That Ain't Right

Last week, one of my dearest students missed camp for a day because her mom's cousin had passed away. Thirty-one year old man found dead on the side of the new road going through Piedras Negras at 3 in the morning. And absolutely no one new what happened. If you dig deeper, if you snitch more, you can always get to the bottom of things. It must be that suppresed desire to become a homicide detective coming out in me. Actually, it wasn't that hard to find out what happend, or what supposedly happened. Another student's dad is also related to the guy and says that he was driving his motorcyle at that time, and of course, we are in the hills so there's tons of fog at that time. Apparently there was a truck parked on the side of the road and he smacked straight into it. Sigh. He was supposed to be getting married in a few weeks. The mom of my student told me she saw her (fiance) on the bus the other day (her boyfriend used to pick her up from work everyday so now she was riding the bus) and she was crying and crying. Poor lady.

Yesterday, Profe tells me that his friend's sister "la iban a pedir," which is the formality of the boyfriend asking the parents' for the daughter's hand in marriage. The tradition was that the boyfriend and his family would go to the girlfriend's house with all kinds of food (tamales, bread, fruit, sometimes alcohol) as a gift to the family. Many ladino families don't follow that tradition anymore, but its more common for the indigenous. So this man was supposed to go propose yesterday. He gets into an accident on Thursday on his way out of Huehue to another city and dies. Days away. And, come to find out, the girlfriend is pregnant.

Sitting here in my kitchen, listening to the CDs that Roy sent. I've been stuck on the Music Popular CD. I kinda like the Alicia Keys song. The Beyonce one is weird. Is she talking about a guy's penis? Seriously. The Black Eyed Peas one makes me smile and I really like the Shakira one because it makes me think of Halloween. I'm also trying to study for my panaderia test. I haven't had a test in yeeears. I'm pretty happy the class will end soon because having warm bread in your face leads to quick weight gain and I'm not down with that. Other news, tomorrow is Huehue's serenata. People go around cruising Huehue. There's music in the park and tons of vendors. Boyfriends and husbands go serenade their pareja. I'm supposed to get a serenata...I hope its something dreary and not lovey dovey. Blahh. I'm seriously not believing in love. We'll not true. I do. But not for myself. Not now. Too much to think about. To fix. To take care of. Like my new puppy, Jack Piano, that thought it was okay to poop on my metodo del collar handouts. Thanks a lot! So he is officially banned from coming inside the house. He needs to become a manly, Guatemalan dog. Or he won't make it. Those other chuchos will tear him apart.

The time is winding down. Its becoming so blatant now. School is ending for the year and that means I have a few months of vacation and summer activities and only about 7 months of school. Im counting down now, not up. I keep telling that to Profe (one of my best friends here). And he says, why do you have to say that? Cant you just enjoy the now. Yes, I can. But I cant deny reality either. Its coming. Itll be sad. It will come too soon. I hate when people use the word bittersweet but Im sure it will be something like that.

But before I go and get emo on you, I want to share some of the things that Ive been enjoying in the now.

• One of my male students bravely decided to show the rest of the class that he understood a womans menstrual cycle, fertility, etc.
  
• I am starting to announce my summer camps (American sports!, Art workshops, Girl Power/Leadership, Film Festival, Community Service).
• The idea of mom and dad coming.
• Lemon-flavored Emperador cookies
• I bought a toaster oven and made bread and it tasted delicious.
• Sweet text messages I get from my students.
• Finding scholarships for my kids.
• Falling asleep too early.
  
• Internet at my house!
• Talking to my students parents
• Pollo Campero. I want a life-time supply. I dont care what the pretentious PCVs say.
• Going for drives with Profe and listening to the White Stripes.
  
• Scheming and planning mini-vacations in the country.
• One of my students (who unfortunately is pregnant) whooped the boys butts in soccer yesterday. So fierce.
• New coffee place in Huehue--called El Museo del Cafe (will be frequenting this fine establishment)
• The bakery group that I am joining (Ill open up my own business when I get home. Watch out Mexican panaderias!)
• The great clothes I bought at the PACA after going to about 10 and not finding shit.
• The idea of running to lose some pounds and instead making myself pasta or eggs with tortillas.
  

La Comadre

My host brother, aka La Comadre #1, is Cristian. He is 14 years old and you can find him in a lot of the pictures that I've posted in the past. Yes, we hang out a lot. He is probably my best friend here. Why? He shares food with me and I help him with his homework. We put our arms around each others' shoulders as we walk down the dirt path to school. He picks up his dogs and dances different Latin dances with them. He tells me all the good gossip. He is the first to know. People open up to him. Sometimes his mom will send him on some errand and he will take twice as long just because, along the way, he must have found someone to talk to. He's not your regular 14 year old boy, thinking about girls, videogames and soccer. He kinda sucks at soccer actually. He is my comadre. I am his. I am Comadre #2 and his mom is Comadre #3. Because we all snitch to each other, about countless things. Deaths of cows, husbands' cheating on wives, whose pregnant, who bought a new car. Yeah, you know, the really exciting things. TMZ worthy. Perez Hilton worthy.

In true fashion, today Comadre #1 comes down the stairs and knocks on my door to lay down some of his finest material. The neighbor's daughter had been held hostage with two other men, two houses down. Wtf...It's actually not a house, but a bodega where they store all kinds of mercaderia (food stuffs, I'm assuming) and some men came in and tied them up and put guns to their heads until they got all the money they wanted out of them. For 3 hours.

My comadre has always been scared of the dark. We bond over that but since I'm the adult, I try to calm him down. I tell him to repeat "todo lo puedo en Cristo, que el me fortalece." Sound familiar? And he does. And it makes me feel better. But seriously, we have more to be afraid of now. It keeps getting closer and closer to home. Todo lo puedo en Cristo que El me fortalace.

Independece Day

Pues si, tu. About 3 weeks ago I was invited to go traer la antorcha to Barrillas, a city that is 7 hours away in bus. It used to be 12 or 13 hours but now that the roads are better, travel time has decreased, but 7 hours, people! That's a long bus ride with 40 rowdy teens. So off we went at 8 in the morning on a Sunday, passed through all the Cuchumatanes pueblos and eventually arrived in Barrillas, which was surprisingly warm. We get there, choose our spot to sleep on a concrete floor and then go out to discoverer the town. The next morning we are up at 3am to start running. Now, please dont think that we ran 12+ hours. We ran some, walked some, drove some. But it was pretty damn cool and I ran way more than I thought I could. It must have been those whole 4 days that I ran to prepare. Riiiiight. We would take turns in groups of 4. For example, I would run with 3 of my students carrying the flag and two torches and when we'd run a certain distance, 4 other people would get off the bus and run. With stops for eating and peeing, we got back to the Instituto where the school was waiting for us, with delicious bread and coffee. Oh yea, and lots of cheering. :) Here are the pics to prove I ran although you never actually see me running in any of the pics.

Nevermind, no pics. Blogspot is being lame and wont let me upload. Until next time, I suppose.

Two weeks of Work and Play

First picture is Cristian with cake on his nose. It was his birthday and his mom pwnt him.

Next picture is the bomb-ass present that Profe Juan got for Cristian. I wish I would have gotten such a cool present for my birthday.

Then we have Carmen using one of my sheets as a towel because I had no clean towels because it had been raining for a couple of days, hence, no clean and dry towels.

Doña Raquel showing off all the tortillas we made that morning. Somewhere around 150. Whose ready for homemade tortillas? Or perhaps tamalitos de frijol? Or pupusas? I got that stuff down.

Rambo thinks hes Bebes. Hes a poser basically. Bebes has always, since birth, been a jumpy dog. Kinda like a dolphin...a GarDolphin? So Rambo thinks he can do the same and be cute. Doesnt work, Rambo. Stop trying to be like Bebes.

Me and my Gallo shirt. I had to sell my soul to the Gallo hoes for this shirt and I can´t even wear it around my town because Ill be criticized for my beer paraphanelia.

Classes Cancelled

I think I was the first snitch in Guatemala to find out that they were going to cancel classes. I felt it coming over a month ago. The rumors, indirect and general comments from directors, teachers and the radio. Because it wasn't enough to have at least one day off each week for protests, emergency meetings, workshops and influenza scare. May was good, despite all those cancellations. Students were behaving well. Activities were realizadas. I was able to get some things done despite my directors. When talking to Maggie, another Youth Development volunteer and my licuado drinking partner, and I'm complaining about one of my directors she'll say, "The lazy? Or the crazy?" Generally, I'm complaining about the Crazy. But I don't want to pass on the grief that the man gives me every time I see him. Every so often he mentions that during the 90s he worked for the Naciones Unidas in the Cuchumatanes. Is that supposed to impress me? Well actually, in general, it does impress me if I didn't know how he is. I find it very hard to believe that he contributed to anything productive in any of the projects they did. Ok, enough shit talking. May, thank you for bringing me up.

June, bring peace to this heart and creativity and stability to this brain of mine. I have two weeks to put them both to work so that July will be even better than May. Almost every day during the rest of June, my friend, Edna, and I are going to go walking at six in the morning, because we are cool like that. Edna is cool. Her name makes me think of an old lady but she's only 26. She's married with three small children. She's a good mom. She's got good ideas and gives me good advice. She's very sensitive just like Rab so she kind of reminds me of you. Same age too. Her birthday is in July.

So that is June. Our feria is cancelled for July. Sad. It actually wouldn't have mattered much as I was going to be home during that time anyway but now, seems like I am going home in August. I'm thinking, should I just wait and go home for Christmas. What do you guys say?

I love you guys.

Poastie Toastie

For Potato.
´
Whats all going on?

I shouldn´t but I am counting down the days until I come home. I was talking to my friend about the strange, strange feeling of getting on a plane in one place and entering into something entirely new. Im looking forward to that weirdness. I will probably only go home for two weeks. I do not have sufficient days to be galavanting in los estados divididos. As much as Id like to stay for a month or more. Impossible. The midyear vacation for the public schools is supposed to be the week after my birthday, which also coincides with the Dia del Maestro; however, they haven´t announced anything. Everything is rumos here. Rumors floating through the air, circiling into peoples´ ears and out of peoples´mouths. This same friend and I went walking yesterday in the morning. She´s been living in our little town for at least 6 years but she still hasn´t been through all the paths that have been dug from the edge of the highway. This makes me feel better. I´ve explored more than her. But she has three kids so maybe I shouldn´t feel so great. Don´t listen to what anyone has to say here, about other people anyway. She told me that some guy had her that I was dating the director of one of my schools. I couldn´t stop laughing. I must have looked foolish walking down the highway saying, ¨En serio?¨while laughing and slapping my knee. Precisely she said. You can´t believe these people she said. Oh, and the 40 year old man that kept harrasing me so that he could let me borrow a book on the ladino slave or some shit like that, apparently broke his father´s feet so that he would stop drinking because he was an alcoholic. Way to support. Shudder.

Another good anecdote for you. There is a chofer in my town who all the girls have a crush on. I admit, me too. Or I had at least. A few weeks back he fled to Guate because someone got on his bus and told him that if he drove to the next stop that he wouldn´t live. Dramatic huh? He comes back a week or two later. What happen, baby? I thought you got a death threat. So this is what went down. Prepare to be amazed by the creativity of those who surround me. So one day the chofer decides hes going to use the bathroom while on his shift. By the last parada there is a parqueo where people sell, chips, arracheras, en fin, bastantes cosas. He goes to use the bathroom in the parqueo but the bathroom didnt flush so he went to ask the girl (teenager or maybe around my age) if she could get him a bucket or bowl to throw water to make it all go away. She says sure just wait right here. She takes a long time, in the time he waits, the owner of the parqueo, father of the girl comes up. He says I need a palangana to flush the toilet. Man´s like, sure, they go towards the bathroom but the door on the bathroom is somehow locked. They open the door and his daughter is in there, naked. Man starts yelling at the chofer saying that he was going to take advantage of her and blah blah blah and if he didnt give him 10,000 Q he was going to kill him. He freaks out and goes to Guate only to soon find out that this owner of the parqueo has done the exact same thing with at least one other chofer. How the hell did he devise something so freaking weird and distasteful to ¨earn¨money?

That is all.

I love you guys. I am making a list of all the stuff I want to eat when I get home. Be prepared.

Mwere

Random smallness going through my mind. Zipping in and out.

Mwere. Me voy a ir. Said really fast by my primero students. They think its hilarious that me voy a ir sounds like were. So when they see me they either shout mwere or good morning.

My brain is bouncing up and down fro m that ride up and down that hill. Mountain, really.

I´m still thinking about that tiger riding that horse.

Bebes is so cute. I cut his hair so hes got all these bald spots by his belly because I suck. He looks like a little lamb. A little black sheep. Speaking of, there were so many lambs on that mountain today, all I could think about is that Mediterranean place that Chris and I would go to in Chicago.

Pollo Campero has good coffee.

May was or has been a freakeashly good month. June, dont fail me. You gotta be even better than May. Still...F U February for sucking so much. How could you when two great people were born that month? Phil and Michael Jordan. Ok, so Jordan is a douche cus he cheated on his wife. One amazing person was born this month.

I got new books to read. Thanks, Maggie.

Send me books, people. I need books.

Send me face paint. And board games.

I was missing good food so badly yesterday. Profe Juan and I were talking about what we´d have as our last meal. I listed cheese empanadas, sushi, 31st and canal burgers and a thai iced tea.

I went up to El Mirador for the one billionth time.

I missed my students today. Why do I love the instituto that is way more messed up.

I need to wash my dishes and clean my house.

The neighbor that died in the states was finally brought back after over three weeks for his burial. My goodness.

No protests YET this week. Hoooray. All quiet on the western front!

Art Club starts tomorrow????

I love you guys.

My birthday is coming up!!!

Querida mami, lejos de usted, le deseo los mejores de los dias, aunque ya esta por terminar. Usted sabe que no necesita un dia en especial para que le digamos que la amamos. Espero que sepa que todo los dias del año usted es alguien sumamente importante para nosotros. Estando aqui, siempre me vienen visiones de cosas, lugares o experiencias que tuve alla con ustedes. Puede ser en los mas extraños de momentos, pero usted siempre viene a mi mente. Cosas como cuando usted y yo nos sentabamos a comer quesadillas y tomar cafe y usted siempre me decia que como le podia poner tanto cafe. Que me iba a adictar. O, cuando ibamos de compras juntas. O cuando ibamos a caminar al rio. Extraño todo esto pero este segura que cuando regrese estos momentos continuaran y crearemos muchos mas.

La quiero mucho mami, por ser fuerte, por ser chistoza, por bailar conmigo, por no juzgarme tanto, por amar a papi y a mis hermanos, por ser una mujer de Dios, por enseñarme que la educacion es importante, por ser sensible y por ser mi mamita.

early may

I´m tired. I gave a surprise quiz to my 2o English class. As soon as I said, take out a blank sheet of paper, they were freaking out. It wasn´t hard but their spelling is horrible in English (Spanish too). I think the other 2o which Im not teaching is way ahead of us. But I really want my students to at least get the basics really well. I know they learned numbers and days of the week last year but they couldnt say them this year.

In other school news, I´m still giving the communication charlas. They are going really well. A little too good? Today in class we were talking about assertive communication and then I started talking about the Golden Rule (la regla dorada as I called it..lol) and then about karma. I was thinking about Alicia Keys the whole time and her getting down in the subway station with the drums. Hahaha. But whatever, it went well. My 3o students...different story. I wanted to send them to the principal´s office so badly last week. There is this lack of confianza in me on the girl´s behalf and then the boys just want to be funny. We were talking about their goals, triumphs, low points and now are talking about life as a journey. And you can´t go on a long important journey without proper ID. So we are going to start talking about identity and self'esteem then go into decision making then all the good stuff like drugs, sex, violence, etc. I think I am going to read The Alchemist with them but I have to do it so as not to take too much time from the regular charlas. We´ll see.

Non-school happenings. My friend, Jane, came out to Huehue and we went dancing with my friend, Profe, and a bunch of his cousins. It was really fun. Surprisingly fun. I was getting down. Nothing unusual. Ooooh, I also went to a baby shower in my community. First one I´ve been to. I picked up a few game ideas for when I have to plan Rabs. You guys have to hold off a little longer to start having bebes.

That´s all for now. I´m tired. Need to take a nap and then continue working.

Love you all.

PS, someone´s bday is coming up.

HIV taller

Ruins

Camora

God is good...all the time. All the time...God is good. Today was good. It started off with me going to one of my schools to pìck up the stories that the primero students had created. I´ve just skimmed over the stories but they already look very promising. A couple of my students came up to me asking me for their agendas (planners) because, as the y told me, they needed to put down their homework and know what classes they had the next day. Say what? They are actually using the planners I made them make. I told Profe Juan that if all I take away from my two years here is that students become more organized, that would be enough. I´m only partially serious in saying that but I am so happy that they are actually using them. We have gone from maybe a tenth of the students in each class using planners to more than half using them. Another student named Cristian always asks how I´m doing and for me to be careful. This boy has an extremely special place in my heart. His mom abandoned him and his sisters when they were small and he was in a gang for a little bit of time. He is extremely hyper but a good kid. He is going to help me with some projects at that school. Ok...going back to my day, I hop on a bus to go to my other school, I get off and I wait for the other bus, and I wait and wait some more. Get to my Instituto and work with my 2B students. Communication taller went so well. It was great. Then I moved on to Tercero. Now the reference to the title...camora. Camora is like a nuggie or when kids beat you up for your birthday. Someone shouts camora to Jose. And everyone goes and hits or smacks Jose on the head. It can be somewhat playful and innocent, depending on whose doing it or it can be violent. Today some of my tercero boys did camora to one of their compañeros. This boy was crying so hard he could hardly talk. I was livid (to use Perla´s words). The principal came in and threaten them and what not (hes really not fit to be a leader of a school) and then I spoke to them. I basically told the whole class that I didn´t know what had happened but school was a place where people came to better themselves and a place that they could feel safe. They shouldnt feel threatened. I told them they needed to support each other. Everybody has other stuff going on outside of school but that school should be a haven. I don´t know if they took it to heart. I then went on to play a Juanes song called La Vida es Un Ratico and we talked about Juanes and what he was trying to convey to his audience through his lyrics. It went well and we´l l continue next week with another Juanes song that talks about not giving up, and persuing your dreams. Then we will go into decision mkaing. God knows some of them need it. Or all rather. The school day ended well with my Primero babies as I did a little communication skit where I brush the teeth of an alligator. It takes awhile to explain it so I wont but the students really enjoyed it and were extremely attent. Lastly, I went to one of my teachers house to help her with her English. She made me delicious homemade pizza. It was leet.

I just bought some jobos. Its a little red and yellow fruit. Its good but I think the ones I bought might be bad. Of course.


Besitos a todos!

Semana Santa, Huehuetenango

I´m kind of drawing a blank. I haven´t updated in awhile. I just got done giving a taller on VIH. I was freaked out that it wasn´t going to go well but I think it went well. The teachers least favorite part was the condom demonstration. Pero no se puede complacerlos a todos, verdad? I haven´t really been teaching, teaching in the past couple of weeks because of conferences, meetings, bimester exams, special activities, etc. My kids told me yesterday that they missed me. There´s this one student, Levi, who whenever he seems me, shouts ¨Señoooooooo¨so damn enthusiastically. It makes me feel good, what can I say. And then there´s these two really shy girls at my other school that when they see me, their eyes seem to light up and they run to give me a somewhat slobbery kiss on the cheek. Is this my imagination making me think that I am cherished (in the words of Rab) more than I really am? Saber. This week I didn´t teach at one school because of a security meeting and a taller and having to turn in grades at another school so I left them homework. They had to use some really random words to create a story. Some of the words included: cucharacha, yegua (one of my personal favorites in Spanish), Tortrix (guatemalan Fritos), regocijo, canica, chapin (nickname for guatemalan), amigo del alma and chipichipi. GREAT words, if you ask me. So I´m very excited to read these stories. I told them whoever had the best story would get a prize but Im not sure what to give them. A nice set of pens or maybe make a little book out of it and have it published. If you guys have any ideas, pass them along. Another thing that Im starting is a school newsletter/newspaper with the student council. I had told Roy about this when he came here. I got the idea from the Health Center at NCC. Everytime I´d go to the bathroom, I´d read those darn papers taped to the bathroom stall doors. So...they won´t be entirely based on health related things although it is very important for these kids specifically (many don´t eat breakfast; just like in the US right? But it takes a bigger toll on youth here. We have way more vitamin-packed food in the states). But anyway, other stuff that will be in this newsletter include vocabulary words (in Spanish, many say they want to ampliar their vocabulario), English phrases, world news, trivia, and student work (stories, drawings, poems, etc.). I´m really excited. And lastly I have to get my butt in gear for all the teacher trainings I have to give and parent trainings. I´m also going to have English study dates with two of my teachers that are clearly dating. They said theyd make me pizza. Can´t turn down that offer. And...I need some paint to make some murals. Oh and I printed off a bunch of good, motivational quotes that I am going to stick up in my classrooms.

All good things. Only really bad thing that has happened to me lately is that I am poor, again and that the babarua (Aunt Cruz´s postre) didnt turn out well.

Love u so much. Besitos!

Señorita Deportes

I´m hot and sweaty. I just judged a 4 hour beauty pageant at an institute there was potential for me to work at. Alas, I am at my two lovely schools. Rewind to this morning. Crap! I didn´t finish grading for my 300 kids. But I didn´t stress. I played soccer with the teachers team instead. My friend/school´s account and I got there late, by then the teachers were losing 10 to 0. My goodness...We got there too late. But we played against some little Primero girls and beat them 2-1. Pathetic. But very fun. My face was red, red, red. Probably because I haven´t done real exercise in ages. Actually, not true. I did 20 squats in my room last night while Bebes watch me with a confused look on his face. So after this mañana deportiva I ran my ass to the Teatro Municipal to judge this beauty pageant. It was cool. There was a little bit of slutty and inappropriate dancing. Some bad answers to good questions. And there was this one girl, extremely shy, wouldn´t smile, couldn´t walk that went off talking about women´s rights. I was like, YEAH! That´s right. She didn´t win. But she will always have a special place in my heart. Who did win? This cute girl that smiled the whole time. I could not go up there with a bathing suit on as 300 male peers looked on. More power to you, ladies. I know I´m rambling and don´t make sense. Last thoughts...tell me why the two former beauty queens that were part of the judging panel refused to go up and present the winners and make a little speech, but me, señorita gringa from the Chicagoland, had her big booty all up on the stage like no ones business, cracking jokes, speaking in English and dancing. Huh? Tell me what that´s all about.

the face off

Things I´ve realized in the last couple of days: when you want small children to not come in your house without asking permission, growl at them; popcorn brings people together; when the principal of your school is anti-progress, go around him; I need to make more friends; it´s okay to yell at my students if they are being little jerks; when sick, go to bed for at least 4 hours until it goes away; stay away from poisonous people (even if its their birthday); its not okay to eat ice cream every day (but its delicious); Rab gives good advice; buying purple and blue chicks can always make one smile; I need to travel more; I need to be more choosy with my men choices; wearing a hat makes me feel invisible (in a good way); Bebes is crazy; never refuse beans when they are free; my place to go relax and not think about anything work related are the ruins.

One last thing, my students are hilarious. They are big pains in the butt but I love them anyway.

Febrero Loco

In Guatemala, they sing happy birthday in Spanish just as we´ve heard it since we were little. But they add something on to the end. Kinda like how we always added on ´¨How old are? How old are you? How oooold are you? How old are?¨ They say, ¨Ya queremos pastel, ya queremos pastel. Aunque sea un pedacito, pero queremos pastel.¨ Pretty cute, huh? Love you, bro.

Happy Birthday, Pinguino!

This blog is dedicated to my brother, the roughest but sweetest boy I know. Not to mention probably the guy that has the best style. Even better than Perla and I, because you have the dough to make things happen. We all wish that we could be with you for your birthday. I even tried calling you twice today but the call didn´t even go through. Know that we love you and are always thinking of you, birthday or unbirthday. Te queremos muchisimo.

The following are things that I hope make you smile:
1) I´ve been singing the ABCs song all this week and will continue the following week because I am teaching basic level English.
2) The principal called in about 10 boys into his office for throwing rocks at a girl. These are high schoolers.
3) The Municipality had not picked up garbage for over two weeks because our mayor is corrupt and God knows what he is doing with the money. The people are pissed as a result, there was a underground movement to take all the garbage and leave it on the steps of the Muni. Truckloads. The cops tried to stop the people and they got trash hurled at them.
4) Bebes, my dog, had brown crap all over his face and I realized it right as I was about to kiss him.
5) I love you and miss you.

Yesterday I was a little kid again. I came home from going to visit a teacher´s brother that got hit badly by a motorcycle. He was at the National Hospital which isn´t too too far from where I live. I must say, visiting someone when they are suffering is bad enough with someone you actually know and in English, but its ackward as hell in Spanish and with someone you don´t know. Nevertheless, I think the family was very happy that we (me and Seño Emilsa) showed up. She went to pray and I tagged along. I think I may eventually turn into the O but I have a long way to go. I came home from the hospital and found Cristian and his best friend, Carola, making a piñata. I was tired. I could have easily just gone to bed but why would you pass up making a piñata. We did that though we aren´t done. We still have ways to go. Doña Raquel thought it would be cool to take an old piñata frame and make a new one, stuff the thing with candy, invite all her friends over and whack it open. Good idea. After the piñata, Cristian, Carola and I decided we were going to ride bikes. The problem was that we only had one bike. So we would take turns while the other two ran behind. But then a former student of mine showed up and he started riding with us and giving Cristian and Carola rides. We ended up riding for about an hour up and down the block. We then got to the cancha and started sticking bottles in the tires so that they´d make motorcycle sounds. It was so much fun. I don´t know how to describe it aside from giving an example. A few weeks back, I took one of the last buses home. They are either super packed or empty. I don´t know if there is anyway of knowing. Anyway, so the ayudantes for that day where two teens, maybe 18 years old or so. All the people were packed so damn tightly into the bus. I was almost sitting on the driver´s lap. People were hanging outside the bus door. The ayudantes were hanging out the door with one foot inside and the other leg dangling out. The music was blarring, some ranchera love song. It must have been these kids´ jam because they started shaking their heads, jumping up and down, grinning so wide and singing along. They looked so happy. It was hilarious. It was so unlike what I´ve seen here. People don´t do that in public. That´s how I felt riding bikes yesterday. Out of my element, free and totally happy.

This morning I walked from my house to Las Vegas, where I take a micro to go to the town where one of my schools is located. The walk takes about 20 minutes. So I left my house at 6:30 so I could be at Las Vegas at a reasonable time to take the micro. People were looking at me funny but I wasn´t paying much attention to them. I was focused on the fog that was letting way for the sun past the hills. And the great classical music that started playing on my Ipod. Classical music isn´t for rich people. I don´t know why some people say that. That music brings peace to your mind and soul; rich or poor, I think everyone can appreciate that. Meanwhile, classes go up and down. Some go amazingly smooth and others I feel some students are messing around so much that it´s impossible that they actually go anything from the class and in turn made it so that others couldn´t learn anything either. But it could just be that constant self-criticism. I´m trying to look at things as positive as I can. So with that said, I´m going to list a few good things that have happened in the past few days.
-Cristian and I went on a walk to the other end of my town
-I slept so warm last night thanks to the fire and blanket I got
-There´s this little girl in primero that gives the best morning greetings
-I´m going to try to get on the last bus going back into town
-I had a Sanguchito today
-I had a good text session with a stranger last night
-I sent Phillip a bday package
-Cristian´s extremely large cat, Muñeco finally showed up after being gone for a month
-I made Pad Thai last night
-I might have a date for Valentine´s Day

Bird and Bebes glamour shots

Do I look like O-town in that first picture or what? It´s them cheeks! Cristian put the hat Perla sent me on Bebes. Straight gangsta dog. I think he´s getting bigger and fiestier. I didn´t think that was possible. He´s starting to chew on Clifford´s ears and he tried to bite the gas man. Damn Bebes. No respect, no respect. Today I spent two hours with a friend teaching her how to talk to her husband in the states. They invited me to play soccer but they just filled me up with Pollo Campero so I don´t want to unleash all that on the fake grass cancha. I might go on a shopping spree tomorrow. Love you guys. Sorry for the randomness. LOVE YOU!!!!

Ruff stuff

I´m trying hard to type with an ice cream cone tucked between my index finger and thumb. So if there are some errors, sorry. Ice cream is more important than grammar. Anywho, today was a rough day. It started out excellent with all 3 Primero classes. I was amazed by how well it went. And then ended horribly. Wel not too horrible but at one point I kept hearing loud conversation when I was trying to talk but saw no one speaking. I think I was going crazy maybe. I had classes nonstop today which the normal teachers here don´t have so yes, I´m hella tired. Thing is it will probably be like this for about 2 more weeks when the Ministry of Education decides to send the missing teachers. Sigh. Meanwhile, I´m still sick. It almost went away but now I have uncontrollable coughing. Last night I woke up Cristian with my couging. He was also woken up by a supposed ghost that was haunting the house. That boy is full of those stories--murders, accidents, ghosts, spousal betrayal. Anywho, a lady died yesterday or the day before so it´s possible I guess. Also a kid was shot and killed in a nearby town by the neighborhood watch. I don´t know the whole story but supposedly they stopped him because he was out too late and he didn´t like that they were searching his car, and one thing led to another and he was killed. Some of my students knew him so they were sad today. If I were them, I wouldn´t have gone to school. The weather´s been pretty weird the past two days. Crazy strong winds. So there are some tumulos (speedbumps) but let me tell you, the love life is fabulous. I´m getting so many compliments and saludos sent to me. My goodness. Pretty hilarious. Definitely helps the ego. Miss you guys.

Las guayabas

Yesterday Doña Raquel and I hung out all afternoon. I was trying to clean the dishes and sweep when she called me to go get some guayabas. She´s always doing that. I think that´s how she gets people to hang out with her. What will she do when the guayabas run out? I guess there´s fruit in this country year round. So we went to the house that they own and is across the road. Apparently a family lives there now. I had no idea. They moved in on Sunday. It´s a family from another part of Huehue and came to my town so their teen girl could go to high school. Arriving at the house we first gave the cows their weird oatmeal-like mix while Jellyto ran around barking at them. He wanted to take a bite out of the cow just like Mary always does. He didn´t though. Those cows would toss him. What did happen unfortunately is that he was behind a cow while it was eating, when all of a sudden, the cow takes a dump and some of it splashes on him. Poor Bebes. Life sucks for him right now. Well not entirely. He got to eat half a chicken tamale last night. And today I gave him some of my beef stew. Anyway, back to hanging out with Doña Raquel...after feeding the cows, she climbs on the roof and starts throwing guayabas down at me and the two little boys from the family. We then go lay in hills. She whistles for her friends to come join us but they end up refusing. Too many chores left. We go home but not before a fall on my butt trying to climb between some strips of barbed wired and then stabbing my palm with a thorn. Cristian and Don Rubein were at some birthday party so we go upstairs and have coffee and beans, talking about all kinds of things. How Cristian is not Don Rubein´s son, her relationship with his father, how she misses living in the capital and how sometimes she wishes she wasn´t married because she craves her freedom. But how she also is happy she found someone she loves and will take care of her when she´s sick.

drip drip

Treated

I am beyond sick. Last night I literally thought that I was going to stop breathing. I was drooling all over the pillow and had to change where my head was resting just so I wouldn´t have a wet, germy face. I woke up with all my body aching and boogers everywhere. Bebes did not sleep with me and for that I paid a steep price. As I walked to the garbage can to throw away some toilet paper, I see a nice, coiled brown gift at the top of the stairs. But that was only after that big puddle of bright yellow pee. So I cleaned a lot this morning. I even washed my blankets. Last night I either had a dream, or this was reality, that there were fleas all over the bed. And that I caught them so easily. This was probably reality. Anyway, so I´m sick. When I´m sick, I long for home, more so that usual. Last night I went to bed at 7, woke up at 9 thinking it was midnight and then finally at about 6:30 with Cristian asking me if I wanted to go to a nearby town with them. I politely declined. I´m sick, young man. Of course, then his mom finds out and promises me a Vicks Vapor Rub-down later today. This should be interesting. Do I want it? Yea, kind of, as long as she doesn´t laugh while she´s doing it. Rewinding...this weekend went by really fast. The lake was beautiful. It reminded me of Manuel Antonio in Costa Rica. I recommend Circus Bear (jaja...actually called Circus Bar) for their yummy pizza. Don´t go to Chinitas. Cute kids selling equally cute handicrafts. I had to take 5 buses to get home yesterday so that suuuuuucked. I had both butt cheeks on a seat though. So that was a positive experience. It was nice to be back home even though I thought I was going to faint. Hopefully I get better. Tomorrow is the first day of school. I have to be dynamic and with that game face on. Speaking of game face...the soccer season starts soon. Anyway some other things that I have been doing and look forward to in the coming weeks.

1) Phillip finally responding to his family´s emails
2) I ate ram for lunch last Thursday. I wanted to throw up. Not as delicious as lamb.
3) Meeting with the librarian
4) Implementing The First Days of School...woot woot!
4) Having a fixed schedule for the school year????
5) Papifut games
6) Exercising (although someone told me I look thinner...that can´t be)
7) English classes for my teachers
8) Reading more of Rab´s fabu blogs
9) Calling Tia Hilda
10) Spending less money

SA Feria

Reunionation de Maestrosation

Every morning it is getting harder to wake up. 5:30 never feels right on cold mornings. It´s still dark out and very foggy. Today I had to reset the alarm to 6 and then I still didn´t want to get up. If Bebes can sleep in, why can´t I. Sometimes I wish I had a dog´s life: sleep, eat and well, you know...So I got up today with Roy and Bebes following at least an hour later. I made my black tea with sugar and ate my powdered milk with Corn Flakes then I finished up planning for a meeting that I had this morning with the teachers at one of my schools. The meeting was to reenforce the information about the Peace Corps that was given to them when I first got to site. We did a Jeopardy Trivia game to make it more interactive. They were getting all competitive. Some of the teachers knew the goals, mission, etc of the project while others had no clue. Sigh. We talked about how we were going to make the program sustainable and they had really good ideas. The teachers were joking the entire time but took things seriously went they needed. Overall, a success. I have basically the same meeting tomorrow at my other school. Hopefully it goes just as well although the teachers at this other school, as I told Roy, need a little electric shock to wake them up. Can they do it? Yes, they can. Jaja..sorry.

I´m putting a picture of me on top of a church when Roy and I stopped by Carmen´s feria. I think it´s a beautiful picture. Am I glowing? Love you all.

Small victories

Saturday morning I received a call from the student I tutored for most of the month of December telling me that she had passed her four final tests and was going to Segundo Basico as opposed to repeating Primero again. I was really excited to hear that and she was like,¨It was you. All you. Thank you so much.¨Then of course, I say that no, I couldn´t take credit for her passing. I helped her but she was the one that had to show up to the tutoring and ultimately study all those hours. Her father was not going to let her study next year if she didn´t pass so this was a big deal for the both of us. The last thing I told her was that I´d see her next year in Segundo. She laughed and we said goodbye. Then today, I was finally able to see the mayor of our town (actually of the departmente capital). This was my fourth time trying to talk to him about the cancha we are trying to build at one of my schools. Roy and I show up a little before 8 because that´s the time we were told to be there. We get there and there are already about 15 people waiting to receive a number. By the time he got to me (after more than 3 hours of waiting and Roy staring at the people in the park), he comes out of his office and apologizes but has to do the meetings fast. So I had about 5 minutes to tell him that we needed a cancha and if he could help us out. He told me that he knew that there existed that need and that he was going to talk to the other members of the City Council and then they´d decide. He told me thank you for working in his communities and that he´d let me know the results. The small victory was not only his response but actually getting to see him.

Meanwhile, Bebes is sick. His leg is twitching. Roy is also sick. Nose running, legs and arms covered with some type of insect bites. A little girl threw up on him on the bus. Terrible basically. However, last night was nice. We went on a walk through my town down the highway until it got way too dark. Came back and bought 1Q blueberry popscicles and sat on the roof as people walked by. We made Gallo Pinto, minus the cilantro and Salsa Lizano. Then we went to a soccer game down the road with Cristian.

Cuentos de Anna Banana

Roy will soon be gone. School will soon start. I will soon run out of chocolate. Life will go back to normal. I don't know if I can eat any more delicious food. I'd list it all but it's pretty embarrassing, all I've eaten. The past couple of weeks, aside from eating, I've been falling in love with Bebes, tripping over things, drinking lots of coffee with Roy, trying to prepare for school, meeting with the teachers and directors at my schools to see what is up for this school year (we finally have a start date for school!) and missing all of you. Having Roy here makes me think of home and makes me want to return to all of you. I miss my Jelly hugs and my O-town kisses. I miss cringing at the site of Bear's feet and the sound of Rab's catchphrases. I miss your stylish ways, Phillip. But I know when I leave here in about a year and a half, there will be so much I miss as well. I will miss walking by Dona Irma's house and whistling as I watch Bebes run down the driveway to greet me. I will miss Profe Geovani telling me "Good morning, Miss" with his little accent and the cheesiest face in the world. I will also miss going to the bus stop and hoping that the chofer I have a crush on is driving. I may even miss Dona Raquel's insane laugh Hmm...maybe not. But now, at the moment, I miss you guys. Every thing I do here I do because of you and ultimately for you. I love you guys.

The beans have gotten to Roy

Cuentos para contar coming soon...