I've always loved cooking and making good food but I didn't realize before leaving for the Peace Corps that one of the (many) rewards I would receive as a result of doing the Peace Corps would be becoming a better cook. It's true when volunteers tell you that we have A LOT of free time as volunteers. Since I am still in my beginning stages of work I usually get home from working (i.e. school visits) by 11 AM and then have the entire rest of the day to myself. After being in site for about a month and a half I have already spent a good amount of time cooking and making fun, new dishes. It's great really because back in the US I would talk about wanting to make certain things but the time some dishes take is intimidating and makes you say, "Yeah...next week I'll make that." Well, now I have no excuses because what else do I have to do? So I have so far made a few things, such as, lentils from scratch, some delicious vegetable curries, roasted red pepper hummus, some inventive but delicious vegetable wraps, and even french fries - which was my first. So I've been having fun and from the looks of it I am going to be a phenomenal cook when I leave here in two years. Or at least one would hope right? One more reason for you all to come visit me because I know you want my food :)
So last week we did not go on any school visits from Wednesday to Friday, aka 2 day work week. Great. Obviously, the reason was because school was cancelled those three days and, naturally, school was cancelled for the ever important interscholastic sports games all the schools compete in against each other. Sports games' importance over education? Hmm...one would think this would be clear but it is quite surprising how in Guatemala these things seem to be valued more. So it was a pretty chill, low key week last week. Today we started up again and visited two schools. The first school was pretty nice and I think will be pretty good to work with. The second school was a 30 minute hike up another mountain, which wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for the sweltering heat from the sun and the humidity. Once again, arrived at a school dripping sweat looking great as ever. The teacher brought us chairs to sit in and "cool off" when we got there. Wonder how she knew we were hot... Anyways, the teachers at this school were really great and cooperative. The school is made out of sticks though because it is only two years old, but I think it has really great potential for being a bottle school. They have a lot of space and the teachers and community seem to really want a building so I am definitely going to keep that in the back of my head. We had a couple of little boys be our guides again from one school to the next and then from the second school to the street where the microbus passes. I enjoy it when we have these "guides" because I like to try to talk to the kids more. It's like our one chance to actually talk to them and not have them stare at us while we present ourselves at the front of the classroom. Today as I was talking to the little boys I had one of those moments where I thought, "Wow, Guatemalan little boys are so different from American little boys." At one point, they were asking me what kind of food they ate in America and if they had tortillas (a Guatemalan staple). Then proceeded to ask me if they have corn, just like the corn we were passing growing on the side of the road that most likely one of their families works in cultivating and selling. I told them yes and they seemed surprised by this. Then one of the boys asked me how much a pound of corn sells for. Well, I had no idea. Honestly, your typical American does not know that. So I asked the little boy how much a pound went for in Guatemala and of course he knew! It's just crazy to me sometimes how different the lives of little kids here are from those of the US. I mean obviously, every culture is different and, hence, the lives of those people are different, but that doesn't mean I don't get moments of this brief realization from time to time. Most of these kids work in the fields with their parents and so they experience having to work at a much younger age. One of our schools we went to last week was about half empty because, the director explained, it's the season to plant new corn and so most of them have to go out with their families to plant and prepare the new fields. Meanwhile, they have to miss school.
On our way home from the school visits today we got a ride with a passing pickup that was going into town. It's a beautiful ride through dense green mountains but really bumpy because it is not paved. So here I am, bumping around admiring the beauty around me. I take a look around at the other passengers riding with me: to my left are two Guatemalan men speaking in Q'eqchí, in the front row is another Guatemalan man in the passenger seat just chillin, then there's the driver maneuvering the pickup shirtless looking like the boss, and Lohmo sitting in between them. As I'm taking this all in, what song comes on the radio? None less than, "Can you take me to...Funky Tooown? Can you take me to...Funky Tooown?" Man, I looked around expecting everyone to laugh because 1. it is such a random song and 2. it was a funny song that seemed so inappropriate for the present company. But I obviously forgot that I was in Guatemala and that they had no idea what song it was or what it was about and everyone kept on as if nothing was even on the radio. I look over to Lohmo, who has his back to me, but I still manage to see a grin on his face at the start of the song. At least I wasn't the only one being entertained by the current scene.
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