A Very Feliz Cumpleanos y Navidad

Making tomales!! Everyone in Guate eats tomales for Christmas, New Years, and Birthdays! Its a long process that takes all day so they don´t make them often! But they are worth it cause they are delicious! The leaves that you cook them in my host dad actually owns some trees with these leaves and spent a few days cutting them! We also sold a bunch to buyers because its a hot product this time of year!


Finished product!
Other activities included sitting outside around a fire, grilling, drinking ¨caliente¨, dancing, visiting with neighbors and family and of course fireworks! At midnight everyone sets off fireworks! It sounded like we were in a war! Then we continued to chat around a fire and didnt go to bed till 1:30am!
Great way to spend Navidad! My family and our tree! Definitely different and missed my family in the States, but a great experience.
Birthday cake!! For my Birthday I got some family and friends together on the 27th and we went to San Lucas for the day to hang out! Surprised me with a cake and tried to write my name in English! Only off a letter! My family also learned how to say ¨Happy Birthday Katelyn¨in english and kept saying it the whole day!
Giving Birthday gifts... so thoughtful.
Playing a little soccer. ..

And taking a little swim! I wanted to take advantage of the warm weather in December and do something that I could never do in the States for my Birthday!

Overall a very Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday!
_Missing everyone for the Holidays but definitely soaking up some sun and culture here in Guatemala!
Sending my love!

Its Simple

As we enter the Christmas season I´m constantly reminded of how Christmas is supposed to be. There is joy in the little things in life and in spending time with friends and family.

The spirit here is to be constantly giving and sharing. Often I visit one of my good friends here whose family owns a small tienda. I feel like I should buy food and other products from them in order to help support their family. In reality they probably give me more free stuff from their store than I actually buy! How can this be I often wonder? Its just the spirit of giving that´s within them.

The kids here share everything. If they have one cookie theyll split it 6 ways just so everyone can have a piece. I often am reminded just how selfish I am when I want to hog a whole pack of cookies, before giving in and passing them out to whoever is around.

Here they don´t have a lot but what they do have they share. My host dad makes $4 a day. One evening he told me "I am poor, but also I am rich. I have love, happiness, and peace. If you have money but don´t have these things, what life is that?" And because of this they find joy in the little things. I helped decorate our house with paper chains and snowflakes and my dad said to me "never have we seen anything like this here in Atitlan." They were thrilled and for about 10 mins we just stood there looking around talking about how beautiful it looked. They also wanted to contribute to the decorations, but don´t have enough money to buy a tree... so we´re building a tree. Its not done yet, but once we finish I´m sure it will be the best tree Ive ever seen on Christmas. Building our tree


For this I´ve had many thoughts about this Christmas and many more to come. In the US we are consumers. Always wanting the newest and greatest products. But what joy does this bring us and really what do we actually need? Wouldn´t it be more worth while to spend the time with other people. We often say "I´m so thankful for what I have" but really we need an opposite outlook. What we have is abundance and is the problem! We need to stop being thankful and act. Stop consuming so much so that there isn´t a demand for the huge coorporations to keep selling and exploiting countries like Guatemala. Can we try to consume locally!? It is because of our lifestyles that others are suffering and working for $4 a day. So I ask you this Christmas... spend time with family, eat good food, and avoid buying all the crap that you think you want a need. I realize it´s easier to say because I´m here and not being constantly bombarded by the media, I can only hope than when I return I can seek out the local vendors and try and fight the society that says its our right to have everything we want.

On that note... here´s a photo of me and my friends at ANADESA

Thanks for your prayers and support!!

Sunny November

The past couple weeks have been full of new experiences and joys.

The beginning of Novemember started of with the Day of the Saints here in Guatemala. This holiday has a lot more meaning than that of Halloween. Almost everyone in the city goes to the cemetary to celebrate their loved ones. I went with my family and we lit candles and put them around the grave of the mother of my host dad. Everyone just sits there around the graves, lighting candles, bringing flowers, eating food, and enjoying eachothers company. No one was really crying, everyone was just sort of celebrating.

I also went on a hike up Cerro de Oro with the whole team from ANADESA. There was a great view of the lake from the top. We also saw a Myan sacrificial stone, that is actually still used today. They told me of the ancient Myan traditions of this mountain. They say that the mountain used to be sacred and that the people had to get permission before cutting down the trees because it was thought that there were spirits living in them. Now that is not the case, but a lot of people believe that the mountain still holds some sacred meanings.

Last weekend I traveled to a new town called Xela and ran in another half marathon! I am now addicted! I was actually sick with a throat infection all the days leading up to it and wasn´t sure if I could run, but in the end I did! We actually went faster than our last one in the city. Xela was a really fun city, with a lot to do but not crowded like the capital city of Guate. I splurged a little and ate some different types of food... pancakes, tapas, and a calazone. It was a nice break from the traditional rice, beans, and eggs that I eat every day here.

Probably the highlight of this week was my shopping trip in the market for traditional clothes! Which I might add I´m wearing right now as I type this! It was quite an adventure as I brought 4 of my girl friends here along to help! They were so excited and made sure that I got quality clothing for a good price. My first trip to the market today in my clothing got me a few double takes, but otherwise I think that I fit in and people hardly notice that im a Gringa! I suppose I´ll try to wear this once or twice a week now! I wanted to put up a pic, but it´s not working!

Gearing up for the Christmas season here is really fun! Everyone keeps asking if I´m going to be here for Christmas and I think theyre excited to show me the traditions!

Happy Thanksgiving all! They don´t celebrate it here, but luckily I´ll be spending it with the MCC crew!

Settling in!

Decided to update with some photos! Enjoy!


Program with ninos! Teaching them all about environmental issues... here were in the garden!

Uno night with some of the community kids
















ANADESA team on a hike in Cerro de Oro (hill of gold)


Dia de Los Santos in the cemetary


Estela, Juanita, Josefa, and I fancy night
after the graduation of some of our adults.












My host family!

Juanita and I

Volcano San Pedro and my town Chukmuk


Our kitchen

Bedroom for the next 10 months!

Tortillas are life

"you have tortillas in the US right?" "no" "well then what do you eat?" "meat, veggies, fruit, rice, pasta, the same stuff as here, just without tortillas" "do you have corn there?" "yes" "well what do you do with the corn?" "eat it" "but you dont make tortillas?" "nope!"
-a conversation Ive had more than once here in Santiago!

So it has been a while since Ive blogged.. here is a quick update on my past several weeks!

In the city we had a 4 day meeting with all the MCCers and partners here in Guatemala and El Salvador. It was like an advanced class in spanish! It was a great time for me to practice my spanish and learn a lot about planning and developement within the projects MCC has here in Latin America.
After this reunion, I had another week of orientation with our country representitives. It was a relaxing week of preparation before heading to my permanent placement!

And now here I am, in Santiago Atitlan!
I wake up in the mornings around 7am to the sound of roosters, dogs, and the clapping hands of tortilla making. I know that this is my cue to join my host sister Concepcion in the kitchen and help her make tortillas for the entire day! She doesn´t speak very much spanish, but I try to help out and do things with her when I can. She´s super nice and it will be interesting this year to see how our relationship can develope with few words try and share our lives. I leave for work around 9am with another worker for ANADESA, and we ride in the back of a pick up truck to the location of ANADESA in Panabaj. Takes about 30 mins or so after all the waiting, driving, and walking. But the journey is always entertaining as the lake and volcanoes amaze me every morning.

Work varys from day to day. Right now Im learning the ins and outs of the organization and trying to help out where I can. I work some days in the office doing organizational stuff, cleaning, and getting oriented. One day we worked out in the tree nursery that they have growing out back. 3 days a week i work with the kids program in the afternoons, we do crafts, and help the kids with their reading, writing, and math skills. I already have some new ideas for the kids program! I also am teaching english classes on mon and thurs to my co-workers and anyone else who is interested in joining. It is actually really rewarding. They are very eager to learn so that they can talk with the groups who come from US and Canada. One day I also met all the women who are apart of the ANADESA womens program. They do beadwork, making jewelry and keychains which they sell to the tourists.

Our ANADESA team is made up of 3 teachers (Tono, Juanita, another Concepcion) that managed the adult and children programs, and then 2 women (Josefa and Estela) who manage the womens program, and then our director Juan. I am loving my time with them. Sometimes after work we´ll go into downtown Santiago and drink atol and eat tostados in the park. One day I went with to of the girls to a neighboring town on the lake and had lunch and sat by the beach. I also met some people in my neighborhood who like to play soccer! So weve been playing every saturday and Im even going to join a team sometime in the next few weeks. Im really excited to play soccer here and its fun to have a way to connect with the community.

In the evenings I come home and have supper with my family. My host brother-in-law, Javier does speak spanish so we have some good conversations. The only trouble is that in this indiginous culture they women don´t have a lot of say. So I was hoping that Javier would involve his wife in the conversations, and translate from Tzutuil to Spanish, but a lot of times he does not. This is difficult for me to witness and will be a challenge this year. I also have a younger nephew named Antonio, who doesn´t speak much spanish either but it really fun to play with. He does know the phrase for "lets play cards" because I brought UNO for the famliy and now he wants to play every single night. I think I´ve played more UNO in the past week than in my entire life. They are also interested in learning some english and of course force a lot of Tzutuil on me to learn! Ive been here a little over a week and already know a good amount of common phrases and a few animals in their language.

Another interesting thing about living in this community is that at the moment we don´t have running water. So about 3 times a week we have to carry water back to the house and fill up buckets and our "pila" which is kind of like a sink that they use to wash dishes, hands, hair, ect. I usually try to help and they taught me how to carry the water on my head. The people get a good laugh as I often spill some on head. I have some pictures that I will have to post at a later time.

I thought that being short and having dark features would help me fit in more, but I still stand out quite a bit because Im the only woman not wearing the traditional dress. Sometimes I feel like an animal on display at the zoo as everyone comes out of their houses to stare at the gringo playing with the kids, walking down the street, playing soccer, or attempting to carry water on her head. But overall I am having a great experience and feel really welcomed and loved here in the community!
Thanks for all the prayers and support!

"so you don´t know how to make tortillas?" "no, Ive been learning this week" "does your mom in the States know how to make tortillas?" "no"
- another conversation I had

and with that I´ll end, here... tortillas are life.

Leaving la Ciudad

Today is that last day of classes!
Man how time flys. I have already been here a little over a month! I have enjoyed my time in the city and especially getting to know my fellow MCC workers. However, I am definitely ready to leave the city and move on to bigger and better things here in Guatemala.

This weekend I got a glimps of my ¨future life¨ for the next 10 months in Santiago Atitlan. We spent the weekend there helping hand out MCC relief supplies to another lake community San Antonio. I am actually going to be living in a little ¨Pueblo¨ called ChukMuk which is about a 15min back of a truck ride to Santiago. Because of all the mudslides, I am staying in this community which is a fairly new group of people who have moved here because the land that is more safe.
I feel in love with Santiago at first site. Not only is it one of the most gorgeous places I have seen, but it is safe to walk around at night, the people are so friendly, and its rich with culture. My fellow co-workers at ANADESA are super nice and eager to get to know me. I´m excited because spanish is their second language as well, so they are easy to understand and I feel comfortable trying to talk to them.
My host family for the remainder of the year consists of a couple, not much older than myself, and their 5 year old son. So hopefully they will be more like friends than like ¨parents.¨ It will be a challenge, as only the dad speaks Spanish. As I have finally felt comfortable with Spanish, I now find myself encountering yet another language! But they are eager to teach me Tzutujil, how to carry water on my head, how to make tortillas, and to get me into some traditional clothes.
I´m really excited but of course nervous about moving again and getting to know a whole new group of people.
The next two weeks I have meetings and orientation before I head off to Santiago Atitlan for good! And my internet access will be limited starting now. So this is the last blog for a few weeks!
Keep me in your prayers as I enter into another new adventure!

Here Comes the Sun

Finally the sun shines on Guatemala City and the weather is perfect!

This past week was a "monton" of fun!

Last Friday a couple of us went to a photo exhibit. The atmosphere was interesting, sort of a classy/emo feel in the middle of the city.

Saturday I did my final training with my brother, as he rode besid

e me on his bike yelling at me to go faster.

Sunday was the big race day! Compared to the marathon I ran in March, this was a WAY different experience. I trained for a good two months before my last marathon, and this one only trained for maybe a week and a half! Needless to say we ran pretty slow, but keyword "ran" no walking! It was a great way to see the city and feel like a part of the culture. Time actually passed fairly quickly since Anne and I talked the whole way. There were also a lot of school bands, mariochi bands, and many people cheering us on.

I cooked dinner for my family on Sunday/Monday. I made Rellenitos (fried plantines stuffed with beans) on Sunday which my teacher taught me how

to make, and a nacho platter on monday night. Buying fresh veggies from the market is one of my favorite things.

Sept 15th is Independance Day for most of Central America, so there was a huge celebration. We went downtown where there were TONS of people and a huge parade full of bands, floats, cheerleaders, ect. There were mixed feelings, as some are excited to celebrate, and some people don't want to show their support for the government as the country is not all they think it could be.

Overall I'm doing really well...

I am now used to:

all the spanish around me, even if i dont understand it all

my arm falling asleep as I hold on to the railings in the bus

paying in Quetzales

eating beans every day

and being woken up by the sounds of firecrackers in the streets

Muddy Shoes

The last week and a half was a huge improvement.

I feel like I´m really starting to get the hang of things around here. Learning how to make my way around on the bus systems, getting over my fears of trying to speak the language, and getting to ¨hang out¨more around the city.

We took a field trip to the old part of the city and got a tour of the Palace, which is very extravagant with murals on the walls and also a peace garden inside. We took another trip to the Zoo here in Guatemala city, which I thought was pretty fun. I´ve also been doing some normal things like getting coffee with friends and listening to music downtown.


Mi maestra Edna y yo a el zoologico


This weekend we had a team meeting with all the MCC members from Guatemala and El Salvador. We went to a retreat center just outside the city. The meeting was for planning, discussion, reports about work, and an opportunity to get to know eachother. There were 10 of us in all and a few more coming later this year. Everyone on the team is super cool and has such a passion for the work that theyre doing. We played some soccer, went running, and played some football which was nice because I´ve been missing athletics. On Monday we went to Mexco Viejo which are Mayan ruins. This was my first experience with Mayan ruins, but I´m sure there will be plenty more since they are not uncommon for Guatemala. The view was gorgeous with the ruins and the mountains in the background. We ate a picnic there and that concluded our weekend adventure.

Luckily I´ve found a park in the city not too far from my house. I´ve been going there a few times a week with the other girls to run! I signed up for a half marathon! Ann and I decided to do it on a whim! A couple other people we know are running in it as well. I never thought I´d run another half marathon, but couldnt pass up the opportunity to be able to say that I ran one in another country!! I´m not in any sort of shape and havn´t been training, I just hope to finish. My little bro here insists on being my personal trainer and has me doing sprints and jumps and other such exercises.

Finally, as you may have heard, the rain here has been a disaster. There were several mudslides over the weekend in several places in Guatemala which killed almost 100 people. They say that the rain this season has been more than they´ve seen in a while and are advising people not to travel if at all possible. Keep the country in your prayers!