The Good the Bad and the Ugly

In the last few weeks, I have seen that Guatemala, like the rest of the globe experiences a constant interplay between positive or benevolent members of community, and desperate, ignorant, or selfish people.

In the past few weeks, there have many experiences undergone by those around me that have constantly tested, and then reaffirmed, my faith in humanity as a whole. There are a few events that I will be recounting, that fall on various timelines, but I will write them independently for clarity. These are the preparation for the children’s' festival of Jocotenago, the theft of the boots, and the trying experiences endured by the three Danish volunteers.

THE GOOD: The "First Festival of the Children", was a children’s' festival held on the 23rd of November, at the beginning of Guatemalan school children's longest holiday from school. The preparations for their fair were an impressive cooperation of a number of separate NGOs, the government, and the church. As planned, these organizations brought, for one day, a mountain of activities and entertainment for children, to the otherwise desolate central plaza of Jocotenango (a medium sized municipality outside of Antigua, Guatemala). The festival was a great success: it attracted over a thousand children throughout the day, and gave them avenues of expression (such as painting and writing on various issues affecting Jocotenago) and entertainment (sports competitions, clowns, etc.). This gift to the children was a manifest of the benevolent donors to the various projects, and the hard work and dedication of the various coordinators and volunteers of the esteemed projects.

THE BAD: Before that, however, there was the theft of the boots.... My best friend here, Sasha, had prepared a gumboot performance (for the children’s festival) with a youth group from the Capital. Unfortunately the boots for the performance were stolen out of her car one morning when she forgot to lock the hatch. Hearing of her misfortune a fairly well-off student of hers (she teaches Chinese), who owns the local supermarket, offered to donate boots to her group, so that they would be able to perform for the children at the children’s festival. Sasha was so happy and grateful... we had a great conversation about how humanity has balance between good and bad people...

The next day, while Sasha´s car was parked outside of Los Patojos (the children’s school), a thief pried open the back window of her car and stole the box of boots that had been donated by the owner of the super market. One can imagine how down she was about that...

THE UGLY: A few weeks ago, three new volunteers arrived at the project. They were all Danish girls, travelling through a youth program, and were staying at a hostel in Antigua. There second night in at this hostel, I received a phone call from one of the Danes, because I was the only one in Antigua for whom they had a phone number.

Over the phone... sobbing... she told me that a man had come into their room, which was unlocked. He closed the door and yelled at the three girls, who where sitting in the corner, telling them to be quiet and give them their valuables. Then, after putting their cameras and iPods in his pockets, he came to them and pulled down his pants and told one of them (the one who was talking to me on the phone) that he "wanted her body".

RESOLUTION: Luckily the girls were smart: they lured him to the side of the room closer to the door, then basically attacked him and chased him out. In his escape, he lost his jacket and his pants, which contained the money, two of the cameras, and one of iPods. The remaining valuables were covered by travellers insurance.... In the end no one was hurt in any way, and nothing was really lost materially.

Sasha and I took the girls to another hotel, where they later endured and argument between the owner and his wife, which involved a shotgun... but finally they moved into the same apartment complex as me, where everything was tranquil from then on out.

The boots... were replaced by scratching around, luckily Sasha still had a few left... and the performance was pulled off with a few people missing boots, but it worked.

Basically, the Bad and the Ugly have been scaring us down here, but haven’t been able to harm our bodies or our spirits. Like the children we teach during the day, we are continuing to learn and grow in relative safety, thanks to the Good, the human spirit and… maybe the protection of God.

Ja llegé

Toda esta preparado. Tengo un nuevo cuarto en el que voy a quedarme por un mes por lo menos. Tengo acceso a cocina y una refrigadora llena de mis verduras, jugos, aceite, y tortillas de maíz. He hecho amigos en mi proyecto y afuera...

Estoy haciendo dibujos por primera vez, hace dos años de demasiado trabajo y estudio.

Voy a emperzar con clases de español, y tal vez de qaqchiquel (un idioma indígena), y taaaaal vez estoy tratando de aprender un poco de alemán.

Estoy tratando de hacer un plan para viajar a Tikal.

Todo esta bien en Los Patojos, donde están aprendiendo los niños... El martes les enseñé a los niños como hacer malavares. Ayer enseñé mi primera clase de ingles, que fue difícil pero buena.

El Viaje A Guatemala, Diego, y las Aztecas

- El viaje desde Santa Fe hasta México fue bueno. El camión de Greyhound (desde Sanata Fe hasta Ciudad Juarez) estaba sucio e incomodo. En contraste, el Camión desde Juarez y D.F. era buenísimo. Totalmente cómodo… el viaje, que duró más de 30 horas, es mejor que 14 horas en Avión a Hong Kong.¡ Que vivan Chihuahuenses y ETN!

- Mi excompagnero de cuarto, Alonso, ha sido mi mejor amigo y guía aquí. Hemos ido juntos a muchos sitios locales y turísticos del D.F. Primero, fuimos a la piramide preazteca, Teotihuacan. Más Tarde, él me llev'o al centro, a una zona antigua con buenos cafés, y a la Alameda Central. También me llev'o al Museo Nacional de Antropología, donde queda la colección más importante de artefactos Aztecas.

- También, vimos murales del Maestro Diego Rivera, que me inspir'o mucho. Además, me gust'o la simplicidad del arte “para la gente”. El arte de Diego Rivera tiene mucho más claro propósito que la mayor parte del arte que he visto.

- Después de estar en D.F. por dos días, tomé un camión a la Ciudad De Guanajuato para visitar a una amiga de L.P.C.U.W.C., Amaranta de Andalucía, quien esta viajando allá. Guanajuato es una ciudad colonial donde, en unos respectos, empez'p la guerra de independencia de México. Desconocido para mi, Guanajuato es también el lugar de nacimiento de Rivera.

- Volví a D.F. hace dos días para ver el Día de Los Muertos. Hay muchas exhibiciones de altares con flores, huesos, y fotos de las personas muertas.

- Mañana voy a volar a Guatmala...

A note on entries for my trip to Guatemala

In order to better allow for immersion in my Spanish speaking environment, future entries concerning my trip to Guatemala will be written in Spanish. While most of my family members who view this blog should have no problem reading the Spanish entries, others may find assistance using the following google translate-page-tool: http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=EN

1. cut the URL (address) of the page you are trying to view
2. go to the google site (press the link above)
3. paste the URL in one of the bottom-most boxes of the page, titled "Translate a web page:"
4. press the "translate" button (bottom right)

Good luck Grandpa.

Also, if there are really serious errors in the writing, feel free to leave a comment.

Spice up The Plan... and Dancing

Well, flying to Guatemala would be cool, and relatively cheap... but my old roommate, Alonso, from LPC is at home (Mexico City). So, screw it, I will take a bus to Mexico city, stay for a few days, and then take a bus (o, maybe a train?) to Guatemala City (wait... are all Central-American Capitals named after the country... no , wait: Tegucigalpa... o.k.).

I bought my ticket to D.F. (Mexico City) for October 23rd. So, wish me luck. Spanish tutoring has been going good. I can say things like "De modo que lo que quisieras es pedirles los numeros de lamar a ellas", even though that might have a mistake or to... All I need now is a big backpack, a haircut, and a rain coat... and a map.

Oh, and to kill the time until I leave, I am taking Swing and Ruida (Salsa) classes... Baile amigos!

Sept. 2007 Entry

Time to start this up again.

Between the Atomic Grill and The Inn of The Five Graces I've been working 40-50 hour weeks since June. Working nights on weekends, staying in my mother's house, and easing up on my crack habit, I have been able to save up a great deal. Yesterday I deposited money into the bank and I reached my target for saving this summer: $5,000.

This will pay for two important things: my semester at school and a long awaited trip to Latin America. I have been accepted to Middlebury College, a liberal arts college in Vermont. It is a very expensive school but I am getting a decent-sized scholarship (thanks to Shelby Davis, the gentleman who paid for my two years in Hong Kong).

However, I was accepted to Middlebury for the February semester-- so I have some time to kill. This will be accomplished by moving to Antigua Guatemala for a few months to volunteer at an after school program. The situation is ideal because it will be cheap and I will be under the wing of my good friend Sasha, who is from Guatemala.

Well that's it: I know I have been poor at updating this, I am making a list of people to email when I do update my blog (so you don't have to check it all the time). If you want to be on the list tweet me @viacedar.

peace,

Cedar

Tranquil Term-Planning future gap year

Hmm... last few months' events have been simple: super bowl, valentines day, visit to Buddhist temple. All in all it has been a fairly unexciting term. Amazing, life changing UWC conversations aside, I have been grinding my school work-Extended Essay, class coursework IA's etc- but I think i will finish today, by handing in my EE.

Last weekend I had off, and got to visit a friend of mine (Chinese ) and stay the night with her family for Chinese New year. Kung Hei Fat Choi!!! (congratulations on getting rich).

I have done a lot of investigating on how to conduct my life after Li Po Chun. Without a clear focus of "what I want to do" or any harmful desire to get a degree as fast as possible, I would like to take advantage of the opportunity posed by my general freeness as a young person, I would like to travel and explore the world before I get trapped in the bustle of goal-oriented life that I have come to know so well. Looking towards my impending graduation I am considering my options.

Current location: Hong Kong

Resources:

$1000 savings,
the ability to speak English,
the vibrancy of youth,
time,
family and friends across the globe,
1 return ticket to New Mexico,
1 laptop
1 Spanish dictionary (borrowed)
1 pocket world atlas
1 modern-English bible (stolen)
1 book indigenous prayers
2 pcs luggage, 1 backpack, 1 camelback,
3 loads laundry
1 GDC
1 iPod
1 pair stilts
1/2 jar nutella
1/4 loaf bread

long term mission: help build a better (more sustainable, more equal, more sensitive and aware) world while growing emotionally and spiritually

Short term mission:

• be accepted to university I like
• then be granted a one year deferment
  
• then use this year to learn Spanish/Latin culture in Spain or Latin America.

Possible realizations: Challenges posed:

• 1 year service project (S.A.) $$$$
• 1 year working (hotel, labor, etc.) $$$, low Spanish speaking skills
• 1 year teaching English $$$, finding job
• 1 wandering around Europe $$$$, time
• any of above, complimented by 4-8
  
• months working in US $$, fear of working in NM for too long
• cruise around Mexico $, might not be so interesting...
  

Current plan: move to Madrid under the wing of my 5th year from UWC USA?, be supported by mother for 1 month (to finish TEFOL English certification)?, then launch my 1 year English teaching career?

Any way, my choices are "the better of goods" rather then the lesser of evils, so things are looking up. I will probably have a much clearer vision of the future after universities give me offers/rejections.