Together, Again!

Well this month with the interns has been flying by.  Last week we did our switching of teams.  The highlands teams was a little sad but eager to check out what they were missing down on the coast.  The coastal team was looking forward to some cool weather and a change of scenery.  We met up at Panajachel on Lake Atitlan and headed out to Santa Cruz la Laguna for an overnight retreat of hiking, camping, kayaking and comparing notes.  We started out on the beautiful hike from Santa Cruz to Tzununa where we enjoyed the always-terrific lunch at Lomas de Tzununa Hotel.  Then we caught a boat back to the lake house where we were staying and enjoyed some down time and debriefing of the past two weeks.  There were lots of stories to share about time with host families, crazy food experiences and mysterious bug bites and illnesses.  Overall, everyone was doing well and in good spirits!

 

 

 

Together again!

Our first highlands team--ready for some heat down at Ezell!

Our second team ready to cool off in the Highlands!

Are y'all sure you know what you're doing?

Brette getting settled in at Jeronimo and Juana's.

Stephanie moving in to Sebastian and Dominga's house. 

Landon making friends with Samuel at Tomas and Juana's house.

Brianne at Carlos and Marina's house.  You can see her little sister Gabriela inside



Karli at Juan and Lucia's house--let the good times roll!

Ryan making fast friends with Pedro and Edgar at Manuel and Juana's house. 

Tales from the Outhouse and Other Strange Sightings

On Saturday we invited the MET students  to the house for some gringo debriefing time.  We enjoyed some fellowship, burgers, chips, guacamole and pasta salad and washed it down with limeade and chocolate chip cookies.  The fun part is the students had to go to market and find all of the ingredients for our meal, including the charcoal and meat--they were a success! We were joined by Dr. Joe and Teresa Bryan who were in the area driving home to Guatemala City from Xela.  They graced us with not only their presence but also chocolate cake and alligator shaped bread and homemade snack bars--yummy!  Unfortuneately I didn't get a picture with Joe and Teresa both.  Maybe next time.

Joe inspired all hat owners to take a pic together--Weston didn't want to be left out.

Our MET students alive and well except for the bug bites! Thanks Dr. Joe (who works with the CDC here in Guate) for telling them about the possible diseases transmitted by fleas!

The students seem to be hanging in there well.  There are the little frustrations of living with a host family and trying to communicate without being too entertaining to the locals.
Here are some of the stories from their time so far.


Brittney:  " I think I'm the only one in the family who has to go the bathroom!  I never see my family going to the bathroom or using the sink, although sometimes I see evidence that someone else has been there too!"

Weston: " There's nothing like lifting the lid of the letrine (a two-seater at that!) in the cool  mornings and seeing steam come out!"

Weston:  "My family seems to really enjoy the hot water heater on the shower.  Every morning I see someone dashing out of the shower stall wrapped in nothing but  a towel heading to their room.  Yesterday I saw one sister run out and then the other right after.  They think I can't see them but I can see their head and shoulders run by my room!"

Amanda:  "The little brother in my family can break dance!"  Where would you pick that up living out in the sticks?

Least favorite hot drink:  arroz con leche or arroz con chocolate (rice milk or chocolate rice milk)-- so slimy!

Most interesting meal:  Chowmein or ramen noodles with mayonaise and ketchup!

Bug bite of the week:  We are debating whether they are bed bugs and fleas.  But working on getting some permethrin spray...For now it's Raid and bug repellant getting passed around.

Time flies

It's hard to believe how fast time is passing by with the students here. They are adjusting just fine even thought they feel like they are struggling with the languages still. Today they seemed more at ease than they have all week. Here are some quotes and pics from the week.

Me: "So just meet us at the church building for clinic tomorrow" (we were scheduled for clinic in Paxot II where some of the students are staying).
Jonathan: "Where is the church?"
Me: Right across the street from your house!"
Jonathan: "Hmmm... so I guess I've been peeing in front of the church every night when I get up and don't want to go down to the outhouse?"

T

Team Paxot---Amanda, Maggie and Jonathan

Jonathan assisting Dra. Sandra in dental--she is determined to convince him to change to pre-dental!

Maggie using her effective teaching tecniques...

He definitely kept his mouth closed tight!

Weston showing off his physical exam skills on Brittney with Carly cheering them on!

This young patient came in after school with strep throat.  The other little kids are there for moral support only.

Catching up at the cafe in Chichi

Feels good to enjoy a little something different!

Carly found pre-packaged toast at the store and decided to have 5 slices with jelly--ahhh, comfort food.

One of our patient's mom brought us a bowl full of fresh picked mushrooms.  I have wanted to buy some but I am scared.  I had five different people (from four different towns) look at them all and assure me that they are the edible type.  I asked about the red one and they all said no worries as it doesn't have white polka dots on it.  It's just a deeper colored  version of the same kind.  The big ones are called Q'atz'u  or San Juanero.  The little brown ones I can't remember.  Should be tasty! Cesi says her grandma recommends not eating the stems to avoid premature aging--nobody wants that!

 

"I do" -- Quiche style

We were honored to be invited to the wedding of Manuel Sut's son Tomas to Cristina on Monday.  It was a good day for soaking up some local culture!  It started with sitting around the table and enjoying some bread and coffee, sitting some more before being served breakfast, visiting and walking around then bread and hot chocolate and after more sitting and visiting, lunch!  Basically we hung out at Manuel's house with some other relatives waiting for the wedding nuptuals to finish up at the bride's house.  The ceremony consists of the gathering of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and church leaders to give wise counsel to the couple.  After several hours of that, they all came over to Manuel's house where the new couple will live, towing all the new presents they got and  to receive presents from the other guests. There was a lot of visiting, sitting, cooking and waiting going on, but overall a beautiful day for a wedding!

Guests of honor Brittany, Jonathan, Amanda, Maggie, Weston, Carly and Kemmel

Equal opportunity KP duty! 

The meat was served with a plastic fork...Roger decided cheating was in order!

Fresh pine needles being sprinkled around

Tomas and Cristina escorted to their home after the ceremony,

Family hauling all the goodies they got--there was a long line of guys carrying loads like this.

Check out the loot on the back table!

Kemmel, Lisa, Maggie and Roger.

Culture Shock

Culture shock is something that sneaks up on you even after many years in the foreign culture.  During our MET orientation and misiology classes, Roger McKown does a great job describing and dissecting the contributing factors of culture shock for our interns.  But there is nothing like being in the midst of it to make you a believer.  This is day 5 here in Chichicastenango for our Highlands team.  They have great attitudes and jump in to the work willingly.  But every now and then you hear the strain in their voices as they describe frustrations in communication, insomnia from incessant night noises (chickens, dogs, etc.) and the vague uneasiness of not-quite-right bowel habits.  They also feel like it's wrong to complain that the host families are feeding them too much. But, they are soldiering on and prayers from their home churches and familes help get them through.  It's also a relief to share the frustrations and realize that they are not uncommon.
Last night, Kemmel and I joined Sheri for a "gringo night" dinner and shared some of our frustrations and continuing struggles to understand aspects of the cultures here.  It is disappointing to think that after so many years you can still have culture shock lurking around!  Keep praying for our students and for us missionaries to have patience, good communication skills and a love like Jesus has!