Juli in Guatemala!

el fin

2011-08-03T14:52:00.006-04:00

Well, world, I'm back in the U S of A., and my year in Chacos has officially ended. It feels really nice to be able to go on a run without fear of abduction/ robbery/ getting chased by dogs/ being stared at, and it's really nice to not have to clorox fresh fruits and vegetables AND to be able to cook when/what/how much I want... but it's so quiet at night that I can't sleep without my fan going and ipod, and all the lawns are so manicured and perfect, and everyone speaks English, and it's SO hot! ((Copious amounts of Diet Dr. Pepper help nicely with that last one, though...))

There are many many things to get re-used to as I re-acclimate to my home, and get prepared for in San Antonio... But it feels nice to be home, and I'm thankful that I made it home sin novedades, or without troubles.

Thanks again for praying for me, supporting me, and following me through this year. It's been hard but beautiful and completely life-changing.
bendiciones, juli

Once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do: God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know, and holds us responsible to act. -Proverbs 24:12

PS: Here are all of my photos from the year... https://picasaweb.google.com/julierinsmith

Farewell, Ciudad Vieja

2011-08-01T23:42:00.005-04:00

Chacos leaving my street

my last night in Ciudad Vieja (with my host parents)

hoy en ocho

2011-07-28T12:31:00.005-04:00

¨Hoy en ocho¨ is a very common Guatemalan phrase that means litterally ¨today in 8,¨ aka a week from today.

On Wednesday morning, my host dad said this to me at the breakfast table-
¨Hoy en 8, usted [yes, 6 months later and I am still addressed using formal usted -- I am very important, afterall] va a despertar en su propia cama¨ Or, ¨A week from today, you´ll wake up in your own bed.¨

So so so weird. Today is my last day in Ciudad Vieja with my host family, tomorrow we start our YAV closing retreat, and then I fly to DC Tuesday morning. Seriously unbelievable.

Thanks for your prayers and support, world. See you in less than ocho (primero Dios).
bendiciones, juli

¡ gracias !

2011-07-26T14:12:00.003-04:00

Dear family and friends,

This past year in Guatemala has most certainly been the most challenging, stretching, growing experience that I have ever had. I changed contexts completely, from my college apartment in Oxford, OH to living my life in Spanish with large Guatemalan families in a developing country. I´ve had to live in challenging situations of family turbulence, gotten to know people that live with daily questions of how to make ends meet, as well as seen the very real effects of draughts and floods in areas with no infrastructure for repair.

This year I’ve also gotten to build incredible relationships through my host families and with my fellow YAVs. I´ve gotten to experience great joy in attending family weddings, quinceañeras, and Sunday afternoons when the whole family gathers for a meal. I´m so thankful for these parts of my experience here, because they´ve helped me to get a real glimpse of life in Guatemala and I feel fortunate to have gotten this year-long peek into such a different context, as well as to have a Guatemalan family to come back and visit in the future.

For all that I have experienced this year -the good, the bad, and the ugly- I am thankful. Though challenging, I know that God perfectly crafted this experience for this point in my life, and I am so thankful to all of my supporters for making it possible. Thank you for your donation, for praying for me, and for following my journey this year! This truly has been a partnership, and I could never have made it through the year without such a great support network, so thank you!

I have learned so much this year- about myself, about my faith, about Guatemala, about loving people, about serving, that it´s hard to know where to go from here. After a year of learning so much about Latin America and its people, I feel I want to still be in a highly Latino context, but that I want to be closer to home, and so I have decided to do another year of service through the Young Adult Volunteers program, this time in San Antonio, TX. I will be working with primarily Latin American women who are victims of violence through a coalition of organizations seeking to end domestic violence and abuse. I´m very excited to work with Latinos, especially women, from this side of the border, and to get to live intentionally in a house with other Christian young people who are YAVs. I feel that my time in Guatemala prepared me for this next experience, and I hope that you could continue to partner with me in this next chapter, as I continue to discover where the Lord is leading me.

Thank you again for your ongoing support as I finish this year in Guatemala, and for continuing the partnership into next year´s new adventure in San Antonio.

Bendiciones, juli
http://gamc.pcusa.org/give/E051475/

"I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now." - Philippians 1: 3-5

a trip to the circus

2011-07-20T18:09:00.006-04:00

Oh yes, you read right, world -- I went to the circo this past weekend with my host brother and his 3 kids. Why yes, they do have circuses in Guatemala, but let me tell you-- It was no Barnum & Bailey...

So first off, I was somehow picturing a fair or a petting zoo or something, but no- This was the real deal. ´Big top tent´ and all. The show included but was not limited to... 2 little people, 2 strippers, several minors, 2 monkeys, 1 llama, 1 pony, and approximately 3 actual acrobats. Let me give you the play-by-play...

Act 1: Trampoline by 2 little boys and 2 little people (1 inexplicably dressed as a devil??), supervised by 2 random guys. Umm.. Impressive because I couldn´t do what they did... Buutt that´s not saying much.

Act 2: Clown named Hamburguesa. Annoying / creepy.

Act 3: Flying wrap-yourself-in-fabric man. This one was legitimately really cool... Especially because everytime the guy went up in the air, it was because a man, a boy, and a little person were pulling on the rope to make him fly. Yep.

Act 4: Clown again. This time my host brother´s kids went up as volunteers to leap frog with the clown.

Act 5: Man in steel wheel. This one was legitimately cool, too-- He spun around in all different directions

Act 6: Clown with unicycle. Uhhh... ?

--Intermission--

Act 7: Strippers. Yep, that´s good for the kiddos. Maybe I´m exaggerating, but they were essentially wearing underwear and ¨dancing¨ to Cintura Sola. I was uncomfortable.

Act 8: Really young and flexible girl. She was pretty impressive... and also like 8. I tried not to think of a life as a little girl in the circus.

Act 9: A very sad monkey came out on a leesh with Hamburguesa the clown. He didn´t really do much, but the kids loooved him.

Act 10: This time Hamburguesa came out with a pony. Again, just walked around a bit, but then he got some audience members (again, my host cousin) to ride the pony.

Act 11: The Grand Finale! Hamburguesa with a llama. Why a llama? Well why not?! Oh, and one more thing- The monkey was riding the llama. That´s not something you see every day. So very bizzarre.

And that was pretty much the whole show. It was a little bit of everything, to say the least. And I´m glad I could go... but I don´t know that I ever want to go to the circus, in Guatemala or elsewhere, again.

bendiciones, juli

Guatemalaisms

2011-07-16T14:42:00.007-04:00

Si Dios quiere (if God wants)
Primero Dios (literally, ´God first,´ but understood as ´God´s plans first´)
A ver que dice Dios (we´ll see what God says)
Si Dios me presta la vida (if God lends me the life)

These are a few of the many super common Guatemalaisms that I have come to love this year. Why? Because I love the way that in making any plans (See you tomorrow, Let´s have lunch, I´ll be right back...), most Guatemalans will add in ¨See Dios quiere¨ or ¨Primero Dios¨ -- reminding me that, no matter what plans I feel I can make and commit to, God always has the last word.

For example, my fellow YAV, Katharine, got appendicitis about 5 weeks ago and had to have an emergency apendectomy here in Guatemala. Everything turned out pretty much fine after about 2weeks straight in bed healing. She had classes to teach and exams she´d planned to adminster, but nope! Didn´t happen, because God´s plans came first.

I feel that God has been constantly teaching and re-teaching me this year that my life is not my own, my plans are not my own, and that God is bigger than anything I can even imagine. Lots of stuff didn´t turn out the way I thought it should this year, but that´s okay, because God gave me different / even better adventures. As I finish my last 3 weeks here, and prepare to be thrust back into the US, to my parent´s house in Alexandria for 3.5 weeks, and then to start brand new adventures in San Antonio, I´m trying to adapt the ¨Primero Dios¨ mentality. I have things I want to do to round off this year, and things I want to do once I back to Alexandria-- but the Primero Dios mentality tells me that I can make plans, of course, but need to gracefully accept when they don´t quite turn out as I had expected, because God had something better in mind. Grace in flexibility - Yes, world, that´s a hard one for Juli to learn.

Hope you have a great weekend, world. See you stateside in about 2.5 weeks (primero Dios)
bendiciones, juli

Also, for more on Katharine´s all-star-ness, read her blog! http://www.katharinecurles.blogspot.com/

2011-07-13T19:55:00.007-04:00

¨If you are appalled by what you see here, please don´t try to start a revolution for us- a revolution from which you can flee when the real bullets start flying. If you really want to help us, go back to your own country and work to change the policies of your government that explot our country and keep our people so poor.¨
- - Dom Hélder Câmara, archbishop of Recife, Brasil- probably the poorest part of South America

cooking lessons

2011-07-10T16:17:00.010-04:00

So as my time here draws to a close, so does my exposure to the yummy (and yeah, sometimes not so yummy) foods my host mom makes. One of the things at the top of the List of Things Juli Misses About the US is cooking/ having choice in what I eat.. but there is something 'exciting' about coming to the lunch table and having no idea what food I might be served. From tripe (why yes, the very stomach lining same that was featured in a Chilean blog.!) to fried chicken - I've gotten to try it all here, for better or for worse.

Anyway, in light of this, I have been asking my host mom to teach me how to make some of my favorite dishes. First, she taught me the most typical Guatemalan food, Pepián, which took about 290982 hours to make. Then, she told me how to make beans (which we eat at least 2 meals a day every day, so it was important to learn her secrets). This past week, she taught me how to make one of my favorite things- Chuchitos, which are a lot like Mexican tamales (corn dough stuffed with tomato-based sauce and a chunk of meat, wrapped in corn husk or banana leaf). Yummy!!!
NOTE: By "taught," I mean that she rambled off very vague recipes and quantities, and then let me "help" cook them. :)

So faithful readers, I am going to impart this sacred chuchito knowledge on you.

First, cook tomato (2 lb of very red tomato), miltomate (10), and chile pepper (1 of your choice) in a pan. Let this mixture sit to cool and put it all in the blender. (No, we don't have a functioning fridge or a microwave, but of COURSE we have a blender! OOoh, Guatemala.) Blend it well, adding salt to taste- but don't let it get too watery. This is now called recado.

Now put the recado in a pan with about 2oz of lard (yeahhhhh this is when I got less excited about eating chuchitos all the time...), a pinch of sugar (this IS Guatemala, after all), a heaping tablespoon of consumé, and salt to taste. Stir this all together in the pan, and let it boil for about 30min.

To make the masa (dough), take 2lb of corn flour (or boiled, ground-up whole corn kernals if you have them sitting around) and add cold water until it becomes a doughy-paste, about 1/2lb of melted butter (or lard), and salt to taste. This is the masa.

Now the fun part; Assembling the chuchito. I have to admit- my chuchitos are never going to win any beauty awards, but they were yummy, and, well, let's be real- that's all that matters.

Now, take a golf-ball shaped ball of masa and mush it flat (or make a tortilla if you can), making a little bowl-home and scoop in the recado and a chunk of raw meat (chicken or pork or beef or whatever). Fold out a corn husk in front of you, and carefully put the masa bowl upside-down on the corn husk. Fold the sides of the husk in, the top toward the bottom, and tie a little corn-husk bow around the top to make it stay together. I wrote that all in 1 simple sentence, but believe me -- this is when the men are separated from the boys. Not easy, world.

Put all of your chuchitos (in our case, 78) into a huge pot, fill it until about 1in below the level of the chuchitos, and let it boil on your wood-fire stove with strong fire for about 1.5hr.

And there you have it, about 4 hours later-- you have a hot delicious treat!

Buen provecho, world!
bendiciones, juli

a volcanic ascent

2011-06-28T11:02:00.010-04:00

Brodie is here!! Wahoo!!

Last weekend, we took advantage of a sunny morning to go 1.5 hours away to the Volcàn Pacaya to have a little hike. It`s been on my Guatemala Bucket List to hike a volcano, and I finally got to do it- It was amazing!

It took about 1.5 hours to summit (and, I`m not going to lie, it was a bit harder than expected) with a guide and our very motley crew. We had some Mennonites in Birkenstocks (who ended up going up on burros), some 60ish year old Swiss people, 3 very speedy Israeli girls, and a guy in a sports coat and loafers. What a team!

On the way up, we passed through lush greenery and saw amazing views of surroudning volcanoes, farmland, small towns, and God`s amazing creation. It was a bit steep, but such amazing views! Once we got to the top, it seriously seemed like we were on the moon! Totally barren, black volcanic rock everywhere with tons of steamy rocks everywhere- I felt very NASA-- It was so cool! Sadly, because this is the volcano that errupted last May, there isn`t much more lava to see, and tourists are no longer allowed to go right up to the crater (yeah, I think that`s a good call...), but it was still COMPLETELY worth it!

At the top, we went into a natural cave that was heated by VERY hot volcanic steam -it felt just like a sauna!-and, yes, we did use it to roast marshmallows!!! What a cool experience! Best of all, I got to do it with my best friend!

bendiciones, juli

future!

2011-06-27T13:09:00.002-04:00

I'm going to San Antonio next year!! I'll be serving as a YAV again in this city, hopefully working with Latina women who are victims of domestic abuse/ rape.

I'm so excited to take this opportunity to continue to work with Latin American people, to learn about injustices in my own US context, and to work with women!

Please continue to pray with me as I finalize my job placement, fundraise again, and close my Guatemala chapter.

Thanks for your continued prayers and support, world!
bendiciones, juli

playing in God's creation

2011-06-20T20:20:00.006-04:00

So I've been helping to facilitate a group of 4th year pharmacy students for the past 2 weeks from Texas Tech (and really enjoying it) and this Sunday, we took an especially special Sabbath day to relax and play.

My fellow YAV, Laura, had told me how cool it was when she went, but I tried not to get too excited, lest it not live up to the hype. Well, I got to go to Semuc-Champey with the TX Tech group, and seriously, world-- it's on my Top 10 Coolest Moments of Juli's Life list.

So we start by taking a very death-defying 30ish min pickup ride (as in, standing in the bed of the truck) from the hotel to the miiiiddle of nowhere. Surprise! We've arrived! So we pay and go on a "short hike" (which was pretty much completely straight up... Thank goodness for the Chacos, bc some people were wearing flipflops..) to the lookout place where you can see all of Semuc Champei ("Hidden Waters Under Rocks")-- the huge rushing river that goes underground for 900m and then pops out on the other end... where the river goes underground, there are maybe 15-20 turquoise limestone pools of different sizes, depths, and sizes. DANG, our God is great.

We soak in the view and catch our breath for a bit, then start the descent (keep in mind it is very much rainy season-- aka everything was VERY muddy and slippery) and after at least an hour total of hiking, we reached the water. Our guide took us to see where te gushing water goes underground (many people have died there; oh great thanks) and then we played in the 1st pool for a while... Which we thought was cool until...

We went down to the other pools and got to swim, dive, cliff jump, waterslide, and just play around in this amazing natural waterpark. The water was SO clear and beautiful, and it was miraculously sunny-- just SO beautiful!! After about an hour, we got to the very end of the pools where we could see te river shoot out again! We thought that was awesome, until...

Then, our guide took us into a little mini-cave, where we literally had to point our faces upwards in the like 3inches of air between rock ceiling and water-level... Once we (terrifiededly) got to the end of that, we swam underwater to the light to get out of the cave. I mean, SERIOUSLY?!?! So awesome!!

Then we made our way back to the first pool to meet up with the non-swimmers in the group and have a much-less-strenuous hike back to the entrance for our picnic lunch.

Man, God is amazing!!!
Bendiciones, juli

ps: photos definitely coming soon.

what does Guatemala sound like?

2011-06-12T11:40:00.006-04:00

So I have no idea what the kids are listening to these days in the US... But in case you were wondering what life here sounds like, just put these songs on endless repeat, add in some dog barks and car horns and you've pretty much got my life soundtrack....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op3qnMzxFbI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWBjvNIJagg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zp1TbLFPp8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyrZ_sKGqiw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkhMyzWAgVY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3S4dBk4E1g

Ps: I didn't pre-watch those videos, so I sincerely apologize for any inappropriateness.
bendiciones, juli

a prayer from Thomas Merton

2011-06-01T11:46:00.002-04:00

Another shout out to Brodie who sent me this in a letter not knowing that it fits PERFECTLY with my current state of future-planning...

My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that my desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

things not to do when you´re sick in Guatemala

2011-05-27T13:18:00.002-04:00

Well I've been sick for the past week and a half, world, and I've come to some conclusions based on my host mom's actions and reactions during my recovery.

NOTE: My host mom has been REALLY sweet in taking care of me, and I'm super thankful for her, but there are definitely some things about being sick in a different context that just don't translate...

- Do not help a friend move and therefore sweep a lot of dust and dog hair-- it will infect your throat
- Do not eat watermelon at night- it's "too heavy" to eat before bed
- Do not ever dream of drinking something cold while eating something hot
- Do not turn down salad and/or tamales (even if you're nauseous)
- Requesting just soup is strange
- Do not ever be barefoot even for a second
- Do not ever leave the house, ESPECIALLY if it's night time (even if it's 7:30pm, 70degrees outside and you're wearing a sweatshirt)
- Do not drink anything chilled, and God forbid anything that has ice in it
- DO NOT even dream of going out when it is raining, drizzling, misting, or looks like any of the above might happen. (Haven´t determined how this rule affects her views on showering while sick...)

I´ve been to 2 doctors now with extremely different diagnoses... and am hoping that this new medicine (an evil antibiotic) will knock out whatever my throat problem might be. Seriously can´t take it any more.

Here's to quick recoveries and opportunities for shared learning...
bendiciones, juli

bus etiquette

2011-05-17T14:42:00.004-04:00

So many people might wonder how I make the 15-30min journey from Ciudad Vieja into town to go to work each day... Well I take the camioneta, aka chicken bus (which is a semi-offensive name, so I choose not to use it) aka school buses from the US that were probably deemed unfit to carry children... So they get sent here to carry me around. Once they get here, they get painted all colors of the rainbow and totally "pimped out" (as my dad called it) with Jesus slogans and decals of semi-naked ladies.

Though it might seem straight-forward, there's actually quite a lot of etiquette necessary when riding a camioneta.

First, to get on the bus. You stand on the side of the road at a "bus stop" (which you just have to know exists where it is, because there are no signs.) Sometimes you can flag one down any old place, but this has very mixed success, so I wouldn't recommend it. So you stand on the side of the road at a "bus stop," and once you see (or hear) (or smell) your bus coming, you stick your hand out and flop it up and down. Hopefully the bus will slow and pull over and call out where they're headed and you get on. Step one: success.

Once you're on, scan the bus for open seats. If you have a gigantic basket of anything (chickens, vegetables, whatever), you can either leave it at the front or give it to the ayudante to strap on to the top of the bus. Otherwise, proceed to a seat.

It's 3-to-a-seat on camionetas, so try to find somewhere to sit as near to the front as possible. It's likely that there are a TON of people, so one is ever mindful of their purse as they squeeeeeze through lots and lots of bodies to try to get a seat. If you find a seat- Yay! Keep in mind, though, that only people over 7yr pay-- so those under 7 do not count in the 3-to-a-seat rule. That means that a woman is quite likely to have a baby strapped to their back, and one sitting on their lap, and count as 1 person. Also, it isn't too uncommon to see a lady with a box of live chickens sitting on her lap (hence the name "chicken bus). Just try to act casual and sit where you can.

So if you found a seat, congrats! If not, better luck next time. Just do your best to hold on for dear life. Usually you're so wedged in between people that there's really not even a need to hold on!

After a few minutes, the ayudante ("helper") will come around to collect your money. Always best to pay in exact change, because he is not above giving you your change in 10 and 5cent coins.

Once you start approaching your destination (which again, is not marked by a "bus stop," you just have to know where the bus is going to stop), start making your way towards the front again, squeeeezing back through all the people (or, if you're feeling really adventurous, you can hop out the back emergency exit), and off you go! After a few bumpy roads, some sharp turns, very loud music, and multiple semi-illegal passings-on-blind-corners, you arrive to your destination!

Way to go, you rode a camioneta!

Buen Viaje!
bendiciones, juli

a franciscan benediction

2011-05-14T12:59:00.002-04:00

"May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and explotation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done."

bendiciones, juli

Another trip to ¨The Coast¨ (and still no ocean)

2011-05-07T19:25:00.002-04:00

So I have long-since learned that ¨the coast¨ means anywhere that is not in the mountains vaguely in the direction of the ocean… So last Sunday, when my host family said they were taking me to ¨the coast,¨ I figured there would be no ocean involved. That was correct.

We left at ¨5 en punto¨ (aka 5:40am) and drove 2 hours towards La Democracia, but not without stopping at a gas station to fill up and see their 2 ostriches- Of course! Only in Guatemala.

So we got to my family´s friends´ house, which is pretttttty much in the middle of nowhere where electricity and running water do not go. It was so pretty! There were sugar cane fields all around and SOOO many wild fruit trees (mangos, limes, nonnis, nances, bananas, coconuts, plantains, avocados, and more mangos…)

We ate breakfast there around 7:30 or 8 (eggs and beans, in case you were wondering), and then went for a bicycle ride to the nearby ¨river¨ to cool off. Note: Riding a semi-broken bike on roads made of sand with a belly full of beans when its 20148 degrees—not the best choice. Anyway, we got to the ¨river¨ (a creek) and it was deemed too dirty to get into, so we rode into town to get some air in the tired of Flor´s bike and then rode back home—hotter than ever. At this point, I got to take a beautiful though sweaty nap in a hammock, so I was a happy camper, though wishing they´d had a fridge for a cold beverage.

I woke up to lunch preparations, which meant 2 bleeding chickens were brought out from the back to be plucked and cooked. Yep. No, I did not help pluck; but yes, I did watch, because, as my fellow YAV Laura said- If I can´t watch the complete preparation of my food, I have no business eating it. Anyway, I didn´t throw up (though I thought I might) and lunch was made. Nothing like hot chicken soup when it´s a million degrees out. Yummy.

After lunch, we rested and chatted for a while, and then the young folk took another bike ride to the river, and this time didn´t really care how dirty it was – we were dying of heat, so we got in. Everything was going well until 9year old Emiliano started splashing… An all-out water war ensued, and we eventually rode our bikes back to the house, sopping wet. It felt SO good!

I don´t know if people just instinctively carry around a change of clothes, or if it was just for this particular occasion, but when we got back, everyone else pulled out their spare outfits. Wellllll, I did not get that memo, and so was loaned a pair of very bright, very mesh Hammer pants from my host sister Claudia (40ish years old). It was very nice of her, and I was glad to be able to get out of my sopping wet skirt for the ride home.

About that time, we piled back into the cars to go home, but wait! There was a parting gift! Not only did we go and pick literally over 100 mangos on the way home, but the friends also gave us a bag of limes, a bag of nonni fruits, about 30 plantains, 3 chickens, 2 ducks, and some other random stuff. Score!
All in all, it was such a sweet day to have rest and relaxation, and a little glimpse of why God has me here in Guatemala this year.

Bendiciones a todos, and a special shout-out to my mom; Happy Mother´s Day tomorrow!
juli

Smiths in Guatemala

2011-05-04T14:09:00.006-04:00

So as I briefly posted, my parents and Erica visited Guatemala! We had a great trip-- My host sister picked up the 4 giants in her quite small car from the airport, and we stayed in Antigua for several days for Semana Santa and Easter (and walked approx 10 miles a day, and rode in a little tuk tuk when the feets got too tired). We got to see loads of beautiful alfombras and processions, and it was a really awesome display of God's glory. We also went to the longest Mass ever on Saturday night- which we were able to sit through 2.5 hours of, but seeing as my parents couldn't understand a word, we left at 10:30pm before communion.

Then, on Sunday, we rode in the back of my host dad's pickup truck to stay at my host family's house for the night in Ciudad Vieja, and had a marathon of eating! I pretty much made them fast all afternoon, and it's a good thing because when we got to my house around 3, there was a huge pot of pepián (very traditional Guatemalan dish for celebrations) with chicken AND pork, and then delicious cake that the Smiths brought. After eating, we wandered Ciudad Vieja for a while with my host parents, ending up at the park where we were made to eat more! The 4 of us shared two glasses of atól, the first sweet corn atól and the second savory white bean atól. We did not like the white kind... but it had to disappear, and so it did between the 4 of us. Then we went home to rest for a bit before we were summoned to eat again! We had delicious beans and tortillas for our second dinner at my host sister Claudia's house, and then finally went back to sleep. We awoke to a huge breakfast of eggs, beans, tortillas, and chuchitos (kind of like Mexican tamales)-- needless to say, we were treated like kings (and didn't need to eat all day Monday).

Monday, we headed in a shuttle to Lake Atitlán for several nights where we rode a ferry boat across the river. We stayed in San Marcos La Laguna, which just happened to be having their festival the nights we were there, so luckily, we got to hear the blaring music of some local talent each night! I can't say that they were good singers, but they sure were loud!

Wednesday we headed west to Xela for 2 nights, where they got to ride a public bus to meet my old host family, see the market, and eat a lot of Xelapan.

Finally, We came back to Antigua the night before their (very long) journey home (which unfortunately included a night in Miami!) and they left on Saturday.

It was a really really great chance to see them, to give them a glimpse into my life here, to eat a lot of food, and then (when they left) gorge on the American junk food that they brought me (which includes but is not limited to Chex Mix, Rice Krispie's Treats, Cadbury Eggs, and Reese's cups. Mmmmm, The United States.)

I hope that everyone else was able to have a wonderful Lenten season, and that you could reflect on what Jesus did for us on Good Friday- and then the ultimate victory of the resurrection on Sunday! Hallelujia!

Thanks for visiting, Smiths! Only a few more months until I'm back in the US of A!

bendiciones, juli

2011-04-28T23:20:00.006-04:00

My parents and sister came to visit!

We rode in tuk tuk,
walked (and had to get our shoes shined),
road in a pickup truck,
in shuttles,
in lanchas (boats),
in microbuses,
and in camionetas (school buses).

What an adventure we had!!
For more, see my picasa album of the amazing alfombras and processions we saw for Holy week and Easter, and the trips we had to Lake Atitlan and Xela! :)
http://picasaweb.google.com/julierinsmith

bendiciones, juli

Cuaresma!

2011-04-19T14:36:00.006-04:00

Happy Semana Santa, friends!

Cuaresma (Lent) in Guatemala is a very big deal. It´s esspecially exciting because I´m living with a Catholic family in a majority-Catholic country who takes me to all sorts of fun things! Each weekend, there are big processions of people in purple cloaks carrying a huge wooden float with a scene of Jesus and His cross over elaborate colored saw-dust alfombras (carpets) that line the streets. These wooden ¨andas¨(unfortunately, I don´t know what most of this stuff is called in English...) look SUPER heavy, and they carry them around for HOURS, slowly processing through towns (and changing the carriers). I think it represents Jesus carrying His cross. To me it does, anyway.

The processessions process over these alfombras, or carpets, made of sawdust. I´ve never seen such beauty come from sawdust! It´s dyed all colors of the rainbow, they make giant wooden stencils, and then they meticulously fill the spaces of the stencil with the sawdust, working for hours to make these beautiful alfombras. Truly works of art... Which are then stomped over in a matter of minutes by the purple people. Sad day.

I´ve also been able to go to ¨velaciones¨ with my host family. These are huge (stationary) scenes of Jesus´ life complete with narration and lights (and sometimes smoke effects!), and of course, the alfombras (which don´t get ruined, so they´re even more beautiful and elaborate and usually include a lot of produce). Each cathedral has a specific Gospel passage, and put up their scene in the altar for a few days, and in those days, hundreds of people come to see cthe scenes and pray, crowding the huge churches. It´s definitely not a place for those who are clausterphobic, but it is SUCH a neat chance to see, hear, taste, and feel the life of Jesus in a whole new way. Outside, it´s super alegre- with loads of yummy street food, people selling toys, and friends (my host family seriously knows EVERYONE). It´s such a wonderful way to celebrate Jesus´ life.

This lent has been an amazing chance to experience the life and death of Jesus following a completely different tradition, and I´m so glad to be in the heart of the action here in Antigua!

Have a great Semana Santa, dedicated readers!
bendiciones, juli

PS: More pictures here (from before my camera died)...
https://picasaweb.google.com/julierinsmith

el banco

2011-04-09T17:44:00.007-04:00

This blog was inspired by my banking experience just this morning...

Going to the bank in Guatemala is a test in patience. And humility. And forgiveness. And more patience.

Any time you need to go to the bank here, you should dedicate at least 30-40 minutes, and God forbid you happen to go at the end of the month when people are picking up paychecks -- in this case, you should allow at least 1 hour (and avoid it at ALL costs).

First, you enter past the machine-gun armed guard- Normal. There is one line, so you get into it, seeing no other option. After waiting for about 20+ minutes, you get to the front of the line. Hurrah! Not so fast- you are more than likely told that you aren´t in the right place. Looking around, you might think ¨Where else could I possibly be?¨ When the teller will point you toward a teeny tiny desk in the corner that probably has no one sitting in it, but surely they´ll ¨be right back.¨ So you go wait at that other desk, assured that you can skip back to the front of the line once you´re helped there.

So once the desk person returns and gives you the tiny little form (or sometimes just a small piece of scratch paper with a surely-not-arbitrary number on it) that you ´need´ for your transaction, you can skip back to the front of the line (which always goes over well with the people waiting and watching the huge white girl cut to the front).

Once you´re at the front with all necessary components, you will definitely be helped on a very personal and individual level through a Guatemalan-height glass window (which is thick and tall, so you are very unlikely to be able to hear what the person on the other end is saying, because the crack in it is probably at your chest-level) Translation: This person gets paid the same amount whether they help 1 person per hour or 20 people... So they are in no rush. Hope you´re not either.

After an undoubtedly fumbled conversation due to confusion and frustration, you will [most likely] have fulfilled your banking needs... Though probably slightly worse for ware, and definitely with no lollypop reward at the end.
The good part: most banks are air-conditioned.
The bad part: They will probably suck out your soul if you spend too much time in them.

Thanks for chances to grow patience and for the fact that I have enough money to put in a bank, God!
bendiciones, juli

one leg in the water

2011-04-07T18:00:00.008-04:00

So I was sitting having lunch in my almost-gringo-free-park today having lunch, and a little boy comes up to me and asks me if i want a shoe shine, which is a very common occurrence here in Guatemala. I look down at my Chacos and say "no, thank you." He insists, and I motion toward my sandals and say "no, thank you" -- he points to the rubber base part- offering to shine that, and I say "no, thank you," and he gets the point.

I feel kind of bad because he was an extra-cute shoe shiner (but seriously... WHAT is he going to shine?! They're sandals!) and semi-discretely watch him for a while as I eat my chicken, potatoes, and canteloupe (gotta love host families that feed you...) He's not too poorly dressed and looks relatively clean, but obviously any 6ish-year-old who's trying to shoe-shine sandals doesn't come from money. So after my decline(s), he goes and stands for a few minutes watching a group of young boys play an impromptu futbol game in the park, clearly wishing he could play, too. The other boys ignore him and he decides to make his own fun. Way to go, kid!

So he climbs up on the fountain in the center of the small park (which is about 10 feet tall, the first level about 3ft off the ground) and starts walking around the edge of the first level. Keep in mind he is probably 3.5 feet tall. He walks around, carefully staying on the 1-ft lip of the fountain's bottom basin. After a few laps, I think he had gained a bit of confidence, so he started hopping over certain parts of the rim. After several minutes, he parked it and started leaning over to look up into the 2nd level up of the fountain, swatting at the bees that mysteriously congregate there and pulling sticks and trash out of the water.

After about 15 minutes, he goes back to the walking/hopping around the edge of the 1st level. I look back down and start reading my Liberation Theology texts that we're reading for our next retreat and
SPLASH!

He's in. No, only half in - one leg, to be exact. I almost go over to help him, but as he pulls his leg out of the water, he's smiling. And then laughing. This little shoe-shine boy half-falls into a public fountain, gets out with a totally wet pant leg (just the 1) and can laugh.

Why do we feel like we have to take life so seriously, to live so carefully? Let's all try and play a little more... and not be afraid to fall (half) into the water.
bendiciones, juli

Note: I found this pict on google images (amazing) -- but it pretty much perfectly captures the little boy I'm talking about.

2011-04-02T15:18:00.002-04:00

I am now 100% fundraised!!! Thanks supporters!

bendiciones, juli

"I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now."
- Philippians 1: 3-5

Mango Season!

2011-03-26T17:46:00.004-04:00

This blog is dedicated to Brodie Pearson, who stood by me this summer and monitored my health as I faced (and conquered!) my childhood mango allergy.

It's mango season here, and let me tell you- Guatemalans do NOT mess around with their mangoes! There are big ones, small ones, green orange and red ones, "micos," "verdes," "rojos" -- it's amazing! I love mangoes! Thank God we found out I'm not still allergic!

Loads of ladies sell them on the streets cut into nice little baggies or on popsicle sticks (too nervous to try to eat those ones...) for Q5 ($.60) -- pretty much the best Q5 you can spend. Sometimes, my host mom will just hand me 1 or 2 as part of my lunch... which is kind of a bummer because the sad thing about mangoes is they're a little tricky to actually eat-- You really have to work for it.

Here´s my step-by-step guide...
First, you wash the mango, because apparently the sticky stuff on the skin can be very allergic-reaction-causing. Also, gross- Wash your fruit.
Then, you peel the mango. Peeling is also tricky because the inside fruit is super slippery. This step is usually my biggest pitfall.
Next, I like to cut the fruit into strips or chunks or pieces or whatever I can manage without dropping the slippery mango... Being careful to avoid the huge pit in the middle.
Finally, you enjoy your mango. Mmmm.
Lastly, suck all of the fruit off of the pit. Make sure to get all sorts of stringy stuff in your teeth.

If you're willing to invest the time, these fresh mangoes will NOT let you down-- but I would definitely recommend preparing them in private if you're still a newbie- because, speaking for myself, it's not pretty.

Have a good weekend friends, and Buen Provecho!
bendiciones, juli

Feliz Día Internacional de la Tortilla !

2011-03-21T11:24:00.007-04:00

Ode to the Tortilla, so corny and round,
I've been so much happier since you I found.
You accompany every meal, helping me scoop,
And I do mean EVERY meal- even with soup!
If a fork or a spoon are nowhere to in sight,
I won't be afraid, no I won't get a fright;
I know you will help me to eat every last bite.

My only complaint, yes my one only gripe
Is why it's so hard to make you look right.
I clap and I clap over the hot griddle plate,
Trying my hardest a flat circle to make.
But only to find, with my greatest gringa effort,
a little corny blob that looks more like a jeffert. (??)

So an ode to you, Corn Tortilla, on this your special day,
Thanks for making meals yummier, in your very special way.

Real Problems

2011-03-19T14:24:00.011-04:00

Phew. Finally a few days to catch my breath after 4 fun and exhausting weeks of traveling.

After FiP trip #1 in Jalapa, I left the very next morning to accompany a Cedepca trip- 2 days in Guate and then 5 in good old Xela. The trip was put together by an ex-YAV (Guatemala 2003-2004) who formed a group of Guatemalan women from all over the country into a theater company of sorts to give them a place to express themselves and share their stories. They get together each year with about 6 women from Winchester, VA, who pay their ways and their boarding for the week-long retreat. During the week, we also got to visit the health post in a rural aldea oustide of Xela (Pachaj, where I did a week of language school) and give two info sessions and teach women how to do breast exams. It was a really cool week, and also really eye-opening, mainly because of one of the Guatemalan women, Petrona.

Petrona and her 8year old daughter, Petronila came all the way from Northern Guatemala to be with us for the week- a journey I´m told took 24 hours by foot, boat, and bus-- all expenses paid by the Winchester ladies, or else I´m sure she could have never come. She and her daughter are native kekchí speakers (in fact, her daughter doesn´t speak Spanish) and are from a very small village near Lake Izabal in Petén. They´re really tiny ladies with really huge hearts.

One night, Jenny split us up into 2 groups to share stories. The prompt was to tell a time when we experienced hunger, or helped a friend who was experiencing hunger. Petrona offered to go first, and shared the following story (which I translated).

About 15 years ago, when she had only 5 kids, her husband got a job. When he got this job, though, he started to drink. Every night, instead of coming home to his wife and 5 children, he went to the bar and drank away his money. When Petrona asked and begged him not to spend their money this way, he would hit her. The family literally did not have food. Not just a low-stocked fridge and pantry full of food they didn´t feel like eating- literally nothing to eat. Finally, even though she had 5 kids to take care of, Petrona had to take matters into her own hands because they were eating nothing but a few corn tortillas each day. So Petrona started carrying water from the water source to people´s houses for Q.25 each way. That´s about the equivalent of US $.03 per journey-- I didn´t have the heart to ask how far it was, or how many trips she could make each day... But I´m pretty sure it didn´t amount to much. Somehow she maintained her family this way for nine years. Nine years.

Apparently after 9 years, her husband stopped drinking, or things got better, or something... but little Petrona definitely gave me a Real Problems moment. There at that table, she was willing to trust us -essentially strangers- enough to share these dark times with us. Us, women from a different country and a different context. Women who had never experienced hunger, and most likely never will. Petrona shared her Real Problems and let us soak them in and learn from them. That´s what real mission partnership looks like. Yes, the Winchester ladies paid for her to come and eat for a week which was really generous, but Petrona gave us all something way more valuable without even realizing it.

Lord, thank You for women who are bold enough to be vulnerable.
bendiciones, juli

¨The world is hungry for goodness and recognizes it when it sees it... When we glimpse it in people we applaud them for it. We long to be a little like them. Through them we let the world´s pain into our hearts, and we find compassion.¨
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Faith in Practice Trip #1

2011-03-11T23:34:00.007-05:00

Well world, here's the next update from my very very busy 4 weeks...

The day after getting back from Belize, I went on my 1st Faith in Practice trip to Jalapa in Eastern Guatemala. It was a really great trip where we saw almost 2,000 patients in 4 days.

We went to 2 fairly rural villages (2 days in each) and took over a school / church. We had abotu 30 group members, half nurses and half doctors- including dentists, Ear Nose and Throat specialists, pediatricians, gynochologists, pharmacists, and general medicine.

So the day startd at 5 when we awoke because devotion was at 5:30, and breakfast at 6. At about 6:45 we'd drive for 1 hourish to the village. My job was to help triage patients in the morning (aka listen to their problem and tell them which doctor they'll see / which line they'll have to wait in), and then I translated for one of the gynos from about 10:30 on. Did I chose this? No. Did I see more than I ever wanted to see ever in my life? Why yes, yes I did. Did I have to ask uncomfortable questions in my 2nd language? Yep. Did I learn new vocabulary words? You better believe it. Did I hate it? Surprisingly, no-- it was cool to get to talk to so many women about their kids, familiy life, how they're planning their families now, etc... And I got to see some ultrasounds! ((And re-confirmed that I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be having babies any time soon....))

After patients were triaged, waited (usually for a LONG time), saw the doctor and got any blood/urine lab work done that was needed (I stayed faaar away from that table), they could go to the pharmacy that we broght with us for their medicine -- all free of charge.

Each day we finished about 4 in the afternoon, packed up a bit, and then headed back to the hotel to rest, rinse, and repeat the next day. It was definitely tiring, but great to get to know the group and cool to be able to serve Guatemalans in such a tangible way. Though I fear it kind of perpetuates the Santa Claus syndrome regarding people from the US, I'm so glad that I could be a part of the trip and look forward to the next FiP trip I'll take!

bendiciones, juli

happy sabbath

2011-03-06T19:15:00.005-05:00

This is the mural behind the altar in the first Presbyterian Church in Guatemala (Guatemala City, 1882)

God is love.

bendiciones, juli

belize belize

2011-03-04T12:15:00.010-05:00

Alright -- Finally time to blog about the second leg of the journey...

So, LEGALLY, we had to leave the country for 3 days to renew our Guatemalan visas... And since a lot of Central America is in an open-trade-agreement of some sort, our only two options were Mexico (scary) and Belize.

We chose Belize.

SO-- after a 5hour bus ride including a semi-legit border-crossing for the all-important passport stamp... We arrived to Belize City, and then took a 1hour ferry to Caye Caulker in the Caribbean. If you ever want evidence that God is an artist, just spend 3 days here. It was absolutely one of THE most beautiful places I have EVER been. Such an incredible blessing to be able to go! (Thanks, supporters!!)

Our stay on Caye Caulker was just really great- we got to relax, enjoy the beautiful turquoise ocean, ride bikes, lay on the beach, play beach volleyball (thank God I had so much experience on the WP team....), ride in boats, be semi-independent, play Yahtzee, speak English, get a little bit sun burnt (or a lot), and just enjoy each others' company. It was glorious.

One of the most interesting things about Belize is, even though its independence from Guatemala is relatively new (1981) [most Guatemalans still do not consider it an independent country], it was SUCH a different culture! The official language is English, but many also speak Spanish, and pretty much everyone speaks a Creole version of English (which I could not understand). The island where we were was also just really "Caribbean," lots of black people, lots of Bob Marley, lots of dreadlocks... All the cliches you can think of about Jamaican men are real here. It was really cool :)

Probably the highlight of the trip was all Tina's idea... She found a nice Rastafarian man named RasCreek with a pretty rainbow boat, and asked to take some pictures of it our 1st day. They got to talking, and he said that he did "cruises" in his boat with snorkeling. Since we wanted to do that, we agreed to go with RasCreek (though somewhat hesitantly...) and went the next afternoon.

We left at "12" (aka 12:45), and set off with 4 other passengers plus the 5 of us. Turns out RasCreek is a semi-bitter Rasta man who very much hates The Man, loves Bob Marley and prides himself on giving really "authentic" boat trips... Every time we saw anything of remote interest (a bird, some coral, a big wave), he'd say "That's included!!" - so we knew we were getting our money's worth. After about an hour of boating, we got to the reef, and he dropped anchor, and pretty much demanded that we get off the boat; we were in Sting Ray Alley... Most of us (including me!) got out to snorkel with and hold the (huge) sting rays and sharks. It was terrifying. No injuries reported.

After that, we tried to go to the Coral Gardens, but the water was too choppy, so he did some fishing to catch us lunch (it was around 3). He caught one fish and said we were ready to start lunch... So what does RasCreek make?? Oh, it was its own little Jesus Miracle: 5 loaves and 1 fish (for 10 people)... Plus 2 carrots and 2 plantains.
On his boat-grill. Though light, it turned out to be a really delicious meal.

At about 5:30, we got back to the shore and watched the sunset, and then Creek asked us if we wanted some chicken... We confusedly agreed, and he went to "go grab some." Little did we know that he would come back with an entire [frozen] chicken to cook on his tiny fire-grill. So we start grilling the chicken, we get to see the fluorescent glowing worms that come out in the water after dark (SO COOL!!), we see some sea horses, we have reggae jam session on his boat (seriously can't even make this up) and wait for the chicken to cook...

3 hours later, our other shipmates have abandoned the cause, we've been on the boat for 9 hours, and we're real stinking hungry. The chicken is still raw in some parts, but we pick at it enough to eat something and then tell dear RasCreek that we really must be going. He's sad (and quite intoxicated at this point), but we tell him that if we get our "second wind," we'd be back. Needless to say, we did not.

It was a truly "cultural experience," and I'm so glad that we did it!

After our 3 days, we took the ferry and the 5hour shuttle back to Guatemala, and then the 8hour night-bus back to Guate, and then a 1 hour shuttle back home to Antigua. It was a really really great time to relax and recharge for the 2nd half of our year.

Thanks so so much to our supporters who made it possible! Have a good week, world!
bendiciones, juli

tikal !!

2011-02-26T17:12:00.015-05:00

Hello world!! We're back from YAV retreat/ visa renewal in Tikal and Belize! It was an amazing trip, and such a blessing to be able to recharge and relax for a week. A huge thanks to my supporters for making it possible!!

So I'll start with the full report on Tikal...
We took a 9hour charter bus from Guate to Flores in the very northern part of Guatemala (which included only 1 road-side pullover to see why there was smoke and a distinct burning rubber smell... No answer found. It also entailed watching only the last 15min of Big Daddy approx. 3 times, and the disc menu on The Pacifier for about 20 mins straight) Once we arrived in Flores, we stayed the night, and then bright and early, took a 1hour shuttle to Tikal- The ancient Mayan ruins that were constructed/ inhabitted between 800BC and 900AD.

The whole park is 16km x 16km, so we definitely got our walking in-- we saw a LOT of the temples, and climbed many of them which were many many meters high (using less-than-safe ladders... turns out i'm kind of afraid of shakey ladders.) It's in the middle of the jungle (read: malaria mosquitos), so we saw two different types of monkeys, many exotic birds, and a bunch of other animals! It's unknown why the town was abandoned, but I'm guessing that people got tired of climbing so many stairs in their huge headdresses. Or the jaguars ate them.

After a very long day exploring with our tour guide, we had a huge late lunch and headed back to the town of Flores for a dinner of street food buffet. Mmmm.

All in all, I'm so glad that we could go -- it's such a huge part of Guatemala's past and I'm really glad I could experience it-- thanks so much supporters! :)

half-way point!

2011-02-12T14:02:00.001-05:00

Well friends, I've made it half way through my YAV year in Guatemala!

So far, my time here has definitely NOT been what I expected it to be, but I'm really really thankful for the chance to be here -in Xela and Antigua- to grow, explore my faith, learn about Guatemala, and experience COMPLETELY different government, food, climate, and economic situations than I'm used to. I'm looking forward to seeing what the Lord has in store for me over the next 6 months, though I can only imagine what it will be...

Things I Miss About Home
- Free refills
- Diet Dr. Pepper (and, of course, the off-brand versions I usually bought)
- Cooking for myself (when I want, what I want, as much as I want)
- Driving (Though I really do like taking public transportation... except when it gives me fleas or I get on the wrong bus)
- Being able to blend in
- Washing my face with warm water
- Being able to go outside when it's dark
- Mail being reliable/dependable
- Schools that teach people how to think critically/ solve problems

Things I Like Better Here
- Coca Light (it just really is different than Diet Coke!)
- Warm Spring weather allll the time (yeahhh... sorry about that snow!)
- Having a super long lunch break where I can read (I've read like 18 books already this year!)
- Not having exams or essays ever (Although having a finished product really would be nice once in a while...)
- Corn tortillas EVERYwhere
- People being more concerned with work relationships than work productivity (though... that obviously has its downsides)
- Trying to like coffee
- Getting care packages (send me one!)
- Hearing/ feeling thunder and learning it's actually a volcano puffing
- Seeing beautiful Mayan women wearing beautiful traditional trajes
- Women carrying baskets on their heads like its no big deal

So there you go, friends-- Thanks for sticking with me through the 1st half of my journey.
bendiciones, juli

PS: Don't forget to look at my pictures...
picasaweb.google.com/julierinsmith

Quinceañera !

2011-02-07T12:18:00.006-05:00

Well world, week 1 of my Antigua life has come and gone --- and I'm settling in slowly but surely :)

This Saturday, I went to the quinceañera of a niece of my host mom, and let me tell you, it was QUITE a production. I'm pretty sure they spent more on this than I will spend on my wedding.

It started with a mass that was to start at 4:30pm (so it started at 5:30), complete with a (very high school) small orchestra and marimbas! Highlights from the mass included the birthday girl's wedding dress; the priest's sermonette, in which he urged the birthday girl (Daniela) to enjoy her parents now because they would soon die, and to only make friends who don't do drugs. Pretty good advice. After the service, we sat and watched the birthday girl get her glamour shots taken in her dress, and then there was a receiving line outside (Wasn't quite sure what to say... "I'm a stranger to you, but way to go- you made it to 15??").

We then went to the reception in the back of the pickup (in dresses, yes- always classy). It was held at the high school basketball court/ Ciudad Vieja banquet hall and and it was FAN-CY...There were seats for about 300 people, and lots of bow-tied waiters. To say that people pull out all the stops for their quinces is an understatement... There were 3ft-tall-ish center pieces on each table (And yes, my host mom did take ours home with her) and a swing haphazardly hung from the rafters (again, we're in the gym) where Daniela ceremonially received her last doll to represent changing from child to young adult after her grand entrance to the party (which, of course, included fireworks). Then there was a father-daughter dance with a toast, and then! Oh, then, there was a special surprise. Daniela's siblings had all pitched in to have a singer come to the party, and so the DJ gave Daniella some clues about who it was (he was on Latin American Idol!) and she had NOOOOOO idea who he could be... Then he came out, and of course! It was the sort of- not really actually famous- I think I've seen your face before Jose Franciso Juarez! Duh!! He sang some (very awkward) love songs to the birthday girl, and then we all ate a Guatemalan-fancy dinner, complete with pitchers of coke and individual bottles of rum on each table.

At about 8:15, the lights went out, the candles were extinguished, and the whole place turned into a disco/ High School homecoming dance!! All the 15year olds flooded the dance floor and started bumping and grinding, right there in front of grandma!! It was complete with fancy lights, a smoke machine, and a bubble machine! [Sadly, no, I did not participate, being 1 head taller and a lot lot whiter than everyone else on the dance floor.] We stayed, watching them dance to SUPER loud reggeaton music until about 9:15, when they STILL had not cut the cake, but we headed home anyway, centerpiece in hand.

It was a really fun night, and definitely not what I expected going into it... But then again, nothing in Guatemala is ever what you expect it to be.

Hope this update finds you well, faithful follower!
bendiciones, juli

a wedding!

2011-01-31T14:11:00.006-05:00

Nothing like a wedding to welcome a stranger into your family... So on Saturday night, I went to the wedding of my new host Dad's brother!

My host parents said we'd leave at 4:30, so I got ready, and at about 4:40 went into the kitchen to signal I was ready to leave... Then I started watching TV because it was 4:50... then 5:00... then 5:15... Then finally at 5:30, my host parents surfaced, and we were off in the pickup (a nice change, because my other family had no vehicle)... But only after getting some gas (less than 1 gallon... and all the while the engine running...).

When we arrived to the venue (a restaurant), we realized the ceremony had already finished (by this time it was after 6) Wah Wah. So we parked the pickup, and my host mom started shyly making the rounds, saying hello to the 60ish guests, before we took seats at the one big U-shaped table. Soon, dinner was served (4 plates at a time- truly Guatemalan style), and I managed to spill beans literally all over my skirt. Smooth. Luckily, we were sitting outside in the dark, so no one knew except for my host mom who helped me to clean it all up.

After about an hour of eating, the bride and groom (and 1 other couple) danced to about 1 song, and then at 7:30, they got into their car to ride off into the sunset on their honeymoon. The rest of the guests hung around chatting inside, (with more and more people coming and expecting food up until we left!) and eventually at around 10 we said goodbye.

It was fun, but definitely awkward, because not only did I not know anyone in the extended family, but I barely even knew my host parents! Haha. I was certainly glad I could go, though... it was definitely a unique experience.

Hope all are well,
bendiciones, juli

Note: My host mom is not really smiling because earlier that day one of her front teeth fell out eating corn on the cob. Seriously. I didn't have the heart to ask if it was a real tooth or a denture...

new address!

2011-01-28T12:38:00.002-05:00

Also, here's my new mailing address--
Juli Smith
Apartado Postal 315
Antigua, Guatemala CA

Again, Please do NOT send BOXES (mailer envelopes instead) or anything that is super duper important, because stuff takes its time to get here (2-3 weeks)... but sometimes never makes it :(

PS: There are still 2 YAVs in Xela, so any mail already on its way there will eventually make its way to me through them.

Thanks, friends!

a new home

2011-01-28T11:45:00.004-05:00

Well, friends, I've made the move!
I'm now living with a family outside of Antigua in Ciudad Vieja (the 'old city' that used to be the capital of Guatemala way back when). It's a VERY different set-up here; I have way more space to myself and a lot less people living in a very small space and sharing 1 bathroom- it's a big change, but I'm adjusting. My host parents are both in their 60s and make their living by selling snacks and lunches to 2 nearby coffee fincas. They're very chatty, and though they've hosted many foreigners before, they seem genuinely interested in who I am and why I'm here, so it hopefully won't take too long to settle in with their family. Also, a few of their adult-children (a little older than me) live down the same alley as us, so there are always a lot of people and kids around, and yet my room is separate, so I can still have plenty of privacy. I even have windows in this one, so I can know when it's night and day!

I'll officially start work on Monday at Faith in Practice- helping out around the office, warehouse, and guest house until/ between accompanying and translating for groups- which will be starting in the middle of February- Very exciting! Of course, starting a new job is always awkward at the beginning, so I'm trying to pass quickly through that phase to where they know what I can do/ what to do with me.

Otherwise, I'm just re-acclimating myself to Antigua, learning a new bus system, and trying to find my place in my new living environment-- Apparently there's a wedding to go to tomorrow, so I'm sure that will help speed things right along. :)

Hope everyone is doing well, and that all that snow isn't too much of a bother!
bendiciones, juli

Also, here's a cool prayer that I found from Julia Esquivel, a Guatemalan poet...
"You illuminate our darkness and fill our saddness with hope.
Because You are stronger than I, I have let myself be captive, and Your love burns in my heart.
The thirst for Your Truth has made me a pilgrim, from city to city,
Until the day Your Word is fulfilled, and we are reborn in Your image and likeness.
Captivate me, Lord, until the last of my days,
Wring out my heart with Your hands of a wise Indian,
So that I will not forget Your justice,
Nor cease proclaiming the urgent need for humankind to live in harmony."

a time for everything

2011-01-24T14:56:00.006-05:00

¨For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under Heaven...
A time to weep, and a time to laugh...
A time to keep and a time to cast away.¨
- Ecclesiastes 3: 1, 4, 6

Well friends, the time has come for a change for Juli-- a big one. This Wednesday, I´ll be moving to Antigua, Guatemala --a 3.5ish hour drive from Xela where YAVs Laura and Andrew live, and my director Marcia-- and where we started our Guatemalan journey with language school in September.

This has been a really hard decision for me, as I´ve spent nearly 4 months now in Xela, living with my huge and never-dull host family, working at the elderly lunch program, and searching for another part-time project to do. During these months, I´ve talked to 8 organizations-- none of which seemed like good matches because the positions either weren´t what we thought they´d be, didnt´t fall within YAV regulations, or just plain old didn´t interest me. Seeing so many doors close on me, and the frustrating irony of being bored in one of the poorest countries in the world has been extremely trying for me- but I´ve learned a lot about myself and my true passions, so I can see value in this time.

So, 2 weeks ago, my director Marcia asked if a change to Antigua to job-search there might be better... And after our retreat last weekend, I stayed overnight in Antigua to talk to a few people. Here´s where the story gets happy. Marcia´s neighbor took me to his organization, Faith in Practice- an organization that has teams of doctors come to rural Guatemalan villages to do free medical exams during week-long trips. For those who need surgery, they also have surgical teams come down and have their very own (small) guest house where people can stay, free of charge, pre- and post-op. I´ll be accompanying and translating for this trips probably 1 or 2 weeks per month, and then helping out around the office/guest house for the remainder of the time- helping around the guest house, preparing the medical-supply boxes for the trips, data entry of who/what they saw, etc.

After interviewing with FiP, I felt different; not confused, or discouraged, or defeated, but hopeful- like I really could do that and enjoy it a whole lot. So, after a lot of thoughtful prayer and reflection on my time here in Xela, I -with the help of my YAV team- decided that moving seemed like the best idea for Juli.

On Saturday I told my host family- which was hard, because though they´re not perfect, they´ve been very kind to me and it will be hard to leave them, but they took it well; more surprised than anything else. We´re all sad that our relationship has to end early, but I assured them of several visits over my next 6ish months here, so I´m confident this won´t be the end.

So there you go, world. A time of change. I´m looking forward to what God unfolds for me in this next chapter- and as always, thanks so much for your continued prayers and support, world.

bendiciones, juli
http://www.faithinpractice.org/

monterrico, ooh que rico!

2011-01-20T14:38:00.012-05:00

Hello, world!

Sorry it´s been a little while... Things around here have been fairly tranquilo as Christmas break dragged on for me and we continue to search for new work projects for me to do for the rest of my YAV time here...

However, we did have another (monthly) YAV retreat at the beach this past weekend! Monterrico! Even though Guatemala is NOT known for its beaches, (If you are a surfer, or a beach connoisseur, don`t come here) Monterrico is warm and clean... so for us, it was a lovely getaway! The beach was black volcanic sand, and the waves were SUPER strong!! We really didn´t want to go in past our knees for fear of being pulled out to our death by the sea! Because of this, all the hotels around have pools, so we spent most of our water-time in our hotel`s pool, which was a very pleasant change from Xela`s frost in the morning. Also, there are a LOT of mosquitos (and other flea-LIKE biting pests) down there, so we came back with many recuerdos of our time there.

Saturday night, our first night, we were able to do a sea tutle race. I didn´t know what this was, and was picturing some sort of disturbing cock fight, but never fear world- it was totally (mostly) PC. It´s the end of sea turtle egg-hatching season, so everyone there paid to have a baby turtle, which we then all let go of at the same time, màs o menos, to see whose got to the ocean first. Mine was definitely a squirmer, so sadly he wasted most of his energy before hitting the sand... but it was fun, and the money goes towards the turtle conservatory, so hopefully little Johnson is the 1 in 1000 that makes it... I bet he is.

Other than that, we did our usual retreat activities; sharing stories from the month, relaxing, discussing the assigned reading (Omnivore`s Dilemma-- you should read it), and utilizing the abundance of hammocks at the hotel. It´s a good time.

On Monday morning, we took a sunrise canoe boat-tour of the mangroves in Monterrico. Yes, that´s right- sunrise, as in 5:30am... but it was totally worth it! The mangroves are full of trees whose roots grow from above into the water, and loads of water fowl whose names I don´t know in English, and it was really really pretty. We also got to see many fishermen and see the sun rise on the Pacific-- not too shabby.

I got back to Xela last night on an eventful shuttle ride (which took 2x longer than normal and included the standard tire change and a road-side pickup on the highway), many bugbites, and just a hint of a tan, so it was all worth it.

Hope everyone´s doing well. Thanks for following along, world!

bendiciones, juli

Lunch

2011-01-05T13:46:00.004-05:00

John 6:5-6
¨Lifting up His eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward Him, Jesus said to Philip, ´Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?´ He said this to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.¨

I was reading John the other night, and this passage really stuck out at me. At this point in the year, I´ve completed almost 5 months in Guatemala, and to be honest, world, it´s definitely been a series of ups and downs- sometimes more downs than ups. Fleas, parasites, semi-abusive family situations, elderly people that can´t afford to feed themselves-- don´t exactly lend themselves to an easy adjustment... In the midst of it all, I´m sometimes tempted to feel hopeless, like God has left me, or I´ve strayed from God´s will or something like that, but this passage points out what a lie all of that is.

Peter was surely wondering the same thing, and when JC asked him how they could feed the growing crowd, it wasn´t because He didn´t know. He created the people, created the desire in their heart to hear Him speak, brought them to Himself on the hill that day at lunchtime- He knew they would come and He knew they´d be hungry.

Sometimes I act like I think Jesus doesn´t know where lunch will come from; like my future is some unsolved mystery- I have no idea why I´m here or what this year in Guatemala is preparing me for, and I convince myself that surely if III don´t know, the God of the universe must share that uncertainty. But this passage shows that God knows (and has known since He created me) where lunch will come from ((a huge awesome miracle, by the way)) and how my life story will unfold.

The very next thing that follows in the book of John is Jesus walking on the water towards the boat where the disciples were shaking in their boots at a huge storm that suddenly hit. In the middle of the scariness, Jesus walked toward (not away from) the disciples in the most impossible of ways, and said, ¨It is I, do not fear.¨ In the middle of the storm, the mess, the confusion that is this year, Jesus is coming toward me, and has known all along what the end (and the journey TO the end) will look like.

Take courage, friends- God is big, and always has a plan for us for lunch.
bendiciones, juli

PS: After my google image search, I am majorly craving PB&J.

feliz año nuevo!

2011-01-03T15:16:00.006-05:00

Hello friends, and welcome to 2011!

And I know what you´re thinking... the missionary life reallllly looks hard here, doesn´t it?? Well, this was my extended Sabbath break...

So I went to the beautiful Lago Atitlán for new years! I went with a college group from Illinois State Univ that was volunteering for a week at the nonprofit school that YAV Katharine works at-- I went to ¨help translate¨ aka take a break and get a free shuttle bus ride to do it. It was beautiful.

So Atitlán has long-since been known for its strong hippie influences, and let me tell you world, we stayed in the most hippie dippie of hostels- as in, some patrons chose to not wear shoes, there was no electricity in my room... but who cares- it was in Santa Cruz and RIGHT on the lake- talk about idyllic (and $4 a night)! We arrived on the 31st, and since it was a University-sponsored trip, they had a no-alcohol policy, so we had a dance party until 11:50, counted down, and then (of course) set off some fireworks... The owners´ kids were probably about 7 and 9, and don´t worry friends, they got right in there with the roman candles and bottle rockets. Good stuff. Then, Katharine and I went out on a dock and watched the hundreds of fireworks going off all around the lake under the stars--- Is this seriously my life??

On January 1st, we rented a kayak and went out on the lake, boated, swam, and (small) cliff jumped-- what a wonderful way to kick off this new year! In the afternoon, the group went touristing around the lake, and Malea (my friend/trip organizer from Katharine´s school) hung back as ¨emergency contacts¨ to relax... it was glorious. It was so sunny and warm- we spent virtually all day lounging in the hammocks... Much needed R&R. We did go on an epic quest to get Juli a coca light- mainly because we were bored... we went to about 8 tiendas (little family-run stores) before we found 1 store that had 1 dusty can that was probably from the year 2000. Oh well, it gave us an excuse to go to the top(ish) of the mountain -- suchhhh a beautiful view!

Sunday, the group headed back to Xela and Katharine and I poked around the lake some more (using ferry boats to get from one town to the next), and then went to visit the foundation through which her US family sponsors students for school. We stayed over night with Benedicto and his wife Maria, and learned all about the amazing things they´re doing in San Juan La Laguna. Very nice to meet them and some of the students. .. Inspiring things are happening there, world.

Thennnnnnnn I remembered I was in Guatemala. Mom, you might want to stop reading. We took the 6am public bus back to Xela (about a 3hr ride with all of the stops)... and after about an hour, the bus stopped and the driver said the road is ¨cerrado¨ (closed) and he can´t go any farther and is returning to Atitlàn. Oh good, thanks... So everyone gets off the bus, and we walk through a corn field to get to the highway nearby (I wish I was making this up). We get to the highway, the 60ish Guatemalans (and 3 white people) that were on the bus... and we just stand there, trying to flag down buses, microbuses, or pickups that are going to/towards Xela. Good idea. Meanwhile, vehicles keep trying to turn to go where we came from, but the road is ¨closed,¨ and traffic is building up in the opposite direction... and kind of tapering off coming in ours. Good. The reason for this? ¨Saaaaber.¨ (Translation: who knows. More accurate translation: There is no real answer.) We saw several big trucks FULL of Guatemalans standing up going in that direction- and later learn that it was a national ¨manifestation¨ to protest the nothingness the president is doing by blocking highways all over Guatemala… I´ll let you decide how affective that sounds.

In any event, after about 45 mins roadside, a mostly-full public bus stops, picks us up off the side of the highway, and eventually we make it to the bus terminal in Xela... Thank you, Jesus for this miracle.

Hope that everyone else´s new years stories have happy endings! Bendiciones to all, faithful readers!

una navidad guatemalteca

2010-12-27T12:36:00.007-05:00

Alright, faithful followers- Here it is. The long-awaited Guatemalan Christmas report.

About 3 weeks ago, we started our extensive decoration plans for the tree/tree area. Being that the tree is about 3 feet tall, we put it on 2 platforms, covered it in bulbs/ home-made ornaments/ tinsel, and surrounded it by a little Christmas town. Now, I don´t want you to get the wrong idea. This Christmas town included a castle made out of papertowel tubes, a plastic play town, a gigantic Mary and Joseph, tinsel, and allllll sorts of porceline/plastic animals (from ducks to turtles to dolphins to reindeer...) No worries if the scale is off... We just want to fill the space with as many items as possible. We also to a neighboring plot and took about 30 10-foot-tall corn stalks in order to make a fence to surround the whole ¨nacimiento¨ (nativity scene). The fence turned out looking really nice, but it was a real engineering marvel to try to figure out how to make it, let me tell you.

About a week before Christmas, we started the process of making a manger for Mary and Joseph-- way harder than it sounds. We used the corn stalk again, as well as about 10 sticks of glue and like 20 hours that we will never get back. Only after all of this did we check to see if the foot-tall Mary and Joseph would fit inside. They do-- but only barely. A few days before Christmas, we covered the scene with styrofoam snow and singing, colored lights... Very festive; very Guatemalan. Once I got the package, the shiny snowflake decorations my parents sent were hung over the scene, as well as the pop-out paper trees.

Alright, so fast forward to La Noche Buena- Christmas eve. We were cooking pretty much all day, though I have no idea why beacuase nothing we made really needed all that long to cook... But in any event, I stayed in the kitchen most of the evening helping. We made beet/brocoli salad with mayo dressing (it was purple), really delicious fiesta rice, and chuletas de pork... Like I said, none of this actually waranted 6 hours of prep, but we did it all one at a time. Yes, that´s right... Dinner for about 25 people, one item at a time. Good. Oh, and we also had ponche. Lots and lots of ponche-- This is basically apple cider with lots of fruit and sugar in it (papaya, coconut, grapes, apples, pineapple...). SO delicious- Definitely something I want to bring back with me.

At around 7:30pm, we had some snack paches (typical Christmas food, kind of like tamales), and my sister Vale and I made a gigantic cake, 2 cakes in fact. It was some variation on angel food cake-- it was yummy, but then we poured a mix of vanilla extract/white wine on top, and frosted it with creamy pudding stuff... It was yummy, but not exactly like Mom used to make.

So at around 11pm -oh yes, I forgot to mention: Dinner is served at midnight- people started getting a little ansy and hungry, so we went out to the street to set off our fireworks... Everyone: from ages 4 to great grandma. Good. Very safe. It´s a big tradition here to set off coquetes for la Noche Buena, so there were big and small fireworks going off allllll around us-- It was really festive (and loud).

So at midnight, we all went inside and everyone hugged everyone, and the foot-long baby Jesus made his way into the manger (which brought 2 people to tears). Finally dinner was served, and at around 1:30, our cake was served, and Juli headed off to bed.

Christmas day we got to sleep in, and just kind of hung around all day- Santa did not come to our house, and in fact, no one exchanged gifts with anyone that I saw. At noon we set off more fireworks (to celebrate the end of Noche Buena and the beginning of Navidad), more hugs, and just sort of hung around all day, and had a big meal at around 3. On the one hand, I love that the materialistic aspect of Christmas isn´t nearly as prevalent here, but on the other hand, it was hard because the day was completely centered around family time, and it made me wish I could be with my own family...

Anywho... I ended up awkwardly giving my gift (a chirades-type board game) to the family the next day at lunch, and we played for a solid 3 hours... Needless to say though it was a day late, it was a hit!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas, and that God blesses you in this new year!
bendiciones, juli

feliz navidad!

2010-12-27T12:33:00.002-05:00

To those who didn´t see... Here´s a little Christmas greeting my fellow YAVs and I made at retreat...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80IS1HNrt0Y

Rules of the Road *

2010-12-17T23:19:00.003-05:00

So it's a YAV rule that we´re not allowed to drive this year, and though I miss Harrison, Here´s a few reasons why I´m glad I´m not driving...

1. Go as fast as you can, but don´t forget to slam on your break the second before you reach one of the millions of speed humps.
2. Turn your radio on and turn the volume up all the way. Afterall, everyone around you surely wants to listen to whatever you're listening to.
3. You have the right of way. If someone tries to challenge that, honk as much as you can, and if they continue, angrily wave your hand out the window. If they don´t back down, just go; they´ll learn.
4. Pass as you please, especially if it´s on a blind corner, or on a hill. No worries-- that lack of a shoulder shouldn´t alarm you. You have places to go, and you definitely can't wait to get there.
5. You must go the second the light changes to green, even if there is someone in the ¨cross walk¨ (extra points if it´s a gringo) -- they´ll move.
6. Turn your blinker on. Don´t worry if it doesn´t coorespond to anything in particular... it is pretty and flashy.
7. Honk your horn if you see a pretty lady or if you think you know a person on the street. Go ahead and stop where you are if you do know them; it´s always a good time to say ¨hello.¨
8. Use your hazard lights if you´re about to do something no one would ever expect.
9. Most of all, just remember that you're the king (or queen) of the road-- your trip is more important that anyone else's, and you'd better hurry up and get there!!

Wishing you all safe travels!
bendiciones, juli

* Inspired by an English-language publication here in Xela. Yeah, I just graduated from college... I cite my sources.

To the coast!

2010-12-13T15:19:00.007-05:00

Well, another trip to ¨the coast¨ and I have still yet to see the ocean...

This time, my trip took me about an hour down the mountain to San Felipe Reu with the end-of-year retreat of my sisters´ Evangelical church. We rode in the lap of luxury (a camionetta, 3 to a seat) and sang hymns on the way down (with no music, by the by, because they believe that instruments are sinful.)

Once we arrived, it was suuuuuper hot, which was a wonderful change from the freezing nighttime tempteratures of Xela! We had a church service of sorts, some organized games (one of which was jumping over a rope that got higher and higher... I think we can all guess who one of the finalists was...), and then the whole afternoon was free time and lunch. Part of the recreation included a (super small) pool, and so I was sitting on the edge, watching my sisters play and just kind of soaking up the sun, when a few teenaged girls demanded I come over. I did, and they asked me if I could swim. I said of course (after all, I was a proud LHP Gator from ages 7-12), and they told me (not asked) to teach them how to swim. I thought they were joking, then tried to resist (being that I really didn´t want to get all the way in the water), but to no avail.

I showed them how to kick their legs on the wall, then with a ball in front of them (clearly there were no kickboards), and then showed them how to use their arms. The result was 3 girls madly flailing around, screaming and laughing. They weren´t about to break any record, but they were swimming! So unbelievable to think thatat about 16 years old, they didn´t know how to float or tread water or do freestyle... skills I learned when I was like 6.

After paying attention, though, I honestly think I was one of like 3 people out of around 60 who actually could swim. But don´t worry, that little detail did NOT stop this congregation from using the pool, in whatever (and I mean WHATEVER) they deemed appropriate for the pool (from jeans to spandex to tshirts... we´re talking all shapes and sizes)

All in all, quite a tiring but fun afternoon... Still hoping to actually see the ocean on of these trips, though...

bendiciones, juli

PS- pictures to come soon...

Xolpic Visit

2010-12-03T15:43:00.009-05:00

Feliz Diciembre!

So we YAVs went to Xolpic for 2 days (approx 4 hours from Xela)-- and let me tell you world, it was beautiful and humbling. It's literally on the top of the mountain, and so we stayed at a very basico hotel in the next biggest town (about 1 hour down the mountain) with 3 Cedepca (Marcia T's other organization) people.

So this community of 80ish families had this severe drought 1.5 years ago ((and MT was the head of organizing relief/ psychological support through Cedepca)) and then this past
summer (rainy season) they were totally flooded... No, global climate change doesn't exist, definitely not. Also, there's no electricity that high up the mountain and they have to walk like hours to get water, and have only just been able to figure out a system of collecting/ storing rain water for all that live there. Aside from those obstacles, because they're SO remote/high, they're SUUUUPER vulnerable to natural disasters/ climate change, hence Cedepca chose to partner with them to support them psychologically and agriculturally for a year. This visit that we joined was the last one, closing out their official partnership, and reinforcing that the community itself has the resources to support each other and to continue on. Very cool stuff.

Otherwise, Christmas-type things are in full swing here (which really began to happen Nov 2)-- including the 8-story Gallo cerevza fake Christmas tree outside the Greek Templo de Minerva by the biggest market in the city. Yes- it's quite a collection of cultures happening right there- complete with Gallo beer ornaments and a Gallo emblem on top. Cheap beer is apparently the official sponsor of Christmas in Guatemala. Good. Christmas time also means that all of our projects take breaks for Christmas for about a month starting after next week-- huzzah!

Hope all are well -- I've heard it's pretty darn cold at home and at Miami-- make some snow angels for me! (It's cold here at night -with no heat- but during the day it's like 50... yeah, you're jealous.)

bendiciones, juli

happy thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T15:21:00.001-05:00

Señor, da pan a los que tienen hambre, y hambre de Ti a los que tienen pan.

Lord, give bread to those who are hungry, and hunger for You to those who have bread.

bendiciones y feliz día de acción de gracias!,
- juli

San Martin

2010-11-20T15:37:00.008-05:00

Well world, another month in Guatemala has come and gone! Hard to believe that I'm about 1/4 through my year!

I spent this past week outside of the city of Chimaltenango in a small town called San Martin (central-East Guatemala) accompanying and translating for a medical mission team from Pittsburgh, PA. It was super fun!! We stayed in a Guatemalan-nice hotel in San Martin by night, and by day went out to very rural aldeas to set up free medical clinics. It was all ochestrated by the former vice mayor of San Martin, so he knew where to go/ how to get us there (different communities each day, from 20 min to 90 min away from San Martin!) We had a team of an eye doctor, 3 ER doctors, 1 Guatemalan dentist, and many nurses and other randos. It was a really great team, and I was so happy to join them this week.

Here´s some highlights...
- Free trip to the booming metropolis of San Martin
- Pineapple pie (omg, readers- you MUST try making this!) and lots of other delicious non-Guatemalan food (from an ex-pat who married a Guatemalteca and run a restaurant in San Martin)
- New vocabulary (Including uterus and gallbladder. Very useful.)
- 3 Minor surgeries (which I absolutely did not participate in or translate for)
- Free anti-parasite cookies for Juli
- 1 very steep hill + 1 very full bus = 20 terrified gringos rolling backwards
- Seeing 248 patients in the medical clinic in one day (about 850 people all week!)
- Giving out hundreds of pairs of reading glasses to people who probably can´t read

Like I said, it was a great week- even if it raised some questions about dependency on foreigners and the Santa Claus effect. All in all, though-- people who have had aches and pains and infections for YEARS got a real live doctor to sit down, listen to them, validate their problem, and give them free medicine, even if only 1 week´s worth- so I count that as success.

Hope all are well!
bendiciones, juli

Real Problems?

2010-11-14T11:43:00.004-05:00

So my fellow YAV, Katharine, sent this to me- and I really kinda like it...

http://thisisindexed.com/2010/11/poor-things-2/

I feel like I've been struggling between these two worlds the past few weeks-- as I've gotten fleas 3 times now, and possibly/probably have a parasite in addition to my stomach infection. These are legitimate freak-out-problems in the "1st world" from which I come, but are sort of just part of life here in the developing world to which I've come. It's been hard for me to figure out how to deal with these issues which are so foreign to me, but seemingly so normal to my family and other Guatemalans that I meet... Do I freak out like every fiber of my being wants to and jump on a plane when I find a new bug bite? Or do I work toward taking these things in stride and accept that somethings that are not normal for me, are very normal for other people... that some things that I see as "problems," are just a part of life for the majority of the world. We have food, they seem to be telling me, We have shelter, We have telenovelas -- What do we have to complain about??

One thing I know for sure-- that I intend to run with endurance the race that is set before me, looking always to Jesus. (Hebrews 12:1-2) Because, though I do freak out, and though these things are hard for me to adjust to, I know that God has purpose in it. So I take it one day at a time, running (and walking... and crawling...) the race God set before me, and trusting that, at some point, the itching will subside and I'll understand it all- even just a little bit better.

Deep thoughts, world. Thanks for following along.

bendiciones, juli

things my host family doesn´t understand about me

2010-11-08T11:25:00.003-05:00

So I´ve been with my permanent family for a month now, and it´s really going quite well... However, there are still some definite cultural differnces that we face. For example...

- Coffee. It is literally inconceivable to them that someone would ever prefer tea to coffee (and by coffee, I mean instant coffee). Even the 2yr old in my family drinks coffee at least 2x a day... I. am. strange.
- At most meals, I am the only one using a fork. Literally all table manners I have learned in my life go out the door here-- fingers and tortillas are the utensils of choice... and never fear if you are talking with your mouth full...
- Mayonaise. There are many reasons I am clearly not Guatemalteca, and my hatred of mayo has to be near the top of the list. It´s kind of frustrating, bc I do my very best to eat (or at least try) everything they give me (including chicken feet soup, stew with fish heads in it, and chicharones)- but I always put my foot down and abstain when something is slathered in mayo... and THAT makes me a picky eater. Hah.
- My toothbrush. It´s electric, so they call it the abejita (little bee), and I also time myself for 2 mins each time I brush my teeth (2x a day)-- and all of the above is strange to them. (Note: Pretty much all my sisters who are my age have lost at least 1 tooth to sugar decay... yeah, I´ll be keeping my funny toothbrush, thanks)
- I´m 22 and not married. All of my sisters had at least 1 child by the time they were 22. Better get on that...
- I drink agua pura... Without adding sugar... In relatively large quantities... Every day. Freak.
- Fleas bother me, and make me worried, and I actively try to prevent them. This is just somehow really foreign to them... which is really frustrating to me. Working on my one-day-at-a-time philosophy on this one.

So yeah... thought you all might enjoy a little glimpse of family-life here-- it´s really great fun living with 8 other people, and sometimes you just have to laugh when you´re the only one washing her hands and using a fork.

bendiciones, juli

this is long, but worth it, I promise.

2010-11-02T12:04:00.009-04:00

So if you ever find yourself living with a host family, a word of advice: ALWAYS go when they invite you somewhere, even if you have no idea what/where it is. The first time, this took me to a nurse´s beauty pageant at a hospital. This Sunday, it took me to the ¨coast¨ (I never saw the ocean...??) to visit a sick grandma. How did we get there, you ask? In a pickup truck. How many people went, you ask? Oh, 19. Read on, world, read on.

So we woke up at 4am to prepare for our journey... which meant cooking breakfast and packing snacks, and just generally perparing the troops. We were to leave at ¨5 en punto¨ (actually rolled out at 6:30), after about 20 mins of laoding people and things into the back of the pick up. Now, as I said-- 19 people went-- Let me break it down for you. 2 in the front of the pick up (driver and grandma), 12 adults and 5 kids in the back. Talk about intimate. So let´s also keep in mind that the sun has barely risen, so it´s COLD, I mean COLD, especially with all of the wind. So we are sitting on an old mattress, all bundled together in the back with many blankets and stuff, prepared for our 5hr ride. Yes, 5 hours.

Seeing as we live in the mountains, as we descend to the coast, it gets warmer and warmer (and the sun gets higher and higher), so every hour or so, a layer of blankets/jackets/etc gets stripped from the group. This portion also included 2 instances of people getting sick over the side of the truck. At around 9, we stopped for our lunch break, which included a mass migration up a hill to all go to the bathroom roadside. haha.

At around 11, it was getting really hot, which meant we were getting close, and were off the highway and instead on cobblestone roads and ... oops. Flat tire. Nope, no AAA in the middle-of-nowhere, Guatemala. And oh, sorry- spare tire didn´t fit in the car, either. So. There we are, on the side of the road at a coffee plantation in who-knows-where. Juli´s not panicking, nope not at all.

So the men (2) of the group took control, borrowed a car-jack and removed the bad tire... What now?? Well they went back down the hill to the pueblo to get the tire fixed. Let me be honest here, I had my doubts that there would be someone to fix it, that they´d have the money to fix it, and basically that we would ever make it out alive... Oh Juli of little faith. About an hour (and numerous tantrums from the kids) later, the men returned with a patched tire!! Praise the Lord! Off we went to grandmother´s house again!

We arrived at about 1 to a very very rural (poor) community. Everyone kind of re-introduced themselves to the VERY frail and old grandmother (their dad´s mom) and the aunts, and we waited around until lunch. Delicious lunch... too bad it only took half the time as our trip to arrive...

So, around 4 it started drizzling, so we figured we had better get to going. (Not before I, the gringa, was called in to appraise an antique sewing machine the family some how had...????).

So, we took the tarp out from under the mattress we were sitting on (just in case), and loaded back into the pickup. After driving again for about 30 mins, it starts POURING, so we clumsily put the tarp over top of us... Good. After about 15 mins, it is quite clammy under the tarp, but luckily, it´s stopped raining, so we take the tarp off. This happens a few more times throughout the return journey. Each with varying levels of actual rain-protection.

So we´re making our way home with little-to-no problems (aside from rain), and eventually it gets dark... but we keep going, obviously. BEAUTIFUL stars! At one point we passed an overturned pickup that must have JUST crashed (!!) We stopped to see if we could help (apparently we could not--they were drunk), called the firemen, and continued on our way.

By some miracle of God, we arrived home --all members of the party in 1 piece, more or less-- at around 8pm. WHAT a long day, but SO so worth it. When I´m not battling off fleas or parasites, life here is really quite grand!

So the lesson here: Always say ¨yes¨ to your host family... And also, many things that are extremely illegal in the US are very legal here.

bendiciones, juli

PS: the ¨Chacos¨ here (it was freeezing when we left, so I opted for shoes) are in the middle of nowhere at Finca Trinidad where we got our flat tire.)

address!

2010-10-25T15:45:00.005-04:00

Hello faithful followers!
Hope all are well-- Just wanted to let you know that I finally have a mailing address here in Guatemala!

Juli Smith
Apartado Postal No. 142
Quetzaltenango, Guatemala C.A.

---- Very important: Please do NOT send BOXES. Apparently they are much more likely to end up in Guatemala City and never make it out. (Mailer envelopes are the way to go)

I think it takes about 2-3 weeks for stuff to get here, but if you let me know if you send something, we´ll make sure to go to the post office to check the box more often :)

Thanks world!
bendiciones, juli

Xela!

2010-10-20T16:28:00.007-04:00

Happy Día de la Revolución!

Well world, I´ve been here in Xela for a week and a half, and I´m really liking it (except when I got sick last week- boo)! I´m living with a family here, and they´re absolutely great! Guadalupe (the mom) is one of the hardest working people I´ve ever met- and 6 out of 10 of her kids (all daughters!) still live at home, ages 24-14ish. Also, 2grandkids live here, so it´s quite a full house- but I do have my own private room, so I get privacy (but not much quiet, haha) when I need it. As expected, it´s been a little hard/awkward to find my place with this family, but they´ve been really warm and welcoming, so that´s been great. I´m learning to tortillar (make tortillas), too-- soon I´ll be ready to wed once they´re nice thin circles... but for now, let´s just say that it´s easy to tell which ones Juli made, haha. Otherwise, we also bond a lot over the telenovelas/ music videos that are on TV 24/7. Especially since my 2nd work project has yet to be found, I have a lot of free time to bond and watch novelas- so it´s not a totally bad thing!

My job is great! I´m helping cook lunch and then sit and eat lunch with the ancianos (elderly people) through a program that the Episcopalian church I go to does. It´s a really wonderful program, because most of the ancianos don´t have family, so they´ve created their own there at the lunch program-- and I´m slowly finding my way into it. It´s a really really neat program- the only problem is that it´s only like 3 hours a day, so I really feel like I have time to do another project, too... so like I said, that´s int he works (hopefully).

This photo is of my street and the bus I take every day into Xela. (Don´t ask me about the ¨Car Wash¨-- I have NO idea what that is-- that´s just one of the English phrases that never changed into Spanish around here, and I have never seen evidence of cars being washed there.) The other photo is a random shot in Xela proper, and my feet are in the Parque Central of Xela.

That´s my little update. Hope all are well :)
bendiciones, juli

Jesus said "Follow Me" 87 times

2010-10-15T16:01:00.004-04:00

Hello world, my fellow YAV Tina introduced me to this song, and I'm loving it, so I thought I'd pass it along...
http://www.sirchio.com/index.php?page=songs&family=justice&category=Justice_And_Love&display=115

----------------------------------------------------------
Bryan Sirchio, "Follow Me (87 Times)"

I met this preacher from Australia, He read the Bible searching for its dominant themes, And he counted 87 times when Jesus said... "Follow me."
Well you know that got me thinking, Maybe that's the bottom line of what "Christian" means, 'Cause "I follow Jesus" is deeper than "I believe." 'Cause it don't take much to mentally agree With a set of beliefs written down in some creed. Now don't get me wrong, we need to know what we believe, But lately I've been wondering...

(Chorus)
Am I following Jesus, or just believing in Christ?
'Cause I can believe and not change a thing
But following will change my whole life
He never said, come, acknowledge my existence
Or believe in me I'm the 2nd person of the Trinity
But 87 time he said... Follow me

But if I'm a follower of Jesus, Then why am I such a good life insurance risk? And why, when I do my giving, do I still keep so much when so much hunger exists? And if I follow Jesus, then why do I have so many friends among the affluent, and so few among the poor? And if I follow Jesus, why do missiles and guns make me feel more secure? And it don't take much to mentally assent To a statement of faith we can confirm and forget, But following will change our lifestyle if we get it and more and more I'm wondering...

(Chorus)
(Bridge)

Yes, we need to know what we believe, to follow the Jesus who's real
God save us from the Christ's we create in our image (you know what I mean...)
The Jesus who's as left wing or right wing as we, The one who baptizes our cherished ideologies, The one who always seems to favor our side against some enemy

Now I don't mean to sound self-righteous, God knows I've got more questions than answers to proclaim, But its been over 20 years now since Jesus called my name, So forgive me if I'm mistaken, But there's something wrong with a lot of churches in America these days, And I think the Spirit's trying to tell us There's a question that the churches need to raise...

(Chorus)

Are we following Jesus? Or just believing in Christ?
'Cause we can believe, and not change a thing
But following will change our whole life
He never said, come, acknowledge my existence
Or believe in me, I'm your first class ticket to eternity...
But 87 times he said... Follow me...
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Cool song- hope you all enjoy it, too, friends!
bendiciones, juli

back from the campo

2010-10-11T15:55:00.008-04:00

Well world, I´ve returned from the campo and am back in Xela and moved in with my (permanent) host family. Wow, what a week we had there... We stayed with an indigenous host family in an aldea (rural community) called Pachaj about 35 min outside of Xela.

So Andrew, Tina and I stayed with one family, and Laura and Kath with another. In our house there were 4 generations, and only the last 2 spoke fluent Spanish, and even then, it was their 2nd language-- quite a different scene than gringolandia (Antigua). During the day we had spanish classes and in the afternoon, we hung out with our families... and I´m not gonna lie, world, it was tough. For starters, there was no bathroom- instead, a pila (see below) and a BYO-toilet-paper outhouse (which was right next to the pig pen, so I´ll let you connect the dots on that one), and only bucket baths (with water boiled on the wood-burning stove). The entire community is IN the corn fields, so everything was made out of corn. Tortillas, bread, rags, food, coffee, EVERYTHING... and there was only one main road, the middle 1/2km of which was paved (??), and everything else was super skinny passages through corn and dirt paths.

So yeah. It was really challenging --a lot more so than I thought it would be-- but even so, I'm really glad that we got to experience this facet of Guatemalan life- it reallly really gave me (us) some perspective on farm-life, immigration, poverty, and rural Guatemalan life in general.

bendiciones, juli

nisperos!

2010-10-01T16:52:00.010-04:00

It´s nispero season, world!

What´s a nispero, you ask? It´s a little fig-sized orange fruit that grows on trees here. I think they taste like sweet kiwis-- but they have 3-6 big seeds inside (which you don´t eat). Also, you have to peel off the peach-like skin. They´re yummy.

Allegedly they only grow in Guatemala, Brasil, Japan, and Spain (talk about random places)... and apparently ¨all¨ of Guatemala´s nisperos come from the little town where we´re staying... so tinseltown is all atwitter. My fam has gone up ¨into the hills¨ multiple times to collect baskets and baskets of nisperos from the trees, and then they have someone that will sell them in the market in Antigua... seems pretty common that most people here have this little side-business during the cosecha (harvest time) of oct-dec. This also means that in Xela it will be a lot harder to find them... so my Spanish teacher said I should eat as many as I could before I leave (bc surely my life has been changed now that I´ve tasted this sacred fruit)...

So that´s just a little seasonal update from me to you, world.
bendiciones, juli

octubre!

2010-10-01T15:57:00.006-04:00

Hello world and Happy Día de los Niños!

If you´ll excuse me, I´m going to get on my soap box for a second...

http://www.storyofstuff.com/
This is a short movie (we´re talking like 20 min) that´s called ¨The Story of Stuff.¨ It talks about where our stuff comes from, how we get it, and why we feels the need to have so MUCH. Kind of opens your eyes when you think about how your little radio could possibly cost $4.99 after the journey it´s made and the people that needed to be employed to make/sell it. And why do we allow ourselves to be on that hampster wheel of working to buy more to feel better to work to buy to feel better...? Now I´m not saying we should all stop buying things, but couldn´t we actively work to use 99% of our stuff for more than 6 months?!

Also -- Sarah McLaughlin has a really cool song/music vid along these lines, too. It´s a few years old now, but still quite eye-opening...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0O2LMqnHGg

Just a few thoughts for you to chew on, world.
Hope all´s well with whoever´s out there reading this...
bendiciones, juli

1 Month in Guatemala!

2010-09-25T19:03:00.009-04:00

Well world, I´ve officially been in Guatemala for 1 month! So crazy! In some ways it feels like I´ve been here forever, in others, like I just got here. In any event, I´m loving it.

Here´s some stuff I´m still getting used to...
1. No TV. Well, there is a TV (which is nicer than mine at home), but it´s in Mom and Dad´s room (like in Chile), so everyone just piles into bed with Mom and Dad. Needless to say, I´m not there yet with this family... But I have read 8 books now, and also learned several new songs on the guitar...
2. No hot water. Well, except in the shower. Getting used to washing my face with cold water...
3. Climate. On any given day, I take a sweater and a rain coat and/or an umbrella, and will certainly need all and none of them at some point. Proper footware remains a mystery.

4. Rain and its good friends Dampness and Mustiness. Now that we´re in the rainiest part of the rainy season, my world is just damp. Oh how I pray for a gigantic dehumidifier for the country of Guatemala. At least there´s no carpeting.
5. Scented toilet paper. Who invented this?? Why?!?
6. The food. I really enjoy 95% of what I´m given, (like ripe fruit, lots of fresh corn tortillas, refried black beans, chicken, fried plantains, tomato-based sauces... Kinda like less-spicey Mexican food?) but it´s been an adjustment having NO idea what any given meal will bring... There have also been a few noteworthy fails. For example, one morning I had a raisin bread sandwich with mayo and ketchup (¨salsa dulce¨), ham, tomato, and raw onion. I mean, seriously?! I could only take 2 bites. I gave myself a gold star for that.
7. No car: glorious! Instead, we take the camioneta (or ¨chicken bus,¨ as it is semi-offensively called by most gringos). Let me paint a picture for you: old school buses from the US, painted with fancy decorations on the outside. Very crowded, very cheap, very good.

So there´s a little snapshot of my life here. Some struggles, but more joys. Thanks for supporting me in this first month!
bendiciones, juli

¨And my God will supply every need of yours according to the riches of glory in Christ Jesus.¨ - Phillipians 4:19.
¨Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all situations.¨ ¨Estén siempre alegres, oren sin cesar, den gracias a Dios en toda situación.¨ - 1 Thes. 5:16-19.

Sabbath Year

2010-09-19T17:25:00.004-04:00

So one of the things that Marcia (our YAV program director) has been talking to us about is the idea of a Sabbath year. We've been talking and reading about the idea that The Sabbath shouldn't just be an antiquated, legalistic Old Testament idea-- but rather a spiritual practice that we regularly incorporate into our lives (After all, it's on the same list as Do Not Kill... so why don't we take it just as seriously??)

We've been opening our eyes and looking at the Sabbath in different ways -- not just abstaining from all work on Sunday. Maybe just protecting 1 day to refrain from stuff we're told we "should" be doing (ie: chores), or refrain from materialistic consumption 1 specific day, or, in respect for God's creation, refrain from using personal cars 1 day a week [not quite as applicable for us this year], or refrain from the TV, or the blackberry... Different ways to take our own Sabbaths 1 day each week (ideally). This makes it -for me- seem WAY less overwhelming than refraining from all things for one whole day.

But why??
A) God tells us to (Exodus 20:8-11, Exodus 23:12-13, Leviticus 25:1-23)
B) Newsflash: The world will not fall apart if we take a break. Heck, even God could take a Sabbath break without stuff falling apart! (Gen 2:1-3) We need to get over ourselves- Sorry friends, but we're just not as important as we think...
C) When I look back at my life when I'm 80, I don't want to remember it as a demanding, hectic blur of work.
D) It's a bodily way to reflect that we see life/ work/ creation different than mainstream culture dictates. Fight the man!

So we're talking about making this year a sort of Sabbath year-- A break from the 'normal' paces of our lives-- and ultimately a time to rest and reflect on what God's doing in our lives as a way to figure out what comes next.

Will God love us less if we don't Sabbath? Heck no, But will we love life more if we do? I'm beginning to think yes...

Just some food for thought. Thanks for reading, world.
bendiciones, juli

"Days pass, years vanish, and we walk sightless among miracles..."

"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gently and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
- Matthew 11:28-29

El Día de la Independencia

2010-09-17T15:06:00.007-04:00

Well world, the 15th of September is a very important day here- it marks when Guatemala became independent of España in 1821. Woo!

Celebrations began on the 14th when us 6 students went to the centro of our little town, and saw 100s of little kids in ALL manners of costumes... brides, grim reapers, huge paper mache animals, mimes-- you name it. Unsure of their meanings, but from here, we met up with the Antigua students from our school (15ish) and lit our torch for our run to Antigua. Apparently it is very customary. My estimate is about 7km, which is kind of a lot if you haven´t been training and have been eating lots of less-than-healthy foods... and if you have an emergencia del baño. I´ll leave it at that, and assure that I made it finally. We spent the rest of Tuesday in Antigua where loads of flags, decorations, etc were everywhere!

Wednesday, we got uip early and went to the Parque Central de Antigua to watch the desfile (parade)-- it was long. As in, we stayed for like 2 hours and then wandered elsewhere... but it was really cute! Youngest kids started (at 8) and they got progressively older towards 1:00 (yeah, really long parade.)

So bajillions of schools around the Antigua area were respresented, pretty much everyone had a group of just plan walkers, who wore their school uniforms and carried a school logo-banner. Then everyone had Señorita de La Escuela (complete with pageant sashes), then most schools had a band/ drum line/ baton-girls/ something else that followed. Now, given that the route took like an hour, it wasn´t necessarily the liveliest performance anyone every gave... but it was still fun.

That night, we came back to the little town where we live and there was a big fair-thing going on with food vendors, marimba players, and some dancing-- mainly it was just nice to be outside at . Guatemala is really strange to me in that one doesn´t go outside once it´s dark. I´m not sure if this stems from wartime (15 years ago) or what, but one simlpy stays inside once it´s dark. The end. It´s been pretty hard to get used to... and last weekend, I walked home from Tina´s house (about 1 block) at 9:45pm, and it seriously felt like 3 in the morning. Anyway, we don´t go out at night-- consequently I go to bed at like 9:30 and have already read 4 books. haha

Anyway, Happy Indepence, Guatemala! Also a special shout-out to Erica who turned 24! Feliz cumple, abuelita!

La pila

2010-09-09T17:31:00.010-04:00

Anyone who´s lived with me knows how much I detest laundry- I have no idea why I hate it so darn much, but it just makes me angry.

Well world, meet Guatemalan laundry- the pila. It´s a 3part sink- 1 side is smoother (for washing dishes, I think), 1 side is ridged (for scrubbing clothes) and the middle is deep and full of water. So since we´re all pretty much running out of clothes, Laura, Katharine, and I decided to (attempt to)do our laundry together at Laura´s house- but every Guatemalan house has (at least) 1 pila.

So. You start by putting all of your clothes in a bucket of water with powder soap stuff. Then, one by one, you pull them out and give them a scrub on the pila- adding more soap if it´s an especially dirty article. Then, using little bucket-dish things, you scoop water from the middle (where the faucet it) and rinse and wring out the article until there are no more bubbles. THEN, you put the clothes in something (shout out to my baggu re-usable shopping bag that doubles as a laundry basket) until you can bring them home to hang on the line. All of this happens while various Guatemalans walk by and laugh at (with) us. It took about 40 mins to do it, and honestly, world- it wasn´t that bad! Lord knows how our clothes are going to look when they´re dry (sometime tomorrow?), but it was actually nice to wash our stuff together because we got to chat and laugh together. Also, it was SO much more environmentally-friendly!!

So am I renouncnig washing machines? No. But am I dreading the next load of laundry I have to do? Why no, no I am not- because there´s something really beautiful about washing your skivies by hand and then hanging them up for all the world to see.

bendiciones, juli

Mi cumpleaños!

2010-09-09T16:52:00.006-04:00

Well world, I´m 22 years old! Honestly, I was a little bit nervous about what yesterday would look like- because I´ve only been with my host family for a week, and I´ve only known these YAVs for like 3 weeks (which blows my mind in itself), but it was seriously a wonderful day! And for those of you who didn´t know, yesterday was also Mary, Mother of Jesus´s birthday, too- according to Guatemalan Catholics. Happy belated birthday, Mary!

So the day started with a little jog, and then a legitmately hot shower! This probably needs some explanation. SO there´s an electric water heater attached to the shower head (safe??)- so it has to be on the correct setting (hot is represented by a black dot, cold by a half black dot. Obviously.) Then, one has to turn the water (with the valve, nothing more) all the way on, then turn the pressure down little by little. The more pressure, the less hot the water will be. So I´m not saying I´m Einstein, but I´m pretty proud that it finally all came together for me. Then I went upstairs and had a typical birthday tamale for breakfast! Yum!

Then, I went up the street to school, where I was greeted by balloons, a ¨surprise¨ piñata (hard to have surprises when we´re all together all the time...), a bday sign, and many coca lights (which are somehow far superior to Diet Cokes). At our 10oclock break, we broke the piñata (which seriously took like 20 mins, it was the strongest piñata in the world) and had lots of candy-- then my teacher brought out a big cake for all of us! And after like 10 birthday songs, we finally could enjoy it. Qué rico!

At lunch, my host sisters presented me with my gift and many hugs, so sweet! They gave me a woven cloth that they use here to wrap up tortillas or line bread baskets-- So I´m not 100% sure what I´ll use it for, but still so thoughtful! Then they came downstairs and I gave them a bunch of dulces from the piñata- I am so not above bribing them to like me. Then after lunch Brodie called! Yay!

Soo in the afternoon we bussed to Antigua (Tina with the 2nd ¨secret¨cake), and met up with Marcia and another mission worker who´s been here for over 40 years, Dennis Smith. He talked to us about Guatemala, politics, his experiences, our hopes, etc... Very cool! Then we went to Marcia´s house and hung out until dinner and I got to talk to my parents, too! So what did the birthday princess want for dinner? Chinese food! Haha, we had it delivered, and it wasn´t really anything to brag about, but it was yummy and different from the (delicious) Guatemalan food we´ve been getting. Afterwards, we ate like half of the world´s largest cake that Tina´s host mom made. Yep- I probably gained like 10 birthday pounds yesterday, but it was totally worth it.

All in all, a wonderful day full of friends and food when I felt very loved.

bendiciones, juli

Bienvenido a Guatemala!

2010-09-03T16:50:00.010-04:00

Well, world- here I am in San Juan del Obispo outside of Antigua, Guatemala! INSANE! The 5 of us Guatemala YAVs will be here for about 5 weeks, doing language school and just generally getting ready for the year. We took a long walking tour the other day in Antigua (photos to follow soon), and it's a really really beautiful and historically well-preserved (read: toursity) city! Yesterday we moved in with our 1st host families for our language school time (before that we were in a nice hotel) and then at the beginning of October we move to our rest-of-the-year sites where we'll start work and stuff! Wow! These 1st families are a little strange, because it feels way more like a weird hotel than a ¨family¨- We all get the feeling that they have host students all the time... so they could kinda care less who we are. Haha, ego blow. BUT, it´s also really nice to be able to just go to our rooms and relax and not really worry too much about establishing real and lasting relationships with these families... because they clearly expect no such thing... so that´s been kinda nice. Let me tell you world, operating in a different language is exhausting! It will get easier (and more comfortable with the families), though... with time.

It´s seriously crazy that I´ve only been here for 5 days, world. I´ve had so many moments today of "I cannot believe this is my life" - so needless to say it's very exciting so far. I realize that after only a few days I´m very much stuff in the ¨honeymoon¨ phase, but I seriously feel so comfortable here... It´s awesome. (Note= this does NOT mean that I fit in. I´m at least a head taller than all women, and most men. Good stuff.)

Things to get used to:
- There are volcanoes everywhere. Active and Dormant- I saw one errupt the other day. No big deal.
- Toilet paper does not go in the toilets...Nope- It goes in the trash can.
- I have no laptop. I Never realized how pathetically attached I am to it for so many things. Refreshing and also strangely unsettling not to have it.
- Bugs are EVERYwhere -- beetles, moths, etc... love that part
- It rains EVERY afternoon ... it´s also quite a bit colder than expected... booo
- Tortillas galore! Very Juli- friendly. Also, all food that I´ve had has been DELICIOUS. Woo!

Let´s see- I think that´s about it. We had our 1st adventure on the public transportation yesterday. Literally a disaster of aimlessly wandering and taking bad advice to find our bus... but we made it some how! haha

love to all,
bendiciones, juli

2010-08-29T23:26:00.000-04:00

I leave for the airport in 3 hours!!!!!!

Orientation

2010-08-25T22:57:00.005-04:00

Here's some pictures of me on my last day at Ludwood Ct--

Well here I am at Orientation. We're staying at Stony Point Conference Center, which is in Stony Point, NY-- annnd is an "intentional community" -- as in, they grow their own vegetables, recycle everything... so obviously I'm loving it.

But - orientation itself, well this has been harder. We've been having lots of hard hard conversations about gender and race and power and caring for yourself well... As well as making about 65 new best friends (all of the international and national YAVs). It's so so much fun and I'm SO glad that they structure the program in this way, but it's heavy, world, and exhausting. All of the facilitators for the week are YAV Alumns (YAVA), and so they have lots of encouraging (and scary) stories and experiences to share-- yet another reason I'm very glad that they structure the program in this way. Plus we have worship in the morning and evening, and we're singing all kinds of weird songs in different languages to represent the different sites that people will be going to, which is always fun :)

Let's see-- Favorite orientation moment so far: We've been having total information overload these days, so today we got the afternoon off to relax and do whatever we wanted and then after worship, had an epic 2-hour dance party in the room where we've been having our sessions/workshops. Such a fun way to bond and be stupid and blow off steam! Especially since we're all so so white... hahah. A bunch of us also followed this dancing with a long massage train-- excellente.

Well that's about all that I have to report. Hope all are well! (Hopefully) contact info will be coming out soon...
bendiciones, juli

"Where shall I go from Your Spirit? Where shall I go from Your presence? If I ascend to Heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in the depths, You are there... Even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me."
-Psalm 139:7-10

I leave tomorrow!

2010-08-22T16:17:00.003-04:00

Well world, I got commissioned this morning at my home church and I leave tomorrow for Orientation in New York! I've come home to a whole mess of packing today, and let me tell you... It's a lot harder than I expected to fit my world into 1.5 suitcases. I don't like it, not one bit, world. But, part of my whole experience in Guatemala with YAV is to live simply and it's just so hard to pare down what I thought I needed-- especially in the toiletries department. Ah well-- I'll make it work somehow. :)

So I'll be outside New York at Stony Point with all the international and national YAVs until Aug 30 when we'll all fly to our respective sites! Then all 5 Guatemala YAVs will be in Antigua for 4 weeks for language school until I move to Xela!

Better get back to the packing- I can't believe it's almost time to go!
bendiciones, juli

A few updates

2010-08-06T09:55:00.005-04:00

I leave in 2.5 weeks! Insane! I go to orientation in Stony Point, NY on the 23rd and then after one week of all international / national YAVs orienting together, we're deemed ready and we all leave for our respective sites on the 30th!

AND I'm 91% fund raised! I'm almost there! :)

Thanks for the prayers, world. I can't believe it's almost here...
bendiciones, juli

"You go nowhere by accident. Wherever you go, God is sending you. Wherever you are, God has put you there. God has a purpose in your being there. Christ who dwells within you has something He wants you to do through you where you are. Believe this and go in His grace and love and power."
- Rev. Richard C Halverson

SITE PLACEMENT!

2010-07-27T18:22:00.001-04:00

Hello world! I finally got my site placement for Guatemala!

I’ll be living in Xela (aka Quetzaltenango, which I do not know how to pronounce), which is the 2nd largest city in the country with about 300,000 people and is known as “the city that is the soul of cutlture” (???). The climate is cool all year long… Sort of a bummer, but hopefully it won’t be too too cold. And, Google images tells me it’s really pretty, and I think it’s surrounded by volcanoes/mountains, so that should be cool! Here’s a website to learn more- www.xelapages.com

I’ll work 3 days a week at the local Episcopal Church with their lunch program for elderly community members. This program is “a collaborative effort to provide food and a social space for elderly people of scarce economic resources.” The other 2 days I’ll be working with Voces de Cambio (Voices of Change), which works with young women to give courses on photography and writing, helping to provide education about self-esteem, leadership, racism, sexism, and other topics, which young Guatemalan women often don't receive. Though I’m not really sure what either of these things will actually look like, I’m excited to finally know what city I’ll be in, and have even a vague idea of how I’ll be spending my year.

Can you believe I leave in 1 month?? I’m starting my America Bucket List--- Any suggestions??

Bendiciones, juli

back from Haiti!

2010-07-23T17:51:00.006-04:00

Well world, I'm back in the U. S. of A!

In my last few days in Haiti, we mainly finished up training Kelsey's Haitian replacement beading-program-manager, Sherilee. A really cool thing about the Clays and the ApParent project is that they're all about making it self-sustaining, which ultimately means that it is by Haitians, for Haitians-- and I think that this is really how missions need to work. It's so great when international groups come in and "lend a helping hand," but ultimately, natives have to work to change their own country-- we shouldn't come in with an attitude of needing to FIX everything- because sometimes, even though it's different, it's not broken the way we think it is.

We spent one of our last days in Pétionville, which is the richest part of P-a-P (which isn't really saying much..) and the arts center of the city. A really pretty place, and we went took Sherilee to a fancy restaurant on the 7th floor of a building (and she *joked* that if the next earthquake happened while we were up there... at least we wouldn't get squished bc we were on the top floor... hilarious...) where we saw views of everything, from the Caribbean sea to the mountains. So so pretty. And still, so much destruction everywhere. It felt like 2/3 buildings everywhere had fallen and were still down, crumbling, like huge destroyed tombs everywhere.

But through it all, I really really didn't feel distraught or hopeless- no one seemed to. Life in Haiti is hard, but people are resilient and have adapted. Everyone was poor before- and they're a little more poor now, but the earthquake and its aftermath has not defined them. Surely they don't like it and it seriously stinks-- but that's just what life is right now. Heavy stuff, world, but so encouraging that people didn't seem to have their spirits completely crushed... even after living in tents with no running water for 7 months.

So yeah. That's my trip in a nutshell... I have millions of bug bites, pictures, a fairly severe burn from a motorcycle (we rode on mototaxis to get around everywhere), and HSM songs permanently stuck in my head-- but all in all, a positive memory of my short week and a half in Haiti.

Thanks for reading, world.
Bendiciones, juli

Haitian Wedding

2010-07-18T21:20:00.013-04:00

Hello world,
I went to a Haitian wedding last night! Most people can't afford to get married here because of the cost of the wedding, but we lucked out! It was suuuuch a good time! I'll put up photos when I get home, but just to give you a little taste, all of the bridesmaids wore old wedding dresses from the 80s... it was sooo confusing! The ceremony started late (rain) and took about 2 hours---but it was soooo worth it.

Afterwards, Kelsey and I and 50 of our closest friends took a very death-defying ride in the bed of a pickup truck to get to the reception site. I'll spare you the details so my mom doesn't have a heart attack... but don't worry, we made it there in one piece!
After like an hour, the dinner finally came out-- we went up, but the girl told us it was not our turn yet... so we had to wait... but oh! We got to pull the blanc card, and so the groom went and fetched us dinner and Coke (I ate chicken!) After dinner, the mayhem of dancing and Prestige beer started. There were seriously like 5yr old kids drinking the stuff, it was crazy! BUT they played Justin Bieber twice -- it was fantastic.

Life here has been teaching me so so much-- about poverty, missions, and my own theology.... So so glad I could come.

More later--
Bendiciones,
Juli

PS: Haiti is a Caribbean island-- it is seriously beautiful!

nope.

nope.

not her, either.

There she is! Congratulations, Krisalin!

Haiti is not like what you see on the news

2010-07-15T22:34:00.008-04:00

Hello world,
just a few thoughts about my time so far in Haiti....

1. So I'm staying in the Clay's house, which is super nice and way bigger than expected. Like many developing countries, there is really no middle class in Haiti, so it's either tents or huge house as the housing options... It's nice because there are beds and fans and an ice maker and stuff, but it kind of stinks, too, because it just perpetuates the idea that all Americans are rich and the Santa Claus mentality where white people will give you whatever you want. The Clays do their best to combat that idea, but with so much need all around, it's really hard.

2. It's really very hot here... K and I can't decide if it's hotter than Mexico was, because we get to be inside a lot more here, but during the afternoon, it's definitely 90s-100s. Oy. But-- we have lots of fans and water inside, so it's not so bad.

3. We went to a tent city today to visit some of Kelsey's friends from the beading program, and i think I finally realized I am in Haiti. Port Au Prince is kind of deceiving, because it looks just like any poor city, just with extra rubble to get around... but words cannot describe how hot and stuffy and miserable it would be to spend day in and day out in one of those tents with seriously no end in sight. And since 90% of the country is unemployed, it's not like they really have anywhere to go during the day to remove them from the tents... However, all that being said, it is not like what you see on the news. There isn't death around every corner, or angry people pillaging or burning things. It's hot and are people poor, but it's not nearly as dramatic as I thought it would be.

Personallly, I don't even know what the best way to help would be, because just sending aid and money makes the country even more dependent upon other countries and doesn't really work to fix the long-term and deep-seeded problems in the country... But people are seriously dying in these conditions. We had a super long conversation with Corrigan (he and wife run the ApParent Project) about what "missons" are/ should be/ how to help in a sustainable and dignity-fostering way. So so interesting... It's really been giving me a different perspective on short-term mission trips, and ways to do them more effectively...

Anywho... I think we have water back on up here, so I'm going to go--
Thanks for following along and praying for me, world!
Bendiciones, juli

Haiti Tomorrow!?

2010-07-12T11:23:00.005-04:00

Well world, tomorrow morning I leave for Haiti!
This may come as a bit of a surprise to some of you, because the trip only came together in the past several weeks as the Lord has pieced together so so many things to pave my way... so I’m super excited to see what's in store for me there!
I’ll be staying with the Clays and the ApParent project, who I know through my good friend Kelsey Little (that I met in Mexico 2 summers ago). I’ll be there until the 21st, helping with the fair trade beading program that Kelsey started last summer… and sort of just trying to be helpful and to experience Haiti.
http://www.apparentproject.org/

Thanks for your prayers! Hopefully I'll be able to update while I'm there!
Bendiciones,
juli

"Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ... And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up."
- Galatians 6:2, 9

2010-06-26T00:09:00.001-04:00

87% fund raised!!

2010-06-10T10:28:00.001-04:00

64% supported!!!

Post #1

2010-06-03T18:37:00.002-04:00

Well hello, world!
It's about 2.5 months until I leave for Guatemala, and I'm getting super excited! Support-raising has been going really well so far, I already have 46% of my fundraising done! Isn't God great?! Even though I don't have my site-placement yet, I should find out about where specifically I'll be in the beginning of July-- that means I'll find out what city I'll be in and what organization I'll be working with for the year!

For the summer, I'll be waitressing at Faccia Luna, a "contemporary Italian pizza place" about 10 mins away. I think it will be fun, or at least a good way to pass the time this summer...

Thanks for following along, world!
Bendiciones, juli