Young Dreamers Graduate and We Celebrate Christmas with a Boom

            Last Friday night we had a graduation party for three of the Young Dreamers that graduated in October! (The school year here goes from January to October.) All three were girls and part of the first ten to graduate. Now girls have several graduates to look up to that have shown them a path, so a huge accomplishment. The party itself was really fun and I felt we connected with all the Young Dreamers a little bit more that night. We started off by eating the traditional platter called pepian which is a bunch of cooked vegetables and spices mashed into a sauce which is over chicken and vegetables like carrots, potatoes and guisquil. After dinner we all started chatting but people started hitting the balloon around. What started as a simple game of pass soon turned into a war with people throwing balloons at each other and popping them in each other's face. Everyone was scrambling to yank balloons of their own of the ceiling and to cover their ears from the noise. That was really fun but, as you would think, we ran out of balloons very quickly. The balloons stopped and it was time for words. The graduates all spoke about how grateful they were to everybody who helped them achieve their dream and graduate and how special it was to them. The parents also spoke about how proud they were of their kids and grateful that they could get an education. Afterwards my dad touched on how special and amazing the moment was, celebrating the graduation of three girls out of high school that otherwise would have had to start working after 6th grade. A great party with an even greater significance.

Here in Guatemala you feel the Christmas spirit a little differently. They celebrate on the 24th, Nochebuena, and stay up late into the night. They don’t put as much lights and decoration outside on the street, but there’s a lot inside the houses. Each house is decorated by a nativity scene, some bigger than others. So far all the ones I’ve seen have been really nice with elaborate little people and animals. Until midnight on the 24th, they don’t put baby Jesus out though, because he wasn’t born yet. In Guatemala they also have the tradition of the posadas from the 16 of December up to the 24. The posadas are a reenactment of when Mary was pregnant and she and Joseph were looking for a place to stay. People go around singing and playing music until they get to a pre-designated house where they move the statues of Joseph and Mary for the night. We actually got invited to one. Since our friend Hugo was receiving a posada, he invited my family to come along. When we got to his house we had to go pick up the statues of Joseph and Mary from the previous house where they were the night before. When we got there we got handed all the lanterns and the musical instruments like a flute or a drum. Anybody who wants to can come along and the family from the night before walked with us. Along the way we picked up a few people so there was a pretty big group walking and singing. I actually got a chance to hold the platform with Joseph and Mary on my shoulder and it was pretty special. When we got to Hugo’s house they did a song where Joseph and Mary are asking to stay in the house and some people inside answer. This is a big tradition in the Catholic religion, so like in India when we saw Hindu traditions, now we participated in one that is Christian.

One thing that’s really popular and that everyone does is shoot fireworks and firecrackers. Pretty much all of December they burn, especially as it gets closer and closer to Nochebuena. Around Christmas you can stay awake late into the night hearing music and drums, and also booms and kapows! The 24th was awesome! We went to my mom’s childhood friend’s house and then later my great-great uncle’s house and we had a blast. Before midnight, the adults eat and talk, and the kids play games and watch movies. We had a lot of fun at the first house, then we left to go to my great-great uncle’s house for midnight. At first when we were at his house we just talked and told jokes. The point is to try to have fun and be with friends and family until 12:00. At midnight everybody gave hugs and said Merry Christmas. The traditional food to eat are tamales, but we ate turkey and salad. After dinner my brother, cousins and I all went out to burn little firecrackers and sparklers. It was really fun, we did a war type thing where we threw some little poppers that just made noise at each other. We did that until about 2:00 in the morning! By then everyone was getting really tired so we sat down and played some board games. The adults kept talking for another hour and a half, but still we kids hadn’t gone to sleep. I finally went to sleep at 4:00 in the morning! Here Christmas sure is different than in the US, but it’s still special and fun.

I had a great Christmas and I hope you did too. This week, we’re off from our Spanish class and home school, so we’re visiting friends and volunteering up in Vuelta Grande to continue getting the school ready.

I hope you all have a Happy New Year!

Swimming Between Volcanoes, an Unusual Religion & My New Routine

Last weekend we went to Lago Atitlan and Chichicastenango. Lago Atitlan is a big lake about three hours from Antigua surrounded by volcanoes. There are tons of little towns surrounding the lake and we always go to a town called Panajachel. When we got there we didn't spend too much time in Panajachel. Usually when we come on the short trips we have less time so we just spend the day there, but this time we were staying the night. We dropped off our things at the hotel and then we headed to the lake to go on a boat for a mini cruise. Because we have less time on the day trips we go to a town that is closer to Panajachel, but this time we headed to a town that was on the opposite side of the lake. About halfway through, the boat stopped and we got to jump off the side into the water! Since it was a double-decker boat we could jump from up high. That was definitely the highlight off my day, to throw yourself off the railing and see the water rushing up at you and the wind blowing your face. Then to crash into the water and sink down in the midst of bubbles, I loved it. So much, that I jumped eight times while everybody else jumped three or four. When we had all dried off we were almost to Santiago, the biggest town on the lake. In Santiago there's a pretty big market but we didn't do any shopping since we thought we would have other opportunities. Then we had a tour of the city.

In Santiago they also have one of the four Maximon (pronounced Mashimon) dolls in Guatemala. Maximon is a saint of a religion that is an off-shoot of Catholicism, a mix of Catholicism and Mayan traditions. We were there when they were doing their rituals and it was very interesting to watch. First they drank a whole lot of alcohol and then they put some on the doll. They also lit a bunch of candles that they put around the doll and in the doll's hand. Different color candles are for different things, but I don't know for what exactly. After lighting the candles they started saying words and swinging incense, but they spoke Cakchiquel (a Mayan language) so we didn't understand. It was a really interesting and different religion that not too many people practice any more.

We then continued our tour of Santiago on the back of a pickup! All of us hopped in the back and I thought it was pretty fun. We went to the plaza, the center of town where the church is and learned a little bit about what happened there. From the 1960s to the 1990s there was civil war in Guatemala, a very bad civil war. We didn’t learn that much about it, but we learned there was a massacre in that plaza around 25 years ago. It was super sad hearing and reading about, I don’t want to get into details, but a lot of people died. I was thinking afterwards, how could someone willingly shoot innocent people, how could you live with that, I just don’t understand how it happens. The way back to Panajachel went by uneventful, and apart from a great dinner at a great restaurant, so did the rest of the night. I was really glad that we got to have more time there because there’s so much to see that we usually don’t see.

The next day we went to Chichicastenango, which is a pretty big town with a humongous market. The market is famous in Guatemala for all its colors and its diversity in products. When we got there we were immediately immersed in people trying to sell us things. At first we just walked until we got to the church, which was going to be our meeting spot since people were splitting up. The church was pretty big and was divided into two sections. Before, the Indigenous people would sit on one side and the priest would speak Mayan languages, while the mixed (Spanish and Mayan) sat on the other side with another priest speaking Spanish. After visiting the church my mom, dad, brother and I went off to look at the market. The first section we walked through had a lot of food. There were lots of fruits and vegetables of all kinds and there were small stands with things similar to quesadillas and tacos. When we kept going deeper we got to the handicraft section. There were a lot of jade and obsidian things there and it was really cool. There were also a lot of things made out of wood. This was my favorite section because it was full of things that really interested me. I’ve always been fascinated by rock and wood products. I ended up getting a necklace made of jade with my Mayan symbol on it. I’m Toj, which means shark in Cakchiquel. My brother Carlos is Kan, but I don’t know what that means. After the handicraft section we got to the traditional clothes. I wasn’t really that interested in that section, but I still thought it was interesting to see the traditional clothes. I actually found some similarities in them to Indian clothes, especially the men’s clothes. Even though they were different, for sure, they had some of the same textures and patterns. By the time we had finished seeing the clothes we had almost completed a full circle. This market was like the markets in India. They have a bunch of little shops that sell different (or the same so there’s competition) products. This was totally new for me/us because back home it’s not like that. This was a really cool market with lots of cool things and I’m glad we got to visit it since I hadn’t before.

Last time I said that we had to move out of our house and I forgot to add that we are in a new one. Our friends in the US have a house here but they’ve lived in the US for a long time now so they let us stay in it. Their names are Tina and Tono. Thanks to them! It’s a really nice house and we’re lucky to have it. Some other friends in Antigua have a spare car that they let us use, so we’re all set. My brother and I also have a Spanish teacher come every morning. My mom and dad really wanted us to come out of this with fluent Spanish so for an hour and a half we each have Spanish class. All the volunteers in the gap year program also have Spanish class, but for four hours. The entire morning! I really like my teacher and I’m learning a lot. Even though the Spanish is really good for me, now I have extra work. I was still doing Spanish class in India, but not as long and I definitely didn’t speak as much. I also have homework! For the first time in 6 months! We have a good routine here and we’re already as comfortable as we were at the end of India.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Volcanoes, School Clean-up and My Great-Great Uncle.

We started our work up in Vuelta Grande last week, but I didn't think you would want me to write about it in the last blog because then it'd just get boring, or more boring. Right now our main project is to fix up two classrooms before school starts in January. The classrooms belong to two teachers named Telma and Maribel who recently graduated from a teacher training program. They were participants of our Young Dreamer program and the first girls in their village to graduate ever. We've been painting their classrooms for the past two weeks and now it's a bright environment where the kids will be happy going to school. I know just painting some classrooms doesn't seem like much but it really makes a difference for the kids. Imagine walking in a class where the paint is peeling off and even parts of the wall are falling off, or walking in a class that's bright green with cool murals. Which one would you prefer? Which one would you like to learn in? I also patched up some holes in the roof because when it rained water was leaking through. The other project is a girls empowerment program. Every Tuesday the girls from Vuelta Grande and El Hato meet up with the volunteer girls for a workshop and meeting. The girls are going to be learning leadership skills, discussing young women's issues, and planning community service projects (which us boys will participate in too.) I don't know too much about it but I know that it's a very important project where these girls will learn to be stronger and to stand up for themselves. We've already done double the amount of work that we could have done in the week that we usually come for the short trips, and I can't even imagine what we can do in three months.

On Saturday we hiked up a volcano! This one, Pacaya, wasn't the volcano that had just erupted, but it was active. It was a volcano closer to the capital so like an hour and a half drive from where we were staying. You can't see it from Antigua. When we got there my dad bought a hiking stick and we immediately started hiking up the mountain. The hike took a little more than an hour but our guide was stopping to show us things and teach us about plants. When we got to a peak of the volcano, we stopped to have lunch. The view from the volcano was amazing. You could see Guatemala City on one side, mountains on another, a big lake called Amatitlan and you could also see three volcanoes, Fuego, Agua and Acatenango. The wind was so strong up there that it sometimes stung your legs. If I would have taken my hand off my hat it would have flown off never to be seen again, by us at least. We had lunch sitting on a bunch of dry lava from the eruption in 2014. After lunch we had an awesome surprise. We got to roast marshmallows underground because the lava was still so hot and close to the surface! Another big check on my bucket list! This reminded me that I'm lucky to have this trip, to do so many cool things. Who'd ever imagine that I would roast marshmallows in a crack on a volcano? Not me that's for sure. The way back down I spent my time looking for rocks and I actually found some quartz that, because of the eruption, came up from the ground. I had an awesome time at the volcano and once again I got that cool sensation like I was one with nature.

We had moved into a house already in a town called San Luis Pueblo Nuevo, 20 minutes from Antigua, but due to an unfortunate event we had to move out. While we were looking for a new house we stayed in the house of my great-great uncle and great-great aunt. Every time we come we always visit them and this time we can visit them a lot more than once. I also have cousins there. Well, second cousins and third cousins and fourth cousins, we even have a sixth cousin. We played a lot with the kids and I liked it because we hadn’t played with cousins for more than three months. My great-great aunt is super nice and always wants us to be happy and healthy. She always cooks for us no matter what we say and she makes our beds, she does a ton and it’s really sweet. My great-great uncle is also super nice, but he’s also pretty funny. It was really cool hanging out with people who are distantly related to us. One time he was cleaning beans, separating the bad ones from the good ones and I came and helped him. I was having trouble because when I was sorting them I kept dropping them and he just laughed and showed me how to do it better. It was cool, and it felt a little amazing to me, I was sitting next to my great-great uncle cleaning beans, I don’t know if any of you have great-great uncles but you probably haven’t cleaned beans with him, so it was pretty special. I really liked hanging out with my family and I’m kind of glad that we had to leave our house since we could stay at their house for a few days.

Next Stop: Guatemala!

           

           Sorry the blog is late, we’ve been adjusting to the new time zone , looking for a house and starting work so I haven't had much time.

Guatemala’s been great so far! We arrived here very early Friday morning. This first week we have been staying in Antigua, a very touristy town that a lot of people visit about 45 minutes away from the capitol. Every time when we come to Guatemala on the short trips we stay in Antigua, but this time starting next week we’re going to stay in Pastores, which is a smaller town 15 minutes from Antigua. We’ve already done a bunch of cool things. On Sunday we went ziplining! We had to drive up a mountain to the place where we would do it in the middle of a forest above a huge coffee farm. There were eight different ziplines that got longer each time. I’ve done a zipline like it before, in Guatemala City, but I thought this one was better because of an incredible view of the volcano Agua. That night we had dinner at Casa Escobar, a steakhouse, one of my favorite restaurants. This was the first time in three months that I had eaten a kind of meat that was not chicken so it was especially good. My favorite thing about that place is their horchata. Horchata is a rice milk drink with cinnamon and sugar. Casa Escobar has one of the best. The plan after dinner was to go home, but Fuego, an active volcano, erupted and we had to get in a car to leave Antigua. Just kidding, but the volcano did erupt. One of our friends asked if we wanted to go closer to the volcano to see it better and, of course, we said yes. Nature is so cool. There was tons and tons of lava shooting out of the volcano. Erbin, my dad’s partner, told us that from the tip of the volcano the lava was going up 300 to 500 meters (900 to 1500 feet!). Standing there in the cold, watching the volcano erupt I got a feeling similar to the one in the Himalayas, like I was one with nature. The stars were very clear that night so in addition to the volcano we could see lots of constellations. It was a spectacular sight that I would like to keep in my mind for a long time. We’ve also just walked around Antigua a lot, getting a coffee, (not me) or looking at the market. That was my favorite day so far because it reminded me of the last time we came here with a bunch of my friends, not to mention it was really fun.

            On Monday we met up with the Young Dreamers! I already know some of them because I come so often, but a week a year to get to know somebody is not enough, so they’re still kind of strangers for me. The village where we go up to work is called Vuelta Grande. We work at the elementary school there. We met up with the Young Dreamers at the school and then we went on a small hike up the mountain to an area where we could hang out. On the way up we had to talk with the Young Dreamers to learn two new things about two of them. I think it was a smart exercise because it made us talk to each other and get to know one another. I talked to two Young Dreamers whose names were Marvin and Juan. It’s so much easier to get to know somebody when you actually speak their language. In India we made friendships with the Young Dreamers but because of the language barrier, it wasn’t too deep. I enjoyed talking to Marvin and Juan, learning about what their life is like and telling them how mine is. When we got to the top of a hill we started kicking around the ball. Soccer is Guatemala’s main sport so every kid plays and they’re all pretty good. We started a full on tournament with them with four teams. After the tournament, in which my team got second, we sat down to have some snacks and a picnic. We all talked about ourselves to get to know each other better. All around I think the activity was a really good idea because it immediately got us talking with the Young Dreamers instead of just working. If we would have just started working right away on the first day, we wouldn’t have talked that much or connected.

            The predominant culture in Guatemala is indigenous Mayan. On Wednesday we went to a Mayan culture center where a women’s co-op did a presentation on their customs and traditions. Whenever we come on the shorter trips we also do this presentation so I’ve seen it many times. I‘ve almost memorized it. They first talked about the purpose of the co-op. They do it to preserve their culture, but also to provide income for their families. The indigenous Mayan women wear traditional clothing, but it’s slowly becoming less and less common for women to wear it and the men still wear it in only three parts of the country. There’s a lot of discrimination against indigenous people in Guatemala so if you are wearing the traditional clothes you are immediately recognized as indigenous. In the past, indigenous men wouldn’t get jobs so they quit wearing it so they can work. We learned about the women’s clothing. It has three main parts: el huipil (the blouse) el cincho (the belt) and el corte (the skirt). The type of weaving that the co-op does is called brocade, where everything they make is double sided. To make one huipil it takes the women 6 months to complete working 6 hours a day. 6 months! That’s a very long time to be making a piece of clothing. It would require a lot of patience. I don’t think I’d last a day. There are three stages to the weaving. The first to is to make a ball of string on a contraption called a bolador (spool). When they get the thread it’s all tangled and messy so they get each individual thread apart to form a ball. The next step is to unwind the ball on a plank with pegs so that it makes a loop the length of the weaving they’re making. Once they’ve finished unwinding the ball they begin the last step which is the actual weaving. That’s, of course, the longest step. They use those three steps for everything they make and they first learned how to do them when they were only five or six years old. We also learned about the Mayan marriage rituals. My favorite part is how the boy and girl become boyfriend and girlfriend because I think it’s pretty funny. If a single girl is walking around the streets with a sute (a multi-use piece of clothing) on her shoulder and a boy likes her, he will try to take the sute off her shoulder. Usually the girl tugs back a little but then if she likes the boy then she lets go. That means, with their parent’s permission, that they will be boyfriend and girlfriend. Now, what if the boy takes the sute with brute force? Well, then if the girl doesn’t like him at all she will throw dirt in his face. After a while of being boyfriend and girlfriend the boy would ask the girl to get married and, again with the parents permission, they would get engaged. It’s usually 12 to 18 months before they get married though. You’re probably wondering why. The girl needs to make a super nice sute for her mother-in-law, who will use it as a shawl, and a scarf for her father-in-law. The sute will take around 10 months and the scarf will take around 3 months. Then they will get married. First they have the ceremony where the couple gets married and the guests say some some words, kind of like at home. After the ceremony everybody celebrates and the party usually lasts 10 to 12 hours. That’s what a Mayan wedding looks like. I really like learning about a new culture and I’m eager to keep learning over the next few months. I hope you learned some new things too.

Next week I hope to write more about the work we’re doing here.