feliz navidad!

To those who didn´t see... Here´s a little Christmas greeting my fellow YAVs and I made at retreat...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80IS1HNrt0Y

Rules of the Road *

So it's a YAV rule that we´re not allowed to drive this year, and though I miss Harrison, Here´s a few reasons why I´m glad I´m not driving...

1. Go as fast as you can, but don´t forget to slam on your break the second before you reach one of the millions of speed humps.
2. Turn your radio on and turn the volume up all the way. Afterall, everyone around you surely wants to listen to whatever you're listening to.
3. You have the right of way. If someone tries to challenge that, honk as much as you can, and if they continue, angrily wave your hand out the window. If they don´t back down, just go; they´ll learn.
4. Pass as you please, especially if it´s on a blind corner, or on a hill. No worries-- that lack of a shoulder shouldn´t alarm you. You have places to go, and you definitely can't wait to get there.
5. You must go the second the light changes to green, even if there is someone in the ¨cross walk¨ (extra points if it´s a gringo) -- they´ll move.
6. Turn your blinker on. Don´t worry if it doesn´t coorespond to anything in particular... it is pretty and flashy.
7. Honk your horn if you see a pretty lady or if you think you know a person on the street. Go ahead and stop where you are if you do know them; it´s always a good time to say ¨hello.¨
8. Use your hazard lights if you´re about to do something no one would ever expect.
9. Most of all, just remember that you're the king (or queen) of the road-- your trip is more important that anyone else's, and you'd better hurry up and get there!!

Wishing you all safe travels!
bendiciones, juli


* Inspired by an English-language publication here in Xela. Yeah, I just graduated from college... I cite my sources.

To the coast!

Well, another trip to ¨the coast¨ and I have still yet to see the ocean...

This time, my trip took me about an hour down the mountain to San Felipe Reu with the end-of-year retreat of my sisters´ Evangelical church. We rode in the lap of luxury (a camionetta, 3 to a seat) and sang hymns on the way down (with no music, by the by, because they believe that instruments are sinful.)

Once we arrived, it was suuuuuper hot, which was a wonderful change from the freezing nighttime tempteratures of Xela! We had a church service of sorts, some organized games (one of which was jumping over a rope that got higher and higher... I think we can all guess who one of the finalists was...), and then the whole afternoon was free time and lunch. Part of the recreation included a (super small) pool, and so I was sitting on the edge, watching my sisters play and just kind of soaking up the sun, when a few teenaged girls demanded I come over. I did, and they asked me if I could swim. I said of course (after all, I was a proud LHP Gator from ages 7-12), and they told me (not asked) to teach them how to swim. I thought they were joking, then tried to resist (being that I really didn´t want to get all the way in the water), but to no avail.

I showed them how to kick their legs on the wall, then with a ball in front of them (clearly there were no kickboards), and then showed them how to use their arms. The result was 3 girls madly flailing around, screaming and laughing. They weren´t about to break any record, but they were swimming! So unbelievable to think thatat about 16 years old, they didn´t know how to float or tread water or do freestyle... skills I learned when I was like 6.

After paying attention, though, I honestly think I was one of like 3 people out of around 60 who actually could swim. But don´t worry, that little detail did NOT stop this congregation from using the pool, in whatever (and I mean WHATEVER) they deemed appropriate for the pool (from jeans to spandex to tshirts... we´re talking all shapes and sizes)

All in all, quite a tiring but fun afternoon... Still hoping to actually see the ocean on of these trips, though...

bendiciones, juli

PS- pictures to come soon...

Xolpic Visit

Feliz Diciembre!

So we YAVs went to Xolpic for 2 days (approx 4 hours from Xela)-- and let me tell you world, it was beautiful and humbling. It's literally on the top of the mountain, and so we stayed at a very basico hotel in the next biggest town (about 1 hour down the mountain) with 3 Cedepca (Marcia T's other organization) people.



So this community of 80ish families had this severe drought 1.5 years ago ((and MT was the head of organizing relief/ psychological support through Cedepca)) and then this past
summer (rainy season) they were totally flooded... No, global climate change doesn't exist, definitely not. Also, there's no electricity that high up the mountain and they have to walk like hours to get water, and have only just been able to figure out a system of collecting/ storing rain water for all that live there. Aside from those obstacles, because they're SO remote/high, they're SUUUUPER vulnerable to natural disasters/ climate change, hence Cedepca chose to partner with them to support them psychologically and agriculturally for a year. This visit that we joined was the last one, closing out their official partnership, and reinforcing that the community itself has the resources to support each other and to continue on. Very cool stuff.

Otherwise, Christmas-type things are in full swing here (which really began to happen Nov 2)-- including the 8-story Gallo cerevza fake Christmas tree outside the Greek Templo de Minerva by the biggest market in the city. Yes- it's quite a collection of cultures happening right there- complete with Gallo beer ornaments and a Gallo emblem on top. Cheap beer is apparently the official sponsor of Christmas in Guatemala. Good. Christmas time also means that all of our projects take breaks for Christmas for about a month starting after next week-- huzzah!

Hope all are well -- I've heard it's pretty darn cold at home and at Miami-- make some snow angels for me! (It's cold here at night -with no heat- but during the day it's like 50... yeah, you're jealous.)

bendiciones, juli

happy thanksgiving!

Señor, da pan a los que tienen hambre, y hambre de Ti a los que tienen pan.

Lord, give bread to those who are hungry, and hunger for You to those who have bread.

bendiciones y feliz día de acción de gracias!,
- juli

San Martin

Well world, another month in Guatemala has come and gone! Hard to believe that I'm about 1/4 through my year!

I spent this past week outside of the city of Chimaltenango in a small town called San Martin (central-East Guatemala) accompanying and translating for a medical mission team from Pittsburgh, PA. It was super fun!! We stayed in a Guatemalan-nice hotel in San Martin by night, and by day went out to very rural aldeas to set up free medical clinics. It was all ochestrated by the former vice mayor of San Martin, so he knew where to go/ how to get us there (different communities each day, from 20 min to 90 min away from San Martin!) We had a team of an eye doctor, 3 ER doctors, 1 Guatemalan dentist, and many nurses and other randos. It was a really great team, and I was so happy to join them this week.

Here´s some highlights...
- Free trip to the booming metropolis of San Martin
- Pineapple pie (omg, readers- you MUST try making this!) and lots of other delicious non-Guatemalan food (from an ex-pat who married a Guatemalteca and run a restaurant in San Martin)
- New vocabulary (Including uterus and gallbladder. Very useful.)
- 3 Minor surgeries (which I absolutely did not participate in or translate for)
- Free anti-parasite cookies for Juli
- 1 very steep hill + 1 very full bus = 20 terrified gringos rolling backwards
- Seeing 248 patients in the medical clinic in one day (about 850 people all week!)
- Giving out hundreds of pairs of reading glasses to people who probably can´t read

Like I said, it was a great week- even if it raised some questions about dependency on foreigners and the Santa Claus effect. All in all, though-- people who have had aches and pains and infections for YEARS got a real live doctor to sit down, listen to them, validate their problem, and give them free medicine, even if only 1 week´s worth- so I count that as success.

Hope all are well!
bendiciones, juli

Real Problems?

So my fellow YAV, Katharine, sent this to me- and I really kinda like it...

http://thisisindexed.com/2010/11/poor-things-2/

I feel like I've been struggling between these two worlds the past few weeks-- as I've gotten fleas 3 times now, and possibly/probably have a parasite in addition to my stomach infection. These are legitimate freak-out-problems in the "1st world" from which I come, but are sort of just part of life here in the developing world to which I've come. It's been hard for me to figure out how to deal with these issues which are so foreign to me, but seemingly so normal to my family and other Guatemalans that I meet... Do I freak out like every fiber of my being wants to and jump on a plane when I find a new bug bite? Or do I work toward taking these things in stride and accept that somethings that are not normal for me, are very normal for other people... that some things that I see as "problems," are just a part of life for the majority of the world. We have food, they seem to be telling me, We have shelter, We have telenovelas -- What do we have to complain about??

One thing I know for sure-- that I intend to run with endurance the race that is set before me, looking always to Jesus. (Hebrews 12:1-2) Because, though I do freak out, and though these things are hard for me to adjust to, I know that God has purpose in it. So I take it one day at a time, running (and walking... and crawling...) the race God set before me, and trusting that, at some point, the itching will subside and I'll understand it all- even just a little bit better.

Deep thoughts, world. Thanks for following along.

bendiciones, juli