I feel like I don't know what to say on this anymore, which is perhaps why I haven't written anything in far too long. I've been trying to think of some musings to write about, but I guess my creativity is rather sporadic. I love that on my last post I said that I had some semblance of a schedule...definitely spoke too soon. I am teaching English at the school in Paneya, but have yet to do so on a Monday. Kaqchikel class with the Centro is pretty much over, so I need to find a new teacher. And the exercise class has yet to materialize, which is not the least bit surprising.
On the work front, things are good. Sort of busy, but sort of not busy at all. I guess I can choose how busy I want to be. I've been going out with our extended coverage nurses at least once a week or so, which is really interesting. They visit all the different communities that don't have a Puesto de Salud or aren't covered by the Centro once a month. There's a lot of routine vaccinations and such, but we also do some home visits to just-born infants and anyone who can't make it to our makeshift clinic.
I've been doing a bit of traveling on the weekends, probably more than I should be, budget-wise. I've been to Xela quite a bit, but we've also spent time in the towns outside of Xela where some of my friends live. It's awesome to see other volunteers' towns and homes. Last weekend we spent Friday night in Xela celebrating Marc's birthday (he's the one who went to College of Charleston also), and Saturday morning randomly decided to go to Panajachel for the rest of the weekend. Pana is on Lake Atitlan, which is absolutely to die for. I'm actually heading to the lake again tomorrow, but to a different town this time...Pana is ridiculously touristy, so it's much nicer to be off the beaten path.
Dad is coming down to visit for a weekend in October, which I'm rather enthused about! It'll be so good to see him and show him around. Things that don't even register with me anymore are going to come up. Por ejemplo, you see women everywhere walking around with a comb stuck in their hair. They'll brush out their hair, put it up in some fashion, and then stick the comb in somewhere for safekeeping. Somewhat odd.
Oooohhh, last week we celebrated Guatemala's independence from Spain...15 de septiembre. For about a week or so before, groups of kids and teachers from the local schools and clubs participate in what's called an "en torche." Basically, they run from one aldea to the town, and perhaps back, carrying torches...like the Olympic torch run. It was through this that I discovered Guatemalans are P-A-L-E. It was hilarious to see a few people running in their traje, but many more were in their athletic attire with some amazing tan lines. On the 15th, every town has a huge parade with dancers, marching bands, etc. There were groups from every school in my town, and also from pretty much every aldea. It's hilarious to see 6 year old kids in a marching band with drums...also kind of weird. I put a ton of pictures from the en torche and the parade on Facebook, so feel free to mosey on over there for a look.
I picked up my kitten last week, against my mother's better judgement. My sitemate's cat randomly had kittens right before I got here (fortunately just 2), so I took one of them for her. He's a little orange and white booger that she named Gouda. Clearly, she is missing cheese, as his sister is named Truffle. I'm planning on handing him over to another volunteer when I leave...but we've got about two years first.
The DVD situation in this country is fantastic. Of course they're all bootleg, but you can get discs with up to four movies on them...and it still only costs Q10 (about $1.25 US or so). Of course, they're not always great quality, but you can usually get the negocio to try them out for you. My copy of Twilight is flawless, I must say. As is my copy of The Dark Knight. Unfortunately, High School Musical turned out to be a wash - I got a disc with all three movies on it, and only HSM2 is in English. 1 and 3 are just dubbed over in Spanish. In general, they've usually got a pretty good, if random, selection.
I wish I had more interesting things to report on, such as I have to walk 2 miles uphill to work each way, but alas, no. It's just different here. All of you reading this, please ask your higher power to please let me have a hot shower more than once every few weeks. Bucket bathing is getting really old. It's worth the $6 hostel room just to get that hot shower on the weekends!
Nos vemos.
Meredith
