Survey Day

We spent all morning preparing the surveys we wanted to give the people of Antigua in order to assess the demand for our products. We made a survey, a flyer, and a diagram. I again had grilled chicken and vegetables for lunch (so happy she has gotten the hint).

In the afternoon we went into the Antigua market and gave our surveys to people. Muoser was my partner again, we make a great team, and we went up to mostly woman who looked more indigenous to ask them all about the type of stove they have in their house in order to gage interest and see what people thought of our stoves. My favorite people we talked to were a couple who cooked with a gas stove but to cook tortillas they needed a wood fire so would cook on the floor. They had a small child and this was very dangerous for the child. Also, it produced a lot of smoke they would live with in their home. We offer what is called our Rocket Stove, which is the cheapest and smallest and compliments another stove. It is wood and perfect for cooking tortillas. The couple was so interested was so happy we talked to them and was asking so many questions. Although my Spanish is not great I was able to talk to them all about our stoves and answer their questions. I hope to follow up with this customer because they even admitted this was the perfect solution to their problem! Again I really was impressed with how well we were recieved by the people of Guatemala and how willing they were to take the time out of their day to sit and take our survey in such a care free fashion. Really shows a great and respectful part of their culture that is very different from the states.

After surveying, the boys, in desperate need of a nice clean shave, went to a local barber shop to get their face shaved.

Dustin with his amateur shaver- so many cuts

HAHAH

I returned home and my appetite was finally back to normal and I could eat a normal dinner. We had the most famous dish in Guatemala called pipian. It is a stew with vegetables and rooster. We had it with rice and home made corn tortillas which I have grown a very strong liking to.

The Guatemalan Dish: Pepian with home made corn tortillas. 

Tomorrow morning we head back to Patzicia to do our first campaign. We are going to be giving out free eye exams and this is the first time we actually have the opportunity to sell our products. I am excited except we have very early wake up tomorrow. 

Playing Soccer with the Locals

Of course I started my day with bananas and sweet bread for breakfast. I went to class and for the entire Spanish tutoring session my group worked on our charla (presentation about stoves). While we were working away the other groups with their tutors went to a restuarant that has an amazing view. Little did they know, the president of Guatemala had the same idea for a Thursday morning. Half of my group (not including me unfortunately) got to meet the president and vice president of Guatemala and take pictures with him! I am really jealous!

For lunch I told my mom I loved the plain cooked chicken yesterday so she gave that to me again! And I saw her cooking it tonight for me tomorrow and I told her all my friends were jealous of my chicken so I think this is going to continue. She makes fun of me for only eating bananas and chicken, but I will take it if I only have to eat bananas and chicken! After we ate our lunch we went back to Cafe Sky but this time we went to the roof top for drinks. It was a perfectly sunny day out and it was a really great view of the city.

At Cafe Sky

Such a crew

Midday cheers!

After lunch we had more time to prepare our charla and then we presented to our group. It was a 20 minute presentation totally in Spanish about our stoves. We talked about how many people in Guatemala cook with wood on the floor in an open fire. How these people have lots of problems with their health because of the smoke in their eyes and lungs, problems with burning their children, and problems with having to purchase so much expensive wood which contributes to deforestation. Our stoves offered a solution to these problems! We had three types of stoves: the cement stove, the metal stove, and the rocket stove each having their own advantages but all of them with no smoke, less wood, and safer for their children at a very reasonable price.


I returned home and videochatted with Taylor and was able to virtually introduce her to my whole family and show her my house! My mom said everyone thought I was talking to myself before they realized I could talk to someone on the computer. Taylor attempted to speak Spanish with my family it was really fun!

The best part of my night was playing soccer in the town next door with my friends home stay brother's church group. It was a well lit cement field with goals. We played with a Duke soccer ball my friend had bought his family. Muoser had his brothers drive us there and we played for about an hour! I was surprised that they weren't very good but it was fun because they were impressed by some of my skills. We played the "gringos" (what they call white people) vs. the locals and we won 4-1, and I scored the second goal. During the game there was very joyful church music playing! I am really glad I went and it was the first time I exercised at least a little this trip!

Soccer with locals on cement but with lights and under a roof

Tomorrow we go into the field to survey people about our stoves which should be fun!

My Birthday!

 I didn't know what to expect when I realized I was going to be celebrating my birthday in Guatemala with a group of people I had just met and with a family that I knew for a week. Before coming, I didn't know if I wanted to tell my home stay because I was scared they were going to feel obligated to do something for someone they just met. But, since I have been here my family has made me feel at home and I have made such great friends in such a short time, today passed all my expectations!

I woke up and the family all hugged me with a big feliz cumpleanos. I took the extra ten minutes to straighten my hair for once (not that it stayed straight) and put on my only nice shirt(not that you can see it because I am in a sweatshirt) and went to school. We had Spanish and during our break my Spanish tutor's daughter baked me a banana bread cake! Then Whitney and Gabby had bought three large banana breads the day before! It was a party!

My birthday banana breads! Freshly baked from my tutor and brought by Whitney and Gabby!

Thanks Whitney and Gabby for bringing the amazing banana bread loafs!

Thanks Sandra (my tutor) for the incredible cake!

lighting the candles!

Blowing out the candles

Our work for the afternoon was the prepare our Charla for tomorrow. It is a presentation in Spanish that we are going to be giving on Friday to real people interested in our products telling them how we can help them. I have a lot to memorize tonight because tomorrow we are going to be presenting in front of our group.

After this everyone decided to try a new place in honor of my birthday called "The circus bar". Turns out...to put it bluntly...it sucked. I can't drink because I am on antibiotics and the only food that looked appealing was pizza (my favorite...not). So we got pizza and drinks and I had a slice of pizza which I should just never do because that did not settle and I got sick..AGAIN.

At the Circus Bar. 

But, what put me in a better mood was when I returned to my home Daneysa had decorated my room with balloons and streamers!

My decorated bedroom!

For dinner they made me eggs with tomatoes but I felt to sick to eat them and just ate tortillas and a banana. I finished my bday video chatting with Tay, not for her to say happy bday but to help with her essay. At least she is officially not mad at me anymore...

Overall, it was a pretty good birthday and surpassed my expectations (not that I had any).

On the way to recovery

After another rough night last night I decided it was time to visit the doctor. When we arrived at the school before going there was a beautiful view of the volcano below.

The beautiful view of the Volcano

Michelle, one of the SolCom leaders, took me in a tuk-tuk, a mini 3-wheeled taxi, to the Antigua hospital. I was a little nervous to trust a Guatemalan doctor but when I arrived the place looked beautiful and the doctor was so friendly and I did feel like he knew what he was talking about. Also, the Giatemalan doctors are especially good at prescribing stomach issues in foreigners since that is very common here. But, what is NOT so common is what my diagnosis is...Not only do I have a stomach infection, but I also have Amoeba in my stomach!! He gave me two pills to take tonight which will kill it within 12 hours but is killling my stomach currently and Cipro that I take for 6 days. Thank god I went to the doctor!! But so unlucky that within one week of being in Guatemala I have both an innfenction and an amoeba. I am hoping this is my fair dose of sickness and I can last the rest of the trip...crossing my fingers!

The beautiful doctor's office

                                         The medicine I was prescribed to kill the Amoeba...ew

After I returned from the doctors I was expecting to have to study Spanish for two hours but instead the tutors were celebrating a birthday and decided to make a dance party! 

The dance party with our tutors!

I really did not want to eat more bread and bananas for lunch so we decided to go out to lunch. I got this beautiful plate of steamed vegetables and grilled chicken...a perfect meal!

My lunch at Cafe Sky

After lunch we split into our groups and learned about the big projects we are going to be doing. My group is in charge of the stoves. There are three types of stoves the cement stove, the metal stove, and the small portable rocket stove. Throughout the rest of the time we are going to be thinking of different strategies to best market and reach the people that are most in need of stoves to make the most possible sales. It is really exciting I get to work with stoves because it is the most high impact product we offer. Taking someone's home from having to cook with wood on the ground and with smoke filling the lungs of them and their children to having a stove that doesnt emit smoke and makes cooking so much more efficient is really a life-changing addition to homes that before us had no access to this change. I am excited to see the different approaches we take to marketing and finding our target audience to sell our stoves to, along with adding our own two sense as to how we think we can improve what is already in place. 

We returned home and I told my parents I had an amoeba and an infection and they were shocked. I bought cards today and Daneysa and I played so many card games my head was going to explode. Then we had dinner (mine was bananas and bread) but I was glad I didnt have to eat the fried chicken, beans, and tortillas the rest of the family had. Then Daneysa and I played games on my phone and she showed me all of her friends on her facebook and she left at around 9:30. So much bonding time with Daneysa! But, she accidentally deleted EVERY picture on my camera... 

ITS MY BIRTHDAY IN AN HOUR! I don't know what is going to be different tomorrow but I am excited! I probably will stay up til midnight just as tradition, not that anyone is really on the same time zone as me. 

Learning How to Give Eye Exams

Because I haven't been feeling great all I have been served today is 8 bananas and bread! I did 4 hours of Spanish but because I wasn't feeling well they were the slowest 4 hours of all time and halfway through I asked if we could play games with another group so I didn't have to talk for 2 more hours. After this Whitney, Gabby, and I decided we did not want to eat our home stay lunch (more bananas and bread) we went to a restaurant for food! It was a nice break and I got to finally order something I wanted to eat, vegetables!

After lunch we were split into our groups for an ice breaker where we had 30 minutes to make up a dance. My group had a song titled "The Cow" and successfully choreographed a pretty impressive dance for how short of a time we had. It was a competition for money for the cause of our choice and we won with a unanimous vote! To see our dance visit Facebook even though I am quite embarrassed that it is so public.

The start to our winning dance...The Cow

After this ice breaker we learned how to give the eye exams that we are going to be giving this Saturday. There were many demonstrations with different circumstances that we are going to face. When people get old their eyes suffer from Presbyopia. Normally, it is really easy to be tested and the treatment is just to get reading glasses. Where we are going to be going the people don't have access to people that can test their vision and prescribe them with the right magnification of reading glasses. We can test people for free! and correctly prescribe them with a pair of glasses at a really great price. Also, it is really common for people to have limited vision because of the damage they have accumulated through cooking on the ground in their kitchen and living in smoke, through extended exposure to UV light with no protection, and through the contamination in the air. By purchasing a pair of protectant glasses and eye drops the person can reduce the inflammation in their eyes and protect themselves from further damaging their eyes. After training today we can tell if their eyes have been damaged and give them the opportunity they didn't have previously to buy these protective glasses. Other problems people face like long distance vision problems or people with cataracts we cannot treat but we can refer them to doctors who we know will give them a subsidized price and are very reliable.

We practiced giving eye exams to each other in Spanish which was quite difficult for me to do! Hopefully with more practice come Saturday I can successfully give an eye exam! I thought learning about this was so interesting

I returned to my home and watched No Strings Attached with Daneysa in my bed. To my surprise, our mom brought us dinner(bread and bananas for me) in bed so we could continue to watch. I am hoping I have a good night sleep because if not I will have to visit the doctor tomorrow. Hoping I am cured and this was just a 48 hour bug!

Sick...

Unfortunately, I was not feeling good at all when I woke up this morning so could not go with the rest of my friends to hike the volcano. I heard it was pretty cold and raining during the hike and since it was raining the view was not as great as it could have been. But, overall was a cool experience I am sad I missed out on! I told my home stay mom I was sick and she gave me bread, bananas, and gatorade for breakfast and made vegetable soup for everyone for lunch. And she finally told me she was going to wash my clothes which I am happy about.
I have enjoyed this day to be lazy and just lay in my bed, watching Scandal, and catching up with friends. Hopefully I feel better tomorrow after resting all day today. Muoser got locked out of his house so was able to come over and see my house and meet my family. He ate lunch with us and told me his room is much larger than mine is. I was happy he got to meet my family!

Publicity Day

Today was the start to the work we are going to be doing for the rest of the summer! We went into the town of Patzicia, a small indigenous pueblo, in order to advertise for our campaign that is going to be next Saturday. We arrived made flyers and posters about how we were going to do free eye vision exams with the opportunity to buy other products next Saturday. We practiced talking in Spanish to say: We want to invite you to a vision clinic next Saturday in the Good Neighbor shop from 9-1 where we will be offering free eye exams and have a lot of other products!

Muoser and I were partners and would go up to indigenous men and women, whose second language was Spanish also, and tell them about our campaign. I was so surprised with how receptive all of the people we talked to were! I was expecting people to ignore those annoying people walking around with flyers but instead once we talked a lot of people were really excited about it and were asking so many questions! People were even coming up to us asking what we were promoting. We gave away over 200 flyers just us alone and it was really cool to see this indigenous village. Hopefully the publicity we did today is enough for these people to show up to our campaign next Saturday!

There was an indigenous wedding in the middle of the park!

A group of us with the indigenous woman that is part of our campaign who helps us connect with the local people. 

The market where we publicized this morning. 

More of the market.

And more..I thought the pictures were great!

Raylin shows an example of how we would go up to people with flyers and tell them about our campaign.

It was Ryan's birthday so after our publicity we returned to Antigua got lunch and went to Monoloco, a very touristy sports bar to watch the championship soccer game. The place was packed and it was really fun watching in such a fun environment! Even though both teams were from Germany the crowd would go wild when anything exciting would happen. 

Such a crew at Monoloco for the soccer game. 

Unfortunately I have a little fever and am not feeling great but hopefully its just a 24 hour thing and I get over it because tomorrow at 7am we are hiking Volcano Pacaya! 

The one week mark!

Started off the morning with the GROSSEST breakfast of all time which, while my mother watched me, I quickly gulped down, debated feeding to the dog, smashed it up, hid it under another plate and ran to my room for my water and a power bar and without hesitation told her thank you and I liked it a lot. I really have issues telling her I do not like something especially when she cooks just for me!
It was steamed plantains with sugar and cinnamon  I had 4 large pieces and I cannot believe I put half of that in my body. When we arrived at the nunnery for the day, to my surprise...what is my lunch...THE SAME PLANTAINS. But I was actually glad I had them because I could take a picture and show the rest of my group the horror(I'm not dramatic at all).

My breakfast and lunch...

Along with this I had potato pancakes, strawberries that were molded, cooked pumpkin, and bread. This was just one of those days where a power bar was going to have to suffice. 

Today along with four hours of spanish, we learned about the products we are going to be giving to entrepreneurs to sell locally. Every product was engineered specifically for places in Guatemala and had a lot of thought into the best design and price in order to sell the product to people who need it along with keeping the business running. The products include reading glasses, corrective near vision glasses, water filters, stoves, seeds for food, and solar powered lights and flashlights. These are all goods that are not available in the places we are going to be bringing them and the net gain the people can gain by having access to these products is really incredible. We have been convinced that the demand exists for these items because of the lack of access but I am excited to see how the people in these towns react to having access and if they take advantage of this economic opportunity. I also am interested in comparing these results to if we had just gone into the village and given away these products. We have been told many times this strategy is not effective because when people are given something it usually is not appropriate for their culture, does not go to good use because they have not invested any person sacrifice into attaining it, is only a temporary solution, and actually works against markets forming where these products could actually be available at a market price which would eliminate the problem in total. 

On the way home when we dropped off other students at their town we stopped to get our home stay moms flowers!

The flowers we bought for our mothers! (I have a strangely long neck in this picture it is very unclear why)

I got home gave my mom her flowers and walked around Santa Lucia. When I returned home I got to meet Daneysa's boyfriend I have been hearing so much about! I ate dinner which was beans and eggs and once her boyfriend left we watched City of God together, not so sure that movie was the best judgement call on my part. 

I am excited because tomorrow is our first day of work! With our teams we go to different villages and start publicizing the days our entrepreneurs are going to be selling our products and telling them what we have! 

Power Outages, Photobooth Pictures, and Manicures...Day 6

I don’t want to bore anyone with another long and boring post so I will just talk about the good stuff.  The reason this post is late is because it was pouring rain last night and the power went off and so did the internet.

It was Guilia’s birthday today so during the 4 hour tutoring session me and my tutor were in charge of going to a local bakery and buying the cakes! When we got there I was sure to drop many hints that my favorite dessert was banana bread and I did not like chocolate cake (I hope she got the hint). We had cake and sang with our tutors for Guilias and Ryans birthday which is on Saturday.

The cake we bought for Guilia and Ryan's Birthday

Me and My Spanish Tutor Sandra

Celebrating the birthdays!

We again learned about the Microconsignment model and I suggest if anyone wants to learn about what I am doing to watch this Ted Talk with Greg Van Kirk. A lot of the successful examples he uses on how it is possible to sustainably help countries in need is directly from the program I am working with! This made me really excited to start the actual work and cannot wait for my posts explaining what we actually do.

After learning we had an hour in Antigua which we took to celebrate Guilia’s birthday and went to a restaurant called Taco Tent and enjoyed happy hour to celebrate! We then returned to our homestays and Muoser and I walked around Santa Lucia, the pueblo where we live, to explore a little. There is a main street that connects to a small park and that is basically the entire town. From one end to the other is less than a 5 minute walk.

I returned to my home and did my homework in the kitchen with Keyla until everyone got home. Daneysa and the wife of the oldest brother were cooking lasagna and I tried to help by cutting up the tomatoes but they really did not need my help. I told them all about how much I love cooking desserts and showed them a bunch of pictures of my cookie cakes which they were very impressed with! I told them my mom cooks them and they asked me what my mom did and I told them she sold hair tyes and happened to have a bunch in my backpack which I showed them and gave each of them one which they liked!

I finally was welcomed into Daneysa's room for the first time. This is where Daneysa, Keyla, and Erick all live. It had two large beds and walls painted with different Disney characters. Daneysa showed me the gift her boyfriend gave her for their two month which was just as cheesy as what she had given me. It was a box with candy and a long note. On the outside of the box it read “You are not my love you are my life” in Spanish. It was very romantic!

Then the entire family got home and the dad greeted me with a big hello hug and kiss which was unexpected but appreciated! We were all in the kitchen, all 8 of us, with Irma cooking and the rest of us at the table helping Keyla with her homework and talking. By talking I mean everyone was talking and I was sitting staring aimlessly not understanding a word but someone would look at me and smile and then start laughing at me which I did not mind at all. Finally at 9 we had dinner which was meat lasagna and bread. During dinner it started to rain really hard and there were many leaks in the house. The worst leak was in my room where we came and my jeans were soaked in water. We had to move my couch and now there is a bucket currently being filled with water.

The bucket to catch the leaking water in my room.

The leak in my ceiling that went into the bucket. 

The best part of today was after dinner Daneysa came into my room and painted my nails pink while we listened to music. After this we took pictures on photobooth and made the collage below! I really like Daneysa and feel the most comfortable around her. It is like she is my missing sister right now! The rain got harder and harder until the power went out which is a very normal problem when it rains this hard. 

Our excessive use of photobooth and making a collage.

Tomorrow will be our last day for the week of orientation so expect another similar post. 

Just another Dia...Day 5

Nothing to exciting to report from today. Luckily I slept well last night even though I did hear cats again. For breakfast I had mango! banana and sweet bread which was a perfect start to my day.  I had my spanish tutor for 4 hours again then lunch. It was not my favorite meal yet...was some kind of mystery meat patty, a bowl of rice, mango again!, and a bowl of steamed vegetables!. We then started to learn about the work we are going to be doing once we go into the field. These first two weeks in Antigua are to train us on how to do the work we are going to be doing, so for the next week and a half most days are going to be about the same: wake up, Spanish tutor, lunch, learning something as a group, then back to our home stays.

We had a really great discussion about ways that NGOs come into countries to try to help. We read two articles that basically outlined two different approaches: one giving and one teaching. The expression "you can give a man a fish or you can teach him how to fish" was commonly used. It was a pretty interesting discussion when people started to say whether they thought temporarily coming into a country providing them with goods and services they need and then leaving is a better way to address needs than coming in and trying to work with the people in the community to create a sustainable way that the impact an organization makes will last once the organization is gone. There are two types of aid: relief and development. Relief being temporary, providing necessary goods, and leaving in a set amount of time. Development being a longer process involving restructuring for a sustainable change. I concluded that the type of aid necessary is always dependent on circumstance and usually a combination of both types is what is best for the country.

Soluciones Comunitarios, the organization I am going to be working with, creates a developmental impact on communities in Guatemala. The organization uses the MicroConsignment model to do this. The MicroConsignment model is a way of finding local entrepreneurs and giving them products to sell without any initial investment risk. If the person sells the item they then pay for the original item but items they do not sell they give back and do not have to pay for. This is different from microfranchising because  there is risk involved in buying a good to sell because you cannot predict the demand for the product, so there is an inherent risk in buying the product without being sure it will be sold. Products that are sold include eye glasses, water filters, stoves, and baskets. Not only will these entrepreneurs benefit from selling these items the recipients who were in such small villages and before this had no access to such necessities will have clean water or better eye sight or a working stove. This simply uses the power of the market to meet the necessary demands of the people of Guatemala in a way that is sustainable and empowers the community.

After learning about the organization we walked around Antigua for an hour until we returned to our home stays. I took a cold shower again and changed and Daneysa brought her finished artwork into my room! There was a large love letter written on the heart and it was sign love, tu amor. Daneysa and I were in my room for the rest of the night. She showed me all of her dresses from her quincenera, her graduation, a wedding, and more. She also told me that there is a wedding on June 2nd, the last day I am in my home stay and she invited me to come! I am really excited to go and it is on the second to last day I am in Antigua. She told me I was the first foreigner girl that has been close to her age and her family has been hosting people for 23 years, for the whole year! Her whole life there has been a foreigner just like myself sleeping in this bedroom but only now, that she is 18, has there been a girl close to her age. I really like talking with Daneysa and wish my spanish was better so that it wasn't such an effort every time I wanted to say something and especially anytime I attempted to crack a joke (not that I really can in English either). We then had dinner which was soup, rice, beans, and tortillas and I think I am officially sick of beans already...but I cannot complain I was definitely full! During dinner we watched disney channel in Spanish which I could not understand and then the whole family except me went to church. I definitely am enjoying my alone time because I really am interacting with people ALL day and attempting to speak Spanish is a huge effort! About to do my homework for my tutor and go to sleep early!

Sorry this was a long a pretty boring post but I don't think anything can really compete with the bat story (or I hope nothing like that happens again!). Tomorrow and Friday are really going to be very similiar posts as I continue to form relationships with my home stay and learn more about what I am going to be doing once we start our field work.

Getting to Know My Home Stay Sisters

GREAT NEWS! There was no bat in my room but I was not making up the noise! Glad that I was warned that there are stray cats which live on the roof above me and because the roof is metal whenever they step it sounds sort of like a flutter coming from on top of my head (or at least that is my justification for immediately thinking I had a bat in my room). I found this out because I told my host mom this morning that I did not sleep because I thought there was an animal in my room but I was probably just crazy and nervous my first night. But she immediately responded saying no you aren't loco there are cats that live above you!...Glad I know that NOW.

So I started off my day exhausted to say the least. I did not know how to use the sink so decided instead of embarrassing myself I would just swallow my toothpaste, I am really killing it at my home stay. Then I had breakfast around 6:30am which was banana pineapple and bread with sugar which was delicious and quite filling! Irma packed me a lunch and Daneysa walked me to where the bus picked me up at 7:45am. I had not really had a chance to talk to Daneysa yesterday, she seemed busy or did not want to waste her time with a foreigner, but during this walk I told her all about my crazy bat night which got the ball rolling. We talked for a good 20 minutes because my bus was late and she was waiting with me. I learned that she has taken English for 13 years and can basically understand everything but refuses to talk to me in it...which is probably a good thing.

Once I left her we got to the nunnery and were greeted by our tutors. To start off my exhausting morning I had 4 straight hours of one on one spanish tutoring. In Spanish she told me how much of a tradition it is in pueblos to always live in your home and it really limits the jobs the men can have because they have to work near their home. Also, men and women cannot live together until they are married and once they are married they move into the husband's house usually with the rest of his family.

After this we had lunch! It felt like high school because everyone had a packed lunch and was sitting outside on picnic tables. Irma packed me low mein noodles with chicken and vegetables, pineapple, and an entire loaf of bread.

My delicious lunch!

Eating at a picnic table with our packed lunches.

After lunch we learned about the history of Guatemala. About the civil war and the current peace agreement and the current issues Guatemala faces. I should have been paying attention but my lack of sleep made me have a lack of attention span as my eyes could not stay open for this section. Then we walked around Antigua and returned to our home stays.

Once I got home Daneysa after she was done talking on the phone came in my room and plopped this large piece of paper on the floor of my room. Keyla then shortly joined us as Daneysa explained she was making a gift for her boyfriend because tomorrow if their two month! She made the cutest turtle and told me all about her boyfriend and her past boyfriends! She said I am going to meet him soon which I am excited to do. We were together talking for about an hour until dinner. Dinner was the low mein I had for lunch on large tortilla chips and tortilla chips covered in beans and salsa. My host mom was trying to get me in the conversation. Irma again did not eat with the rest of us. 

After dinner the three sisters went back into my room where I had to do my Spanish tarea and she finished this project. 

Daneysa and her gift for her boyfriend for their two month tomorrow. (Te amo= I love you)

We went on my computer and had google translator opened so that any hard sentences we could translate to each other online! I love how technology can facilitate communication. I showed them pictures of my family on facebook and we listened to my music on my computer (thanks Taylor...they love Glee, Adele, and Justin Beiber so it was a hit!) Around 9:30 they left my room to go to sleep. I really enjoyed their company and am so glad we were together for so long. But now I am more than tired and am hoping tonight I actually sleep. Today was a great day because I got to know my homestay even through all of my exhaustion. I have four more hours of Spanish in the morning, going to be another long day! 

A bat? A large moth? A bird?...Or am I just a drama queen? (My first night in my home stay)

It is 4:30am and I am wide awake with all of my lights on because at 3am as it was pouring rain outside I heard large fluttering noises in my room. I thought maybe it was my curtains fluttering in the wind, but with the lights off I could not see anything moving. The noise kept getting louder until I was sure there was something in my room. I immediately hid under my covers as I listened to something above my head. I was profusely sweating and all I could think about was how annoyed I was that I could not use my Iphone to google what to do when there is a bat in your room(I am so dependent on technology). I grabbed my Guatemalan flip phone and texted Whitney, my life saver, who was able to go on her computer google the fact that Bats are attracted to light, they have a possibility of giving you rabies if they bite you, and the number of our program director. After 10 frantic minutes under neath my covers the noises stopped. Well, now what? Was I making this all up and just being dramatic? The last thing I wanted to do was cause a commotion over nothing!
I really did not want to disturb my home stay family nor did I want to disturb Krystal, one of the program heads who had helped me move into my home and really been the person to tell me I should call her if I needed anything, but as I continued to create a pool of sweat underneath my covers I did not know what else to do. I texted Krystal that I think I heard a bat in my room and was hiding under my covers and did not know what to do. She immediately called me and under the covers told me to tie my hair back because a bat could land and rest in my hair, get up turn on my lights and open my door in order to see if it was still in my room. She also told me that giant moths are really common and it was probably just that but it was better to find out what it was then to continue to hide under my covers.
My heart pounding I turned my flashlight on my phone tied my hair up turned on the light and opened my door. But, I did not find anything! The only thing I noticed is that the walls of my room do not go all the way to the ceiling, so if there was something it could have flown out of my bedroom into the rest of the house. There is also a tarp covering my ceiling where something could be hiding in.

The roof of my room where the wall does not go all the way up and the tarp hangs down...Could there be something inside?

But, am I just being dramatic? Am I making this all up? I know I heard something, could it have just been a bug, a moth, or a bird...really just harmless? Did I overreact in waking up Whitney and the program director? I really hate to be the person who makes an ordeal out of something that is nothing! Well this was quite a night! At least I only have another hour and a half until I would have had to wake up anyways.

And because I am bored here are a few pictures of my bedroom, many more better ones to come.

My couch with my suitcase on it with a desk to the left of it.

My large dresser with a large mirror! For once I did not overpack and have plenty of room for all of my stuff! 

Meeting my Homestay...Day 3

I am currently writing this blog post from my full sized bed in my own room in my home stay family house which is one of two that has internet (lucky me), so I will definitely be able to keep up with my blog posts from my home.
Started the day with an early start; we packed our bags and were out of the hotel by 7:30 and off to breakfast at a nunnery where we would spend the day. Here we had a long morning of orientation on health, safety, and homestay etiquette. Following this we had lunch in the nunnery where we got a large piece of chicken, rice, tortillas, and veggies.
Then we met our tutors for the first time. These are one on one tutors that for the next two weeks are going to tutor us for four hours every day. My tutor's name is Sandra and she only speaks Spanish. We talked for about two hours and she was really able to kick start my Spanish skills with a Spanish 101 so I wouldn't sound completely terrible when I entered my home stay. We then roamed Antigua for an hour and then we were off to our separate families.

As I walked into the door, my heart pounding out of control to the point where I could have cried on the spot, I was greeted with a large hug by my home stay mom Irma. This immediately settled my nerves and my teary eyes went away just in time. She led me upstairs past their outdoor garden into the kitchen where I met my home stay sister Keyla who is 13 and was working on a project for her class. I then met the 18 year old older daughter Daniela. I was taken to my room and was pleasantly surprised when I had my own room with a full bed, a couch, a small desk, and lots of space to put my clothing. I met the father who was helping Keyla with her school project. I sat at the kitchen table with Irma and Keyla as I nervously tried to communicate with my limited Spanish ability. At first stuttering over every word, I gradually got a little more comfortable and really did enjoy applying the things I could and communicating with phrases like "me gusta jugar futbal" or "soy de Los Angeles". It was a start! My host mom started talking to me about how I must be so nervous and how I will get much better at Spanish and much more comfortable tomorrow. She was really sweet and was cooking us dinner at the time.
I then went to my room to unpack my stuff and once I was done I heard Adele playing in the kitchen and took that as my cue to re enter the kitchen and start conversation, not that it could really go that far. Keyla showed me all her American music, then I helped Irma crack eggs for dinner. I was soon to meet Erick the 23 year old brother who was so friendly to me, always had a huge smile, was asking me questions and attempting to understand my butchered spanish.
We were then served dinner, and since I was the guest I was served first. Dinner was beans rice eggs and corn tortillas. Irma served us all and did not eat with the family which I think is part of the muchismo, male dominated, culture. During dinner Irmas cousin came over and everyone was talking Spanish really fast and I could not understand a word, but I could just peacefully eat my dinner in silence. I was very happy the family has a water filter and could trust that the water would not make me sick.
After dinner I went on a walk with Irma, the father, and Keyla to the meat shop which was on the same street as her home to get chicken and to another tienda selling fruits and vegetables. She asked me what my favorite fruit was and I told her I loved all fruit but papaya and she bought a large pineapple for me!
We went home and Keyla taught me how to use the shower which is located outside and downstairs in a small bathroom. I could not figure out how to make it hot but I was successfully able to take a shower which I was very happy with!
Now I am in my room exhausted and ready for another long day of Spanish learning and more orientation. Very happy I overcame the initial meeting of my family and am looking forward to seeing how this relationship is going to grow and change as I am here for the next few weeks.

Exploring Guatemala...Day 2

Today was another day of orienting ourselves to Antigua and getting to know each other. We woke up and had eggs and refried beans cooked for us at our hostal. Following this we went on a hike to the Sierra Christo- a large cross on top of a mountain.

We had an incredible view of the city that would have been even better if we had gone earlier to avoid the fog that covered the volcanos.

Following this we went to lunch at a restaurant that served Guatemalan food, not that I was adventurous at all and got a plate of grilled vegetables and guacamole. 

The highlight of the day was our tour of a coffee plantation! I learned every step of the coffee process and am about to outline everything I learned which might take a while but I want to remember! 

There are two types of Coffee: Robustus and Arabica. Robustus is what instant coffee is made of. The coffee plantation we visited grows Arabica but, the problem is Arabica's roots only lasts 5 years, which is not profitabe for a coffee plantation owner. So, what they do is make a hybrid of the Robustus roots which lasts 50+ years and the Arabica plant. They combine them with parafilm and the Arabica seed grows for 35 years until becoming a hybrid plant with the Robustus roots. So, for 35 years from March-November every year there is the growing season for Arabica coffee beans which are bright red on these coffee trees. 

The coffee plant flowers before they become beans.

From March-November the flowers turn into the bright red seeds which is the "womens" job to pick. They grow in hundreds per tree. 

The cherry layer on the outside is then peeled off in a machine which turns into two coffee seeds. 64 coffee seeds makes a cup of coffee so 32 red seeds.

There are two layers, one which is Kahlua is peeled off the seeds before they look like this. Both are done in machines. 

These are all the bad coffee seeds which are too small or large and are made into instant coffee. 

Water is poored in and the good red seeds and the bad red seeds are seperated. The good red seeds sink and the bad ones which are either infected with bugs or not ripe enough float. 

The pulpers take off the cherry outside to make the two seeds. The cherry outsides are used as fertilizer or used for cherry jello!

The seeds are separated by size in this machine. The ideal size is medium because the density to volume ratio is idea but the small and medium ones are processed separately and then combined in the end to make second tier coffee. 

The seeds are then dried and fermented and look like this. 

 The seeds are then put through the machine below and the last layer is taken off.

 After going through that machine the beens look like this! They are all ideally medium sized beans but then must be separated by density. The most dense beans that are medium sized make the best tasting coffee.

This is the density seperator, denser beans when the machine vibrates go to the left and less dense ones go to the right. 

Women then have to sort through the beans and pick out the bad ones. The same beans are cycled through three rounds of women to make sure only the best coffee seeds make it through.

The beans are then packaged into these bags and shipped to other countries to be roasted and made into coffee beans that are used in Starbucks or in our homes!

My cup of freshly made coffee!

All of us at the coffee plantation. 

It was quite a day. We drove back on the vans where I got to ride shot gun and bond with Alex who is a 24 year old Guatemalan who is studying engineering, piloting, and computer science! We had dinner at the SEC offices met more people from UConn Georgetown and Notre Dame on our trip, and drank together in our hostal where the manager the nicest guy made sure we had a great time! 

Looking forward to meeting my homestay tomorrow! We leave at 7:30 with all our bags packed and a quick Spanish for dummies class before we enter our house.