Sometimes walking through fields to get to schools, sometimes at high level departmental meetings

Hi all! Here’s an update on my life for the past couple of weeks. I have been running around to all of my schools meeting with the directors (principals) and sometimes also the teachers and the parents. Right now I am in a huge planning and dreaming phase of my Peace Corps journey. I’m in the process of trying to figure out what I am going to do with these schools project wise, how they want me to support them, and how I can be of use. And every day I meet a new person in my community and I am working on remembering people’s names, which is not a skill that I have. Thankfully the two communities that I work in are fairly close together, about a 10 minute bus ride. However, within these two communities, there are suburbs and smaller communities that are considered a part of the bigger community, and I work there too. So some days I do lots of walking on dirt roads in the middle of crops and horses and cows. And the views are spectacular. Every day Guatemala and my community surprises me with its beauty.

I currently work with 9 schools in the area and there are two more schools that I may have the opportunity to work with that I haven’t yet talked with, which would bring my total up to 11 schools. This doesn’t mean that I will necessarily be working on a daily-basis with all of these schools. I am more of a support and facilitator, connecting institutions and people, and doing what I can to get ideas flowing and support projects. There are 3 main schools that I will be working with quite regularly, and they are very excited to be working with me. I will be visiting them at least every week and we will be doing projects together, giving talks about health topics to the students, and I will be supporting their Student Health Promotion groups on a weekly basis. I am in the process of planning a recycling project with one school and figuring out what to do with plastic, since there is not a recycling system in the community. Here’s a photo of what some schools are doing with their plastic, to help students learn about the classification of trash, help them express their artistic abilities, and learn about gardening!

The amount of time that I go into my office will begin to reduce as I will be out in the “field” in the actual schools instead. Things are picking up and I am still just a beginner! However…next week the new group of Peace Corps Volunteers gets here, Kan 15, and I will no longer be the baby!

Another fun activity I participated in last week was a group that I am involved in called the Project Advisory Committee (PAC). PAC is a group of volunteers, at least one from each department in Guatemala that we work in, who works on the departmental level and is in charge of collaborating and facilitating good relationships between Peace Corps and our Guatemalan departmental work partners. We met for a two day workshop to learn about the group, welcome the new members (me and a few others from my Kan 14), and meet with her work partners to celebrate successes from last year and plan for the year 2020.

Among my municipal and departmental level obligations is attending plenty of meetings…and memorizing acronyms. There are SO many acronyms, not only in Peace Corps, but in Guatemala itself. For example, one group that I attend their meetings is called COMUSAN, which is the Comisión Municipal de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutricional, which basically means the Municipal Commission of Food Security and Nutrition. Another one I attend is CIAES, which stands for the Comisión Interinstitucional de Alimentación Escolar. Another is COMUDE or Comisión Municipal de Desarrollo. And that is only a couple out of several. Here is a photo of one of the COMUDE meetings I went to in one of my communities.

Aside from work, I am making friends and going on adventures like usual! I have made friends with one of my work partners daughters, and I am so excited for that friendship to flourish since we live in the same community and she can be a great support to me.

I have also befriended the daughter of the cleaning lady at one of my schools, and we are going to do an exchange where I teach her English and she teaches me how to play the guitar! She also lives in my community and she is 21, so we are close in age, and we are planning on hanging out outside of English and guitar classes. And, I have a friend who runs a crepe restaurant in my community and she is a student and a really hard worker, and I am so lucky to have these three friendships blossoming.

Last weekend José and I went to an artisenal beer festival, along with some other friends, and they had live music, beer tasting, and food, and BOY did I feel like I was in the U.S. again. The feeling of listening to live music, having grass under your feet, and food carts surrounding you brought me right back to Oregon.

Guatemala is diverse and full of life. I love it here. A lot. And at the same time I miss Oregon every single day. And my family and friends. But, I will be back! In May actually. Surprise! For my best friends wedding, which I wouldn’t miss for the world. See you soon Oregon.