It´s Raining, Its pouring, my cat is still ignoring(me) the clothes won´t dry and my brownies fried and I couldn´t get back to sleep in the morning.

(this is a picture of the 4yr olds celebrating tree day in guatemala)


# of conversations about “the most important thing” in my life I have had with people- 2
# of sermons on CD from Roger I have listened to this week- 17 (lot of time traveling on the bus)
# of minutes it took to heat up my pot of water to take a bucket bath- 15min
# of days I was without water completely (God bless rain and buckets)- 4
# of days I have now had water but with only a trickle thus, no shower still- 3
# of times I have washed my hair the pila on the patio- 1
- I have now tied my record for longest time without washing hair- a week (set on Oct 2005 during the hurricane in Guatemala)
# of Quetzals (currency) for my soccer ticket in San Marcos- 50 (approx $6.50)
# of Quetzals for my electricity bill last month- 46
Amount sold from school fundraiser by end of Friday (day 3)- Q4600 ($650)
# of jars of peaches sold in the fundraiser- 150
# of jars of peaches still waiting to be sold after the fundraiser- 2250
# of times I have dipped my paint brush in my tea- 2
# of times I have wanted to push the “undo” button no where to be found on my watercolor picture- 100+

Guatemalan Proverb: Buy a feline cheap food, thy feline shall reject the food and will wale into all hours of night until fed something only his master would eat.

First Bucket Bath- So I am a lucky volunteer and didn’t have to do bucket baths in training like half the volunteers and even now some volunteers bucket bath in their sites. Well, had my first bucket bath the other day and let me tell ya, I am VERY thankful for my most of the time acceptable shower. At first I boiled the water, and it was to hot so I added some cold water. Then when you pour it on its like “ahhhh…” until it all runs off and then its “buuuurrrrrrr….”. And to top it off, didn’t even feel that clean afterwards! Come back water! Come back!!!!

Beat that Emeril Degase! So getting kinda tired of my scrambled eggs, potatoes and grilled veggie lunch/dinner combo that I end up eating so much. So… I got inspired, pulled out my handy dandy PC cookbook (things you can make with stuff we can buy here that doesn’t cost a fortune). First thing I made was cornbread. Not like Marie Calenders but it was a pretty good alternative. I threw some butter on it (from one of the little tubes I took from the Marriott) and it was wonderful. And my “oven” didn’t burn it this time (like most of my other foods). Then I decided to make a soup. I have never made a soup outside of what comes in a plastic bag and you sprinkle on the sodium seasoning 3-5min later. So yea…I call it “Olivia’s potato, onion, cabbage, rice, garlic, and some other stuff soup” Good name? (later in the week) ok… so we got a good and bad here. Good thing about soup is that you can leave it on the stove and on day 3, still safe enough to eat (so far). Bad thing, it never ends! I keep eating but the pot of soup doesn’t get smaller by much. Ahhh!!!!

Cat Update!- I pet him! Then again, he was hungry, but I did manage to pet him without getting hissed or attacked!

Blog Update! So in the last blog I told you about the spider that got smashed by the box of crayons and I intended to leave it there for 17months to make sure it was extra dead. Well, I was cleaning today and picked up the box of crayons expecting to find a dead spider body. Nope! Nothing! So yea..now I got a angry spider running around my house.

Shopping Excitement- So…. For whatever crazy reason, washing your clothes against cement slabs each week starts to take a quick wear and tear to socks and jeans. Because those are two things that are usually dirty and actually need a scrub where as others just need a good soak and rinse. Well, I sadly have to retire two pairs of jeans I brought with me. However! That meant I get to go used American clothing shopping! So walked in and out of the stores (which look like large unorganized walk in closets with no light bulb). Trick is basically to look for the color of jeans you know you like. Most moderns pairs will be darker where as the whitewashed look from the 80’s is easy to pick out. So I scored, twice! Now the happy owner of Tommy jeans as well as a pair from Abercrombie and Fitch. Never owned either of those brands before because I was to “economical” to spend $100+ on a pair of pants. However, here, I spent a total of $10 on two pairs of pants that look basically new! Also got a shirt from the Limited for $1.25.

Made 200cups of Hot Liquid Cereal- So they are big on whats called “atol” here which is a liquid hot anything drink. It can anything from liquid beans, plantain (favorite), milk with corn or rice, basically anything that has somewhat of a natural benefit (along with cups of sugar). So Intervida is working with a community to make this atoll that is pretty darn healthy! Its made of rice, peanuts, fava beans, corn, and cinnamon. So on Thursday we ground to a dust almost 500lbs of these items (for 3hrs!) and then we put them into 470 1lb. bags. Then came time to sell them. They make about 20cups per bag and sell for about $1 each. So Sunday morning, traditional market/clean/read/relax and burn something day became “Must sell this stuff!” day. So about 5of us got together, I was in charge of making the giant pot to provide samples. It yielded more or less 200 sample size cups. We spent a few hours selling the bags and sold 100+. Pretty good! I managed to get rid of a few jars of peaches along the way.


Whew..forget walking, I’m running! So my walk with God these last few weeks has grown so much. Can’t really explain why or anything else, but all I can say is I am running with the Lord! Praise God!

Painting- So I got time to paint a picture. I did all my cleaning Friday night purposely to make time to paint on Sunday. So I painted for 5hrs on Sunday and 10hrs again the next weekend. So far it looks good, I will take a picture when it’s done. I am painting the picture that I took of me sitting next to the window.

Worst nightmare come true- So..what is my worst nightmare ya think? Well, you know that my biggest fear is anything that can eat me. That’s not it. Got another guess… How about playing soccer, who we all know I don’t like to play and I am always the goalie for our team and we end up tieing. Guess what that means. Penalty kicks! That’s where the other team gets 5 shots to kick the ball into the goal and I have to stop them from going in. So I was NOT happy that I had to do this. So apart from my nonstop praying before we started and the other guys from work standing behind me shouting “watch the ball!!!” I was SO nervous. I am not an assertive sports player nor do I like balls being kicked/thrown at me that can cause some serious pain. Yes…call me a chicken if you wish. So first shot, I block it. I am a very bad goalie with quick reflexes which is why they keep asking for me to come back (not that I have an option). So I stuck my arm out and blocked it with my palm. Then the second they missed the goal. The third went in by my feet and I was so frustrated because it was an easy one! Then the forth they missed and at that point we were tied 1 to 1. Then the fifth shot went above my right shoulder and I put my hand up and again stopped it with just my hand (didn’t really move from where I was standing). So our last shot made it in and we won! First time winning out of 5games. About time! However! Unlike the other games, the winner of this game had to play another team right after. AW MAN!!!! So we played all over again and tied that one. Hoping that was our last game. Despite my quick feet and hand movements, I DON’T LIKE SOCCER!

Yo! So some of you know that I am a big “yo” person. For example “whats up yo!” Well… I keep saying “yo” to some of my coworkers here but in Spanish “yo” means “I” so I have found myself saying things like “venga yo” which means “come here I” when I am meaning to say “(you) come here”. So yea.. trying to find a substitute word for yo meanwhile.

What?!?! How did we pass the inspection?!?- So for part of the legalization process for the honey and peaches, the health department has to come out and do an inspection of the processing center and we have to score above and 80 on the test. Well, we had planned to meet to discuss all the changes we need to make and cleaning and what not. Nope! Got to the office on Friday, day of the meeting, and while I was out on Thursday in Xela the health department came and did the inspection and we got an 85! I was so shocked at how in the world did we pass that I didn’t even get excited that one of the hardest parts was over. I still do not get how in the world we passed that test.

Why does the same life lesson sometimes always seem to bring itself up several times?! So I have mentioned on here before how its ironic that some people in life that you aren’t so fond of at first later on down the road either you become friends or even more so, find that you have the same opinions on certain topics most don’t share with ya. Well, one of my coworkers I was NOT fond of what so ever when he first got here a few months ago. Then we got paired to work together on a project, actually got teamed up with the two guys I dislike the least (at the moment) which did not make for a great day for me. Well, one of the guys not so fond of still, but the other one I am starting to find out we share a lot of similar views. One of those views being that lately I have been frustrated with a few aspects of my host agency and on the way back to Tejutla after visiting San Marcos he shared with me that he felt the same way (not knowing that’s how I also felt). I was soooo shocked!! So yea, some of things he says or does still kinda drive me nuts, but for the most part, we have a lot in common and he is actually becoming one of my better coworkers. So…life lesson here. Next time someone comes into your life and you right off the bat don’t have a good impression, give it some time, more than likely (from my experience) you end up not only making peace with that person, but becoming friends. Funny how life works out.

Olivia..stop thinking about the buckets and pay attention! So starting Monday night for three days we didn’t have running water. Usually no big deal besides I wasn’t home to prepare for it. So my pila was only ¾ full, didn’t fill any extra water buckets and I missed my shower night (got home after the water was turned off). On Tuesday I was in a training in the afternoon and it started to pour. All I could think was “man! I could be filling up buckets of water to use to bathe!” Yea… can anyone ever tell me that have had that same problem while at work? Hahah… kinda laughed at myself for thinking so much about filing up buckets of water. I went 6days without showering during the hurricane, I can make it 3days (then again, it was freezing then and now its not so cold during the day).


Must have beans! So I was talking to one of my friends at work who I call Shrek because he is one of the biggest guys there. He is the one in charge of making the menu for the work comedor each week. He told me that he put pancakes on the menu 4 times for the month of June to make me happy. He sure does know the way to my heart, haha. So I asked him why he doesn’t put more non-traditional stuff like spaghetti and hamburgers and he told me that there are a few people at work that if they don’t have their beans and tortillas available they will be very upset. Ok…. Can one really need beans that badly?? Every breakfast is beans, eggs, tortillas and coffee with a few variables. Then lunch is usually something meat based or a soup with veggies. Not bad, just get kinda tired of meat. Love my pasta! And then dinner is always beans with a traditional Guatemalan food which isn’t so bad and I actually enjoy dinner. Thing is, how can someone eat beans twice a day, everyday!?!? Hey Batres! You guys never fed me beans! Hahah…

I knew all those school fundraisers would pay off one day! Between me needing to sell a lot of products in a short amount of time and the local 6th graders (same class that participated in the letter writing exchange to Jessica’s class in Los Angeles) needing to earn money somehow to pay for an end of the school year trip or party I came up with the idea to have a class fundraiser a few weeks ago. So I made up a simple flyer with pictures of the products, a small explanation of what we are doing and gave them each a form to have the people fill out. I only gave them honey, apple jelly and of course, peaches, to sell to keep it simple. So I sat at a desk in the office by the products on Wednesday and the kids were allowed to come and pick up products, take them to the buyers and bring the money back to me. I originally wanted them to get the money beforehand but that didn’t work at all. So on the first day we made Q2011.00 ($268.13) in sales and of that about Q350 ($46) is profit.
Lessons learned-
Make the forms have more than 10 spaces because many thought they had to stop selling to people after 10 people.
Guys really do not like to participate in fundraisers
The only people that will pay ahead of time are grandmothers
For whatever reason the kids will feel the need to explain to you if EACH person has paid or not and if not.

Ut-oh, my peaches my be in the wrong “market”- So I have now had my boss tell me that the peaches have a funky after taste and the other day my coworkers tried them and told me that they are starting to ferment. Hmm..thats not good. Problem is, I have no idea what fermented fruit tastes like so I couldn’t really agree with them.

For sure travel dates… So here is my schedule for sure for my trip to the states
July 27th- August 3rd I will be in LA
August 3rd- August 10th I will be in Albuquerque
August 10th to August 20th I will be in LA

Soccer…again…. So Wednesday night about 3hrs before we were suppose to play they tell me “Oh, Olivia, you have a game tonight”. We were going to play another Intervida team and they were telling me that they were good players. They really need to learn what is a good idea to tell me and what information is better not said. So of course nervous, like every game. I get ready and at 7pm, no one is there, I go back to my house and stick my head out the door every 15min or so to see if anyone is at the gym (up the street from my house). So come 9pm I give up, put on my pjs and get into bed. Not even 5min after being in bed, I get a call saying time to play. Oh no!!! I tried in an unsuccessful protest to not go but I felt bad leaving my team without a goalie. So I put my soccer clothes over my pjs and walk up to the gym (2min walk) in the pouring rain. We played the game, with about ¼ of the court under water which meant a lot of slipping and wet clothes and shoes. We ended up tieing 3 to 3. Just wasn’t my night I guess.

(this is Ader, my soccer coach and coworker)
“Oli! Los Manos!” So since we didn’t play soccer Thursday night because half my team didn’t show up (I was ready) they decided to put Olivia threw goalie bootcamp. So with one of my coworkers acting as my coach. There were 3-4 people taking turns kicking the ball at me. Picture marionette puppet and that’s basically me in soccer. I only use my legs and arms to move to block the ball. So they are trying to get me to start moving and using my hands to get the ball when its low on the ground instead of using my feet to block it. So everytime my foot would go to block the ball (I swear, my feet have a mind of their own) Ader, my coach would yell at me “Oli! Los Manos” (the hands). So I worked up a good sweat (bad timing to not have water at home) and got some serious damage but I think I am a better goalie now J

First Big Soccer Game- I went to my first big soccer game in San Marcos on Sunday with another volunteer. Each department (state) has its own soccer team and some have more than one and they play against each other. Well, Sunday was a big game and I have been wanting to go to a soccer game for awhile to see what the hype was about. For starters, I think I was the only one there that wasn’t wearing the team colors. Opps… I stand out enough as it is so that didn’t help. So we found a seat, kinda. Definitely realized that getting there VERY early, like most, helps when it comes to seats. Well, I didn’t see most of the game because the people in front of us wouldn’t sit down. In the US, you know if your at a sporting event, someone can’t see, they say something, you move, pretty simple. Nope, here we would say “excuse me” and “sit down please” and a few other people would yell not so nice comments, they still dind’t sit down. So the game was almost boring because couldn’t see half of it. So we left 20min before the end. As we were walking out, the gate to get out (this is a somewhat large stadium by the way) was locked with a key lock. I looked up to one of my coworkers in the stands who I had spotted earlier and he signaled that we couldn’t get out and had to wait till the end of the game. Awww man! So the man with the key to open the door happened to be walking by and let us out. Now, this is where the scary stories come from. Imagine if something was to happen inside the stadium like a riot or explosion or whatever and the doors are locked. Hmmmmmmmm…….. its more for the safety to keep people out because soccer is so competitive here but seriously, lock isn’t a good thing.

Moment of Silence- So I got back from the soccer game and ran to my weekly Sunday lunch with the host family. They made “food from my land” as they called it which was spaghetti with garlic, spices and cheese. It was really good, didn’t bother to tell them about Italy since this wasn’t really food from my land. Anyways, they told me that around 10am there was an accident up the street from my house and a 11yr old boy died. He was riding on top of a big dump truck looking thing with walls (pretty common here) and it was filled with rocks which they get from the river to grind up to make cement or other building stuff. It’s not uncommon to see people either riding in the trucks or straddling the walls while the truck is moving. The truck went to turn the corner, the boy fell off, and well, the truck took his life. Really sad part is, his father was the one driving the truck and tomorrow he was turning 12.