Still here...

Ok... so i'm a lousy blogger. My last post was around the same time as my last diary entry-yes I started keeping a faithful diary/journal when i left the States, until about June. That would be about when I started boring myself to tears just writing about..me. And I guess I assumed the rest of you were equally bored. The truth is that I've been settling into my life here, and it doesnt seem so extraordinary anymore. Haven't really known what to write about.

Rather than try to catch you up on the goings on of the entire summer (I can't believe its almost October already!!) I'll just start with now.

I'm sipping the coffee that I bought from my next door neighbor-its grown in the neighboring county and only cost about 2 dollars for the pound. That's one thing I love about this country-it is a country full of entrepreneurs and buying local usually rewards you. These people have a spray painted sign outside their front door that says "se vende cafe, 15Q/lb" and I walked by it several times until just deciding to try it. It is delicious, cheap, and I will stop accumulating those little jars that the instant coffee come in. So, goodbye instant coffee!

Anyways, I just survived my first Guatemalan Independence Day(Sept. 15th)! Ok-it wasn't that bad... They are really into parades here, and school bands-the last 3-4 months have been a constant assault on the ears from the three or four elementary and junior high schools practicing for hours a day. And they all have big percussion sections. I will not miss the band practice-until they start up again preparing for our feria (Dec. 15th) and christmas. Oh joy.

So I sucked it up and went to show my Sija pride, accompanying my host family on the sidewalk to watch as the 20 or so schools filed by playing various renditions of the same few melodies. As you can see from the pics, they really go all out on the costumes; I'd say a good portion of classroom time for the last two months or more has been dedicated to preparation for these parades. After I'd had enough of parade-watching, I walked down the block to check out the street food that had arrived along with the festival. Pupusas, my favorite of the typical street fare, actually hail from El Salvador, but that doesn't stop them from making a damn good one here. They're basically corn tortillas filled with either cheese or chicharron(fried pig skin), fried, and topped with salsa. YUMMM....

And later in the evening, as I had heard that the festivities down in Xela were awesome on the night before independence day, I agreed to go with my host mom, her friend, and daughter, into the city. Lttle did I know that we were going to watch....you guessed it....more parading. I couldn't manage to muster up any more enthusiasm, especially seeing how most of the bands were preceded by weird brigades of boys in high boots marching and yelling in a very north korea-esque manner. I am personally more partial to the dancing girls with batons and high heels-even if it is sexist. For a recently war-torn country, i just didn't get the hitler boys' appeal. It's probably (likely) some machismo thing that I don't get. The highlights of this trip were seeing the San Carlos Sija band play (my host brother plays trumpet) and the burritos we got at a street cart after the parade.

Independence Day came, and while going down to Xela for more parade-viewing was tempting, I opted to stay home and hike the mountain with my new best friend. Oh, perhaps I left that out? Well, yes, I went ahead and got an adorable puppy, named her Bella (shameless Twighlight fan), and she is dragging my butt out to hike on my mountain much more often now, i'm happy to report. So, we spent Independence Day hiking and then in bed napping and watching movies. Happy Birthday Guatemala.

After the week long hiatus, its back to work in a big way. I have lots of promising things happening, and will discuss them in detail next post, which, i promise, i won't keep you waiting for.

Peace and love,

Amber

oh, and im putting pictures up in a following post. I have spent the last half hour trying to put pictures in where i want them and i c ant figure it out to save my life. Which is why i laugh when guatemalans just assume i can help them fix their phone/computer/ipod/whatever. I'll probably break it even more, i tell them. Contrary to popular belief, all Americans are not technologically inclined.