Women´s Office Approval and other happenings

So we have approval for the Municipal Women’s Office! I sat through a four and a half hour City Council meeting. I was given the opportunity to speak at the beginning as the first order of business. It was a really hot day, so I was sitting there sweating buckets attributed to the heat and my nervousness. I was very nervous, since it was jut me and the City Council in a small office. They had all received copies of the project profile beforehand, so I explained the project and why it was important, they asked some questions to which I responded, and then they all said it was good idea and gave their support. I’m waiting to read the official written declaration before I get over-excited about it. I've been waiting for this for months, so I am quite happy and ready to get started on this new project. While tiring, it was interesting sitting through the rest of the meeting and observing how things went, the topics that were discussed, how decisions were made, and hearing financial information of the muni. We snacked on fried chicken, white bread and Super Cola (I couldn’t have come up a more unhealthy combination). It was good to get to know the Council members and have their support.
I accompanied the mayor to the Departmental Development Council (CODEDE) meeting. Typical for here, I had been told that the meeting would be here in El Chol, so I showed up to work early to get prepared for it. When I arrived, people vaguely told me that it was actually in Rabinal. So I asked the mayor to take me with him to the meeting so the two of us hopped in his pickup and made the hour´s journey up and over the mountain on the dirt road to the next town over. There I sat through a couple hours of talk about projects, reorganization of the working commissions, etc. But when it was over I made good contacts with the women who now work as delegates in the department of Baja Verapaz for the national women’s office and office of social works of the wife of the president. We planned a meeting with them and the coordinators of the women’s offices in the department.
The day of the meeting came. I was sitting in the microbus waiting to leave for the meeting in Salamá (two hours away), I had talked to the coordinator of another women’s office and she was going to meet me in El Chol and we were going to go together. When the bus was about to leave and she hadn´t showed up yet, I gave her a call and she told me that the meeting had been postponed. So I almost had spent four hours traveling (on my own dime since the muni has temporarily stopped giving money for work-related transportation), for nothing. Such is the way things go here…

This week was the first big rain of “winter”. It had been unbearably hot all day long, and in the afternoon it started to cloud over. While I was in the middle of teaching my English class, the rain started pounding on the tin roof so that I found myself screaming to be heard over the din. The lightning and thunder was impressive as well. When class was over, we all waited in the doorway for the rain to calm down and when it seemed that it wouldn’t, I decided to make a run for it. I rolled up my jeans and went dashing out across the community soccer field, which had turned into a lake, while all my students watched incredulously and laughed at how weird I was. I made it the two blocks back to my house dripping wet and laughing. I couldn’t even have a conversation with the family the rain was so loud. I drank a cup of coffee with them but no one was talking since it wasn’t worth trying.

A few weeks ago I attended a meeting at the Peace Corps office of the volunteer-run “Gender and Development Committee.” The committee produces materials and advises on how to incorporate issues of gender into our development projects since there is so much gender inequality and machismo in Guatemala. They are heavily involved in HIV/AIDS education and also sponsor leadership camps for adolescent girls. I hope to get more involved with their activities.

So I when I got off the bus in front of my house coming back from the meeting, I was greeted by a plague of insects that had arrived. The air was full with little four winged insects that didn’t bite, but swarmed and invaded the houses. Supposedly they signal the coming of “winter”, known to us as the rainy season. Usually all the doors to the family’s house are open during the day, but that day they were all shut. To get in their house I opened and shut the door super quick to avoid letting too many in. But still they were all over the floor, half of them dead and swarming around the lights. Up at my house they covered the outer walls of my house and a great number of them had succumbed in my pila water. I’m still picking their little wings off of everything. Gross.

I gave my first workshop in the high school on the Decentralization Law and the System of Development Councils. One of the goals of the Muni Development program is to improve and increase citizen participation, which starts with education on how the government works. I did a PowerPoint presentation on what is the State, how the government is organized, the Decentralization law, and then an activity on the Development Councils. They I broke them up into group and gave each group a section of the law that they had to read, summarize, and present to the group. They I gave them homework where they have to go interview the Community Mayor/COCODE president of the community that they live in. All things considered, it went pretty well. They were well behaved and participated. I didn’t have any moments of serious Spanish lapses. At the end they asked some good questions, which makes me think they were at least paying attention and analyzing the information. It was a huge relief cause I had put a ton of planning time in and had been pretty nervous about it. I´ll go back next week for another workshop with them.

The latest baking adventure was Guicoy bread. The guicoy (We-coy) is a vegetable identical in flavor and texture to the zucchini, but instead of being zucchini shaped, it is a little spherical squash, about the size of a mini pumpkin. They were surprised that I didn’t peel the guicoy first, and were interested to learn that the most of the nutrients of fruits and vegetables are in the skin. The women were thrilled with this new idea and thought I was brilliant, but I told them that no, it was my grandma’s recipe, so she was the brilliant one.

The director of my program, Municipal Development, came for his routine visit to El Chol to see how things are going with my work. We had a good meeting with my counterpart and the mayor to discuss various projects.

It´s been ridiculously hot here again recently. One of the things that makes it bearable, is that sometimes someone from the office will go to the house next door and buy for everyone chocolate covered frozen bananas with peanuts, called “chocobananos” in Spanish. They are delicious and sell for one quetzal, or about twelve cents.

It was Melany´s 9^th birthday last week and we had a party for her. Instead of a piñata we celebrated with “dinámicas” or interactive games, such as blowing up a balloon and popping in between two peoples tummies. There were a bunch of kids there and it was an all around merry affair. There was the usual snack provided with chicken salad sandwiches on white bread and cake and punch. It´s crazy being here long enough to watch these kids grow up. Already I've noticed how they’ve grown taller and how the little ones speak better. I've watched Gaby learn how to read starting with learning her letters and now she can sounds out just about any word. I feel so proud!

There is always some reason for the schools to cancel classes and celebrate – be it mother’s day, interscholastic games, or the anniversary of the school. (All of which happenened in the past month). The anniversaries are reason for cancellation of classes, various athletic and cultural activities, and of course, the election of the “queen”. I watched the election of the queen for both the middle school and the high school. Both events had a “talent” component, which was lip-synching to popular songs. The middle school girls had a “fantasy” outfit component where they dressed up in elaborate colorful costumes with feathers, glitter, and sequins, with most of their bodies exposed. As they parade themselves about, all the men in the crowd whistle and holler. It’s a fun to go to community events since the whole town comes out to watch, but the young girls dressed as such and dancing as such just doesn’t quite sit right with me. It’s behavior that is encouraged and further cements the stereotypes and rigid gender roles here.

One of the interesting things about living in a small town where it’s hard to find things that you want to buy, is that selling door to door is quite popular. People come from other areas of the country making a living with these kinds of sales. The other night I came home from my English class and a man was selling clothes, towels, socks, and underwear at the house. All the women were excited about the stuff he had and bought a bunch of it. Other people come around selling herbs, cheese, pots and pans, and other randomness.

I contracted a local carpenter to build me a bookshelf for my house. I went over to his shop, chatted with him for awhile about how he had been in the States, drew him the design of what I wanted, and he made it exactly how I asked. It´s made out of pine wood with four shelves, one foot deep and three feet wide. He had it done in a week and only charged me 250 quetzales or like 30 dollars for it. To get it from the workshop to my house, I called a tuk-tuk, one of the little three wheeled moto-taxis. Now I have all my books, DVDs, and materials are organized. I got a nice little typical woven fabric piece to lay on top.

The half marathon in Coban is this weekend! I've been training to some degree…I run about 3 miles every morning and have gone 6 – 8 miles a few other times. We´ll see how the 13.1 miles treats me this Sunday.

A few comments on the ways Guatemala has changed me so far:

-I have developed a fairly good sense of time without a wearing a watch.

-I wake up early without an alarm.

-I have acquired massive amounts of PATIENCE.

-I focus less on accomplishments and “getting things done”, but on enjoying time and people leisurely.

-I have learned appreciate and enjoy time being alone.

-I am not picky about fruits and vegetables to be found in the market.

-I have developed a strong appreciation and admiration for the USA and American institutions.

-I am better read with free time that I have to read.