Puppy, tortearing, banana bread... life is good in Guatemala :)

I have been crazy busy here in Guatemala the past week or so.  Last Saturday (January 29) my host mom’s brother gave me a puppy as a gift from the family! The puppy is only about 2 months old, and I named him Suki… short for Sukha which means “contentment, paradise, heaven.” He is the cutest! He’s light brown with a white chest and white paws. He looks like a Labrador mixed with some other breed but I’m not sure what! He’s so fun to have around and we cuddle at night J I’ve always wanted a puppy but I never knew how much work they could be! He’s like a little kid always getting into trouble, so I always have to keep an eye on him but then he gives me this little puppy dog look and I realize it’s all worth it! My host family thinks I’m a little strange for being so caring and affectionate towards Suki. There is definitely a culture difference between how we treat pets and how they treat pets in Guatemala. Pets here are more just to have around but people don’t really form relationships with their pets. Usually the dogs are tied up or roaming around the streets without an owner. I was giving Suki a bath the other day and you would have thought that I was from a different planet the way my family was looking at me. They always give me a hard time for spoiling Suki and an even harder time for letting him sleep in my room but maybe some American culture will rub off them and they’ll start loving their pets as much as I love Suki! He’s starting to know his name, and when I’m around the house their rarely a time when he’s not by my side J He’s lying on my lap right now as I write! Anywho enough about the puppy… I’m sure you want to hear more about what’s going on in the Guat….

Last Sunday (January 30) I went to Susie’s aunt’s house to tortear (make tortillas) which is essential here in Guatemala because they eat tortillas all day every day.  At first I was awful at it and my tortillas never came out as a circle, but after my hundredth try I finally got the hang of it! To make a tortilla first you grind up corn at a mill and then turn it into dough by adding water and kneading it with your hands. Then you grab about a lemon sized amount of dough and pat it back and forth between your hands until it spreads out into a thin circle. After you’ve made a perfect circle you put the tortilla on a pan over an open fire and let them cook. There are pictures on facebook if you want to see the process and my beautiful tortearing skills J This was an awesome experience because not only was I learning a new skill, I was also having a blast with my family. We were all laughing at how bad I was at making round tortillas and how goofy I looked in my apron. It was so much fun to hang out with a bunch of girls and chat and make fresh tortillas that we ate for lunch right after! Susie’s aunt has 9 kids ages 11 to 30 so we all sat down and ate lunch after tortearing for a couple hours and of course they put me at the head of the table! I’m getting pretty used to having all eyes on me… good thing my Spanish is getting pretty good! They pretty much just consider me part of the family now which is awesome!

Last week my Spanish group visited a volunteer in a nearby town and he took us to one of the schools that he has been working with. We got to meet the school director, and we went into every classroom and introduced ourselves. The kids were so excited to have “gringos” in their school that you would have thought it was Christmas or something!  After meeting all the teachers we sat and observed the kids during their recess and of course they wanted the gringos to play with them! One thing that I am going to have to do when I’m a volunteer is a baseline survey in all my schools which means I’m going to have to observe how many kids wash their hands after using the bathroom or before snack, how many kids appear clean, and what kind of resources they have at the school. So I sat outside the bathroom and counted how many kids washed their hand after using the bathroom.  This particular school did not even have soap so only using water was considered washing their hands. These are the types of problems I’ll be facing when I become a Healthy Schools volunteer. It was really cool to actually go to a school and talk with the director about the school and their needs… it gives me a real sense of what I’ll be doing the next 2 years.

This past weekend was super busy! Saturday morning we went to a Mayan fire ceremony at the Peace Corps office. A Mayan priestess shared a special Mayan tradition with us and it was incredible! It kind of reminded me of the fire ceremonies I’ve been to for yoga. The Mayan priestess built this extravagant fire arrangement with seeds, candles, coco beans, flower petals, plants, and sugar. The point of the ceremony was to honor 22 different Mayan gods or energies. For each god she threw something different into the fire and there were different colored candles representing different things like protection, love, life etc. Each god was known for something different…. god of protection, god of children, god of death, god of work etc. For every energy or god she said a prayer in an indigenous Mayan language and thanked them by offering up seeds or incense or a candle. We threw candles into the fire to acknowledge loved ones who have died. We threw seeds in to thank the energies for the present moment and the beautiful day that we had been blessed with.  It was really interesting to see the beliefs of an indigenous culture and how extreme their ceremonies are, but at the same time I felt like I was at home having a fire ceremony with my yoga peeps so I really enjoyed the whole ceremony. It really made me think about how blessed I am to be here and to have all these great experiences and opportunities ahead of me.

On Sunday I taught Susie how to make my famous banana bread! We ended up doubling the recipe and making more like a huge banana cake and it was so delicious! We went to the local market and got all the ingredients, and I translated the recipe into Spanish so that Susie and the girls could help me. I had a lot of fun showing them how to make it! Immediately after making it we ended up eating the whole thing, and Susie enjoyed it so much that she ended up making another one the same day! She made the second one completely on her own without my help, and she was so proud of herself! She said she’s always wanted to learn how to make banana bread but no one has been able to teach her so she was really excited that I let her in on my secret recipe J She told me she’ll think of me every time she bakes banana bread. I’m impressed with how good it turned out seeing as though we had to improvise on some of the ingredients and baking utensils a little bit but it was a hit! Later that day I taught Susie how to do yoga for the first time. We spread a couple towels out on our little patio, I put on some music and we had a nice little yoga session. She said she can’t wait to do it again! The whole day was just an awesome experience and it feels really good to be able to share a little bit of my life and my culture with them. It’s so rewarding to see how excited they get over the simplest things like baking banana bread! I also told them that I would cook lunch for them one day so I am going to teach them how to make black beans burgers since Parramos is known for its beans. That will be another fun cooking experience! They are so open to and loving learning new things!

Next Sunday we are leaving to go on what is called “Field-Based Training” for a week. During FBT we go visit a current volunteer in their site for a week and basically live the life of a volunteer for that week. My group is going to a town called Cabrican. Cabrican is about 7 hours away from the Peace Corps office. We’re leaving on Sunday and coming back the following Saturday. During the week we will be visiting schools, meeting the superintendent of the municipality, giving charlas or talks on personal hygiene, nutrition, and mental health, and talking to parents and teachers about different healthy schools topics. I have to give a 15 minute charla in Spanish on personal hygiene to kindergarteners, and I am so pumped because we all know how much I love kids! I have to do a little ice breaker with them or sing a song with them to start out, and then I’m going to read them a story about this girl who’s dirty because she doesn’t like taking baths but after she takes a bath she is healthier. I’m a little nervous because it’s all in Spanish, but I’m more excited than anything! I’ll let you know how that goes! It should be a fun week away from our training sites getting to know a different part of the country and a town that could be my potential site in a couple months! That’s all the news I have for now but I’m sure I’ll have lots of fun news when I get back from my field-based training on the 19^th. Missing everyone back home….sending some Guatemalan sun your way! Hasta luego!