Some pics

I wanted to share some photos now that it isn't raining and I have enough internet time and signal to send these to you. They are kinda jumbled but show some of the highlights of both my project as I get more involved with La Salle school and the other students and the two communities we are in.


Andrea, one of the students in Santa Clara with her host brothers in the town plaza. They just built the plaza last year and to attest to its newness they still have the speakers installed and they haven't been stolen yet :)



The wife and daughter-in-law of Don Pedro, one of the most hilarious and genuinely interesting maya men I've ever met in my life. This is the more modern though still wood-burning planchas that they make all the meals on as well as use to dry things, start the fire for the tuj, and general home entertainment.



Walking out of Santa Clara onto the main two-lane road that connects up to the Pan-American Highway (also currently a two-lane road though they are doing construction right now to expand it.) For those that don't speak Spanish, the sign says "dangerous curves." I thought it was hilarious seeing the women waddle with the weight on their heads while walking past this sign, though they were still a little far away for the camera view...I need to go back and get a personal photo of me standing by that sign don't you think?



My host father working on his latest project...a flushing toilet and shower behind the house!! I hope they don't stop using the tuj just because they add a shower but I am definitely looking forward to a flushing toilet.



Little Diegito helping sift sand for the concrete his dad is using for the bathroom.
He's one of the most cariñoso and cuddly kids I've ever met and constantly asks me questions about what we have in the states...like if we have food there and if we use toothbrushes. Basically adorable.




These are the tuk-tuks that constitute inner-city transportation. You can pick one up as they make periodic rounds throughout the city (or call someone that you know including two of the host families' teenage sons) and for 2Q (about 25 cents) you can go anywhere in Santa Clara. Be careful though because according to the municipal decree the tuk-tuks can longer cross city boundaries with Santa Maria and Santa Maria only has one tuk-tuk driver of it's own.



The kids of sexto magisterio (ages range but normal matriculation would put them at 17-18 years old) including my good friend Williams
(first guy on the left with red shirt) still healing from a broken heart due to my rather surprised rejection of his love.



Me with the home ec teacher of the bakery and one of the students of sexto magisterio.




My wonderful host mother walking back from the little preprimary school that her daughter Teresa goes to, complete with Jessica on her back and leftovers from her job as lunch lady on her head.




The products of my labor as a temporary student in cuarto magisterio--making the typical breads they sell every day. Most Guatemalans have 5 meals a day they tell me...breakfast, a morning snack of bread with a hot drink, lunch, another "refaccion" or snack of bread with a hot drink, and dinner. The breads sell for between 25 centavos (about 3 US cents) to 2Q (25 cents). Some are better than others but all come complete with a whopping amount of shortening...mmmm.




This is Santa Maria from a hilltop of Santa Clara (in case you don't remember, I live in Santa Maria but 4 of the students live next door in Santa Clara.) The communities are distinct in a lot of ways even though they are right next to each other and for the most part get along in a sort of repressed, conscious negation of long-standing town rivalries.





This is one of the students, Amy, learning how to weave on a backstrap loom. To my shame, she actually finished this belt and did a fabulous job for never having touched a loom before while I can barely make a straight row...but you can't do everything right!





This is me getting my belt ready to be put on the loom. Pretty much a professional at this step...it's the actual weaving that gets me down.




After church we all climbed into a pickup to go over to Nahuala so the students could go to the market and get lunch and I went to visit my old translator and her daughters. Pretty unique seeing 7 gringos crammed in the back of a pickup truck. It's the only mode of transportation between the two towns though so you hold on tight!

A lot of delays

Well I took some time off from my blog...actually I kept trying to publish the same page for days but with the constant rain we couldn't get a constant internet signal to get things uploaded. So, here's a quick update of my life as facilitator and student in Santa Maria Visitacion...

I got extremely sick and was in bed for 3 days with a fever that made me so cold with chills I wanted to die. Accompanied by frequent trips to the bathroom and the occasional dizzy spell, I would say that I am pretty thorough when it comes to getting sick. But, I am feeling miles better right now and getting back into my groove.

I have been spending more time at La Salle including trying my hand at the daily Guatemalan breads that we eat at every meal. It has been really fun even though the students think I'm nuts...

We have worked on group unity and had a lot of big discussions about what the role of a field facilitator and field study student should be. But, group drama is just, well, dramatic, so I'll save you the pain.

I got to go up to Xela for a short while with David and Matt as we looked for harmonicas. We enjoyed pizza in a sit-down Pizza Hut restaurant and got soaking wet in the rainstorm that hit right as we starting looking for a return bus.

I have now completed 2 official months from returning from Argentina. It feels so far away now. Guatemala culture is definitely more reserved and a-political but the community atmosphere is a lot more inviting than the sprawling metropolis of impersonal Buenos Aires. I still confuse a lot of people with my hint of Argentine accent (though I have made some great strides in working on masking it...even though my Spanish suffers in having to do that...) and I am continually making new friends just by the fact that I speak K'iche'. Quick story, I was walking down the street in Santa Clara, enjoying my water in a bag and toasted cheese junk food that I had bought at the corner tienda when I saw a group of women sitting on the grass embankment outside their house. I didn't know them but greeted with by saying "good afternoon" in K'iche': "Xek q'iij." and I kept on walking. Ten steps down the road I hear this shout behind me "CRISTINA!!!" and turning around I see one of the women motioning me to come back. I do but I was really confused that they knew my name because I was positive that I didn't know them. They then asked me if Cristina was, in fact, my name and I said yes, but that I didn't know them. They broke out in bursts of "it's true it's true!!" and preceded to tell me that there were rumors of a girl named Cristina that spoke K'iche' and so when they saw me and I greeted them they wanted to know if it was true. Slightly awkward conversation but you know...go with the flow. I decided to bring up the fight between Santa Clara and Santa Maria and they said they weren't a part of it but that we were all children of God and we shouldn't fight. I then continued on my search for high strength antiobiotics to fight the rest of my stomach infection...good story uh?

I am now in the midst of teaching the panaderia teacher how to make chocolate chip cookies and fudge...pretty fun stuff. I have really bonded with the high school students in the group and they now talk to me in "vos" rather than "usted" even though I had tried to get them to do that the first day, they only now are catching on. For those that don't speak Spanish it basically means that they are talking to me more as a friend and less as a distant adult that they have to revere. One of the students jokes every day about how he's my boyfriend and is going to lose everything the day that I leave...guys are definitely a lot more upfront and flirting is a whole different ball game down here. NOT that I'm flirting, I just haven't ever had to face cat calls from someone that I work with and don't just walk past and avoid. I give it back to him and tell him how I'd be robbing the cradle and whatnot and so things are just jokes and the whole group joins in so it's no big deal. I kinda freaked out the first time but I'm feeling better about it now.

We've had a bunch of small earthquakes recently but nothing big enough to crack foundations or hurt anybody, just long enough to freak out the Americans and get a couple phone calls from concerned relatives.

More pictures next time, sorry the limited entries. Happy birthday Jennifer, Josh, Mom and Happy Father's day dad!