la vida

I haven’t written in a while! So much has happened and I´ve been so busy it has been harder to keep up this blog than I thought.

In February we celebrated Valentine´s Day. Here it´s more of a day of friendship, love, and family. Not just something for couples. We celebrated with all the women from the association in a town called San Lucas, where we played on the playground, made our own lunch, and swam in the lake. One really cool tradition they have here Valentine´s Day are eggs filled with pieces of colored paper which you can crack on people´s heads! I of course was super excited and participated in this event.

Also in February I did some traveling. We had a team retreat in the northern part of Guatemala, and after the meetings we had a half day of fun where we went inter-tubing through a cave! It was some great bonding time. I also had the opportunity to visit another team member and MCC project in San Marcos. There they are cultivating flowers, different vegetables, and have a trout farm. They are also working with putting an end to the gold mining that Canada is doing in this area, which is displacing many communities and contaminating the water. We did some great hiking one day to a waterfall and up the side of the mountain.

In March my family came to visit! We had a wonderful time and it was great to be able to show them my life here. We spent a few nights at ANADESA so that they could learn about the program, the war, and the mudslide. We also spent precious time with my host family. We ate 2 meals with them, my host dad made up a song for everyone, and mom and Marisa tried on the traditional dress! The other two nights we stayed in a beautiful hotel and relaxed in the pool, hot tub, and sauna. One day we went to explore another town on the Lake called San Pedro as well as Panajachel. The last night we stayed in Antigua, however most everyone was feeling a bit sick that day!! Overall a great experience here with my family.

Also In March I went to El Salvador to visit some MCC workers and learn more about their programs down there. I was a fun and short trip. Some highlights include seeing downtown San Salvador, Oscar Romero parade, eating papusas, latin dance aerobics, hanging out with youth in the community La Liña, annnnnd winning a soccer tournament and a trophy!

I´m now feeling motivated to continue working hard and enjoying the last little bit that I have left here! My time has flown by and to think I only have three and a half months left is crazy! It´s a little bitter sweet. They are starting to talk about me leaving and it will be really hard to as I have fell in love with the place, people, and everyday life.

¨Your great memories and yesterdays were once today’s, so live in the moment, make the most of today.¨ - that is exactly what I´m doing.

Working with the children (above) and making disinfectant for the floors (below)

ANADESA- Asociacion Nuevo Amanecer de Santiago Atitlan.
Nuevo Amanecer means new dawn, new morning, and new beginnings.
The association of ANADESA was formed after the tormenta STAN in 2005 destroyed many homes and killed many people. This was a new beginning for a group of 20 families as they joined to put back together their lives. It started as the women and a few men learned how to make beaded jewlery in order to make an income. Now ANADESA has grown and is reaching out to the communities of Panabaj, Tzanchaj, and Chukmuk in several different projects.
We have an afterschool program for children that reinforces reading, writing and mathamatics, as well as does arts, recreation, and holds talks on important themes.
A lot of adults in Santiago dropped out of school to help support their families, so we have an adult education program that teaches basic reading, writing, and mathmatic skills to persons over the age of 15.
Our program of 20 women has also expanded and in addition to making jewelry we have recently developed products such as shampoo, liquid soap, disinfectant for the floor, lotions, and a few other products to our repituar.
The women will also provide housing and food for groups who visit the lake.
With our quickly expanding programs we have big dreams and are looking into buying our own land and building our own facilities as well as working on becoming a legal organization.
The month of January has been very busy with this sort of work! Sorry that I havn´t updated. Hope this gives you a sense of the organization and what Ive been up to the last few weeks!

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.