Mi amiga la bibliotecaria

My librarian friend has been here for the last two weeks and I’ve kept her busy. We attended 2 (I attended 3 but she could only make it two of them) “clausuras” of our school reading program that just finished week before last. I’ve also had her helping us finish cataloging the bibliobus as we frantically try to finish before Xmas vacation begins. Mi amiga and I have been having a little fun while here too. I took her to a concert by the national marimba orchestra last weekend, and we’ve explored a couple of the museums here in Antigua. We’ve also been eating a lot, and trying out a few of the bars around town. Today, we’re going for a little hike up to a viewpoint over Antigua, and tonight we’re going to see a ballet recital in the ruins of San Jeronimo.

Yesterday we made a little trip up to Chimaltenango where we saw a celebration of Dia mundial de la lucha contra el SIDA put together by a local AIDS non-profit and a clown theater troupe. There was a very moving theater/interpretive dance performance about the stigmitization people suffer when they have AIDS, then afterwards a question and answer period with the kids that were in the audience. Later
that day we visited the WINGS office and had a lovely chat with their communications officer about possible ways we could work together. We found out more information about WINGS Nests, which are volunteer support groups for the organization and I found out about an Antigua walk-a-thon that is coming up.

Cataloging

The process of getting the cataloging underway has been instructive to me as far as project management here. As I had never started a cataloging project from scratch, I floundered a bit at the beginning when it came to devising a budget and ordering supplies. But there were also some hurdles when it came to getting the resources we needed to begin, which put us behind a bit. I’m inwardly a little nervous about finishing another cataloging project we have going on in another library, as we are actually trying to automate that catalog, and the software we are using has been proving troublesome. I’ve found a library in Guatemala City that is using the software succesfully, so I am planning a visit soon. Right now, however, I’m trying to finish another project before a deadline, so I haven’t been able to do everything I want in the timeline I want.  There have also been meetings and training sessions that have slowed things down, but I don’t regret any of them. Everyday I learn something new, which makes work here very exciting.

Moon friends

I just sent many of you a poem from 2nd grader Danny Moyer, and promised to update my blog.  For the past month I´ve been working on our school vacation reading program in Chimaltenango, and cataloging books on the bibliobus which is parked in Parramos.  I´ve been getting to know the town a bit, as well as more Guatemalan food.  My aversion to red meat has been difficult, but I´ve persevered.  Monday I ordered something that I thought would be shrimp, but which also included snails.  I ate about half of it, but thank god for tortillas.

Here´s the poem.

Moon Friends
So many children

looking at the moon

all around the earth
and we all like each other
it´s peaceful to look at the moon

it´s peaceful to be friends

maybe older people

should look at the moon

then the whole world

would be peaceful.

Xela

I went to Xeláju or Xelá two weeks ago.  It’s the second largest city in Guatemala after Guatemala City and it had the kind of city energy that Antigua lacks.  But it also lacks the architectural beauty that Antigua has.

Tzanchaj

On Friday, I escort a possible donor to the town of Tzanchaj, where we are building a brand new library.  Tzanchaj was devastated by Hurricane Stan last year.

Work begins

I´ve had two lazy weekends in Antigua, and am now ready to DO something, anything other than watch movies at my house. 

Work has been interesting and exhausting.  The 45 to 1 hour each way commute via bus urbana (a.k.a. ¨chicken bus¨) is wearing me out.  However, I´m learning to sit back and enjoy the scenery (and smells).  ´

I´ve spent the last few days sorting old and moldy books away from new books in a storeroom off the main building of one of the libraries I´m working in.  The books have been sitting there for years, untouched and unused.  There are around 70 boxes of books, including textbooks that are not being used.  I´ve made it my mission to get the storeroom organized by the end of next week.

The next big task is cataloging them all.  We´ve installed WINISIS, a free UNESCO cataloging program, on the librarians´computer so I can begin cataloging the books (none of which are cataloged) and students and teachers can start looking for information for themselves.  As is, if they have a question, they ask the librarian, and she searches her memory, and then goes and finds the appropriate book.  Many times, there is nothing for the student, or at least the librarian can´t remember.  And of course, all the books are behind the desk, because as one librarian told me today, students can´t be trusted – they will steal the books.  There´s nothing I can say to that right now, as they did just have a lot of books stolen by students.  But it´s frustrating.  But oh, how I wish that was where the frustration ended. 

Macho, macho man

So, still no internet at the house, so I´ve been slow to post updates.  Here is an entry I wrote last week, but am only now getting a chance to post.

Last night, a companion of mine (sixteen years old) was grabbed by a guy on the street.  When I say grabbed, I mean he blocked her mother’s and my path, and then swung around, and with his open palm, slapped and then grabbed her ass.  He had distracted me and her mother by first blocking her path, then showing us both his tattoos on his forearms.  The tattoos were of clown faces, and the man seemed high on something.  While no one was hurt, the violation shook all three of us.  I had trouble sleeping last night because of anxiety.  It was the same fear I felt last year when a guy followed me into my driveway here in Antigua, and grabbed my crotch.  In the light of day, those fears seem less potent, but I am now thinking more about why it happened.  Not what we could have done to make ourselves less vulnerable, but about the culture that would condone and teach such behavior.  These mild (but still violatory) incidents belie a deeper misogyny that leads to more brutal and virulent violence.  Next week, I’m going to go the WINGS office.  I need to talk to people are working on women’s issues, and to understand my own fear (knowledge is power, if not a defense).

Pictures

Check out pictures of Guatemala on Kristen in Guatemala.  You will see Child Aid projects damaged by Hurricane Stan, and children in El Tejar.

Place to stay

This is my third time trying to publish this, so it will not be as flowery as I want.

I finally found a place to stay, at least until Navidad.  I’ll be with an American professor on sabbatical and her 16 year old daughter staying in a very nice house (very lucky for me!).

My first foray into the food market on Saturday was quite the adventure.  Food is so much cheaper there, then in the supermarket, that I’m going to try to buy most of my food there.

Arrival in Antigua

I arrived yesterday in Antigua.  I traveled all day, spending five hours in the very well restraunt-ed Dallas airport.  Flying into Guatemala city was beutiful – much prettier than flying in during the day.  At night, the blue and white lights of the city look like the constellations of a night sky.  Very different from the super-lighted U.S. cities that look more like computer chips from the air.

I had my first meeting with my boss today and I think it’s going to be some interesting work.  Lots of obstacles to face – mainly getting people (including librarians!) to be excited and motivated about reading and libraries.  I will be doing lots of facilitating, which means I will be doing a lot of work, while trying to get other librarians to learn and continue the work after I’m gone. 

I’m apartment hunting right now as the place where I live is an airless, windowless room and I share a very tiny bathroom with a couple and their three children.  I have a couple of promising leads, however. 

Walking around Antigua this morning and enjoying the 17th century architecture and natural beauty, I felt that I was in the right place, even if my feet were already hurting from walking on the cobblestones.  They were filming in the central park of this infinitely photographable city what looked like a cell phone commercial.  I had just activated my cell phone from the cell phone company “Movistar”.  A bit of synchronicity in the morning. 

My Spanish started off strong this morning when I was able to hold an entire conversation with my host mother about Hurricane Stan and strange story about her drunken neighbor not hearing the wall of his apartment fall off the building (I swear I understood the story correctly!).  I also learned how her husband works seven days a week, doing construction in Guatemala City.  It’s a two hour bus ride each way.  I feel less annoyed now from hearing his snoring through the incredibly thin walls of the house.

My Spanish stumbled a bit as my lack of sleep took hold and I was unable to ask how to turn the phone on (the fact I had to ask tells you how tired I was).  It completely fell apart right before lunch while talking to a potential landlord as I nervous that I would agree to something in writing that I didn’t understand. 

I’m happy to be here and feel I made the right decision to come.  But now I have to listen to my body and go back to my windowless room and get some sleep.