Thursday, February 11, 2010One of my favorite former students, Jacobo, and his friend David, frequent my house for long chats over a cups of tea, 3 hour games of Uno, and to watch soccer highlight videos. After having exhausted most conversation topics and soccer videos, we found ourselves a bit bored one night. As great as my little town is, it does not provide much entertainment or distractions for youth (which contributes to teenage pregnancies). The three of us were trying to figure out something to do, and then it finally hit me: Soccer-Tennis!! We quickly converted my living room into a soccer-tennis court using scotch tape. We put a huge scoreboard on the wall...and turned up the music! The first one to 100 points wins, and the loser after each point has to rotate out to be scorekeeper. The winner stays on the court. It was one of the most memorable nights I’ve had in San Antonio. We played for HOURS, and often broke into hysterical bouts of laughter. I haven’t had such good-clean fun in a LONG time. I felt like a kid again. For a halftime snack I introduced the boys to celery and peanut butter (ants on a log). They were extremely hesitative to try raw celery, and took them a few minutes to give it a go, but they LOVED it! Now whenever I ask them what they want for a snack they ask for “hormigas sobre leña.”Scoreboard to date: Carmen 1, David 1, Jacobo 0. Casualties to date: one broken glass, one broken window. Penalty push-ups: 145. Late-night-soccer-tennis: Priceless.Saturday, February 13, 2010After the usual 9am Saturday pickup game in the central park, I rushed home at noon to shower and get ready for my Tercero Basico (9th grade) students from San Rafael to come over for a end-of-the-year-beginning-of-the-year-Harry-Potter-PARTY! Last year, I told my 9th grade class in San Rafael that if they finished reading Harry Potter I, I would invite them over to my house to watch the movie on the “big screen” (with a projector). They finished reading the book the very last week of the school year, which didn’t leave time to plan and end-of-the-year party. So as soon as the school year started up again, we set a date! And last Saturday 20 of 26 students made the 40 minute trek from their village, San Rafael, to my house in San Antonio. I completely converted my living room into a movie theater, covering all the windows with blankets, and putting two double beds together to serve as sofas. I made 50 cupcakes the night before (while playing soccer-tennis), and made a ridiculous amount of popcorn. Considering these kid don’t really have a “safe space” to socially interact apart from school and family events, I think they had a great time getting together with their friends outside of their town with no parents peering over their shoulders. After the movie ended they asked if they could see Harry Potter II....I said, “SURE! After you guys read the book!”Monday, February 15, 2010This week at the Instituto Nacional, I decided to play a game I remembered playing in Sra. Kaulig’s Spanish class in high school to learn a new set of vocabulary. I taped cards with the vocabulary words on them all over the walls in the classroom, and divided the class into two teams. The girls decided to be the Super Stars. When Jose, one of my most hyperactive and entertaining students, heard “Super,” he immediately yelled “Super Glue!!!” – obviously because he had heard those two words together before, however, was unaware of what they meant. So it was the Super Stars against Super Glue! Each team sent a player to the front of the class, and were given a fly swatter. I would call out the word in Spanish, and the first person to swat the word in English, got a point. At first they weren’t very good, because they didn’t know the vocabulary. But as they got better, they got much more competitive – the girls even studied the vocabulary during recess. Team members would scream the word out in English trying to help their teammate, while he or she would be frantically slapping words hoping it was the right one. It was hilarious.If you had just walked in the room and didn’t get the idea of the cards with English words, it looked like two students were desperately trying to kill an evasive fly with the entire class cheering them on. My favorite moment, which left me practically crying, was when a larger girl went to slap a word, but a smaller boy was between her and the word, and she body slammed him against the wall, smashing him, and the word at the same time. It was classic. Tuesday, February 16, 2010 - CARNIVALIn the morning I went to San Rafael to judge the Niña Carnival and costume contest. As hard as it was judging little girls in a beauty-costume contest, they were SO adorable in comparison to rowdy middle schoolers. Two other judges and I ended up electing the girl to the left in the photo - the girl to the right was Niña Carnival last year. I liked her costume the best because it was home made out of corn husks and kernels - which I thought appropriate coming from a community so dependant on corn. When I got home from San Rafael, I helped some of my former students dress up for their costume contest at school. They wanted to be tourists, so I lent them everything I had (and a few things from my sitemate, Jeramia). Maybe I’m biased, but I thought they looked pretty awesome...Wifido (left) wore my Peace Corps Guatemala shirt and Cal hat and sunglasses. He also sported an Osprey backpack and Guatemala guide book. Vilson (middle) had a camel pack with my hiking boots and North Face cargo capris, and fedora hat and sunglasses. Jacobo (right) rocked my Cal shirt, cargo shorts, red bandana, Gregory backpack and Swiss Army suitcase and sunglasses. We also blow-dried his hair to look like a “surfer dude” (if you will).Although they did not win the costume competition, I thought they looked great, and they had a blast dressing up and dancing in the parade. And in traditional Carnival fashion, we ended the day with a egg-confetti fight...leaving the four of us, and my house, covered in confetti...Wednesday, February 17, 2010Today I went to teach in San Rafael, as per usual. With the Primero (7th grade) students I worked on a Junior Achievements program we’re doing called Empresarios Juveniles. Its a program where they learn everything from entrepreneurship, to how to evaluate their skill sets and apply it to a job, to how to fill out a check. Its a pretty cool program, especially since I was given all the materials for FREE! With Segundo (8th grade) we discussed how to be assertive, versus aggressive or passive. They had never been exposed to the idea of asserting yourself and values in a non-aggressive way. In Tercero (9th grade), we read Julio Cortazar’s shortest story, “Continuity of Parks” and discussed the ambiguity of fiction and reality. It’s a GREAT short story, and my students loved it. Here’s a link to the story in English: http://www.continuityofparks.com/by-cortazar/Tomorrow is Thursday, which means I train my soccer team in the stadium! Looking forward to another week in the life! Stay tuned!

COMING SOON!!! Monday: Instituto Nacional, San AntonioTuesday: Instituto por Cooporativa, Santa Rosa de LimaWednesday: Instituto por Cooporativa, San Rafael

For the first time EVER - my brother visited me on one of my foreign adventures. AND, he brought his girlfriend! It was Mikes first foreign non-soccer-related trip, and needless to say, it was quite a trip. I feel the pictures tell the story better than I could ever write, so I’m going to let the pictures do most of the talking...LAKE ATITLAN - December 28th - 30th, 2009Once we got to the lake, we had to take a boat to Jabilito, where our hotel, Casa del Mundo, was located. Since I made the reservation about 6 months in advance, we got the best room with the only private balcony. It was awesome. So much better than the $2.50 a night hostels I usually stay at on my Peace Corps budget. Once we got settled, we had to go exploring. We decided to do a 30 minutes “hike/run” to the next town over, Santa Cruz. The views of the three volcanoes across the lake were stunning - not to mention it was a good workout! The next day we decided to hike the OTHER direction from Jabilito to San Marcos de la Laguna. It turned out to be an excruciating 2 hour never-ending hike. The views, again, were spectacular, but we were exhausted by the time we got there....and took a boat back! (no judging)Lake Atitlan is a very special place. And from the moment we got there, Mike didn’t want to leave. But he soon realized how much MORE Guatemala has to offer....New Years in ANTIGUAAfter polling many people in Guatemala, I decided Antigua was the happening place to celebrate New Years. New Years is a family holiday for Guatemalans -- the antithesis to the American idea of New Years. And since Antigua is a turist town, it was our best shot. So after 2 nights at the lake we headed back to Antigua. On the night of the 30th, we challenged my Jocotenango friends who work at Los Patojos to a friendly soccer match. We had a blast, and Mike and I taught them a thing or two about the beautiful game.On the morning of the 31st, my friend Diego gave us a 4 hour walking tour of Antigua. I saw parts of Antigua I had never been to before, and we ended up at Hotel Santo Domingo for an afternoon snack before our big night out...We started off our night at my favorite boutique hotel and restaurant, Panza Verde. After champange, lobster, dessert and cappucinos (while listing to the old timers of the Buena Vista Social Club), we hit the streets! The rest of the night was pretty typical “New Years” (drinks, dancing etc). We did the countdown with thousands of others in front of “the Arch” - a beautiful arch with a clock on top that bridges one of the most beautiful Catholic churches, La Merced, with the Volcan de Agua. I strategically orchestrated the kissing of a few friends of mine when the clock struck 12, and the sky erupted in fireworks. Pretty epic...and any great night must end with eating tacos and pupusas on the street...SAN ANTONIO, SacatepequezAs soon as Mike got to my town I put him to work on the soccer pitch (and Irma translating!) From 9am - 12pm, Mike ran a soccer practice for my boys team at the local stadium. About 30 boys showed up for the practice and an autograph signing. They had been looking forward to meeting my brother for a while, and he didn’t let them down! After a nap, in the afternoon we headed to Oslando’s mothers house to get Irma in the traditional clothing from my town (traje tipico). Not surprisingly, they also convinced me to get dressed up (unfortunately the men don’t wear traditional clothing anymore or we definitely would have got Mike dressed up too!) And of course, we ended another great day with tacos! *Note: Please take notice of how tall Mike, Irma and I are in the picture! (...for once)* VOLCAN TAJUMULCO The next day, January 3rd, we decided to charge the highest point in Central America, Volcan Tajumulco at 14,000 feet. Luckily, (or maybe not?) Tajumulco is only about an hour away from my house. This was going to be the 3rd time I summitted. None of them were particularly “enjoyable” - but its a rather spectacular hike, and an amazing accomplishment - and Mike and Irma were determined to summit. So we packed our bags -- along with Aliyya, Oslando, his brother and nephew -- and headed up! We hiked from about 1pm-4pm and then set up camp at about 13,000 feet for the night. We made remarkable time (Aliyya and I made it to base camp in 2:48 -- when the first time it took us 4:30). We were all exhausted by the time we finished setting up our tents...and spent the evening focusing on keeping warm, full and hydrated and went to bed at about 7pm! At 4:15am we woke up to do the finial summit to watch the sun rise over Central America. After a sleepless night for everyone (except Aliyya and I who came prepared with Benadryl and earplugs) we started bouldering up by the light of our headlamps. We made it to the top in plenty of time for the sunrise (perhaps too early - we had to wait about 30 minutes huddled together shivering, listening to Mike’s arguments for heading back down because of the cold). But all the cold, pain, and sleep-exhaustion aside - it was a great thing to experience together. After Tajumulco, the 10 day trip came to an end, and we headed back to the capital. No trip is perfect, but this one came pretty damn close. And that’s how the Munoz’s roll.

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I know it’s been a while since I’ve written a blog entry...I don’t really have an excuse I suppose, but I’ll try to summarize December and January for you. Here it goes:I’m currently trying to figure out the rhythm of my life for 2009. Last year I think I worked too much and subsequently got sick and worn out. May-November I did nothing but work, and in December I tried to get my life back together. With no school, and all my festivals and camps over in November, I spent a lot of 1 on 1 time with myself in December in San Antonio. I’m not sure if it was healthy, or unhealthy, but I think learning how to be alone is important (I might have begun talking to myself...)In December I read, played guitar, exercised, cooked, baked, watched Grey’s Anatomy and hung out with my family and community. And for Christmas and New Years, I spent 10 days on the beach in El Salvador with 7 other PCV’s. It was nice. So now, in January, I am working on balancing work and my pathetic personal life. I’ve been trying to work out 3-4 times a week (training for a 1/2 marathon in May), prepare for the upcoming school year (which starts next week), be an active member of my community (see Feria photos from last week), eat healthy, read and play the guitar. Its a handful, and once school starts I want to launch some other projects that hopefully won’t take over my life (more on those in future blog entries). I remember a quote from college, that you can only have 3 of the following 4 things: a social life, a successful career, a healthy exercise and eating routine, or sleep. For 2009, I’m choosing the last three. During school vacation I also spent a good portion of time writing a letter to our newly inaugurated President Obama. I attached it below, and knowing my family, I’m sure it will spark a lively conversation. I would be disappointed if it didn’t. January 21, 2009San Marcos, GuatemalaDear President Obama,My name is Carmen Muñoz, I am a Youth Development Peace Corps Volunteer working and living in San Antonio, Sacatepéquez in Guatemala. I have been following your career since your thought provoking speech at the DNC in 2004, and traveled six hours on a chicken bus to vote for you in 2008. I graduated with honors from the UC Berkeley history department with a focus on 20th century U.S. foreign policy, and wrote my thesis on the Carter Administrations’ Latin American foreign policy. After my Peace Corps service, I plan on returning to graduate school to pursue a career in academia. I intend to dedicate my life to closing the gap between the Americas through teaching, public service, and foreign and public policy. I feel the Peace Corps has been an invaluable experience in that it has provided me a first-hand education in Latin American affairs and has given me the opportunity to begin realizing my life-goals at the most important fundamental level. I am writing you today for two reasons. First, I find your intention to double the size of the Peace Corps by 2011 to 16,000 volunteers empowering yet unsettling. Empowering because I feel you not only believe in the Peace Corps’ mission and its philosophy, but also what it represents in terms of foreign relations. Unsettling, however, because the Peace Corps is a very delicate organization. I fear quick expansion could jeopardize the quality of the volunteers and services we provide, and the quality of the training, attention and support we give our volunteers in country. All of these elements are critical for the reputation of the Peace Corps, which, in turn, is essential for the success of its programs and the reputation of the United States. Rather than doubling the number of volunteers we send abroad, we need to maintain and improve the quality of the Peace Corps volunteers. We can do this by making it more competitive and prestigious to become a volunteer, so as to improve the quality, not quantity, of the volunteers we send to represent us. The application process seems more like bureaucratic paperwork than a rigorous application process. The medical screening was much more intensive than the personal requirements. Language requirements should be more demanding and volunteers should come with more work experience. In addition, we need to expand the resources available to volunteers once in country. With the economic downturn in the second half of 2008, I have witnessed great cut backs in terms of the support we receive, and how it can affect a volunteers’ service. A volunteer must feel supported by the greater organization for both work resources and personal moral. Second, it is well known that U.S. credibility in the world is at an all-time low. The United States is viewed worldwide as arrogant, presumptuous and paternalistic. We need to change that image. Electing you as President was the first step. Our reputation in Latin America is particularly strained considering we notoriously neglect Latin America issues, and have a myopic focus in Middle Eastern and European affairs. This has created a space for demagogues in Latin America to rise to power, and in the last decade Latin America has seen a shift leftward, away from Washington. In terms of domestic affairs, considering the huge Latino population in the United States of 47 million (15% of the total U.S. population) and the 11.9 million unauthorized immigrants living in the United States, this negligence is imprudent. The Peace Corps has also been described as presumptuous and paternalistic. We, Peace Corps volunteers, move into countries, and start an easy life with an above average salary and health insurance. Yet, the people I live amongst are not allowed in my country, and are incapable of the standard of living I bring to their town despite them having lived there their whole life. The family I live with here in Guatemala, who I now consider my family, could not visit me in the states if they wanted to. They could not come see my hometown, meet my family, or come to my wedding. This reality vis-à-vis my presence can awaken dormant anger and resentment. People here are trying to understand the context of their lives, and realizing that, despite what we tell them, most are incapable of making significant change to their lives because of social injustices and bureaucratic barriers. I understand the complexities of border security and our immigration crisis with Latin America. And like every President, I recognized the core of your foreign policy will be structured around security concerns. But we are capable of coming up with pragmatic and mutually beneficial solutions to work towards common security and common humanity. Undocumented immigrants risk their lives and leave their loved ones behind for the hope of a better future in the United States. Yet Washington continues to ignore the reality of their presence and Americans ignore their contribution to our society. They should not have to come by foot, or ride atop trains, or travel at the discretion of coyotes to work here. Immigrants risk losing a limb while trying to climb onto trains; they confront violent gangs; they risk death by dehydration in deserts; and women risk getting raped throughout the journey. And once they get here they are exploited as “cheap labor,” grossly underpaid without health insurance, have their human rights exploited, and have to live in constant fear of deportation. Is their no better way? Immigration reform is long over due. Twice in the past two years, Congress failed to pass legislation addressing illegal immigration. You said in Foreign Affairs in 2007: “To renew American leadership in the world, I will strengthen our common security by investing in our common humanity. Our global engagement cannot be defined by what we are against; it must be guided by a clear sense of what we stand for. We have a significant stake in ensuring that those who live in fear and want today can live with dignity and opportunity tomorrow.” Let us match rhetoric with action.Let’s initiate a migrant worker program where workers can come and work legally and protected against human rights violations, and have the freedom to go home and visit their families. And as immigrants positively contribute economically and sociologically to our society, a reasonable path to permanent residence should be established. If the United States government provided employers with access to cheap legal labor, it would also serve as a deterrent for illegal immigration as there would be less under-the-table jobs available. We could perhaps model the program after the successful Philippines’ Overseas Employment Administration. This should also be coupled with programs to stimulate the economies of Latin America, with the hope to decrease the poverty and desperation that sends migrants north. I was fortunate to have been born in the United States. But my good fortune began when my father first got his opportunity for a better life in America. He is an immigrant from Mexico. He now has a master degree in electrical engineering and works for an aerospace company. Much like someone answered your father’s prayer for an education in the United States, my father’s prayer for a second chance in life was also answered in the United States. Our fathers’ success stories in America are unique. Most immigrants simply pray for an opportunity to work for an honest living and thus risk their lives coming to America. It is you, Mr. Obama, who has the power to answer their prayers by providing them the opportunity to work legally and out of the shadows in the United States.Siempre en la lucha,Carmen MuñozPCV Guatemala 2008-2010

On Sunday, November 23rd I packed my bags, yet again, and headed back towards Antigua to spend the week working with Los Patojos on their 2nd Annual Children’s Festival. Because of the Aaron debacle, and because my APCD didn’t approve my solicitude to work at the Festival, I ended up taking vacations days to be there. It was worth it.As soon as I stepped off the camioneta, I was put to work helping to silkscreen the festival logo that Mauricio created onto shirts the children brought in well into the night. I was also informed that night, that I would be one of the “Talleristas” - one of the Workshop leaders - in charge of giving an Origami workshops for 10-15 kids for the entire week!! Mind you, I have not done Origami for YEARS, and was not entirely prepared. So on Monday morning, I woke up early and bought a bunch of “papel lustre” - the closet thing I could find to Origami paper - and began frantically cutting squares out of it. 10:30am the kids roll in and 12 dedicated Origamists quickly take to my workshop. With those 12 BOYS (and a few other kids rotating in and out) we did Origami 4 hours a day for 5 days. Yes, thats right. Thats a lot of Origami. I couldn’t believe their interest and dedication. I had to keep up with THEM. If I wasn’t going over folds with them, I was printing new designs off the internet, or cutting paper. Thankfully I had Pilar, a Spanish volunteer, helping me with the kids. In addition to my workshop, the kids could choose between: Painting, Theatre, Literary Expression, Acrobatics/Circus-try, Recycling/Paper making, Arts and Crafts, Photography and Urban Art. To sum up the rest of the week:8:30am-10:30am Frantically cutting paper while inhaling coffee10:30am - 12:30pm Origami with the kids12:30pm - 1:30pm Lunch/regain consciousness1:30pm - 4pm Origami with the kids 4pm - 7pm Work around Los Patojos, cleaning etc.Then of course, on Friday afternoon, we took all the kids out to the soccer field for a little footie match. Being the confident player that I am, I bet Juan Pablo lunch that my team would beat his. Somehow, something went horribly wrong, and my team ended up getting KILLED. I think it was because Carlitos spent half the time talking with the ladies and not focusing on the game. I still lie awake at night running over the match in my head, thinking about what we could have done...After the game, we were at Los Patojos till about 2am cleaning and displaying all the children’s art work for Saturday: the Grand Finale. On Saturday all the kids showed up early to rehearse, and the show began at 10:30. Aliyya, Aaron (now back in country) and Kelsey were sweet enough to come out and support the kids. I kicked back, relaxed and enjoyed the show.In addition to their art work on display, there were dance skits, musical performances, theatrical performances, a professional story teller, a local dance group performance and of course, prizes, diplomas and cake! It was a lot of fun and very entertaining. To end a great week, that night all the staff and volunteers headed out for dinner and drinks in Antigua to celebrate...For more info about Los Patojos check out: www.lospatojos.orgTo see more photos of the week, click on the photo below: (Carlitos in the red on the left, William -aka Capaz- with the sombrero)*Side story*Thursday, November 27th: To celebrate Thanksgiving, Kelsey (PCV) and I went out to a lovely dinner at a hotel called Welten’s. It was real fancy like. We’re talking, rose petals and candles in a infinity pool, white Christmas lights, champagne...the works. Its was nice to share Thanksgiving with someone, even if it wasn’t at Uncle Johns house with the fam. After dinner we ended up meeting up with some more American, Guatemalan and Spanish friends for a few drinks. My first Thanksgiving away from home, and not on a soccer field...not too shabby.

Now, in order to completely understand the intensity of the week of our camp, you must read the previous blog entry about Aaron’s expulsion from the country. Although the outcome of the camp would have probably been more or less the same, our anxiety, stress and emotions might have been more manageable. When I returned to Antigua after a meeting with the Ministry of Education on Monday, November 10th, Aliyya was not mentally or emotionally in a place to work on the camp (1 week away)– that is, she had no desire to work on something related to the Peace Corps. Completely understandable. Unfortunately, both of us did not have that luxury because we had a few deadlines the Ministry of Education set for us that week regarding scheduling, and the camp was less than a week away. We had worked so hard on the camp up to this point, we couldn’t give up now... But that week, between the HIV/AIDS workshop we were all attending with 2 teachers from our town, the emotional rollercoaster of Aaron’s separation coupled with Aliyya’s disillusionment, and the looming camp with an unknown number of students attending – I began to get a little freaked out. Would just the 15 kids who signed up show up? Or would the 500 kids who we invited show up? Would Aliyya and I get our working groove back? Could we pull it off with only minimal PCV’s support? After the HIV/AIDS workshop was over on Thursday, November 13th, Aliyya and I headed back on a bus together to San Marcos. And on Friday, November 14th at 9am the two of us had a meeting with the Ministry of Education to discuss details of the camp, to meet the Guatemalan PE teachers who would be helping us, and to discuss the issue of the number of kids we were expecting...When I woke up Friday morning, I had no idea what to expect, in regards to the meeting, and in regards to whether Aliyya would show up. I hadn’t discussed the meeting or any details of the camp with her for a week, because I was waiting for her to be ready to. Yet, how the day ended was definitely not within the realm of what I would have guessed. 9am and Aliyya was back with her game face on! (I love her game face) The meeting went well: the art supplies, sports equipment and t-shirts were ready to go, and the 4-9 PE teachers were enlisted to help out each day. As for the kids: we launched a massive 2 day promotion campaign for the camp. We were to go on the local radio station at 4pm to promote the camp, then at 6pm we were to go on a TV sports program for a 30 minute interview about our work and our camp. The guy who interviewed us on TV (live, mind you) then proceeded to invite us to go on the one national radio station at 8pm to be interviewed on his sports program. We went from 15 kids, to now possibly every Guatemalan child showing up. Sunday night, I would describe as the calm before the storm. I felt like there was nothing more we could have done to prepare so we just had to wait and see what happened...Monday morning we arrived at 730am to begin setting up. Things were going well...flags looked great (thanks Scotia and Rog!), the Ministry of Education showed up with the sports/art equipment, and amplification systems, and the PE teachers were there...so we just needed kids...Around 8:30am kids started trickling in. As soon as I saw there were more than 20 kids I was happy. I could live with myself. In the end, that first day we had about 50 kids. However, they had such a good time they helped spread the word and Tuesday-Friday we had about 75 kids everyday. Overall we had 100 different kids attend. We divided the kids into teams of 12 by height (they had to get in line by ascending height without using words), and assigned each group a country and a PE teacher. Each of the teams would rotate between sports/art stations every hour. The sports included Papifut (soccer on concrete), Volleyball, European Handball, Jump rope, Dodgeball, Basketball, Broomball, and Kickball. There were 3 art sessions: Origami, a papier-mâché class, and one painting class that helped break up the day for the kids. In one of the sessions they also had to research their country using books we brought in. We also started and ended every day with a fun group game or "dinamicas" (egg races, balloon races, icebreakers etc) And after the raffle, closing ceremonies and distribution of diplomas on Friday, we went with all the kids to Dominos for a pizza party! Now of course, at every camp things go wrong. For example, it wouldn’t have been a sports camp had we not had to take a child to the hospital (true story). I left to buy flour for an activity and was gone for 15 minutes and when I came back I was greeted by Aliyya with, “Carmen. It’s chaos. The PE teacher’s stopped coaching. Those kids don’t want to play dodgeball and I put them in time out. And this kid broke his arm.” In that moment, your head starts moving 1000 miles per hour to find solutions for everything. But looking back now, you can’t help but laugh. Thank god there were two of us to team-manage everything. It also wouldn’t have been a camp had there not been issues with food. Monday – Thursday the AMAZING snacks showed up on time everyday at 10am. On Friday, they did not. Why? Yet to be determined. One theory is we pissed off the Ministry of Education so they cut off our food supply without telling us. We we’ll be discussing that in our evaluation with them in January... But again, luckily there were two of us, because while I was taking Neddy to the hospital, Aliyya dealt with the 75 hungry and dehydrated kids...Now onto the issue of the PE teachers. Monday-Thursday they were awesome. We couldn’t have done the camp without them. Friday, we DID run the camp without them. We had 4-9 all-star Guatemalan PE teachers helping us every day. We assigned each a team (country) to work with, and the extras could work the sports stations they felt most comfortable at. Monday-Thursday, when representatives of the Ministry of Education were there, they were fabulous. They warmed the kids up, did games with them, and then let the kids play/scrimmage. They were fun and dynamic and helped us with our end-of-the-day group games/dinamicas. On Friday, no one from the Ministry of Education came, and the teachers decided to sit and chat instead of helping us with the kids. THANKFULLY we had a few PCV’s there that day who stepped up BIG time. Again, another reason why we really wanted to have the support of PCV’s because we know their skills sets and we know we can rely on them. I knew I could tell Lynn, for example, to go take a group a kids for an hour and play kickball with them, and I wouldn’t have to think about it twice, and wouldn’t have to ask her with all the time-consuming-niceties necessary for cultural sensitivity. All in all, it was a GREAT experience. The kids had a great time, you could see it in their faces and in their enthusiasm for the activities. Yes, there were ups and downs. And everyday I thought about how much we could have used Aaron at the camp. Not only for administrative support, but how great he would have been with the kids. Yet despite all unforeseen setbacks – emotional, cultural, mental, gastronomical – we pulled it off. And we pulled it off well.I would like to thank all of you who helped financially support the camp. You saved Aliyya and I from continuing to dip into our own personal saving accounts (you also supplied ALL the Origami paper for the Children’s Festival in Jocotenango – see next blog entry!) I would also like to thank all of you who thought and prayed for us. It was a daunting endeavor. Sometimes I wonder what the hell we were thinking in the first place...then I remember Aliyya and my motto: Go Big or Go Home! What I learned...1) The months of work and preparation Aliyya and I did beforehand allowed us to pull off the camp in the midst of crisis. 2) Working on an event with people of different cultures IS challenging. I spent months and months visualizing the event, working out details in my head, losing sleep over the questions marks...and our Guatemalan counterparts naturally visualized something different. So when the camp actually came around our different visions and styles clashed a bit...3) Get PE Teachers involved in the planning process so they are more invested.4) Have a plan B when food doesn’t arrive.5) If there are personal issues interfering with work– deal with them, don’t compartmentalize them.6) There are more important things than the success of the camp, like friendship. 7) Think about cleaning up eggs on asphalt BEFORE you do an egg race.8) Biting a water balloon will make it explode in your face. 9) Plan. But its all about improvisation, improvisation, improvisation. 10)There are schools you can go to to learn how to properly and forcefully whistle. 11)Take the time to reflect and celebrate your accomplishments.

After 3 months of being at your site, Peace Corps calls you back into Santa Lucia for “Reconnect”: 2 days of sharing experiences, successes and failures, venting, and getting feedback, suggestions and ideas for the future. Those 2 days are followed by 3 days of Spanish lessons for those who still merit them. I did not merit them, so after Monday and Tuesday at the Peace Corps office, I spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday working at Los Patojos. In an effort to save money, 6 friends and I rented an apartment/cabin Antigua for the week. Considering how incredibly expensive Antigua is for a Peace Corps salary, we wanted to be able to cook, considering we would be there for 10 days. After an awesome barbeque (complete with HorseBalls) at Craigorios, Reconnect consisted of the regular Peace Corps bureaucratic stuff – going over evacuation policies and payroll procedures etc. Then in our Youth Development group we talked a lot about our successes and failures and frustrations. Possibly therapeutic for some, but humdrum and a bit whiny for others. One interesting session was a “Town Hall” meeting we had with the Country Director, her second in command, a medical rep, the safety and security coordinator, and our training director. The meeting was Aliyya’s idea, and it was to serve as forum for us to express any frustrations with had with the PC administration, and to clear up any confusion on policies. After a slow start, we began talking about the notorious “Out of Site” policy: “In general we suggest as a parameter that you not be away from your community for personal reasons for more than one or two weekends a month.It is absolutely necessary that PC/Guatemala staff always know the whereabouts of PCVs in order to be able to contact and locate them in cases of emergencies. A Volunteer's failure to report his or her whereabouts in accordance with the post's procedures may be grounds for administrative action up to and including administrative separation from Peace Corps.”So, to “call out of site” one must send an email to pcvsite@gt.peacecorps.gov or call this number and leave a voice mail message with your name, the dates away from your community, locations (including addresses), contact information and the reason for your travel.Simple enough, right?Well, that’s in theory. Coming into the Peace Corps no volunteers we met called out of site. Some didn’t feel it was necessary, others felt like it was Big Brother and didn’t feel like their employer needed to keep tabs on their personal life, and other were just lazy. I feel like most, however, didn’t want PC to know they were out of site more than their allotted “one or two weekends a month” for fear of having to use vacation days. The issue I had with the policy was that it prohibited volunteers from collaborating with other PC volunteers on projects. My camp is a perfect example. Originally we had planned to have 1 PCV’s working with 1 Guatemalan PE Teachers with 15 kids throughout the week. So, I had to write a solicitation letter to my APCD for each PCV (you can’t just call your friend and have them come over to your town and help out), asking for permission for volunteers to come help us out. Because my APCD is programmed to be hesitant to let volunteers out of their sites, he let us have 3 volunteers, who were relatively close by. Two of the three came and helped out for part of the week. My APCD didn’t let 3 other volunteers who WANTED to help out for the whole week come and who would have been GREAT because of their distance from the camp. Now, I understand his reasoning. But by him saying no, that leaves my 3 friends who very much wanted to come with the decision to a) not go, or b) go, and not call out of site and risk getting kicked out of the Peace Corps. So we discussed the issue at the Town Hall meeting. And the answer I essentially got was: Ask your APCD for permission to use other volunteers. If he says no, you can talk to the Country Director about it. Anyway, this all becomes very relevant because two days after this meeting, one of my dear friends, got kicked out of the Peace Corps because of this policy. After having to go to Xela for a meeting, my friend Aaron headed back to Antigua on Thursday (not to his site), and failed to call out of site. An unidentified PC employee saw him grocery shopping that night with his girlfriend, Aliyya, in Antigua, and reported it on Friday. Friday he got a phone call asking him to come into the Peace Corps office. He was forced to resign. And on Monday was on a plane home to New York. I cannot begin to explain to you how devastating this was for him, his girlfriend and his close friends. Moral, which is extremely important for what we do, was crushed. Many, including myself, were enraged and have become disillusioned with the Peace Corps Administration and lost confidence in them. I feel that the juxtaposition of the Town Hall meeting, and his actions, were the main force behind the PC’s decision. They were trying to make an example out of him. But I couldn’t help but wonder: Why didn’t they make an example out of the eight volunteers who didn’t call out of site a few weeks earlier because they were partying at Lake Atitlan? PC KNEW about them. (They found out about them because one of the volunteers had to be sent to the ER because he dislocated his shoulder). PC let them go with nothing more than a slap on the hand. Yet, because Aaron wanted to come back to Antigua a night earlier to cook dinner and watch a movie with his girlfriend and forgot to call out of site...he was forced to resign. Resign from more than just a job. Resign from the life he built here, resign from his community, his host family and friends. Resign from something that for the past two years you have structured you life around. And to just take it away that quickly for a mistake, while looking the other way for others??? On the plus side, that Friday night he got kicked out, a friend of mine from Los Patojos put him in contact with a recent grad from Yale who just started a volunteer aboard program for college students (check out http://www.encountour.com/Home.html). That very night, we all headed down to a local bar for the meet and greet. Long story short, Aaron actually just got BACK in Guatemala on Friday, November 28th and started working for them out of Xela as their Volunteer Director. *A few other notes from the week...*Friday, October 31st: For Halloween I dressed up as Joe the plumber...complete with Obama button! Tuesday, November 4th: Election night was incredible. A bunch of friends and I went to a Democrats Abroad party at some guys BEAUTIFUL Spanish style house in Antigua. Basically it was 10 PCV’s and a bunch of old drunk white people. But it was GREAT! The food was awesome (we definitely aprovechared) and the victory was historic! On Wednesday, November 5th, I went to Los Patojos where JP immediately assigned me to washing the dishes of 100 kids...(thanks!) After that, I improvised an English class for their night ESL classes, and then helped paint a mural by Josué Romero late into the night. On Thursday, November 6th: I hiked up the local hills of Jocotenango with the kids at Los Patojos, then enjoyed a photo exhibition of the kids work. On Friday, November 7th: I helped move cement and rocks from one location to another for hours at Los Patojos. Exhilarating. Then Aaron was administratively separated...we now call this Black Friday. Saturday, November 8th: 6 hour bus ride home...Sunday, November 9th: 1pm soccer game in Sante Irene – long story short: Some guy marking me had major issues and fouled me 3 times, and on the third foul got a red card. It was ugly. Monday, November 10th: Meetings with the Ministry of Education...then 6 hour bus ride back to Antigua.Tuesday, November 11th: Lunch with John at Café Condessa, then work on camp stuff at Los PatojosWednesday, November 12th: HIV/AIDS workshop in Santa LuciaThursday, November 13th: HIV/AIDS workshop...then 6 hour bus ride home......and now onto the exhilarating anxiety that was our Camp!!

Today was a day of victory for me. Mind you, here in Guatemala a small victory is celebrated as a major victory purely for mental stability. But my tale of my personal vindication, begins in September...In the middle of September, despite feeling healthy, I began coughing up green stuff (excuse the candor, Guatemala will do that to you). After two weeks of expectorating all over San Antonio, I decided to call the Peace Corps Meds. They told me to go to Xela, and have their PC approved doctor take a look at me. On Friday, September 26th, I grudgingly headed into Xela, and to my surprise the doctor heard nothing in my chest. I tried to explain that I KNEW it was coming from my chest, and was NOT a product of allergies. The doctor, however, seemed convinced it was allergy induced since she heard nothing in my chest, and proceeded to proscribe a mild expectorant and a Claritin-equivalent. It got worse, but not working was not an option. Each afternoon I had to teach and all week I had to work on preparing for a meeting on Saturday. On Wednesday, October 1st,I had to host my APCD (Associate Peace Corps Director – aka my boss) in my town. It was a looong day: he arrived at 830am and didn’t leave until 6pm. We had meetings with my superintendent, the head librarian, and with the principal and teaching staff at all 3 of my schools. On Thursday the 2nd, I helped Aliyya and some friends give a HIV/AIDS workshop to 5 private schools. On Friday, I had a meeting with the Ministry of Education about our camp. And on Saturday, I had to go to Xela (in the back of a pickup truck – see above photo) for the meeting with the Western Highlands Youth Development Curriculum Commission. Saturday was when it all came down. Hearing all my friends tell me I didn’t look well, I sounded horrible and I was burning up, inspired me to call the Peace Corps Meds again when I went home. They told me to take my temperature. It was 102.5. This was not allergies. They wanted me to go to the ER back in Xela, but seeing as it was 10pm, I convinced them to let me sleep it off. The next morning they called me and told me I needed to get Amoxicillin. I was in no condition to leave my town, so Aliyya, my savior, took an hour-bus ride from Xela all the way to San Antonio to bring me the antibiotics – only to immediately turn back around to return to Xela. A true friend.Sunday (5th) and Monday (6th) I was pretty much on my death bed, Tuesday (7th) I did a little work from home and Wednesday and Thursday I managed to make it for the last two days of school. Fast forward to Friday the 17th: I took a 5 hour bus ride to go to PCHQ near Antigua to vote, and to have the PC Meds check me out. The doctors finally informed me I had bronchitis – and that I still had stuff in my chest and that my lung capacity was much lower than normal – so they gave me a powerful expectorant and an inhaler (but I no longer needed to take antibiotics). Now, my dedicated readers, don’t get mad...but right after I left the medical office, with inhaler in hand, I went to play soccer with some kids in Jocotenango. Playing soccer on this particular Friday was definitely premeditated – regardless of what the doctors were going to say. Every time I’m in Antigua I try to make it a point to come in on a Friday so I can play soccer with these kids from an after-school program called Los Patojos. The game was a lot of fun, but about half way through the game I began getting a sharp stabbing pain in my chest, near my heart, whenever I coughed, laughed, sneezed or did anything but sit still. I thought it would go away, but as it only got worse, so on Sunday I decided to call the doctors. They told me the pain was caused by an inflamed plura, the lining that covers the lungs, or by a pulled muscle attached to my ribs, because of the prolonged violent coughing. They told me to take Ibuprofen 4 times a day for 5 days. It was rather frustrating and irritating to continue to be coughing up green stuff for over a month and a half, but only now in extreme pain. I will admit though, the stabbing pain and minimal expectoration was better than the height of the bronchitis. That brings us to today. Today, Sunday, October 26th, was the initiation of the San Antonio Champions League, if you will. A 3-month soccer tournament made up of 20 soccer teams from the municipality of San Antonio. A few months ago I was elected the secretary of the JUMUDE, Junta Municipal de Deportes, so had been a part of the process of putting the league together. For whatever reason, I hadn’t thought about playing in the league, until a few of the Muni guys asked if I was going to play for the Muni team. “Pero, ¿puedo jugar en serio?”“Sí, claro.”“Seguro??”“¿Sí, por que no?”So, on Thursday the 23rd I went to get my id card made for the league. However, the guy in charge of making the cards said that I couldn’t play. I was a woman, and would get hurt. I’ll take that chance. 
But it’s a men’s league, you can’t play. There is nothing in the rules that says women can’t play. I know, I helped write them.But the federal referees won’t let you play. Lets ask them.Finally, he said I’d have to get the permission of the President of the JUMUDE. Now, determined to play to make a point, on Friday I set out to find him. Apparently the issue had been settled earlier that morning: I could play.Now I had to prove myself. I had to prove that women could play. I had to prove that Americans could play. I had to prove that Carmen Muñoz, sibling of a professional footballer, could play. The pressure was on. On top of that, I hadn’t worked out for over 2 months, and had about ¾ my lung capacity, and still had the stabbing pain in my chest whenever I moved. What did I get myself into? Would I be able to breathe? Would the chest pain be too much to bear? What would happen if I chest trapped the ball? How embarrassing would it be to have to leave the field in the middle of the game? I couldn’t back out now. There was no way. I had to play. Was I being stubborn? Yes, absolutely. But I was determined to lay it all out on the field, to give it my all to prove a point. I began mentally preparing for a kamikaze mission. I gave John, my site mate, the rights to write my biography. 
On Sunday I woke up in perhaps the most pain I had been in yet. But I pounded back Ibuprofen and headed up to the stadium.The two teams were changing into their uniforms on the field, so I quickly grabbed my uniform and headed to the women’s bathroom to change. Once I was suited up in our Barcelona jersey, I tied my hair back, I pulled up my soccer socks, and I stepped out into the sun, on to the field. Suddenly all my anxiety over my health and preoccupation with the pressure I put on myself went out the window. I was in my element. This was home. I could do this. Immediately I got looks from the other team and from the stands. She’s playing? Laughter and snickers. But I was ok with that. I just needed to get the ball at my feet and they would shut up. I jogged over to midfield where my team was gathered with the ref. The ref reiterated that I was playing with the big boys and needed to be careful. I assured him I would be. One of my students, Antonio, who was on my team told the ref I would be ok, and that “Ella puede jugar.” I had played in a pick up game with him a few months back. The whistle blew. Right away it was obvious we were going to get creamed. The team we were playing against was the U-17 boys team from San Antonio. My team was comprised of a bunch of old over-weight guys who worked for the Municipality, save my one student. But a W was not my priority. I just had to prove myself. The pain in my chest was pretty excruciating, and I had to consistently cough up stuff to be able to breath. But as adrenaline kicked it, the pain was dulled. In the first half we got a free kick. Antonio played a ball right to me at the top of the box. I thigh trapped it, saw the goalie off his line, and volleyed it over his head caressing the back of net as it fell into the goal.Vindicated. I turn around and begin to jog back to the half. I looked around for some “way to go’s” but it was dead silent. DEAD silent. So silent I began to question whether or not the ball actually went in the goal.I turned around and saw a defender fishing out the ball from the goal. I DID score. Why the hell was it so awkwardly quiet? As I self-consciously lined up at the half, the only rational I could come up with was that the other team, my team, and the spectators were legitimately shocked. The rest of the game was demoralizing – our team lost 17-1. But still, we had a lot of fun and I felt comfortable and confident playing with them. I look forward to turning heads for the rest of the season and changing my towns’ perception of women athletes. But perhaps most importantly, I survived to tell the tale.

When I caught wind that the Municipio had 500 extra trees lying around, I thought, why not have reforestation activity with the middle school? John (sitemate) worked with me to solicit the Municipio for the trees, and to coordinate with Ronal of the Forestry Department. I was to bring the kids, and Ronal was to give a presenation on de-and-reforestation and lead us to the site to plant the trees. I invited 250 6th, 7th and 8th graders from the middle school in San Antonio, and we divided the kids up by grade: Tuesday: 6th graders Wednesday: 7th graders Thursday: 8th graders They were to show up at 8am in front of the library with water and a machete. I won’t lie, I was a little nervous telling 80 middle schoolers to bring machetes. Nothing happened, but there were definitely machete-sword fights. From the library we’d walk up to the Muni Greenhouse where Ronal gave a little chat about deforestation, reforestation and the importance of trees. Then he explained the process of growing the trees in the greenhouse. From the greenhouse, the kids grabbed the trees and we headed out to various spots para sembrar!! (to plant)Tuesday: Thirty 6th graders showed up and we planted 75 trees in Aldea Siete Tambores (45 minute hike uphill)Wednesday: Twenty 7th graders showed up, and we planted 150 trees near Aldea Santa Teresa (1hr 30 minute hike uphill)Thursday: Twenty 8th graders showed up, and we planted 75 trees on the cerro (hill) Saquibutz.The activity was a lot of fun and incredibly easy to organize because of the help of Ronal and Alvaro of the Dept. of Forestry. John and his dog, Pepino, also came along everyday to help out... My students from Segundo (7th graders)