PC Guatemala

8 days left

2010-10-04T19:00:00.000-07:00

In exactly one week I will have all my bags packed, hand the key back over to my landlord, and leave Jocotan, at least for now. I have a couple last week items to figure out, and well there will be lots unfinished, but you have to leave someday. Then I'll be on a plane adventuring through central america a little and back to the United States of America. I miss you America.

Love,
Robin

It's done.

2010-09-29T15:30:00.000-07:00

We inaugurated the Library last Wednesday, 22nd of September in front of the building with the mayor, here's the blurb I wrote for the Peace Corps Washington Bulletin: (the local and national news came too, I'm trying to get a copy of the footage to load on youtube)

Modern Public Library Opening in Jocotán, Chiquimula

Peace Corps Guatemala is proud to report that Wednesday morning on September 22nd 2010 the project “Creating a Modern Library” was inaugurated in the Municipality of Jocotán, Chiquimula. The project coordinator and Peace Corps Volunteer, Robin Mae Schick, celebrated this day with local children, parents, teachers, the director of the health center, school principals, superintendents, municipal co-workers, members of the town council, and the mayor of Jocotán, Ramón Diaz. Representatives from Peace Corps, Save the Children, Outreach for World Hope, USAID – Education Reform in the Classroom, and the Riecken Foundation, whom have all supported this project, were also present. The inauguration was directed by the newly formed Jocotán Community Library Board of Directors who now takes ownership of the project and will be responsible for supporting the activities of the library along with the Mayor’s office. The Municipal Library “Hector Manuel Vasquez Lopez” of Jocotán has been completely changed, what once was a closet with old dusty books and cracked walls is now an active, community-based, modern, educational center with a new attitude. The Library of Jocotán currently offers more than 1,000 new books, 6 computers, a children’s corner full of interactive resources, a multi-use photocopier, a white board, a comfortable sofa and arm chair, and much more to create a functional and inviting space. This change would have not been possible without donations from the above mentioned institutions along with Computers for Guatemala, the National Library of Guatemala, the Rotary Club of Chiquimula, Grace Methodist Church, several private donors from the United States, and various book donations from many. Furthermore the project is awaiting the connection to high-speed internet donated by the Mancomunidad Copán-Chorti, and 2 full set encyclopedias donated from Encyclopedia Britannica which are currently on their way to Guatemala. Access to public information is a fundamental part of development, especially here in Guatemala. This project gives neighbors of Jocotán a real opportunity to continue learning each day and teach their children how to achieve a better future with the power of education.

It's almost over!!!! haha, it's been great but I can't wait to come home and see everyone.

Board of Directors Search

2010-09-09T19:31:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick update about what's been going on other than mudslides and lots of rain.

We're working so hard in the library but it's really coming along and I'm so excited!!!! The inauguration date is the 22nd of September and I'm hoping to have the the Board of Directors formed and ready by the 17th. I've been busy doing an inventory of all the donations, legalizing the responsibilities with the mayor, along with computer installations, painting doors, and hanging whiteboards.

Here are photos, of all the activity:

Update in Fotos

2010-08-27T09:11:00.000-07:00

BASTA YA, the theater production with the Youth Group Fantasicos Amigos, at the Orphanage SOS Aldea Infantil about Violence and Issues that Face Guatemala in Today's World.

Painting and Organizing in the Library, and lots of cleaning!

The Library is now painted, all the bookshelves are cleaned and sparkling like new again, over 1,000 have been categorized in the Dewey Decimal System and we have many more to go, Britannica has donated a full 20 volume encyclopedia which Brian Gouldman will be shipping here asap, Outreach for World Hope has made an enormous contribution of $1,400 to buy a fotocopier and other resources and donated a couch/chair set for a place to sit and read comfortably, Save the Children has donated a Childrens Corner with books, games, carpet and lots of pillows! And of course the HUNDREDS of books you all back home have donated through Amazon and sent in cash donations. The Library is looking fabulous as each day we work getting everything ready. By this Friday I hope to have pictures of more or less the final product! I'd like to have the inaguration the September 10th, but I don't have confirmation on that just yet.

More photos to come, my camera just ran out of battery to upload them :(

Miss you all,

Peace,

Love,

Robin

So much to tell!

2010-08-09T19:15:00.000-07:00

I have been so busy here! I didn't even post in the whole month of July! Just so you know I'm alive and doing better than ever. I have so much news.

View of the Copan River that goes through Jocotan

First, the library. We are painting!!!! it's an act of God. When you least expect it, great things happen. Save the Children, an international NGO is donating a bebeteca (a library section for babies!) and had funds to paint. Initially they were only budgeted to paint their section, but after seeing the place and me begging them, they found an extra few gallons of paint and now the Mayor (of all people!) sent municipal workers to paint it. Hopefully they will be done tomorrow or the next day. It's a BRIGHT lime green, and I love it. It's full of energy and definately changes the space completely. Then, last Friday I got an email from Outreach for World Hope say that they not only fundraised the amount they had pledged to buy the photocopier, but more than doubled it and now are sending $1,400 in donations! Then, on top of that I talked to the MANCOMUNIDAD (a local organization here in Jocotan) today and they are going to pay for and install internet for the computers!
The community meeting we had went well, and working with USAID and the Reiken Foundation is a dream come true. They really know their stuff and so motivated. I'm just praying that they extend the library/reading programs with us for next few years so that this library will really have a good base for success.

In other news, the orphanage is going great as well. This Friday we will be presenting three short plays the kids wrote based on the theme of citizen awareness against violence. The event is called "BASTA YA!" and will speak about the issues of drug addiction, prostituction, gangs, the police, robbery, and injustice. I remind you, 10-14 year old kids wrote these plays on their own. I think it's going to be a very powerful and important event to talk about these problems in Guatemala today. Your all invited, just in case you happen to be around Chiquimula :-)

This week I am also very busy with coordinating classes in the village of Tesoro Abajo. The classes are to teach about maintinance and care for your outhouse and health. This is part of a project the local community council is soliciting with the government for new outhouses for 150 familias in their village. I helped them write the proposal and have been the liason between the government agency and the community but after these classes they will be on their own, and hopefully the project is setup for completion the following year.

Other than all that, I have my close of service conference next week and will be in Antigua Monday thru Friday doing medical appointments and filling out paperwork to return back to the United States of America! wahoo! I'll be home by Thanksgiving everyone, and I want to see you all.

Hopefully I'll have another chance soon to write more, I have much more to tell still but it's already getting late here so I need to get home.

Peace, Love,
Robin

Check out more about Chiquimula (this weekend is the town fair) at: http://www.chiquimulaonline.com/
and the Orphanage I do my kids group with: http://www.chiquimulaonline.com/sos/

Library, 4 monthes left

2010-06-22T11:07:00.000-07:00

ok, I've started the countdown, 4 monthes... sometimes it seems like it's gone by so fast. This Thursday I am meeting with the town council, the library, USAID, and some local residents to begin programs and work finally in the library! This is very exciting because, well... if you've been reading this blog you know I have been very patient and frustrated with this whole process taking so long. But we are finally getting somewhere on all fronts. I am still recieving books and donations and have 6 computers ready to be set up for a virtual library. The USAID program is working with the Dept. of Education Nationally and Regionally here in Chiquimula, and also with the Reiken Foundation which has 3 techs who are specialized in library functions and organization.

We are first organizing and documenting each existing book (I already started this but there is still a lot to do) and teaching the librarian how to be a librarian. Then we are chaning the space around, improving it for users and the books. Reading/writting programs will begin as soon as possible after that.

I'm still working with the youth group at the orphanage which is going well. This week we are dicussing the problem of violence in Jocotan to find a solution and sign a Promise Act against violence.

The San Juan Ermita Fair is this weekend, I know Kristy (the volunteer who was there) will be missed this year. I'm going to try to go to see our friend Leo and eat the famous Tortillas de Harina that they make there. yum! =)

Guatemala Disaster

2010-06-04T12:06:00.000-07:00

So for those of you who haven't heard about it on the news, Volcano Pacaya erupted last Thursday leaving ash all over the capital, Guatemala City, then on Saturday a huge tropical storm, Agatha, came through flooding a major part of the country. This has left landslides, a giant sink hole, fallen bridges, lots of mud, and the airport closed for almost a week. I luckily? was out of the country visiting some friends and couldn't return until today. For pictures of the catostrophe you can go to http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/06/a_rough_week_for_guatemala.html

I've heard my house and town are fine and were minorly effected. The capital has been a disaster. Right now I'm just trying to make my way back to Jocotan, hopefully arriving tomorrow or the next day. I'll keep you updated on further news once I get there.

Peace, Love,
Robin

New News

2010-05-10T09:37:00.000-07:00

First off, I just want to say Thank-you to the people who still read this blog. I've been gone a long time and I'm glad I haven't been forgotten just yet ;)

Also, thank you very much for the books we have been recieving for the library project. It is always growing and will be a great success here. In recent news I haven't recieved any further confirmation from USAID or the muni on find the funding to restore the building, although I have a meeting this Friday in the capital where I'll learn about some new library electronic resources. The meeting is hosted by USAID so I'm hoping to check with them personally about the project then.

Since each day seems to be going by faster, and I have less and less time here I have also begun looking for Plan B, which is looking better every day. Plan B is to do the same thing I want to do now but instead of in the Municipal Library, complete the project in the Oraphange Community right outside town. Last Friday, when I was there for my Youth Group, I noticed they have a room with books and so I asked the secretary about it. Aparently they have a library, but basically not enough books or computers for it to function, soooo this project would be great there as well and the people who work there are very motivated and great to coordiante with. So for a Plan B, I think it's a pretty good option.

One of the great lessons from Peace Corps, have a Plan B and be patient and flexible, and patient, and strong, and still more patient... Nothing, especially not in Guatemala, changes in a day.

In other news I made cake and watched movies in my house this weekend, it was great. The kids in the picture are wearing the traditional local dress for the Folklore Festival that was last weekend. =)

Peace, Love,
Robin

Amazon Book List

2010-05-03T11:05:00.000-07:00

I still have some high priority books on the Amazon Wish List, here's the link:

http://amzn.com/w/3LEFGDRF2T287

I'm also looking for headphones for the Digital Encyclopedia, which are only $5, or you can send me your old ones for free!
http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.aspx?EDC=382512

May, Can it get any hotter?

2010-05-03T09:48:00.000-07:00

So May has just begun and I'm still sweating like a little piggy. I thought April would bring enough rain to cool us down a little but it doesn't seem like it has at all. Now it's just getting humid, which as we all know is worse. On the up side we have electricity this week! Last week there were about 3-4 days where it flickered on and off. And unfortunately my running water is the color of poop because of the run-off of soil and actual poop into the river that feeds the public water. Awesome, I know.

For some good news, I've started working with a youth group at the local orphanage. The kids are great, man do they have a lot of energy. We voted on our group name, we are the Fantastic Amigos, and we're making a big flag this week and tye dying t-shirts. They are almost all in 5th or 6th grade, and want to play a lot of sports. I hope I can keep up with them! The theme of the group is "being a good citizen" so we will dabble in politics, do community clean-up projects, and generally try to be as democratic and fun as possible.

I'm uploading photos right now on webshots from my trip to Tikal in March and of the mural I was working on in the Childrens malnutricion rehabilitation center. The mural still isn't finished on one wall because I need more green paint, but it's look really nice and I'm pretty proud of it.

I also just got back from the yearly trip to El Salvador with my Muni for Labor Day. Six hours in a van each way and they don't let you sleep or they paint your face with lipstick, I think of it as like a frat hazing each year... (Drew, you know what I'm talking about.) The weather there was actually overcast which was really nice and everyone had a good time.

This month I have plans to continue fighting for the library as always, youth group activities, meetings with the community leaders in the villages, and soliciting a letrine project in Chiquimula. Oh! and I just realized it's Mother's Day this Sunday so maybe I can make cards or something with my kids for their house mothers... and Happy Mother's Day to my mom, the best ever! hugs and kisses, mom!

peace, love,
Robin

Semana Santa 2010

2010-04-05T09:48:00.000-07:00

Well March turned out to be quite a month. I spent most of it traveling either for work or on vacation and am glad to be back in my house here in Jocotan for most of the month of April.

Semana Santa was celebrated as always with alfombras, processions, carnival food, and good friends. I finally got a chance to see Tikal, the most famous of mayan ruines in Guatemala. I went with several friends and another volunteer. We hiked, camped, and swam a lot. Mean while, since noone works for semana santa, the computers have been held up at port until this week. I spent all of the week before semana santa freaking out trying to get everything together just to have it all halted completely for a whole other week, but that's just the way it goes here. Anyway I think the pick-up date is scheduled for this Friday now. I'll send updates and pictures as soon as they are here.

The mayor didn't come to work today, surprise surprise, so most of the things I need to get done are waiting on his desk. This month we have many many communities to go to for voting in the new COCODE representatives, but I'm nervous after my Brava experience.

Aside from the muni I am soliciting a new marketing peace corps volunteer to my site in November to work with a women´s group who makes jewlery and purses from recycling. It's a really cool project, and all the women are amazing, so I hope they get a positive response from peace corps. Right now I just help them out a little by selling their products in Antigua, but they could really use a good website, publicity, and more organizational support. The best part is all the profit goes straight to women to need it the most by teaching them this skill and at the same time cleaning up the environment.

Well I guess that's enough for now. It's time for my refraccion (or snack time!), hoep everyone had a great Easter!

Peace, Love,

Robin

Problemas and my new nickname...

2010-03-18T13:54:00.000-07:00

So today I was what you call in spanish 'enojada'

Recently we have being going out to the villages to elect the community leaders who will then participate at the local level of government to solicite projects and programs for thier villages.(COCODES) Each time we go out I get so frustrated with how horribly organized the elections are. In the last village they voted by someone from the mayor´s office going up to each person individually and asking the vote and annoucing it outloud over a microphone to mark it on a whiteboard in front of everyone.(which as you can imagine took forever! in the hot sun) I suppose this could be looked at as transperancy, it can also be looked at as manipulation, intimidation, and partiality considering the person asking for their vote is part of a political party himself and obviously has his own priorities.(He even told me so.) It kind of appauls me actually that they do it this way, especially when almost 40 people refused to give thier vote, and most women can barely speak up to their husband much less infront of the whole community with everyone watching.

But here's the problem, noone trusts anyone. Which I knew, but not really to this extent until today. Instead of explaining anything to me, my co-workers reaction to my "I want to better the system of votation" was "no we will not" and swiftly walking away from me. I found it extremely rude, considering he didn't even know my suggestion yet.

What I wished to propose today was a vote with beans and buckets. The idea is that each person has 1 bean or "vote" and each bucket represents the contendors, and you simply put your bean in the bucket of your choice. That way you don't have to write anything for those who can't and your not annoucing every vote on a loudspeaker. But apparently my co-worker doesn't agree because people are so mistrusting that they will say we rig the beans, that others rig the beans, or maybe even that the beans with rig themselves, who knows.

But since he never explained his point of view and just told me "no," well I got up some nerve and said to myself 'I'm tired of being ignored here, and my spanish is finally good enough to serve me, and I have something good to say and I am going to be heard g*d d*mn*t.' and went right up to him and told him to never talk to me like that again, that it was rude, and that I will be listened to and if you don't agree that's fine but I deserve a good answer.

Aparently I came off as a little fuerte (or strong). ok alot fuerte... I have now broken any image of being a nice, calm person, and have now adopted a new nickname. Brava.

I hope it serves me well.

Peace, Love, haha
Robin

Back from Vacation

2010-03-16T09:20:00.000-07:00

Ok so I went on Vacation it was great... no. really really great... but now I'm back in Jocotan and it is Bloody Hot! I mean whoa what happened, I go on vacation and the sun jumped 1 million miles closer to Chuiquimula, Guatemala. I need another fan.

In work news, the 6 computers that have been donated arrive next week!!! The pictures are of the crate being loading and of the wonderful team from Computers for Guatemala state-side! I'll be going to pick them up the 26th. Also I have more donations for books that should be arriving this week, so all of this is exciting. If your interested in buying a book you still can on Amazon.(http://amzn.com/w/3LEFGDRF2T287) The books with HIGH PRIORITY are obviously the most needed, but each and every book helps!

I'm still working on the mural in the Health Center so I'm busy finishing that most nights. I'm also trying to get letrines for a community but right now the Mayor isn't seeing anyone because he's having legal trouble and I need his signature... I'm also working with a women's group that makes jewlery out of recycling, it's really cool and I'm helping them sell it in Antigua. This weekend I have to go to take a shipment of orders.

Then the 29th starts Semana Santa which if you've kept up with my blog already know is the biggest celebration of the year, possibly bigger than Christmas... I'm not sure what I'm doing for it this year, last year I scouted all the parade routes and hung out around town.

Ok so that's the quick update. Pictures to come!

Peace, Love,
Robin

Happy Valetine's Day

2010-02-17T13:10:00.000-08:00

Hope you all had a good Valentine's Day. February has gone by quickly, seems like time here just gets faster and faster, except when it gets slower, :P The picture is of my favorite food here called the Tortilla de Harina (Flour Tortilla in english) and it is probably my equivalent of McDonalds fast, tastes great, tons of calories, and only Q15 (less than $2).

This weekend I'm painting a jungle/forest scene in the Kids Malnutrition Recovery section of our new health center, and I'll be painting underwater scenes in the bathroom. Lively colors, should be fun but I am basically doing it by myself so hopefully I can get it done in time before I go on vacation. I'll be traveling with my family in the beginning of March so I have a lot to finish before-hand because when I'm not here pushing these things nothing gets done, or the worst, a ton of things get done that I never knew about... I hope they don't take my desk computer while I'm gone.

We just had a baby shower in the office, she is hugely pregnant. Poor girl is so tiny and her stomach has to more than double her. I told her she would have it today, but it hasn't come yet, we're waiting for a full moon. Also we have 3 new interns in and the last one is leaving soon. He has helped me a lot with the library project, which btw we have a meeting tomorrow morning and will hopefully be getting some funding from USAID, so thank you America.

Otherwise I'm doing good. I hurt my foot swimming at some waterfalls on the coast last weekend but it's going away with time. I have lots of laundry to do as always and it's gotten really old doing it by hand... I also made a delicious chocolate cake (from a nice box sent by my grandmae) with strawberry icing, yummmm. I brought pieces around to my neighbors so that I wouldn't eat the whole thing by myself. I'm doing more art lately, well first off these giant murals, and then also some small sculptures at my house. I don't really have the tools or the time to do them up the way I'd like (I've been carving potatoes which smell bad after a day or two), so I'm making drawings of them to take home and hopefully I can finish them there.

Let me know how you all are doing, I miss you all so much!

Peace, Love,
Robin

Starting the Year Update

2010-02-02T09:43:00.001-08:00

Sorry I haven't written in a while, but I'm still here and doing better than ever! There is so much to tell everyone. Well first off, the weather is nice right now, not too hot nor chilly and I made BBQ chicken (my favorite thing to cook here)and ate with some neighbors on Sunday. I went to a 2 year-olds birthday on Saturday, where I was the ONLY childless female in maybe 50 that showed up. And just recently I killed a cockroach in my kitchen, although it kind of looked like it's mother had breeded with a giant grasshopper, and it had wings...

I know that's what you all really want to know about, but now for the rest of it:
A couple weeks ago a group of volunteers came down from Wisconsin to help out with project for "Outreach for World Hope" NGO here and Jocotan and I helped translate. It was so great to spend time with them and hopefully I'll see some of them back soon enough. Here is a picture of me translating for the medical team they brought to a village.

The Library is doing swimmingly, what I mean by that is it's still moving along, hasn't drowned, but is more like doing a switch-off between the doggy-paddle and the Phelps Freestyle. Each week the project grows and each time I have to run behind it trying to grab funding, but it's exciting and I am very hopeful. I have presented it to the mayor and town council formally with a nice powerpoint and showing them the books you've sent me along with the other donations I have received. They were very convinced and added some changes of their own, and I represented it yesterday and had them sign a letter of responsability to begin as soon as possible. Also, after getting signed up with the Computers for Guatemala program I have solicited 7 computers in total now at $80 each. The price rose a little because I have a digital encyclopedia that has certian requirements above their standard $60 computer. I'm looking for headphones though because the program has sound and the computers don't come with speakers, so if you want to donate an old set of headphones or a computer email me! schick.robinmae@gmail.com

Also there are more books on the list, and several that are high-priority have not been bought. Please check it out (many are $10 or less) http://amzn.com/w/3LEFGDRF2T287

I'm also working with teaching communtiy groups how to make their own projects and organize better. I mostly work in a village called Tesoro Abajo, and the people there are so nice. I'm actually looking into living there for a week out of the month to work closer with them and surrounding communities.

I miss you all so much, and I know my remaining 9 monthes will fly by. Thank you so very much for your support as always and for keeping in touch by just reading this blog.

Peace and Love,
Robin

New Year Resolutions

2010-01-11T10:13:00.000-08:00

January... wow time flies. So for probably the first time since I can remember I don't have a New Years Resolution, I didn't really think about it until now but I guess I do have a few things I'd like to accomplish this year. First and foremost is the Jocotán Library, which is coming along more or less. I just got in contact with a former Peace Corps volunteer who send computers to guatemala for just $60! so now I'm trying to fundraise to put 5 computers in the library which would be a miracle of a difference for the project. I am recieve new books each week, but there are still so many more they could use, like a complete encyclopedia. Luckily if I can get the commputers I have a digital encyclopedia software for free!
(If you would like to help send us a computer you can donate $60 at http://computersforguatemala.com "hint hint")
Other accomplishments for the year will include coming home for Thanksgiving, yes I consider it an accomplishment to eat turkey and deviled eggs at my parents house, and I hope one of these days I'll figure out what to do after all this :P

Oh! And a friend of mine, a volunteer, got caught by guatemala's version of "Candid Camera," it sounds hilarious, and you can read about it on his blog at; http://jnstaples.blogspot.com/

Miss you all sooo much,

Peace, Love,
Robin

December

2009-12-17T13:21:00.000-08:00

Well no snow so far, really I'm just hoping it stays below 90. Tomorrow is the CONVIVIO (or work chirstmas party) and then we are on vacation, except I'm not really because I'm going to try to make a database of all the new books for the library over the holidays.
This weekend I went to Hawaii, not the state the little village in Guatemala :), for our welcoming party to the new Oriente volunteers. Everything went great, there was sun (as always), and beach, and a pool, and we set free baby sea turtles because the local volunteer there works at the refuge.
After that I came back to medical visits and lots of work to finish up the year. Health wise I'm doing better, but it still irritates me sometimes so I have another appointment right before Christmas. Otherwise every thing in my site is going well, I am really exciting about this next year. Kristy, a previous volunteer, told me over and over again how much better your 2nd year of service is and I feel really positive about it. If anything I will make this Library happen, right? haha
Pictures soon to come, probably Sunday when I go to Chiquimula for some Christmas shopping.

Peace and Love,
Robin

Thanksgiving

2009-12-04T09:14:00.001-08:00

December is here and another Christmas/Huannakah aproaches! I already have my Christmas tree set up with blue lights and the few ornaments I received last year. Thanksgiving was amazing, although getting there wasn't really that great. 15 volunteers showed up though and I personally cooked apple pie, green bean casserole, deviled eggs, creamed corn, gravy, and helped out with the turkey. We were orignally going to kill a live turkey but it ended up they sell them nice and prepared if you buy it in a grocery store in the capital. Then afterwards, instead of watching football on tv, we had a camp fire.

While going to Jalapa to spend it with other volunteers and speak english was amazing, many of my friends here asked me about the holiday and the food so I redid the whole thing yesterday (it had to be on a Thursday still :P). I didn't tell many people but 2 weeks ago I was in the hospital here for breathing complications, first to my local health center, then to Chiquimula central, then to Guate the capital. It was a little scarey but now I am doing much better. I aparently now acompany my former PC Muni volunteers as we have all 3 been transported in the ambulance (yes they told me about your high blood pressure, Drew). Anyway I was lucky enough to have the support of several friends during this time that came and visited me in the hospital, watched over my house, and called to check up on me. So I invited them to Thanksgiving and told them about the first pilgram/native american story that I've been told and how I wanted to thank them for everything and share this very strange food with them (they were slightly dissappointed there were no tortillas). Then every one of them said something they were thankful for as well and we ate until our pants busted, haha.
I hope you all had a great thanksgiving as well! Here's a picture of the Thanksgiving in Jalapa.

Peace,
Robin

Book Donations

2009-12-04T08:57:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends & Family,

I hope each one of you are doing well and enjoyed a Happy Thanksgiving. Although it took 7 hours and 5 buses I happily spent it in the company of other Volunteers in the small village of San Antonio Las Flores, Jalapa, Guatemala around a table filled with our traditional turkey and mashed potatoes. I am also re-celebrating it at my house this week to share the holiday with local Guatemalan friends.

For those of you who I haven´t had the chance to keep in good touch with, I live in Jocotan, Chiquimula, Guatemala as a Municipal Development Peace Corps Volunteer. It´s had it´s ups and downs (and spiders if you read my blog) as you would expect but I am definitely learning a lot and still feel as though every day we can each make a difference in the world around us.

Recently I have been trying to make a big difference in Library of Jocotan, which serves a community of 60,000 people. I have proposed and found funding to completely renovate the building, but what the library really needs is books. Since some of you have asked me how you can help, and with the spirit of Christmas, and the ease of the internet, I have put together a wish list on Amazon.com (http://amzn.com/w/3LEFGDRF2T287) for contributions. These books are greatly needed. There is no complete Encyclopaedia, no books with color photos, and few that are even good enough condition to read. Your donation will be added to others from a local Jocoteca, the University of San Carlos Guatemala, the National Library of Guatemala, Outreach for World Hope, and Grace United Methodist Church. The books you buy online will be sent to my parents, whom will personally bring them to me in February.

Jocotan and I sincerely thank each one of you for your interest in my work here and for taking the time to read this letter. Thanks for reading my blog. I miss you all dearly and wish you all a very Happy Holidays!

With Love,
Robin Mae Schick

November 1st

2009-11-05T13:03:00.000-08:00

November 1st marks a lot of things for me here.

Number 1, it's my brother Eric's Birthday, so happy birthday big guy, although not sure that he actually reads my blog :P

Number 2, it is my offical anniversary of being a sworn-in Peace Corps Volunteer here in my site. 1 year baby!!!

Number 3, The celebration of All Saints Day, which is huge here in Guatemala. Our traditions of ghosts and spiders of halloween are replaced with flowers and good food. Last year for this special day I went to Santiago to see the GIANT kites they hand make and fly from the cliff of the cementary, which was amazing. This year I went to Todos Santos, Huehuetenango to see the drunken horse races and town fair, which was even more memorable, mainly because we arrived soaking wet, in the back of a pick up, to a town with no electricity and flooding. But don't worry, it got a lot better after that with a nice halloween party and the festivities in the town. I even got a ride back from the Ambassador which definately beat taking the pickup in the rain again! I'm trying to upload photos now to webshots.

Well November begins my new and last year of year of peace corps. I say goodbye to some fellow volunteers that are leaving and am planning the welcome party for the new ones that just came in. Work is going well, at least i feel very busy and I've been visiting more villages lately. Still working on book donations for the library and have proposed a building renovation project to the Muni for the next year.

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween and keep in touch!

Peace, Love,
- Robin

Guatemalan Pride

2009-10-12T09:53:00.000-07:00

I recieved one of those FWD:FWD:FWD emails from a guatemalan friend recently that has some funny/exagerrated truths about reality and pride of being guatemalan. So here I want to share with you (in my english translation) some of those that now also apply to my daily life :)

What it means to be guatemalan (or to work with guatemalans, haha)

1. Have a breakfast of coffee and a "pirujo" (although in reality it's two you always say "a" pirujo)

2. You come home late, wanting to accomplish alot but without time to do anything

3. You wait for wednesdays to go to the movies for 1/2 price, and wait for thursdays to get pizza 2 for 1

4. You sit around whichever day of the week, knowing that the 'next' day you have to go to work.

5. Save your money all week to buy minutes for your phone on a promotional day of double, triple, or cuadruple minutes

6. You have the most expensive cell phone you can buy, and hide it in places the most covert (like in my pants) so that they don't rob it from you on the bus

7. Always dip whatever bread or cookie you have in your coffee

8. Eat a roll with cheese, beans, or butter

9. Repeat proudly that the Guatemalan National Hymn is the best in the world, although most don't know all the verses (however beautiful, it does happen to be the longest song I've ever heard in my life, haha)

10. Eat "caldo de res" (a broth with vegs. and beef fat) while listening to the marimba

11. Wait in anticipation for the 15th of september (Central American Indepence Day) for the parades yet you end up not leaving your house to see them because it always rains the 15th of September

12. Plan the whole month to go to the beach and when the day comes noone goes because this day it rained of course (this includes planing just about anything)

13. Asking the obvious "Your just NOW getting here?," "Oh my god!," "You get wet?," "Did that hurt?,"

14. Also emphasis the evident and repeat it as if repeating it will bring about to change it... "It's so cold, really cold" "Geez luiz, how hot it is..." "Today yes, it's raining, like cats and dogs" and each person that comes in to where you are returns to say the same thing as if noone ever knew it, haha

15. To go to bed later Sunday than any other day of the week so that when Monday comes you want even less to go to work

The email continues on and says, "Are we or are we not special?" "Are we or are we not the best?" "Bless this my Guate, her earth, her customes, her people, and her future..."

Guatemala surely is a special country, and I'm glad I can share the traditions and "life" in a little humor with you all.

Peace, Love,
Robin

More Fotos Uploaded

2009-10-05T11:17:00.000-07:00

Photos of the 15th of September (Indepence Day, & the Muni Birthday Cook-out)

http://community.webshots.com/album/574959981ozURfm?vhost=community&vhost=community

23rd Birthday

2009-10-05T07:46:00.000-07:00

Well I meant to write earlier than this but last week I felt pretty bad with a sinus infection and stayed in bed taking Benydrl for 2 days, then went to Peace Corps for a VAC meeting. My birthday was fairly low key but the Friday before my co-workers at the Muni had a cook-out and we went swimming at a private house that had natural hot spring pools. It was nice and the BBQ chicken was amazing! Another co-worker (Julio from Treasury) has his birthday the day after mine so we celebrated together. Then on Saturday I went to Chiquimula to shop some and see a movie but they were only playing one I had just seen and "The Orphan" which is scary/stupid so instead I watched Happy Gilmore at my house.

Sunday (the 27th) I went to a really good Soccer game in Jocotan, we played Livingston and won 2-0 in the last 15 minutes! Octavio came to visit as well and as his birthday is the 28th we celebrated together and did a hike in San Juan Ermita (where Kristy the closest volunteer lives). We hiked to a village named Buena Vista, which means "Good View" and it lives up to its name! We went searching for Pre-hispanic paintings done on the side of these huge rock formations; however, we never actually found them although maybe we did and didn't know it... but the view was worth it anyway. :)

The week passed by quickly with me being sick, and the Volunteer Council meeting was very successful. The birthday celebration continued further into this weekend when on Saturday most of the volunteers in the Oriente all met at a Water park. We were also celebrating the end of service for several volunteers, and just really enjoyed a good day in the sun with slides and the lazy river. Then we all came back to my house for Spaghetti and Strawberry cake, yummmm

Today it's back to work, trying to get a list together of book requests and soliciting help. Wednesday I have a presentation in a village on Community Group Organization and Responsabilities which I need to prepare for. I am also trying to start up an art class at the local orphanage so I will be meeting with the Director sometime this week as well.

As always thanks for reading and all your support!!!

Peace, Love,
Robin

Back from the US

2009-09-17T09:28:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I really want to first thank everyone that I got to see while I was home, it was amazing. And to all those whom I didn't get the chance, no worries I won't be gone forever. Going home was great, and coming back was difficult but now I'm here and back in the swing of things.
The 15th of September we celebrated Central American Independence Day by going to the border of Copan, Honduras with all the kids who run a torch from there to Jocotan. Then I celebrated in a village named Morola in Comotan that was 2 hours in the back of a pick-up. It was a beautiful day and there were many bombas and piñatas. Now back to work of course. I finally have the letter for the National Library signed by the mayor so that I can present it tomorrow in the City. Also, I have a Volunteer Advocacy Council meeting, which I am now a representative for my region, the Oriente. I was actually in the US for the election so Dan (a fellow volunteer) organized my campaign here, so aplause to Dan, many thanks! (even if noone else ran...)
Also a big thanks to the donations I've received from home for books for the Library! Every little bit helps and if anyone else would like to donate you can contact me or my mom or my grandmother. Also my birthday is coming up, so for those of you who maybe would have bought me a card save the 5 dollars it takes to mail the thing and donate it for a book.

Peace, Love,
Robin

What do I miss most... being dockside.

Agusto

2009-08-18T16:15:00.000-07:00

Hey, sorry it's been a while. Time has been flying by lately, and next week I come home! Lately I have been working with a youth citizen participation program with Save the Children. We are organzing different parties of youth and they are running campaigns in town, and on the 28th kids from the entire municipial (including the villages)will vote for their favorite to represent them all. This group of students will then present at the Municipal Council meeting next month about their needs and program ideas. This is a test program, and if all goes well will hopefully be applied to the whole country. These kids are so smart and this really gives them an opportunity to feel like their voice matters and be responsible for their community. I'm still waiting on grant stuff, which seems endless, borring, slow, and doubtful. Also I am writing to the National Library here for their help with books or really anything for our library here. If anyone that reads this blog has ANY books in spanish or knows of any programs to get books in spanish sent here, please let me know. We would also like to get 2 computers to have electronic enclopedias, dictionaries, and other resources. Recently I have also done some work for Esperanza para el Mundo, which worked on the playground project before. Tomorrow I leave for a conference with two local village leaders at the PC headquarters about community projects and resources. I think this could be their first time ever to Antigua, and is a great opportunity for them both, so that's exciting.

But the most exciting thing is that I will be home oh so very soon, even though it is only for 10 days...
Miss you all LOTS
Peace, Love,
Robin

PS The photo is from when I woke up at 3am with the rest of my local co-workers to serenade the mayor for his birthday... a cultural experience for sure

July and the FERIA

2009-07-30T13:55:00.000-07:00

So as if 4th of July wasn't awesome enough, the town Fair of Jocotán has got to be one of the best times I've had here. I've been told that this year was one of the best in a while, but Drew will have to compare for me. It of course started Thursday morning at 3am when I get a phone call from Tia Neldy (my neighbor) that the whole Muni is going around to the houses of the Señorita's of Jocotan to serenade them, I made the mistake of not going and of course was awaken by the blasting of firecrackers anyway. Then that morning was the Parade with all the local schools, Señorita's, bands, clowns, dancers, and whatever else they could think to throw in, including a goat. Each day there was a lunch for all the Muni and coordinators of the fair which included live music, churrascos, and a good time. I only went to the luncheon on Thursday as my stomach has been queasy lately (fairly sure I have parasites). And then there was a Rodeo with bull riding and the next day another parade but just with cowboys and horses and ranchero music and this odd, massive, bull type animal which the Señorita of Agriculture rode. There was motocross Saturday, which I didn't go to because of too much fun on Friday... and dances every night, which I did attend two of them, one by accident. All around just a great event, and the venders are still lingering although slowly one by one taking down each wood construction, foosball table, and smoothie blenders.

Needless to say work was put to a halt in the past week because of it all, but I can't say I'm disappointed about that. Although Tuesday back to work it was, (Monday of course was to rest after the fair) and now the Mayor has uniforms for everyone to wear. I do not wear the uniform, mainly because I was at 4th of July when they ordered them, but I have to say I'm pretty glad. The grant writing process is still slow as everyone is still trying to catch up on work from before the fair, so I have focused back to working on the library some as well. Tomorrow I am going to check out a Guatemalan publishing company that might have some ideas on how to get books. They invited our library to a conference last weekend but well... as you know it was the fair :P

Peace, Love, and many fairs to you all,
Robin

There are photos on webshots!

4th of July and Spanish

2009-07-10T13:58:00.001-07:00

Hey sorry I have't posted in a while. I am currently at the Peace Corps office again. I have been away from my site for a while because of a Volunteer training, 4th of July, and a week of Spanish classes. The Spanish classes were pretty rough, mainly because subjunctive tenses don't exist in english I think... but very useful as well. It seems like I've been here at the office forever and I am ready to go home although I am fairly certian going home means encountering the spiders that have infested my house while I was away. These spiders I now know are Brown Reclouse (sp?) and dangerous. I brought a dead one back to the medical office to get it identified, no worries I have Raid.
In other news Micheal Jackson died, which has been a severe loss for the country of Guatemala and they now mourn this loss with lots of his music, which I suppose is happening in the US too. We did jam out to some of it at the All-Volunteer 4th of July Party, which was awesome although it didn't have fireworks.
My work is coming along, as the park is now finishing up thanks to the help of Outreach for World Hope and their volunteers. I am nor trying to solocite Small Project Assistance (SPA)funds for training our community groups. I know very little about grant writing and expect the process to be very slow. This month is our town Fair though so I don't think much will get done until afterwards.
Hope everyone is doing good, and I can't wait to come home to visit!!!
Peace, Love,
Robin

Not so bad

2009-06-09T10:33:00.000-07:00

Sorry to be depressing the other day, it was a rough one. Today is good though, I'm at work right now using the internet, impressive I know...
I cut my hair, don't remember if I ever mentioned that. I got it cut at a small shop in someone's house when I was visiting another volunteer near Antigua. It's definitely a lot easier with the heat.

The Park Project is coming along nicely, they just finished repairing the concrete benches and wall. I hope to paint another mural with the kids in the coming weeks. at least now it will be clean and safer than before. Other than that I plan on doing a lot of yoga, reading, and drawing this month. I am also planning on meeting Octavio in the Peten right after 4th of July and going to see Tikal!
In local news here we had another small earthquake tremor Sunday, there have been road blocking protests all over the country, and the President is still under investigation for allegedly being involved and/or ordering the murder of 3 people.

Peace, Love,
Robin

Missing home today

2009-06-04T09:54:00.000-07:00

So this morning was just one of those days where I felt like I just really didn't want to get out of bed, and then when I do I realize I probaly never should have anyway. Because of the rain my clothes aren't dry, there is a leak in my bathroom from a crack in the ceiling and it's now full of water, I had some really aweful dreams and hardly slept at all to begin with (I have a lot of sleeping problems here actually), my house is a disaster because I've been away so much and still don't have time to clean it, there is a huge spider in my living room/kitchen that I tried to kill but it ran away and now I don't know where it is or if it's still alive and whenever I touch anything I am constantly in fear of it attacking me (which I know is slightly ridiculous but is also another reason I don't want to clean), the light infront of my house went out and noone is here to fix it, I'm broke but that's normal, and to top it all off I woke up at 4:30 am to put my trash out and they never came by so when I found it this morning to leave for work it was a mess in the street from the chuchos and with flies everywhere (sooooo gross....). Aparently they posted that they wouldn't have trash service today in the bulletin board in the catholic church yesterday afternoon, which obviously I should have checked because I go there all the time... (sarcasm.)
Hesus... what a morning. Can I go back to bed now?

We all have days like this sometimes.

Love, Peace,
Robin

Tremor

2009-06-03T11:15:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, I'm alive and well. The earthquake 7.1 scale tremor happened while I was in Honduras and the ruines with Amanda (1st non family visitor!!! Hope more of you are thinking about it). But don't let the tremor scare you off, it was strong but Jocotan and the rest of the volunteers are fine. Amanda's trip went well I think overall, although it is hard to come to a country and travel without understanding hardly anyone around you. I think I've forgotten how much I've had to adjust.
ok I gtg for now, hopefully I'll add onto this post later.

Peace, Love,
Robin

Arc GIS Training and Fotos

2009-05-14T11:00:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
In training and thought I'd send out a little message. Things are good here, but man I miss the heat, it is cold and rainy here. ArcGIS is giving me a headache, man I never knew how complicated a map could be but I do think this training is going to be awesome for mapping the census data for Barrio Nuevo. Lately project wise my work has been returning to the world of Architecture. I am redesigning the only childrens park in Jocotan and I am trying to make it as cost-efficient, evironmentaly friendly, educational, and beautiful as possible. I think I have a month, haha. So that is a lot of work to do, and finishing the census so that I can find the homes in Barrio Nuevo that need the most help and coordinate them with Habitat for Humanity, and events with the Womens office and community comissions. The visit with my PC hefe really helped straighten out my priorities and relationships in the office. The Library project has been put on a back-burner because of all the other work, but I am still very interested in any ideas anyone might have for obtaining more books in Spanish and/or computers.

Heres a good pic of the Folklore Festival, where kids are taunting a bull. I have a good video on webshots and more photos uploaded now.

And something else killed my hampster...

2009-05-11T12:10:00.000-07:00

So aparently I'm just not good with the pets. I dunno how Spiderham died, except that possibly he climbed up to the roof of his cage and jumped off one too many times (hence the name)...
So a LOT has gone by since my last post. We had a security meeting for the East that took me 4 hours to get to but is suppose to be a "fast" consolidation point, haha. Then I went to a resort in El Salvador with all the workers in my Muni. Never thought that would be a part of my peace-corps job description, but to be honest I did feel like I was working the whole time. It is really different when you go to the beach with your friends than when you go with your co-workers. I did have a great time though, and when we got back it was the beginning of the Folklore Festival in Jocotan! This festival includes dances, skits, and customs from different cultures throughout guatemala with a focus on the Chorti traditions here in my area. They crowned a Queen Chorti, and we ate typical food and homemade drinks. I bought a t-shirt with a bunch of Guatemalan sayings on it and they think it´s hilarious when I wear it. What else...
The next week I was just working a lot here, as my PC Project Director is coming to visit tomorrow. We´ll see what comes out of this meeting but I just met with Habitat for Humanity last week and I hope to start on a project with them soon, possibly with the Barrio Nuevo community I have previously mentioned.
And finally this last weekend I saw the new X-Men movie (in spanish of course) at the Mall in Chiquimula with some other volunteers and Octavio. It was awesome, and even more awesome to even go to a movie theater at all. This is now the 2nd movie I've seen there, the first being Monsters vs. Aliens which I might really want to see in english since I think I only understood the jokes for ages 5 and below.

This week after the boss comes by I'm going to the PC center for ArcGIS training and think I'll be there through the weekend. Check out my webshots as soon as I get the pics uploaded!

Peace, Love,
- Robin

The heat killed my Rabbit

2009-04-16T10:17:00.000-07:00

So you know how I said before that it was hot, well I lied, NOW its hot. So hot in fact that Tuesday morning Bigote was found "sleeping" a little too peacefully. I believe it was from the heat, but it's hard to tell, it could have been a spider or scorpian that bit him also. I felt like I was going to die yesterday from the heat, but luckily I didn't. Aparently we have a week or two where its just going to be hotter than hell before it just bursts into rain for the next 6 monthes.

RIP Bigote.

Peace, Love,
Robin

Biblioteca

2009-04-14T11:33:00.001-07:00

Here is a picture of the completed mural. I am hoping that this project jumpstarts more attention to the Library. I hope to work with the SPA projects through PC, Vision Mundial, Noelia (a Spanish volunteer that was living in Jocotan), and the Muni to repair and better the library. They need books (in spanish or chorti), computers hopefully with the internet, a place to actually read, and programs to promote all of this. Much less repair the adobe walls with the paint thats pealing off, and clean the few books they do have which are rotting away because noone uses them and it's 100 degress and so dry that its similar to a dust bowl. They don't even have a catalog system (you know, from way back where you number every book and it has a card and you can go find it) because there simply not enough books to make it worth it. It really makes me appreciate the Colonial Beach Public Library, great job guys, your amazing, seriously!

Its partly a cultural issue as well because noone reads for pleasure here. When they do go to the library they ask for books on geography or history. It´s really only to complete research or study. You will never hear the question, "So, what are you reading right now?" Anytime anyone has come by my house and I'm reading they always comment as if its academic like, "You study a lot." I probably need to study my spanish, but no, I'm reading a fiction beach book in english. Part of it is that books here are very expensive, which is why it is so important to have a good public library to give access to a public that is only ever truely going to develop with education, information, and modivation. (you can add on your own personal "ation" words as well)

Peace, Love,
Robin

Semana Santa

2009-04-13T15:52:00.000-07:00

Thank you to my family for calling me for Easter, whether or not the phone worked. Also I think there is much to be explain because it seems everyone asked me, "Do they celebrate Easter?"
Well, do they ever celebrate Easter! It´s called Semana Santa (Holy Week), and it actually begins more than a month before hand. Each Friday leading up to Easter weekend there is a procession in the street that carries a huge Jesus float through town symbolizing his journey before the crusifiction. Palm Sunday (or Domingo de Ramos) begins the large processions with carpets called Alfombras (long designs they make in the street with fruit, wood shavings, flowers, and even bags of water; check out the pics on my webshots). Most everyone in Guatemala has off work from Wednesday till the following Monday. Thursday, Friday, and Sunday there are all processions carrying the Jesus and reinacting the different events. It´s almost as if you put on a real time play of the Easter story and everyone paraded in purple uniforms and walked over huge religious murals on the ground and had a huge fair and blasted loud greiving church music through town and you went to the beach (because everyone goes to the beach, I went to the local pool :P)

Pretty amazing.

More information about Antigua and the Processions

Also, I got a bunny. His name is Bigote (which means mustache in spanish). He enjoys fruit, carrots, cabage, my company, and watching the Office. Here is a picture of him in the paper-mache easter basket Kate and I made and decorated, :D

Peace, Love,
Robin

Spiders and Sebastian

2009-04-05T17:30:00.000-07:00

So I came home today to find a giant Spider in my house and thought I should share that experience with all of you.

Also my host family sister had her baby two weeks ago and they sent me pictures by email so here he is. Jose Sebastian Lopez Axpuac, both mommy and baby are in good condition!

April Begins

2009-04-03T14:14:00.000-07:00

First of all I apologize for not posting recently, but here is what has been going on:
March ended swiftly as we finished the mural and work intensified. I am starting to work with a Barrio (community) in town that is having major structural problems with their homes due to a fault line that runs through the middle of it, a river that swells and floods during the summer, and a drainage pipe that the town put in and has burst. It has become somewhat political, which I am trying my best to stay out of, yet want to find a project to help these people. The first step is a census to collect the data about their homes and families and health. Then we'll see what can be done. I will upload pictures of both the homes and the mural just as soon as I find my USB :(
Then I headed off to Antigua, home of the training center for a conference called "Reconnect" and more Spanish classes. I am currently still here at the center and will leave back for Jocotan on Sunday. Antigua is bursting with people and things to do as they gear up for the biggest holiday of the year, Semana Santa (Easter). Here in Guatemala it is a 4 day holiday and starts next Thursday, but there are still processions and events starting now. Reconnect was fairly helpful as it was great to come back and share my experiences with my fellow volunteers and the staff here at Peace Corps. The are very supportive and encouraging considering the large amounts of complaints and frustrations that can occur. And, as always, the spanish classes are very helpful and practically fry my brain when I think about the fact I've been living here for 8 monthes now and never knew the words for 'bucket' or 'grass' for example, haha. Much less haven't been able to talk in the subjunctive...
This upcoming week with Semana Santa will be mostly vacation. Kate and Rachel (two other volunteers from the Chimaltenango area) are coming to visit and see the culture of the East. oh! and I ordered the most amazingly, awesome boots from Pastores this week which I hope to pick up in a few weeks. Pastores is this cute small town outside Antigua that is famously known for boot making. Every store up and down the main strip is a boot store where they make them all by hand and with local or italian leather. We got to go to a boot-makers home that knows Peace Corps and get an awesome deal. They are completely custom made, I picked the heel from one boot, the style of another, the color of another, and even drew, myself right there on the spot, the design I wanted sewn on the sides! I'm stoked about it and can't wait to take pictures of those as soon as I get them.

Hope everyone is doing well back home. Thanks for checking up on me and reading the blog.

Peace, Love,
Robin

News from home

2009-03-12T15:54:00.000-07:00

The mural is looking great, it's almost done and finally I have kids showing up consistantly to help! My work really seems to be picking up and I'll be working on a Diagnostico, or census, as my next project.

But the real news is about San Bartolome Milpas Altas where I did my training. This morning a 32 year old teacher was shot in the street. Overall I would consider the town very safe, but it certianly represents that crime here is growing outward from the city rapidly. It is now currently prohibited by Peace Corps for me to visit the family and friends I have there. I have sincere prayers for her and her family, as they are not certian if she will survive yet. Here is the article from in the local paper, the Prensa Libre, "Atacan a balazos a maestra en escuela de San Bartolomé Milpas Altas, Sacatépequez"

Peace and Love,
Robin

Sunday

2009-03-01T12:57:00.001-08:00

Today is a nice Sunday here in Jocotán. Colin and Dan came for the weekend and it was great hang out with them and relax a little here. The Library mural is underway so I have that to look forward for this next week and working on the Memoria, which is a booklet of information about acomplishments and such of the last year. A bunch of work in publisher and coordinating with all the offices but it is really important for the Muni, in getting projects from other programs and NGOs, to have this information available.
My lime tree is starting to have baby limes... I´m so excited. I've also been thinking about getting a pig, dogs are too much work. Let me know if you know anything about pigs... a rabbit might be easier.

Peace, Love,
Robin

After the Rents

2009-02-24T14:32:00.000-08:00

So you haven't heard from me in a while because the Parents were here and I didn't use my time blogging away on the internet. But no worries I'm back. I start the mural in the Library this week and have work to catch up on from being gone. The vacation was a nice break and its been a little difficult to get back in the swing of things. One nice thing is I have a camera once again so I can maybe upload some more pictures as things go on. There is a lot to say about the trip, every hotel, ruin site, boat ride, ect. was amazing and I'm glad to finally share it with someone back state-side, but the truth is the whole week I felt like a tourist here. Its kind of ackward to feel like a tourist where you live.. and I'm not complaining about living like a tourist at all because I was far better off, but I have to say one of the things I enjoy most about this experience is really being a part of Guatemala, knowing the people here and being involved in the everyday life. Thats just something you can't show anyone when they visit for vacation. As I said it was still an amazing trip, but glad to be "home."

Peace, Love,
Robin

Christian Parents Politics

2009-02-07T18:07:00.000-08:00

ok the title will throw you off a little, especially if you know my dad is Jewish, haha. This weekend the big news has been that 1. My parents and friend Susan are coming Thursday and I am SO EXCITED. We're traveling all around and it's going to be great. As a result of them coming I got back on the issue of having no furniture and in the end have comondiered (sp?) many cynderblocks and 10x1 ft. boards which I got cut and sanded. It's somewhat rustic and I just made everything out of it, bookshelves, desk, dresser, closet, countertops, everything I could think of. Never again in my life will ALL my furniture ever match quite so well. But it's great getting my stuff off the floor and giving the spiders more surface area to house themselves. So mom, dad, susan, this is for you...
and number 2 is that I met a RPCV (Return Peace Corp Volunteer) named Christian. He was stationed in Jocotán in 2002-2004 working with agriculture. Him and his Australian girlfriend and here visiting for 2 weeks. It's great to hear about the other volunteers before me and what can become of you post-peace corps. He's come back to visit 3 times!
and lastly, oh politics, well remember that meeting I had with CIJJ with all the NGOs to get support for our wonderful projects. Well noone from Jocotán showed up! I did all this work, and National and Departmental agencies came, but not one agency directly working here in Jocotan... At first I was mad, until it was explained the next day that they can't support my group because supposedly one of the leaders is going to run against the mayor in the next election and is using it as part of his platform. It's just messy and upseting that politics can ruin such a good cause. Well I guess I'm over it now, and I´m going to work with both groups because I am apolitical, but I can't be associated with this potential canidate directly... So that's life.
Lots of furniture, great meeting Christian, and a "not quite as great as my encounter with Obama", political experience. Wish me luck for the next week. I hope to have photos of my home updates sometime soon.

Peace, Love,
Robin

water solved

2009-01-30T09:42:00.000-08:00

Well not completely, there is still no water during the day, but I did get the shower fixed which is like a miracle (Drew, cheer with me on this one). See when I did have water it constantly ran... and I mean I like waterfalls and all, and the truth is after a while I kind of forgot about the noise. It´s just when people come over they ask me whats wrong with it, and it is annoying those who are not used to it. But yesterday they tore out the concrete, replaced the valve, and retiled it. Just this one section so the tile is different in this area, but the only thing I care about is being able to control my shower, and it's awesome. So thats really all the news I have for now.

Peace,
Robin

January News

2009-01-26T15:45:00.000-08:00

So much has happened in the last week, where to start...

Well the biggest news is that my counter-part in the office quit last Wednesday because of problems in the office with getting paid for his time off. I´m not completely sure of all the details, but I do know I´m now stuck with his work and have no idea what to do. Plus things in my own work have started to pick up as well. I am passing out the IDs I made, and making others for each member of the COMUDE (Municipal Commission of Development). I´m also working with a group of local kids to paint a mural of Central America in the library. The library needs a lot of help, there are hardly any books, no computers, and the paint is peeling off the outside of the building. It´s just one room and noone ever really visits. So if this project goes well then I want to paint a mural on the outside to make it more inviting, and start a project to get them computers. I´m still working on Computer skills with the women's office, which is going fairly well, except last time the coordinator of the office walked out during the middle of it. I'm also planning events with the community group CIJJ and we're presenting our budget to NGOs for support on the 3rd of February.

This last weekend I went to a wedding for a friend I had met back in San Bartolo. She married an American from New Jersey and the entire wedding was in both Spanish and English. The groom had worked here in Guatemala through a non-denominational church organization for the last 3 years, and the pastor, who was also from this NGO, translated everything. It was really a beautiful wedding, but I did feel a little bad for the American side of the family because they were way outnumbered, but they seemed to have a great time nevertheless.

What else is going on... I´m reading books like you should drink water. And I just borrowed the film Tropic Thunder from another volunteer which was pretty funny. What I really want to do is draw more, then send some of my stuff back with my parents so I can have an exhibit.

Everyone here is very excited about the inauguration of Obama, and although I didn´t get to watch any of it I did buy the paper the next day and see the picture of the DC Mall with all the people... very impressive I thought. It´s great that the country is behind Obama, but the reality is no one man can change America. We all need to do our own part and I hope this does inspire people to be more active in the future of our country and the world, environmentally and economically.

Peace, Love,

Robin

Chocolates and Condoms

2009-01-14T08:36:00.000-08:00

Monday was back to work and a new task I´m working on is giving training to the Women´s office on Microsoft Office. Basically how to use Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access, ect. I was a litte nervous because it´s all in Spanish and although I would say I can navigate Word fairly easily, when all the menus are in Spanish it makes for a challenge, and then to teach it in Spanish is well kind of ridiculous. So in the Women´s office were always doing events with kids and adults about health education and different things, and I decided to use an idea from these events. I brought a bag of goodies which included gum, lolipops, chocolate, and a couple of condoms I have from my medical kit just as a joke. It really helped the session, everyone participated and competed for the stuff in the prize bag. Right at the end though a woman came in the office with two twin boys (no more than a couple weeks old) asking for help. Her story is that another woman just left these children, and that this woman wants to adopt them and take care of them but she doesn´t have any money to take them to the hospital or register them, and she already has a 4 year old son of her own, no husband, lives with her aunt or something. The women´s office gave her diapers, some milk, some cups, whatever we had around the office and asked the radio and local cable station to come over and take her information to send out for help as well but she doesn´t have a phone or electrity at her house so we can´t contact her. I took a photo for the office, aren´t they precious? Dylan and Junior are thier names.

Landslide, Happy New Years!

2009-01-08T14:47:00.000-08:00

So just to tell you how badly the landslide in Guatemala is effecting me, I heard about it from my Grandmother in Virginia before I heard about it from anyone including Peace Corps here. Basically, I´m fine and it´s on the other side of the country pretty much, but it is impressive... and we do have landslides over here as well but I hope not like this one.

In other news my New Years was low-key but great none the less. I ended up not going to Montericco and instead just hung out with some of my local Guatemalan friends. The New Year all and all has brought me only good things, except lice. Yes I had lice this week... I don´t know how or what or why it happened, I´m pretty sure I did not use anyone else´s comb. At first I was just itchy and thought it was an allergic reaction to something so I started taking Benedryll and slept for about 2 days and when that didn´t work and the itching got worse I assumed the worse. No really it wasn´t that bad, and I got up extra early this morning to drown those damn things while washing almost everything I own. My New Years resolution was to make it through this next year here in Guatemala, please God, don´t make it harder than it has to be!

Love, Peace,

Robin

Photos Uploaded

2008-12-23T09:30:00.000-08:00

So Christmas in Guatemala is pretty amazing, I think that even though they don´t have snow, or much of Santa, I would say they outdo us in celebration. The custom here is called MediaNoche, which means midnight, and everyone cooks this big dinner and waits up till midnight when fireworks from every house explode simultaneously. It´s cool enough to see big fireworks from the end of a town pier or roof of the Muni, but to see them from every street corner and roof of every house blew my mind. It´s got to be yet again the most dangerous thing of life, but never the less the 10 year olds and myself put things ablaze into the air 5 feet from telephone poles and other electric or flamable things in the street.
I look forward to repeating this for New Years as well.
As far as the tradition goes, I went to a Catholic Church for the night service with Doña Dora and at midnight they light incense and put the baby Jesus in their nativity scenes.
Oh! and the best part was the next day when Diego came by to see this parade of people dressed in different animal costumes do a line dance in the street. It was awesome, there were two GIANT panda costumes twice as big as the people inside, and kids in little dog costumes too, costumes of Gizmo, Sonic the Hedgehog, Skunks, a Furby, Chipmunks, Reindeer, and more. Quite an eclectic mix, and they all had these huge costume heads on. My favorite was the Lion from Robinhood (the King from the cartoon version) It was either a kid inside or a very small person, who danced like there was no end yet obviously could not see out of the extremely large costume head they had on and had to look around confused after bumping into the guy infront and behind in the line formation, fix his head back, and continue dancing like nothing happened. I can´t explain it, I wish I had video, and I definately had a better time watching this than Diego did.
Happy New Year to everyone, Peace,
Robin

My very own Christmas

2008-12-22T09:57:00.000-08:00

So I'm here in San Bartolo where it feels much more like Christmas as it's freezing... Got to go to the Peace Corp office and pick up a package from over a month ago and get some stuff straight with work. Friday was the last day of work until the new year at my Muni, and we had a Convivio that night which is basically a Chirstmas party for everyone who works for the Municipial. I have a secret santa which I bought a sombrero for, and recieved much needed bowls and glasses from my SS as well. There was lots of singing to Ranchero music, a mariachi band, games, speeches, and food. The next day on Saturday was awesome. I woke up to my mailman calling me from outside my house with a package (shout out goes to Suzy Smith) and I made breakfast and opened the santa box. After that I washed all my sheets and underwear on my concrete pila, which isn't so exiciting as much as it is just an accomplishment. Around lunch Gabriel and Tia Neldy came by and we cooked lunch and hung out together. Then Saturday night I had my Christmas, I put on a holiday cd, the pajamas from my grandmae, and sat in front of my tree to open the gifts my family had sent. I have to say that for being alone, it really was a great time. I tried out everything and just had a nice time celebrating in my own way. I am glad to be here in San Bartolo with my Guatemalan family, but I just needed to have a little american celebration of my own. Thanks again for everyone who has sent a gift, card, email, phone call, or anything else. Feliz Navidad and Happy New Year.
Peace on Earth and Good Will to Men (and women)
Robin

Christmas is coming..

2008-12-12T17:18:00.001-08:00

All the other volunteers from Spain, Austria, and Italy are leaving for Christmas, some are returning but I remain, haha. Sounds grim, but I hope it´s not that bad. The wonderful packages my family has sent me help so much and before they left the Spanish Volunteers bought me a small fake christmas tree and covered it in blue lights that flash randomly. I put my presents under it and pasted the Christmas cards on the wall above it. I couldn´t wait and I already opened a package that was a pair of very soft pajamas from my grandmae.
She also sent homemade Snickerdoodles! which I am taking with me to our Bienvenidos party this weekend so that I don´t eat them all at one time by myself. I did already eat 2 and they are delicious. I do have two Christmas CDs, and one more with the NOW! Christmas that my mom sent, so I guess it is starting to feel like that time of the year although the weather still throws me off a little. I miss everyone back home, and my advice is to spend the holidays with your family because I can´t.
Peace, Love,
Robin

Confused once again...

2008-12-09T15:37:00.000-08:00

So I´ve given into the fact that I never know whats going on here, a lot of which I´ll blame on my lack of Spanish, but sometimes I think they just don´t tell me as if I´m magically going to guess what were doing... So Monday I had on my schedule that we were doing something with the women´s office. I knew we were going somewhere, which I assumed to be an Aldea (small rural community) which I thought was to build a playground because they had showed me pictures of this other playground they built in another Aldea. I knew to bring tennis shoes and jeans/tshirt attire. What I didn´t know was that we were actually going to a camp called La Tule to do team building activities with kids from the 4 surrounding areas for the next 2 days. This involved crawling under peoples legs, the human knot, trying to stand 19 people on a platform the size of a pizza box while being sprayed with a water hose, climbing a whole team over a 20 ft wall, climbing a jacobs ladder while being yelled at, crawling like a spider across a football field at 6am, and other emberrassing yet completely amazing games. I was on the Yellow team, which won 2nd place (there were 3 teams and seriously the Red team cheated... :P). It was a ton of fun even though the only things I brought with me were toilet paper, a newspaper, and snack food because I didn´t know what was going on. My entire body is sore, and a I have a basketball game tonight against Chiquimula, wish us luck!

Dancing with the Mayor

2008-12-06T10:54:00.001-08:00

So this last Thursday was the lighting of the town Chirstmas tree. It was a huge event with a Ranchero band called Los Tigres Del Oriente, and big shots from the national government were there, prizes were given out, and one of the best fireworks shows I've ever seen. Since they have no regulations, anything goes as far as explosions, lights, smoke, (Adam Parker would love it here) and when they shoot them off from the 1st story roof of the building your right next to you have a great (yet slightly dangerous) view. So at this festival I was hanging out with my Muni co-workers by the stage and Sandra (my boss in the Women's office) calls me over and then proceeds to push me out on stage to dance in front of all of Jocotan with the Mayor! So as if I'm not constantly being watched already, lets just stick here on stage and watch as I attempt to dance to music I've never heard in my life. They all got a big kick out of it, I'm pretty sure its a past time for them to emberrass me. I should have really surprised them and just started stripping while I was up there, haha. But seriously, all in all it was a good night and I left around 11:30 with Tia Neldy but aparently it lasted until 2:30 in the morning!

Peace.

Robin

Getting anxious, and Hilary Clinton

2008-12-04T09:02:00.000-08:00

So today I was thinking, I hope I can hold out until Christmas before I just can´t handle living so unoccupied. I´m just not that kind of person and I can blame it on American culture or some self-ambition, but I am good at being the busy person and I just don´t know how long I can hold that off. In some ways I can´t wait to get going and many of my friends and family ask me, so what are you really doing in your work, your making name tags? what else, right? But I do think it´s important to take this slowly as well, as I need their confidence and trust so for now I am meeting people still, and going to meetings, and participating but not leading. But if anyone who reads this blog knows me, they know I am a leader, but it is important that in this job I train others to be leaders because only they can solve their problems, I can really only support the efforts that they make. Anything I do on my own will disolve when I leave so stepping back from leading to being more of a council is my position here.

With that being said, I had a visit from Roberto, my Coordinator from PC, and talked about my expectations here and work, ect. There are two projects that I would really like to start up. The first is with the women´s office to make small womens groups in these Aldeas with monthly meetings on different topics, such as Signing your name, AIDS prevention, Womens Rights, Domestic Violence, ect. Because the problem is they have such limited access to education and information, especially because they can´t read and write. So maybe we can at least open up discussions about the things that are affecting their lives and get them to talk about it.

The other project is a beautification of the central park here, and starting a community group for public art about social issues. I´ve talked about this one before, and next week I have a meeting with a childrens organization thats looking to form programs for the upcoming year, so that seems hopeful.

I also just need to say again how awesome it is to have Gabriel back in the office, and just in time for Roberto´s visit too! Also I heard Hilary Clinton is the new Secretary of State, hows the reception of this in America?

Peace. Love.

Robin

He's Back

2008-12-03T09:34:00.000-08:00

So my counterpart came back to work today, thank god. He´s already helping me out and gives me someone to talk to at least. Maybe I can get a project off the ground by February...
For those who also asked what to send, send pictures and CDs or DVDs, honestly what kind of music doesn´t much matter, because I can´t get any of it here so as long as it´s in english your good. Burn some music from your collection or look down the music isle for one with a cool cover.
I have some new pictures of the town and my house (I´m borrowing the office camera), hopefully I´ll get a chance to put them up this weekend so keep on the lookout. Friday I´m going over to Kristy's house for indian food and this weekend is the Ferria of Camotan which aparently has motorcross at it, awesome.
Peace. Love.
Robin

December 1st

2008-12-01T09:40:00.000-08:00

December 1st and it´s probably about 90 degrees out. Thanksgiving went well although I had some travel hold ups and got there after dinner, but cold turkey and nachos are definitely a good combo. The lake was beautiful, and hopefully someone will send me their pictures so I can pass them on since I no longer carry a camera. We went kayaking and to the markets and hiking, and the weather there is cooler so it actually felt like November. But getting back home I have a lot to do today as far as errands and all are, I need to go to the bank, pay my electric bill, buy my food for the week at the market, buy some more pure water, ect. Just trying to give an idea of the kind of day I have. For lunch I eat at this commodore which is a small restaurant with two options each day normally one beef and one chicken, but always good no matter what you order. It kind of reminds me of a Guatemalan Olga´s (a restaurant in CB).

Peace, Love,
Robin

Tuesday

2008-11-25T09:36:00.001-08:00

I am soooo excited to be getting out of here for Thanksgiving. I can´t wait to see my friends and each a bunch of turkey and sit by a beautiful lake for a couple days reading a book and chatting it up about all our different experiences. Last night my neighbor and I bonded by painting our nails, watching some aweful scary movie with zombies, and then doing the dance excercise DVD my grandmae sent me. Overall a pretty good night, and this morning I picked up my laundry and hung it up with Amarillo. Work today has been pretty boring, but the good thing is that I went and got the wood order for my shelves and tables and took it to the carpenter so at least now that is underway. The days go by slowly but overall the time has flown, I can´t believe it´s already Thanksgiving since I graduated and all. The summer flew by, probably because it was so great. I´m now reading a new book, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (I think that´s the title), recommended by a CB book club and Oprah. The mute in it interests me the most. Hope everyones thanksgiving is good!
Peace, Love,
Robin

2008-11-24T14:53:00.000-08:00

Today is the International Day of No Violence Against Women, so this morning we had an activity at a church salon to talk about womens violence and there were performances from the Casa de Cultura in San Juan Hermita. Each time you do any kind of group meeting or activity it is required that you bring food and refreshment for the entire group, and if it lasts until lunch you have to bring that too. It really makes for an expensive meeting, but on the other hand it´s the only way so many people would ever show up. This has been instilled in them from the NGOs and govt. programs that if you just sit through this meeting or sign up for this program and go through the motions that you´ll get free stuff. It is hard to say how many the information really gets through to. I think it´s great to teach women about independence and citizen participation and AIDS awareness but at the same time I wonder, do they listen, I don´t know that I would. I do think that progress is being made, and that every time a woman steps up to be a leader in the community it affects more than we can quantify, and that I can be an example and resource for this change as well. First though we need to work on being able to sign your own name which many of these women can´t do...

Also today I met an orphan girl, that was probably the sweetest little girl you´ve ever seen and her and her sister are now being raised by one of the very leaders that these programs have aided. Her name is Amelia.

Grateful for my coffee maker.

2008-11-18T08:09:00.000-08:00

I now have the great pleasure of being robbed in Honduras as well, maybe this is some sort of initiation, or maybe that purse was just super bad luck, or most likely I am just not as aware and careful as I need to be. At least this time they didn´t really get much, my credit cards which I cancelled, about $40, and the camera I bought in Antigua which was cheap, plastic, and the screen was completely broken because I dropped it last week. So from now on maybe I´ll just go with disposable cameras, and only carry with me what I can stuff down my underwear, haha, no seriously.
Work is going slow as always, but I´m hosting a birthday fiesta at my house on Friday for one of the Spanish volunteers so that should be good. I think I´m going to cook good ol’ fashion hamburgers and some kind of pasta salad or something. As always new recipes are appreciated.
Today is a little cold and deary, which made it especially hard to get out of bed this morning, Hopefully I´ll finally be able to buy my gas tank for my stove and maybe a hammock too. Tonight I´m meeting with a carpenter to build the furniture I designed for the house. I can not wait to get them built, Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah to me if it ever works out.
As for “Into the Wild”, the more I read the more I am glad I am not on an adventure into the wild of Alaska and happy to have my $6 a day, warm weather, and coffee maker. What do you think about the shunning of American culture, unnecessary things, which for Alex included a car, a house, burning all his money and even not showering a lot of the time?

Peace and Love,
Robin

Into the Wild

2008-11-14T08:43:00.000-08:00

<-- These are women from the Aldea Tunuco Abajo where myself and two other collegues gave a presentation on strategy planning and citizen participation. (More pics on webshots.)

We won our basketball game last night 39 to 24 against the barrio Cemeterio. I am not really that great but really you should see them. Tonight we have a game of papi futbol, which I think I am also playing in but have no experience in whatsoever. It´s something like soccer but played on the basketball court.

This morning I went for a run to the next town over, Camotán. I think I should try to do that more often. I´m still working out my schedule but I need to fit in excercise somewhere and it´s so hot here that the morning is really the best time. Now I´m supposed to be at work but my boss nor the secretary is there. I don´t really know whats going on, maybe they are punishing me for going to the conference, haha. Instead I´m at the internet cafe to do more research on making badges for the Muni. I think if I can at least do that by December I should be fairly proud of myself. Oh man... how far I have come from a firm that designs national museums to making name tags.

Honestly though the skills I am learning here are really those that can be applied in any job situation. Patience, communication, modivation, patience, comprehension, patience, initiative, more patience... haha. The nice thing is the independence, in my job and in my life. As much as the Peace Corps is our mother here, I really do feel like I get to make a lot of my own decisions in my life. Maybe it doesn´t make sense but in order to feel like I have control, I have to completely give up control. I didn´t choose where I was going, or what my job was, or who I would work with or meet, and really everything that happens here complete blindsides me, but although there is no real order I am more self-reliant and proactive in my own decisions. Well thats the thought for today at least.

I am also reading "Into the Wild" right now and think am finding inspiration through, none of this is as tough as what Alex did, except he did get to speak english the whole time...

Hora Chapin

2008-11-13T17:49:00.000-08:00

(<---- My House)

Here there is a custom, for everything that starts at a particular time, in reality means come an hour late, "hora chapin". Right now I am in the hora chapin for my next basketball game, it was supposed to start at 7:30, but the lights in the building aren´t even on yet.

This last weekend I was super lonely, it just hits you doesn´t it. I found some other volunteers here from Spain but their spanish is even harder to understand than guatemalans! so although they are awesome, it´s still been pretty difficult. But since then I have found my neighbors to be very inviting and am really going to work on improving my relationship with them. I also found a very exotic looking black spider with spikes and bright yellow dots on its back, something out of national geographic for sure. I couldn´t kill the thing for its beauty, although I would bet it´s poisoness or something. I named it Amarillo.

I spent the last two days at a womens conference at a very beautiful hotel in Zacapa representing my women´s office because for some reason they didn´t want to go and know that I say yes to everything. Since I split my time between the womens office(OMM) and the planning office(OMP) aparently my boss in the OMP was upset that I didn´t pass this by him before hand, but honestly I wasn´t doing anything anyway, but it´s all about power and politics. Anyway, the conference was very nice and I got to meet some pretty amazing women in offices from all over this region of Guatemala, and yes even the conference was hora chapin and the tortillas were amazing.

I now have a gas stove top, but need to buy the gas tank for it. Possibly that will happen tomorrow, along with picking up my clothes which thank god get washed by this lady down the street who has three washers and does laundry during the night for about a $1 a load. Tomorrow it will hang in my garden with Amarillo to dry.

I´m really looking forward to the art supplies my family sent, I´ve been doing art recently from dried plants, which I think has been beautiful but maybe its really just dead plants...

The First Week of the rest of my life...for 2 years

2008-11-06T17:08:00.000-08:00

I don´t even know where to begin... I want to talk about politics, and the environment, and culture, and my job, and my house, and the chuchos (dogs of the street), and so much more. I´ll start with swear-in where I was fortunate enough to see the beautiful home of the ambassador but unforunate enough to loose one of my shoes durring my turn to accept my certificate, and therefor just took them both off and carried them to the stage which made for wonderful entertainment which our guatemalan families will probably continue to talk about for the next couple years. Thanks to Marisha for letting me borrow those dangerous heels, :P (That´s me shoes in hand)

The weekend was spent in Antigua with the whole gang, and was a great way to relax and spend our last moments together before segregation insued. My first day in my site was pretty chill because I didn´t get here till about 2pm and when I went to the Muni (the city govt. office where I work) it was mysteriously closed for some Saints Day. But that was fine cause I needed to settle in and all. So the next day I wake up, walk to my first day of work with my neighbor Tia Neldy, only to find my counterpart, Gabriel, is on vacation for the next month and a half. So basically I sat there all morning reading over my materials from Peace Corp and greeting people as they walked in and out of the Muni. But through my greetings I met a council member named Alberto who speaks english and saved me from complete boredom. Through him I now have a tv (but no cable) and a new project to work on. Apparently they want to design a new central park and market and want me to design it. We´ll see what really comes of this because I have a feeling that this is one of those things you talk about for like 5 years before anything actually happens. But I´m gonna try to work with what I can. Yesterday was better, I designed identification cards for the employees so that I can learn their names and faces. I´ll be working on this for probably the next week or so. I´ve found I have more work in the Women´s office so far, as they took me today to the aldea (small rural community) El Naranjo and have many community projects in the works. We went to the aldea to talk about violence in the home and I ate lunch with the mayor, a council member (Drew, the same one from taklitu sp?) and the director of Save the Children program. The mayor is a little friendly with me... a little more than I like, but the real story is the what happened this morning. So this morning I get to the Muni and there is this guy that is always there in the lobby greeting everyone, I think he´s in charge of maintenance and cleaning... anyway he seems to think he needs to hug me everytime he sees me and this morning also hands me a piece of paper with phrases he would like me to translate for him, some of which include: Te quiero, vamos a dormir, me quieres de verdad, and more. These respectively mean something along the lines of: I want you, Lets go to bed, You really want me, ect. So ya, I ignored that for most of the day and this afternoon had to tell the guy that was unprofessional for me to translate those words and asked him who it was for because in my culture its only appropriate to says those things to your girlfriend or wife and not women in the street like I assume its probably for...

I think for now that was clear enough, but who knows what will happen. I have many communication stories, one of which is that last night I thought I was supposed to go to a basketball game to play for my barrio, San Sebastian, and I thought the lady (who I found through someone in the womens office) said she was going from 6:30 to 8. So at 6:30 nothing happened, so I figured who knows what happened and about 8pm when I was about to go to sleep she calls me and asks me where I am. I´m like, In my house... where are you? She says, I´m at the meeting, are you coming? I go, oh ya ok sure, she asks if I know where it is and I was like no, so she sent a friend to come and get me. He shows up, and I go to this meeting which ended up only being 2 blocks from my house yet I had a motor escort for it cause I can´t understand what the hells going on, and I get there half in my pajamas cause I still think were gonna play basketball, and instead ther is this whole meeting of the barrios to plan the mini-olympics of Jocotan. So now by default of going to this meeting, I´m on the council, have events to help with everynight of the week and am playing basketball and ping-pong for my barrio. The meeting lasted till 11pm and I was then asked to show my ping-pong skills at the local pool hall, which not surprisingly there is not a single female in the place. I have to say they have some hardcore ping-pong going on though, and I will be the first woman to ever compete here but sure it won´t last long.

oh... Andrew, I´m still cooking in the dirt of the driveway, but I promise you this is going to change soon, haha.

Peace and Love,

More to come later because no one wants to read a book length post online.

Robin

The bell is ringing

2008-10-27T06:59:00.000-07:00

But I just wanted to say I'm still alive and at the PC Center for my last day of training, exciting! Our swear-in is at the ambassadors house on Friday and our host families get to come too. This week I want to carve a pumkin-like gord for nostalgia and cook chicken pot pie, recipes appreciated. There are more pictures up on websots, some are from a womens day we had in an aldea of Jocotan, others are of volunteers, check them out.
Peace. Love.
Robin

Back from Jocot@n

2008-10-22T16:01:00.000-07:00

So the trip was amazing, pretty imtimidating at first but I have a lot to look forward to. First is my housing: I´ll be taking over the house from the last volunteer which is great because I get his frig and furniture, but there is still a lot to be done as is whenever any girl moves into a guys apartment, (sorry drew :P). The place is really beautiful, but the water is brownish and contaminated and only runs at night, which since there is a leak in the shower means it always runs at night, haha. So I have water from 7pm to 7amish, there is electricity most of the time but when it goes out who knows for how long it will be, and there are some pretty mad mosquitos too but overall everythings not too bad. Right now I have one electric burner and a firepit Drew made in the driveway, which is awesome and I´m going to girl-scout it up everyday. Seriously I want to buy a gas stove though, and start building furniture. I think that will be a good activity to work on in my down time especially the first few months while I´m still adjusting.
The climate is hot, like I said before which is great, and the people seem really nice. The Muni is pretty large and there are several people in the OMP office. My counterpart, Gabriel, seems amazing, motivated, smart, and easy to work with. They also want me to work with the Women´s office too (or OMM), which might prove to be a challenge since not everyone gets along between the two offices, but I think it will be good to work with as many people as possible.
There is a market everyday, and I can´t wait to draw there during my lunch break and bring back memories of Italy. There is a hot springs about 10 minutes away too, which we went to the last night I was there. It was really nice to go to at night, and it´s pretty low-key, no tourists, only guatemalans for the most part. I´m sure it´s not too clean and people pee in and all but it´s warm and I try not to think about those things too much here. Mail aparently will be easier to get there and I´ll post my new address soon.
The time really has flown by even though the days seem to last forever. 2 years and 2 weeks to go...
Peace and Love,
Robin

Ladrones

2008-10-12T17:50:00.000-07:00

Now the news of the week... so yesterday I was robbed on the bus to Antigua. There are 100 people on these buses and I was crammed up against everyone and had an over the shoulder small bag on. The crappiest part was that this day of all days I was taking the rest of my american dollars to go exchange them so whoever took my stuff now owns the most amazing camera I´ve ever had and $100 american dollars. I hate my life. Not really, but I just keep replaying it, I feel so stupid for not noticing. I think I can ever remember feeling something and thinking it was nothing just because there were so many people. I was pretty sad about it yesterday but I´m trying to brush it off because it was bound to happen sometime. I really did like that camera... well now I have to report it to the Peace Corps but I don´t think they can really do much. The money was for my site visit this coming week, aparently the volunteer there wants to sell me all his stuff (a frig, table, chairs, pots, bed, everything) for Q1,000 which is a pretty great deal, so now I just have to work out something with Peace Corp maybe loaning me the money in advance of my next payment. Not too much of a problem its just crappy that it was the last of my cash.
Tomorrow I meet my counterpart which I´m excited about, and I can´t wait to visit my site. Drew (the volunteer I´m replacing) has a lot planned and only had good things to say about the site.
I played basketball today, which was awesome becuase it was finally semi-temperate and no rain. We play pick-up games in the park, normally not too many girls play, but Marisha went with my this time. I´m not the greatest but better than even some of the guys, its easier since their all short. It was nice to get some excercise and meet some more people. I´m going to be pretty sad to leave here, I am finally feeling somewhat comfortable although my spanish still has a long way to go.
ok, nada mas for now.
Peace and Love, especially to all those purse stealers....
Robin

Free time out the window

2008-10-06T17:38:00.000-07:00

Ok so I thought I was going to have all this free time, but obviously not. So I want to give some links to the history of Guatemala to better understand whats going on, since it seems I´ll never have time to write it all out myself.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guatemala is generally an overall good place to start. Read the 1944 to present section, but it leaves out some important details about the overthrow of the Guatemalan government with a planed assassination performed by the United States Government in connection with a major fruit company and executive conflicts. It also doesn´t really get at the heart of what the Civil war here was really like.
The war was not very long ago and the nations final Peace Accords were in 1996, and the laws that are now in effect weren´t written and approved until 2002. There is still a lot of corruption in the local and national government and a general consenus of distrust among all the people.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/guatemala.htm
This one is a lot better, and more detailed. Please send me your comments on what you think and any other websites that could be helpful.

The peace corps has articles as well which I´ll try to get a hold of and post.

Peace and Love,
Robin

The past week

2008-09-29T16:02:00.000-07:00

Sorry its been so long since I've posted but I have been out of town for a week. Here's the low down on whats happened so far: (its long)

Last Saturday before we left for our Field Based Training, which I'll get to later, a lot of the volunteers met up to go to Tecpan and visit a ruin site called Iximche. According to the park police we have to pay Q50 if were tourists, but we convinced him that were volunteers that live here so locals only have to pay Q5! This is the general problem with every tourist site, gringos pay more always. Anyway, the ruins were very pretty and the grounds were kept up really nice. We had a picnic lunch there, and just hung out. It was a beautiful day and didn't even rain! After I got back from that I got to go to an art show opening for a Guatemalan Artist at La Casa de Santo Domingo, which I had talked about earlier and is probably one of the most beautiful places I've seen. There are some pictures uploaded on my webshots of it at night and the reception. It was beautiful, the artist had died and his whole family was there. I left the poster at home so I don't remember his name, but he did very progressive impressionistic work for the early 20th century that he worked in. The colors were amazing, as they tend to be in Guatemalan art and I was really impressed with the show.

The next day we left for FBT, which is were all the people in my training program (Municipal Development) go to visit volunteers in their sites and learn about how they live and what their working on. This really helped me realize the challenges I'm going to face and what I'm actually going to be doing, which is still slightly vague and I want to talk more about that in another post. We visited many places including: Huehuetenango, Malacatancito, Chaintla, San Sebastian, La Democracia, San Antonio Huista, San Carlos Sija, and Xela. Mostly we talked to the planning office or womens office in each town with the volunteer.

On Wednesday we actually gave a charla (or training presentation) to a group of women in San Sebastian about Leadership because women here are very supressed and generally don't think they can be leaders or don't know how. The charla went well, but the women didn't speak spanish which was super difficult. Instead they spoke Mum, which is one of the 22 indigenious languages here in Guatemala. So we had to speak very clearly, simply, and slowly so that the ones that spoke both could then translate for the rest of the women. It was each town paired with a small group of about 6 women which frequently just went off speaking mum to each other so that we couldn't understand them. Frustrating, but a reality of what we will be dealing with because many of the aldeas (small parimeter communities) only speak in an indigenious language and many don't read or write, so our presentations have to be very hands on and oral. Aside from all the work, on Friday we excitedly got to watch the debates at a restaurant in Xela (an awesome city in Queztaltenango) with the Democrats Abroad group formed there. Afterwards we went salsa dancing for my Birthday. I really had a great time, it was a lot of fun and our whole group gets along really well. There are pictures of this on webshots as well.

My birthday was spent mostly in the car driving back, with bad reception and a headache, but thank you to everyone who tried to call and wish me happy birthday! That night I was more than happy to have a calm night at home and get some well needed sleep in a bed that wasn't hard/lumpy/or right next to a highway.

Sunday was great though because although we had work to do in the morning, volunteers and friends came over to the house in the afternoon for a small collaborative bday dinner and pinata bashing. It was Octavio's bday on Sunday and mine on Saturday so all his friends were there too, we watched Superbad (the only movie that I brought), made a chocolate strawberry cake, fought with a giant Elmo pinata, and had a muy ricco sena (dinner). Quinn, Lorba, Marisha, David, Johnny, and Nicole all came and although they had to leave by 6:30 because they all have curfews at our very strict houses, it was great to celebrate with them. My host niece got me a beautiful makeup bag that says Guatemala on it, and I got in the mail today the all the nail polish/tools from my mom to counter my semi-rustic living here.

Today is Monday and I'm in the Training Center as we are most mondays. This next week is going to be pretty low key for me since I only have Spanish classes, but most other people are going to live and visit with other volunteers aroudn the country this week but my language level is too low. But its good because I do need the extra help and hopefully now I'll have time to write about all the other things you want to know about like my job, and the government here, and maybe some history of Guatemala, and lots more.

Pics at: http://community.webshots.com/album/567512119xwaNDB

Peace and Love,

Robin

You have mail!

2008-09-16T15:46:00.000-07:00

<- (My co-volunteers making peanut butter)

Today was better than any birthday ever because I finally got mail. 5 letters and a big box that is going to suck to bring on the bus but its cool. I also got strawberry cake with chocolate icing that John, another volunteer, made for his host sisters birthday after I suggested how awesome it was. It was probably the best day ever. There were also Cooler Ranch Doritos in the box, which might last for approximently 2 days, haha. One thing that I've learned here is that I came searching to find a place where I could shed all the stuff in life that I didn't need, but I've found that a basic need is having some of the things around you that you really love and enjoy, and without them, to completely remove yourself from them wont' make you happy either. I think there are things in life that are extra, and possibly unessicary for survival but that make you more comfortable and are important to hold on to. Doing without things always makes us appreciate what we have, and thats part of why working with the people here is so rewarding. They do without things and therefor appreciate the work we do and who we are, more for it. This is another part of why I chose to be here, and probably one of the most gratifying things is the friendship and kindness of host country nationals. Keep sending letters, because possibly in another 4 weeks I'll have a day like this again.

Peace and Love.

PS I put more photos on webshots, check it out.

http://community.webshots.com/album/567051602wyzxus

Independenzia

2008-09-15T16:38:00.000-07:00

My weekend was pretty awesome. Saturday morning we had a Mayan ceremony at the PC center and in the afternoon I headed out to the beach. But first we had to stop in Chimaltenango for a basketball game that Cesar, the oldest brother, and other amigos played in. San Bartolo won, which was cool, but they don´t really have too much support here for basketball, not like soccer. It was in a gymnasium similar to the one at my high school, but with a concrete floor. After the game, it rained almost the whole way to Montericco. Right before you get there we had to cross a river on these barges, which are really just planks of wood. We drove the car onto it and in the night coasted down the river for about 20 minutes to the next port. The night was beautiful there, much warmer and the water is so nice. Kind of reminds me of home, especially when on the river. The beach there is greyish black, and the pacific ocean is really strong. All guatemalan women wear tshirts and shorts to go swimming, very conservative, and I did the same. Which means I have sand in every part of my shorts and shirt. The men wear whatever, their underwear, I dunno, haha. They also go really early in the morning, like around 5am because they don´t like the heat. Noone brings towels and noone lays out in the sun. I was the only gringo I saw for a while until we went to eat dinner, and I saw a table of about 10 american girls, which I think were as equally shocked to see me as I was to see them. We returned back Sunday and on the way stopped in Antigua and followed our torch procession all the way to San Bartolo. So essentially I was in their independence parade, which was a little akward since I´m obviously not a guatemalteca. It was fun though, and today has been mostly a day of rest and watching more parades with the school bands, majorettes, and lots of flags. I have some pictures of the beach but my camera got caught up in a wave and didn´t start working again till I got all the sand out of it this afternoon. BTW the olympus that I have truely is waterproof and shockproof, I´ve tested it against the Pacific. It´s not so sand proof though so watch out for that.
Thanks for all the support I get through the blog. I really enjoy your comments, it means at least someone is reading this thing.
Peace and Love.
Robin

9/11 and 9/15

2008-09-13T11:52:00.000-07:00

So this week has been interesting because of the history of the US with 9/11 was discussed with me several times. Guatemalans are well aware of this event, and are curious about american sentiment. Its pretty interesting because it also coincides with Guatemala's Independence Day, which is 9/15 (Monday). This is a very important holiday here, and the celebrations have already begun with a torch run, and festivals all over. We were guest judges for the school yesterday, each grade makes a presentation with maps and flags and monuments to guatemala and their culture. It was really awesome, and a tough decision, they go all out with candles, food, water, lights, glitter, the works. 2nd grade class B won, in case you were wondering. For the holiday, lots of families go on vacation and I think I'm going with my family to Mono Ricco (sp?), which is a beach near by. Finally somewhere that's hot, and hopefully no rain. My family got really sick this week, Don Cesar and Octavio. I don't know what it was but I was fine and so was Dona Dora. But they were both laid out for the count, aparently they are feeling better today though so hopefully our trip is still on. More pictures to come.
PS. I miss fall... send me pictures of the leaves.
Peace and Love.

Today was so nice and sunny....

2008-09-07T17:44:00.000-07:00

but now its raining, really hard actually so I don´t know how long the internet is going to be up for because the power keeps going out. Saturday was interesting because we had a site exchange day where PC volunteers in Aloetenango came to our town then we went there. Aloetenango is a lot bigger than San Bartolome, and their houses are a little nicer. While we were there we made peanut butter and jelly from scratch which was awesome and I can´t wait to eat it on Monday at the training center with everyone. Its really a lot easier than I thought it would be, the longest part was peeling 5 pounds of peanuts, I would really suggest buying them de-shelled. The jam is strawberry and smells like heaven. That afternoon I got back a little late so I just chilled upstairs in my house listening to some rap cds that I think are my sisters from home and played spider solitare and drew. I´m borrowing a book about the Cuban War Poster Art from another volunteer, and have recently been interested in learning how to draw more mayan art, but possibly incorporating these pop art symbols as well. Today I was supposed to do a lot of homework but instead went to Guatemala city to the mall. The malls here are nicer than some of our malls, but of course thats only in the city. I have some more pictures uploaded on webshots. The link is: http://community.webshots.com/album/566485335iDGlpQ
Peace and Love.

More Rain

2008-09-05T16:38:00.000-07:00

Ok not to get too depressive about the rain, but seriously, all day today. This morning was 6 more hours with Patricia and lots of Spanish, and then a meeting with the director at my house just to check up on everything. Overall pretty good. My family made this awesome hot tea out of fresh fruit which was probably the highlight. I also bought gum at a tienda, which is a fiet because I asked in spanish, haha. Today is my moms birthday, so just want to shout out to her that I miss her very much and wish I could tell her face to face. Maybe I can buy some more gum and send that home as a present :P
Tomorrow a "site exchange" so the volunteers from Alhuetengango are coming here to visit us and then we´re going there to visit them. I hear Alhuetenango is at the base of a Volcano and warm so I´m pretty excited about that.
Still working on uploading pìctures, and now on the lookout for a WAWA...

Peace and Love.

Volcano Weekend

2008-09-02T17:38:00.001-07:00

Ok, so this weekend was pretty awesome every time it wasn´t raining, which wasn´t that often but good enough. If you ever go to Antigua, Guatemala you HAVE to visit the Casa de Santa Domingo. It is this amazing museum and old archeological ruin of a monestary from the colonial period. I could definately spend many more hours there, but maybe thats just me because I salivate over art and architecture. Saturday was pretty chill but nice too. I have Spanish class and cried to my teacher that I hate the Casa de Waffles that we meet to have class at so then we went to my house which is soooo much better. That afternoon I went out to lunch with the fam´ because it was Don Cesar´s birthday on Friday. After that, another birthday party, which it began raining in the middle of so that cut it short.
Now for the good stuff, the volcano. Volcano Pacaya is awesome, not too bad of a hike either. It was about 2 hours up and maybe an hour down. You don´t go all the way to the top of the crater but you do get to see where there is a bunch of lava pouring out of. Maybe I can figure out how to get pictures up on this thing. The lava flows very slowly and surrounding the entire volcano is dark black sand, which is pretty aweful to walk on. The lava is super bright though, and we took marshmallows and crackers up with us and roasted them on the lava (which ignited them almost immediately). They were soo good. Then it started raining again. haha. Always.
Monday was a PC holiday, as it was for all you back in the states, which means we got to visit the capital city with our Spanish teachers (this time Oscar, my old spanish teacher went). The city is busy and very developed. We saw the American embassy and walked over to the hospital, which is not a pretty site and I never want to have to go to. Then back to the two malls they have which are sooo American inside I almost forgot I was in Guatemala which was kinda cool for a little while. I finally bought a jacket, which I´ve needed for a while and some long-sleeve shirts. Tomorrow I´m working with the Municipialidad to find out more about our jobs here. I still haven´t received any mail so I´m not sure how thats gonna work.
More tomorrow, eventually I´ll get to it all.

Robin

One day I´ll change the world?

2008-08-29T15:42:00.000-07:00

Friday, August 29, 2008

I feel lucky if I can even change myself here, haha. To keep a little update so far I´ve been to 3 more Birthday parties for little kids, and my host dad´s birthday is tomorrow. I bought him purple murracos (sp?) they are awesome and I hope he thinks it funny, otherwise he´ll just think I´m that ¨weird american¨which I guess is fine too. My language skills are better, but still very basic. I think today I talked about ghosts with my family at breakfast and then travelled up these tiny windy roads to a village to meet a current volunteer in her site with some people from my training group. The volunteer lives in a pretty awesome 2 bedroom apartment, not really lavish but doable and she has to spend a 1/3 of her monthly allowance on it! yikes, good thing food is cheap here. On the ride there I got car sick and saw many sweatshops, chicken farms, and pig slaughter houses, it was pretty naseating to say the least. So far I still have yet to find Cooler Ranch Doritos, they have 3 other flavors, but not Cooler Ranch... I will continue my search.

Later.
Robin

Hola and Contact Info

2008-08-20T15:39:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Hola Amigos!

The Guate is really pretty, there are mountains and volcanos and many friendly people. I´m living with a family in San Bartolome that owns a tienda. So far I´ve played Uno, watched kids movies in Spanish, gone to a first baptism party, and attended an evangelical church. This first 3 months is training and so each say I either go to the main training center about 30 minutes away or I have language classes at 8am each day for 4 hours then a lot of homework.

Letters, emails, and phone calls and much appreciated. You can contact me at:
Robin Schick - Cuerpo de Paz
Apartado Postal 66
Antigua Guatemala, Sacatepequez
03001
Guatemala, Centro America

and my number is 502-4051-2342

Stay in touch