And some from a Mayan ceremony I went to with my host dad!
martes, 24 de febrero de 2009
photos of my classes and mayan ceremony!
I just posted a blog below, so make sure to check that out. But here are some photos from my two classes!
And some from a Mayan ceremony I went to with my host dad!
And some from a Mayan ceremony I went to with my host dad!
el mes del cariño y la amistad
Hello out there,
This past month has been one of highs and lows…like most months here. It began at a retreat with the other volunteers in Monterrico. Monterrico is a beach on the Pacific that is gorgeous, but too dangerous to swim in. Nonetheless, breathing in the salty air by the pool and releasing baby sea turtles to their destinies in that monster of an ocean at sunset was good enough for me! As I anticipated, this retreat was much needed after the 6 weeks we spent without seeing each other. The sadness that lingered throughout our Christmas retreat had disappeared, and everyone was ready to laugh and enjoy our time together.
After I returned from our retreat, I had a week of hard work trying to finish a curriculum that I was working on for the PC(USA). Each site, national and international, is making their own curriculum to be compiled into a youth/adult bible study available for purchase. Another YAV and I split up the work, but it still seemed to be quite time consuming. I needed to get pictures of my classes, site, and town. I also needed to make a video of my class and create a slide show for the end. All of the photos needed to be named a certain way and all of this went just fine until it was time to send it all. I was at the internet café from 8am to 7pm with a lunch break in the middle trying to send it all! After a frustrating several hours, it was sent and it felt good to have completed a project. On the way out of the internet café I heard a crash and turned around to see a man and motor-taxi collision, the man wasn’t moving and shortly after I heard an ambulance come to pick him up. It was a heart-breaking end to a frustrating day.
By the way, if your church is looking for a curriculum for youth or young adults or grown adults, check out this Young Adult Volunteer curriculum! It should be available this summer and you’ll get to see my wonderful students as well as the work of many of the other volunteers around the country and around the world.
The following week, CEFORMA was celebrating Carnaval which I assume has some relation to Mardis Gras and Carnaval in Brazil. Carnaval in Comalapa, however, has a much more innocent spirit than Mardis Gras in New Orleans. I worked at a restaurant last year in New Orleans for Mardis Gras, and although I am all for a week of fun and plastic beads, serving cranky drunk customers 12 hours a day and ducking from gun shots every now and then is not my idea of a carefree week. Anyway, Comalapa really has the right idea. Their celebration involves emptying the yolk out of eggs, painting masterpieces on the shells, filling them with cascarón or confetti (sometimes flour), and smashing them on people’s heads. Now what could be more fun that than? It’s a mess, but everyone gets to use their creativity and release any stress on their friends’ heads…or a stranger’s head. The only problem is that those little shreds of paper pican – itch against your back. Carnaval celebration coincided with Valentine’s Day celebration which is day of affection and friendship here in Guatemala. I made heart-shaped cookies for my classes and we exchanged Valentine’s cards in English. It was a week full of festivities.
The Friday before Valentine’s Day, I made my way to Guatemala City to meet up with a group coming from New York state for a 9 day long mission trip. We spent a couple of days in Guatemala City observing the disparity between the rich and the poor. We went to go see the cemetery where we could see how the rich and poor were buried, then we checked out the dump. Many people work at the dump, sorting it to sell materials to companies for very little money. Only recently were children banned from working in the dump. Now they stand outside of it waiting for their parents to bring them the garbage to sort. Later that day we went to see a wealthy neighbourhood in Guatemala City. These extremes exist all over the world, but when you are intentional about seeing them, they hurt. On Sunday we made our way via bus up to El Quiché region. There we met with a rural community who we’d be working with that week. We had a church service and the Guatemalan guide and I split up the responsibility of translating. His translating skills are much better than mine, but it was a good first experience for me.
The next few days we went everyday to this community to help them with some projects for their new church. It was beautiful watching everyone have genuine moments with each other—Guatemalan-U.S.A.ens moments. The 2 little girls on our trip especially jumped right in and made friends. We often found them helping mothers sort beans or washing the dishes in someone’s pila. Because of them, we were able to enter people’s homes and spend time with them there. It is really special how children can break down barriers without even knowing that they have done something profound. The homes in this small village in El Quiché are mostly made out of the traditional adobe brick. Their kitchen’s are sweltering hot with wood burning fires used to cook. And their days are full of hard work and responsibility shared by each member of the family. I really enjoyed our time in the village, working side by side with the people. However, there was one situation that made me wonder about the ethics of gift-giving. The New York churches had generously gathered together a variety of toys, school supplies, and medical supplies to donate to different locations. The school supplies were given to a very needy to school. And I felt that they would be very useful for the teachers who have about 50 students each in several different grades at one time. The medical supplies were given to a hospital that relies on donations to stay open. But the toys were handed out to the children of the village. The kids lined up and were given a choice as to what toy they wanted but they were hurried along and I imagined it must have been a strange experience for them. It made me wonder, is it right to give toys to children like this? Are we just further exposing them to the consumerism culture of the United States? Or will these toys make the children happier in some way? Or if giving gifts, how should it be done? Should we be the ones to give the gifts or the community members or the parents? I would really like to hear your thoughts on this so MAKE A COMMENT. Complaint: nobody comments on my blog.
After we left El Quiché, we made our way to Panajachel. I´ve been to Panajachel three times now, but this time we entered at night. Seeing the lights from the towns reflect in the lake, surrounded by volcanoes, blanketed by stars…AMAZING. We spent two nights there with a day trip to the Chichicastenango market. I spent most of the time using the internet because I wanted to experience the market with fresh ideas when my parents come. After lunch, however, we were each given 25 quetzales to buy groceries for a family. That is about the amount an average family will have to buy groceries for a week, for a family of 6 or more. That is about 3 dollars and 50 cents. Thinking I was smart to buy a family beans, I spent all of my money at the first stop. I didn’t realize how expensive beans are! After that, we decided to put our money together and then just share the beans. In the end we came out with a nice variety of food, but definitely not enough to feed a family of six for a week. It is these kinds of intentional experiences that make “mission” trips worthwhile. What I mean is, we have a lot to learn as people from the United States from the rest of the world.
Our last night was spent in Antigua at a Lutheran Church center, and at this point, I felt as though I had come with the group and would leave with them the next day. And, as their bus drove away I panicked as that wasn’t the case. I guess I had gotten too use to being around Americans. They treated me so well! If you are reading this, thanks guys I had a great time! I hope they didn’t mind too much that I didn’t know the answer to most of their questions. I was learning with them and that’s the way it should be.
To end a great week, my wallet was stolen on the bus on the way home. Someone tried to charge over $500 worth of groceries on my card, but luckily it didn’t go through. Message to the thief: Really? It would be strange to buy $500 dollars worth of groceries in the U.S. How did you expect to get away with that in Guatemala? That is 4,000 quetzales worth of food!
Did I mention that most people of about $3.50 to buy groceries each week?
The other YAVs and I are off to Belize this weekend! I can’t wait!
Until then,
Celeste
P.S. Comment on my blog!
This past month has been one of highs and lows…like most months here. It began at a retreat with the other volunteers in Monterrico. Monterrico is a beach on the Pacific that is gorgeous, but too dangerous to swim in. Nonetheless, breathing in the salty air by the pool and releasing baby sea turtles to their destinies in that monster of an ocean at sunset was good enough for me! As I anticipated, this retreat was much needed after the 6 weeks we spent without seeing each other. The sadness that lingered throughout our Christmas retreat had disappeared, and everyone was ready to laugh and enjoy our time together.
After I returned from our retreat, I had a week of hard work trying to finish a curriculum that I was working on for the PC(USA). Each site, national and international, is making their own curriculum to be compiled into a youth/adult bible study available for purchase. Another YAV and I split up the work, but it still seemed to be quite time consuming. I needed to get pictures of my classes, site, and town. I also needed to make a video of my class and create a slide show for the end. All of the photos needed to be named a certain way and all of this went just fine until it was time to send it all. I was at the internet café from 8am to 7pm with a lunch break in the middle trying to send it all! After a frustrating several hours, it was sent and it felt good to have completed a project. On the way out of the internet café I heard a crash and turned around to see a man and motor-taxi collision, the man wasn’t moving and shortly after I heard an ambulance come to pick him up. It was a heart-breaking end to a frustrating day.
By the way, if your church is looking for a curriculum for youth or young adults or grown adults, check out this Young Adult Volunteer curriculum! It should be available this summer and you’ll get to see my wonderful students as well as the work of many of the other volunteers around the country and around the world.
The following week, CEFORMA was celebrating Carnaval which I assume has some relation to Mardis Gras and Carnaval in Brazil. Carnaval in Comalapa, however, has a much more innocent spirit than Mardis Gras in New Orleans. I worked at a restaurant last year in New Orleans for Mardis Gras, and although I am all for a week of fun and plastic beads, serving cranky drunk customers 12 hours a day and ducking from gun shots every now and then is not my idea of a carefree week. Anyway, Comalapa really has the right idea. Their celebration involves emptying the yolk out of eggs, painting masterpieces on the shells, filling them with cascarón or confetti (sometimes flour), and smashing them on people’s heads. Now what could be more fun that than? It’s a mess, but everyone gets to use their creativity and release any stress on their friends’ heads…or a stranger’s head. The only problem is that those little shreds of paper pican – itch against your back. Carnaval celebration coincided with Valentine’s Day celebration which is day of affection and friendship here in Guatemala. I made heart-shaped cookies for my classes and we exchanged Valentine’s cards in English. It was a week full of festivities.
The Friday before Valentine’s Day, I made my way to Guatemala City to meet up with a group coming from New York state for a 9 day long mission trip. We spent a couple of days in Guatemala City observing the disparity between the rich and the poor. We went to go see the cemetery where we could see how the rich and poor were buried, then we checked out the dump. Many people work at the dump, sorting it to sell materials to companies for very little money. Only recently were children banned from working in the dump. Now they stand outside of it waiting for their parents to bring them the garbage to sort. Later that day we went to see a wealthy neighbourhood in Guatemala City. These extremes exist all over the world, but when you are intentional about seeing them, they hurt. On Sunday we made our way via bus up to El Quiché region. There we met with a rural community who we’d be working with that week. We had a church service and the Guatemalan guide and I split up the responsibility of translating. His translating skills are much better than mine, but it was a good first experience for me.
The next few days we went everyday to this community to help them with some projects for their new church. It was beautiful watching everyone have genuine moments with each other—Guatemalan-U.S.A.ens moments. The 2 little girls on our trip especially jumped right in and made friends. We often found them helping mothers sort beans or washing the dishes in someone’s pila. Because of them, we were able to enter people’s homes and spend time with them there. It is really special how children can break down barriers without even knowing that they have done something profound. The homes in this small village in El Quiché are mostly made out of the traditional adobe brick. Their kitchen’s are sweltering hot with wood burning fires used to cook. And their days are full of hard work and responsibility shared by each member of the family. I really enjoyed our time in the village, working side by side with the people. However, there was one situation that made me wonder about the ethics of gift-giving. The New York churches had generously gathered together a variety of toys, school supplies, and medical supplies to donate to different locations. The school supplies were given to a very needy to school. And I felt that they would be very useful for the teachers who have about 50 students each in several different grades at one time. The medical supplies were given to a hospital that relies on donations to stay open. But the toys were handed out to the children of the village. The kids lined up and were given a choice as to what toy they wanted but they were hurried along and I imagined it must have been a strange experience for them. It made me wonder, is it right to give toys to children like this? Are we just further exposing them to the consumerism culture of the United States? Or will these toys make the children happier in some way? Or if giving gifts, how should it be done? Should we be the ones to give the gifts or the community members or the parents? I would really like to hear your thoughts on this so MAKE A COMMENT. Complaint: nobody comments on my blog.
After we left El Quiché, we made our way to Panajachel. I´ve been to Panajachel three times now, but this time we entered at night. Seeing the lights from the towns reflect in the lake, surrounded by volcanoes, blanketed by stars…AMAZING. We spent two nights there with a day trip to the Chichicastenango market. I spent most of the time using the internet because I wanted to experience the market with fresh ideas when my parents come. After lunch, however, we were each given 25 quetzales to buy groceries for a family. That is about the amount an average family will have to buy groceries for a week, for a family of 6 or more. That is about 3 dollars and 50 cents. Thinking I was smart to buy a family beans, I spent all of my money at the first stop. I didn’t realize how expensive beans are! After that, we decided to put our money together and then just share the beans. In the end we came out with a nice variety of food, but definitely not enough to feed a family of six for a week. It is these kinds of intentional experiences that make “mission” trips worthwhile. What I mean is, we have a lot to learn as people from the United States from the rest of the world.
Our last night was spent in Antigua at a Lutheran Church center, and at this point, I felt as though I had come with the group and would leave with them the next day. And, as their bus drove away I panicked as that wasn’t the case. I guess I had gotten too use to being around Americans. They treated me so well! If you are reading this, thanks guys I had a great time! I hope they didn’t mind too much that I didn’t know the answer to most of their questions. I was learning with them and that’s the way it should be.
To end a great week, my wallet was stolen on the bus on the way home. Someone tried to charge over $500 worth of groceries on my card, but luckily it didn’t go through. Message to the thief: Really? It would be strange to buy $500 dollars worth of groceries in the U.S. How did you expect to get away with that in Guatemala? That is 4,000 quetzales worth of food!
Did I mention that most people of about $3.50 to buy groceries each week?
The other YAVs and I are off to Belize this weekend! I can’t wait!
Until then,
Celeste
P.S. Comment on my blog!
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