Mi Cumpleanos! (y mas)

Today is mi cumpleanos! I think they like birthdays here a lot more than in the states. I like it. All the teachers and students sang me happy birthday in Spanish and in English. None of our other-language-speakers were in attendance today, or Jose was going to make them sing in those languages, too! (the student de Hong Kong is gone for the week and the one de Holanda had the day off because his teacher had to run an errand. The rest of us are from the states or Canada.) Also, pretty much every teacher gave me a hug and a kiss for my birthday. They wish you happy birthday, and similar to the states, say that they hope you have many more birthdays. (Except it's in the verb form. Like, I hope you 'turn older' many more times, basically.) So, I am enjoying my day.

This morning, my family gave me hugs and wished me happy birthday, too. So sweet! I got a new teacher today, Jose. I think it's going to be good for my Spanish to talk with someone else and learn different words because I'm with a teacher. Actually, today I learned about punching and breaking bones b/c my teacher punched someone on a soccer field this past summer and broke his wrist. Oh, boys. Jose let me skip homework since it's my birthday. Yay.

Tonight, we're meeting up to celebrate my birthday. I'm excited. It's a Monday, but that doesn't mean a ton to the students. (It's harder for the teachers, most of whom are also students in the afternoon.)

We actually partially celebrated my birthday on Saturday night. Saturday day, we went to Las Cumbres, which is a hotel with “natural saunas” (i.e., fed from steam from a volcano). Sarah and I also got massages.

Getting there was sort of interesting. Friday night, we asked a couple of the teachers to explain how to get there, and they said we needed to catch a bus near the gas station. I said, “the Esso station?” and they said, “no, the Shell station.” Sarah, who was with me, said, “oh, I know where that is.” So, I say, great. Saturday morning, Sarah, two other students, and I meet at the school and Sarah leads us to the Esso station. I was like, “I thought you said you knew where the Shell station is!?!” It turned out it was just a few blocks further. Chris was nice enough to wander around and ask everyone 'Zunil? Zunil? Donde?' until we found the correct corner on which to wait for the correct chicken bus, which actually came pretty quickly.

Chicken buses are interesting for many reasons. One thing that I like is that you don't pay when you get on. There's a conductor of sorts. The conductor spends most of the trip riding in the door, halfway out of the bus, yelling the bus's destination. But, at some point (or a few points), he'll come through and collect money from the passengers. He asks w here you're going and tells you the appropriate cost. Much like a conductor on a train. I was pretty impressed with his ability to keep stuff straight closer to Zunil, when the bus was jam-packed full of indigenous women with baskets on their heads.

Anyway, we made it to Zunil, where we had been told to hire a pickup to take us to Las Cumbres. We started to get worried when we didn't see any pickups, so we talked to this guy who told us to wait 5 minutes or so. Sure enough, a pickup came by and we hopped on.

Las Cumbres was an interesting place. When we arrived, there was no one around. We stood there for 5 or more minutes, until one of us finally walked around to investigate. He managed to rouse someone who took us to the sauna and gave us robes for massages. The sauna is really, really hot, but pretty neat. There's basically just a hole in the ground from which the steam comes. I meant to take a picture of the sign providing the rules of the sauna because it was such hilarious Spanglish, but I forgot. They told us they'd come get us in 30 minutes for our massage, but I think it must've been closer to an hour. Then we had a conversation about the appropriate thing to do with our stuff (in Spanish) that must've lasted for 15 minutes, even though the point was incredibly simple. The massage was good, although it ended up costing 100Q more than I had thought. (Still like $25 for an hour, though).

We went out to the road to try to catch a pickup back to Zunil to catch a bus back. It's a lot like hailing a cab, except that it's okay if there's other people in it already. We waited for awhile before a truck came by with 5 kids in the back. We hopped into the back without either (a) telling them where we were going or (b) asking them where we were going. I think the appropriate thing to do would have been to tell them before hopping in where we'd like to get off. So, once we were in the truck, sitting under a canopy (as it was raining), we asked the kids if they were going to Zunil and they said no. Nope, going to Xela, to the hospital. We asked the what zone the hospital was in, but they didn't know. But, since they were going to Xela, we figured we might as well just stay in the truck. The kids were really cute and cool. For half the trip, they were playing with play money (like monopoly money). At some point we realized that we were in Zona 1 in Xela and we told the kids we wanted to stop. They yelled, 'Papa, papa!' and got him to stop. So, that worked, and even saved us Q1 each, I guess (because I care a lot about 12 cents). Although I ended up getting my jeans really muddy and gross from the truck because of the rain, etc. There is something really funny about the juxtaposition of the pampering of a massage, and getting home by crouching inside the bed of a pickup truck while getting really dirty.

Anyway, when I got home, I ended up just passing hour around 4 or so for hours. I had intended to just sleep for an hour, run to the store, and go out that night. (It was the last night for one of the Canadians and sort of my birthday). Instead, I just never woke up. Or, at least, never got up when I did wake up. But, a couple of my friends kept calling me until I finally picked up at like 11:15. And then Sarah insisted they I come out, RIGHT THEN. “You have 5 minutes to be at the cantina,” she said. “But I need to shower!” “No you don't. It's dark. Put on some perfume and get your ass here in 5 minutes.” “I need at least 10.” “You have 7.”

So, I got dressed and ran out to meet everyone as they were leaving the cantina. They then decided that we needed tequila shots. Or, more specifically, that I needed tequila shots. I tried to explain that I don't DO tequila, and that tequila and I aren't friends, but to no avail. Zach and Sarah bought me 6 shots. I said, “I'll do 2.” They said I had to do at least 3. I was thinking that that would shut them up, so I did 3. At which point they're like, 'great' and hand me another one. I kept trying to say 'no, no,' but Sarah was having none of it. After shot 5, I was like, 'I'm going to die.' So Zach said he'd drink half of it. He took like the tiniest sip ever and gave the rest to me. So that's how I did 5 and 2/3 tequila shots in a span of about 5 minutes.

Thankfully, I was actually pretty much okay. We danced and danced, and then went to the after party and danced some more. I had a really good time, and my hangover (goma) was actually not too bad. Plus, I woke up at like 9 am and couldn't get back to sleep. Go figure.

Sunday (yesterday) was the market day in Xela. Most of the pueblos have a market day once or twice a week, but Xela only has one once a month, on the first Sunday of the month. It's kind of cool. The whole park is taken over by these vendors and they even prop up all these temporary restaurants. Saturday was also some kind of holiday, so there was some extra crazy stuff, like these defunct kids rides that looked like they'd been built in about 1950 and stopped working 20 years ago. Some of them were literally being run by manpower, not electricity. Two of my friends actually rode the boat ride. You know the one that swings up and down and goes to an almost 90 degree angle from the ground. They said they were pretty sure there was no electricity involved, and the guy running it kept jumping in and out of the ride.

We also got these tostada things and churros (yummy). Some of my friends got this hot milk drink that seems to basically be hot milk plus liquor (and maybe cinnamon or something). There's also a hot fruit drink. Lots of interesting things, but I didn't want to either get sick or completely ruin my dinner. My family actually came to the market while I was there, and they saw me and they all waved. They're so cute. I picked up toys for the two kids in my house, too, although I haven't give them to them. I'm worried they won't like them. They're just really cheap and small, but whatever. Making kids happy is usually easy.

el dia del nino

Today is “El Dia Del Nino” in guatemala. Kids get the day off school, and their parents give them gifts. It's pretty cool. It's like (American) Christmas.

Anyway, my school supports something like 50 kids in various ways that enable them to receive an education. (I'm not really clear on the specifics; they're kids from outside the city who wouldn't go to school without this help. That's my understanding anyway.) Instead of the normal Friday night graduation party, we had a fiesta for the kids this afternoon. It was sort of weird, but I think they enjoyed it. We actually put on both a play and a dance for the kids. The dance was apparently some folk dance, but it's like the weirdest thing I've ever seen. I was in the play, where we did this story about the creation of man and woman and about how women have rights equal to men. (Oddly, the word for 'rights' (as in human or inalienable ones) is the same in Spanish as the word for 'right' (as in the opposite of left). I wonder why that is, or if it was simply imported from English?)

The school also fed all the kids hot dogs and cake. (They really like hot dogs in Guatemala, and they call them 'cheveres,' which is apparently different from Mexico.) They also gave all the kids little gift bags with candy. And socks. There were individual gifts, too, and extra gifts if they got up and recited a poem, did a dance, or sung a song. It was an interesting time.

As a side note, I don't have more pictures of Guatemalans in general and kids in specific because they are not too keen on having their pictures taken. It's not polite to do it without asking permission, particularly in rural areas or for indigenous people.

Other side note: “indigenous Guatemalans,” i.e., Mayans, look Asian. Except for the eyes, I guess. But I seriously thought this one guy was Vietnamese for two weeks. But no, he's just indigenous.

yo no quiero salir

(30 septiembre)

Today was the day of the sixth month list in federal court land. Seems so far away!

Last night, we went out dancing at a place I hadn't been yet. Like “La Rumba,” where we usually go, but slightly “classier.” Like La Rumba, it was full of gringas dancing with Guatemaltecos. They actually didn't play enough salsa for me, though, since I was eager to “try out” what I've learned in class. I danced salsa (badly) for a while with Selvin, and then after that they started playing rap or hip hop or random latino musica. It was still a lot of fun, though, and I danced a lot.

When I got home, I just lay in bed for some time pondering whether I *really* had to leave October 23. I'm rather happy here, although I realize this doesn't exactly qualify as a real life. And I'm healthy! I eat 3 meals a day, dance salsa almost every day, and walk around a lot. I keep a pretty good schedule, and I actually wake up before my alarm clock most mornings, which has never happened to me before in my entire life. (And at 7 am, no less!) Originally, my firm had offered me a January start date as an alternative, and I started thinking about whether they might still let me switch. But alas, I suppose vacation has to end and my real life has to begin.

I'm actually really starting to like salsa dancing. I'm still not very good at it (nor will I ever be, I suppose, since I lack sufficient rhythm), but I enjoy it. Now that I know just the very basics, it's fun as long as I remember not to think too much. No, really. The great part about being the girl is you just get to follow. So you just sort of do the basic step, and then if the guy drops your hand, you spin. If he pulls your hands upward, you turn out into open position. And so on. Of course, this only works if the guy knows what he's doing, but there always seems to be a plethora of excellent male salsa dancers around.

I did sort of throw a mini-tantrum this morning at school. Tantrum isn't really the right word; more like gave a glare or two and asked nicely. The boys (i.e., the male teachers, all of whom are much younger than the female teachers – I have no idea why) have been making fun of me to the extent that i've stopped wanting to speak spanish around them. If I speak in Spanish, they make fun of my Spanish. If I speak in English, they give me shit for not talking Spanish. It's a no-win situation. It's not actually malicious; it's probably even flattering, but it does affect my confidence. So today I asked them to stop, because it's just gotten to the point of being ridiculous. (Claudia says it's a flattering thing; they pay me a lot of attention because I'm somewhat unusual in terms of the typical student. In summary: I'm a yuppie rather than a hippie. You wouldn't believe the number of people at my school who simply quit their job and moved to guatemala indefinitely to learn Spanish and travel. Sometimes I wish my life was more like that, but most of the time I remember that I actually like my life a lot.)

la lluvia. mucha mucha lluvia.

I am so, so sick of the rain and the cold. It won't stop raining! We actually saw a very little bit of the sun this morning, which was exciting. I know it's rainy season, but I believe in the typical rainy season, it's more like last week or the week before. It's sunny in the morning, but it might rain at some p,oint in the afternoon or night or both. But when it's not raining, it's sunny. Now it's just pouring, day and night. I haven't seen rainstorms like this – outside of hurricanes in Florida – since I lived in Alabama and it would rain for a week straight, really heavy like this.

And I dread showers. The shower is decently hot, but not hot enough to make up for the fact that the bathroom is effectively outside and thus 50ish degrees. I've been taking showers in the evenings right before dinner and after salsa, which is fine except for the cold. I then crawl under the covers and have no interest in moving again. I haven't been out at night in days, because it's been raining and I don't want to get out from under the covers! Last night, I got under the covers while finishing my homework, and fell asleep with the light on, my jeans on, and my contacts in. on the bright side, I didn't get cold during the night. But I felt really bad because electricity is very expensive in this country.

Anyway, I haven't been up to much that's very interesting. Our activities keep getting canceled due to rain. Yesterday, my big accomplishment was mailing my friend's phone charger to him in Guatemala city. I went to the post office, where it turned out they don't sell boxes OR envelopes. So then I visited a couple of stores looking for an appropriate container, but apparently the concept of a 'padded envelope' doesn't exist in Guatemala. Finally I just bought two envelopes, and wrapped it twice. When I brought it back to the post office, the lady was somewhat confused that a gringa was sending something to guatemala city. “A guatemala?” she asked. To make her feel better, I also sent two post cards to the states. Anyway, hopefully it will get there okay.

Yesterday we also visited a women's domestic violence shelter. It's actually the only one in the entire country, and until a few years ago, it was the only one in all of Central America. Right now, there are about 35 or 36 people living there. The government doesn't give them any money, but they do send women their way. A lot of the “women” are actually just girls, some as young as 11 or 12. A lot of the really young ones were impregnated by their fathers. Abortion is illegal here. Technically, there is an exception for rape (or maybe just incest? I'm not sure), but apparently the process takes too long to be of any practical significance. Anyway, we bought them a bunch of fruit (which they don't get much of), and we hung out with some of the kids for a while. We sang them some kids' songs in English, and we even attempted (badly) to sing 'head and shoulders' en espanol, but we didn't do so well. It also doesn't rhyme in Spanish. The girls sang us a song, including the Barney song in Spanish.

Today we were supposed to go to Baul, which is a little park above Xela that's supposed to be cool. Unfortunately, the roads to get there are bad, so we can't go. I had wanted to leave Xela this weekend, but all of the teachers keep saying not to, that it's too dangerous, and that the roads are in too bad shape. So I guess I'm stuck in the city for another weekend, which only gives me like 2 or 3 more weekends to travel around the country! Argh. The rain is seriously starting to frustrate me. It's supposed to rain less in October, but it's almost October and so far it hasn't slowed down.

futbol and bolsas

I am so sore from playing futbol yesterday. I felt fine last night, but today . . . ugh. At least it was a lot of fun. My friend Sarah was sitting on the sidelines watching, and she later described this scene . . .

We were playing on a small field with artificial turf and a roof (nice, since it was raining, per usual), located in the middle of nowhere. The guy who drove us out there was the fattest Guatemalan I have seen, and he hung out on the bleachers on the other side of the fence with his tummy hanging out, laughing and laughing at everything that happened in the game. At one point, some cops dropped by and watched the game for awhile, too. Then, near the end of the game, a woman in traditional Mayan garb walked by (between the bleachers and the actual field) with like 3 cows. Not to mention that pigs and roosters were the background noise to the entire game!

Anyway, it was fun. Some of the boys (and one of the girls) were really good. I mostly just kicked wildly and tried to stay out of the way of the players on my team who were actually good. (We kicked the other team's ass.)

The boys threatened not to shower before our hippie-themed-party at school that night (so as to be fully in character), but thankfully they did. Hippie night was not as lame as I imagined, and the "adult" pinata that we got for the birthday kids was a blast. The rest of the night was fairly short lived. Went to the dance club, and then went to the after party, but apparently someone didn't pay off the right people, as the policia shut down the after party really early.

As a side note, everything in this country exists in bag-form. It's really weird. I guess the plastic to make bags is cheaper than the plastic to make bottles (or, at least, less), so stuff is in bags. For example, you can get bottled water . . . in bags. Some of the normal American brands, like Hellman's mayonaise, for example, also come in bags. Oh, and hotels have little ketchup-like packets of shampoo instead of bottles, which actually makes way more sense size-wise.

esta semana

Okay, it's been forever since I wrote. I've been really busy.

On Tuesday, I went to my first salsa lesson with two of the Canadian girls. We ended up going ahead and buying 5 lessons (it's cheaper that way . . . about $3 per lesson). After our lesson, I ended up hanging out with our teacher for awhile and talking. He doesn't speak that much English, so it's a good incentive to speak in Spanish. (He teaches salsa and teaches at the school. Several of the teachers at the school don't speak much English – or any). I guess I spent the rest of the night studying on Tuesday because my teacher made me learn something like 100 irregular verbs on Monday and Tuesday and write almost 200 sentences!

On Wednesday, it was the birthday of three students and one of the teachers, so we had a big party. I was out really late – like 1:30 or something. It was so much fun, though. Let's see...the weirdest thing that happened during that night was that this older dude (Guatemalan) came up to me and told me 'I am leaving, but you are so beautiful.' (In English). That in and of itself isn't that weird, but later in the evening this girl walks up to me and starts speaking to me in Spanish. I asked her to slow down, and she slowed down to the point of, I think, making fun of me, and then took me over to meet the same guy – who, as it turned out, was her brother. Maybe it's just me, but attempting to pick up girls for your brother seems somewhat strange to me.

Yesterday, in the afternoon, we made chocolate. In the morning, we toasted the peeled the cacao (?) beans (?). Who knew you had to peel chocolate? Then, in the afternoon, we went to this place to grind the beans and mix it with azucar and then powder it. I don't have any pictures from that because they didn't allow pictures. Except, a cat started meowing, and I asked the girl, 'gato?' (This place is attached to these people's house, as many businesses are in Xela). Anyway, the girl (I say girl, but she's older than me) says 'si,' and hands me a gato! I was like, uh, okay. I mean, I like cats, so it was fine, and it was a sweet cat. But then she's like, 'stay there' and she wants to take a picture of me and the cat. Go figure. Then she asked me to put down the cat and pretend like I was grinding chocolate so that she could take a picture of that. Of course, none of this was for my camera. I think maybe it was for their advertising or something? Who knows—the whole interaction was bizarre.

Anyway, all I can say about making chocolate (at least that part of it) is that is very, very far from sanitary. They don't clean the machines. Just put more and more chocolate in it. Not to mention she had me touching the machine after touching the cat. And they use their hands to actually mix the chocolate and sugar (although they do wash their hands before mixing it, thank goodness).

After that, we returned to school where we made chocolate bars (some people made shapes, like hearts or letters) and also made a chocolate drink, to which we added ice cream and kahlua. (You'd be thrilled, Mom). I don't love the chocolate—I think maybe we burned some of it in the morning, which is very easy to do, apparently. It's okay. Martin (the kid in mi casa) likes it, though.

I also had my second salsa lesson yesterday, which was even more difficult. Plus, Luis had me dancing with a guy who was literally about 4 feet tall and about 12 years old. He was a good dancer, but it's really hard when I'm doing spins and stuff. Guys in Guatemala are so short. Till (the German guy) is like 5'10” or so, and I was teasing him that in Guatemala, he's ridiculously tall. My teacher is about my height, and she is really, really tall for a woman in Guatemala. I'd say most women don't clear 5 feet. Sarah, the German girl, is probably 5'9” or 5'10” with long, long blond hair and blue eyes—so of course the Guatemalan men are just completely fascinated with her.

Anyway, tonight's the graduation party, and SEVEN students are leaving. I think that leaves 9 students next week, plus we're getting two new ones. I'm really sad about all the students that are leaving, though. They're my faves. At least Sarah will still be in Xela – just not at school anymore.

nada

I've been really busy the last couple of days, so I haven't had time to write. I apologize if I haven't been very good at answering emails, either.

Anyway, not much has happened lately, although I did got to my first salsa lesson yesterday. That was fun, but difficult. I need to get some salsa music so I can practice. I just wish I were a better dancer. I can remember the steps, but then if I try to move my hips, too, I forget the steps!

My favorite thing I learned yesterday (no, seriously, i laughed at this for a long time) is that the kids' television show 'Dora the Explorer' is called 'Dora la Exploradora' en espanol. Seriously, made my day.

Anyway, more later. I need to get home to shower and do my homework before dinner and before a birthday party for several of the students.