HIV/AIDS Workshop

Every now and then the title of my post just' spells out exactly what you are going to read about, and this morning's activities deserve their own post. Today we did -you guessed it-my first HIV/AIDS workshop with young Guatemalan girls and boys at INEBOO, the junior high. Accompanying me were Silvia, our librarian, Alex, library intern, and Christy, fellow PCV from down the road. Would not have been possible without so much incredible collaboration. The workshop has been pre-planned with lots of great activities that help break down the awkwardness the we usually feeling when talking about S-E-X, especially with youth, especially in a culture where its practically taboo.

The workshop turned out great, with some giggling and some blank looks from time to time...I have to attribute it to a combination of great presenters and the fact that this junior high is a step above the rest as far as students behaving, respecting their teachers, and genuinely wanting to learn. We had a great morning, and imparted some valuable knowledge that will be used, at least by a few of those in attendance.

When reading over the evaluation sheets we passed out at the end of the workshop, Christy and I were pleased to note that most students mentioned the use of condoms as one of their favorite, or most impactful, activities of the morning. No one talks to these kids about sex, let alone condoms. Our primary message was abstinence, as it is the only 100% safe method for preventing HIV, but we did an activity about the proper use of condoms, and harped on them being the only effective protection against HIV (and other STI's, and pregnancy..) if you are going to be sexually active.

A result of the hyper-conservative culture here is a reluctance to discuss sex and the risks that you take when you become sexually active. There is a high incidence of teen pregnancy here despite a higher level of income and education, and the only way to break that cycle is through education. These workshops are a great segue into safe sex talks, and we saw from the feedback that condom use was the biggest lesson taken away from the morning- I think the realization that unprotected sex exposes you to greater risks than pregnancy really sunk in for at least a portion of the teenagers in attendance today.

Both Silvia and I were so excited about the outcome of the workshop that we are already planning future workshops. Christy mentioned that she and a few other volunteers are putting together an additional segment of the workshop that explains puberty, changing bodies, reproductive organs, etc. in more detail because they are not getting it in school or in their homes. Many girls who get their period for the first time are terrified-no one has told them what to expect and they think they are dying! Middle school, puberty, dating are all terrifying enough without having it all be a surprise. I think that working in this vein of health education for teenagers and even adults is important and I look forward to doing more activities of this nature.






Silvia, our awesome librarian, describing the steps of correct condom use

Christy facilitates an activity that helps kids to understand activities that do transmit HIV versus those that don't (for example, sharing toothbrushes does NOT transmit HIV)

Me facilitating "Mito o Dato"

A dramatization of HIV acting on the immune system

Blogger won't insert my pictures at the appropriate point in my story =( so here is the Baile de Disfrases in my friend's town-For some reason it is popular here for the men to don elaborate costumes, complete with creepy masks, and do (sort of) choreographed repetitive, foot shuffling 'dances' during feria... Here they are.

Here I am in front of the Catholic Church watching the music and costumed dancers

Ferris wheel and fast food stand at feria

This weekend flew by-Got to check out the feria in my friend Stephanie's site. Feria (kinda like a carnival) is one week out of the year when a town celebrates their patron saint by having a carnival. The whole town turns out to see Folk dances, enjoy the street food, and really sketchy looking carnival rides. We enjoyed churros-deep fried dough sprinkled with sugar, street tacos, pupusas - a feria staple hailing from El Salvador, and ponche, a fruit cider that you can get spiked with a little whiskey for a few quetzales. Feria is prime ground for people watching, and was especially interesting in Steph's site because her town, unlike mine, is mostly indigenous, or of Mayan descent. The women still wear traje, public announcements are made in both Spanish and Mum, the Mayan language spoken in the region. This represents a whole other dimension to the Peace Corps experience, experiencing it through three layers of language barrier instead of just two-most meetings and intereactions in the community are conducted in their native language. I'm impressed by all my colleagues who work in this context-the Mayan communities are generally more closed off and suspicious of outsiders because of the civil war, apart from the language barrier.

Although I've experienced most of the big tourist attractions in Guatemala, I am pleased to realize that many more authentic travel experiences await in the sites of other Peace Corps Volunteers and plan on making more trips to get to know other obscure Guatemalan towns. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity to get to know a foreign country in the way that is open to us as Peace Corps Volunteers and I plan to aprovechar (take advantage of) while here.

I win

Listening to: Billy Currington

I wonder how long this newfound stamina for blogging will last. I can usually only maintain intensity about something over a short period of time, then it gets tucked away in a corner of my mind- "remember when I used to crochet?" (I crocheted one lousy headband-i Dont even Wear headbands, bought another bundle of yarn and there it sits in my closet) or the semester i took beginning guitar in college.


The only things I've remained intense about my whole life are water sports/activities, reading, and taking care of animals... Ok there are probably a few that I am missing (BBQ Beef Ribs...) haha. Seriously though, there was a point here. The point is, I am enthusiastic about blogging this week, but next week is starting to fill up already and who knows how I will feel about it by then.

This morning was fantastic-It was sunny. Like, I could sit against the wall on my patio in a tank top and actually sweat. This is awesome for two reasons-one, i haven't gotten to bask in a while. My Vitamin D levels were dangerously low. two, at my old house my patio was exposed to the street, meaning i couldn't have sat outside in my tank top without getting stared at/hassled/feeling way uncomfortable. Win. I worked on stuff for the HIV/AIDS awareness workshop on Tuesday, did a little more housework, and thought about how fabulous life is.
It is amazing how much the sun influences my mood. I just sorta went with it this morning.

This afternoon I judged a dance competition between four competing junior high schools. It was a blast! Some of the kids really did a great job, with awesome costumes and choreography. I really enjoyed myself, even when after the event a couple groups of giggling girls asked if they could take a picture of me. I thought at first that they wanted a picture with me, which is slightly less awkward, but no they just took a picture of me standing by myself. Not sure what the big deal is, but ok.

I got home just as it was starting to thunder and rain a little bit. A few (two) dry days makes the thunder and lightening and rain new and magical all over again. I do love me a good thunderstorm. I put some rice and vegetables on the stove for upset tummy dog, then came inside and started picking up around the house. After a while I smelled what I registered as tortillas heating on a stove....Five minutes later, I realized what the smell was. Rushed out to the kitchen and salvaged it with very little burnt rice mess-WIN. Hazards of having my stove outside.

Got to talk to my mom and brother-they are down in Orange County moving my bro into his new apartment-he goes to CSU Fullerton in the fall. Win.

Made this spinach-cashew-cream cheese-garlicky concoction in the blender last night with hopes of turning it into a dip for the crackers Mom sent down, but i didn't have any olive oil to help it blend so it only kinda blended. It is still delicious and I think I am going to bake it and spread it on whole wheat rolls for dinner. Win.

Wow, didn't realize what a winning day it was until reflecting. I'm going to stop before I make y'all jealous. I think I'll kick back, watch a movie and eat some spinach dip deliciousness.

Good night !

Chores in the Sunshine

Household chores are a whole other beast in Guatemala. I may have mentioned them in passing before, but today I'd like to elaborate. Because today was a day when I actually enjoyed my chores. In fact, the sun made an appearance here the last few days so I have been using chores as an excuse to linger on my new patio in the sun with my puppy dog, at the same time contributing to barefoot-friendly floors and dust and dirt free clothes, rugs, linens and so on. This morning was another such morning and I opted to do some cleaning.

The fact that I chose to wash clothes, do dishes, sweep and scrub the floors in itself is strange, but I think the combination of sunshine and new surroundings, and a desire to make these new surroundings into a homier sort of place, have motivated me to do the improbable.

In Guatemala, there is a lack of indoor plumbing. Instead everyone has an outdoor all-purpose water tank called a pila (photo to follow) with two shallow cement trays with drains used to wash dishes, clothes, and whatever else. I started this morning by washing dishes from last night, since I am determined not to let dishes accumulate in the sink. Lately, any kind of activity at the sink, which involves immersing your hands in the cold, cold pila water (outside temperatures) gets old real fast but today it was sunny and nice so I proceeded to wash my clothes. By hand. ! This involves soaking all my clothes in soapy water and swirling it around to simulate washer machine agitation (ha!), then individually scrubbing each article of clothing and rinsing it out by scooping water out of said pila and pouring it over. Repeat several times, then wring out and hang to dry. This week has been sunny (I know I've mentioned it already but its just SO EXCITING. California Girl + weeks w/o sunshine=overreaction to even mildly sunny morning) so my clothes will probably dry today, but recently what with the cold and damp has been taking 3-4 days to dry! I even lost my favorite american eagle hoody to mold a couple weeks ago. ugh.

I'm not bragging about my ability to handwash my clothes, per se. I just want all of you to take a moment to appreciate the magic that goes on inside your laundry machines. It's the little things.

Speaking of little things, I got a package yesterday from my mom and dad which I practically ran home with to rip into like a little kid on Christmas morning. New Swimsuit! Chocolate Covered Pretzels! Fancy Mixed Nuts from Trader Joe's! Its kinda mean, now that I reflect, for my mom to send me a new bikini with which to show off recent weight loss in the same package with chocolate covered pretzels and other high fat goodies...... I'm trying Really Hard not to eat all the pretzels in one sitting. So I can be Beach Ready in three weeks (but who's counting).

These are the little things that make my days go by. Tomorrow I am judging another competition of some sort for the other middle school in town-a dance competition I believe. What makes me qualified to do this? Saber. I'll try to take video/pictures so you guys can appreciate a little taste of the culture and festivity here in Sija.

Ciao

When I started this blog, I had definite delusions that I was going to be a good blogger, dedicating time out of each day to chronicle every cultural mishap, travel adventure, "Peace Corps Moment," etc. Sadly, this has turned into a once-monthly (if i'm lucky) "I'm not dead/picture upload" reassurance for mom and dad. Let me just say that as I enter the last 8 months or so of my Peace Corps service, I have the best intentions of rectifying this.... Wish me luck!

I woke up this morning out of a seemingly deep sleep at 7:30, and still trying to shake out the cobwebs...I was sleeping hard. This in itself is amazing given my general insomniac state and the fact that I've had a nasty cough/cold the last week or so. Maybe this was due to the fact that I moved the last little things to my new house yesterday-although things are still in random boxes and piles, and I have a panic attack every time I look for something for 30 seconds and don't find it (It could be anywhere). I am doubly glad for the move so close to end of service-it gave me a chance to purge all that stuff that accumulates in random piles all over the house. Where does that stuff come from? Seriously... Also had the will power to throw away/give away clothes so ratty/torn/faded/that sweater that sits hopefully in the back of the drawer that maybe someday will get worn. Who are we kidding? Additionally, thanks to my awesome counterpart Verney, I dropped off two giant bags of recycling that I have been hoarding in Xela yesterday-and then we got Subway =) fresh veggies on whole wheat bread . I digress.

I agreed to go see the new Harry Potter movie this Saturday with a couple friends. I have only seen the first one, and after last night, the 6th (?) one. I haven't read ANY of the books. After watching the 6th one, I'll admit that they are entertaining but I'm just Not a fan...Sorry guys. I don't see what all the fuss is about. I'm a Lord of the Rings girl-and more recently-a Twilight girl. My enthusiasm for the surreal centers around the Epic battles, steamy romance, HOT leading men and women...... well it sounds kind of awful when I write it like that. But still, my opinion stands. Harry Potter, you never had a chance....

At any rate I AM going to see the last one on Saturday, mostly because I finally tracked down this American Diner style restaurant that makes Biscuits and Gravy on Saturdays and I have been craving Biscuits and Gravy like since I've been here. I used to wake up on my friend Ashley's couch at like 7 am after a decadent and depraved Friday Night with only one thought in my mind. BISCUITS AND GRAVY. At which point I would locate my shoes, don sunglasses and hood, and stumble down the stairs to my bike. Oh yeah, at this point I have already speed-dialed LUISA'S PLACE (awesomest diner in san luis obispo) and placed an order for a platter of biscuits and gravy, to go. Pedaling a wobbly, painful 6 or 7 blocks to the diner, I pick up said order and pedal another couple miles (and SLO is hilly and unforgiving for the hangover crowd) take out container swinging and sloshing gravy goodness around in the bag on my handlebars, finally making it home where i plop down on my couch and inhale that reviving mixture of butter, flour, milk and bacon grease and drift back into a contented sleep.

So it occurs to me now that my expectations for these biscuits and gravy are high, maybe to a fault. But I have to put my hope in Something. Right?

New Old House

Moving weekend went pretty smoothly-due partly to the fact that i don't have that much stuff, but mostly because of unsolicited help from my host brother, counterpart and other co worker from the muni. I only moved a few blocks, and was valiently moving boxes and bags one-at-a-time, having been shamed into doing so by the mormons' move-in process the day before.. seriously, these guys showed up with another mormon-mission-couple, on foot, with several rolly suitcases in one trip, then with mattresses and other assorted furniture the next trip, and as far as i could tell that was IT! This left me feeling optimistic that I, too, could move all my belongings all by myself...

Luckily, thanks to the grace and hospitality of my Guatemalan friends and family, I was saved from two full days (maybe more) trekking back and forth and meanwhile parading all my worldy possessions in front of the inquiring eyes of my neighbors.... A couple car trips and one pick up truck haul later, I have all my stuff here. *phew* Quickly, I had to move because.. well I'm still not too sure, but I have moved from a big, cold house with little privacy and mean neighbors, into a cozy two bedroom apartment with an enclosed patio that is connected to my ex-host family's house...I think this is going to be good.

The instituto here, which has an applied learning based grade school, middle school, and high school and where I occasionally do presentations, activities, etc. is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year-and as such are having a big celebration at the beginning of august. Yesterday was the preliminary selection of the 'beauty queens' of the event and I was asked to be one of the judges... Now i don't support the whole concept of beauty pageants, but in central america its like, a big deal, and i couldn't say no. So i went, watched 14-17 year olds parade around in high heels and dresses, do a dance, make a speech, then parade around in their choice of sports wear.... I had a good laugh there because, as you may already know, they play One sport here and One sport only-FUTBOL! So, the beauty queens each had to choose a different sport, and the announcer introduced each like "Rosmary is dressed as a golf player, a sport that isn't practiced so much in Guatemala but in the United States they play it" "Claudia is dressed as a cyclist, a sport that isn't practiced so much here but in Europe they totally ride bikes" etc. Of course, it was Freezing Cold yesterday afternoon; intermittent rain combined with icy wind made for some shivering scantily clad would-be beauty queens. Reminded me of all those winter water polo and swimming events, a different kind of competition all together.

So it was an eventful weekend altogether. Back at work today, to see what all the week brings. Guiding a school visit to the park on Thursday. Planning an HIV/AIDS education and prevention workshop for next week at the middle school. Hoping to install interpretive signs in the park sometime this month.

Until next time...

Recent Shenanigans

The best way to endure a 6 hour van ride....

View of Utila from the boat

Checking out some amazing reef

Wild mushroom feast

Cooking sweet tamales with the women's group at the library-these ladies make my day

Brrrr-even Bella's cold!

Baby, It's Cold Outside

I returned to Sija after a wild and crazy last adventure with BFF Emily to Honduras to soak up some sun, swim, and snorkel the amazing reef there. 15 hours on a bus followed by a rocky ferry ride to get to the Bay Islands *whew* one thing about Central America-it has made me unblinking in the eye of long travel. Public buses, no a/c (not such a big deal here in the FRIGID western highlands, but on the coast....), and lots of cheeseburgers in paradise!

Returning to Sija (brrr) received the unexpected news that my landlady wanted to reoccupy the house i'm living in and therefore...would it be a huge problem for you to move out...in 2 weeks? great, no problem there. Actually this was a blessing in disguise; the big house was cool for a while but the charm has worn off and all that empty space is only good for dust and dog hair to collect. Plus living in a two story house-completely overrated.

It must be fate that i leave this house though because i went over to my host family's house to discuss the possibility of renting one room from them-and my host mom beat me to the punch by breaking the news that their renters-in their downstairs, separate apartment-were leaving in two weeks and would i still be interested in renting it out..... The universe works in mysterious ways is all I can say to that.

So I am unbelievably lucky and excited to be moving into a smaller place with much more privacy where Bella isn't subjected to the cruel taunting of the neighbor kids and I can spend less time cleaning, more time with my host family, and MOVE AWAY from the mechanic shop downstairs. t-minus 2 weeks!!!!

Peace Corps is a time of continuous learning; bucket baths, handwashing clothes, composting, wrapping tamales, making tortillas, managing the public buses, bargaining, making peanut butter from scratch, raising a puppy, building letrines, designing interpretive trails, crocheting......and now-mushroom hunting!

As i mentioned, mushroom season is upon us! Counterpart Verney Ochoa had promised to show me which ones were edible last year and finally we went hiking on Friday, dogs in tow, to find some delectable local fungi to eat. We gathered a good amount of mushrooms hiking in a new forest up above his aunt's house, three different varieties- (and as a disclaimer, you should only eat mushrooms ok'd by an experienced local who knows the difference between the good and bad (and magic) mushrooms...which my counterpart luckily is). We brought back the goods to Aunt Flori's kitchen where she made us a tipico mushroom soup with these bright yellow mushrooms called cansuys (sp?). With fresh tortillas hot off the plancha, this soup of tomato, cilantro, onion, garlic, and mushrooms which gave the soup a bright yellow color and amazing flavor was amazing. The other two kinds we fried up with butter and garlic- yummmm. So excited to finally learn to harvest the wild mushrooms here because they can't be had otherwise and i LOVE mushrooms!

I found some more of the white ones called "sheep's ear" mushrooms today on a hike and can't wait to saute them up with some baby zucchini... I am incredibly grateful for Guatemala's constant supply of the freshest fruits and vegetables. You have to eat with the seasons here (well, except for the obligatory tomatoes, onions, chilis, potatoes) and I take full advantage. The women's group has started a cooking series, with a new dish each Thursday afternoon and I look forward to sharing new healthy and tasty ways of preparing the awesome bounty of produce available-starting with peach jam this week (it's peach season, can you believe it?)

It continues to be cold and wet here, as i longingly read the weather forecasts of 90s and 100s back at home. The Honduras trip was necessary; during this time of year the sun doesnt come out for days at a time and as you all know, i am a lizard. I washed clothes yesterday morning and hung them out to dry and they are still damp. A girl could go Crazy in weather like this. luckily i have a snuggly puppy and a good book. Until my next tropical vacation.......

Sincerely,
Freezing in sija