Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Swearing-in Photos


I am quite happy to be done with training. Here are a few final photos (from the swearing-in ceremony, my host brother, and the street outside the host family's house).
Today I had my Spanish interview; it went well, but apparently I avoided using the subjunctive. Tomorrow we have Thanksgiving dinner in Guatemala City, and Friday morning we go to our sites.

Monday, November 20, 2006

San José Poaquil

Here are some new photos. Some of the photos are from the "family appreciation day" that we had for our host families. There are also some pictures of San José Poaquil, Chimaltenango where Kara and I went to learn more about ArcGIS mapping software.

In other news, I am now officially a volunteer, as we had our swearing-in ceremony this morning in Antigua.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Granadilla


This is a granadilla. It tastes a little like kiwi. More info here.

Training is finally ending, and tomorrow is our swearing-in ceremony.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Cookies and Pizza

Last weekend I had a good time making pizza and chocolate chunk cookies with Marvin and Brenda. Here Marvin is happily kneading the pizza dough. There are a couple more pictures here of the process, as well as a couple of a waiters' race in Antigua.

I just started reading La Ley de los Santos which is an old antropology book about a Pokomam community near Guatemala City. Before that I read Señores bajo los Arboles about the Armed Conflict, El Dragón y la Princesa by E. Sábato, and Hombres de Maíz by M.A. Asturias. I would definitely recommend Hombres de Maiz (Men of Maize) for anyone who has free time and interest in Guatemala. El Dragón y la Princesa is like El Túnel (Tunnel), the other work I've read of Sábato. It's dark and confused and strongly Argentine. Señores bajo los Arboles is a good book too, but it is more descriptions of the violence and destruction of the armed conflict, about which I feel like I've read enough for now. Books in Spanish are expensive for some reason, which is why I have borrowed books so far. Another thing that strikes me is that people here refer to the 36 years of violence as the "armed conflict" rather than a "civil war" or "war" as we do in the US.




Monday, November 06, 2006

Kites


We went to Kite Celebration in Santiago Sacatepéquez for Todos Santos (Day of the Dead) on November 1st. There are more pictures here of both that event and family events.