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.

A mosque...so close to ground zero?

Excuse the typos I know there will be as I angrily scrawl these words after hearing this at a friend’s house on channel 7 news.

“The big debate in New York: should a mosque be built just two blocks from ground zero?”

SERIOUSLY? I don’t know, perhaps the real question we should be asking is, should we even allow those of Arab descent within 10 feet of ground zero?

What an UTTERLY ridiculous question. How is this even a debate? We should be ashamed that this made national news and that people from other countries now know that someone even raised this absurd “concern”.

No, you know what, our first step should be?...to evict all Arab, Arab-looking people or Arab-lovers (kind of like nigger-lovers but without the blatantly derogatory ethnic reference) from a 10 block radius of ground zero. THAT will make us feel better AND keep us safe because God only knows that those brown people from the Middle East are planning another attack.
Would you like to hear some direct quotes from town forum on this issue? I know you’ll enjoy them as much as I did:

Woman #1: “It’s humiliating that you would build a shrine to the very ideology that caused the attacks of 9/11.”
Man #2: “This is an insult to all those who died.”

Can someone please explain to me just how the dead are being insulted by a group of ordinary people, almost undoubtedly completely unrelated to the group of people who planned and executed the 9/11 attacks, building a place of worship in New York City?
This is an appalling display of ignorance, prejudice and perhaps racism. It’s so amusing to me that Americans consider themselves so progressive and open-minded and educated compared to most of the world. The existence of this argument exposes the myth and puts on a pedestal the fact that not all American’s are all that educated or open-minded. We’re so eager to protest human rights violations, tyrannical governments, sexism and racism elsewhere in the “less developed” world but our own quite, semi-concealed form of racism and prejudice is just as ugly, ignorant and hurtful.

WAKE UP!! Attributing general qualities to members of one race, religious group, sexual orientation etc is called stereotyping. The location of ground zero should have no bearing on the construction of a mosque. If that’s the way we’re thinking, we should forbid white people in southern states formerly part of the Confederacy from having housekeepers or other forms of domestic help because once other white people in that region had slaves and we know they probably have racist tendencies. I hope someone at that community forum slaps those people across the back of the head and fills them in on how all Arabs or Muslims do not subscribe to the ideology that caused the attacks and that saying such things is ignorant and embarrassing.
WHEW…glad I got that out…..all my hostility is released and I am happy again!

What am I doing here?

So what do I actually do here in Guatemala?

My work partner and I Cristina are volunteers in the Healthy Schools Program. Essentially, this program recognizes that if one wants to change any type of behavior within a society, the most effective, long-lasting, far-reaching change agents are the children of that society. As I’ve written previously, Guatemala, like many third-world countries, has limited access to health knowledge. Therefore, hand washing, the idea of trash cans or throwing trash in a designated area, any knowledge of germs, parasites and transmission of diseases doesn’t really exist. It’s difficult to grasp the gravity of the situation in just a few words, but essentially, there is a great need spread basic healthy knowledge. In order to combat the lack of health knowledge and resulting absence of healthy habits, the director of the Healthy Schools program, a Guatemalan Doctor, has designed a way to start implementing healthy habits in classrooms across Guatemala.

The Healthy Schools program has three important parts:

Part i) helps the schools fill out grants to get the infrastructure necessary to practice healthy habits. Many schools have latrines or flushable toilets but no place for the students to wash their hands or perhaps lack water all together. As Peace Corps Volunteers, it’s our job to connect schools with NGOs (non-governmental organizations or international non-profit organizations) who are willing to help fund projects like a hand-washing station or flushable toilets or a water storage tank. In an effort ensure community investment and sustainability, the NGO provides one third of the funds or labor for each project, the parents another and the local government the last third.

Part ii) ensures that the teachers are teaching health concepts twice a week and are practicing healthy habits with the students every day. Walk into any classroom and all the students can tell you health means washing hands, eating healthy foods, bathing, brushing teeth etc, but the vast majority rarely if at all actually do these things (kind of how Americans know they’re getting fatter and should skip the fast food and hit the gym…but don’t). Having the knowledge of what you should do and still not doing is certainly not unique to the third world. Therefore, the most important part of the HS program is creating an environment where it is easy to be healthy. Each classroom in the school has a “Rincon de Salud/Health Corner” where each student has his toothbrush and paste, towel, toilet paper etc handy. By creating a “Hand-washing and Teeth-brushing Schedule” the students and teachers will know exactly when their class can go out to the hand-washing station to get ready for snack or at which bell they should start brushing their teeth after snack is over. By establishing a routine and having resources handy in the Health Corner, the schools are creating an environment where being healthy isn’t all that difficult, thus (theoretically) reducing resistance to the big change that is actually occurring.

Part iii) (isn’t actually defined as a major component of the HS program but I think it’s vital to the success of the program) is designed to educate Guatemala’s teachers about concepts such as, “what are germs?”, “how do they enter our bodies?”, “what can we do to protect ourselves?”, “why should I brush my teeth”, “what are cavities?” etc. With the lack of basic health knowledge, in my opinion it is futile and foolish to implement the previous two steps without propping up the healthy habits with the knowledge of WHY or HOW. The average American knows about germs and cavities. The average Guatemalan does not (of course these are a generalizations). By implementing healthy habits without giving the teachers the proper knowledge to teach their students what soap actually does and how germs are too small to see, it’s not difficult to see why a kid could just as easily skip the soap part and still reasonably think he is being healthy by washing with water until his hands no longer look dirty.

Since I’m working on being less long-winded : ) that’s all for now!

Oh, except I think it’s important to mention that in the newest phase of HS, the volunteer pairs are in charge of implementing the program in an entire municipality of schools. In our case, that means 21 schools. All said, the numbers come out to: 1 superintendent, 21 principals, 257 teachers and 7,113 students. WHEW!!!! (But some of our fellow peeps have 37 schools so we are lucky!!)

Pray that we would know how to best split up the work, that we can be effective despite the big numbers and that the teachers will be supportive and energetic in starting the program in their school!

My Poor Ear Hairs: Is Everyone OK in There?

So I’ve been meaning to write this for some time now but with the move I just haven’t had time. I hope you enjoy the description as much I enjoyed writing it : )
Guatemalan evangelical church is a very interesting place. I mentioned earlier that here it is soooo not necessary that one sing on key (or in the key for that matter : ) . I’ve had a few interesting experiences with this aspect of church in particular.

I remember one time specifically a few months after I arrived—we were singing a slow song. Now, I generally like slower songs when we sing them in church, but that day, it was almost painful. Imagine 25-50 people all singing a song at half the speed of Amazing Grace (just to clarify, that’s reaaaaaaally reaaaaaally slow). But imagine each one of them singing a different note at that pace. How many notes are in the musical scale? I’m not sure, but Guatemalans in the rural evangelical church are excellent at using all of them! Going into the sixth verse, one of my eyeballs actually rolled up in my head and I think I whimpered. Thankfully everyone except the two year old in front of me was enthusiastically belting out the words so perhaps no one will ever know my pain...unless that kid’s a snitch-mouth squealer.

My second experience was similar, except much, much, much closer to home. So there’s this little book that’s similar to a hymnal in which all the songs are written in Spanish. Sometimes my host mom flips open to the song so I can sing along, which is really sweet cause I usually just end up clapping till my hands are red and making up whatever words I want in English….let me tell you I was not blessed with songwriting skills so it is rarely a beautiful experience lol For some reason, even though every knows all the words to every song by heart (there’s no projector screen and even the little kids know all the words!), host mom turns and starts sharing the songbook. Unfortunately for those little hair in my ears that are supposed to pick up sound, that also meant that her mouth was angled directly at me ear. Poor little hairs, that was months ago…they’re still trying to get to an upright position. Host mom is one of the most enthusiastic aka LOUDEST singers in the church…but also completely, 100%, never hit the right note in her life tone deaf. In an effort to ignore the stinging in the back of my eyes, I joined in, humming my own unique verse as loud as I could. Nonetheless, I swear I felt a drop of blood fall from my ear onto my shoulder. My ear hairs, those fighters, used those glorious moments when she took a breath to brace themselves for the next verse. It was rough……these words cannot describe how extremely loud and extremely not on key the song was…..inches away from my face. Thank goodness I can look back on this experience and laugh though : 0 )

A few other interesting points to note:
It must be a really nice break for new moms to come to church (which is always at night) because they don’t have to watch their babies. The little guy get passed around the entire congregation to whoever wants to bounce them on their lap: from the grandma who looks like her wrists might not be strong enough to hold the chubby ball of energy to the 5 year old in the back row who is only 3 inches taller than the baby. It’s cute. It’s like they’re a big family.
I really like that everyone shares in the church activities. Every night someone new leads the songs rather than the same ole people like we do in the States. Also, they call the pastor “hermano pastor” which means brother pastor. I like the way they he is still called brother—it’s kind of equalizing. Sometimes I feel like people treat pastors, especially in the black church, like they have this mystical power that makes them superior to the rest of us. Also, if there’s an announcement and someone wants to comment, they are free to interject and explain a bit more or add their two cents. I like how overall the service just…goes and it doesn’t have to be perfect. Plus everyone shares in the responsibility and leadership.

So there are my experiences in the evangelical churches I’ve attended here in Guatemala!

***Please do not take any comments I have made as being judgmental or negative. This was written as I experienced it and is in a comedic light but certainly not intended to make fun of the evangelical church in Guatemala and is no way intended to be derogatory. YAY!

Common Sense....ummmm Not so Common

Now that I’m lying here sick in bed I suppose I should use this moment to break from work and write about what I’ve been putting off.

Talking with my host mom (both the one I live with now and the one I lived with for the first three months) has been an eye opening look into Guatemalan’s views on health and illness. I have learned just exactly what “common sense” is. In the way that we might use it, it only exists in each man’s country. What is common sense in the United States is certainly not common sense here in Guatemala.

Before coming here there were so many things I considered common sense. Like after you poop you should wash your hands because there’s a good chance some might have transferred to your hand (especially if you’re going to eat). Or if you pump raw sewage from your bathrooms into the lake it will be contaminated and you shouldn’t then swim in the lake. If there’s dirt under every nail you probably should probably let someone else knead the dough or clean them out so it doesn’t transfer to the food etc.

After discussing the idea of “common sense” topics like this with my friend Paul (who has the same reality in China) I realized how much we take behavioral education for granted. It’s not like in the US or other “developed” nations we’re inherently smarter or more hygienic. Rather, it seems to me that the majority of the population possesses a basic level of health knowledge that doesn’t exist in parts of the developing world. Since every child is required to attend school, health concepts are ingrained into us without our consent or conscientious awareness.
For example, ever since we could understand language we have been told to wash our hands after we use the bathroom…..Actually it begins long before we understand language. Our parents and older brothers and sister and Sunday school teachers and grandparents introduce us to this ritual as soon as we start using the potty by ourselves. When you’re two who knows why you wet your hands and rub them together with that slippery stuff and dry them on the towel after you potty or before you can eat your snack. You just do. And of course no one remembers the day they threw their first piece of trash on the ground but of course some chastised you and made you pick it up and carry it to the nearest trash can. Since childhood we’ve been bombarded with anti-littering campaigns and health messages in the classroom, on billboards, in cartoons and on cereal boxes…everywhere!

I think this is the key, not so much that someone modeled this behavior and saw to it that we completed the ritual of washing hands or throwing away trash but that it was followed by education. Ask any 8 year old why we wash our hands and they can tell you about germs and how soap helps carry about the dirt. Ask why it’s bad to throw trash on the ground and practically anyone over the age of 15 can explain to you that it takes plastic bags and Styrofoam a looooong time to degrade and it’s bad for the environment. The average college student has heard at least once that burning trash can release harmful toxins into the air. With every level of education the population gains more knowledge about health and the environment. Eventually, because the majority of lay people know at least the health basics, we begin to consider it “common sense”.

I think having this knowledge is a luxury that comes with having an economy strong enough to have expendable funds. The amount of research that American scientists have done on germs and diseases and the environment etc is incredible. When many of your country-men are subsistence*** farmers and the primary export is agricultural (not that this is Guatemala but for example), your government has neither the funds for nor the priority of health research. In addition to the behavioral and academic education we all receive in the United States, a crushing amount of information available on the internet. Since everyone has access to the internet, though their laptop, desktop or free compliments of their local library, the access to health information is essentially infinite. I mean, if you aren’t sure how to treat a fever you just look online and within .24 seconds there are 14,600,000 pages available detailing traditional remedies, non-traditional or alternative treatments, herbal concoctions, how to treat fevers in children, viral fevers vs. bacterial fevers and much more.

Back to the original statement: sometimes it’s so easy to get frustrated that Guatemalans are being “foolish” about diseases and health. I’ve really had to work hard not to become irritated because, as hard as I try, I can’t seem to help my host mom understand that I have a parasite. There is a tendency here to explain a stomach-ache or diarrhea on the fact that it was cold outside and one took a hot shower. Or, if it is cold outside and one eats “hot” foods, or vice versa, he is likely to become sick. There is saying that “in the morning, fruit is gold, in the afternoon, silver, and at night, it kills” because fruit is “cold” and should not be eaten at night. Or when I had a fever and my family wouldn’t let me bathe for five days because “you can’t die from being dirty, but you can die from bathing when you have a fever.” These are just a few examples of the health common sense that exists here in Guatemala. They are things that the average American might scoff at due to our life-long education in the body and health. But here, Guatemalans take these ideas very seriously.

The fact that the American population has a relatively accurate and complete knowledge of the body, basic germs, bacteria, disease and treatments is something to feel blessed and grateful about. When I first read that my job would be to teach concepts like hand-washing, trash-management, teeth-brushing etc, I was slightly irritated that I would be doing such basic, and in my mind almost menial, work. Everyone kwows they should wash their hands and brush their teeth. But upon arriving, I realize that this work couldn’t be more important. I am honored to be a part a creative, sustainable, well-developed program called Healthy Schools here in Guatemala that is striving to ingrain healthy habits and the knowledge to back it up in the next generation of Guatemalans.

In conclusion, I hope we will all take a moment to reflect on the life we have been blessed with in the United States—for a economy that has funds to devote to research, for a government/national mentality that health is important, for our forefathers, who valued health enough to make it a part of our education and for the over-all wealth this country has to provide us with water to wash our hands and national system of trash management. There are so many blessings for which I never took time to reflect and give thanks. Health education is one that I will never again take for granted .

A Marvelously, Wonderful trip to the Beach!

We got up SUPER early (3:45 am) to see the sunrise! poco a poco....little by little...it started out so small!

But t got bigger and bigger and brighter and brighter!

So my family took me to the beach as a farewell gift before I left for my permanent site in Quetzaltenango.

It was honestly one of the happiest days of my life!

I truly appreciate that Guatemalans can have good ole fashioned fun with just themselves and the beach. Nobody needs expensive toys or boats. We just splashed each other and had a giant mud fight and laughed and laughed like we didn't have a care in world. There's not much more to say....it was just so happy. Enjoy the pictures : )

The best picture of the day!

I had just washed off all the black sand covering my legs and was ready to go explore when...my family decided I looked better covered in sand. They really thought they were so funny. Sounds a lot like my real family lol After we left the beach the first time, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast of tortillas and cheese, chips ahoy cookies and coke : )
Then we locked the keys in the car : (

But, brother Pinto is honestly the smartest guy ever and fished them out....using a hanger to pull them through the door. RIDICULOUS RIGHT!?

But if anything is hard....Pinto does it. If the car's in a tight spot and needs to be moved-Pinto maneuvers it out. If something is broken-Pinto fixes it. If something new in the house requires assembly-Pinto figures it out. He's practically a genius. If he only had 7 more inches on him....we might be able to make it happen....but alas....5'2" & 5'9" is a no go.

I was totally skeptical and absolutely certain that there was no way this plan was working. If you manage to even grab the keys at that weird angle, how in the world do you get them out of the car and into your hands?

But finally, he actually pulled the keys through the DOOR JAM! I was beyond impressed.

A great view down the strip....so tropical! (plus when your elbows are sweating you know it's tropical!)

Shell creations

These little cuties were made out of shells too! Aren't they precious? A pic of the fam on the bridge

A cute roadside fruit stand...The guy was nice enough to let me try his orange-peeling machine ; 0 )
I was working really hard. It's harder than it looks ok...

I love this picture! Not only is Pinto seriously cheesin' but he's rubbing his belly like the bus attendants always do and he's barely taller than this mannequin's hips : 0) I'm not sure why I love that part, maybe cause it makes me feel not so gigantic. Can you spot our little friend on his perch? This guys was just waltzing around the beach shopping center, carting this little critter right where you see him now.
I was so surprised when this truck full of people drove by. It looked pretty packed in there!

So Guatemalans are the most generous people I've ever met. Seriously. After we came back from the beach we visited friends, each of which loaded us up with fruit from their yards!

I personally caught this deliciously sweet treat as it was being dropped from 25 feet above! I was proud because they thought I couldn't do it but they let me try anyway. They obviously didn't know who I was : ) It's called caimito.

I tried to capture how big this tree was so you could truly understand how high up the air the guy in the next picture was... I mean.....dang....homie scaled this giant tree barefooted and started throwing down ripe fruit. I have the utmost respect. A sharp branch pokes your foot and you jump and SPLAT....it's all over.

If you can't scale a tree...you just use really long sticks to poke the fruit down! see....the trees are really, really, really...really tall

It's orange coconut!!

And that's the trip!! We devoured the fruit and drove home exhausted but happy!