Ever bought 12 mangos for $.33? I have!

Number of planes taken for my trip to and around the U.S.- 6

Number of states visited- 4 (TX, NM, CA and AZ for 2hrs)

Number of times I ate sushi- 4

Number of pictures I took at the rehersal and wedding- 600

Number of pictures after I edited a few out- 400

Time it took to photograph the rehersal and wedding- 11hrs

Time it took to edit and upload the rehersal and wedding- 18hrs

Number of hours it took to get from Los Angeles to Tejutla- 17 on Tues and 9 on Wed

Number of times my bus back to Tejutla got stopped by the cops- 5

Want to say Congratulations to Megan and Jesse on their engagement!

Highlight of the Week- I bought a dozen mangos for $.33

On the way from the capital to San Marcos. I was on a VERY crowded chicken bus and so some people had to stand for basically all 6hrs of the ride. One lady behind me was standing and kept falling asleep and head butting me. It was funny at first, but on the 5^th or so time, gotta a little annoying.

Also on the bus, the cops pulled the bus over 5 times or so in a 6hr period to check for a variety of things and meanwhile they also ask the passangers if the bus is charging the correct price becuase sometimes they will try to raise the price on holidays.

What Cat?!- I came home to my house after 3weeks of being away from it to find a cat had broken into my house and gotten into a bag of uncooked garbanzo beans spilled them everywhere. It also decided to make a snack out of one of my packages of sushi paper. Then it took its nice black paw prints and walked all over my white bed. Thats how I know its a cat. And WHAT cat eats raw garbanzo beans?!?!

I think the spiders know exactly when I am going away for awhile and throw a spiderweb party to celebrate.

Studies show when you get a ton of rain your patio fills up and the mud and leaves clog the drain (yes, my patio has a drain) and turns it into a bit of a pool

I asked one of my coworkers what his least favorite food is and he said ¨raw food¨as in when your meat or whatever isn´t cooked all the way. Never really thought about that answer.

Why do they still give bagage claim tickets if they dont check for them?

I decided to make the scrambled eggs for my host family for breakfast when I was at their house helping one morning and they said that they only use the little frying pan and make eggs 3 times since there are about 12people. WHAT?! Why not just use a bigger pan and make them all at once?!

Problem in the U.S.- Here in Guatemala they write the date for April 10^th, 2007 as 10-04-07 and thats how I am use to reading it. However, on several occasions in the U.S. when looking at the date of something, say an experation date I would think if the date said 04-10-07 ¨Wow! This milk expires on September 10^th?!?!¨

Definition of a Procession- Its a very SLOW moving parade per se. Its usually Catholic based and it invovled a float being carried on the shoulders of generally men and then followed by two lines of people behind it and also includdes incense and sometimes very out of tune music or singing. Processions happen all year long for various religous activities.

Easter in Tejutla... What all went on...
Wed Night- Judas was supposedly out and about in his small procession around 10pm. I got back to Tejutla that day so I crashed around 8pm.

Friday morning at 330am a guy walked around town shaking a board that had a bunch of door knockers on it making a lot of noise while another man was yelling and pounding on doors. This signified that Jesus had been captured by the Romans. Friday morning was the procession of Jesus on his way to being crucified. This is when the town makes carpets out of colored sawdust, flowers, fruit and other natural products and the procession walks over them. Other houses were also choosen to set up altars for the procession to stop at. Then in the afternoon, the procession started again but this time with a different float, it was a wood statue of Jesus being taken off the cross. They put a black cloth around the Mary float to show morning and quietly walked back to the cemetary in town.

Saturday was for family time and an annual tradition of the soccer team of the town playing against the soccer team of the town from 20yrs ago. I ate a scary taco, thankfully didn´t get sick. In the afternoon it was pouring and it was time for the 30 or so young guys in town that dress up in costumes and masks to come out and ask for money to pay for the burning of Judas in the park. Another annual tradition. My host family told me it would be better for me to be with them to watch the guys go by becuase they can be a bit assertive and disrespectful sometimes. So I opened my door to go to my host families house and there were 5 ¨Judas¨s under my roof. Ut’oh... So of course they jumped up and started asking for money by shaking their cans. Then they just stood in the door way with me and waited for the rain to go by. One wearing a dress even showed me a little leg. They were actually pretty funny. Then about 30min later, they used gas to set the stuffed Judas doll on fire in the park. In the evening the procession started at the cemetary with a GIANT candle and the town priest carried it while everyone sang and they stopped every 100ft or so to read one chapter from the first 9 chapters of Genesis. We only got to the second chapter when it started to pour and so we went home early. That night a TON of fireworks were set off. I mean a TON. So loud I had to pause the movie I was watching becuase I coudln´t hear anything.

Sunday- I asked my host family why so many fireworks last night adn they said it was in celebration of the resurection of Jesus Christ. I said ¨I thought that was celebrated today?¨ and they said ¨well, many people have to leave town and travel back to their houses on Sunday morning so they celelbrate the night before¨ It doesn´t work like that people! So Sunday I dyed eggs with my host family which was a fun first for them.

Studies show that your zuchinni plants grow a LOT better in direct sun and that too much rain will kill your very precious pea plants.

What you got up there- Dont have to use bottled or boiled water for everything

What we got down here- You can buy bottles of water on every corner basically

I did a letter writing exchange with some kids from CA through a program set up by Peace Corps and so I read the letters that came to Guatemala to translate some of them to spanish and I had a pretty good time. Here were a few comments made by some of the kids..

Did you see the world cup when Zitane head butted materzzi in the chest?

Do you have any electronics like phones or psps or TV’s? (what in the world is a PSP, so many kids mentioned those)

I heard you have stray pigs on your beach

Several kids play soccer and said their positon and I got to the point where I was having to draw a picture and have my coworkers tell me the names of the positons becuase I couldn´t translate them.

One kid took the time to draw out all the parts of a skateboard, snowboard and a football so the other kid on my end would know what the things looked like when he was talking about them.

Chiqui and I about to eat a scary taco that wasn´t that tasty but it was a good laugh

How Am I Doing In Guatemala- Well, with 7months left, time is flying very fast. Sometimes I wish it wouldn´t go fast because I like living here in Guatemala for various reasons, but also miss the U.S. However, I am VERY frustrated with my job at the moment. It´s not my work in itself but my coworkers. I have been very offended by their actions and comments as well as some of the other girls in my office. I go to work each day trying to be a pleasant working volunteer. Some days I dont make it all the way through the day and I go home mid-day and try not to take whats been said, done or I have heard about personally. Just gotta keep telling myself each day is a new day.

In the next blog- All the details and photos of how Operation-Rabbit went. Stay tuned!