Saturday in Toto

At the beginning of the month Alejandra turned 2.  Rosmeri went all out, renting out the salon in the municipalidad and having not one, not two, but three piñatas, all of different characters from a TV show called the Backyardigans. 

Alejandra anxious for cake

The week of November 8^th I was back with the rest of my training class in Santa Lucia for two days of Reconnect, a two-day program to review our first three months in site and receive more training.  Some of it was interesting; some of it was boring.  The best part was having the ambassador come on Tuesday and eat lunch with us.  He answered questions and asked us to share with him some of our experiences as volunteers.  Apparently he reads our blogs!  So if you’re reading this Ambassador McFarland, hello and thanks for taking the time to visit us…I’m not lying when I say it was the best part of Reconnect.

Reconnect was followed by three days of language instruction.  I didn’t qualify to continue studying Spanish so I opted for a class in K’iche.  Our teacher Isabel was a really great K’iche teacher, but in spite of great instruction, learning K’iche is HARD.  The sounds are all in the throat and the differences among the sounds of k, q, k’ and q’ are quite difficult to identify and yet are very important to the meaning of a word.  Thankfully, the classes were very relaxed, they gave us long breaks, and didn’t go the entire day.  I learned that juyup means “mountain” and that two of the communities where I teach, Chuculjuyup and Xenajtajuyup, mean “neck of the mountain” and “below the mountain,” respectively.

It was nice to see friends I had not seen in a long time, and Thursday evening we had a little surprise birthday party for Melissa in Zaragoza.  As we were leaving the Peace Corps office one evening we saw a beautiful volcano silhouetted against the sunset.  I didn’t have a camera with me, but luckily someone else did.

The Saturday following Reconnect, Julio and I checked out a chateau and winery just outside of Antigua, the only winery in the country, owned and run by a French couple.  We had to venture down a terrible road just outside of a terribly depressing little town, only five kilometers, but it took at least 20 minutes.  We arrived at a pretty castle surrounded by beautiful rolling green farmland and fresh air.  We got a tour and tasting.  A couple of the wines were pretty good, so we bought some and enjoyed them with dinner I made for Julio’s family that night as a small thank you for letting me stay with them all week.

Also while I was staying in San Bartolo I was able to visit my best friend in all of Guatemala: Madelyn.  It was really wonderful to visit and see my old host family.  Madelyn was so excited to see me.  She jumped into my arms saying, “Te extrañé, te extrañe!” (I missed you, I missed you!).  She wanted to show me her room, so we went to play for a little while and she said, “Mmm….Como te llamas?”  I told her, “Madelyn, you know my name!”  She had to rack her brain for a couple seconds, but then she remembered.  Too funny.

My cooking club is going really well.  The kids have been so reliable about showing up!  A few weeks ago we went to one girl’s house in Xenajtajuyup and made adobo (a Filipino chicken dish my mom sent me the recipe for). 
Most recently we met at the house of another girl, Vila, to make Chinese fried rice.  Vila’s mom and some of the kids were speaking in K’iche.  They asked me for maybe the 16^th time if I speak any K’iche, and for the first time I was able to say, well actually I do, Ink’o ple awachooch (I am in your house).  Nubi’ Elizabeth (my name is Elizabeth).

Chuculjuyup Clausura (Graduation)