First womens group meeting and Independance day!

So last Thursday we met with the womens group that we will be working with for the next few months in Alotenango. I learned the most in those two hours that any other experience in my life. Wow. Culture shock. It is a group of more traditional women who have an interest in learning how to weave in the traditional way to continue the culture and to earn more money for the household. It´s wonderful that they have this idea already, so we´re working with them to help organize and plan with the group to make it happen.

So they all showed up "on time", meaning they were one hour late according to Gringo time. (The meeting was scheduled for 2:00, it started at 3:00). There is this phenomena here called "la hora chapina" which means Guatemalan time and that things start whenever, usually from 30 to 90 after that appointed time. No one here really has a watch. It can be frustrating, but we can also learn a lot about relaxing and not rushing life. In the states, "time is money"...here, "time is life". Very different.

It is also very difficult to know how to greet people for the first time. Some people hug and kiss, others touch arms, others shake hands, and others do nothing. It is very ackward when the two people do different things and I havent figured out yet how to figure it out.

So we conducted the meeting, but due to the marimba music that was playing, the loud other group in the room, and the horrible acoustics of the place, it was very difficult to hear. The women are very shy and timid to speak in front of a group. It will take time to build "confianza" with them. There are long periods of silence which are ackward for us, but normal and not uncomfortable for them. In general as an American I freak out when there{s long silences, but for them it{s nothing to worry about.

The other funny thing was that when the meeting was over, no one left. I said that if anyone had any questions, comments, or suggestions, that they could come talk to us afterwards. But no one moved, no one said anything, and there were about 20 minutes of ackwardsness with a little bit of small talk with the people sitting around us. Its difficult to create chit chat too becuase they were very timid at answering questions. When we finally stood up and started stacking chairs, then everyone left and it was evident that they had been waiting for us to leave first. Ah, the learning.

The women bring all their children in tow too. I have to get used to seeing lots of exposed breasts during the frequent feeding times. The great thing was that there was good attendance (about 15 women, plus children) and they all seem very interestered. It will be a fun and informative journey. Im excited to keep working with these women and building confianza and hopefully we{ll figure our way around the cultural differences and things will get less ackward. Their project sounds so exciting and it should be great to work on.

Yesterday was Día de Independencia. Basically in every town all the school children dress up in uniforms and parade through the streets with their school bands. It{s really fun to watch the baton girls and the little boys with giant drums. They are all very pround of what they are doing and it its neat to see. However, it goes on for hours and is very loud. I watched in Alontenango during the day from the terrace of the house, then watched it again on the local TV stations, and then went to Antigua with my host sisters to watch the bands there in the central park at dusk. It was cool to see all the buildings lit up and the cardboard bull with firecrackers shooting out from all sides. But lots of standing and watching the school bands all play more or less the same song for hours.

Today Im spending the day with some peace corps folks in Antigua to indulge in internet and cute cafes with espresso. It is ironic that some of the best coffee in the world is grown here, but everyone drinks instand coffee, Nescafe oftentimes. They drink it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and as soon as babies are weaned from the breast, its on to sweetened coffee.