Lazy Sundays...

He looks like a lion here

He´s so handsome :)

I woke up from a nap and this is how he was passed out... I think it was hot that day, haha!

So, overall, I would say a lot has happened since the HIV/AIDS workshops. Instead of slow, mundane work days now my work days are exciting, different and I actually feel happy to go to work! Wow – it only took a year….!! I would have to say it is because I have been working with the women´s office at my site´s town hall. I have been working very closely with the 2 women that run the office, Claudia and Felisa. Claudia was wrongfully fired as the women´s office coordinator and then rehired about a month ago. And Felisa has always been the “encargada” or what we would call the person in charge of the office. Felisa has been a Godsend! She has supported me from the day she was asked by the mayor to accompany me to one of my communities to help with translation and since then she holds a very special place in my heart. She is 40 years old and is a mother of 7 children! Her youngest just recently turned 1 year old. Thanks to my grandmother I was able to give her a pair of shoes and a few pieces of clothes to give to her son on his birthday, she was so happy :) And yes, we have talked about family planning so that she doesn´t become pregnant again :) Yesterday her husband drove Felisa and I to a community and probably one of the nicest men who totally talked my ear off. He found it so fascinating that I was 26, not married and without kids. When he found out that I was taking Ki´che classes the 45 minute trip home was pointing to random objects on the road, saying them in Ki´che and then having me repeat them back to him. After about 5 minutes of this he started to form sentences and then asked me to repeat the sentence. I think he thought I was some genius because he would get disappointed when I couldn´t repeat it back, like it was the easiest thing to say. I laughed on the inside at his presumption, but bless his heart for thinking of me so highly. By this time I had Felisa´s husband giving me a vocabulary lesson, Felisa trying to fight off her 1 year old who was hitting her in the face with a comb because she took away a pen he was trying to chew on, and there is me squished between the passenger side door and Felisa trying to anticipate all the potholes in the dirt road so my side doesn´t pound into the door handle - also trying not to wake Felisa´s 3 year old daughter who passed out on my lap. During my trip home I couldn´t help but he happy that I have 10 more months with these wonderful people and their family and how I knew tears would be shed when it would be my time to leave. It only took a year to finally connect with a family here but it was worth the wait.

I also contribute my new found happy work environment to limiting the amount of time I have been at the health center. All my friends here and my bosses know the frustrations I have been having with my health center and now since most of my work has been in the communities I find that I do not need to be present at the health center as often. I think I have been a total of 3 times at the health center this month, all being half days… and it feels great! I still have yet to meet with my doctor to really have a talk with him about everything because I know he thinks I am not doing any work – well work for the health center. Basically all of my work has been centered about the women´s office at the town hall and I am making sure they receive all the credit – they are the ones that actually want to work with me. The doctor asked me to make sure my health promoters take a test to become “certified”, so on Monday I plan on meeting with him to go over the test questions and then confront him on some of the concerns he may be having. My “counterpart” – I say this in quotes because she is an immature 21 year old girl who doesn´t do anything at the health center but finds joy in trying to tell me what to do. If you know me like my mother does – I do not like being told what to do. And so, as you can imagine, there are differences J So my counterpart has told me the doctor doesn´t want me working with her, so I would like to ask him about this and actually see if it is true. I also want to let him know that my bosses know of the situation I am having at the health center and this is one of the reasons why my work has been focused more with the muni (town hall). Oh – and also to thank him for letting the staff destroy the poster board of photos I made – with my own money. Great way to make an outsider feel welcomed by the way….

Well, enough with the negative, on the positive front, my health promoters are really close to graduating! They take their exam the 3rd of September. In the meantime they are coming to review sessions and making up any classes they have missed. I have also asked of them to put together a health talk to one of their community groups so that I can see them in action. I have been taking pictures so that I can present all the work they have done to the mayors of their towns as well as the doctor (not sure if he really is going to care or not). This past week I gave a presentation to the women´s commission. The women´s commission works under the women´s office at the muni and they are women representatives from each Aldea – or towns that surround the downtown of Santa Maria Chiquimula. The presentation was about making a new promoter group. Since these women are already leaders amongst their community I thought this was a great place to start with soliciting for new health promoters. I have already had 2 women approached me, before this I gave this presentation, so I am encouraged to know that there are people out there that would like to participate. Within my current health promoter group, we established a governing council – president, vice president, etc. and this group really want my help in making them a legalized group within the muni –which is awesome! I´m not sure if anyone in my program before or currently were able to make their health promoters a legalized group. So I am excited for the challenge.

This past Tuesday I went into Antigua and I was able to turn in the grant application for USAID so I can start construction on the stoves for my women´s groups. The process to be able to turn in the paperwork was exhaustive, but I completed it! So I am very proud of myself. The muni and the community matched the amount of grant money USAID is going to give which is amazing. Also, since I was able to turn in the application before this fiscal year ends, I have the opportunity to build more stoves! So the plan is to start building in mid October and hopefully finish before I come home in December.

Today I just came from an aldea called Xesana and gave a first aid class for 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. My Ki´che teacher asked me a while back if I would be able to give a first aid class to his students and also the 5th and 6th graders. Well… the first group of kids, the 4th graders were really receptive, loved immobilizing broken bones, dressing pretend wounds… it was just the 5th and 6th grade classes that were a pain. What I found while being here in Guatemala is that children here are not disciplined in the classroom, they can basically do anything. Well, for me that is incredibly annoying and disrespectful. So there were a group of little boys in the back laughing and talking, so I gave them a warning and told them if they were disruptive again they would have to leave. Then I legit had a flashback. I remembered the time my mom and I volunteered to teach Sunday school to 4 and 5 year olds. If you know my mother, she is a high school teacher. She deals with 14 and 18 year olds and you need to delegate with hand and fist. Well, I remember my mom, not intentionally, using her “hand and fist” teaching method with the 4 and 5 year olds. At some point during the morning, within like 15 minutes of each other, every kid needed to use the bathroom and on top of that every kid was doing something they weren´t supposed to be doing. It was just so funny because my mom was talking to them like they were high school students and of course they weren´t listening which made it more frustrating for my mom. Anyways, through the flashback I reminded myself this could potentially backfire if I tell these kids to not to do something when they´ve been able to do it in the past… well it did. After the warning they were even more disruptive and loud. Also – the teacher wasn´t around, very typical here. So I kicked the kid out and guess what, he refused to leave. But, it got the rest of the class to pay attention, but it also prevented them from wanting to volunteer… haha oops. I´m not sure what the outcome was with the Sunday school class, if my mom made them hold their pee or send them in the corner, but I learned today that sometimes to be in control might not always be the best in certain circumstances or situations. Eh, I´m so glad I have no desire to teach kids…. No offense mom, love you :)

Well… I think that completes this blog entry. Thanks for all who have donated! Keep the donations coming! www.healthyhomesguatemala.webs.com

HIV/AIDS Workshops continued....

The group heading out to Chuicaca.



Giving my "bienvenida" to the whole group in the salon.




Julia and Adrian with their group outside.



Natividad and Antonio translating the workshop.




Esther and Zane starting "Globulos Blancos" with their group in the salon.

"Globulos Blancos" activity - the lady is trying to force her way into the body!

"Soy Parasito" - "I am a parasite". He was by far the cutest parasite I have ever seen:)

Val and Travis.

Another breath-taking view of Chuicaca's landscape.

Me and the professional nurse, Natividad - I love her :)

Kate and Stephen giving a workshop in front of the town hall.

When there is no chalkboard... use a french fry stand instead!

The group with the mayors of Chuicaca.

Don Miguel - President of the Health Promoters of Chuicaca.

Our way back to Santa Maria Chiquimula.

Our "classroom" as we were giving the workshops - so beautiful.

The HIV/AIDS workshops are now completed! Friday I had 8 of my friends from all over Totonicapan come and help give the final HIV/AIDS workshop Friday to almost 300 people! The whole week couldn't have gone better and I can't thank the people who helped me give the workshops enough (Val, Zane, Stephen, Adrian, Kiki, Kate, Esther, Julia, Travis, Jerami, and Jesse) - without them this wouldn't have been possible, so thank you guys!!

Friday, we all pack in the back of a pick-up truck and made the hour long drive to the town of Chuicaca. When we arrived to the salon - the whole place was packed! It was so awesome to see how many people came out to listen to the workshop. What was amazing was how the whole community came together to make this workshop possible. The town hall of this town, the health post, the community leaders as well as the mayors from the central part of town came together to make this all possible. I was telling the volunteers that helped me that this would be such an awesome site for a volunteer and the community really would love to have a volunteer. This would be a dream site for any volunteer - people willing to work with you, organized, having the support of the community - I could go on! So I plan on talking to my boss in the near future to see if they would be able to set up a new site in this town for the next group of Healthy Homes volunteers that will arrive a year from now.

We were able to divide the people into 4 groups where 2 PC volunteers gave the workshop. Once the workshops were over they were gracious enough to provide lunch for us as well as diplomas! They were all so thoughtful and so incredible generous. When I stood up to thank the community and my friends I almost cried. It was a great day :)

For the whole week - we were able to HIV/AIDS educate about 600 people!

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HIV/AIDS Workshops: Aldea Chuicaca

Courtneay showing that "shaking hands" will not give you HIV.

Antonio, the health technician of Chuicaca, translating the poster in Ki'che

Condom demonstration.


Condom demonstration.

Making sure everyone can see.

Volunteers were asked to place their picture under "Yes, it gives you HIV" or "NO, it doesn't give you HIV"

Court and I giving a condom demonstration

An activity where participants were used to show how the body is protected by white blood cells and how the body is affected when it contracts HIV. This lady is representing "diarreah" and is trying to break through the body's immune system of white blood cells.

Another oppotunistic infection, this time "the common cold" is trying to break through the wall.

The beautiful people of Chuicaca

Giving an icebreaker to the participants.

This week I have had the opportunity to HIV/AIDS educate one of the towns in my municipality, Santa Maria Chiquimula. The town has roughly 8,000 people and is the farthest town in Santa Maria. By truck, it takes a little over an hour's drive - but through muddy roads and rough terrain.

I was approached a few weeks ago by the community to give a series of HIV/AIDS workshops due to an outbreak of new HIV cases. The mayor, the town representatives, teachers and health workers came together to see what they could do to help combat the fear of this virus. There were many rumos, myths and doubths that needed to be cleared and they asked if I would be able to help. My reply: Of course! That is why I am here! So within a matter of a few weeks I asked my fellow PCVs for their help in tackling the challenge of educating the town on HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness.

This Friday is the last day for the workshops - we have already finished 2 out of 3 workshops educating 3 out of the 5 villages that surround this town. Friday will be the last workshop that will cover the the central population of the town as well as 2 more villages. I have asked the help of 7 volunteers to help split the people into 4 groups - so I am crossing my fingers everyone goes well and that many people show up!!

So, I wanted to show you a glimpse of what we have been doing this week and look for a new post with Friday's pictures as well as how many people we were able to go to the workshop!

Happy 4th 2010!!

This past month I feel has gone by in a blur!!... A few weeks ago I celebrated the second 4th of July party in Peace Corps Guatemala. As always - it was a lof of fun! Besides the buckets of rain water that came that day - we were able to watch a World Cup game, eat delicious 4th of July BBQ, dance and enjoy the annual talent show where PC volunteers come on stage and show off their skills. There was also the socializing with old and new volunteers as well as welcoming the new group of trainees that will swear in this Friday! That means I have 1 more year left - I can't believe it.

The 4th weekend is also a great way to unwind.... and man did we all need to do that. Being able to wear clothes you wouldn't normally wear in your site, speak English, enjoy a beer without fearing that someone may be watching you... but it also doesn't beat the 4th in the States - friends, family, fireworks - you were all missed very much this 4th of July.

Until July, 4th 2011!!

The Smiths, Agatha and back.

This month has been full of excitement! I was able to spend a nice long weekend at Sanibel Island in Florida to celebrate my friends Ali and Steve Wilson's wedding. It was a very beautiful wedding on the beach. I have always been a little reluctant towards destination weddings, but this was definitely an exception. Everyone invited were able to not only enjoy their time on the island but they were able to share in such a beautiful wedding; the highlight of the weekend. Charles was the best man and he did such a wonderful job. His speech was very heartfelt and there were many tears shed for the kind words he gave Steve and Ali.

While I was in Florida I found out that a typhoon, Agatha, hit the coast of Guatemala filling the highways with mudslides and Volcano Pacaya decided to erupt! So my flight back to Guatemala was cancelled and I wasn't able to get back almost a week later! No complaints here because I was able to really take that time to relax and I was able to spend time with my family and Charles.

I have a year left in my service! My friends and I can't stop bringing it up - I think we are proud we've made it this far and we are all looking forward to what this year brings us. I am starting to study for my GREs.... I really should have taken them at home while I was waiting to join... ugh procrastination, lol. I hit the math section of this study manual and I have no clue what is going on, haha - high school math has definitely left my brain.

I am getting 2 trainees that are coming to stay with me this week, wednesday to saturday. They will be seeing first hand what it is like to work in the field as they will be following me around this week. I look forward to their company and having them see what Chiquimula is all about.

Fourth of July is around the corner! I can't believe it - I remember when I celebrated the 4th last year and I wasn't even a sworn-in volunteer yet. It reminds me of how much I miss the 4th in the states. I always loved the 4th of July - all the bbq's, the many families making a little sitting area to watch the fireworks, seeing old friends. I'm going to miss that :( The next time I will be home will be for Christmas and I am so glad I will be home for that! I missed the holiday spirit, the snow, my family - so only 5 months away!

Work is picking up - I am on my second month of health talks with my women's groups. And now I am starting to fundraise! Check out my website to help donate for my project! http://www.healthyhomesguatemala.webs.com/

I miss everyone :( I'm over the hump... almost home :)

1 year in Guatemala!

This past weekend my training group and I celebrated our 1 year in Guatemala at San Marcos La Laguna, Solola. It is a little town off of Lake Atitlan. My friend Esther coordinated the whole trip and it was fantastic. Esther found this little hostel on top of a mountain totally wrapped in vegetation. The whole hostel just bathed tranquility, serenity and comfort. The hostel was much like a tree house where we all slept on 2 floors basically outside. You would wake up underneath a mosquito net and walk out onto an overhanged dock that looked out onto the beautiful lake. I would get up, walk outside, stand on the dock and just breathe in the fresh air and watch all the other early risers as they paddled away on their kayaks. I stayed 2 nights and each night I was able to share stories and enjoy the compay of my friends during an organically prepared vegetarian dinner that the owner of the hostel prepared and the other night, out-of- this world curry made from a Brit who built a restaurant at the lake in honor of his deceased daughter. At night we would all get together again, listen to music, enjoy the luxury of a cold beer and catch up. The last night we were at the lake I introduced a game called "garbage". On a trip I took to Florida with my girlfriends, my friend Katie taught me this game and since then I think its one of the greatest games to play when you have a lot of company. The rules: the group is divided into 2 groups. There are 3 rounds. Prior to starting the game each person fills out 3 pieces of paper (there is no rule on how many pieces you can fill out, the amount will dictate how long you would want the game to last). One the pieces of paper you can write anything you want. It can be a person, place, thing, description, something that doesn't make sense... anything. However, it is best to limit your thoughts/words to less than 5 words to each piece of paper. All the pieces of paper are then collected and placed into a bowl. A group is picked to go first and also a representative. This person has 1 minute to pick a piece of paper out of the bowl and get their team to guess what it says without using the words on the paper. When the minute is up, the next group goes. The round goes until all the pieces of paper are gone. Round 2: The same pieces of paper are folded and placed back into the bowl and this time a representative from the group can only use 1 word to describe what is on the paper and their group has to remember what the phrases/words, etc. were on the pieces of paper from round one. Round 2 goes on until all the pieces of paper are guessed. Round 3: This round you cannot speak, you have to ACT out what is on the piece of paper and your group has to remember what was said on each one of those pieces of paper. Round 3 is the most hilarious because some of the things that were written from each of my friends were completely ridiculous/hilarious. Examples: "Mr. Rodgers in a leotard", "Saggy Man Boobs", "Welcome to the Mustache Party", "Explosive Diarrhea", "Live concert", "Green Grass", "Twister on a Volcano", "Your Mom", "Airdale Terrier", etc. So you can imagine all the crazy/hilarious acting that went on that night. We were all laughing in tears!!

So now that I've competed a year... what are my thoughts? Well, I have a little more than 1 year left (15 months). I would have to say that my first year was really trying to get adjusted and situated. I was trying to find my niche. Have I found it, yes and no. I do predict though that this year will go by even faster and that my work load will expand. My goal for the next year is to be really busy. I think that was what was making the days go by and the thoughts of feeling like I wasn't accomplishing anything was due to the fact that I wasn't busy. I can sense the work growing and I am starting to feel like how I felt when I was in college working the the Student Foundation. I was constantly on the go, constantly working and I was so much more productive. I loved filling my days with work, having an adgenda and challenging myself. So I really do look forward to that. I think my experience will be that much more fullfilling.

This Thursday I give a big presentating to the mayor of my town about the work I am doing and the projects I plan on doing in the 3 communities that I've gone out to give a census on. I am not only presenting my data but I am also planning on asking him to give me money.... so we will see how that goes, eekk. I start giving health presentations to my familes this month and I was also able to get the support from a local NGO. They would like to help me translate my presentations from Spanish to Kiche to the women and have offered to provide learning materials based on the theme I want to present. So I am excited about that! I am also plannin on coordinating the with schools of these small communities. I would like to give little health talks to the children so that the health education is not only educating the women in their homes, but their children. This way my health education is more enforced and there is a better chance that the families with practice better health habits. I will also be doing house visits throughout the month to make sure the women are actually practicing the health habits I will be teaching them. I am excited about these because it will give me a chance to get to know the families on a more personal basis.

At the end of this month I have the pleasure of accompanying Charles to his best friend's wedding :) His best friend is getting married at Sanibel Island in Florida and Charles is the best man! So I get to look forward to seeing Charles again, celebrating a beautiful union and enjoying a nice weekend getaway :) Hopefully coming back to Guatemala this time from the States won't be nearly as hard as it was when I went home at the beginning of April.

Tuk-Tuk Chom Thoennes/RIP Jon Banks

I have a puppie. His name is Tuk (pronounced "Took") and his middle name is Chom which means gordo/fat in Ki'Che'. There are little taxis here called Tuk-Tuk's, but spelled Tuc-Tuc, anyways, when Chuck came to visit me he always made me laugh when he pronounced Tuc-Tuc, so that is where I came up with the name. So everytime I call Tuk, I can also think of Chuck :) Tuk is a Siberian Husky/Chow-Chow mix, so he took after his dad, who is a Chow, and is full of hair! So he is a very cute little guy. He keeps me company and he has already learned how to sit and lay down. Next is to get him to stop peeing in the house and chew on my shoes!! I am still shocked, me, Drea, who loved to live in tornado-styled rooms growing up... is maintaining a puppie. I will admit he was a complusive buy. I'm pretty sure I was thinking I could return him when he stopped being a cute puppie like a pair of shoes...oops. No, but he is a great puppie and he is a hit in my town! Everyone wants to buy him because he is such an interesting looking puppie. As I type this Tuk is currently licking my toes, thanks little man.

I just finished a week of Spanish class at the Peace Corps office, and I left poor Tuk by himself at the house and Zane my sitemate came and fed him. Let's just say I hope the room next door will air itself out from all the little surprises Tuk left in there thanks to all the rain that flooded my back patio. But, Spanish class went really well and I learned a lot! I moved up to an advance, basic level, so I moved up 4 levels since I arrived. So 2 more levels to go and I will be fluent (or somewhere around there), so I am really excited!

I am leaving for the states April 1st!!! I am beyond exicted, I am so stir crazy I just want this week to be over. The week after this one starts La Semana Santa (Holy Week leading to Easter Sunday), so there will be tons of processions and many blocked roads, so I am hoping I will not have any difficulties getting to the airport.

While I am home I am also going to be giving a presentation at my high school about the Peace Corps along with former PC volunteers who work as teachers at my high school. It will be held April 6th and will go through out the day with one big afterschool presentation for those students who are interested and weren't invited to the presentations during the day. Should be a long day...

I am bringing back handmade make-up/pencil bags and friendship bracelets. A minimum donation of $3 gets you a bracelet and a $20 donation gets you the little bag. All proceeds go towards the families I am working with to help build stoves in their homes. The stoves will prevent the many repiratory diseases that unfortunately kill many children in my town. For more information about the housing situations of my families check out my previous blog. I am brining back 120 bracelets and 20 bags, if you think you would be interested in buying any for friends, coworkers, etc. let me know and I can always bring back more.

Sadly, this past week the world lost a great man. I wanted to dedicate this blog entry to Jonathan Banks. I received a phone call Tuesday morning telling me of his passing and with his passing a part of my heart went too. Jon and I worked together at Brio and Jon was the Executive Chef. Jon came to work for Brio about a year or so from when I started working there and man, it didn't take long for the trash talking to start! Jon had a way of making sure you knew where you stood and if that meant making everyone feel completely awkward he knew he accomplished his goal... and he won that round. Every morning when I had to open the bar Jon never failed to say something totally sarcastic or totally inappropriate, or 9 times out of 10, both. He was the personality of the kitchen, and a personality that everyone knew so well at Brio. He might have been a strong force to reckon with, but Jon had a soft side. He started to date Jaime and you could totally see a different change. I remember he started to drink protein shakes, take vitamin supplements and compete with Bret and Tim on how many pull-ups they could do (and the eyes are rolling) and then I found out his little romance.... not saying the two were connected, but I'm just saying ;) Now knowing that he is gone it has been a rough week and at times a bit hard to swallow. Although I am not home and I haven't seen Jon in almost a year goes to show how much of his friendship made an impact on me. My heart goes out to Jon's family and friends and Jaime and know that my heart is hurting for your loss. No one so young should ever have to leave so early. My thoughts and prayers are for those affected that may God give you the strength to get through the pain and the wisdom to understand why God takes us away. Jon, I will always remember you, may you rest in peace.