Making Progress

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Today at work I made some more progress on what my role will be in the conference bag program. I had a conference call with the Connecticut office and with the Sales director in California. It was great being able to talk and understand more what this program actually is going to be and how I can help it get there. The program is really just developing and that was why I was not getting a good hold on it because not everyone did have a hold on it! I still feel that I can really impact the program so I’m excited.

Today there was a new person staying at the homestay. His name is Phillip and is from Switzerland. He is a bit older than me and is taking Spanish classes for a few weeks. He already speaks 4 languages? He is had been living in Mexico with his girlfriend and working at a museum and then felt that it was necessary for him to learn Spanish. He is very nice and we had good conversation at dinner getting to know eachother and talking a bit about politics. He was very interested in what I thought of President Obama and of our country’s situation. I’m not at Solomon’s Porch Café and am excited because we are trying to get the Olympics on!

Missing Hair…

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

I never really know how my days will turn out here. This morning there was no hot water. Not a big deal. Just gotta tense up the muscles and wait till the blood gets movin. I think you could have a workout based on cold water…its amazing how tense your muscles get. Anyway, at work I made some progress on what projects I’ll be working on. I was also asked to write a blog entry about my first week in the office as an intern. It was fun getting to write about my experience because a lot happened! Earthquakes, madness in the office, the works. After work I tried to take a quick nap before dinner which was impossible to do. Dogs barking, kids yelling and playing, 2 stroke motors screaming by, there really is no quiet here. To be honest that is how it is all night! Actually the kids go to bed. Otherwise, the dogs or as Dona Angelica calls them, “the police” never sleep. They are always on watch and barking at something. I’ll be able to sleep through anything when I get back.

Dinner again was of course very entertaining. First off, I want to say how polite Jenni’s daughters are and really the whole the family. They always make sure that someone is sitting with me while I eat. Sheilia is continuing to talk more and she is so funny. The big commotion tonight though was Jaquelyn (the 3 year old). She was screaming and crying so much. Jenni checked to see what was happening and come to find out she had cut a good portion of the front of her hair! She was also blaming it on Sheilia, who was adamant that she didn’t cut it. It was actually very funny and sad at the same time. We shouldn’t have been laughing but the whole situation really was quite comical. Their cousins had been over and all of the kids were so wound up. There was so much energy that it just carried over to the dinner table and it we were all laughing and having a good time. There was a cool moment when we found that rock, paper, scissors is a game know in three different countries: the U.S, Guatemala, and Belgium. I know I didn’t do the story justice for how funny it was but you really did have to be there. I think there was just something in the air.

Coffee and Earthquakes

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Temblora! Temblora! Earthquake! Yes, we had an earthquake here. Two earthquakes to be exact. The first happened at about 4 am. I didn’t feel it although it was definitely one that I should have felt because it about 5.7 or so on the richter scale. At breakfast, I hadn’t realized what happened when Angelica and Jenni were talking about it. I could tell something was happening because they were excited in their speech but I wasn’t familiar with the term they were using and I my alarm hadn’t gone off so I was a bit flustered. So I went to the office and at about 9 am another one hit. This I felt. Although, I still realize what was going on right away! I was sitting in a plastic chair and first felt a big wobble which I thought it was one of the many people behind me bumping into my chair. I looked behind me and no one was there. I thought it was weird. Then it really started wobbling and everyone ran out of the inside of the office. Then I realized what was happening but still had to ask! Was that an earthquake?! Crazy! I’ve never experienced an earthquake. What an odd sensation. I’ll be more on the lookout next time because today my reactions were not very fast! They only lasted for a few seconds and there wasn’t any damage anywhere even though it was still pretty large. It was the excitement and the talk of the day. At least for me it was! It was exciting, even though I shouldn’t say that because of the terrible quakes that have happened. Nonetheless, what a sensation!

The earthquake was by far the most exciting part of my day. I’m still working on getting into some projects that I can really have an impact on. I still very much enjoy the company of my homestay family. Tonight at dinner we talked about coffee and how the kids drink it at a young age in Guatemala. Jenni told me that Jaquelyn, the youngest of 3 years old, drinks coffee! She loves it. It is wild how much coffee they drink here! It is so funny too, Dona Angelica drinks probably 8 or 9 cups of it a day and she HAS to have a this particular brand. I forget what it is but I’ll find out…Incacafe or something? Anyway, I found out about a roaster very close to my house so I’ll have to check it out soon. Today was a day of coffee and earthquakes.

KI KI RI QUI! Dinner Time is My Favorite

8 pm Another long day at work. The day feels long because I’ve still not become fully aware of what I’m supposed to be doing at work. The majority of my day has consisted of researching foundations or other grants that would be a good prospect for us to apply for. It is a lot of research online and gets very tiresome. I spend the rest of my day preparing my job description to propose to my supervisor. I’ve gone through a lot of their marketing/pr materials and I think I’ve found some things that I can help them with. Those things are more of my passion. We’ll see if my job description gets accepted tho! I’ll also be working on sales and am waiting for more info on that. As it turns out, Steve Corbin’s sales class will definitely come in handy (I actually knew it would, just never thought I’d do sales). After work I get on Skype and talk to Caitlin and whoever else is on and then head back to dinner. The dinners have been the highlight of my day. There are 2 small girls that are adorable and hilarious. The youngest is 3 or 4 and the oldest is in 3^rd grade. It has been fun watching them get more comfortable and they are starting to talk to me more. They don’t have school tomorrow. Hay una huelga. There Is a strike. The teachers are not happy with the government and thus are on strike. Rightfully so, the government is not giving them near enough money for the public schools. The government gives them about 1.5 Quetzales for each student a day. To give you reference 1 dollar is equal to about 8 quetzales. So, anyway, we were talking after dinner and I asked the Shelia (I think that’s her name…I’ll find out!) if she knew any jokes in Spanish. She thought it was funny that I asked and said that she didn’t. But she said she had a book and ran off to get it. It was a book of poems and rhymes and tongue twisters. We spent a good 30 minutes reading through it. They have the calls that different animals make. My favorite is the rooster. KIKIRIQUI! KIKI RI QUI QUI! Dinners are definitely my favorite.

End to a Slow Weekend

Sunday, February 21, 2010

6 pm Its been a slow day. The weekend has been so far but it has been nice for getting settled and do a little exploring. This afternoon I went to Solomon’s Porch, which is a coffee shop set up by Christian missionaries, for an afternoon worship service. Lloyd is the owner or at least runs the shop and the worship and has been a nice guy to get to know. He’s from florida and is here with his wife and their kids come and stay for different durations of time. I’ve met a lot of nice people through this café; a woman who gives classes on meditation, some young adults that are volunteering at a health clinic, and many others. I’ve spoke with Lloyd a bit about playing some guitar as well and he offered to work me into the worship band if I’d like. Not sure if I feel up to singing in front of others but I’m all about getting my hands on a guitar! I’m enjoying getting to know more people down here…so I don’t spend all my days in solitude! I’m also still inquiring about finding some pickup games of soccer. We’ll see.