Monday already?

Life in-site has been going by in a whirlwind. I remember back to when I first got to site, wondering if I'd ever be able to fill my days and not go crazy with boredom. I'm definitely filling my days. Most of the time, I'm not sure with what. But the time goes by, and I often find myself wondering how it got to be dinnertime.

Things have settled in nicely since getting back. My house is back in order, I'm back to showering every 4 days, and I'm eating all sorts of fresh market goodies (mangos, watermelon, avocados, and tomatoes are ALL in season). I'm also back to my campo schedule…in bed by 9, up at 6:30. Life is good.

It's exam week at my schools which means that my battle to get the YD curriculum back up-and-running is once again put on hold. In terms of my work, the two siege months definitely did the most damage to my primary project in the schools. Because I wasn't there at the beginning of the academic cycle in late January, I wasn't able to play a role in the scheduling and implementation of my youth development classes. So the fight continues. Meetings this afternoon.

My women's group, however, is going swimmingly. I was really worried that my absence was going to cause a complete loss of trust with them. But luckily I was wrong. If anything, it seems that my re-appearance has strengthened the women's trust in me. We met last Thursday for our first official meeting. I was able to give them very good news: our Partnership Program application had been approved by Peace Corps D.C., and our pila project is being fully funded by a very generous donation from the Flossmoor Community Church in the Chicago suburbs. The church has a long-time connection with the Q'eqchi' people of Guatemala and wanted to contribute to the project. With the funding on its way, our project should move forward very quickly. The women are very excited, to say the least. They are already proposing ideas for our "next" project. I told them that we'd better take it one step at a time. We've hit quite a few roadblocks with this first project, and the complicated part has yet to begin. But I guess if anything, it'll only get easier as the women gain confidence and project planning experience.

Also have my English class up-and-running on Tuesday mornings (it's like pulling teeth getting the teachers to teach YD, but when I offer to teach English and give them an hour-long break, things tend to fall into place very quickly). I'm also considering starting up a night class for English for my teachers and other students who might be interested.

Busy week ahead of me, but I'm looking forward to it. I have a visitor coming midweek who I met during my many travels, so I'm excited about that. It's refreshing to actually have things on my to-do list. Maybe all volunteers should be forced out of site for a month or two. Hmmm….