And then things started getting rough...

A lot of things have been happening here that bear reporting. NPH has run into a lot of problems financially this year. There's a few reasons for this, the largest being a decrease in donations. Folks all over the world are struggling right now, and the people who used to send money to the kids here are now using that money to support their own families and neighbors. Unfortunately there's no one to pick up the slack. The Guatemalan government is notoriously corrupt which contributes to the poverty in the first place, they're not about to help. We're not about to go feet up or anything, but we've had to make huge cuts across the board. NPH Haiti had similar issues with funding and now they're forced to only feed the children one meal a day. Guatemala is trying to avoid taking such drastic measures, so they're making painful cuts while they can.

We had been hearing rumors of lay offs for a while, but we thought they were more threats than anything else. This week was the first of the firings though. Originally they had wanted to fire two nurses which would have left us with just one. Tia Rosa argued us out of that plan since it was going to depend largely on my help and I have already made it very clear that I'm not staying any longer than January. It would be impossible to run a 24-hour clinic with only one nurse on staff, so management eventually nixed the plan. Sadly, the second plan also affected us rather harshly but we weren't able to raise enough of an argument to do anything about it. This week they fired our doctor (the one who's mother in law taught me how to make pepian last week) and also Chavalita, a 70 something year old woman who has worked as a housekeeper for the clinic for 12 years. Chavalita has two sick sons at home who are unable to work, so her family depends on her income. The doctor will be able to find other work and she was going to leave in another month anyway to have her baby, so while I feel bad for her situation, I know she'll recover far more easily than Chavalita will.

On top of the clinic layoffs, four other employees were let go, including Tio Espana, the guy who drives us to all our med appointments in the capital. Espana was one of my favorite people here. He looked like a Guatemalan version of my Uncle Eddie. He was super kind and funny; a few weeks ago he took me to a leather store and tried to talk me into buying a pair of snake-skin boots. He was a good guy with two little girls at home, and now he has the horrible task of trying to find work here. I need to mention that there is next to no work in Guatemala; a huge portion of the people are unemployed. At least Espana is still young, Chavalita will have a much worse time of it.

With the doctor gone, Tia Rosa now needs to step into the role of Clinic Director. She's always run the show (Dr Karla had only been with NPH for about 11 months; I think Tia Rosa took up the reins while the doctor was getting used to her position and she never really gave them back), but this will be more official. Part of her new responsibilities mean that she can't leave the clinic for med runs anymore, meaning.... (drum roll) my new job is doing med runs. No more charlas, just med runs. I have zero room to bitch, I came here to help the clinic, and if this is how it needs to be done, then so be it. I AM, however, restarting my count down until January! 145 more days to go!! On the bright side, waking up early has always been a big obstacle for me and now I'll get to practice it a whole lot more. This has the potential to open lots more jobs for me! Right? Right??

Anyway, if any of you hit the lottery anytime soon or even if you want to do something noble come Christmas time, consider a donation to NPH. Donations can be made online at www.nph-guatemala.org

Dead bodies, running and IHOP

Here's how my guide book describes Guatemala City:

The capital has an intensity and vibrancy that are both its fascination and its horror, and for many visitors dealing with the city is an exercise in damage limitation, as they struggle through a swirling mass of bus fumes and crowds.

Needless to say, I have very little desire to spend time there. I go in a few times a month for med runs and that's more than enough for me.

The volunteers have asked me to go in with them a few times (which I've always declined), but this time they rooted out my weakness and promised me breakfast at IHOP. Do you know how much I miss breakfast sausage?? Apparently enough to motivate me to go to Guatemala City for the weekend.

IHOP wasn't my only reason for going, of course. Three of the volunteers were running a half marathon and we wanted to go cheer them on. Originally the plan was to head into the capital super early Sunday morning, but Elizabeth (the Guatemalan volunteer dentist I live with) came to the rescue and invited us to stay at her family's house in the city. I was really excited to see what her home was like and spend some time with her family.

Elizabeth's house was AMAZING. I had anticipated a nicer-than-average home just based on how well put-together Eliza always is, but I was surprised at how great it actually was. Leather furniture, big screen TV, six burner stove with gourmet kitchen; it was better than a lot of houses in the US! Needless to say, we had a very comfortable stay there.

Her family was so nice. Elizabeth slept on the floor of her sister's room so that Nona and Stephanie could have her bed. Jack and I slept in what we thought was the spare bedroom, only to discover later on that it was actually her parents bedroom. I still have no idea where they slept, but I suspect that they went to the neighbors house. How crazy nice. Then they spent the whole weekend feeding us and driving us around the capital. They're really a wonderful, self-sacrificing family, great people.

Here we are trying to control ourselves before ripping into the awesome lunch that her mom made us.

After we all had a nice lunch together, they drove us all to the convention center so the girls could pick up all the stuff they needed for the next day's race. I had no idea that there's usually a big expo before races like this. It was pretty cool, we got to walk around and collect tons of free stuff :)

These two stands completely represent my diet in Guatemala: powdered fruit drinks and bags of pasta. Horrible, I know

Jack stares longingly at the bouncy house. We had to tear him away before he made a run for it

Once everything was set with the race we headed over to Miraflores, a huge American-style mall. They were hosting a traveling exhibit of Body Worlds (not to be confused with Bodies: The Exhibit which was involved in a lot of controversy regarding using unclaimed Chinese bodies). We waited for hours to get in, but it was worth it. I've been to shows like this several times before, but I always feel like I walk away understanding a bit more than when I went in.

Yep, that's his skin that he's holding

This circulatory system looks like it should be a character in a Tim Burton movie

Stephanie and some guts

Mary had a little lamb...

So yeah, I feel a little bad for the lamb, but how amazing is it to see how intricate the circulatory system is?? They do this by injecting plastic into its veins after it's dead. Then they dip the body into a special acid that eats away everything except for the plastic, leaving this really cool model of the blood vessels. Forget being cremated, after I die I want to be plasticized and stand in the corner of my family's house as a giant Shawn-shaped blood monster.

Now the REAL fun part of the trip begins. After the show we went over to the restaurant section of the mall and ate at a TGIFridays! SO HAPPY :)

Stephanie and Jack are pretty excited for some American hamburgers

omgomgomgomgomgomg!!!

It was the most delicious cheeseburger I've ever eaten. Absence definitely makes the heart grow fonder.

Post-dinner group shot

After dinner we had to walk through the mall to get to the car. All the stores were already closed, but it was still a completely different experience than what I've had so far in Guatemala. This was my first foray into the world of middle class Guatemalans, and while it isn't reflective of 98% of the people I know here, it was still really nice to turn my head off from all the poverty for a bit

Commercialism at its finest!

I LOVE this parking system. They have little sensors in front of each parking space, and a sign at the end of the aisle tells you how many free spots there are in each row. It saves you from driving around aimlessly looking for an opening. I was so impressed with this, and then the European volunteers told me that they have this by them too. Come on USA, lets get with the program!

The green ones are open spots (it was after closing time, so a lot are open at the moment)

This is the amazing pre-race breakfast that Eliza's mom made us the next day. I LOVE plantains so much!!

Ready to cheer everyone on

With thousands of people there and most of the roads closed for the run, it was a great opportunity to get to walk around the city without having to worry about getting lost or mugged. The city is actually pretty nice.

Eiffel tower-esque structure

I originally thought this was the police academy, but its actually the Ministry of Defense. I can only imagine the consequences of accidentally taking a picture of the Ministry of Defense in the states.

Really beautiful Peace Fountain in the capital

There are a ton of statues in the capital

Random statue and gatorade stand

This church was pretty cool looking, though I was waiting for that cross on top to crash down and spear someone through the chest a la The Omen.

Ah, people watching... and my new motivation to start running. Look at those pecs!

(Funny side story, while I was showing Martin (the kid who helps in the clinic) my pictures of the race, I felt the need to explain this one. I told him that I was so impressed by this guys chest that I had to take it, so when he ran by me, I did. Martin was horrified. He was like, Oh my God Shawn, you can't do that!! I was surprised by how upset he was. After a little more conversation I realized that I had used the wrong word. Instead of saying "I took it" (tomar), I said "I touched them" (tocar). No wonder he was freaking out, he was picturing some crazy gringo jumping in front of this guy and grabbing his chest, hahaha)

I really loved that there were people with all sorts of ability levels here. Quite a few participants were using wheelchairs

On the lookout for the girls. It was pretty challenging, there were SO many people there!

Yay Charlotte! (The only one I was able to get a pic of)

Walking through a tunnel to the finish line to find our runners

Post-run group shot

The girls pose with their signs

After the race it was time to celebrate! Off to IHOP! I was still really full from my breakfast at Eliza's house, but I managed to get down a few pancakes and sausages ;) I was very pleased.

Post-Ihop photo! Notice how happy we are with pancakes in our bellies

The trip to the capital was a total success. I'm actually heading back to the mall this week to have some more mental downtime (and to scope out what other American restaurants they might have tucked away in there ;)

Be yee gone, vermin!

What's considerably less fun than group vaccination day? Group delousing day! Yes, sadly the kids have major problems here with lice; kind of inevitable when you have four hundred kids sleeping in the same square footage as some Sparta homes. The only way to really tackle this is to treat everyone at the same time, and unfortunately it's rare that we have 400 boxes of lice shampoo. Usually we just do the worst kids as they show up in the clinic, knowing full well that they're going to get reinfected and this is only to give them a little respite. Lucky for us, we just received a HUGE donation of lice shampoo from a group of visitors. We rounded up all the kids and spent the whole day pulling lice out of hair. I somehow landed the job of photographer (woohoo!) so I was spared the dirty work :)

Martin was not so lucky

Neither was Estela

Ewwwww

The girls were in good spirits

Commercial break

Julian helps out with his sister

A little train action

Gloria from Especiales was also happy for the shampoo

And Fernanda :)

Lisette in Casa de Bebes

Even with a head full of bugs, Jordy is the cutest thing ever

And a close second

So hopefully after a good scrub down, we'll be lice free for at least a few weeks.

Celibacy

It sucks, just in case you were wondering. When I made the decision to come here, I knew it meant I’d have to put my dating life on hold. Aside from the issues that normal volunteers would have with dating (Is it worth dating when you know you have to leave in a year? Can you really get to know someone well enough with broken Spanish to develop a relationship with them?), I have my own little… complications. Sadly, being honest and open isn’t really an option here due to safety concerns, but I understood that coming in and I felt that avoiding any kind of romantic connections during this year wouldn’t be all that difficult.

Unfortunately, when I was imagining the temptations I’d have to overcome here, I didn’t take into account how obscenely attractive and seductive I am. I knew I had enough willpower to avoid pursuing people, but what about when people are asking ME out?! Especially when it’s people I’m interested in?! Let me just tell you, my self-control is being stretched to its absolute limit right now.

Lightening storms

No big surprise that we're getting lots of storms here since it's rainy season right now, but man, these storms are INTENSE. Tonight I was coming home after a lovely day in Antigua with one of the new volunteers Alejandra. As we were walking back from the Parramos bus stop, I could barely focus on what she was saying to me because in front of us was an ENORMOUS lightening storm. It was behind the mountain that's in front of NPH, so I wasn't worried about getting hurt. I was just blown away by how beautiful it was. The lightening here seems way more fierce than what we get back home, every five seconds there was another strike and that went on for well over an hour. It made me think of when I was younger and we used to get big thunderstorms at our house in Vernon. We lived in the mountains and would get amazing storms. We had a row of windows in our kitchen, so we'd turn off all the lights, sit around the kitchen table and watch the lightening and rain outside. It was always a happy, exciting experience when we had a big storm. I was quite happy to stand outside by myself for a while and watch this one.