¨The Joy of PC Baking´¨ and Getting to know ALL about chicken buses

# of people who has asked if my parents are alive- A Bunch
# of days it took to paint the world map- 5 (all half days)
# of hours sat on a giant paint bucket on the way back to village- 6
# of cakes made for my end of the year party at school- 6
# of cakes that were able to eatten because I spilled one- 5
# of days left in Guatemala- 21 (AHHH!)

Won´t Forget This Moment of the Week- I hired a lady in Vista Hermosa from my cake group to make 5 cakes for my school for the end of the year party. So I went to help her so in the process I could teach new recipies. So she has a wood stove, which we put a tuna can on top of, then the cake pan on that, and then cover it with a giant pot. Well, I was moving the pan over and the cake fell over thus spilling a giant chocolate cake all over the wood stove. Well, needless to say, the spilled cake started to cook very quickly on the wood stove. So we were able to save about half the cake and then the other half turned the stove black. I felt really really bad I made a mess. So we scrapped the very burnt chocolate cake off the stove which had a very similar resemblence to lava rock I thought. I gave it to the dog, that is starving but even he did not want it. Chickens didn´t want it either. In the end we had 5 great cakes though.

There- Guys stare at the engines of cars in aw before buying them
Here- They stare at cows in aw before buying them

Nicest Comment This Week- The family in Vista Hermosa said to me ¨Whenever we make a cake we will think of you¨ That was awsome to hear.

Just Going Baking Crazy!- I visited my host family from training about a month ago and my host sister, who recently became a single mom a year ago because her husband, who was the breadwinner, died in a car accident. So she loves baking and I told her that she should bake stuff and sell it at the Peace Corps office and training center. She loved that idea. So I went to her house last week and spent 9hrs between Wed and Thurs baking with her. We made one cheesecake, two sets of lemon bars, oatmeal cookies and the cost of production for all of those. I think this will be a really good business for her. The cookies for example cost $.06 to make and she can sell them for $.40 each. All the items are very profitable. I think this is going to work out really really well so I am excited for her. Then on Friday, while I was in the training center for a meeting, I invited her to come sell the stuff to the other trainees and volunteers and they went like hot cakes. Her next assignment is fudge and chocolate chip cookies and I need to translate all the recpies I have for her that she can make so that way she always different options for desserts.

As the ¨leaving date¨ gets closer, people say to me ¨Why don´t you just stay here?¨ like its literally that easy.

Life Lesson of the Week- I learned the thinner melts plastic cups thus it is not a good idea to mix paint in them

Awww... I am at the point where walking from my art class community to the bus (45min walk) takes a bit longer now cause everyone stops and talks to me. None of which I know. This lady the other day said ¨Miss miss! When are you going to come over so I can make ya some corn?!?!¨ Well, little out of time for that stuff, unfortunately.

Clown Tie Kid- The kids at school have been asking me to take their pictures, so I do, for $.25 each. I can´t give them all free pictures, that will be a fortune. So I figure Q2 is a reasonable price, which is the cost of printing. So this kid and I went by the corn behind the school to take his picture and so he quickly pulls a tie out of a plastic bag and puts in on and we take the picture. As soon as I say ¨ok¨ he pulls the tie off and hides it. It was pretty cute, especially speaking his tie was about 6inches too long.

Imagine This- In class one day, one of the 3rd grade girls had a baby on her back. I jokingly asked if it was hers and it was her sibling. Her mom was sick and had to go to the hospital so she got stuck watching the baby so it went to school with her.

What Color is Lice? Somehow the topic of lice came up one day at school and one of the 6th grade boys asked me ¨what color is lice in the US?¨ and I said I didn´t remmeber, maybe greyish brown and he said ¨oh, mine is a different color than that¨ hehe

World Map- I had been wanting to paint a world map my whole service and finally found a spot to do it on the wall at school. So for less than $13 I got all the paints and brushes and we made the map. Granted all the ¨stan¨ countries in the middle east are kinda squished together, the south pacific looks like confetti and I think Europe is missing a few countries. But outside of that, it looks great!

Now That is Sustainable Development!- I taught the women how to make chocolate pudding using corn starch, cocoa and a few other ingredients. Well, the mom a week later was telling me how she went out for the afternoon and came home and the kids had made pudding. These are 3rd and 4th grade BOYS. I was shocked and thought it was pretty cool. Boys, cooking, that is awsome. That is so taboo here speaking the women only do the kitchen work.

Not So Confidential- In the little store one of my host country agencies has, they sell the natural medicine from one of my projects. Well, in the US it is fair to say most people are pretty confidential about their medical problems, not here! People come in, say good afternoon and they start on with someone like ¨Well Miss, I got an ache here, and then I fell and oh my gosh! It is horrible! And so now this hurts, here, feel here, want to feel this lump, I have this lump, you should feel it, maybe you know what it is, you don´t want to feel it? Anyways, what medicine do you have to help this?¨ Its not so bad when it is brief, but sometimes they go on for awhile

I´m Gonna Cry- I went to one of the student´s house to take a picture of her and her parents invited me in for lunch. The stove in their house was missing the chimeny so all the smoke stayed in the kitchen. I couldn´t help but cry and even had to go outside a couple times to breath and stop my eyes from watering. Lunch was served, in the kitchen and I cried the whole way through. It was kinda funny but on the other hand, SOOO many people have stoves like this, I have no idea how they can stand it. So then the parents started telling me about how they want to send their kids to school but they can´t because they don´t have enough money. My heart just sank. I want to help send the kids who want to go to school but I have no idea how to start that. I want to open an organization that collects money to pay for the kids in this community who want to go to school. The fact that the parents want the kids to go in itself says a lot. Many parents don´t understand the need for an education because you don´t need to be able to read to harvest corn. I figured out, to send all the kids in my town to school (7th-12th grade costs money) that it would be about $12,000 a year. That is for about 55kids. Basically the average income of a family in the village is $125 a month. School, for 10-12th grade is $100 a month. That does not work out when the family only makes $125. So I am praying about and seeing what happens. Part of my Peace Corps experience has taught me HOW valuable education is. Not only in learning, but everything from self confidence, health, motivation, family structure and so on. So many of the problems are rooted at the lack of education in this country. Basically, for a kid to go to school for 7th-9th grade it is about $50 a year. For a kid to go to 10th-12th it is $950 a year. That is because the school is in San Marcos and they need to live there to attend the school because it is to far to commute each day. I am definately up for hearing any feedback, opinions, comments, ideas anyone may have on this. Peacecorpsolivia@yahoo.com

Gonna Miss- Going into my host families house and usally 9.5 out of 10 times there is always a pot of coffee on the plancha (wood stove). But this coffee is different. It is a small amount of coffee mixed in with corn and sugar. I think I like it basically cuase I am usually cold in the afternoons so it is nice to drink something warm.

I Can Do It! Kinda...- I can finally make a tortilla without it sticking to my hand. However, they don´t come out perfectly round, undented and always in one piece. I can tell that really bugs my family. I will put my tortilla on the plancha and they will try to make it ¨perfect¨ even though it is already cooking. I really don´t get it. Why does the tortilla need to be so round and perfect?

Candy Flirt- There are a couple people who get on the bus to sell stuff between Tejutla and Serchil, where I get off the bus to walk to the community. Some sell peanuts and others sell candy. There is this one kid who is from the capital, maybe 14yrs old, and he gets on and gives his ¨my parents dont love me and now I need to do this embarassing job to support myself¨ speech each time. Well, one time after he was done giving his ¨pity me¨ speech he sat down next to this girl who was by herself and just completely starts hitting on her. It was pretty funny cause the whole bus knew what he was doing.

There- When a tree falls over it is an expensive pain and someone has to come chop it up and take it away
Here- When a tree falls it quickly becomes precious firewood
(masks made in class using left over easter grass)
The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round- I was coming back to Tejutla from Antigua, for the last time on Saturday, and it happened to be a holiday thus very full buses. So my friend Erin and I go on a bus that was beyond full. The driver pointed to a seat between him and his window. A seat meaning a white bucket. I took it because it is better than standing but kinda weird cause I was facing backwards (staring at the bus instead out the front window) because I didn´t have any leg room because that is where the drivers legs were. So I was doing fine on my bucket, staring out the window, everyone on the bus staring at me. Then we got to a police check point and the driver said something quickly to me but I didn´t hear him. So after we passed the police check point I had to turn around because he said when we come up to police stops I have to hide otherwise the driver gets in trouble. Well, they ended up paying the police to not get them in trouble (that is corruption for ya) and went on their way. So I was on police look out. But being in that spot was actually a good thing. I learned SO much about the Chicken Bus Industry. I learned what all the hand signals mean, that is how the drivers communicate to each other between other passing buses. What each different bill is called (Q5, Q10, Q20..) because they use code names so the passangers don´t understand what they are talking about and I learned how much money they make. They make a LOT of money. Almost 15times what I make a month here. So after my 6hrs with Robert, the bus driver, I got answers to all the questions I have always wondered about chicken buses. I also got my new favorite term, ¨bucket butt¨ that is when you have sat on a flat bucket for way to long.