the boys

in prior photos they had been making goofy faces and doing weird stuff. I told them to just stand there nicely and smile. turns out they thought i was being a little bit bossy

peace

It took about 5 tries to not cut my head off in this one. I realized recently that of all the people with whom i speak with here, the guy on the right is the person that I talk to the most. He's five years old. Most of the conversations consist of explanations of what every single thing in my room is and what it's for, and him making, and me denying the requests for candy/cookies/cake/whatever food is visible to him that is mine. At the end of every day, I ask him what he's done. Always says nothing. Then i go diatribe (you can verb this word) on him about how he never does anything, he takes it. It's good. Coming in at an extremely close second in the "people i talk to the most here constest" is myself.

some pics

Vaccinating chickens for New Castle disease

Where we have our meetings is also a daycare. The kids go crazy when I come. Partly, because they get watches. I always carry markers along with me for presentations and whatnot, so i draw a watch on everyone's wrist. They always want two, but i ask them if they've ever seen someone wearing two watches. I beat them with logic. Look closely on some of the kids' wrists, and you can see their watches.

The kids were really restless this day so I taught them how to play pato, pato, pato gris! or duck, duck, grey duck. None of that duck, duck, goose nonsense.

Those are beds of radishes. She's got a bunch of cucumbers in the back. Says the kids are always running out back to pull some up. Told her she can eat the greens too. Good source of vitamin A

Jacob Overgaard is currently on sebatical, writing a novel.




Ok, seriously though, I know it's been a long time, and i'm writing no novel (i like the way "no novel" sounds, imagine me yelling it!, then it makes sense).

Here are some updates...
-We had a huge 4th of July celebration down here, hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, baked beans, brownies, chex mix, and some beers. We had an open mic too, someone sang the star spangled banner, folsom prison blues, an original rap (silly but funny), and there was some irish music and dancing. It all finished with a giant dance party. Yay America!

-i just planned and executed some "in-service trainings" for the volunteers that I supervise, went pretty well, i think they were happy. Logisitics are, in general, difficult. Logisitics in the third world are...

-i am nearing the point of being the most veteran (and hence wisest) current volunteer down here, there are but two of us left, within the month folks

-I saw a white dude driving a chickenbus, equally as insane of a driver. i've never stared so hard at someone. blew my mind.

-it's raining a whole lot. clothes are not drying. jeans are dirty. luckily, i'm in the Peace Corps, so not such a big deal. I think half the reason i stayed down here was so that i can continue sporting jeans, boots, t-shirts, and sideburns to work. corporate dress codes are frightening to me

-we are currently 2 months and 8 days away from the Guatemalan Independance Day. The school next to our office has already started their band practices. This happens outside. There are a lot of bells, horns, and percussionists. normal class seems to have been postponed. noise canceling head phones

-basketball tournament. we made it to the championship game. it was the stuff of legend. we lost. were winning for 3 quarters, ended up losing by five. heck of a game though. the community really showed up. there were at least 200 people watching the game. I think i had 9 points to include a 3 pointer and a pretty sweet tip-in. super fun game. They gave us trophies, i have this really big obnoxious one. the team told me i had to take it as a memory of Sta. Lucia. nice gesture, however, I couldn't help but think "now i have to pack this at some time to bring home"

-you have a nice day