So here’s the Cliff’s notes version of the past few months…
October 2007:
Left Guatemala on Oct 19th for a 2 week, MCC “orientation” in lovely and quaint Akron, Pennsylvania, 6 months into my 3 year term. (The orientation session scheduled in April, pre-departure, would have been ideal, but it had been cancelled, thus, I was scheduled to head back to the US 6 months after the fact for my orientation!).
If nothing else, it was a good excuse to see some lovely fall colors and to meet some great people headed to every nook and cranny of the world.
The ladies– a USian, a German Canadian, a Paupa New Guinian and a Columbian were able to successfully finish the Aryan Jesus puzzle. Good job ladies. We talked about coloring him in a little to make him a bit more ethnically accurate, but alas, it was time to snack again.
Gave myself another whack-10- inches-off haircut. Thank goodness.
Gave myself another whack-10- inches-off haircut. Thank goodness.
And had a mini-day trip from PA to NY to see my musically-gifted friend Rachel on an aptly-destined MCC sanctioned trip to NYC one Saturday during orientation. Rachel is pointing out her apartment building from the ? story of the Viacom building.
November 2007:
Immediately after MCC orientation, hopped on a flight to Chicago to embark on a 2.5 week visit in the US and Canada to promote the CASAS program with one of the CASAS Spanish teachers- Marta. (This is an annual part of my job I learned about after I came to Guatemala!)
Immediately after MCC orientation, hopped on a flight to Chicago to embark on a 2.5 week visit in the US and Canada to promote the CASAS program with one of the CASAS Spanish teachers- Marta. (This is an annual part of my job I learned about after I came to Guatemala!)
We visited 12 universities, 5 churches, stayed with 8 families, had 25+ meetings, presented to 10 classes and logged 3500 miles in the rental car, driving from Chicago to Kansas, to Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, to Ontario, Canada, to Michigan, and back to Chicago. Next year I promise you I will not be so overzealous. It was muy cansado to say the least.
I have a powerpoint work presentation that I will next try to upload if it works. And it will go HERE.
We ended in Chicago two days before US Thanksgiving, so while Marta headed back to Guatemala, I was able to take the train to Grand Rapids, had a fun day with cuz Jolanda and met up with bro Mike to head home to Ludington for Thanksgiving. This was all an unexpected perk this year, as I left for the three years thinking I would not be back until 2010.
Anyway, home involved a few whirlwind days of …
A little card playing…
A little card playing…
A little bowling…
A little bit of…well…my brothers and their antics:
A first attempt at making a turkey solo (no pics, you+ll have to take my work for it!) and an extended fam Thanksgiving/Christmas.
And came back to Guate to a surprised-ly newly painted living and dining room courtesy of my dear MCCer counterparts!
And came back to Guate to a surprised-ly newly painted living and dining room courtesy of my dear MCCer counterparts!
December:
I’ll steal an excerpt from a letter back home that sets the December tone a bit…
If you’ve already read the letter, feel free to skip to the pics -
Christmastime prep in Guatemala City:
“Grocery stores begin filling with larger than average piles of papaya, pineapple, pears, raisins and prunes that will later be chunked and simmered in big pots with cinnamon to make the Guatemalan Christmastime beverage ponche. Ofertas (“sales”) boast “bargain” prices of 40 Quetzales (about $6) for 2 lb bags of imported Hershey’s chocolate chips. Piles of fruitcakes in estilo ingles (“British style”) find their place next to the typical pan dulces (sweet breads) in the bakery isle. The economically well-to-do reach for corn maseca to make tamales, timely fruits for ponche, along with a sampling of imported oddities, evidence of globalization hitting the grocery cart.
Neighborhood tiendas (tiny corner stores), pile stacks of firecrackers along store fronts and sprinkle the sidewalk with pine fir nettles. The senoras at the vegetable and tortilla stand do double duty filling orders for homemade tamales, employing the help of girls with strong arms and good balance to deliver heavy baskets filled with the banana-leaf wrapped Christmastime specialties – steamed corn flour filled with bits of chicken, tomato sauce, green olives, and prunes.
I watched all of this, feeling pushed out of my resident groove into again the role of spectator, as new sights, smells, sounds, and traditions took over the routine. At the seminary, we celebrated our annual Christmastime convivio (“gathering”), a morning of dinanmicos (group team building games), a devotional, going out to a restaurant for carne asada (grilled beef steak and chorizo sausage), exchanging gifts for our amigos secretos (“secret friends”) and receiving Christmas baskets filled with bags of dried black beans, rice, powdered milk, sugar, coffee, cooking oil, salt, and a bag of angelitos (“marshmallows”), and closed down the 15th of December to reopen the 2nd of January. Some businesses close for a full month.
In spite of an overwhelming quantity of work to plan for two University groups and the Spring semester all to take place in January, I took advantage of (fellow MCCer) Beth’s family being in the country to visit over Christmas to join them on a couple excursions the week leading up to Christmas– to the ancient Mayan ruins of Tikal in the Peten jungle and to Lake Atitlan, a crater lake formed by a collapsed volcanic cone, surrounded by volcanic peaks.”
So yes, took a mental health week and rested for a couple days on lovely Lake Atitlan – a crater lake formed by a collapsed volcanic cone, surrounded by lovely volcanic peaks…
And went to the ruins of the Ancient Mayan capital of Tikal in the Peten jungle with the family Peachy:
Beth and a half excavated temple
I’ll steal an excerpt from a letter back home that sets the December tone a bit…
If you’ve already read the letter, feel free to skip to the pics -
Christmastime prep in Guatemala City:
“Grocery stores begin filling with larger than average piles of papaya, pineapple, pears, raisins and prunes that will later be chunked and simmered in big pots with cinnamon to make the Guatemalan Christmastime beverage ponche. Ofertas (“sales”) boast “bargain” prices of 40 Quetzales (about $6) for 2 lb bags of imported Hershey’s chocolate chips. Piles of fruitcakes in estilo ingles (“British style”) find their place next to the typical pan dulces (sweet breads) in the bakery isle. The economically well-to-do reach for corn maseca to make tamales, timely fruits for ponche, along with a sampling of imported oddities, evidence of globalization hitting the grocery cart.
Neighborhood tiendas (tiny corner stores), pile stacks of firecrackers along store fronts and sprinkle the sidewalk with pine fir nettles. The senoras at the vegetable and tortilla stand do double duty filling orders for homemade tamales, employing the help of girls with strong arms and good balance to deliver heavy baskets filled with the banana-leaf wrapped Christmastime specialties – steamed corn flour filled with bits of chicken, tomato sauce, green olives, and prunes.
I watched all of this, feeling pushed out of my resident groove into again the role of spectator, as new sights, smells, sounds, and traditions took over the routine. At the seminary, we celebrated our annual Christmastime convivio (“gathering”), a morning of dinanmicos (group team building games), a devotional, going out to a restaurant for carne asada (grilled beef steak and chorizo sausage), exchanging gifts for our amigos secretos (“secret friends”) and receiving Christmas baskets filled with bags of dried black beans, rice, powdered milk, sugar, coffee, cooking oil, salt, and a bag of angelitos (“marshmallows”), and closed down the 15th of December to reopen the 2nd of January. Some businesses close for a full month.
In spite of an overwhelming quantity of work to plan for two University groups and the Spring semester all to take place in January, I took advantage of (fellow MCCer) Beth’s family being in the country to visit over Christmas to join them on a couple excursions the week leading up to Christmas– to the ancient Mayan ruins of Tikal in the Peten jungle and to Lake Atitlan, a crater lake formed by a collapsed volcanic cone, surrounded by volcanic peaks.”
So yes, took a mental health week and rested for a couple days on lovely Lake Atitlan – a crater lake formed by a collapsed volcanic cone, surrounded by lovely volcanic peaks…
And went to the ruins of the Ancient Mayan capital of Tikal in the Peten jungle with the family Peachy:
Beth and a half excavated temple
Our awesome guide Daisy:
Climbing up....and the view of the Peten jungle from atop the tallest climbable temple:
Random collection of Tikal shots ahead. Enjoy:
Daisy explained to us that the ancient Mayans used the rock that was readily availble to build most of their structures. Which in the case of Tikal, turned out to be limestone. Here it is crumbling in my hand. It is a wonder there are still ruins to see a couple thousand years later!
Passed through the nearby island of Flores and paid homage to one of Gallo’s hundreds of Christmas tree displays stationed around Guatemala (Gallo = “rooster” and is Guatemala’s national beer monopoly), before hopping on my 10 hour night bus back to the city.
Got home to the city and got a bug to get baking Midwest Christmas-style. So…
Made cookies…
And more cookies…
Got home to the city and got a bug to get baking Midwest Christmas-style. So…
Made cookies…
And more cookies…
Christmas Eve night fell peacefully…
and then Christmas announced itself at 11:55pm with firecrackers and fireworks.
Another letter excerpt:
“I woke to a war zone, or so it seemed. I glanced at the clock. 11:55pm. Five minutes until Christmas.
I made it to the living room, plugging my ears as windows rattled and the blasts pounded in my chest. Out my windows, there was a literal panoramic display of fireworks – coming from rooftops all over the city and sending flashes of color to every inch of the sky. In the street, teens, kids, young men were setting off every type of noisemaking, light-producing firecracker know to human kind in the streets (all of which I am sure would be illegal in Michigan, perhaps in the entire US!). The streets filled with firecracker shrapnel and smoke.
By 2:30am the last of the firecrackers of the night had been set off, and I went back to bed, waking an hour later than usual at 7am, to another deafening and unusual sound – complete silence. The sun was bright and high in the sky, but there wasn’t a single pedestrian, water truck, bell-tousled ice-cream cart, newspaper seller, barking dog. Normally at this hour, it is a bustling street packed with people, vehicles, and vendors. I went to get ready, and came back to check on the status of the silence at 8am. Still all was at peace. At 9. Again, nothing. I started calling fam, and in the middle of the conversation with my sister, the silence was broken. It was 11:55am Christmas Day and apparently it was time for a firecracker reprise!”
Later in the afternoon, the Peachys made Pho (“Fuh”),Vientamese beef and rice noodle soup to truly mix up our ex-pat Christmas celebrations. Mmm… Pho…
Drank steaming fruit ponche (traditional Christmastime beverage with pineapple, pears, papaya, raisens and cinnamen) from my landlady, Dona Chonita:
By 2:30am the last of the firecrackers of the night had been set off, and I went back to bed, waking an hour later than usual at 7am, to another deafening and unusual sound – complete silence. The sun was bright and high in the sky, but there wasn’t a single pedestrian, water truck, bell-tousled ice-cream cart, newspaper seller, barking dog. Normally at this hour, it is a bustling street packed with people, vehicles, and vendors. I went to get ready, and came back to check on the status of the silence at 8am. Still all was at peace. At 9. Again, nothing. I started calling fam, and in the middle of the conversation with my sister, the silence was broken. It was 11:55am Christmas Day and apparently it was time for a firecracker reprise!”
Later in the afternoon, the Peachys made Pho (“Fuh”),Vientamese beef and rice noodle soup to truly mix up our ex-pat Christmas celebrations. Mmm… Pho…
Drank steaming fruit ponche (traditional Christmastime beverage with pineapple, pears, papaya, raisens and cinnamen) from my landlady, Dona Chonita:
And topped off the evening with a lively game of spoons and, yes, Christmas cookies…
The end.
The end.
Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and are on your way to a great New Year.
Over and out til 2008.
-sm
