Mothers Day, Candy´s Wedding and ´Miss Olivia¨
(this is part of the painting I am working on, its taking forever!)
# of kids in my art classes 90# of Mothers Day pendents we made- 90
# of mothers who came- 40ish (I didn´t rememeber most moms have several kids in the school)
# of hours traveled to go see coworkers wedding- 11hrs each day
# of times I have poured a mixture of onion-chile-garlic water onto my plants hoping it kills the bugs – 2 (didn´t work)
# of days left – 165 (approx)
# of days in service- 645 (approx)
Don´t Shop Hungry- You know how going to the store in the states is dangerous when you are hungry. Well its the same here when going to the market. I learned that I can´t eat a pound of peas before they go bad
What You Got There- Hi, welcome to Ralphs. May I help you find something?
What I Got Here- What are you going to buy? What are you looking for?
Important Life Lesson of the Week- If you hit a spider with a broom, make sure you see where it runs to after making it mad
Grandma, yes using honey to make caremelized onions is good.
Did you know chickens move faster than turkeys when feeding them food. I would drop a piece of bread onto the ground and the chicken would run, slide under the turkey, grab it and eat it all before the turkey even knew what happened. (well, wouldn´t say the chicken would slide per say)
“I will turn their mourning into joy. I will comfort them and exchange their sorrow for rejoicing.” Jeremiah 31:13
Candy´s Wedding- My friend that use to work here in Tejutla with me, but got transfered to 5hrs away in Feb got married. I went to her wedding in Jutiapa which is very far away (11hrs) and VERY hot. I sent a text message to someone saying ¨I am trying to figure out how to sweat like a lady¨. I spent the day with the grooms family, even though I had never met the groom, but being Guatemalan, of course they were very welcoming. They tried to convince me that drinking hot coffee would cool me off. Riiiggghhhtttt... So I ate a couple smelly fruits I had never tried before, then ate some more, they said they are big on eatting, then got ready for the wedding. Meanwhile 
Candy was anxious becuase the guy coming to do her hair wasn´t there and she was suppose to be getting married in an hour. She got to the wedding about an hour late and it was a simple ceremony followed by dinner (chicken, veggies and mashed potatoes) and dancing. You get 5days vacation from work after you get married here so they went to El Salvador. (these are the two oldest moms of the kids)
Mothers Day in Vista Hermosa- After working on art stuff with the kids for their moms for 2 days, it was time for Mothers Day. That is a very big day here. The school was decorated, the pine needles spread across the floor, banners were hung. BUT, they must think I need to eat a lot being bigger than them so they gave me a burrito, which I have never even seen a burrito in Guatemala so that in itself was odd. It was literally a pound. Beans, cream, funky meat, onion and some other stuff. Along with a piece of bread and juice. I was the only one eatting a snack so I felt kinda out of place and went around the side of the building to eat it. VERY FULL after that. So the moms came and all the teachers took turns giving a short speech thanking them, I was asked to speak but dind´t say much. Then we played a variety of games which were very amusing to watch in such a quiet and conservative culture. Game 1, moms had to see who could blow the biggest bubble, however it took them about 10min to even get the first bubble out. Game 2, I taught them the game of passing the balloon over and head and under the legs in a line but the women wearing long skirts made it to only pass over the head. More fun. Game 3, they cracked the egg whites into a bowl and the two women had to beat the egg white to where it was fluffy enough that they could turn the bowl upside down and it wouldn´t fall out. Game 4, husband and wife teams had to spoon feed a bottle of coca-cola to each other. Game 5, two moms had to see who could eat a lime the fastest. Game 6, Two couples 
had to pass a ring between them using a pen in t(these women are trying to blow the bubbles) their mouth without dropping the ring. Game 7, The oldest moms had to brush their daughters hair and see who could braid it the fastest Game 8, Two moms had to hold each of their somewhat older kids and bottle feed them the fastest. I think thats all. Then after that we ate the 600 tamales they made and drank rice with milk. I went home very full but had a ton of fun.
“With God’s help we will do mighty thigns” Psalm 60:12
I Got a Friend In Guate!- So one of my friends from the U.S. who is actually from Guatemala is here visiting her family. I met her for lunch one day while I was in the capital and was a lot of fun. Miss the US, sniff sniff.
You Ain´t Givin Me No Shot Lady! So there is a 2month shot campaign going on in Guatemala to give everyone a shot to protect against Rubiola and Measels. I probably spelled those names wrong. Well everyone between ages 8 and I believe 39 have to get a shot. So they came to our office and gave everyone a shot. Then they said unless I show them my shot record saying I already have the shot, that I ahve to get it again. They were being pretty assertive. So I called PC and asked them to send me my shot record adn they finally went away. Then other day, they came back, I showed them my shot record and I got the shot in the mid 90´s and they said ¨The shot is only good for 9yrs¨ and I said ¨Good! I got 2yrs left then!¨ They are out to get me!!!
“Never seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone, but love your neighbor as yourself” Leviticus 19:18
Whew! Thats A Lot Of Gringos!- So an NGO from the US that organizes groups of medical professionals to come give free medical services came to Tejutla for a week. With them comes AMAZING food. Like pudding, real spaghetti sauce, granola bars and other fun food. Also the people are really nice to talk to and there is just something weird about how I miss talking to people from the U.S. Its almost like you feel like you can relate to them before you even start talking. It looked like there were about 60 of them. Above picture is of some of the kids who performed a dance for them.
Run Elmo Run! I went to the birthday party for the 2yr old in my first host family (the one from training). They had a GIANT Elmo piñata. The little boy would just stand there literally tapping the piñata with the stick in attempt to break it but he wouldn´t even move it. Then after about 5min, he gotta moved (then started to cry) and the kids attacked Elmo one by one. After Elmo was distroyed, out came the ¨adult¨ piñata. I got nominated to give it a shot and let me tell ya, I am horrible at breaking piñatas. I hit it a few times but no real damage. 
(this is me trying to attack the piñata)
Stay With Me Compu!- So my poor computer, that is about 4yrs old, is a cat. It has died twice now, which means I got 7more times to go. Now its starting to make really loud clicking sounds and I can´t watch movies on it anymore L. I only need it to hold out for another 5 1-2 months.
Call Me Miss Olivia- I adore the kids in the the community I have done the Gingerbread and Easter projects in. So Jake (sitemate) gave me the wonderful idea to start teaching art classes there. So every Wednesday I take the bus for 40min, walk for 45min, teach 90 kids who are divided amongst 3 classes, kindergarten, 1-3 and 4-6. I am having a lot of fun doing it and it gives me something to look forward to each week. I have found it harder than I thought trying to figure out how much art supplies I need to get for each project with so many kids. I just ordered 40 boxes of crayons from 3hrs away which should get here some day. I am using the left over Operation Gingerbread money to help pay for each week´s supplies. The school asked me to help find someone to build them a stove since the snack for the kids (bread and hot milk or atol) is cooked over an open fire which is basically like a campfire in a house. VERY VERY unhelathy for the women doing the cooking. So I gotta start looking around for someone to donate the supplies to build a stove. One of the main reasons I am doing this is because in a lot of Guatemala, art and creativity isn´t heavily emphasized in school. I personally think doing art projects is very important and helps to build crativity. Some of my adult co-workers have nothing in the way of being creative, both guys and girls and they wish they did.
Whats Going On At Work- Lately I have been designing the logos and slogans for some of the products we work with. I have done seedlings, tomatoes, potato seeds and eggs. My art skills aren´t so good on the computer and trying to come up with the slogans is tough because I don´t know much about selling eggs for example. However, biggest challenge is creative difference between me and my coworkers. I will design about 5 logos for each product and I like the more creative abstract ones and they will say ¨Olivia, I can´t tell thats a potato¨ well ya, it doesn´t look EXACTLY like a potato, but you know it is... Oh well... So some of the slogans we are probably going to use are
Seedlings- From being small, now we are big (translates funny, its in reference to the group growing as well as the plants)
Tomatoes- Like no other tomato
Eggs- Not just an egg, ITS A GOOD EGG
Potato Seeds- Buy the seed to plant your future
These are all still being worked on but thats what they are more or less right now
“Now turn from your sins and turn to God, so you can be cleansed of your sins. Then wonderful times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord” Acts 3:19-20
Mothers Day in Vista Hermosa- After working on art stuff with the kids for their moms for 2 days, it was time for Mothers Day. That is a very big day here. The school was decorated, the pine needles spread across the floor, banners were hung. BUT, they must think I need to eat a lot being bigger than them so they gave me a burrito, which I have never even seen a burrito in Guatemala so that in itself was odd. It was literally a pound. Beans, cream, funky meat, onion and some other stuff. Along with a piece of bread and juice. I was the only one eatting a snack so I felt kinda out of place and went around the side of the building to eat it. VERY FULL after that. So the moms came and all the teachers took turns giving a short speech thanking them, I was asked to speak but dind´t say much. Then we played a variety of games which were very amusing to watch in such a quiet and conservative culture. Game 1, moms had to see who could blow the biggest bubble, however it took them about 10min to even get the first bubble out. Game 2, I taught them the game of passing the balloon over and head and under the legs in a line but the women wearing long skirts made it to only pass over the head. More fun. Game 3, they cracked the egg whites into a bowl and the two women had to beat the egg white to where it was fluffy enough that they could turn the bowl upside down and it wouldn´t fall out. Game 4, husband and wife teams had to spoon feed a bottle of coca-cola to each other. Game 5, two moms had to see who could eat a lime the fastest. Game 6, Two couples 
had to pass a ring between them using a pen in t(these women are trying to blow the bubbles) their mouth without dropping the ring. Game 7, The oldest moms had to brush their daughters hair and see who could braid it the fastest Game 8, Two moms had to hold each of their somewhat older kids and bottle feed them the fastest. I think thats all. Then after that we ate the 600 tamales they made and drank rice with milk. I went home very full but had a ton of fun.“With God’s help we will do mighty thigns” Psalm 60:12
I Got a Friend In Guate!- So one of my friends from the U.S. who is actually from Guatemala is here visiting her family. I met her for lunch one day while I was in the capital and was a lot of fun. Miss the US, sniff sniff.
You Ain´t Givin Me No Shot Lady! So there is a 2month shot campaign going on in Guatemala to give everyone a shot to protect against Rubiola and Measels. I probably spelled those names wrong. Well everyone between ages 8 and I believe 39 have to get a shot. So they came to our office and gave everyone a shot. Then they said unless I show them my shot record saying I already have the shot, that I ahve to get it again. They were being pretty assertive. So I called PC and asked them to send me my shot record adn they finally went away. Then other day, they came back, I showed them my shot record and I got the shot in the mid 90´s and they said ¨The shot is only good for 9yrs¨ and I said ¨Good! I got 2yrs left then!¨ They are out to get me!!!
“Never seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone, but love your neighbor as yourself” Leviticus 19:18
Whew! Thats A Lot Of Gringos!- So an NGO from the US that organizes groups of medical professionals to come give free medical services came to Tejutla for a week. With them comes AMAZING food. Like pudding, real spaghetti sauce, granola bars and other fun food. Also the people are really nice to talk to and there is just something weird about how I miss talking to people from the U.S. Its almost like you feel like you can relate to them before you even start talking. It looked like there were about 60 of them. Above picture is of some of the kids who performed a dance for them.
Run Elmo Run! I went to the birthday party for the 2yr old in my first host family (the one from training). They had a GIANT Elmo piñata. The little boy would just stand there literally tapping the piñata with the stick in attempt to break it but he wouldn´t even move it. Then after about 5min, he gotta moved (then started to cry) and the kids attacked Elmo one by one. After Elmo was distroyed, out came the ¨adult¨ piñata. I got nominated to give it a shot and let me tell ya, I am horrible at breaking piñatas. I hit it a few times but no real damage. 
(this is me trying to attack the piñata)
Stay With Me Compu!- So my poor computer, that is about 4yrs old, is a cat. It has died twice now, which means I got 7more times to go. Now its starting to make really loud clicking sounds and I can´t watch movies on it anymore L. I only need it to hold out for another 5 1-2 months.
Call Me Miss Olivia- I adore the kids in the the community I have done the Gingerbread and Easter projects in. So Jake (sitemate) gave me the wonderful idea to start teaching art classes there. So every Wednesday I take the bus for 40min, walk for 45min, teach 90 kids who are divided amongst 3 classes, kindergarten, 1-3 and 4-6. I am having a lot of fun doing it and it gives me something to look forward to each week. I have found it harder than I thought trying to figure out how much art supplies I need to get for each project with so many kids. I just ordered 40 boxes of crayons from 3hrs away which should get here some day. I am using the left over Operation Gingerbread money to help pay for each week´s supplies. The school asked me to help find someone to build them a stove since the snack for the kids (bread and hot milk or atol) is cooked over an open fire which is basically like a campfire in a house. VERY VERY unhelathy for the women doing the cooking. So I gotta start looking around for someone to donate the supplies to build a stove. One of the main reasons I am doing this is because in a lot of Guatemala, art and creativity isn´t heavily emphasized in school. I personally think doing art projects is very important and helps to build crativity. Some of my adult co-workers have nothing in the way of being creative, both guys and girls and they wish they did.Whats Going On At Work- Lately I have been designing the logos and slogans for some of the products we work with. I have done seedlings, tomatoes, potato seeds and eggs. My art skills aren´t so good on the computer and trying to come up with the slogans is tough because I don´t know much about selling eggs for example. However, biggest challenge is creative difference between me and my coworkers. I will design about 5 logos for each product and I like the more creative abstract ones and they will say ¨Olivia, I can´t tell thats a potato¨ well ya, it doesn´t look EXACTLY like a potato, but you know it is... Oh well... So some of the slogans we are probably going to use are
Seedlings- From being small, now we are big (translates funny, its in reference to the group growing as well as the plants)
Tomatoes- Like no other tomato
Eggs- Not just an egg, ITS A GOOD EGG
Potato Seeds- Buy the seed to plant your future
These are all still being worked on but thats what they are more or less right now
“Now turn from your sins and turn to God, so you can be cleansed of your sins. Then wonderful times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord” Acts 3:19-20
posted by Peace Corps Olivia at 3:37 PM
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