Independece Day

Last weekend was Independence Day in Guatemala.

The girls had a special presentation at their school. Hazel was supposed to wear sky blue, the color of the Guatemalan flag. Ellie was supposed to wear traditional Guatemalan clothes, which we don't have. We borrowed her outfit from a friend. I was a little disappointed because I wanted an excuse to buy a real one. I hope to buy one soon.

The 4-year old class dancing.

This is the third time we've been invited to the school for a presentation. The first time was Mother's Day the first week we were here in Guatemala and Ellie cried the moment she saw me and refused to go up on stage. The second time was Father's Day and she was shy on stage but stayed and didn't cry. We thought this time would be the best because she's even more comfortable now with her friends and teachers.

Classic.

We were wrong. The moment she saw us she ran to us. Excited, at first, but I think overwhelmed by the sheer number of parents holding cameras pointed at her in a packed small room.

Then Hazel saw us and had the same reaction.

I tried to help them up front but it didn't help. Oh well. There's always next year.

Ellie was "La Marimba"

Hazel with her teacher.

Ellie with her good friend Mia. 

After the presentations there was food. Hazel spent the rest of the morning playing by the stereo. She loves music and singing and dancing. Our little music lover.

Saturday we went downtown with an MCC group touring Guatemala. On the way back to our car we stopped at one of our favorite coffee shops. It was perfect timing to watch a marching band and parade go by and we had a great view. 

Watching the parade.

 This seems to be the common form of celebrating Independence as we could hear marching bands everywhere we went.

Happy Independence Day Guatemala! (Photo credit: Ellie)

10-Minute Increments

This is a tough time for our family. We're learning a new job where it is impossible to do everything. (Literally, other people with this same role have told us to expect that we'll never get everything done.) I'm trying to balance time at the office with continuing to take Spanish classes with spending time with my girls and being a wife. I'm doing all of these things, going through the motions, but none feel like they are being done well.

I had my first breakdown at work this week. It's an overwhelming job with lots to do and not enough time to do it. Plus there's the whole everything-is-in-Spanish thing, so even sending a simple email takes twice as long because I have to think about each word and my grammar in Spanish as I type. We have a steep learning curve for understanding all the administrative issues and project dynamics.

I have had some ugly moments at home. With my girls. Parenting is so hard. Throw in all the stresses of work and culture and missing family and friends and feeling isolated, and life's a big fat lemon right now. I feel like the worst version of myself lately. I know everyone has moments of not being the best we can be...I just can't remember the last time I had a moment that actually felt close to my best.

I want so much to focus on my limited time with my daughters. I knew working part-time would be hard but I didn't anticipate it being this difficult.

Recently I read advice to take everything 10 minutes at a time. I think this is how I'm going to push through this rough patch. In 10-minute increments.

Just now, as I was writing this, I went into Ellie's room. It's rest time and she's supposed to be reading or playing quietly in her room. She had pulled all of her clothes out of her newly organized dresser. All the clean clothes were piled on the floor. Something inside me snapped and I was immediately frustrated. These are the kinds of messes and moments that have been "the last straw" for me lately. I started to scold her for the mess...and then I stopped. I got down on the floor with her, inside her tent, and asked her why her clothes were on the floor. She looked at me with her big puppy eyes, shrugged her shoulders, and said, "I wanted my baby to sleep in there so she could be right next to me." Sure enough, I peeked in the drawer and there was her baby laying ever so peacefully.

I couldn't get mad. I melted, in fact. These are the moments of every day that make up life right now. I could have scolded her and been frustrated by the mess. And frankly, that's the route I've been taking with most of the messes and happenings in the house lately. I keep telling myself maybe I'll have a better response if I just have a break during naps. Or maybe tomorrow I'll wake up and feel ready to be a better mom. Or maybe if I get to the weekend. Or maybe after these first few months in the job I'll chill out and be less tense about everything. And in the meantime, every moment is another missed opportunity to just embrace life as it's happening.

And really, who cares about the neatly folded and organized clothes? My daughter is happy and playing and instead of reprimanding her for the mess I embraced her creativity. Finally, a redemptive parenting moment.

I want to remember this situation the next time I feel the urge to get frustrated, which, my reality says will probably be sometime later today. I need to let my 2-years-and-11-months little girl be just that. I need to give her permission to make messes and be whiny and a chatterbox and ask questions. And I need to give myself permission to let go. And to just sit with my girls. And to be OK that my 14-month old is extra clingy and just wants to cuddle all afternoon. And to be OK with maybe having cereal for dinner. Because these are my moments that are slipping by, and I can choose to be frustrated or I can choose to embrace them.

My job is just a job. It's a great job and worthwhile and I'm honored to be living here in Guatemala doing this kind of work. But, my husband and my girls are my life and my priority and I need to keep them first.

And so, as a reminder to myself, here are a few moments of the every day normal that I've happened to catch on my camera, moments to embrace and just appreciate as life marches on:

Photo credit: Ellie 

I'm realizing this post is very similar to one I wrote very recently. Apparently, this is a lesson that may take several reminders.

First Team Retreat

One of the parts of this job that I was most interested in when we applied was being a part of (and leaders of) a team. I love facilitating group activities and also having time to hang out in teams. Some of the best memories of my life are from group bonding. We will have team retreats every few months and after this first one I am convinced it will be something I look forward to throughout our time here.

Because we have staff that live 8 hours away (or more), many traveled into the city the night before we left for the retreat. We enjoy hosting guests and had almost all of the team members over to our apartment for dinner the night before. And several slept in our living room. A pre-retreat hang out.

I'm thankful that our staff have attached to our girls. Ellie talks about all the staff being "her friends." 

The retreats are usually near where one of the team members live and work. This retreat was in Alta Verapaz, about 4-5 hours north of the city. We ate most of our meals on this covered patio attached to our hotel overlooking the city of Coban.

We spent the morning on business and get-to-know-you activities. We have staff who only speak Spanish, and others who speak very limited Spanish (including myself), so we have to translate or speak in both languages throughout our meetings.
Next, the team headed to an agroecology educational center. It's a large farm on top of mayan ruins. It's run by ex-MCC staff who came to Guatemala about 12 years and worked for 6 years with MCC. Now they do this. 

They host educational programs where local Ke'kchi young women come and learn basic skills. They are currently building dorms and bathrooms and can host up to about 40 people at a time. (For much better pictures, go here. For more information about this conservation and agroecology leadership training program, click here).

We took a hike on the gorgeous premises and headed for some caves.

Nothing says team bonding like hiking through the mud and rain.

Big cave.

Why not grab a family photo inside a big, dark cave?

And while we're at it, a team photo too.

Team MCC Guatemala/El Salvador.

To get to and from the caves we had to cross these bridges. 

We were told to walk across them one at a time as they are a bit precarious. 

I decided not to make Hazel walk across by herself. (Just kidding).

Ellie loved seeing animals all over the place. 

Here, she's posing with one of our staff members, Lilian.

On Friday, after a morning of connecting and bidding farewell to the Murch family who will be ending their internship with MCC in less than a month, we visited Bezaleel, a vocational school connected to the local Mennonite and Q'eqchi (indigenous group) churches, where the Murches have been working.

The boys dorms are on the second floor and there are classrooms below.

 One of the many buildings on campus.

 Ellie had a blast playing with these kids for two days straight.

 John, one of our staff who has been helping teach the carpentry classes, helped build these picnic tables (check this out to see the process) that were placed throughout the campus. The genius of these is that there are no chairs and they are EXTREMELY heavy so they don't disappear!

Sewing.

 One of the classrooms. I don't know if it's usually decorated like this or if it's in preparation for the big Independence Day celebrations coming up this weekend.

 The library. Yes, those are all the books. 

 This is Jennifer. She has been teaching baking classes. Here, she's showing us the cake pans that her crafty husband not only made, but in a previous MCC assignment in Nicaragua, taught local women to make to sell (you can read about that amazing story here). (Also, if you haven't gone to her blog yet, you should. I've linked to her blog several times).

Cooking lunch. 

 Simple bread recipe.

 Meet Beraldo. He's from Colombia and just joined our team for a year through the YAMEN! program. He's working in Sibinal and we took him to his assignment just a week ago. He and Hazel are buddies.

After our visit to Bezaleel we stopped by the market for a quick lunch before our drive back to Guatemala City.

We decided to eat a quick lunch from these women. They make tortillas and fill them with cheese or sausage or both. Similar to pupusas but, in my opinion, pupusas are better.

We had a wonderful time at our retreat. It was fun to be with the team for the first time. We played a lot of card games in the evenings and laughed a lot. And ate a lot of chocolate. 

With the way MCC staff cycles through, every staff retreat will have changes. We will be saying goodbye to the Murch family as well as another staff member in the next few months.

If you'd like to read about MCC Guatemala and see pictures from the perspective of one of our newest staff members, meet him here on his blog.

And, to see more fun pictures of our retreat, including a couple cute little Chapman girls, go here.

Feeling very blessed to be a part of this team. 

Sibinal and Its Food

During our time in San Marcos, we stayed in Sibinal, a small town where I don't think they see many gringos. Our girls were rockstars walking around. There are two restaurants in town that had been previously "approved" by the tourism industry for health standards and such, so that's where it was recommended we eat during our stay.

A typical Guatemalan breakfast often consists of eggs, refried black beans, fried plantains, tortillas, and sometimes crema to go with it all. You can find that breakfast everywhere throughout the country. Lunch and dinner are similar, but maybe use chicken or beef in place of the eggs.

Most small restaurants or small eateries don't have menus. Usually they will have a "menu of the day" posted on the wall. That's the extent of what's available and it's usually a short list.

In four days in Sibinal we went to the same restaurant six times, usually for breakfast and dinner.

And this is what we got. Every. Single. Time.

Usually this was served with coffee in the morning (very sweet watered down weak coffee) or in the evenings hot chocolate. I have to admit I got used to this food. I never understood why plantains and refried beans went together, (like in the rellenitos I wrote about here). And I often skip the tortillas. But after several days of this plate, I got to really liking the eggs and beans and plaintains all mixed up and scooped into a tortilla. Maybe I'm becoming a chapine (Guatemalan or Guatemateca).

Michael wasn't feeling well on this trip (we think it was beef we ate here in the city), so he usually just ate bread for breakfast, or in this picture, chicken soup.

Oh, side note: I should say regarding our vegetarianism that we've eaten more meat in the last couple months than in the last five years combined. Besides eating a lot of beans and tortillas, being vegetarian here is difficult when eating out. I still don't buy meat or cook with it in my home, but we eat it fairly often when we are out, especially because many people prepare us food and it's usually meat-centered.

The one day we ventured to the other "approved" restaurant I decided to venture out and order the fish. I was excited for something other than eggs! And this is what I got:

I have to admit I was momentarily thrown off by the fish head and fins, but I decided to dig right in. (I had to remember how to tear fish meat off bones). It was amazingly tasty and the only fault was it only had about five bites of meat on the bones.

One of the main purposes of this trip was to take one of our new one-year young adult staff to his host family's home in Sibinal. Here's the back yard of their house:

This family has cats, dogs, pigs, ducks, geese, chickens and roosters walking all over the place. They also have a fish pond in their back yard connected to the river where they raise fish to sell.

Peering at the fish.

The host parents. All the children were gone as well as our staff member, but we posed for a picture anyway.

Throughout our drive to Sibinal, and here in Sibinal, we could hear marching bands playing everywhere, practicing and marching. It's impressive that many of these schools have simple, basic supplies yet have a priority for music and instruments. Here the band is marching in the rain downtown.

The hotel we stayed at had super hot showers with great water pressure, lots of warm blankets, and even a television, all for about $8/person. Not a bad deal!

Sibinal was an interesting town. It was great to see some of the work MCC is doing here in the department of San Marcos. We look forward to our next visit.