I have hot water now! Which is really, really nice. Now I am not as smelly anymore!
Last week me and my site mate Grace tried to start English classes but no one showed up, so we will have to try again and publicize more or something. I taught twice last week, and both days went really well. One day we talked about the water cycle and did some water activities and then the other day we talked about recycling, if they would recycle if there was a program here in Santa Maria, and then made bracelets out of newspaper. I also tried to explain packaging and how that is a big part of waste and how they can reduce their waste by making an effort to buy things with less packaging, but I don’t think that idea really caught on. Maybe it’s because they don’t buy the food for their families or because there aren’t that many options where they can choose to buy something or not based on its packaging. I like the kids a lot- it’s about 14 kids who are ages 13-16 and are just a lot of fun to work with. I still have so much to learn about teaching and am basically just going by trial and error right now, but I am slowly starting to figure out what works. One of the hardest things to figure out how to do is how to teach with limited resources. I’ve been buying paper and stuff for my classes so far, but I know I can’t do that all the time and I can’t ask the students to buy school materials because I don’t know what their financial situation is at home. They all speak Kiche too, so sometimes they speak in Kiche to each other, which makes me want to learn Kiche just so I know what they’re saying.
I went out to eat on Saturday night with some other volunteers and had lo mein with beef in it, which was soooooo good! I hadn’t had Asian food in a while. I am having a problem fruit flies right now because my fruits and veggies are just in hanging baskets right now and attracting lots of flies, but this week I am going to give in and get a refrigerator so I can save food for longer and don’t have to worry about it going bad. I made pupusas this weekend successfully, which is really exciting for me! I’ve tried making them before but have ended up with masa, or dough, everywhere in the kitchen trying to flatten them with my hands. So I got a tortilla press, which is just two pieces of metal that you press down to flatten the dough instead of patting it in between your hands and shaping it, which I have tried many times to do but have failed miserably.
I thought I might just try to explain a typical scene you might see in Santa Maria; I have grown accustomed to it but when I talk to other people they are really interested in it. In the streets, you might see a pick up go by full of people in the bed of the truck, going to one of the other communities near by. You could see an older man in the picop wearing traje tipico, which for men in Santa Maria is a bright woven shirt, usually orange (or sometimes pink), with a brown flannel looking blanket tied around his waist like a skirt that goes down to about the knees. As you get out into the more rural areas, you could see horses or cows grazing on the side of the road while their owners are out doing something in the campo. People use the horses to carry huge loads of lena [firewood] back into town and I feel so bad for them sometimes because they always look so tired! You might pass a woman and her children, collecting lena to carry back on their backs. It amazes me how much firewood these women and children can carry. It’s not uncommon to see women in traje carrying their babies on their backs too, or even seeing the younger kids carrying the baby on their back while the mom is busy or has another kid on her back. Not many people are in the street, but the people you do see will always greet you with “Buenos dias” or “adios” and you should greet them as well, or else you might be seen as the angry gringa. The occasional chucho with one eye will be curled up on the corner and women walk by carrying tubs on their head with laundry in it, stuff from the market, or who knows what else. They can even have conversations with each other while balancing these huge tubs on their head. In the afternoon, you’ll see kids walking home from school. If it’s market day, the plaza in front of the muni will be full of people selling fruits, veggies, laundry detergent, sugar, fish, chicken, eggs, and other random things like pots and CDs.It’s been hot during the day lately and sunny, so people are usually talking about the abnormal weather, how it needs to rain because they just planted this year’s corn, or their kids.
Last week me and my site mate Grace tried to start English classes but no one showed up, so we will have to try again and publicize more or something. I taught twice last week, and both days went really well. One day we talked about the water cycle and did some water activities and then the other day we talked about recycling, if they would recycle if there was a program here in Santa Maria, and then made bracelets out of newspaper. I also tried to explain packaging and how that is a big part of waste and how they can reduce their waste by making an effort to buy things with less packaging, but I don’t think that idea really caught on. Maybe it’s because they don’t buy the food for their families or because there aren’t that many options where they can choose to buy something or not based on its packaging. I like the kids a lot- it’s about 14 kids who are ages 13-16 and are just a lot of fun to work with. I still have so much to learn about teaching and am basically just going by trial and error right now, but I am slowly starting to figure out what works. One of the hardest things to figure out how to do is how to teach with limited resources. I’ve been buying paper and stuff for my classes so far, but I know I can’t do that all the time and I can’t ask the students to buy school materials because I don’t know what their financial situation is at home. They all speak Kiche too, so sometimes they speak in Kiche to each other, which makes me want to learn Kiche just so I know what they’re saying.
I went out to eat on Saturday night with some other volunteers and had lo mein with beef in it, which was soooooo good! I hadn’t had Asian food in a while. I am having a problem fruit flies right now because my fruits and veggies are just in hanging baskets right now and attracting lots of flies, but this week I am going to give in and get a refrigerator so I can save food for longer and don’t have to worry about it going bad. I made pupusas this weekend successfully, which is really exciting for me! I’ve tried making them before but have ended up with masa, or dough, everywhere in the kitchen trying to flatten them with my hands. So I got a tortilla press, which is just two pieces of metal that you press down to flatten the dough instead of patting it in between your hands and shaping it, which I have tried many times to do but have failed miserably.
I thought I might just try to explain a typical scene you might see in Santa Maria; I have grown accustomed to it but when I talk to other people they are really interested in it. In the streets, you might see a pick up go by full of people in the bed of the truck, going to one of the other communities near by. You could see an older man in the picop wearing traje tipico, which for men in Santa Maria is a bright woven shirt, usually orange (or sometimes pink), with a brown flannel looking blanket tied around his waist like a skirt that goes down to about the knees. As you get out into the more rural areas, you could see horses or cows grazing on the side of the road while their owners are out doing something in the campo. People use the horses to carry huge loads of lena [firewood] back into town and I feel so bad for them sometimes because they always look so tired! You might pass a woman and her children, collecting lena to carry back on their backs. It amazes me how much firewood these women and children can carry. It’s not uncommon to see women in traje carrying their babies on their backs too, or even seeing the younger kids carrying the baby on their back while the mom is busy or has another kid on her back. Not many people are in the street, but the people you do see will always greet you with “Buenos dias” or “adios” and you should greet them as well, or else you might be seen as the angry gringa. The occasional chucho with one eye will be curled up on the corner and women walk by carrying tubs on their head with laundry in it, stuff from the market, or who knows what else. They can even have conversations with each other while balancing these huge tubs on their head. In the afternoon, you’ll see kids walking home from school. If it’s market day, the plaza in front of the muni will be full of people selling fruits, veggies, laundry detergent, sugar, fish, chicken, eggs, and other random things like pots and CDs.It’s been hot during the day lately and sunny, so people are usually talking about the abnormal weather, how it needs to rain because they just planted this year’s corn, or their kids.
Great blog! You are so busy! I really liked your description of the typical Santa Maria scene. One question - what is a chucho??? And are pupasas the same thing as tortillas?? Hope you get the rain.
ReplyDeleteLove, Mom