The Other Day in Carcha

two men were caught trying to rob another man and they were stripped nakced and parated down the street. My mom told me that one jumped in the river to try to get away but pepole went in after him. I do not know if these men were delivered to true authorites.

Meanwhile on the news yesterday was a story about a man getting shot in the city and the police not doing anything about it.

One polititian calls for radical change in the government and a renewed effort to respect human rights. These rights, he said, immediatly (magically through the powers of a free trade system) bring wealth to the country. Sounds great, and despite the fact that he claims that this is how China found such success (WAY OFF, IDIOT) the whole new respect for human rights jargon sounds pretty good.

THen there is news on one station about how the news in the best paper available in Guatemala, The PRensa Libre, was started by the CIA ans still carries a strong bias against certain political canidates. One in particular is very popular among many people I have talked to. He did good things for the people. He also, however, stole money from the state.

In order to exacerbate all this confusion, the educational system is far from being adequatly funded....

What is one to believe in Guatemala??

saber

Jordan


me playing soccer on valentines day. I made one awesme goal. If you look closely you can tell I am in the middle of an.... interesting... experiment with facial hair.

Boxes

The other day I dreamt that I choked a rooster to death with my bare hand.

““ Reverse” “Racism”” ??
All the quotations aren´t just to be funny. But partially.

The other day I was asking some girls at the school who would be willing to have a Canadian girl accoompany them during a normal day of classes, work , and socializing. Some were excited. Soon they began to ask for thin ones, tall ones, blond ones, pretty ones, beautiful ones. I told them I didn´t have control over that. Ok, so that´s not racism, but it is definitely a box taped down by ignorance and ideas about white women shaped by TV… though probably not many would have TV´s at home… not sure. I didn´t really mind because they are quite young and their ignorance is sort of understandable. On the other hand, it would sort of be like the Canadian girls asking for ¨really short ones¨or ¨ones with gold stars on their teeth and can´t stop smiling¨ "I want one who wears traditional dress" "I want one who carries baskets on her head." When you don´t know, but have only seen; when you haven´t communicated, but have only dreamt, these people for all that we have decided to respect and love are still just dolls in the theater of our imagination.


And I am not sure that there is a lot to do about that.

Jordan

ps. despite what this post might idicate it is a beautiful day topping off a fun week and here in Guatemala I am everyday realizing that it is going to be difficult to leave.

pps. sorry I have spelled cynicism wrong... as if anybody would even know in these days of ¨spellcheck¨and other cheap cheats... hahaha

Starting at Bezaleel

I have now completed two weeks of work in the library at the Mennonite Education Center Bezaleel. It is good to know that this will be my final big change before going back to the states. I´ve gone from orientation in PA, Orientation in Guatemala City 2 weeks, living with host family and taking Spanish classes in the city 1 month, living with a family in Carchá 3 weeks before moving in with my real host family, working in Fundameno office 2 months, working with a work group for 2 weeks, before finally starting my assignment which my job description talked about.

The first two weeks have been good. I have made friends with teachers and students. Most everyone is very nice. I work in the library checking in and out books and, most importantly, helping out students with homework when they ask for it and, when they don´t, forcing them to explain to me what they learned. A lot of times after, for instance, copying down a page out of a book, the students don´t remember a thing of what they wrote, in part because they didn´t know all the words they copied down and didn´t bother to look it up or even think about it (because they are just copying). The director is trying to stop this copying stuff. So I try to keep students on their toes and make them think about what they are supposed to be learning. I am also starting some English lessons with a couple motivated students.

I haven´t gotten to start any sort extra curricular activities yet like I was hoping to. Students don´t seem to excited. On the other hand, every now and then, while giving a more in depth look at the liberal revolution of 1871 in Guatemala to a few students learning about it, a crowd literally gathered to listen in. Another time I was helping students to understand a little bit about the economic crisis in the US and how it might affect Guatemala.

Yesterday, after an assembly in which we welcomed 35 Canadians who were touring the school I was hanging out with a bunch of older students waiting around for the next class period to start when they asked me for a story. Somebody said they wanted to hear Obama´s story. I didn´t know much about that so I gave the basic outline, I had about lost the attention of the group when I suddenly felt a little bit of inspiration. I talked a little bit about the discrimination African-Americans faced just 40 years ago, how, not long ago, if you would have claimed a black man would be president of the United States, people would have laughed. I drew a parallel between blacks in the United States and indigenous groups, particularly the Kekchi, in Guatemala. Obama wasn´t in a better position growing up than a lot of people in the states growing up, but with hard work he did a lot of amazing things and now he is the president of the United States, the boss, “el mero mero” to use a slang expression. This story had about 15 students held in rapt attention. I was pretty happy with myself and pretty amazed that the presidents story could be so inspirational.

For those of you who have been wondering, I finally got together with the Cahills (that includes Rob Cahill who grew up 3 blocks away from where I did). They live in a pretty cool place in Coban and we entertained ourselves with good conversation and some very good food that they provided.

Ok, that´s all,

Jordan

and this is a picture of me with some of the work group from Nebraska. We had fun and everyone loved the yellow color we used.

The feel of Charchá

The feel of Charchá

Bean juice on my fingers: First it is warm and runny, then, since I don´t have a napkin, it is just a little sticky. I eat beans all the time, and they slip out of the tortillas with which I grab them all the time.

Mud skiing: I was advised to pretend like I am skiing when going down the steep hill leading to my house on a wet and muddy day. It is especially advisable to do this when I am stubborn and wear my slick sandals instead of my rubber boots. The other day I had no other option than to let myself slide about five feet before I found a post to hold. I did this successfully. Anyways, I have become accostumed to the feel of soft mud under my shoes and deceptively slippery ground.

MY FIRST THREE WEEKS HERE

1. It was really cold and I got used to continually wearing the same shirt/shirts 24/7. I didn´t want to take it off for bed, I didn´t want to take it off in the morning, I didn´t want to take a bucket shower outside in the cold every day( I showered about once ever three days during this period). It was actually never very uncomfortable and my long sleeve shirts came to feel like a protective armor I couldn´t live without… sort of like Frodo and his shirt of Mithril.

2. Without heaters, living with the cold was a constant battle. I never really felt like I was just terribly cold, was simply in a constant state of coldness. My “core temperature” as Kramer would say, was simply always low, and could not be raised. I just lived without the pleasure of being warm. I still sometimes sleep in a 40 plus degree room.

3. My feet were always wet. No matter how hard I tried, they were never dry. It felt like they were water logged or something. My MCC friend David, who dealt with the same weather, reports the same struggles with wet feet. Weird.

The Sun: After 3.5 weeks here the sun finally came out. I remember looking at it and hardly being able to take my eyes off of it as I had not seen it in a long time. Now, I oftentimes get up, receive my hot glass of atol, and then bask in the sun as I wait for my breakfast. This is the best way to raise ones core temperature. In the cold air, it feels kind of like God is hugging you.

The Wind: The wind comes slowly over the mountains, but arrives at our almost hill top home uncontaminated by the smells of the town below. When it comes it always reminds me of the fresh ocean air. Sometimes I feel like a kid again.

Chairs: In my experience in Guatemala, one sits on plastic chairs. It is no cushioned chair, but it is better than a wood or metal, but not really uncomfortable. One gets used to it. I rarely think about the comfort of sitting down on a comfortable couch. More than anything I miss a comfortable chair on which to sit and read. The best chair ever is currently located near Wichita Kansas. Don´t be deceived by its appearance.

Shaking hands: my host dad walks in the evening and shakes my hand and puts his other hand caringly on my shoulder. He has a hard and calloused hands from working construction most of his life. Unlike most Kekchi people, he actually gives me a strong handshake, which is very nice. We hold hands for an awkward amount of time and sometimes I am not sure what to say, but I always feel good about it.

Jordan

ps. recently I have eaten: pineapples, watermelon, oranges, bananos, strawberries. All very good.

This was a wedding I went to in the middle of nowhere. It also feels like a long time ago.


Some Mayan ruins I saw a LONG time ago (at least it feels like a long time ago).

Jordan

A Sleepy Day in Carchá

It is Sunday and Carcha is basically closed down. It is drizzily, as usual, and there is not much to do except to rest and go to church. It is pretty nice.

I was thinking about relating a recent, rather hilarious story, but I´ll think put that in my back pocket for good dinner time conversations.

A little over a week ago I was in Nicaragua at MCC regional meetings. It was a lot of fun hanging out with MCC´ers who are, as a rule, very cool people. On the bus ride to Nicaragua we saw six movies. Common themes were: a lot of dyin, resurrection, immortality, the power to rule the world. It was annoying because you couldn´t take your eyse off the screen.

Now I am doing a lot of running around trying to keep things running semi-smoothly for a group of adult Nebraskans here on a Work and Learn trip. They are a lot of fun and it is really great to see all the people from back home who care so much about MCC´s work and the people we work for. It is very refreshing for me. It is also very good for people here for the same reasons.

Random thoughts:

John Smoltz with the Red Sox, you´ve got to be kidding me.

The United States biggest, scariest, and most effective weapon is the idea of democracy. Right? The idea of popular uprising for a just and representative government makes a lot of evil people with power shake in their boots. I know most cultures dont have these ideals so ingrained as being of upmost importance as ours does, but promoting it peacefully (can you truly promote just governance with violence?) might possibly go a lot further than at first thought. The French revolution was scary enough that all the monarchs of Europe came together to prevent it from happening again. Enlightenment ideas about government were captivating enough that, despite strict censorship, exiled authors, imprisonment, the death penalty and other forms of forceful government oppression, people kept on reading about these ideas, and people, amazingly, kept on writing.

I am considering to continue not shaving and see where it leads.

My Kekchi nickname (the nickname for Marcos, which is what I go by here) is Cux, which sounds like ¨cush¨ with th u sounding like the u sound you hear in ¨you¨ . My host mom once said to me, ¨a Jenny le extraña su cuxito¨

Sometimes the best parts of my day are the random conversations I have with people. The guys at the bus stop with whom we talk about why the United States has such a better soccer team (the first thing that is always mentioned is size, then money, then talent, nobody seems to think it matters that we have so many people... I don´t think many can quite grasp how many more people a huge country like the United States has to choose from for it´s team thana small country like Guatemala).

My own personal approval of Obama would shoot way up if he were to buy aHuskey or a German Shepherd, or just pick up a will be big total mut off the street and make it his.

What does it mean when the coke cans on the back of walmart brand soda says ¨100% satisfaction garunteed¨? I spent entire summers working at fruit packing sheds perplexed by that question and I have seriously dreamt of returning enough coke cans to WalMart (for only being 93% satisfied) that they stopped handing the money back to me. THen I would have to take them to court and they would either pay me off, or, even better, they would take off their arrogant claim that they can truly garuntee 100% satisfaction. Nathan Boldt my favorite work partner knows that this question is one of the few things that can truly make me kind of upset. Well, maybe not so upset, but it at least annoys me to know end. Where do they get the arrogance that their little sugar water product can satisfy (100% satisfy) so many millions of very different consumers. My rather acute sense of spitefunessl just rages and begs me to make my lifes work taking that silly little line off of WalMart coke cans.

I am reading my first work by a Russian author, Dostoeskys Notes From Underground. In it, the author is extremely spiteful. Basically like George in Seinfeld. He preceives everything as an insult and can never win. In it he dreams and dreams about, as a lowly person, instead of jumping to the side of a rich important person, actually bumping shoulders with him. When he finally tries to do it, he attempts and attempts and fails and fails. Finally he does, barely, bump shoulders with him... and he is exalted. This is like me and WalMart. One day I will come home exalted at the small amount of money WalMart has given back to me because they are foolish enough to make a claim they coulnd´t possibly keep if we were all honest. And WalMart wouldn´t care one bit.

ok, ok, so there is a small view of where the mind can wonder while working at a fruit packing shed (which, despite the idea the previous lines my give you, is a great summer job).

anyways, I need to get on with the business of the day and take a nap.

con cariño

Jordan

New Years fast

New Years eve-
Church celebration: 8-1:30
I arrived around nine
there was church singing (mostly you hear the band)
There was individual singing (mostly you hear the boom box played into a mic
There was communion
There was a short wedding}
There was a gift exchange (My neighbor and host-little cousin drew my name and got me 2 triple A bateries, two fake birds in a miniature cage, and a pair of socks)
There was a long period of time praying on our knees after communion
a message or two
and finally, the best part, tomales!
it was a marathon, but fun.

New years day we slept in, ate tomales for breakfast, had a family meal (duck and chicken we recently slaughtered) which was great because we never eat together, and the best part, we played some good soccer with extended family. THen we rested and that evening me and my dad went next door for more tomnales and my neighbors house where they were having a party. THere was drinking there which is why the rest of my family didn{t go. The music kept me up as I tried to sleep before going to work today.

hope you all had a good one as well