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!