ingrains in every generation the idea that things like toothbrushes, shoes, combs, etc are not the parent's responsiblity to buy but rather a right that each has to receive free of charge.

My suggestion--besides giving up a few weeks, months or years to participate in sustainable change--a great way is to donate to organizations that are investing the time to train professionals and locals to get what they need for themselves.

I hope this has been infomational. Perhaps you've even started you thinking about the impact our donations have on local mentalities and are evaluating the type of volunteer services that you have given/hope to give in the future. If so, I can rest a little easier knowing that at least the word is out and maybe, just maybe, we can start doing things the right way.

Thanks for listening to my rant : 0)

Yuna

Random Pics: Swear In, a Birthday Party and a Wedding

For the first three months of a Peace Corps Volunteer's stay in the country where they will serve, they are trainees. Each training group goes through 12 weeks of technical training (learning how to do their job, getting resources, ideas and peer training), language training in small groups of 4-5, culture training and immersion through host-family living and health training (to ensure each one knows local health risks, necessary precautions and preventitive measures).

FINALLY after three LONG months arrives Swear In. After the ceremony the trainees are offically Peace Corps volunteers and shortly after all split up and go to their assigned sites.


Here are a few pictures from the January 2010 Guatemala training class Swear In.

The girls from my training group with our host families. The families were so kind...treated us like their own children they did.


Someone from every training town!

Everyone was all gussied up!

Here are the girls from my training town.

The first pic of the Olintepeque/San Francisco La Union duo (aka me and my work partner Cristina).

The hotel where they had the ceremony was beautiful!

During training one of the girls in my training group (5 of us lived in the same town) had a birthday. Her host family generously invited us all over to celebrate!

There was a pinata! Her little host brother was the first to take a swing.

It's a lot harder than it looks! Especially if people give you wrong directions!

We played musical chairs and did the limbo. I won the limbo despite being relatively enormous. My friend's host mom is so short she walked right under the bar for the first 5 rounds! Too bad I can't find the picture of her breezing under : /

There were firecrackers (a Guatemalan tradition) and whiskey toast!

The wedding:

Here comes the flower girl and the ring bearer followed by the bridesmaids.

And there's the bride!!

On her way out with the groom...you can tell I didn't care as much about him as I did about her dress because I failed to include his head in the picture....but I got the dress!

Outside waiting to go get food!

A picture with Mama Maira. MAN I look gangly.

That's all for now...more random pictures to follow!

Who said integrating had to be hard?

Aaaahhhhh....another successful day of integrating into the community!

Since my nose wouldn't stop dripping and I couldn't stop sniffing, I stayed home and started on the mountain of paperwork I'd been putting off. Having successfully accomplished more than I'd intended to (I set very low standards for myself this morning), I decided to make a blackberry pie while the dough for my calzones was rising.

Although I had initially decided to make a personal-sized pie, I realized that-if it turned out- this pie could be a great way to meet more neighbors. With the large mound of pie crust in fridge, there was no reason not to. Although I failed to add enough sugar, it was an overall very successful first attempt at blackberry pie!

Quite pleased with myelf, I ate a nice-sized piece, added some more sugar to the pie and took two pieces over to my neighbor who had just bought me some bowls and a few sticks of butter since she felt bad that I'm poor and my house is it next to empty...and then ate another piece.

Things were NOT looking good. I'd seen this trend before. Make a pie "for the neighbors" or some cookies "for the children" and a fourth....OK, alright...half ends up making its way down my intestines before the night is over. I had to do something before another afternoon ended with me eating an unhealthy amount of some kind of pastry.

Luckly, I had forgotten I promised the neighbor kids around the corner that we would play soccer at 4pm. SCORE! Maybe, I thought, I'll run off the cookie dough from the weekend and at least the crust from the pie I ate the other day.

After soccer and a few games of freeze tag in the field in front of the school (p.s. watch out for the hidden mud-holes...they'll getcha), we headed back to my house for a blackberry pie extravaganza!

It was a great sharing experience! I learned a few new words (marchitarse-to wilt), realized I didn't know the word for gazelle in Spanish (gacela), learned that if you touch a certain tree it stunts your growth and other miscellaneous but important things ....they asked about the States, shared the words they knew in English and each tried on my glasses; it was the kind of cultural experience you hope for when in a foreign country.

After sharing spoonfuls of blackberry pie on the steps of my house as the sun slowly made its way towards the mountains, we parted ways-sweaty, tired and covered in blackberry juice.

It was a good day!

The Average Day

So it's been nice/a lot of work settling into the routine of having my own place and no one to share the work with : )

Most days I get up before 6 and start the morning with a walk. Pia and I meander through the neighborhood and sniff other dogs and eat trash (well, Pia does, I usually just watch). We get home and I fix us both some breakfast and usually do some chores such as washing the dishes and cleaning the table--which somehow manages to get cluttered every five seconds!--wash the clothes or sweep. After eating and hurridly getting dressed, I race out the door to the day's appointment, late as usual.

We visit one school per day, the majority of which we travel to by bus. At the schools we visit each classroom, using a die to check the kids personal hygiene. The die has 6 sides of course, each with one aspect related to personal hygiene--clothes, face, hair, nails, hands and teeth. We do this to encourage the kids to come to school clean and to practice healthy habits at home like brushing their teeth before coming to school.

For the last 2 months we have been doing a baseline diagnostic at each school to see if they have the infrastructure necessary to practice healthy habits. The two main components are having water during the school day and having at least 8 "sinks" so the students can wash their hands. The majority of the schools always have water (5 schools only get water once a 5-9 days). However, the vast majority have only one or two sinks for 200-700 students. This is what we will be focusing on during our two years here. If the students don't have water or sinks, it's almost impossible for them to wash their hands or brush their teeth.

During the diagnostic phase, we are also judging their "Health Corners" to make sure each class has their personal hygiene utensils such as soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, combs, nail clippers etc. We want to set up a creative environment where it's easier than ever to practice healthy habits.


Here are some picture of the Health Corners we have judged so far:

This teacher will probably win a prize for her creativity and because she has all the necessary elements in her Health Corner!
This teacher has a really cute Health Corner (each kids holder is a tooth!) but she didnt' have a high percentage of students with their utensils : (
During a meeting with all the staff members at each school, we discuss the results of the diagnostic and see what the school is doing well and what they are lacking. We then discuss each school's specific situation and what factors might impede them as they try to implement the program with their students. Sometimes it's that the parents aren't cooperative, often it's that the kdis aren't practicing the habits at home and there is no continuity, etc.


We then make a step by step plan as to where we want to start working in order to meet the program's goals. We have "Pasos" or footprints in order to make it a more interesting process. The big footprint is where we write the goal such as "teaching health lessons twice a week". On the the little footprints we write the detials of what we must do in order to get to our goal. This helps us break down a big idea into something more manageable and attainable (because each small goal acheived is recognized) and helps us to think in terms of what we must actually do instead of just saying, "I need to plan a health lesson, where do I start? There's so much to do."


That's pretty much it for the school day (the Guatemalan elementary school day begins at 8 and ends at 1pm). We get back on the bus to head home. By 2pm I'm fixing or eating lunch. After, I usually take Pia for another walk. We usually end of meeting some kids from one of my schools on the road and either playing soccer or basketball or visiting with them at their houses.

Some days I head to the Centro because they sell veggies and flour and other things my little town doesn't sell. Pia and I are always buying flour because my new big thing is to either teach my neighbors how to make pies or cookies etc, or make them myself and go over for an afternoon visit with the moms. I've already had several "dates" with the moms nearby and have several lined up for this week : )

It's a good way to get to know the adults since the kids already know me from school and a great way to share something from American culture as well as something from Guatemalan culture. Sometimse we we watch movies in Spanish and we always talk about the differences between life here and there --popular topics are marrying age, number of children in families, education, how young people don't live with their parents etc.

This has been an amazing and tasty way to get to know the community. Except, my teeth are going to fall out of my head from all the desserts and my heart is going to swell two sizes from all the butter that's in them!

So I'm a little obsessed with my dog...

Here are a few of the many shots I have of my puppy Ethopia. I decided to name her after a place I really want to visit-Israel and Cuba just don't have the same ring as Pia : )

After her first bath: she wasn't too happy with me (and who knew but she HATES hair dryers) but she was calm the whole time...she just whimpered this sad little tune sometimes that made me feel like a bad person.

Isn't she a beaut?

Who knows why, but Pia is obsessed with biting my hands and arms and legs. Sometimes she get's a little too focused on the biting and forgets just who she's trying to bite. I had to be ready with my camera to capture this not-uncommon moment when she got distracted and started chomping on her own foot.

Her colors have changed and she's a lot darker now.

Pia got into a bag of flour. This was the first of two. No bag is safe around her lol. I saw her staggerign around gagging and I saw this white thing covering her mouth. I thought she was choking on a bag so I rushed over to take it off her face....only to discover that the white stuff was all gooey. I ended up prying her mouth open to pull out gobs of saliva-y flour. Ohhhhhhh having a dog. lol

She loves to cuddle!

So here's my favorite video of Pia fighting with Terri. Terri came to stay with us while Michele (my sitemate) was in Antigua. Pia became a little territorial and would attack Terri if I petted him too much! My favorite part is how Terri just runs around crying like a little girl, letting a puppy beat him up!

Sometimes after their fights I noticed her pawing at her mouth and smacking her lips...it wasn't uncommon for her to have a chunck of Terri's stuck to her tounge! She's a fireball alright.

Sometimes, however, she and Terri just enjoyed a quite moment together.

It was really cute actually, she tried to cozy up to him and rest her head on his paws as they were breaking in between fights but he, like a crusty old uncle, was having none of it. This is as close as they got.

Hi, my name´s Reality

And now I will share with you the encounter I had with a little man named Reality. Here´s how it went:

Hi! What´s your name? Yuna? Nice to meet you Yuna, my name´s Reality. Now that you have your own place, you can get right to work doing all the chores you watched your host family do when you were living with them and didn´t have to help.

Since there´s no carpet, you can start by sweeping and mopping the floors. This will need to be done at least weekly since most of the roads are dirt.

Next, since there are no dishwashers and you only have two plates, one bowl and two pots, you´ll need to wash those by hand after every meal so you can fix food and eat during the next meal.

Don´t know what it´s like to live without a microwave? Well now you do! It´s not that great huh? Warming food in a non-non stick skillet is harder than it looks. You better get back to those noodles, they´re sticking already.

You know how you´ve always noticed that Americans spend a lot more time away from home than Guatemalas? Well now you can see why. When you have machines to do all the hard work, you can afford to practice hobbies and visit neighbors and read books. But when you (who just has to look out for you) have to wash the dishes and clothes by hand and can´t multitask them and do other things in between-you find the day a LOT shorter than you used to. Now imagine doing all that house work(with no vaccuum, no dishwasher, no microwave and no washing machine) for yourself and your four kids and husband. Life looks pretty different huh?

Well, it´s been nice talking to you but your rice is done cooking and you need that pot to boil water for tea so get to it!

So there was my first encounter with the little man named Reality. Myself and I laughed about the thought of having free time in between all the chores...but still...I enjoy keeping house. Plus, I make a mean apple pie! (except after I have used every dish I own and spend the next half hour cleaning up lol)

A Beautiful View

Too Good

I had a very special moment today. I was standing on the roof….There was a beautiful two o’clock breeze, whipping my skirt around and blowing the sheets into my face. As I reached up to pull a clothes pen off one of my shirts, I was suddenly bombarded by a plethora of thoughts:

WOW. I washed all my clothes by hand, bent over the washboard this morning before my day even began. And they’re actually clean.

I’m still wearing my apron, which means I cooked my own meal today.

I’m standing on my roof in Guatemala overlooking a beautiful village that’s actually on the side of the mountain.

I can’t believe I made it to Guatemala.

This is exactly what I always dreamed of.

Have you ever had one of those moments where you suddenly realized that life is everything you ever wanted it to be? That although it’s messy and difficult and exhausting, it really is just what you hoped for? Of course nothing is just how you imagine it to be, the details never match up, but going into a big life change you can at least daydream about how you hope you’ll feel. Well today was one of those days where—while I didn’t exactly visualize myself up the a roof on a beautiful spring-like afternoon taking down my laundry after cooking dinner—it’s the kind of scene I hoped for.

It’s one of those rare moments in life when everything slows waaaaaaaaay down and you feel like you’re outside of yourself, observing your own life from a distance for just a snapshot of a moment. It’s almost like you can stop time and reach out and grasp each thought as it leaves your mind and enters the atmosphere—“I can’t believe I’m actually here. I’ve thought about a moment like this once, in a beautiful day dream, but this is actually my life and it couldn’t get any better than it is right now in this moment. If it somehow managed, I might explode.”
Maybe this sounds a little sappy to you or maybe you have no idea what I’m talking about but I hope everyone gets to experience this feeling at least once in their lives.
While praying the other day, I started thanking God that I’ve been able to have several of these moments.

The first time this phenomenon happened I was a sophomore at Emory: I was with Manu studying outside at the picnic tables between the main library and the Business School. The sun was strong and the canopy of pink and white blossoms swayed lazily over the perfectly manicured grass. The sky was an unusually deep blue and there wasn’t a cloud in sight; a cool breeze occasionally danced through the patio. In that moment, sitting there with a dear friend at the University of my dreams, studying the wonderful creation we call the body, I was struck with the reality of the situation: I have everything I’ve ever wanted in this life. Nothing could make it more perfect.

Since then there have been more magical moments: stunning summer mornings in picturesque Maine, waking up with the sun at 4:30am to have an early Bible study to the melody of the ocean waves crashing against the rocks; traveling from the northern mountains of Thailand to the southern beaches with new friends from all over Asia; laughing with a classroom of high school freshman about a completely inappropriate but admittedly hilarious sexual comment as a sex-ed teacher after college; driving down the deserted highway at 2:00am with my sister, laughing boisterously about the night’s salsa dancing adventures and making snide and conceited remarks about all the “characters” we encountered; the whole family packed into the kitchen fixing the world’s best gourmet, semi-homemade pizza, watching movies and making ice cream creations on a Friday night.

One of my new favorite verses says God will outdo himself when it comes to blessing you. That He takes pleasure in making life good for you. Well I know this to be FACT. There is nothing to do but use the two most terribly inadequate words in the English language to express my gratitude to God. When He said “I want you to have the fullest and best life conceivable”, those weren’t empty words! Thank you God for being part of my world and for blessing me with everything that is good in my life.

Workshops Guatemalan Style

So we had our first round of workshops with our teachers this week. It went surprisingly well. Of course it was workshops Guatemalan style but it was great to see what the future will look like and get a better grasp on what to expect/how the two years with Guatemalan teachers will be.

What exactly do I mean Guatemalan style?


1.) I LOVE LOVE LOVE that Guatemalans can really enjoy themselves during group activities and games. We started the workshop off with an icebreaker: We’re all in a boat…a cruise to be exact…sailing to our favorite vacation destination when the boat hits a rock and begins to sink. Thank God there are life boats. BUT, they only fit……FOUR people. FIND A LIFE BOAT, QUICK! You would not believe how quickly these mostly middle-aged teachers transformed from normal adults into giggling, pushing, shoving fun-loving kid-like creatures, fighting to form groups of four and cold-heartedly turning away their comrades to find another life raft. After a few rounds of this game we found ourselves in groups of eight where we attempted undo the human knot (where everyone grabs hands with someone across the circle and once you’re all tangled you up you try to undo yourselves). Can I tell you how into this they were? They were coaching and directing and hopping over and crouching under and sliding through, laughing and truly enjoying themselves. It was refreshing. I just know in the US people would try not to enjoy themselves too much because, who knows why, but it’s waaaaaay to uncool to take actually enjoy yourself during fun activities once you’re over 12 years old. Every time we do an activity I never cease to be amazed at how almost every single person really devotes themselves not only to the task but also to having FUN. I love it!!!!! We also had the ole’ carry the egg on a spoon and spin around three times and come back game during the snack break. They enjoyed that too : )

I wish Americans could be more like this! I've never seen anything like it and could never imagine it on American soil but I think we could learn a lot from Guatemalans about being able to let you hair down and have a good time : )


2.) Guatemalans are very eager to BEGIN. It was a little hard to explain the human knot activity because everyone started after the first “take your right hand and grab the hand of the person across from you.” Since everyone had already started grabbing random hands, we had to go group to group to explain because everyone stopped listening after the first step. Even when standing there coaching them, sometimes they still didn’t listen because they’re already trying to figure it out! It’s very different from the American way where you more of less wait to hear the directions or if you start early you do it quietly so you can still hear what the end goal is…or at least so everyone else can.

3.) Like Thailand, people are pretty obsessed with their phones. (Not that people from the US aren’t obsessed with their phones too, but it’s on a whole new level!) We had a real problem with people answering their phones during the workshop’s two sessions. We also had plenty of people step out to take a call (which is the more American way).

4.) Talking during the workshop: MAN did we have certain people who would sit in the back (or front) of the classroom and talk…I mean TALK like you would outside at a picnic table with your friends when no one else is around. It’s extremely hard to get used to this and on first day I was so flustered I screwed up half my lesson plan. I’ve noticed that a certain level of talking/side-conversations is permitted, or at least tolerated, in the average meeting. Our first meeting with our 21 principals was our first introduction to not-whispered, full-fledged side conversations but on a smaller scale. The more people there are, the more side conversations become a problem. We had over 80 people every day so you can imagine what it was like trying to manage them all! I finally took to just stopping completely and waiting silently until the guilty parties noticed or until another teacher told them to be quiet.

Thankfully however, these talkers irritated a fair amount of their colleagues enough that often the other teachers would ask for silence! Very encouraging! We’ve started a competition between the 21 schools and have announced that we will be deducting points from schools whose teachers are disruptive! I think next time we will also establish “classroom rules” such as no side conversations, no cell phones and no leaving early!!! Thank you : )

5. CRAFTS. Man oh man do Guatemalan teachers LOVE to do crafts. Of all the things the teachers said liked most on the feedback form, the number one answer: the craft. We asked them to bring scissors, glue, crayons/markers and a cornflakes box (everyone eats cornflakes) to make the one of the three items we had just explained. WOW …the room was quieter than it had been all day. The colors were flying, the scissors chopping away….people had out rulers so that their lines would be perfect. I have NEVER seen anyone…child, teen, teacher…artist…ANYONE work so hard on a craft in all my life. We tried to call a meeting for the principals during the craft time so that everyone could leave on time together….can I tell you that they told us they would rather do the craft and stay after? It was SERIOUS.

So all in all the workshop was successful. We learned a lot and bonded with our teachers. Obviously there are things that I love and hate about this new culture but overall, I really like it! The workshop was a great experience and I'm looking forward to more fun games and crafts in the future : )

The best going away party EVER!

So before I left, my beloved host family in Sacatepequez threw me the best going away party EVER! Here are the photos : )

Some people were napping....

other people were working/karate chopping each other. We filled, I mean FILLED that pinata with candy! Here's a great view of the patio all decorated! (Guatemalans are SUPER into decorating, we must have working for three hours on getting everything all set up). Before we ate, we beat down a pinata. They let the little guy take a swing without a blindfold since he still lacks all coordination lolThis girl reminds me of myself as a kid. She's super rough and tomboyish and can always comepte with te guys. She definitely did some damage to that poor pinata!

But it was host sister that finally cracked it once and for all. I was so proud to catch this action. See the candy flying through the air? When it finally broke, half the candy flew into the pile (the kitchen sink!)

But no one seemed to mind scooping it out!

There were TWO great cakes. Cake # 1:
Cake #2 and some hungry guests: (cousin, aunt, godsister and her kids)

We enjoyed our a piece of both cakes and of course a cup of Pepsi under a canopy of balloons!

Host dad decided to wear the destroyed pinata as a tribal headress.

All in all it was a marvelous day! We laughed, we cried, we gorged ourselves on cake, we opened presents and told jokes. I will always remember this family because no matter what we're doing there is always a lot of love and a lot of laughter. They spent a significant amount on this goodbye party. This was just one of many ways that they show me how much they care : )

What? I was helping pop the balloons so we could clean up.