Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Feliz Navidad de Anna and Jellyto


Do you know how hard it was for me to catch this puppy? And then put this silly Christmas hat on him? He wasnt a happy camper. As soon as this picture was taken he took off the hat and threw it into the tall grass. Hahahaha, sorry. It was difficult though. To anyone who reads this, mainly my family and friends, Merry Christmas all the way from Guatemala. Let it be known, that I will NOT be eating tamales for Christmas. I love you guys with all my heart.

Zaculeu




This Sunday the family I live with invited me to Zaculeu, or Las Ruinas, the principal ceremonial site for the Mam at one time. It was nice getting out of my town, as much as I am growing fond of it. People are starting to call me Anita. Thats what my mama calls me. Anyway, the ruins were nice. Doña Raquel and Don Rubein ran into some family members so they spent the hour or two that we were there at the bottom of one of the structures just talking while Cristian and I walked all around taking pictures, checking out the souvenirs and trying to find Quesifritos Chileados (my favorite junkfood aside from Sanguchitos--ice cream sandwiches from Sarita). After the ruins we went to Don Rubeins sisters home in a nearby aldea. We played soccer with some of her kids (she has 15) and ate bread and drank coffee. We also spent a good portion of the night trying to chase a white rabbit.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

New mailing address

I may or may have not inforned you all that you can send me mail somewhat directly to where I live. New address is:
My name (First and Last)
Voluntaria de Cuerpo de Paz/Peace Corps
Oficina de Correos Huehuetenango
Guatemala, Centro America

Friday, December 19, 2008

A Boy


Seño Anna? or Profe Anna? This is another one for mom and dad, to show you that I am still good and depending on how mom sees it, gaining or losing weight.

Baby chicks and some thoughts


The family I live with is concerned that Jelly Jr will eat this little chick and his brothers and sisters. I don´t think that this is likely, although he does like chicken. He just likes chasing them around. They are too damn cute. Wouldn´t you chase them?
Thoughts:
1) It does not feel like Christmas. Where is my tree? And where are my presents? Where is my white snow? Where is my family?
2) The week-long girls basketball camp is over, as is the dodgeball camp that was an amazing success. I think that Seño Anna is the talk at many lunch and dinner tables simply for playing dodgeball with these kids for two hours every day. Good Lord, it was exhausting but fun.
3) Finished reading A Thousand Splendid Suns...highly recommend it.
4) I´m finally getting furniture.
5) I need to s top spending so much money on food.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Alllllrighty then

The title to the blog has little to do with what I´m actually going to write about. But I was watching it the other day at one of my students houses and I remember that we hadn´t gotten to the end when he figures out that the woman is a man with everything put behind him (I´ll gently put it that way). Anyway, so last night I went to the papifut tournament that my community has every year. Cristian (my other P.I.C aside fro mVanessa) and I had just gotten our caliente (warm punch with pineapple, coconut and papaya) when this guy comes walking out of the fenced area greeting everyone. Hola, viejo. Then he goes on to me and says, Como estas, Malito?, almost knocking me on my feet as he patted me on my shoulder. Apparently, I look like someone named Malito. And apparently I look like a dude. It was dark. I had a hat on and my hair pulled up, sweat pants, and a big skiing coat...but still. Then right before I was about to leave another guy that had been playing is going to leave and he goes around saying his goodbyes then gets to me and says, Que onda viejo? as he takes my hand and shakes it. Then hes likes, Oh snap! Desculpe. And he feels super salty. But all the men folk were laughing about it. They had since the first misunderstanding and were dying laughing that it had happened again. Those things don´t usually bother me. I´ve never been super feminine, girly or however women are made to seem in tv and magazines, society in general. Except for maybe when I was ten and still wore that beautiful flower hat that Alberto still makes fun of me for. But yes, it bothered me and I couldn´t help but slip out, Does one have to wear a dress to let people know that she is a woman? I don´t know that that statement was important because the only people who heard were Cristian and his dad (he was part of the laughing folk).

Anywho, today I played dodgeball (matado) again with about 20 kids. They do not get tired of this game. Little do they know about the Pink Cobras from Aurora...But I see some definite dodgeball superstar potential in some of those kids. My girls´basketball game is also going on this week. Very few girls have come but I think that I may also have sparked the interest of some girls that don´t get out to play much. Oh and I got the lethargic 10 year old boy of the lady I used to live with to come out and do some exercise. He generally watches tv and plays videogames. So progress is being made. Oh oh...and I got a free desk. Did I mention that?

Monday, December 15, 2008

Thanksgiving





Yes I know this is late and not enough but enjoy anyway.

Jelly´s all grown up


Eerie

Kind of like what Roy and I saw when we hung out in Chicago while I was home. Increased police presence in the downtown area. Way more than normal. The same thing is happening here. I´vé noticed it for the past two weeks. Tons of cops and soldiers in the downtown area, guarding certain shopping centers. Today as I walked to the bus stop, there were two helicopters flying overhead. I don´t know if its because of the narco killings that happened a couple weeks back. I don´know but it doesn´t make me feel safe--the increased police and military presence. So that makes me think that something is definitely going to go down any day now. A shootout maybe or something. Who knows.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Happy Birthday to the Oso!


I was looking for a bear poem to put up with this picture and instead found a blog written by a lady that is married to a Bear. Pretty funny. Anyway, Happy Birthday, Bear. Thanks for being a great friend and sister. Love, Bird.

Monday, December 1, 2008

En Paz/Capaz

Today kicked off camp at one of my schools. I really wasnt sure what the expect, how many kids would come, if theyd like it. En fin, all that other stuff of self-doubt and assumptions. The camp was set to go one way a few months ago but in this last week, I completely changed it, focusing on Children´s Rights around the world. Stressing to them that they have rights as members of their society and citizens of their country and the world, conditions that must be met in order for them to have happy, healthy lives; they, in turn, must respect the human rights of others. Lovely UN stuff. I dont know what made me change but Im glad I did. Today went well. We had some get-to-know you activities, a grafiti wall, read a fairy tale about human rights, and had aserious geography lesson. Did you know that Venezuela was in Asia? Yeah, Im talking serious. I thought the inner city was bad. Anyway, in the next couple of days we will be celebrating Children´s Rights, via watching movies (hopefully even though my CTA let me down with the projector), playing games, and doing art (making Christmas cards for a local orphanage and one of our students that is very sick). I will post more stories and pictures soon. Love you.