States and One Year in Country

Ok ok I apologize for anyone who has been checking my blog lately and has not found anything until today.  I made a conscious decision not to buy internet for a long time to see what it was like to be disconnected and not have everything at my fingertips.  Im back though.... so here goes.

As of August 11^th I have been in Guatemala for a whole year.  Lots of good things have happened in the last year I will admit.  Through all the struggles ups downs and everything that Peace Corps can throw at you I am in a good place right now.

Last month I was lucky enough to head back home for a little break to see family and friends up in New Hampshire.  Seeing my family was great but I was a little nervous about coming home as many PCVs will tell you that your first trip home is a crazy emotional ride.  Some people go back and decide that once home, they are going to not come back.  For some it is especially tough because just as things are becoming second nature like taking bucket baths, eating typical Guatemalan cuisine, doing laundry by hand, drying it outside and the bugs and rain...the list goes on.  Going home, you go back to what life was once like, see what home life is and then realize how easy things are and have a moment where it is like ‘I can stay here.’  I can tell you from my experience the toughest part was saying bye to family and knowing the night before I did my laundry in 30 minutes. I just remember throwing clothes in the dryer and with a bounce sheet and knowing everything will take care of itself with the push of a button. I wouldn’t need to hang and dry clothes outside and keep an eye on the weather or switch the clothes so both sides dry.  But writing this today, I will admit I enjoy doing my laundry now, it gives me time to talk to my host family, do some reflective thinking and while I might grumble under my breath a few times that there are no buttons to push, it does allows me to appreciate everything around me. 

View from the dock at Squam Lake

Work has been going a lot better lately.  Coming back from the states and talking to family and enjoying my time away from everything, I was able to put things into perspective. I was trying to make everyone my friend and not infringe on peoples toes, ways of life and culture.  I do not know if it is possible but I felt like I was too respectful and which did not allow me to push for what I wanted to do or demand things that I wanted to achieve.  Peace Corps is tricky in this aspect as they tell you to be change agents.  So the question posed is how can you be a change agent and do things in a respectful way?  There is a major push and pull and for everyone they find that out at different times of their service.  Some people have very supportive organizations and counterparts; others have harder times and feel like they do nothing.  Personally I am in between that where there are days were I am led to believe I am doing something to only feel that there is no one behind me or helping me do the things my program and what I personally set out to do.  So when I came back, I sat down and told everyone in my office that I was here to be productive, that I am here as a resource and that I will, if I have to, look for other support and people to work for if I do not feel things are getting done.  Telling them that I was not there to be a figure, but more of a worker people started to understand.  But saying and doing are totally different as we all know.  So the next two weeks, I began planning things, writing proposals and requesting to have meetings and training and people now understand what I want to do.  This is going well but has met some resistance from people as it is election season and efforts are focused in other areas.  Sometimes I just need to argue my case and do so in a more directed manner but things are getting done. 

We will see where the next few weeks go and Ill report back on what is happening!  Hope everything is well with everyone and summer is treating you well! More pictures to come!

Trip from my parents and updates

At Tikal

It has been a while since I have written to you all but a lot has been happening since I last wrote.  My parents came to visit me for a few days and it was GREAT to see them both.  It had been a little over 7 months since I had seen anyone from back home.  It was a pleasure for me to be in their company while they were here.  They took care of me and gave me a little break from my day to day life here in Guatemala. 

I took them up to my site which was an adventure of itself because both my parents said to me ‘we want to see how you live and what your daily life is like.”  So on the trek of camionetas we came up to my site and 5 hours later we arrived.  I have to say that I am very impressed with how both my parents faired on the twist and turns, vendor packed smelly speeding ride.  Kudos to them.  We spent a few nights here my site where I showed them my town, talked about work that I do and gave them a feel of daily things that I go through.  Cooking, getting food, bucket baths, no water at times, what to do with free time things like that.  The only thing that they didn’t get a full dose of was the solidarity and long time on your hands after work and when you are just in your home alone.  Since the time I have been here now, I look forward to the time I have by myself to where I can read, study, or just look outside and just enjoy the clouds going by. 

The highlight of our trip was Tikal.  This was an extremely fun part of my parent’s trip and something that one must not pass up on a trip to Guatemala.  Tikal is an ancient Mayan city that was once rumored to be as big as 200,000 people.  I cannot even begin to try to describe what I saw except that it was an incredible site and something that is breathtaking to be walking around.  There are still many many temples and areas that have still yet to be excavated discovered.  We would pass flat areas with enormous mounds dozens of meters high that must be something that were still covered by the thick jungle vegetation.  I enjoyed walking around and exploring and trying to imagine what it must have been like during its pinnacle.  Simply incredible.

Dad in Antigua

We spent a little time in Antigua and one of my favorite moments was when we invited my host family from training to come to dinner with us.  That was a moment that I really enjoyed where I introduced both Ingrid and Armando to my parents so that they could see how special they are to me and the amount of fun we have together.  We ate dinner and had a drink and Camilla was great as well.  It was great to stay in some nice establishments around Antigua and eat some really good food too. 

Mom and a temple at Tikal

All in all it was just good to be around my parents and glad for me to show them my place, what I am doing and what I deal with on a daily basis.  For most volunteers, I think that it is very easy to form quick strong long lasting friendships because we all know what we are going through.  To give me parents this glimpse of the ups and downs, twists and turns give me an ability to relate to the experiences that I am having.  As a volunteer we can whine and complain with what we are going through but now that I have people that have seen a glimpse of what I go through it just allows me to relate to them.  No I wont have to explain everything when I am having a bad day, I will just be able to say it stinks.

Me and President Colom on a visit to a project

On another note (sorry this blog is all over the place (just trying to recap everything is tough)) we had the 50^th anniversary of the Peace Corps.  This was held at the ambassador’s house and was attended by over 350 volunteers, staff, host families, administration, and guests.  It was cool to see majority of Peace Corps Guatemala in one gathering. 

Other than that my next blog entry will be all about work and some of the things I have done here.  I have just created a plan for the next few months as I will give you an insight into some of the professional struggles and benefits of working as a PCV here in Guatemala.

I hope all is well with everyone!!

Take Care!