Day 70 - 84: Liberation Education

Day 70 - 84: Liberation Education

Dreamfood:

• I visited a floating market with my host family, and tried a ton of new foods!
• They also took my roommate, Jen, and I on a nice boat ride while we munched on said foods.
• The ride ended at a temple (forgot the name?) where we tried our hand with some fortune sticks. 
• We also visited another temple (again forgot the name) at night and ate at a night market.
• We were set free on the city of Nan, and enjoyed their lively night market.

Homestay Heart:

• My family consists of 5/(6) members; Tee, Tao, Tik, Win, and the grandpa. Our parents were Tee and Tik, two lovely bankers. They have two kids, Win win and Baan baan. Tao was our grandma, and she's a seamstress. We were never introduced to our grandfather. 
• So, Tao, the seamstress, made clothes for Thai dance! She also had a little station where she could do their hair and makeup as well. One day, they decided to dress Jen and I up and pose us for a cute little photo shoot around their house.
• Now, our dad, Tee, could speak a good amount of English. Everyone in the family relied on him to communicate with us. We had taken 4 hours total of Thai lessons, but we knew that speaking and being forced to communicate in that language would help us to learn. But, the family never expected us to speak Thai. We would try, and then they would just laugh at us. It's almost as if they wanted to improve their English. 
• Alright. The grandpa situation. On the first day, after we had met Tee, Tik, Tao, Baan, and Win, I asked if we had met everyone in the family. They seemed confused, but then admitted there was one more family member, the grandpa. I asked if he was working, and then they translated that he was paralysed. I was caught off guard and didn't know what to expect. We were never introduced to him, but would occasionally run into him around the house. We would greet him, but he would never acknowledge us. 
• Overall, our family is super sweet, but we don't really feel like part of the family. We're more like extended family. But, what do you expect of a two week homestay?

Culturescape:

• Thai people never say no; even when they want to. They're too polite! In Thai culture, it's impolite to say no. It might sound great, but it's hard since you never know if you're offending them. 
• Also, they always duck their heads if they walk in front of you. Heads are the most sacred and valued part of the body while feet are dirty and shameful. So, I gather that they never want their head to be higher. This is also shown in interactions with monks. You usually kneel in a monk's presence. 
• Facebook is HUGE. So many random people have asked to be friends. Just like facebook is huge, so is taking pictures. So many people would just snap pictures of us when we weren't paying attention. One time, during seminar, three men approached us and stood and smiled. We were all confused. Our Thai leader, P'Oye, exchanged a few words with them, and then she asked if it was ok if they could take a picture with us. Surprisingly, the PLs said yes. We also were invited by monks to learn about meditation at their monastery. When we arrived a whole camera crew was set up! As we were guided through what was supposed to be meditation by the head monk, we were bombarded with cameras. I was so uncomfortable and upset. It completely ruined that experience for me. Also, when we went to the floating market, a lady that we didn't know and weren't introduced to tagged along. She was constantly taking pictures of us and with us, and we were so uncomfortable. She then went to show us a facbook post she had made with all of these picture of us. After that, we had to tell our host family that we were uncomfortable with this. As this patten continued, I became more and more uncomfortable with this phenomenon. But, for other students, they became more comfortable with it.

Books Read/Media Consumed:

• Whatever It Takes by Paul Tough
• Finally finished! Well, the book didn't feel finished... I wanted more! It follows the progress of a new charter school attempting to bridge the academic gap between US classes, and now I'd like to keep up with that school's progress. If I'm correct, the first kindergarten class will be graduating this year, the year I was supposed to graduate. It left me with a lot of questions like; How is the school doing now? Did they ever expand to high school? Are standardised tests the true downfall of the first 6th grade class?
• Ken Robinson: Changing Education Paradigms
• This is a TED talk about the faults of our current US education system. Very eye-opening. 
• Schooling the World
• A challenging 2010 documentary about world-wide education. 
• Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire
• I haven't read this book as a whole, but we've been assigned a few chapters here and there for seminar. It has given me a novel perspective on everything I've ever learned. 
• Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen
• Just started this informational book about the lies in our history textbooks. It's taught me a lot about the true history of the US and how it relates to current events. 

Human Highlight:

My new roommate, Jen!

Fun fact:

There are NOT komodo dragons, but there are water monitors. And, said water monitors live right outside my house. 

BE critical.

It has helped me to better certain aspects of my trip and myself.

"Who is they?" - P'Oye

She asked me this after listening to our discussion about our educational experiences in the US. We kept saying "they want this," and "they make us do that." The question went deeper than just a clarification. Think about it.

Keep Thinking,

Meg

Day 50 - 69: Time for Tourism and Transition

Day 50-69: Time for Tourism and Transition

My last days in Tecpan, Enrichment week in Guatemala, and arrival in Bangkok, Thailand!

Dreamfood:

• I experienced Dia de los Santos with my Guatemalan host mom.
• I hiked to the famous view of Semuc Champey and swam in the beautiful turquoise waters.
• I watched the sun set atop of an ancient Mayan temple at Yaxha National Park and watched the sun rise and heard the jungle awaken atop another temple in the famous Mayan city, Tikal.
• I hikied through the jungles of Tikal in the frightening early hours (4 am) and saw many Tarantulas! 
• While exploring Tikal in the day time, we got to see the Agouti, Coati, Howler monkeys, and Toucans!
• I spotted the rare Quetzal, the national bird of Guatemala, at Biotopo de Quetzal.
• Explored Livingston, Guatemala on a nice boat tour.
• I kicked butt at Muay Thai class in Bangkok.
• We also visited the royal palace and reclining buddha. (And, I got dress-coded).

Homestay Heart:

• At the despadida, or goodbye party, Ana Maria presented us with gifts and notes along with some of the other host families. Her speech was trilingual; Spanish, Kaqchikel, and English.
• After the party, all of us were quite melancholy. But, for our last dinner, Ana Maria gave me my favorite, beans. She also gave us more gifts, including a wrapped present for our family. I didn't open it, but my roommate did. I know that it's a magnet which is super cute if you have a backstory. Ana Maria loves to travel and her fridge is covered in magnets from all the places she's traveled. So, I love that she gave my family a magnet. The first thing I bought in Thailand was a magnet to send to her at the end of my trip.
• We said goodbye the next morning, and she invited us to return anytime with our families. I'm never going to forget her.

Culturescape:

• I celebrated the holiday Dia de los Santos with my host mom, her sister, and some nuns.
• For Dia de los Santos; They celebrate with kites. Lots of kites! The sky is full of them. Some students even got to go to a large kite festival/parade. The pictures from that are super interesting. The kites get as big as buildings!
• There are also special dishes. Fiambre, consisting of; "numerous sausages and cold cuts, pickled baby corn and onion, beets, pacaya flower, different cheeses, olives, chicken, and sometimes even brussels sprouts"(1). I got a vegetarian version. Other dishes are atol de elote and tamales de elote. The first is a hot sweet corn drink; the consistency is weird but it's actually quite good. The tamale tastes more like a sweet corn dough than a tamale, but I enjoyed it with some tea.
• To celebrate, families travel to the cemetaries where their loved ones are buried. They create floral arrangements and spread what looked like pine leaves all over the cemetary. 
• My favorite part about this holiday is that they remember their ancestors and passed loved ones in a happy way. When I was at the cemetary, everyone was smiling and laughing; happy. It was beautiful. They were even happily digging a new grave (hopefully because it was that holiday and not because they were happy about that person's death...). 
• Now, moving on from Guatemala to THAILAND! All the food is insanely spicy, there's lots of rice, and it's very hard being a vegetarian in Bangkok especially since I don't speak the language.
• Speaking of the language, Thai, we got 4 hours of instruction in Thai. It was super interesting. The sentence structure is SO much more simple. For example, 'Are we going to eat now?' vs 'We go eat now yes/no?' I definitely don't have a grasp on the language after only 4 hours spread over 2 days, but I feel the potential to learn some of this language during my 7 week stay here.
• One of the oddest experiences I've ever had was experiencing culture shock... from a culture that wasn't my own. People from outside my group would speak to me in English and I would respond in Spanish. And, my go to culture for comparison was Guatemalan culture, not US culture. It was a definitely a first.

Readjustment:

• We spent 3 DAYS and 4 flights traveling to Thailand. We all skipped an entire day of our lives and of this trip! I never had a November 14th! I hopped on the plane at LAX on November 13 and got off in Manila on November 15.
• Jet lag was much harder this time for some reason. On my first trip to Chiang Mai this past summer, I had no problem adjusting to the time difference. But, this time around things were different. I kept waking up way too early in the morning and not being able to go back to sleep. Maybe part of it was me not wanting to let go of Guatemala...
• Transition is HARD. It feels like we are starting all over again. Just when I thought I had a grasp on the Guatemala, I got ripped away and reorientated all over again. It's exhausting. This trip has shown me that traveling like this is difficult. It made me rethink the college I planned on attending, LIU Global, where you spend every semester studying abroad in a new place.
• One thing that was refreshing compared to exhausting was our group and individual reflection of our goals. In Guatemala during orientation on Lake Atitlan, we wrote up goals for ourselves in the 5 areas of learning; academic, emotional, spiritual, social, and cultural. I had grown so much from that time, and it was so nice to see. Don't get me wrong, this trip is amazing, but it's also challenging and exhausting. I mean if it wasn't challenging, there would be no growth. It was so refreshing to reflect and see that all of this has really made an impact. I ranked my learning (1 being the most growth and 5 being the least) : 1) Academic, 2) Emotional, 3) Cultural, 4) Social, 5) Spiritual.

I can't wait to get this leg of the trip rolling. In Thailand, we learn about education and this was the subject I was most excited to learn about out of the three; Sustainability, Education, and Public Health. As exhausted and overwhelmed as I am, I'm exited to see what I will learn from the people and culture here, in Thailand.

Quick STORY TIME:
For every meal during enrichment week with our tour guides, we would get a list of the meals and write our name next to the one we wanted. One day, Victor, one of our guides, asked me right as I walked out of the bathroom at a gas station. Previously, I could not figure out how to work the sink, so I emerged to find another sink since I had already lathered my hands in soap. When Victor asked me, I had soapy hands and said that I'd write it after I got the soap off my hands. But, he insisted that I choose now and that he would write my name for me. So, that's what we did. Now, it came time for dinner, and everyone received their food before me. I was confused and asked to see the order slip since I assumed he must've forgotten to write my name. It turns out he just wrote 'autre chica'. So, call me autre chica now. (For those who don't know any Spanish, that means 'other girl'.)

Book Read/Media consumed:

• Whatever It Takes by Paul Tough
• Haven't made any progress..been too busy!!!
• The Country Who Voted for Trump by Frank Thomas a podcast about the current political situation in the US. Thomas has a view that I hadn't heard articulated in that way before. I highly suggest giving it a listen!

Human Highlight:
Nishtah Thomas, I really loved getting closer with her over the course of enrichment week.
Fun fact:
Mabuhay means welcome in Filipino.

Be reflective.

It's the best way to be.

"I WANT TO CHANGE THE WORLD! I have so much to learn and so little time to do it! I don't know how I could ever think anything else more important. Priorities shifted: right now." - Meg Fordyce

A quote from my journal. I wrote this Day 51/October 31 at 9:44 am. 

Click here to see a video about my time in Guatemala!

XOXO,

Autre Chica

Day 36 - 49: Molding Mindset

Day 36 - 49: Molding Mindset

Dreamfood:

• I traveled to the coast of Guatemala, to Monterrico, and witnessed it's beautiful black sand beaches with 6 other students (Gwen, Yasmin, Morgan, Andrew, Clare, and Jen) for our first IST or independant student travel.
• I watched as a mother sea turtle layed her eggs in the sand and lovingly sent her off to the great big blue accompanied by 2 Australians and a local (I'll expand in a sec).
• We took a "tour" of the mangrove forest led by the father of the single employee of our hotel. He wasn't an official tour guide, he was just a man with a boat. That made it even better.
• I ate the best Italian food I've ever had...in Guatemala. The b&b we stayed at was family owned by an Italian man, Felipe, who gave up his life in Italy for a life of travel after working 18 hour days for 20+ years. He finally settled down here in Guatemala where he met his wife. Now, they own, live at, and operate La Palma b&b in Monterrico along with their 3 year old daughter, Mary Angela. I can safely say that is one of the best hotel experiences I have ever had. One of the first things Felipe said (in english even though he is fluent in 6 languages), is that we are guests, not clients. Since they lived in the hotel as well, it really felt like they had welcomed us into their home. For many meals we decided to pay the extra 100Q (roughly $15) for lunch and dinner because his cooking was so amazing. $15/100Q is a lot to pay for a meal here, but we all concluded it was so worth it. Plus, it's cheap in American standards. For dinner one night he cooked a three course pizza dinner - easily the best food I've had this whole trip and possibly the best pizza I've had in my entire life. Also, it was my friend, Yasmin's, birthday during our trip and they just made her a cake! I think this is just turning into an ad for La Palma and Monterrico... oh well.            

Homestay Heart:

• So, Ana Maria asked me what my father is like, and I tell her he likes to fish. She asks if he sells his fish at a market. I explained that he mostly caught the fish and threw them back. A concerned and confused look spread across her face... then she said that was a sin. We both laughed after that.
• I also told Ana Maria that my family didn't usually eat meals together and that my mom didn't cook meals for us that often (sorry mom not trying to @ you). She followed with questions about my mom's health and well-being because "a woman cooks for her family".
• Ana Maria talks A LOT about novios or boyfriends. My roomate, Caroline, is currently in a relationship with another student on the program and Ana Maria brings it up at every meal. Also, any time I bring up a male she asks if he is my new boyfriend. It was cute and fun at first, but now I feel a culture value clash upon me. Even though she is a single woman, it seems that she very much values men. When she asks me if I want to get married, or have kids, or some other person is my boyfriend, I often reply that my future is open to all possiblities, and that I am currently exploring myself as an independant woman. She agrees with me, but it gets interesting sometimes. One time, she made her 13 year old godson walk me somewhere at 9am because Caroline wasn't there to walk with me. It makes me want to express my values of everyone as equals, but the struggle is that I am not here to spread my values, I am here to learn from others values, lives, and cultures in order to develop my individuality and cross-cultural perspective.
• Last Saturday, Ana Maria was taking us to a party and we had to be home by 4:30 to leave. I was in a cafe at 4 when it started to down pour. Now, I've been sick with a cold for the past 2 weeks, and I did not think walking 15 minutes home would be the best idea. But, I didn't have a phone to contact Ana Maria, so I decided to walk home anyway. After all, I had my rain jacket. First, let me tell you something I've discovered about the draining systems in Guatemala. They work by filling the streets with an ankle-high river of water that flows into drains located at the bottom of the natural hills the streets are paved(?) over. Also, there are many stray dogs. These dogs are unhealthy. They poop all over the streets, and it's very unhealthy looking. No one picks it up. They wait for it to rain. So, when you're walking through the streets when it's raining; you're treading through a shit river. Which is exactly what I did, all the way home. And upon my arrival I learned that we could no longer go to the party because of the rain.
• Following that, Ana Maria invited me to joinher in talking with the nuns that live in our wall(?). I thought why not and went, soaking wet to talk with some nuns. I actually had a great night with the nuns. They laughed at me multiple times. One, because I leaned against the wall in my soaked legging and when I removed myself there was a booty print on the wall. They didn't let that one go. 
• Speaking of that night an those nuns, they poisoned me. They offered me some peanuts, an I accepted unknowingly. The next day I was so weak I couldn't even walk down stairs, and was in and out of the bathroom on multiple occasions. This is probably one of the first times the homesickness really hit. I was laying in my bed (that is a cot just btw) and just wishing my fam was there to take care of me. I'm including this detail just to show the harder part of this amazing trip. Yes, it's amazing and I'm learning so much, but it's not easy whatsoever. We recently had a discussion about comfort zones. TBB optimally wants you operating in what they call the learning zone, for as much of the day as possible. The learning zone is right outside your comfort zone. I'm certainly not in my comfort zone; I have to communicate largely in a different language, cultural context, and eat different food (though I really have come to love corn torillas and red beans.) But, all this not being comfortable for most of a day takes a toll on a person. I recharge myself by reading and interacting within our TBB group. 

Culturescape:

• We went out dancing/clubbing during our Saturday in Monterrico. As it got later, more and more gay couples dominated the dance floors. Everyone was just having a great time, and I didn't see any hostility or disgust targeted the gay couples. I was very surprised to see this in Guatemala...
• Also, I NEVER felt harassed. Unfortunately as a woman, I expect harassment especially in places where I am a foreigner since my skin color makes me stand out. But, all the men would just make intense eye contact, read how you respond, and then decide whether to approach or not. I've never been to a club, or out dancing with strangers like this in the US so unfortunately I can not compare experiences. But, I can tell you that I expereinced very respectful men in Monterrico, Guatemala.  

STORY TIME:

1) To begin with the light-hearted story, all of the students in Monterrico went out dancing for Yasmin's birthday. It was super fun even though one of our PLs, Patrick, decided to join us. Somehow four of us survived long enough to be out dancing until 2am, when we called it quits. We walk back all excited since it's been about 2 official hours of Yasmin's birthday. As we arrive at the gate of our hotel, the excitement quickly transitions to frustration as we realize that none of us have our keys...or phones. So we're stuck outside of a hotel gate at 2 am in a new town, a vacation town at that, on a Saturday night in a foreign country. Also, none of us were real Spanish speakers... So, we were a bit screwed. Many ideas came and passed. We felt terribly ringing the bell given our lovely relationship with the owners, but we had to try. It would have less reprecussions than sleeping on the street, which was barely considered but considered none the less. Our best idea was to walk to the open store down the street and ask for the hotel's phone number and to use a phone; that failed. We yelled at a window of a room of a fellow student; that failed. The thought about me climbing the fence onto the roof and jumping down; that was abandoned because I didn't want the cops called. After, banging on the gate for a good 10 minutes, it was now 3am, and we decide to go ahead with another plan. The gate to the hotel was door-sized with the typical Guatemalan spikes across the top. I'm talking sharp spikes. But, Gwen was confident in her ability to not die and climb over the spikes with our assitance in hoisting her up. We lifted Gwen cheerleader style; one foot held by Jen and one by Yasmin while I lifted from behind. The operation was running smoothly until suddenly Gwen started scrambling to get down. Me, confused, continued to lift because my first instinct was that she was falling. She managed to avoid our lifts and touchdown on the ground where she ran at me, cry-laughing, and saying "He's here!". A moment later the gate swung open to reveal the one the only, Felipe. He was obviously tired and confused. All we could do was rush in the gate spitting out many "lo ciento"s, and feeling embarrassed and terrible, yet not being able to contain our laughter at the whole situation. We all went straight to bed, attempting not to wake the others with our giggles. Now, the next morning, most of us were dead asleep and didn't make it to breakfast on time. Jen and I wanted that man's delicious breakfast, so we made a point to wake up. We walked into the kitchen that morning and Felipe looked at us and said, "Spider woman."

2) This story I'm about to tell you is one of my favorite moments on this entire trip so far. So, we went out to dinner for Yasmin's birthday and were walking home along the beach. On our walk we noticed there were many people with very bright flashlights scattered equal distance from each other along the beach. Patrick believed they were looking for sea turtles and that we could on the off-chance come across one ourselves. Of course about five minutes later, we start to approach a dark figure in the distance. As we come closer we see that the figure is in fact a random white man sitting in the sand, alone. Now, I think that this is weird so I give him a weird half smile and continue past him. A couple of seconds later, from the group behind me, I hear some surprised noise and Gwen says "Oh. That's a turtle," in an laughing tone. I assume she mistook the man for a turtle and was talking to the man, so I don't turn around. But, Yasmin, whom I'm walking beside, turns and says "There's a turtle!" and makes her way towards the man and the other group. I follow because why not, and I am stopped by in fact a turtle in the middle of the sand, laying her eggs. Now, the man has changes positions. He was then standing and talking closely and quietly with Jen, and meanwhile another man, one with a bright flashlight had approached. I assumed the white man was telling Jen all about his work with turtles, and I assumed the other man was a co-worker. I didn't really care much about their conversation at the time since there was a live sea turtle in front of me. Yasmin apparently did though and she made her way to where Jen and he man were talking, and she then returned to report. Yasmin regurgitated that the man, who was an Australian tourist, came across this turtle with his girlfriend on their way home from dinner, and he was now protecting it from the locals who he believed ate the eggs. The other man was actually a local man who was apparently poaching these eggs. The situation changed right then and there and everyone changed to sea turtle saving mode. But, I was skeptical. TBB has taught me that listening, especially to locals is very important and so is watching how quickly you assume. Most of our group immediately assumed that this Australian tourist was correct in his assumptions. At this time, the girlfriend returned from their hotel where she went to find someone to help, and the man left to attempt to do the same elsewhere. The local man said something to her in Spanish that I didn't catch, and she responded "They're coming." To this Patrick said "No, he was asking if your boyfriend was going to get a bag." Which is where I realized that these Australians could not speak Spanish. Therefore, how could they know what this local man planned to do with the eggs. Before, I had assumed they were right that the locals ate the eggs, but I wasn't sure if interfering was the right thing to do. Now, I saw that they had no idea what they were doing. Patrick began to speak to the local, and I couldn't make out what was being said. Around the same time they began speaking, the turtle had apparently finished laying her eggs, and the local man lifted her out of the hole, placed her down almost next to it, and began to harvest the eggs. This stirred up feelings within our group, Yasmin began crying, and I realized some people still firmly believed everything this man did was with malintent. After a minute or two of conversing with the man, Patrick translated that he did not plan on eating the eggs. He sold them to a local hatchery. I asked the man some questions along with Patrick and we discovered that this was the man's primary source of income, seven dozen eggs (about what the turtle layed) would go for 100Q (quetzales) or about $15, and he would usually find 2 turtles a night. That means at best this man makes $30 a day or $210 a week to, I assume based on the culture and his age, feed a family. Meanwhile the turtle had buried her eggs... well she thought she was. She was actually just tossing sand everywhere and all over herself, which the man kindly swept off her back. Now, she was making her way back to the ocean and everyone followed. I walked with the local man and continued to ask questions. Right before the turtle found her way into the ocean, I asked if he liked turtles. He said "Of course, they are beautiful" (this is translated from Spanish of course). When the wave finally hit the turtle he raised his hand to wave and said "Adios!" It was almost as amazing to hear as it was to see the turtle return to the ocean. Patrick , the local, and I said a couple more 'adios's and the man began to leave. He had already collected all the eggs for the Australians who he let have them because they were there first, and the Australians planned to take them to the hatchery the next day. As he walked away I yelled, "thank you! It was very nice to meet you!", but I couldn't shake the feeling that we just participated in doing this man a disservice. It was so interesting to watch the Australians' good intent have a bad outcome. Some of the others still walked away from that feeling good, like they'd saved the sea turtles, when in actuality, I felt we robbed a hard-working man half of his daily income. I learned so much from that amazing experience. I learned that TBB had changed the way I view the world. I got to witness assumptions being made left and right, and how far those assumptions were from the truth. I also got to see good intentions have a bad outcome all within this small controlled situation. It made me think of foreign AID programs where the good intent to 'save' people ends up doing just the opposite. 

Now, I have a challenge for you. I want you to pick one day, one afternoon, one hour of your life and write down every assumption you can catch. Now, this might take some practice, since spotting your own assumptions is tricky. But, why not try it out? You'd be surprised how many you make every minute. I can even give you an example: 
Observation - there are two people playing video games behind me, they yell occasionally
Assumption - From the tone of their voices I've concluded that they are male, and based on the fact they are playing video games I assume they're teenagers.
It can be exhausting to actually write all of these down, but this is a DIY challenge. You can do whatever you want with it, and if you wanna share the results on social media, go for it. But, you can also share them with me! Email me at megfordyce392@gmail.com !

I'm writing this Day 52, but need to finish so I won't include the events of the last couple days. I hope everyone is enjoying these blog posts and possibly learning from them. Also, I'm open to feedback for future posts like if there's something I'm not including that you want to know about such as more daily functions. I also want to start a new section of my blog; a 'Books Read' section, so you can read along with me! 

Books Read:

• Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
• This was the first book we were required to read on the pre-reading list. I can't say anything about this book without ruining it, but it is easily my new favorite book.
• The New Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins
• This was the second. The title had economics in it, therefore making me not want to read it. But, this book is REALLY interesting. It makes you reevaluate everything you thought about the reasons behind the US involvement in other countries and it's obvious imperialism.
• Savages by Joe Kane
• I began reading this book for fun. I found it scrolling through my TBB assigned kindle. There's more about US imperialism as it follows oil companies in the Amazon during the 80s and 90s. It more closely follows those effects on the Huaorani, an indigenous people from the Amazon. I couldn't put it down as I learned more about Huaorani culture, and the events that unfolded in this thrilling narrative. 
• Whatever It Takes by Paul Tough
• I haven't finished this one. In fact, I just started it for a pre-read to the education unit in Thailand. Already love it. It follows a program created to help kids in poverty rise out through education in New York during the 90s. I also can not put this one down. 

Human Highlight:

The local Monterrico man. I apologize for aiding in stealing $15 from you.

Fun Fact:

We went on a mangrove tour in Monterrico and when we asked the 8 year old kid, Aiden(?), if there's any pollution he responded, "Yes, there are many cars, boats, and DOGS."

Be inquisitive.
It's my new favorite thing.

"So what? Now what." - Linda Cliatt-Wayman

A quote about excuses in a podcast I listened to with the group: TED Radio Hour: Rethinking School

Click here to see a video about my time in Guatemala!

Keep thinking,

Meg

Day 26 - 35: Mi Familia Nueva

Day 26 - 38: Mi Familia Nueva

Dreamfood:

• I explored the Mayan ruins of Iximche (ee-sheem-chay) with my Mayan host family.

Culturescape:

• Tortillas. Corn. MAIZ. Corn is the base of the Mayan diet and it's for real you guys. Warm corn tortillas with every meal. There are tortillarias on every corner. I'm eating more corn in Guatemala than I could ever dream of. In fact, when the Spainards invaded Guatemala they asked for gold, and the Mayans showed them corn.
• Most of the Mayan population here is bilingual. They speak Kaqchikel and Spanish. My host mom, Ana Maria, is teaching Caroline, my homestay partner, and I some words in Kaqchikel no mind that neither of us can even speak Spanish.
• Speaking of the Spainards invading, they did a great job ingraining their religion into the people of Guatemala because many of them are devoted Catholics including my host mother. She always jokes about how Caroline and I are sinners because we don't eat meat. (FYI, Caroline is Vegan and I am Vegetarian and that's why we're homestay partners)
• I'm learning SO MUCH Spanish! Ana Maria speaks a little English, but most of our communication is in Spanish. This envrioment is basically forcing me to learn Spanish y rapido! Actually, I've started wrriting my journal entries in Spanglish or Espingles. Ana Maria and I have a special way of communicating, and she understands my broken Spanish. When other Spanish speakers talk to me, it's so much harder to understand. 
• Everyone greets one another; Buenos días, Buenas tardes, Buenas noches, Buen provecho! It's been weird and hard to adjust to, but the more I get the hang of it the more I like it. It's very friendly, and it make me feel like I'm part of the community. Even though I've only been in Tecpan a week and a half, I'm already feeling like part of the community. Less people are staring and doing double takes (we are the only white people in town). The people here are so friendly and welcoming especially if you try and speak Spanish.
• Another thing about speaking Spanish - most people assume that I don't speak Spanish; which is true. Kids passing on bikes will yell "HELLO" and throw out all the other Englilsh words they know, so impressed with themselves. I kind of feel offended, but I also feel like I don't have a right to feel that way since I've learned all my Spanish in the past month and a half. I've thought about how it would go in the US if someone yelled "HOLA" or started speaking Spanish at someone who looked hispanic. It would be taken terribly, but it's such a different situation here; it's a different context. Native English speakers, in my experience, don't think it nessacery to learn another language. The assumption these people make about us is mostly true. I mean essentially, every time you speak to a stranger - you are assuming what language they speak... I'll leave that there.
• Speaking of assumptions, while I was in Iximche with my family, there were many white-looking tourists. I assumed they were like me; from the US, didn't speak much Spanish. But when my host mom asked a man to take a picture of all of us, she spoke in her broken English. The man was lowkey offened and wh¡ent on to speak Spanish with a non-native accent. Turns out, he was from Costa Rica. Assumptions being challenged left and right.

Homestay Heart/Time in Tecpan:

• On day one, Ana Maria introduced us to her pets; Estrea, "Ponkey", and "Boeby" - los perros, and Simon - el gato. She asked me if I liked cats and I said yes, and I wish I had one..."You have one now". I melted. 
• Speaking of Simon, he sits on my lap for almost every dinner and just purrs and purrs. I'm not the biggest fan of cats, but Simonhas won my heart. There's a joke going around that Simon es mi novio with Ana Maria, the nuns that Ana Maria hosts, and my host god siblings. 
• Now about the dogs, I'm a dog person, but not in Guatemala. Ana Maria only has these dogs as a sign of excess wealth; they are poodles... And, these dogs are left chained up most of the day. In fact, Boeby lives on the roof. So, naturally they never shut up. They bark all the time, and sometimes I wonder if they even breathe because the barking is so constant.
• Speaking of noise in general, I've grown a serious appreciation for noise complaints. There are noises at all hours of the day. Noises that would normally concern me in the States but that I have become numb to here in Guatemala. We arrived 4 days before Guatemala's independance day and heard loud noises randomly all throught the day and night. We were told they were for the party, and sometimes we could catch a glimpse of a convincing firework. But, Dia de la Independencia was September 15th....The party is over, but la bombas have continued, and every time I ask - "It's for the party". I've come to the conclusion that it's always a party in Guatemala. 

Academics:

• I've been learning so much about agriculture, the policies around it in the US, and the system in general. It's appauling and I'll save it for a completely separate post since this one has already taken me 3 hours to write... I need to wrap it up. 

Human Highlight:

My new mom, Ana Maria, of course.

Fun Fact:

Guatemalan men wear too much cologne.

BE happy.

I've learned that sometimes I just need to let go and let myself feel happiness. Not everything has to be so serious.

"I'm numb to the booms." - Matty

Click here to see a video about my time in Guatemala!

Keep thinking,

Meg

Day 13 - 25: Compounded in the City

Day 13 - 25: Compounded in the City

You see some sh*t in the city...

Dreamfood:

• Last Tuesday, me and a couple others turned a dead bar into the hottest club in the city that night. We just showed up, moved all the tables and chairs then created our own dance floor and just lit it up! It was so fun.
• I swam in and climbed a rainforest waterfall at Sabana Grande
• I saw the most beautiful blue butterflies flit about the trees there as well

Culturescape:

• A lot of the citizens of Guatemala are upset with the political situation. I know this because we've started working on our media projects, and my project is about the government corruption and how the civil war and genocide influenced that. But, as I've started my research along with my partners, Lucas and Claire, I've gotten to learn more about Guatemalan culture...
• Asking someone who they voted for is socially not something people do (learned that the embarrassing way)
• Guatemala City is interesting... It's set up in zones. The centre of the city is zone 1 and it continues outward in a spiral pattern all the way to 36 or 37 I believe. Each zone has a kind of theme. Our home base is in zone 2, and when we are out walking near our base, it feels like any other city, but once we take a taxi or a bus we see how different the zones are. There's zone 10, a big commercial tourist area, but then right next to it are large shantytowns where people live in cardboard houses and are starving to death. It's really interesting to see the separation between zones.
• Day 15 we had a city tour. Now, this tour wasn't a 'tourist tour', it was a cultural tour. Juan Carlos, the CCS president of Guatemala, took us to Cemetario General (I think it was this one) which is set up in streets just like a mini version of the city. For the richer zones, there were more expensive looking tombs, but for the poorer parts, there were large above ground tower things with just enough space for a casket. They were all stacked atop each with numbers for the empty ones; 17A, 12C, 14E. People would actually have to rent out these spaces for their deceased loved ones. 
• Near the end of the tour, Juan Carlos took us to an view that overlooked the city dump. It was right in the middle of these beautiful mountains and the mound of trash seeped into the river that split them. There were people rummaging around in the trash, and if I had to estimate I'd say there were maybe 50 people scrambling around the trucks as trash was being dumped on top of them. He told us these people would collect recyclable materials and sell them to plants and that they made less than $2 a day. It was shocking to witness. 

Learning curve:

• Staying in a hostel like situation with 28 people where you're only aloud to leave in groups of 4 is a reality show situation and it's really draining and hard. Everyone's patience is at 0, and we had a group intervention the other day. It's better now, but this is a really stressful living situation. Thank the lord we are leaving tomorrow because I don't know what would've happened had we stayed any longer.
• Interacting with people post-depression is different. I'm having a hard time navigating the social field because I'm a different person now and I don't completely understand what that means yet.
• I continually regret taking French in school because I feel like I'm missing out on so much since I don't share a language with the people here. 
• Assuming things is part of daily life. Not all assumptions are bad; they're actually beneficial to us and that's why we make them. They help us to navigate daily life and manage our natural curiosity. But, assumptions can hold you back. Not everything is what you think it is, so remember to try everything because you never know what may happen...

Scare Cam:

• A fellow TBB student, Tess, came up to me on a hiking trail above that waterfall and says "Do I have something in my eye?" As I went to check, I watched A BUG crawl from one side of her eye to the other! I got it out but will be forever scarred...
• We also encountered a snake along the river there and I tried to kill me.
• As my friend, Lucas, and I were walking down the street interviewing people today, we heard loud noises come from behind us. We turned around to see a man with the biggest whip I'd ever seen just hitting the ground. It was terrifying until we saw the herd of goats that was following him...
• Just today, I was walking in a park with Peter, my program leader, and suddenly a large branch just cracks and falls to the ground just one foot in front of us. We. Almost. Died.

Human Highlight:

My new friend, Lucas De Lorenzo Eberley, for pulling through some tough stuff this week.

Fun fact:

Car alarms sound like a siren you'd hear in a movie when something goes terribly wrong in a science lab. It's a very concerning sound when you don't know what it means.

Now, to wrap it up...

BE patient.

This has proved crucial to emotional survival in my living situation.

"Never been here before; I'm intrigued. I'm unsure,"

This is a quote from the song Pure Shores by All Saints.

Click here to see a video from my time in Guatemala!

Keep thinking,

Meg

Day 1-12: Bienvenidos a Guatemala!

Day 1-12: Bienvenidos a Guatemala!

The adventure begins...

Dreamfood:

• I stayed right on the water of the most beautiful lake in the world, Laguna Atitlan.
• I swam in the natural hot springs and beautiful waters of of said lake.
• I (sort of) hiked the mountain I saw from my hotel room everyday where there was the 'mayan man in the mountain'. (the view from the first checkpoint is the featured pic)
• I hiked to the top of Volcan Pacaya and roasted marshmellows from the natural heat.
• I danced with a belly dancer at a hookah bar in Antigua, Guatemala.

Culturescape:

• Tortillas are everything.
• I experienced Dia de la Independance. There was a parade in town, San Juan la Laguna, and it was surprisingly progressive. They marched with banners displaying thing they didn't want in a government; corruption, injustice, unrest, etc. 
• I attended a staged traditional Mayan wedding. Where I learned....
• Weaving is a big part of their culture. I also went to a place where women worked together to make natural dyes and then use the natural dyed cotton to weave beautiful creations.
• Most modern Guatemalans are Christian, more specifically catholic. But, there are still some trying to preserve their Mayan culture. 
• Mayan wood is cut at the point when the moon is the fullest, and they would only take what they needed. This is done because they believed that the earth was it's strongest at full moon and therefore could handle the loss of wood. Afterwards, they would perform a ceremony to thank the earth and to apologize. These ceremonies were performed out in nature. There are still some that practice tis today, but they are often discriminated against because it is seen as witchcraft.
• Many Guatemalans in the towns I've been to (San Juan la Laguna, Antigua) especially women still wear their traditional dress. A fun fact is that each has a representation of respect for their spouse in their clothing.
• So, most Americans would believe that the women here are 'discriminated against', but that's not how this culture sees it. In this culture women and men both assume specific roles in the family. The women cook, clean, and take care of children. The men work long days as farmers. Now, the woman's job is considered harder and she is highly respected for that. They send the man off to do the dirty work out of respect of women not despite. These values are deeply rooted in Mayan culture.

Learning curve:

• I definitely am in need of improving my Spanish, as most people I'm interacting with are not bilingual. 
• Taking freezing showers is the new norm.
• As well as, throwing toilet paper in the trash can, NEVER in the toilet.
• Sometimes street food literally can kill you. Two people have gotten really sick already.
• Wearing sunscreen in really important when taking malaria medicine.
• I thought I would have a different role in this group but I'm learning to accept mine now.
• Kitten is phonetically 'chi-key-ta' in Spanish
• This program is A LOT. I'm lowkey overwhelmed.

Program/Academics:

We started many different seminar 'units' during orientation.

• 'Who Am I?" - This seminar is all about finding yourself and we get to do that with other people doing that same thing too. We started this seminar off with 'rivers'. Rivers are basically your life story and everyone drew out their river and shared. It was an amazing way to start off just knowing who all the people I'm about to spend 7 months of my life with are and where they cam from. 
• 'What is Development?' - We've done a few of these where we explore this question. I'd honestly not thought a lot about it before this program, but now it's hard to ignore. TBB teaches you to always answer with a question. Who is responsible to develop whom? Is 'development' just modern imperialism and ethnocentrism?
• We also did a lot of talks about safety and explored the harder topics that follow that like being a woman traveller and how we can't ignore that it is different and there are extra precautions you need to take as a woman.

Overall:

I'm so ready. This group is now my family, and there's so much ahead of us. But, I say....

Bring it on.

Human Highlight:
Peter, my 'mento' and program leader, for helping me through some tough times during orientation.

Fun Fact:
In Guatemala, a common response you hear to "Gracias" is "Para ce vide" (unsure of spelling???) which translates to at your service.

"BE wise"

This actually a quote from our CCS president of Guatemala, Juan Carlos, when talking about safety which is a lot of what we did during orientation.

But, I've learned how important it is to make wise decisions about safety. Especially food wise because we've already had two people down from food related illnesses. We are also about to move to Guatemala City; the most dangerous place that TBB has taken students, so I will definitely try my best to make wise decisions there.

"There are only two emotions; love and fear" - Oprah 
(quoted at the end of a development seminar by Matty)

Click here to see a video from my time in Guatemala!

Keep thinking,
Meg

(posted 10 days after it was written due to technical difficulties)

Tackling TBB Packing

7 months. 1 backpack.

Well, two backpacks. But, hey, I still have to fit seven months of my life into them. Departure is less than two weeks away, so that means it's time to pack! 

Let me start off by saying the purpose of this post is to help be a guide for future TBB students by showing them what I originally packed and then later reflecting on my packing job (what I wish I packed, what I wish I didn't pack, etc...) after the trip. 
Also, big disclaimer: I don't really know what I'm doing. The longest trip I've been on was three weeks, so I'm mostly following the packing list and advice given by the TBB team. Again, this is mainly a starting/reference post for the future post reflecting on how well all this carries through my 7 months abroad.

TBB is fantastic at helping you prepare for their program. They provide a packing list, country briefings, and vaccine recommendations! But, I'm just going to get into the packing process. Now, even though TBB provides a packing list, there were some things I decided not to bring and there were also things I decided to add. I'll mention when something I bring strays from the list or if I decided to leave it out. So, let's get into it, shall we?

For my larger backpack that is going to carry the majority of my stuff I chose the Osprey Porter 46.






And, for my regular day backpack I have the High Sierra Loop Backpack.

So, those backpacks are all I'm using to pack up all 7 months worth of life into!

There's one thing I made sure to do before packing it all up. I selected an outfit for day 1 of travel, and it would be a good idea to pack some spare clothes in your carry-on. Now, what's in my bag?

Clothes:

• Light, packable Eddie Bower down jacket
• Light warm sweatshirt
• REI Co-op Women's Rhyolite Rain Jacket
• 1 pair of jeans
• 2 pair of pants for working/hiking. They look something like this.
• 2 pair of athletic/yoga pants - TBB recommends to bring only one pair
• 2 pair of harem/elephant pants
• 1 long sleeve shirt - TBB recommends 2, but I substituted one for a flannel.
• 1 flannel
• 9 short sleeve / lightweight / t- shirts - I brought 7 t-shirts, 1 super-thin long sleeve shirt for sun protection, and 1 athletic shirt
• 3 pair of shorts; 2 athletic, 1 regular - TBB recommends only 2 pair
• 10 pairs of underwear
• 10 pairs of socks
• 3 sports bras
• 3 regular bras - TBB recommends only 2
• 1 bralette - I added this
• 2 swimsuits - 1 bikini, 1 one piece
• 1 dress - for more formal occasions
• 1 sarong - I added this
• 1 romper - I added this
• 2 tank tops; 1 for sleeping, 1 active wear - I added this

Shoes:

• Teva Olowahu flip-flops
• KEEN sandals
• Adidas Women's Superstars
• NOTE: TBB recommends another pair of 'casual' shoes

Toiletries:

• 1 bar of biodegradable soap - in a soap box - TBB recommends shampoo and conditioner; both biodegradable
• 1 biodegradable shampoo bar - also in  a soap box
• Philosophy purity facewash - I added this
• 1 compostable toothbrush
• Toothpaste
• Wet brush - I added this
• Deodorant
• Razor (not pictured)
• 2 bottles of  Wilderness Wash; soap for dishes, laundry, body, and hair! It's biodegradable too. (not pictured) - I added this
• 2 chapsticks with SPF
• Diva Cup - I added this
• Cleansing wipes - I added this

Travel Items:

• Sunscreen
• Bug spray
• Camelbak All Clear purification water bottle x 2
• Anti-bacterial retainer cleaning tablets - these are for cleaning waterbottles
• Bottle cleaning sponges; my mom insisted on these, but I think I'll be fine with the tablets - I added this
• Lifestraw; I'm going to be honest: I'm probably going to give this away as I feel it's completely unnecessary. But, my mother bought it for me and insists I bring it. - I added this 
• 1 wide brimmed sun hat
• 2 pair of sunglasses
• 1 baseball cap - I added this
• 1 winter headband
• 1 pair of winter gloves
• Small falshlight
• Timex Marathon watch
• GoPro Hero 5 Session - Along with the charger, water handle, selfie stick (good for more than just selfies), and the head/helmet strap.
• Travel plug adapter
• Quick dry towel from REI
• Wet bag; Used to put wet items in so you can put them into your backpack and not get the stuff in there wet too. - I added this
• Pictures of family, friends, and hometown to share with host families (not pictured)
• "Lies My Teacher Told Me" by  James W. Loewen - I pulled this from the TBB recommended reading list
• 2 journals; one for the program and seminars, and one for personal use (not pictured)
• Pencil bag full of colors :) (not pictured)
• Gifts for my host families (not pictured) - Novelty items from your state/city are the best!
• Small tissue packs; since toilet paper is not always available in other countries (not pictured)
• mp3 player loaded with some tunes
• Earbuds (not pictured)
• Small external hard drive for photos (not pictured)
• Travel pillow/blanket (not pictured) - I added this
• 1 small purse (not pictured)
• My wallet with ID and debits cards etc.. (not pictured) - I added this
• NOTE: No phone, phone charger, or laptop since TBB does not allow any personal devices that can connect to wifi/the internet!

Medicine:

• On TBB's packing list it reads: Personal medication. But, for future TBB students, I want to share what I'm bringing because I believe they will have to be taking this problem medicine as well......Anti-malarial medicine, or more specifically doxycycline. This medicine has many side effects, and you don't want to take it unless necessary. But, it's definitely better than contracting malaria.  So, to combat these side effects I'm also taking a couple other daily medicines. Doxy is a minor anti-biotic, so I'll be taking pro-biotics to balance that out. Doxy also cancels out the effects of birth control, so keep that in mind. Another doxy side effect is UV sensitivity, and since I'm already very sunburn prone, I'll be taking sun/UV protection pills daily.
• Daily multi vitamin - This also falls under personal medication
• Printed proof of prescription(s); helpful for international travel - I added this
• Daily pill organizer - I added this
• Antibiotic cream
• Anti-itch cream
• Bandaids
• Reliefband; for nausea - TBB recommends motion sickness medicine, and this works for that. But, it also works for nausea in general.
• Advil
• EmergencyC tablets and electrolyte tablets
• Hand sanitizer 
• Anti-diarrhea medicine - I added this 
• DiaResQ - I added this 
• Allergy relief - I added this
• NOTE: TBB recommends a small bottle of hydrogen peroxide, but I chose not to include that.

Now, I just wanna touch a little on how I organized my bag.

I used Eagle Creek packing cubes for my clothes.

I used a hanging toiletry bag for well, toiletries.

For the rest, I pretty much just shoved my shoes and extra clothes in there along with a ziploc bag full of medicine. 

And, that's my pack!

There is one more thing I feel needs to be said. I totally feel like I'm over packing. Just wanted to get that out there.

After my trip I plan on writing a reflection post for future TBB students all about how well I did on my packing job. We'll see how this goes...!!!

Keep thinking,

Meg