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.

Welcome

This is my personal blog, where I will make book, movie, and travel recommendations. I will also post interesting life-bits, from my own continuing journey, and from those still on theirs.

A poem, from William Wordsworth – The Brothers.