Christmas Guatemala-Style

Well, I don’t have any exciting pics from my family’s Christmas because it more or less didn’t exist. I say this out of honesty, not bitterness. I am at least happy that my family, unlike some of the other volunteers’ families, had a Christmas tree and decorated the house. But when it came time to actually celebrate, I waited and waited and nothing happened.

We did have a church service of sorts on the 23rd. It started normally with a few hyms, after which Dina gave a speech about the importance of not spending your money on fireworks or shooting your eyes out with them (or worse). I have to say, it was a very awkward oration during a church service, especially since it flowed right into the acting out of the Christmas story. I got to organize the sheep and shepherds for our impromptu drama and there was a lady there who had NEVER HEARD THE STORY OF JESUS’ BIRTH!!!! I couldn’t believe it!! Especially in this country where religion plays such a huge part in life! Anyway, the service ended with a snack of chicken salad sandwiches (it sounds good but it’s like a dirty trick here because a) they sometimes leave the chicken skin in the salad too, and b) it has a mixture of mayo and catsup for the sauce, which is their typical dressing, and I find it nauseating!)… Oh, and they did sing a rendition of “Silent Night” in Spanish, but it’s funny the way people sing here- it’s very rare for anyone to be on the same key as their neighbor (or anyone else in the room for that matter), so if I hadn’t been reading the words, I might have missed the fact that it was actually Silent Night.

….Did I mention I ate a whole box of Macaroni and Cheese today by myself??

I had a funny mix-up between the words for ¨corn¨ and ¨a lot¨(like a piece of land for a house) at dinner. I thought my family was saying they wanted to buy 9 meters of corn and I was wondering what they could possibly want that much corn for. Turns out I was 2 letters off and what they really want is to buy some land as an investment since property values here are on the rise…. It was great….

So on Christmas Eve, we ate tamales (the typical holiday food here), which I thought were really good. My family, however, did not agree, and went and bought new ones in the morning. This is typical of our differing opinions on food here. Then they went to bed, but I stayed up to see the fireworks which I´d been hearing about for over a month. I must say, I´ve never seen so many fireworks in my life- especially at midnight. I´d be surprised if no one died because I have seen many news stories since then about people lighting cigarettes and accidentally lighting up whole blocks of fireworks-stores. It was fun to watch from our little porch though, where I was protected from all the craziness (but also alone!).

Christmas came and I basically laid in bed and watched movies on my laptop all day. No one even said ¨Merry Christmas,¨which I found very strange. Luckily, I got to talk to lots of friends and family, which made the day GREAT (even though not very Christmas-y). Overall, I guess I am happy to have experienced Christmas here, although I just assume spend it at home for the rest of my life, thanks! Oh, but I did get to visit Celia, my favorite old lady, and she as usual made me laugh by talking about chickens biting her and saying, ¨In God´s name, open it!” when we offered her some jello! She had her usual mumu and pigtail braids and I just wanted to eat her up!!

Well, I hope everyone had a great Christmas and enjoys the last week of the year!

2 funny things I saw today:
1. a t-shirt that said in English, ¨Blue Skies, Hot Guys¨
2. a brand of whiskey called, ¨Old Friend¨

My Pre-Christmas Christmas!

So much has been happening here lately that it's really hard to keep up with my blog, although this is the best time to do it since I'm so excited about everything that's going on!

First of all, I've really been enjoying my host family much more lately. It's become obvious that they care about me and really try hard to make me like Santo Domingo. Angel even came into my doorway the other day when Leslie was over and had a conversation with me (he's never even come close to my room since I've been here). He did this awkward lean thing in the doorway and I wanted to laugh, but it was sweet that he was making an effort, so I held it in!... Dina and I had an interesting experience a couple of weeks ago when I saw a roach on my bugnet (the outside of it, luckily). I went out into the living room to enlist help, but couldn't even think of the words to express what was wrong since I'm terribly afraid of roaches. Dina asked me what was wrong and then played fill in the blank with herself until she said, "insecto?"and I got all excited! So she had just gotten out of the shower and was still in her towel, but she came into my room with a huge spotlight and helped me to find the bug. She even undid all the sheets on my bed until she found it because I ensured her there would be no sleep for me until it was gone. The overwhelming amount of raid I sprayed at it killed it and she removed it with a pair of scissors! It was quite the bonding experience and reminded me of the times I've called my real mom from the other side of our house and made her come and kill bugs!

So two weeks ago, Lora and I had lunch with a former moderator of PCUSA and his new wife in Rehu. They were remarkable people who are here on their honeymoon. Although we had many interesting conversations, the most interesting to me was when he explained to us how he met his wife. He was in California to attend an ordination and stayed at a lady's house, who he then kept in touch with for a couple of months through email. He eventually asked her to marry him through an email!! Wow, technology is crazy these days- and he is in his 80's, too, although you would never know it, but that makes the story all the more crazy to me since most 80 year olds aren't that up on technology!!

We had a Christmas party for almost 100 kids in Coyolate last week. I kept asking people where Coyolate was and didn't understand why no one knew. Well, that's because it takes 3 bis rides and 1 truck ride to get there- it's REALLY small and it feels like you're traveling to the end of the earth to get there! We had a good time though, and the kids really enjoyed themselves. The one thing I found disturbing is something I have now noticed several times.... Guatemalans lead games in really funny ways. For instance, we learned this song and were singing it in a huge group. Then they called up 3 kids at a time to lead the group and voted on who was the best and only gave a prize to the one who got the most yells. It's disturbing because no kids want to volunteer to do anything since they then have to be publicly humiliated!! It seems that the Guatemalans aren't that great at getting everyone involved either- I've noticed they don't form circles very well and they all like to talk at the same time, even when someone is trying to lead the group in doing something! It's so frustrating to watch or be a part of!! But anyway, overall the party was a success, mostly due to the fact that we brought TONS of food and candy for the kids, and it was a beautiful day with great mountian views!!


So this brings me to the Christmas retreat in Xela with the other volunteers, which is one of my favorite things that has happened since I've been here! We spent 4 days up in the semenary and the weather was nice and cold. We built fires and made smores, listened to tons of cheesy Christmas music, had a Christmas tree, and sat around the fire in rocking chairs and chatted about girly things! Leslie's birthday was the 15th and she got 3 packages from people at home, so that was awesome! One family even paid $10 in shipping to send her a big bag of M&M's, which we thought was pretty funny!! We also ate at "Sabor de la India" one night, which is this great Indian restaurant in Xela. On Saturday, we had our official American Christmas, where Lora made M&M pancakes, we exchanged presents, cooked a huge Christmas dinner (Lora and I basted the turkey by sucking up the juice in straws. It was classic, not to mention, gross!), and we had a worship service. It was really nice becuase it really felt like we were at home having Christmas with our friends! It was even better since Jeannene and David Wiseman and Marcia (other mission co-workers) were there to spend the time with us, too!....On Sunday we went to church for the ordination of Anna Lilly, who is only the 3rd woman to be ordained in Guatemala. It was really neat to see so many people supporting her, since women are really struggling here to become leaders in the Presbyterian Church. What wasn't neat was that these 6 girls or so sang WITH MICROPHONES for an hour and 15 minutes!! First of all, that is WAY too much singing unless you makes an announcement that FIRST there will be LOTS OF SINGING and THEN there will be a service....The microphones are also totally unnessesary because they all sing loudly already....sidenote- Leslie's church held a service in her house and they backed a truck up the the front door that was filled with speakers so that they could be sure to hear each other IN HER LIVING ROOM. The whole neighborhood could hear the service!!

I've been attempting to get the 3rd shot of my hepatitus B series here and it's proved to be very difficult. First of all, communicating on the phone in Spanish is next to impossible, especially when you are talking about medical terms. So I finally got an appointment and had to wait in Xela for 2 extra days in order to go to it. I got there, and they said the vaccine wasn't in yet. So I went back to Santo Domingo (2 hours away) and made an appointment for Friday since the vaccine "would DEFINITELY be in by Thursday." So I rode the bus for another 2 hours on Thursday and came back to Xela, only to have them call me at 6 pm (why are they even in their office at that hour?) and CANCEL ON ME!! So they want me to come back next week. I think they should give me a significant discount considering it takes me 34 Quetzales and 4 hours of riding busses each time I have to come here for an appointment!! .....BUT the good part about it, is that I get to spend some time in my favorite city, where Patrick and I have recently decided to try all of the Chinese restaurants in town. We found one with a buffett last night, which sounds like a sure way to get really sick-eating Chinese buffett in Guatemala- but I'll let you know how it goes. Oh, and the other day we were cruising the mall when we noticed the Holiday Grande Meal at Taco Bell, and decided to splurge and get it. It was enough Taco Bell to feed at least 4 people and I'm happy to say that we were not able to finish it, but it was fun just seeing the looks we got from everyone else in the mall food court. Little things here really amuse me!

My last piece of news is sad :-(.... My "Mean Girls" group (5 YAVS who are in Kenya, the Philippines, England, and Guatemala) that has been emailing and supporting each other greatly for the past few months, has lost TWO members this week!! Rachel had to leave the Philippines and Anni had to leave Kenya, both for medical reasons. It's sad becuase our funny stories and frustrations have really been a source of entertainment and kept me going here!! And also, I'm a little jealous that they'll be home with their families for Christmas, although don't get me wrong- I really hope they get to feeling better!!

Hope everyone is having a good time getting ready for Christmas!! I can't wait to hear about your holidays!!

December 7 2006

Well, things here have been like a roller-coaster lately. I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve been a little bit busy, or just because I’ve been sick and I’ve had NO energy. Let me recap- Thanksgiving came and went with little notice from anyone here, of course. Then Jeannene came to Santo Domingo to do a workshop for two days with the women from my Presbytery, Suchitepequez. It was fun, and it´s so interesting to see how different the women are here than in the States. After the workshop I went to Xela again and after 2 hospital visits for tests and 2 visits to an internal medicine doctor, I finally got some medicine. At this point I’m not too sure it’s working, but I’ll give anything a try. It was nice to be in Xela for a little while, since Leslie was there, too, and we cooked, complained, and relaxed a lot! I also got to eat Subway, go to the Bake Shop and XelaPan, and hang out with Patrick- pretty much the highlights of my life right now!

Sometime between all the doctor mess, I went to Mexico with the other volunteers to get our passports/visas renewed. Well, actually, I’d be lying if I said we went to Mexico because we really only got to stand about 20 feet from the border while our driver, Martin, negotiated a bribe that would keep us from having to go there and spend the required 3 days. We were supposed to go into Mexico for lunch, and were disappointed that it wasn’t more exciting. Next time I’m thinking rafting into Mexico could be fun- I heard a volunteer actually did that last year, but I don’t think Mexican prison would suit me, so I’ll have to do some more considering of that one…..

So I’ve been back in Santo Domingo since Sunday and here are the basics on what’s happening here:
-It’s been pretty hot- we’re pretty into the dry season now, which I’m just gonna refer to as summer, and it’s also time to burn and cut the sugar-cane, so there’s ash everywhere. It’s not exactly my ideal weather, especially when the temperature in my room gets above about 81 (aka every day). It’s usually pleasant until about 10AM and then it’s blazing until about 5PM.

- I have been waking up at about 7:45 this week, which is shockingly late for my family. I hear them talking about me in the kitchen sometimes in the mornings as if I’ve committed a crime by sleeping SOOO late. Haha. In my weak defense, I read in “Time” magazine a few weeks ago that only about 1/3 of Americans get up before 8, so HA (don’t quote me on that since the magazine is no longer in my possession).

-On Monday, I woke up to find that we were having the same Chinese rice for breakfast that we’d also had for lunch and dinner the day before. So I went to the store yesterday and got some real milk so that I can eat cereal and make pancakes. In fact, I ate NINE
pancakes for breakfast this morning. Unfortunately my heaven on a plate made me a little sick.

-My host mom took me to the pharmacy to get my medicine, and then told me I really only needed to get ½ of the pills they had prescribed. I must have forgotten she has a degree in medicine along with her aspirations to be the leader of EVERYTHING. I declined her advice and decided to wait until I can get my meds. myself.

-My host mom thinks I haven’t been eating much because I don’t want to get fat, even though I have obviously been sick for 3 weeks. She tells people this everyday. She has now even sunk to telling random people like the fruit-selling lady in the market and her friends from the church who come over that “Julia is refusing to eat anything,” which is pretty crazy considering I eat all the time. I apparently am anorexic in her mind because I still refuse to add sugar, salt, oil, and crème to my food. AHHHHHH!!!!!!!

-Bible school has been going on all week and it’s been really fun! Tuesday, we cleaned up our street, which is also the main street in town. There’s a field where many families have been dumping their trash and we cleaned it out, even finding 2 dead animals. Gross!! But the street looks a lot better, and hopefully we have encouraged at least a few people to be more conscious about throwing their trash everywhere….a quick funny story about my host mom- She was at the bus terminal one day when someone threw part of a watermelon out the window and it hit her in the chest. She caught up with the bus, got on, and yelled out a lecture on the importance of not throwing your trash out the window since no one would fess up. HAHAHAHA. She is GREAT!.... So back to bible school- Wednesday, the kids handed out these trees that they had made that had little quotes on the back about the importance of oxygen and clean air and such. It was cute! There were at least 15 kids, too, which is alot for my tiny church....on that same note, I have been frustrated with the attendence record at the church lately. For instance, one night, the only people who showed up besides me were my host parents and 3 of their grandsons. We still had the service, but it makes me sad that our church doesn´t particularly seem to be growing.

-I went to a bachelorette party Tuesday night with my host mom. It was really interesting because it was similar to a bachelorette party in the US, but without all the drinking. We went to a nice restaurant and played games and had a good time. The awkward part came when I got picked to play the last game, which involved being blindfolded and pinning….hmm, how should I put this…. I can’t think of a nice way to put it, so I’ll just say that it was similar to pin the tale on the donkey. They then proceeded to give a lecture about condoms and even some demonstrations, which was awkward, but informative! All in all, it was a great time and something I never thought I’d do in Guatemala!

-Last night I went to dinner for Hermana Christina´s birthday. She is my 2nd favorite woman in the community (right behind my host mom, who although I always have a funny or frustrating story about, is also great at the same time!) Hermana Christina is my boss´ husband´s mom, and she sells chicken in the market here in Santo Domingo. I have tried to drop by and see her there or at her house, but so far it´s pretty hard for me to understand what she´s saying, so our time spent together is usually limited (also seeing the chicken in the market further confirms my disgust for it every time I see it). But she is this tiny, beautiful woman who falls asleep in church every day and is pretty much always wearing blue, and for some reason, I am facinated by her.

So there´s a small overview on what life is currently like in Guatemala....pretty random still until school starts in January, which I´m excited and nervous about!