Acustombrandome (Adapting myself)

I thought it would be interesting to make a list of all of the things I have had to adapt to and the ways in which I have had to change my life to live here in Guatemala. Because people always ask what is so different about life here, I figured I would post the list on my blog, so here it is.

• No washer or dryer: I wash my clothes by hands using a pila on my roof. I love pilas and would really love to find a way to get one to the U.S. Anyway, the most common type of pila is a plastic or ceramic structure with a depository of water in the middle and two side areas, one where you can wash dishes and one where you can wash clothes. My pila has two areas for washing clothes because I have a sink in my house that I use to wash dishes. Anyway, you soak the clothes for a bit and then scrub them using the ridges in the pila and voila, you have clean clothes. I have rope and clothespins on my roof, so I put the clean clothes out to dry in the sun (or at least in the absence of rain). This process takes more time than using a washer and dryer and my hands generally have scrapes on them from the scrubbing, and I still don’t always manage to get all of the soap out, and I don’t ring out the clothes enough so that they dry more quickly, but I like washing my clothes by hand. It’s kind of soothing to go on my roof and wash, and I have a really great view of the necropolis-like cemetery and surrounding mountains. It is more challenging now to find the right time to wash because it rains in the afternoons and I work all morning, but weekends have become my wash days.
• No hot water: Whatever I’m washing—clothes, dishes or hands—I only have cold water. In the morning when I’m washing my clothes, it’s very cold water. Not sure if it kills as much germs to use cold water and soap, but cold water’s all I have. I have a heater on my showerhead, but I don’t use it very often because it uses a lot of electricity. I kind of prefer bucket baths anyway, and it uses less water.

My pila on my roof

• Water doesn’t always run: Some of my schools don’t have water, which is a problem. In my house, I always have water, but only because I have a deposit. Water only runs in the morning and afternoon-it’s usually shut off in the evening for some reason. I’m always afraid of running out of water because I’m not sure how big my deposit is, but so far so good. I’m much more aware of water conservation now.
• Dust: It’s everywhere. In the sterile environment of the U.S., you don’t really notice dust all that often, but here it manages to creep everywhere. My house is covered in dust and I have to sweep all of the time to keep it from getting really messy. Many of the schools I’m working with have dirt play areas and this just causes dust to get everywhere. The kids help clean the schools, using water and sweeping to try to get all of the dust and to keep it from flying through the air, but it’s inevitable that there will always be more.
• No carpet: I have house shoes that I wear throughout my house. I never walk in bare feet or even socks because the floor is concrete and full of dust. I kind of miss walking around in my socks, and I guess I could if I thoroughly washed my floor everyday.
• Talking to pretty much everyone I pass on the street: It’s polite to say a quick “Buenos días/Buenas tardes/Buenas noches” or “Adios” to people I pass while walking around town. Usually to adults I say Good morning/afternoon/night while to kids I just say adios, which is what I noticed them saying to me. Sometimes I walk by without saying anything just to see if they will initiate the mini conversation, but usually I have to be the one to say something first, and then the person I am passing responds. I love it when I’m walking by someone who looks kind of grumpy and I say “Buenos días” with a smile and their face lights up in a smile and they respond in kind. If I don’t talk to people, they will think I’m “enojada” (mad) or something.
• Chuchos (street dogs): There are chuchos everywhere! I think this is probably common in most poorer nations because they lack animal control. What happens is people buy dogs but then decide that they don’t want them anymore and let them loose on the street. The female dogs have lots of puppies which become the newest generation of street dogs, and the cycle goes on and on. When I was living with my host family in the centro, I would hear this symphony of street dogs every night coming from the lot across the street, but where I am now it’s a lot quieter. There are still chuchos, but not as many.
• Carrying money in bra: I love that I can carry money in my bra and go to take it out and no one looks at me funny. It’s much more secure this way and it’s what most women do, some with cell phones too.
• Answering cell phones in middle of meeting/class/etc.: Cell phones here are always on and if it rings, you answer it. Everyone is constantly running out of saldo (pre-paid money on cell phone) so if someone calls them, they don’t want to have to call back so they answer. This is aggravating, especially during training sessions or meetings, but it’s understandable why it happens.
• Gas stove: I have a gas stove. I’m always afraid it’s going to explode or something, but so far so good.
• Markets: I love markets! We have a weekly market in town where I can get most of my food—all of my fresh produce, pasta, rice, beans, cereal, etc.—and things like matches, toilet paper, soap to wash clothes with, scrubbers, clothes, etc. There’s a woman and her daughter who sell cheap paca (used clothes from the U.S.) usually for between Q1 and Q3 (between 12 and 36 cents or so) and I’ve gotten some nice stuff from them. One thing I’m still getting used to is regatear-ing (bargaining). Almost everyone in the market will start out with a price that is higher than what they are really asking and you’re expected to ask for a lower price. I never know what the normal price for stuff is, so I usually only go 50 cents lower or so (depending on what I’m buying). Sometimes I just ask “Por lo menos?” to find what the lowest price is. I’m almost never really confident that I’m getting the actual low price and not a gringo-fied price, but I feel like they need the money more than I do (even though I am on a budget and it’s pretty hard to stick to it).
• Can never blend in with crowd: Gringo-fied prices and calls of “canchita” (blonde-I’m considered blonde here) or “gringa” follow me wherever I go. Walking through town or sitting on a bus, kids are always staring at me, trying to figure out why I’m so different than everyone else. Of course I’ve had this before, but I’ve been living in town for three months and I still get comments and stares. If I’m having a bad day and just want to go about things unnoticed, I can’t. Also, the men here always need to comment or say something like “mi amor” or something like that, though they do this to other women in town. I really don’t like the attention I get from men, especially when I’m wearing a skirt or dress (hence why I mostly wear pants). On the positive side, kids I have seen in schools before know me and remember me because I am so different. It’s always great to be walking down the street and hear “Cristina.” (Here, people just say your name to grab your attention, and once you give them your attention, they don’t say anything more.)
• Public transportation: I love that there is almost always public transportation to pretty much anywhere you need to go. Some of the schools I’m working in don’t have transport right to the door of the school, but at least a bus or a micro will get me half or most of the way there. Buses generally run on a schedule so I can usually plan my morning visits depending on when the bus passes, but there have been occasions when a bus was supposed to pass and didn’t, leaving me to wait an hour or so for the next one. However, it’s so cheap (about 25 cents to get into the city and 16 cents or so to get around the city) and is better than walking in most cases. However, there are no seatbelts (pretty much no seatbelts in any car-most people remove them), so it’s not always the safest way to get from one place to the next.
• Walking: I’m doing a ton more walking here than I ever did at home. I take buses part of the way to my schools and then I walk the rest of the way, many times up giant hills. My house is also up a hill, so it takes an effort to get up there, especially when I’m carrying groceries. Most people here don’t have cars, so they walk where the buses or micros don’t go. At least I’m getting in better shape.
• Living in a foreign language: I have good and bad days with Spanish, but I always have to speak it. Sometimes I think I’m explaining something clearly only to be met by blank stares as if I was talking in Chinese. It’s frustrating and difficult, but I know my Spanish is improving daily and I just need to keep talking and reading and listening to keep getting better. For the most part, people understand me and I understand them (when they aren’t talking super fast, like most of the kids).
• Putting up with the status quo: Generally speaking, men treat women like crap here. Men almost always cheat on their wives, don’t let their wives have control of the money, don’t help around the house, etc. Living in the U.S., you’re used to hearing about equality between men and women, but here it’s just assumed that women are to be submissive and give in to her husband’s whims and let him go around with other women and use sorely needed money to buy booze. Someone I am close to here has problems with her husband-he was cheating on her, he drinks pretty much every day and often comes home drunk despite the fact that he should be working, he takes money and spends it on expensive things they don’t need when they have the loan sharks calling, etc. It’s a mess and I want to help her, but I know that if he found out it would cause problems for both her and me. I help in what little ways I can, like making food, paying her to do things that I would just do myself, etc. but I know that life is going to continue being hard for her. It isn’t always like this, but it like this often enough.
• Different work environment: Apart from always answering telephones, people work differently here. There are more breaks, especially for snacks, and there are more fiestas/time off. There is also lots of indirect communication and just general misunderstanding (partially to blame for my lack of complete fluency in the Spanish language and partially to blame for lack of listening). However, I like how laid-back it is here. Things still get done, but the deadline isn’t as important. Sometimes this is frustrating (water projects and such), but for the most part it’s nice that people aren’t so cut throat. There is so much more to mention here, but I’m starting to get bored with my blog post so I’ll write more about this later (if I remember to do so).
• Kids are more cariñoso (affectionate, caring): Kids I visit at the schools, despite being of the age where showing affection for an adult is not cool in the U.S., will run up to kiss me on the cheek or shake my hand. They will also talk to me and ask me to play games with them at recess. A director I was talking to yesterday also told me that she thought that poorer kids find more pleasure in simple things as we watched her class of second graders rolling down a grassy hill and having the time of their lives. She commented that kids in the U.S. are always playing video games or participating in other sedentary activities, while kids here are always playing outside with cheap plastic balls or without any toys whatsoever, finding simple ways to entertain themselves. Although kids here aren’t really taught to be creative (they just copy things from the board into their notebooks-they aren’t really asked to think for themselves), they find creative ways to play.

I’m sure there are lots of things I haven’t mentioned, things that I have just gotten so used to I can’t imagine doing them any other way. This post is long enough (too long, really) so I’ll cut it off here. Until next time, best wishes

-Christie

Feria! Descanso! Fourth of July!

A ton has happened over the past several weeks. I guess I should start with feria, which was very alegre. Probably one of my favorite events of feria was the cross-dressing competition between about 20 guys from my town. Everyone in town attended and thanks to a guy that my site mate knew, we got seats in the second row behind the dignitaries. The guys providing the commentary for the show kept mentioning the three gringas in the front row, claiming we were Obama’s representatives. It was a really fun night for all. The first part was creative dress-the guys all wore homemade creations. One guy for example had this headdress with lots of wire covered in streamer sticking out with tissue paper flowers at the end, while another guy had an outfit made out of empty junk food bags. They all had to march down the catwalk in the center of the salon where the event was held and then danced in place on stage while the others entered. During the next part the guys were wearing traje, the traditional outfit of women in the area, most of them with their own twist (like pulling the skirt up higher than the women normally wear it). While wearing the traje the guys had to sing in the Mayan language of Kakchiquel, which they do not speak in this part of the country (they speak K’iche’, which hopefully I will begin to learn this month). So basically they were making up words to the songs and singing quite horribly, which was so funny. The last part was sportswear with a World Cup theme (yet again-they love their World Cup here), with a dance to some marimba music (there was a live marimba player there providing music for the show). The guy who I thought was the best won and the pageant ended after about 4 hours. For once though the hours passed really quickly. I will definitely catch the show next year.

The parades started on Sunday morning and went through Tuesday. The youngest kids, preschool through second grade, marched on the first morning. They were adorable, of course, and I saw a lot of the teachers and directors that I work with fielding the kids through the parade. Some schools had bands while others were just marching. It looked like a lot of work to keep all of the kids in line. Seeing all of the marching brought me back to my marching band days. The music wasn’t all that great or together because the kids were younger, but it was a lot of fun watching all of my schools march on by. The next day was the older kids so once again I saw a lot of the teachers and directors that I’m working with, and I could actually make out some of the tunes that they were playing, among which was “Wavin’ Flag,” the World Cup theme song that is everywhere down here in Guatemala. With my partner, I was invited to a lunch with the alcalde and all of the participants in the parade, so was had some estofada (beef and cooked veggies in a really good sauce with rice) and tamalitos. I ate everything except the beef and it was pretty rico. The next day was the parade of carrozas (spelling?), which were the floats that all of the queens ride on. There were tons of different queens and flors and misses, representing all of the different public and private schools (there are 15 public and a number of private), as well as different organizations, like CONALFA (something with agriculture?) and the firemen. The queens were dressed in really nice dresses and the cars the were riding in were decked out in balloons, flowers, streamers, etc. and all of the queens were throwing candy at the beginning, but by the time they rode by my house they were already out of candy. I kept looking for the cross-dressing winner carroza, but I don’t think he had one.

Feria also encompasses rides, food, people, concerts, dancing, games, etc. I went on the “carritas locas” (bumper cars) with my host siblings, which was fun, but the steering was kind of broken so we kept going in circles, which made me super dizzy. Then I went on the “rueda” (ferris wheel), which was super scary. When you picture a ferris wheel, you’re probably thinking of a nice, tranquilo ride, going in slow circles, a romantic ride perhaps. Well, not here. The rueda goes super fast and because it’s sketchy and feels like it’s about to fall over at any moment, and you can smell the gas that it’s using to move, and you could get stuck at the top at any moment. At least the big wheel wasn’t propelled by manpower like the kid’s wheel. There were several moments when I could picture the newspaper headline in my head: “Peace Corps volunteer falls victim to rueda at local feria.” I could also remember my mom in the U.S. warning me against fair rides because they didn’t always follow safety regulations. Despite the handlebar that kept moving up, despite the car almost flipping all the way over, despite the wood that is probably rotting away, I made it through and it was a lot of fun. I also ate some feria food (but nothing too sketchy-just the breadlike sweet snacks they had), heard some music, saw some coordinated dancing by a local troupe, played some foosball and old-school racing video games, and just walked around with my host family. There were so many people out and about. One thing I really love about Guatemala is the ability people have to just take some time away from working and just have fun. I mean, the entire town (more or less) shut down for a week, no school, no post office, no meeting with the mayor. Transportation was more crowded (and got super backed up when the parades were making their way through-they were pretty long parades), but no one was in a hurry. I pretty much just stayed in town the whole week. I’m excited for feria next year because I will probably march with some of the schools in the parade.

After feria was a descanso for all of the schools, so I had another several days off. I took a few shopping trips to Xela, went to see Toy Story 3 at the theater (great movie!), organized crap in the house, did a lot of cleaning, read. It was nice to have time off, but I was really bored after a few days. The weekend of the fourth though I headed off to the Peace Corps center for a conference for all of the volunteers and the Fourth of July party (on the third). It was nice to get out of site for a few days (I hadn’t spent time out of my site since I got here), but I am over Antigua (too expensive, too many tourists). It was nice to see everyone though, and I got to know a lot of people better during the few days there. I also got to visit my partners host family, all of whom are really great. We had a nice big dinner and I talked a bit with the host dad. I’ll be heading back soon again for Reconnect, which has some training sessions and K’iche’ classes. Back to Antigua, but I found a really cheap place to stay and I’ll probably eat some peanut butter sandwiches and avocado with Tortrix.

I also had my first site visit with my APCD (my boss from Peace Corps), which went really well. We had a meeting with all of the directors of the schools, a representative of the Padres de Familia of one of the schools, one person from each Centro de Salud where we are working, the supervisor, and two volunteer leaders. The directors were as pilas as always and participated in everything. They had some great role-playing skits, great questions, great ideas. I am so fortunate to have such a great group of people to be working with. In training they kept telling us how difficult the job would be, how people would constantly be letting us down, etc. but it is actually easy to work with most of the people I’m working with and they haven’t let us down so far. No one cancelled our visit without calling, everyone welcomed us with food and warm words, two infrastructure projects have fallen into our laps. There are challenges with both work and daily life, but nothing near what I expected. I’ll keep working with the schools with the diagnóstico to see what infrastructure and health programs they already have, and that will take me through to the second week of August. After that, we have a certification in late August and a few projects to work on, but who knows what else is coming up. I pretty much just have to live day by day because you never know what’s going to happen.

All in all, I am muy contenta with my site and my job. I never thought I would find a job that I really love, but I have, and I wasn’t even the one who picked it out. Somehow Peace Corps knew what they were doing when they sent me to Guatemala with Healthy Schools. I can’t really imagine myself doing anything else right now. I’m living the dream-well, my dream anyway. I’m not sure everyone would love battling giant spiders, playing with the niños, and communicating in a language that they still struggle with every day.

Enjoy the middle of summer! I will try to stay more focused next blog entry and write about something insightful. Hopefully my computer won’t refuse to work before then-it’s starting to get really temperamental.