Vignettes from My First Weeks on the Job

I stand, swaying in the back of a pick-up, as we swerve around hairpin mountain turns.  It’s chilly this early in the mornings, and the wind blows my hair in my face.  The view of the volcanoes and the lake on this road is spectacular.  My fellow passengers, mostly indigenous Mayan wearing their traditional clothing, seem un-phased by the view.  I wonder how long until it’s just common place to me as well, and appreciating the beauty takes conscious effort. I’ve done this trip several times now, headed to meetings and school observations, and workshops, so now I recognize where I need to get off.  I knock on the window and the driver pulls to a halt.  Climbing off the back, I reach through his window and pay him 3 quetzales (about 45 cents) and then cross the road to the building where our meeting is held.

 ***************

The room is crowded with 30 teachers, all sitting on small student chairs, hunched over low tables.  There’s a buzz in the air, as they all work intently on their news articles.  Two of our facilitators are leading a workshop on teaching writing in the elementary classroom, and now teachers are practicing a technique they’ll be encouraged to use in the classroom.  As they finish their articles, they step to the front of the room.  Someone grabs a box that was sitting on a table and uses it as a fake video camera. “Lights, camera, action” we all shout and the first reporter steps up. “And now, from Naranjo school, a recent classroom soccer championship was held. . . this is María reporting live for Gossip News.”

 ***************

Small children giggle as they look at me.  They’re probably not too used to seeing foreigners this far off the beaten track.  It took me two hours to get here this morning, first a bus, then a mini-van, then a pick-up, all forms of public transportation here in Guatemala.  Their teacher launches into the lesson she’s prepared based on one of our workshops she’s attended.  After reading aloud to the students, they are broken into small groups to create their own version of the story.  “Take a picture of ours!” one group begs me, as they carefully add in illustrations to go with their story.  The facilitator who’s in charge of follow ups with the school takes notes to go over with the teacher at the end of class.  After some general observations, recommendations, and praise for a job well done, we head off to the next classroom where another teacher is ready for his follow-up.

***************

The staff sit around the table discussing plans for the next workshop.  They’re in disagreement about which order they should present two of the points on the agenda, and the opposing sides are giving their pedagogical reasoning.  I’m enjoying the opportunity to see them think aloud and reach consensus.  I’m still sitting back, observing, taking notes, assimilating myself to my new work culture before I stick in my oar, as it were, but I smile to myself as they finally decide on the order I would have recommended, if I’d made a recommendation. 

House hunting- Pana style

"So, you ready to go look at houses?" my coworker asked me, unlocking his motorcycle after our meeting last Friday.  House hunting I was sure about, riding a motorcycle not quite as much so, but I clambered on the back and off we went.  As we reached the road along the lake I caught my breath.  The volcanoes were rising up on the far side of the lake, their triangular peaks cutting the sky.  I hadn’t gotten a chance to see them when I arrived the day before since clouds and mist obscured the view.  I wished I had my camera with me, but taking photos while riding on the back of a motorcycle probably isn’t recommended anyway.

Things didn’t look so great at first- a phone call to confirm a place to look at that we found out was no longer available, a decent studio apartment but they wouldn’t let me have my cat, 3 real estate offices with nothing worth looking at. . . I was beginning to think this might be impossible.

That same evening though, after giving up for the night, I was talking to a friend.  She was also house-hunting and had found the perfect place her first try on a tip from a friend.  There happened to be a 2^nd house available in the same complex, so she gave me the contact info.

The next morning, sitting over breakfast, I made a couple phone calls and set up 2 more apartment visits.  Then, in the afternoon, I walked around until I found “for rent” signs and made a couple more spontaneous visits.  Three of the places were a bit bleak and depressing- cement block walls, dark, claustrophobic.  Not really options in my book.  But the first one I looked at, the one my friend recommended, had potential.

So, I decided to move in.  I just took it for a month for now, in case I find something I love in the next few weeks.  But if I don’t this is fine.  It’s furnished, centrally located, decent rent, a good size for just me, bright and sunny, seems safe, and has a patio and yard. It’s also rather noisy at night, I miss having kitchen cupboards, the internet has been really bad, they’re doing construction next door so I hear hammers and saws all afternoon, and I have trouble getting the hot water heater for the shower started, so I might still keep looking.  But at least for now, here’s my house in Pana.

My tiny house, porch and yard. The rainy season is just now starting, so the grass will be green soon.

My bedroom- on the small side, but then, I'm a small person.

My favorite room in the house- the living room is quite cozy

My very non-US kitchen

A different world

Spring has been struggling to arrive in Finland- the buds are coming out on the trees, but for every one spring-like day that made me think spring had surely arrived, there were a half dozen days of "takatalvi" a Finnish word for the winter that comes back after you think spring has arrived.

So, Tuesday night, I was walking through a snow shower, bundled in my hat and scarf and gloves and coat, and now here I am sitting barefoot in a hammock with tropical plants blooming around me.  It's been a rather dramatic change.

Finland

Guatemala

It isn't just the climate that's changed. The architecture, the flavors, the colors, the people, the language, everything around me is about as different as you can get.

Finland

Guatemala

Today I walked up a hill overlooking Antigua and sat to enjoy the view.  An older woman was sitting next to me. "It's a pretty view, isn't it?" she asked, then proceeded to tell me how she and her brother were visiting Antigua for the first time and were from a village on the other side of the volcano.  She asked where I was from, what I was doing in Guatemala, how long I would be there, then wished me a pleasant stay in Guatemala when I wandered off to take photos.  She's not the only one.  I've learned bits and pieces of the life story of half a dozen people here and they've learned bits and pieces of mine.  Quite a change from Finland where I can count the social interactions I had with strangers in 2 years: one conversation with a stranger in a bank, a brief introduction from a stranger on the bus, and 2 people asking for directions.  I'm pretty sure I'm in a different world. And while Finland is a wonderful place, I'm incredibly happy to be here in Guatemala now!

Finland

Guatemala

How to write a thesis in 4,976 easy steps

1. Determine to make EBSCO host and google scholar your new best friends.
2-36. Spend quality time with them in order to make # 1 happen. 
37. Discover Zotero.
38. Do a happy dance because your citation and note-taking organizational quandary is now solved.
39-57. Read lots of articles and take notes.
58. Finally decide on a research topic.
59-71. Read lots more articles and take notes
72. Change your mind about your research topic
73-84. Read more
85. Come up with a new research topic
86-99. Read more
100. Have a burst of inspiration and write a review of literature
101-3,843. Actually DO the research
3,844. Look at all your data and have a mini heart attack because you don't know what to do with it all.
3,855. Breathe deep
3,856-3,940. Cover your bedroom floor with sheets of colored paper and slips of paper and call it content analysis.
3,940. stare at your computer screen.
3,941. Decide you're going to need to eat regularly in order to write this thing.
3,942. Go grocery shopping for healthy snacks you can eat while staying focused.
3,943. Decide to buy chocolate anyway, because, it's a brain food, right?
3,944. Sit down and start writing.
3,945. Eat a snack
3,946. Write some more.
3,947. Dance to a zumba video to prevent falling asleep at the screen
3,948. Write some more.
3,949. Alternate between feelings of confidence and self doubt.  This is both the best, and the worst piece of writing you've ever done.
3,950. Go for a walk because spring fever
3,951. Write some more
3, 952. Eat another snack
3,952. Write some more
3,953. Do something "urgent", like dusting your desk or finally taking the packaging from those wine glasses you bought 6 months ago to the recycling bin, otherwise known as procrastinating.

3,954-4,451. Repeat steps 3,944-3,953 in what feels like an infinite loop.
4,452. Put yourself under house arrest from 9am-5pm everyday until your draft is done.
4,453. Feel guilty any time you do something not thesis related from 9-5.
4,454. Try not to feel guilty about relaxing and socializing after 5.
4, 455. Finish your first draft!
4,456-4,974. Edit, revise, present, repeat
4,975. Send the final product off to be printed
4,976. Congratulations.  You've written a thesis.

The Joy of Cooking Substitution

If you've spent any length of time outside the US and enjoy baking, you've probably mastered the fine art of substitution.  While I generally try to avoid recipes that call for too many substitutions, my height may have been this Thanksgiving when I made a pumpkin pie in a graham cracker crust.  Except, I didn't have any pumpkin.  Or graham crackers for that matter. . .

Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny day.  The sky was blue, the sun shining through the glass heated my room so much I opened the window, and I had friends coming over in the evening.  It seemed like the perfect day for a spring-time dessert.  I started dreaming about yogurt pie- simple, yummy, and perfect for a warm weather day. And so easy- all I needed was cool whip, yogurt, and a graham cracker crust.  Which is when reality hit.  I have never yet seen cool whip for sale outside the US and as I already mentioned- no graham crackers, let alone pre-made crusts.  But I was determined, and where there's a will there's a way.

Google is basically my best friend when it comes to navigating recipes meant for one country in another.

• Google search:  adding gelatin to home-made whipped cream makes it hold its consistency and it can be substituted for cool-whip.  
• Google translate: gelatin= liivate  
• Google image search: gelatin comes packaged in a container that looks like this (oh, thanks Swedish, I could have identified this without the google translate step.  You never know until you try.)

So, armed and ready, I headed to the grocery store to pick up my gelatin, cream, and yogurt.  Also, some "digestive biscuits" since previous experimenting had lead to the conclusion that this is the best graham cracker substitute. 

Of course, the cooking fun doesn't end there.  Butter here, instead of coming in 4 sticks conveniently marked in tablespoons comes in 500 gram blocks, not so conveniently marked in 50 gram increments.  I was feeling too lazy to pull up the butter conversion website, so I eyeballed it.  The graham cracker crust recipe called for 1/3 cup sugar, which is inconvenient too since I only have a 1/2 cup measuring cup here (randomly included in my set of metric system cups)  More eyeballing, and the crust was good to go.  Then I was on to the cream, which was straight forward, but took ages since a whisk is nowhere near as easy as an electric mixer.

What takes five minutes with a pre-made crust probably took almost an hour to put together here. But it was worth the time, almost too pretty to cut, and rather tasty too.   And I get to add another weapon to my arsenal of secret substitution tricks.

A big move

"Good things come to those who wait".  It's been a mantra, running though my head over the past two months.  Just before Christmas I was browsing job postings, as the soon-to-be-gaduated tend to do, when I stumbled upon what looked like my dream job.  December seemed a bit early to apply for jobs when you don't technically graduate until May, but it isn't every day that your dream job comes along, so I applied.  And after (what felt like a rollercoaster to me) two months of interviews, hopes and fears, I was offered the job.

And I'm still shaking my head in wonder at what a perfect fit this feels like. Seriously, I don't know that I could have designed a better job for me myself. As graduation approaches, I've been making a list of things I'm looking for in my career. I wanted to focus on literacy development. I wanted to work with teacher training and curriculum development.  I wanted to wok within the already existing school system since improving the system that's already in place has the potential for a lot greater reach than working at an individual school level.  I wanted to be able to take a less visible role so that my expertise could support people who already have the cultural know-how that I will never develop as perfectly as someone from the place.

And working with Child-Aid, I'll be able to do all that.  Check out Child-Aid's website.  I'm really excited about their vision and beyond happy to be joining their team.  Everyone at Child-Aid that I've talked to has been enthusiastic and passionate about the work they do.  I'll be poviding training and support to a Guatemalan staff.  They, in turn, run professional development workshops on literacy instruction and provide one-on-one follow up support to teachers in rural Guatemalan schools.  The curriculum Child-Aid uses for its trainings is already well developed, but they also want it to be a work in progress, reflecting advances in educational theory and practice, so I'll get to contribute to developing the curriculum as well.


Then there's the location.  That's something else I've been doing lots of thinking about since I'm hoping to put down roots for awhile, and wanted a job in a location I could see myself possibly staying in long term. After down-sizing from Bogotá to a much smaller Turku, I realized that as much as I enjoyed big-city life, small town life seemed more sustainable and desirable to me.  I like that I run into people I know here when I'm doing errands or riding the bus.  Then, there's the weather.  If you know anything at all about Finland, you probably know it has long, dark, cold winters.  I miss the sun.  People always imagined me in a tropical paradise in Colombia, but the reality was a lot different. In Bogotá I missed the sun a lot of the time too, and I became an expert at wearing layers.  Access back to the States was another consideration.  Spending 24 hours and a thousand dollars just to visit home is difficult.

The town I'll be living in is called Panajachel.  It's located on Lake Atitlan, frequently touted as one of the most beautiful lakes in the world.  I'll let you be the judge of that.

Lake Atitlan, photo from wikimedia commons

The town itself is small, estimated at around 15,000 people. Since it's a popular tourist destination, it also has more options for eating out and entertainment than you might expect in a town its size, and even a grocery store that caters to foreigners and stocks things like Italian sausage and cheddar cheese. At almost a mile high, the climate is spring like year round, with most days having temperatures in the 70s (20s in celsius).  There's a dry season and a rainy season, though I've been told the sun usually shines in the morning even during the rainy season.  It's only 1 time zone difference from EST and travel times and ticket prices are better than either Colombia or Finland. I have to admit- the volcanoes on the lake make me a *tiny* bit nervous, and downsizing from a town of 180,000 to a town of 15,000 might be harder than from a city of 7,000,000 to a town of 180,000. After all, Turku still had Ikea, a movie theater, and a shopping mall.  (But I'm not that big of a shopper anyway, and with movies at 13€ each it wasn't like I was going to the movies here either) But other than that, I think it's pretty perfect for me.

I've had some moments in the past year or so, as I think about where I come from, and where I want to go, and I wondered if Finland would really help me meet those goals.  After all, networking chances for non-profits in Latin America are pretty slim on this side of the Atlantic.  I've given myself pep-talks, the ones where I say, "God wouldn't nudge you to leave somewhere where you had a job that challenged you and that you enjoyed, friends you loved, and a home you felt happy in just so you could find a job you don't like in a place you don't want to live.  He'll open doors." But despite those pep-talks, I still found myself doubting and worried.  "What if. . .?" I'd ask myself, and fill in all kinds of negative possibilities.  So to be reminded of God's faithfulness-that he goes ahead of us, that he does not abandon us- has made my heart sing.

Now- who's coming to visit me once I'm all settled in?  My Mom has already told me that HER top priority for my apartment/house hunting is a 2nd bedroom for visitors.  I think a nice kitchen, good natural light, and location might be a tad bit higher on mine. ;)

"The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him." Lamentations 3:25

vulnerable and messy

This Christmas, there was a paradox I couldn't quite wrap my mind around- The God of the universe as a baby. Tiny, dependent, defenseless, vulnerable.  The more I thought about his vulnerability the more beautiful it seemed.  I don't risk vulnerability unless I want to be known, unless I deeply care about the person I am vulnerable with.

"See me.  Know me.  Love me"  is the heart-beat of vulnerability.  

And here was our God.  As a baby, vulnerable. A God who wants to be known.

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. James 4:8

That same idea spilled over into a conversation the other day.  "Why did Jesus tell parables? Why didn't he just speak plainly?" questioned a friend, echoing my own frustration with the Bible's stubborn refusal to be a theology text-book, to lay out the answers to all our questions in ways that aren't open to multiple interpretations.

Instead, the Bible is a messy book, full of narratives, (some of which are frustratingly ambiguous about God's response-Jephthah's daughter, anyone?), poetry, regulations, letters.  It's a book that invites conversation, wrestling, reading and rereading.    Maybe, if the Bible had been written as a systematic theology text, we wouldn't have so many questions, but no one has ever passionately loved a text book. But through the messiness, the readings and re-readings, the struggles to understand, the One whose story it tells becomes clearer.  We find ourselves at his feet awed by the beauty in a poem, humbled by the grace he showed in Christ, or perhaps like David, hurt or confused and looking to him for answers.  Perhaps all this messiness is just another invitation, an invitation to know and be known, an invitation to relationship.  Relationships are messy-I don't know a single person who comes with a guide book.  We're notorious for miscommunicating, for interpreting the same phrase or text a thousand different ways. But that very messiness compels us to seek answers, and the only way I know to find them is through knowing the person more. A theology textbook (or a user's guide for our friends) might have given us the complacency that we knew the answers, but it was never about the answers anyway- it was always about the relationship.

And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. John 17:3
So now, as I continue to wrestle with this messy text, and with my faith which seems so full of paradoxes, I'm trying to embrace the beauty of messiness.  I may not have all the answers, but as long as I'm clinging to the one who does and seeing him more clearly in the process, having the answers isn't as important.

Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth. Hosea 6:3