¡¡¡FELIZ DÍA DE LA TIERRA (EARTH DAY) YALL!!!

At school today, we gathered outside, in the sun, to give thanks to the earth! We stood, 9 teachers and 240 students, decked out in clothes that we were ready to get dirty! After we sang (or in my case, pretended to sing) the Guatemalan National anthem, we listened to elected students talk about the environment and simple ways we can make a difference! I was amazed at the level of engagement and excitement I saw from my students. They seemed to cling onto every word and by the end, were SO ready to hit the streets (dirt roads) of our community. Every student and teacher contributed by picking up trash, bottles, and cans and dividing them up to be RECYCLED! For most, recycling was a new concept, as the closest recycling drop is over an hour away. Usually, the bottles end up in the river or being burned with the rest of the trash (worst smell ever). As we walked through the community, picking up strewn cans and bottles, I asked my students what ways we could reuse all these bottles. Once I got them started brainstorming, they couldn’t stop! We went from a bottle garden (brilliant!), to bird/animal feeders (also pretty cool!), to a water park…? These kids rock and I’ll definitely be doing some research on how to create flower planters and animal feeders from plastic bottles! The water park might have to wait… 2 hours of picking up trash later, my students were amazed (and appalled) at the amount of trash we collected in just a couple of hours. When we walked back, I admired the beautiful mountains that hug our small community, and saw some of my students look back, admiring the newly cleaned roads behind them. It was an inspiring morning. I couldn't stop smiling as I watched my kids actively and enthusiastically work together to better our little community and our world.

5 Months in Guatemala!

Hello beautiful friends and family!

I am just returning from 3 weeks of Early IST (in-service training). It was grueling. Each day was filled with sessions of safety and security, medical, and technical sessions for our projects. All the sudden, I was thrown into a strict daily schedule, surrounded by English, and comfort (electricity, coffee, and hot water!). In many ways, it was GREAT to be back, but mainly, it was SO overwhelming. I had gotten so used to my routine in my little town of San Lorenzo! I missed waking up to the my alarm clock rooster, going for a hike with my host dad, eating breakfast (beans, always beans) with my family, heading into my schools, the health center, and just greeting men, women and little kids in traje (traditional dress) on the streets. It was hard. I felt like I had barely begun my integration into my community, and all the sudden, I was being pulled out for more training! Some of my students thought I was returning to the United States and never coming back L I realized that there has never been an American or any type of volunteer that has stayed in San Lorenzo for a full two years. But Seño Josefina is here to stay!

During our 3 weeks of training, what pulled me through was getting to be with the whole Bak’tun after our first two months in our sites! So many stories were shared- stories of fleas, standoffs with chuchos (street dogs), new cultural experiences, and our work triumphs and failures! After these 5 months in country, I’ve wondered if I’ll ever be able to put this crazy journey into words. I expected life to be hard here, but oh man did I underestimate just how much of a rollercoaster life would be! Luckily for me, I’m all about the crazy twists and turns. Ever since I was a little girl, my body moved faster than me brain! I’ve always liked a challenge- anything to get my heart pumping and my mind racing. I’m learning about myself through every breakdown, every moment where I laugh till it hurts, and every time that I miss my chicken bus. As frustrating as my days and moments can be here, I’m so glad I’m living a life where no day is the same. Every day, I want to make a memory. I’ve decided, if I have one goal here, it’s to truly connect with someone here in this country every single day. I want to go past the simple “holas” and “Buenos dias” and really get to know the members of my community. Yes, I’m here to teach, plant seeds, share knowledge, and support, but I am also in the role of a learner too. Sometimes my kids look at me in awe when I tell them I’m a licenciada (hold a college degree) and they wait for me to just stand there and teach them. But god, when I give them the space to think, to question, and explore ideas, it’s like watching a million light bulbs go off. By the end of my classes, I’m the one standing there in awe.

Work is reaaaaally starting to pick up! I’m getting to know my students! While I was away at IST, they surprised me with learning how to say “Good Morning, Miss Josephine”. Now every time I enter the classroom, they all stand up and proudly greet me in English. On my next post, I’ll update y’all on my work and day-to-day here. But like I said, no day is ever beige! My life will be continually changing.

Wall of Fame:

My Momma

Emily Coffin

Karen Giger

Cindy Morse

All your hand-written letters keep me going! I pour over every word. I can’t tell y’all how touched I’ve been to hear from y’all.

YID Retreat! 

Bak'tun 6 YIDers!

Wine Tasting outside of Antigua

Golden Hour in Antigua

Volcanic ash outside my room from Volcan de Fuego!

Facilitating a charla on goal setting

*Thanks to everyone for being patient with these blog posts. I have to travel an hour to get internet! But I'll try and post another one next week! 

Community Mapping

Happy two months in-site to me! It has flown by. In total, I’ve been living in Guatemala for 4 months! Think I’ve earned the title of a Guatemalteca, yet? Not quite… I think I have to eat 100 more plates of beans and tortillas before the title becomes legitimate. So give me one more month!

Tomorrow, I’ll be leaving my site and heading to the Peace Corps office for three weeks of training. I am SO excited to be reunited with my fellow volunteers and share stories! Considering the craziness that’s been my first two months, I can only imagine what the other volunteers are going to bring to the table.

Today, Seño Josefina (AKA me!) led her first class! It was AWESOME. I never imagined that my first teaching experience would be in a Guatemalan middle school of 270 students! Also definitely never imagined it would be completely in Spanish… But I did it! Si, se puede! I led my class in a PACA tool (Participatory Analysis for Community Action). My students broke into groups and created community maps, identifying current resources, institutions, and important places in San Lorenzo. I had them label their maps with different symbols to show where: A. the youth hang out B. the señoritas hang out C. where no one hangs out. This gave me so much insight into patterns of frequency, likes and dislikes, and importance of certain areas in the community. I was fascinated to see how many groups marked the cemetery, the municipality, and the police station as the places where people do not go. When I asked them why, many responded that these places felt unwelcome and they felt fear of going to them.

Finally, I had them put a circle around something in the community they felt proud of and a triangle around something they wanted to change. I loved seeing the pride the students had in San Lorenzo. They were proud of their soccer court, their churches, their central park, and the house where Justo Rufino Barrios, a former Guatemalan president, was born. However, they also had many things they wanted to change. One group talked about their desire to change the Cantinas (bars) here in the community. Alcoholism affects many families here in San Lorenzo. Another group wanted to change the area, right next to the river, where the community dumps our trash. I was fascinated at how insightful the students were and how they helped reveal areas of concern and potential changes desired and needed. I can’t wait to use this information to start developing projects, such as river cleanups and collaborations with the municipality and police stations.

Here are a few pictures from the activity:

It was overall a great first experience in the classroom and I can’t wait to learn more from my students. For now, I’m off to pack! My camioneta leaves at 6 am, tomorrow morning. During my trainings at the Peace Corps Office, I will be returning to my training town of Ciudad Vieja and living with my old host family! I am overjoyed to see my sweet host family and show them how much my Spanish has improved!

Hola From The Other Side!

Año Nuevo Fireworks over Guatemala!

Well everyone, we’re 13 days into the New Year and our pet pig, Chicharrón, is STILL ALIVE!!! This is huge and I’m super feliz. I can only hope all y’alls New Years are going as great as Chicharróns'! 

Hola y Feliz Año Nuevo! To celebrate the New Year, my host mom and I spent hours making over 100 tamales de carne! These things are the BOMB. I can eat three in one sitting! Even though every Guatemalan tells me I’m not eating them right because I always remove my pedazo de carne* (and usually feed it to a chucho*)! I’m basically a tamale de carne PRO at this point (for a Gringa*). Check out the picture below for evidence!

Mixing the masa! Not pictured: The giant cinderblock I'm standing on

Here is me, standing over our wood stove, stirring a huge pot of masa with a wooden spoon that is as tall as me! This was no small task for my little brazos*! What is not pictured is the cinder block that my host mom dragged into the kitchen for me to stand on. She laughed and told me that she forgot that I'm “Guatemalan sized” and needed a cinder block like a true Guatemalteca. For about an hour, I stood, having to constantly stir the thick mixture so it wouldn’t burn. Once the masa was hot and ready, we stopped to clean GIANT plant leaves (they’re pretty much identical to banana leaves!), wiping each once down, and then carefully ripping them into three pieces. Once we had our masa and leaves ready, the assembly line took form!

We set out the pot of masa, a pot of cooked chicken, a pot of pepián (a delicious sauce of seeds, tomatoes, chilis, & cinnamon), a bowl of raisins, prunes, and strips of red pepper. Then we got to down to tamale de carne making business! 

My first tamale de carne!

Here’s the process:

First, you take a big leaf and lay a smaller leaf on top of it (they call this leaf the bikini- you never want to have a naked tamale!). Next, you place a big helping of masa on the bikini (smaller leaf) and bury a chunk of meat into it (I tried to imagine it was tofu the whole time). Once the piece of meat has been set in place, you pour a generous helping of pepián sauce (which I could eat by the spoonful) on top the masa and meat. My favorite part comes next: Each tamale gets 2 raisins, 1 prune, and 1 strip of red pepper before wrapping them up. Once the "garnishes" are put in place, the wrapping process begins, which is vital to the cooking/steaming process! Tamale Wrapping 101: First you take the bikini, which contains all the goodness, and fold it up very carefully. Then you use the big leaf to secure all the goodness. I thought I was dominating the wrapping game (just call me Josefina Chapina*) until I realized that my sweet host momma was unwrapping and rewrapping each one of my tamales… It was pretty soul crushing. But eventually, I got the hang of it and was rewarded by getting to lick the pepiàn spoon (so much better than brownie batter)! Once we had our 100+ tamales wrapped, we put them in a huge pot, and began steaming them. While they steamed, we chatted, drank ponche, and shared New Years Eve traditions. Once it hit midnight, we set off our fireworks, shoved 12 grapes in our mouths (the closest I’ve come to being medically separated), and finally got to unwrap and eat our delicious tamales de carne!

Some of my little cousins + sparklers 

12 grapes, 1 mouth

Midnight = finally digging into our tamales!

With the new year beginning, it means that the schools are FINALLY beginning to be back in session. I have been chomping at the bit to get into my schools and meet my jovenes! These past couple of weeks have been dedicated to meeting teachers, directors, and planning the year to come. At my first meeting, my supervisor asked me to get up and introduce myself to the 30 directors! I was so nervous and think I blacked out but I do remember them laughing (hopefully with me and not at me). But saaaaaber (who knows)… So far, I absolutely adore all the teachers I’ve met. I will be working in two schools! Both are Basicos (middle-schools). One of my schools has 200 students and the other has about 140. Each has about 9 teachers, many teaching double or triple subjects! I was amazed to learn that in each Basico, 15 different classes are taught! The bulk of my work will be in teaching “Habilidades de La Vida” (Life-Skills). Throughout my two years, I will be working with teachers and creating courses in self-esteem, identity, leadership, values, drug, and sex education, etc… On top of that, I am really looking forward to starting a women’s empowerment group, cooking classes, working at the Centro de Salud, and reluctantly giving into the demand for an English club! The beauty of my work here is that I have the time to really listen to the wants and needs of my community and cater my work towards what they want to learn, accomplish, and explore. I couldn’t be more excited for this new year!

My Basico!

Eating lunch with some of my teachers! (they even prepared me a vegetarian plate)

My vegetarian plate! Pollo swapped out for a squash!

Pedazo de carne = piece of meat

Gringa = slang for an American girl 

Chucho = Guatemalan slang for street dog

Chapina = slang for someone who is pure Guatemalan
Brazos = arms

Happy Holidays, Felices Fiestas, and Tb’anelxix taq’en Qman te Kyaqilx

 

Making Chuchitos with my host momma!

Friends and family, Happy Holidays, Felices Fiestas, and Tb’anelxix taq’en Qman te Kyaqilx. I am filled with warmth thinking about the love and laughs that everyone will be sharing over the next week. I will be doing the same with my beautiful and kind host family here in Guatemala! We were warned that this is a hard time of year for volunteers. That’s an understatement. This is my first Christmas away from my family and I can already feel my eyes welling up as the reality sets in that I am far from home and far from comfort. But this experience is about challenging myself to be present here, with my new family, my new community, and new traditions, and new friends. I have been welcomed with open arms, generosity, and a whole lot of curiosity. “Seño, are your eyes real? Do you paint your hair?”  I can say for a fact, no day is “beige” here; there is always a new taste, a new smell, a new color.

This week, one of our chickens had TEN lil pollitos (baby chickens)! They’re the absolute cutest and I’ve had the best time feeding them, watching them hobble around, and discover their new world. I’ve started naming them! I’m so excited to watch them grow over the next two years. My family promised not to eat them until my two years are over here! Vamos a ver… As far as Christmas plans, I’ve had so many different people, from my veggie lady in the market to my work partners, offer their hearts and homes to me for the holidays. I’m really excited to exchange traditions with them. In my family, back in the states, our family, Christmas Eve tradition is to read two versions of “The Night Before Christmas” – The original and the Cajun version. The Cajun version has always been my favorite to read. I loved the challenge of pronouncing each strange, Cajun word! I also loved that in this version, alligators pulled Santa’s sleigh! So this year, I decided I couldn’t let this tradition go. Why not add a THIRD version?! So y'all best believe, I butchered my way through the Spanish "Night Before Christmas" and kept the Usdin/Bingler tradition alive!

On top of that, I celebrated my first Noche Buena (Christmas Eve)! Here in Guatemala, the Noche Buena tradition is to stay up until midnight, drink ponche (warm fruit punch), and share stories. Once it hits midnight, hugs are given to every single person in the room, cohetes (fireworks) are set off, and dinner is served! And that’s only the beginning… My Noche Buena lasted until 3 am! We lit sparklers, had a fogata (bonfire), roasted angelitos (little angels aka marshmellows), and ended our night with a 2 am game of soccer! Today, we packed up lunch and had a picnic/cookout along the most beautiful river. It was so great to meet new family members today and to also be introduced to them as the “nueva hija” (new daughter). It made me feel absolutely loved and reassured that I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend my first Christmas away from home!

As for all y’all, I hope every single one of you experience laughter, gratitude, and happiness this holiday. I know in my little community of Guatemala, we will be raising a glass of ponche to you all tonight!

Noche Buena!

Host mama, brother, dad, and abuelo on Christmas Day!

Christmas meal! Frijoles, tamales, queso, and pollo!

Our little pollitos! (PSA: these were not the ones eaten for our Christmas meal)

Bienvenido a San Lorenzo!

*Writing this post after I experienced my FIRST earthquake! 5.7 magnitude! All is well. Currently sippin' on some weird tea my host mama made to calm my nerves. She's the MVP. 

Bienvenido a San Lorenzo! Today marks a week that I’ve been freezing my buns off in my new community of San Lorenzo, San Marcos, Guatemala! It is an incredibly beautiful little town of 1,000 people. We’re located waaaaaay up in the mountains (elevation: 8,000 ft)! Which means this lil southerner is muy frío. It’s so cold here that on my first night, my host momma lightly knocked on my door and entered with a hair dryer in one hand and an extension cord in the other. I didn’t ask questions. Before I knew it, she placed the hair dryer on full blast, under my covers to warm up my lil toes! We made some awkward eye contact and then both of us totally lost it, cracking up, laughing. It was a solid first bonding moment.

 This little town of San Lorenzo that I live in has never had a Peace Corps Volunteer so you can only imagine the looks I get when I sit in the park reading, journaling, or trying to saludo (greet) people in my gringa accent. Because I’m opening this site, I do not have a site mate or anyone to show me the ropes. So it’s just me, myself, and I exploring, schmoozing, figuring out transportation, and trying to regatear (bargain) at our Mercado. It’s been a slow process of adjusting and I think everyday my emotions range from joy, to fear, to excitement, to “what the hell am I doing”, and back to complete gratitude for this experience. But apparently, this roller coaster of emotions is normal. Then again, the notion of normal in Peace Corps is completely NOT NORMAL. For example, my 5 am alarm clock is our pet chickens, and by pet chickens I mean they’re living the good life until my family gets hungry. That goes for our pet pig too! I was so excited when I saw a huge pig in our backyard and immediately named it “Chicarrón”. I decided we’d be friends. Well, turns out he’s our Christmas meal soooo that friendship isn’t going to last long. However, each new morning, I wake up and congratulate us both on for making it another day.

As far as the humans in my family, I’ve got a host mama (Doña Judith), host papa (Don Byron), and a thirteen year old little brother (Byron Pablo or Colocho). We live in a simple house. I live downstairs and have two rooms. One serves as my bedroom and the other as my little kitchen. It’s getting pretty cozy and the set-up process has kept me busy! I asked a local carpenter to make me a set of shelves and they turned out to be beautiful. I also visited another town and got a mirror cut and mounted to hang in my room. My next task is to hang my pictures with some handy string and paper clips (Peace Corps life). But in order to do this I need to learn the Spanish words for hammer and nails. For my kitchen, I bought a little gas stove and my family has been teaching me how to not blowup the entire house by placing a wet rag over my gas tambon. They’re seriously the best! They bought me all the basics I needed for my little kitchen like sugar, salt, storage containers, and a knife! They even took me shopping to the next big town (about 45 minutes away) and I was able to find powdered soy milk!!! Also pancake mix… Now if only I could find some Zatarans jambalaya mix (wink wink care packages)! Even though I’ve got my little kitchen, they still have the kindest souls and offer me meals. I think they’re so keen on eating meals with me because they have so much fun having me try different types of hot peppers. They’re also amazed that this gringa can handle the heat!! They crack up watching me add the spiciest peppers to my beans. It’s kind of become my party trick!  Seriously, they always ask me to show visitors that I can eat a Chiltepe straight up, in one bite.

            So far, I’ve met the teachers from my school, the Centro de Salud staff, the police force, and my supervisor! I was also invited to attend our town’s Christmas tree lighting where very strange games such as, how many tortillas can you fit into your mouth and who can peel this orange the quickest, were played. It’s very strange and a bit lonely at times to be the only foreigner in my little town. But I’ve encountered so many caring, interested, and kind souls in just a week here. I can’t wait to call this beautiful town my home for the next two years.

P.S. Still don’t have wifi and don’t know if it’s even a possibility up here in the montañas so my Internet access is limited and expensive! But I will at least be able to check in once a week so if anyone’s got questions or just wants to say hola – email me at jbingler@gmail.com

Learning how to "hacer" tortillas with my Host Mama!

My lil' kitchen 

Market Day!