late merry christmas, early happy new year

so then i'm even with the late and early. might be a little ahead actually with the earlyness of the happy new year. so, in conclusion, i win.

but seriously, merry christmas to all. hope everyone had a great time doing whatever it was. i know i had a good time, spent it with my host family from training. very very fun, lots of people, lots of food. it also happened to be my host brother's birthday, so it was extra important. the oldest son is a dj, so they set up all the stuff on top of a roof, and a bunch of us danced until very late in the evening. also, at midnight, there was a grand quantity of fireworks. all over the place. it was pretty gorgeous.

here's where i'm going for new year's.

so, there you go. have fun, catch some fish for me ryan. play lots of cards. don't worry about eating, i'll do plenty of that.

¡Baile!

went dancing last night. we had a going away party for the volunteers that were previously in my site and are nowing going home. so we went clubbin'. i don't know if you can consider it clubbin' if you only go to one club. however, i would think there would be some different standards when you are in Guatemala....so, in conclusion, i went clubbin' last night.

what i NEED to buy

the word need is thrown around a lot. i heard someone say not too long ago that they NEED a manicure. let's just say i had a response. so, what does Jake need to buy? well, i'll tell you...say it with me now...

A MACHETE

that's right, need. i have to cut the grass in the backyard of the house i will be moving to. don't think i've seen a lawnmower for a while. i've seen a fair amount of animals that will eat your grass, but there's only a rabbit in my backyard, and s/he's not doing the job. so, i am going to mow the lawn with a machete. don't try and tell me you're not jealous.

Mail

I know there's a few people out there that sent some stuff a looooong time ago, and good news, i think it's close. I think i might just have to travel 6 hours to get it. Not complaining though. Planning on making the trip anyways.

What would ya say, ya do here?

i wake up at 6 am. then i push the snooze button on my nokia cellular phone/alarm clock. then i wake up at 6:05, then push the snooze button. this repeats until around 6:20 or so. then i listen to a little music. then i get out of bed, and take a shower. it's luke warm, almost hot if i make it run slowly (there aren't generally water heaters, just these shower heads that heat the water, and if the water runs slower, it can get hotter. it's a vicious battle between heat and pressure where neither really wins). then i shave, get dressed, make my bed, tidy up the room a little bit (not too much), and leave for breakfast around 7. i eat the breakfast, usually some combination of eggs in some form, beans in some form, juice, tortillas, some very sugared coffee (not my choice, this is how it's made), and an oatmeal type thing. i indulge myself in all of this. then i walk back to my room, brush my teeth, put on some sunscreen, gather my things (water, a hat, something to write with, blah blah blah) and head to the office of where i work. get to the office, change my card in the thing from red to green (this means that the doctor is in). shake a bunch of hands and say buenos dias, como esta about a million times (the greetings are incredibly important). then, i figure out with whom i will be going with today. we work in a bunch of communities outside of the one the office is centered in. so, then i talk to that person, and say something like, "i'm going with you today, let me know when you want to leave". then i go and sit down for a little bit, maybe talk to some people, maybe write some stuff down, maybe study some spanish. then, when told it's time to go, i do that. then, i change my card to yellow (the doctor is not here, but he is still working, just not here). so, either i'm in the cab of a pick-up, or in the box of a pick-up, driving out to a community. then i help whoever it is do whatever he's doing, or stand there and pretend rather convincingly that i understand most of what's being said, when in fact, it's about at 50%. today, i got to shovel, this is something i am rather good at, some of you might be jealous right meow. we were hauling some sand and dirt for a construction project. one day, i helped graft avocado trees for about 7 hours. one day, i helped deliver a bunch of chickens. lunch is usually around 1 or 2, it's quite delicious. today we had liver (not too bad with some sauce on top), some pureed (sp?) potatoes, some salad, juice, and tortillas. then, go back to work. today there was none, which has afforded me the time to write this long entry. then, i get back, usually around 6 pm, switch my card to red as i leave the office (the doctor is now went home to his room, i would think the doctor would have a more posh place for his residence). then, i go sit at home for a little bit, not sure what i really do, but there seems to be something. sometimes i talk to the kids where i live, they're pretty funny. one of them who is about 4 or so, really only likes to repeatedly say gringo, to which i respond by saying the equivalent of guatemalan. it's quite a fun interchange. then, i go meet the other volunteer here and we go to dinner/supper, whatever you call it. it's good, consists of beans, tortillas, coffee, bread, and something else. then i go back, read, study, maybe make a phone call. then i go to sleep around 9. i enjoy it. i just need to work in some ice cream somewhere in there.

home

couple days ago, i decided that it's not "your place", or "home" until there's some reading material sitting on top or beside the toilet.

i forgot thanksgiving

so, for thanksgiving, i got to go to the home of a former volunteer here who is working for an NGO and married a guatemalan. food was great, all the fixings. funniest/coolest/most unique part of the meal is when the guy was like "hey, the white men are eating with the Indigenous people". he had married an indigenous person from guatemala, her brother was there, and so was the mother. it was neat.

new flashier title

so, there's a new flashier title. i would say that it is the flashiest title that i have had, beating out "what's jake doing?" I mean, what were they thinking? anyways, the significance of "Don Hacobo" is as follows; Don, is what you would politely call a man here. I called my host father Don Juan, as Juan is his first name. Yes, I know this is a little funny, but i digress. The significance of Hacobo, is that that is how they say my name. they don't really pronounce the letter J here the way we do, so, it's easier for them to say Hacob. however, i think there gets to be an "o" sound at the end because, i don't really know for sure. but, i reckon it's because there aren't really words that end in a "b", so they put an "o" sound right there. The significance of "new flashier title" could quite possibly be more than self explanatory. there you go. have a good day.

*adendum*

i was told yesterday morning that there are a lot of Jacobo's in Guatemala by one of the administrative assistants in the office (she actually preferred my middle name). also, a man told me yesterday that the equivalent of George Washington in Guatemala was named Jacobo. So, I didn't re-read my entry, but it's possible that some of it is wrong now.

got a haircut

got a haircut today. second one since i've been here. first one, i got from my host mother, she did a pretty good job. but this time, i splurged and spent a dollar for one at a barber shop. it was killer. i was really glad that i was able to explain how exactly i wanted the hair. and they do this cool thing here, once they're done with the top, they take a straight razor to your neck, and get it good and clean. it's pretty sweet, not gonna lie to ya.

so far

so here's what i've been doing so far in my job. i have been going out with people that work in the agencies, visiting different communities and families. with some of them, we've been talking about getting them prepared for their next group of chickens. I spent one day delivering about 600 chickens to different families. Two days spent visiting communities and talking to associations of people that have community gardens from which they sell (in local markets) and eat their harvest. It has been pretty interesting. A lot of people think I'm some sort of expert about everything, which is not so much the way it is. but, luckily, i have a million resources, and find the answers to questions. so it's pretty super. good times, no complaints so far. but now i'm hungry. (had a break right now because the power is out, sometimes the water quits working too).

i can see this

Highest in central america, and a volcanoe.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!

Gringo

So, guatemala is largely a homogenous society. People are either ladino or indigenous. in consequence, when you have blonde hair, blue eyes and white skin, you stand out. and, i would imagine, if i lived in rural guatemala and was Guatemelan, and saw someone like me, i would be really really surprised. and so, what often happens in this case, is they say "Gringo". I don't think it's an insult. I just think they find it strange to see us, and the point it out. kids do it a lot. so do drunks (which surprisingly often know the most english for some reason).

my site

i'm quite close to the tallest point in central america, it's a volcanoe. i can see it. it's big. there's a bar in my town called the "bat cave". we have a beautiful center park. there's a woman who makes pizza there, it's pretty good considering i'm in guatemala. monday through friday, my host country agency feeds me breakfast, lunch, and dinner (this is what we call luck, also delicious). i am to work with two NGO's, ONG's, Non-governmental organizations. one of them is local and one is from Spain. It is called INTERVIDA. They have a lot of professionals working there, architects, agronomists, doctors, blah blah blah. which is nice, because i will learn good spanish from them, and I will be able to learn alot of other information from them as well. so, i think i win. i'll be working a lot. 8-6, M-F. so yeah, i'm looking forward to it. i'll keep you updated.

casi terminado/almost finished

So, we had our last real day of training on friday. I swear in and become a Peace Corps Volunteer (up until then, I'm just a Trainee). We get to go to the American Ambassador's home. He attends, and I have to wear a tie. Then we're going to the Peace Corps' assistant director's home for food. Thursday, which is thanksgiving, we get to go to an embassy family's home for some turkey and all the fixings if i have anything to say about it. it will be super. then friday, i go to my site, move in to my room, and buy some stuff that i'll need, who knows what that is or where i might be able to buy it. then monday, i start work. it's gonna be great. however, we were just told by one volunteer that the first 3 months in site are terrible (she used stronger words, but let's be civil, folks). but i'm not gonna worry about it really. sure my spanish isn't fantastic, sure i'm not exactly sure what i'll be doing and sometimes what i'm doing, but c'mon. i'm in guatemala, things couldn't be too much further from any kind of experience i've ever had, so, let's go.

Guatemala's History

Here's a timeline link of Guatemala's history.

It's pretty striking. I need to read a lot more about it. But from what I understand, the US was afraid that Guatemala was going to be taken over by communists in the 50s, and the US staged a coup that flung the country into several decades of civil war where hundreds of thousands of people died, mostly killed by the government, and most of them were indigenous people. I've also heard (again, i need to read more) that the Military that was doing a lot of this killing was funded by the US.

There's also some incredible indigenous populations of people in Guatemala still today. There are departments (like states) where over 80% of the people speak an indigenous language (of mayan origin) and many still dress in the traditional ways. I think that is pretty incredible.

so, check it out, it's interesting. if you know more than I, tell me what's up.

bah

alright, didn't so much post last weekend. what are you gonna do, i'm in guatemala.

so, in the last two weeks, here are some highlights.

*got pickpocketed for the 1st time on a bus. lost 3 dollars, the real money was somewhere else. enjoy my wallet, I kind of liked it.

*saw the biggest kites that I or YOU for that matter have ever seen. it was on the Day of the Dead. also saw people get hit by the biggest kites that i've ever seen fall out of the sky.

*found out where i'll be living for the next 2 years. pretty exciting. i know a little bit about the job, but will know a lot more this week. i got the job that nobody really wanted. it is quite demanding, and sounds like it is hard to even take vacation. It seems that in the Peace Corps, it's not common to have a 40 hour week, or to work all 5 days a week (I'm not putting down the PC, or saying that volunteers are lazy, it's just kind of how it works. maybe i'll write about this sometime.) I think i will have a 40 hour week. i get to visit my site this week. it's up high, and it's gonna be a little cold until march.

*the weather changed. it gets relatively cold. at night it has been about 50 F. Now, that doesn't sound so bad. but, there are no heaters in the homes. there's not insulation. most walls are concrete blocks. the roofs are of tin, and there are cracks where the walls and the roofs connect (i can see light between the wall and the roof). so, it's a little cold at night. there's also wind now too. one day really felt like fall in MN, i told my host family that it was the perfect day for a game of american football, and it was.

*it was my host sister's 7th birthday and halloween. she dressed up as a witch. there were a lot of kids getting into their costumes at my house. i told them all they were ugly.

*bought a cell phone. maybe i'll call ya. i know it sounds rediculous that i have a cell phone in the Peace Corps. but it's good for safety, and will be useful for work.

that's all i can think of. take it easy all.

last weekend

I am a posting maniac today!

So, last weekend, i had an interesting sunday. There was a fair close to where i live, and my brothers invited me to come, so i said, 'yeah'. so, they kept on talking about how we were going to see these people dancing in costumes, and i was like 'neat'. so we got to the town, and they gave me this plain grey t-shirt, and i said, 'what's this for', they said 'everyone's wearing one', and i said 'cool, free shirt'. so we sat at this place, and then they were like, 'ok it's time'. so we went to the center of town, and were standing around a little longer, and i was like 'seriously though, why am i wearing this grey shirt?'. and one of them says, 'we're going to help', i said, 'ok'. so, there's a lot of people here, and there's all these people in these costumes, some of them were disney characters, some of them looked as if they were out of Lord of the Rings, some of them were simply random. Then, they say, 'hold this rope', and i took the rope. turns out, this gringo was working crowd control at this parade of people dancing in the street. we formed a big rectangle, and had to make room so they could dance.

So, imagine, in Guatemala, on one of the biggest days of the year for this town, there's some blond, blue eyed, white guy working crowd control. I didn't see one non guatemalan all day. oh, and it went all afternoon. i was doing this from 12 until 7:30 at night.

it was fun though, i like people watching, so it worked out. it's an interesting feeling. and, i only heard someone say gringo once. however, my name among the others working there was canche, or what translates to 'blondie'. i was also standing there once, and there was a mother and a daughter standing close to me, and the little girl was looking up at her mother saying "canche, canche, canche" and nodding in my direction. i heard her and said hi, she just smiled.

so there you go. i confused a lot of guatemalans last week.

Chickens!

Here's the chicken we killed on thursday. I got to hold as we slit the throat. Then we learned about it's insides and gave the meat to one of the guards in the training center. it was fun. We also made a little prank with the insides (think tupperware from lunch + head + heart + intestines + a toe as garnish). There were a few screams.

We have about 90 chickens that we are raising. Almost everybody has chickens around here. They wake me every morning. But they're an incredible food source. A lot of people lack the protein that a chicken can bring. they're relatively cheap to raise, and if done properly, you can be self sustaining (put a rooster into the mix).

And in defense, we vaccinated all of the other chickens too (yeah, i can vaccinate your chickens if you want me to). Not that we're going to set them free, unless you define free as dead and eaten.

my first earthquake

so, now i have experienced a hurricane and an earthquake. don't worry, it was a little guy, shook the tin roof a little bit, i thought there was a big wind that came or something. but it was fun.