Another busy week, although partly not in the way I wanted it to be. To be brief, the house I moved into also had bed bugs. Since my tolerance for putting up with the critters has dropped to just about zero, when I got bites a few days ago I immediately started the process of moving again: sending all of my clothes to the laundromat to be washed and super-dried and inspecting/spraying/quarantining the rest of my stuff. I moved to a new house two days ago, but the family situation is similar: mom owns the house, her daughter lives there too with her two kids, Sebastian and Emilio, aged 12 and 6, respectively. They're all nice, the food is good, and the home is close to school. I'm hoping this family is different in that their house is blood-sucking insect free. My fingers are crossed.
I also started the medical program last week, which has contributed to the craziness of last week, but in a good way, methinks. The schedule for the medical program is pretty jam-packed: I have Spanish class from 2-6 every afternoon, three days a week we have clinic from 8-1, and the two mornings "off" are occupied by cultural competency lectures. I've been learning a lot of off-the-cuff Spanish, but I find myself wishing I had an afternoon to sit down and memorize a few dozen words for body parts or illnesses. Regardless, it has been a pleasure working in the clinic, and I'm looking forward to contributing more as my Spanish improves. It has also been nice to be exercising my medical knowledge again; I had definitely noticed that it was slipping away while I was busying myself with crash-course Spanish.
In other news, last week a group of teachers and students went to Salcaja, where, according to our teachers, their two primary exports are 1. dyed cloth and 2. bootlegged liquor. So we went to experience both, and apparently the teachers knew of a residence that actually manufactured both: not only did they weave corte cloth but they also brewed "caldo de frutas". Cortes are the skirts worn by indigenous women of Guatemala. The hem length, stitching, and patterns of these skirts vary between each village; some look almost like Jackson Pollock designed them, others are simple dark blue with the occasional stripe, others red with hand-woven floral patterns. (Click around in the link I included; it does a good job of explaining "traditional" clothing in Guatemala.) Caldo de frutas is basically 90 proof booze steeped in a ton of fruit. So while we were in their house we watched the husband weave corte fabric, then went downstairs where his wife had put out a plate of the fruit they had used to make the liquor. Both the liquor and the fruits were surprisingly tasty :)
Outside of the moving, the clinics, and the classes, I chance to go on a hike this weekend up Jesus mountain, a big hill just on the edge of Xela. It is called this because there is a church on the top of it that says "Cristo Viene" in large, Hollywood-esque letters across the roof. It was a good hike, and back behind the church is a lot of highland farmland. We encountered a bunch of folk harvesting green onions back there, as well as this guy:
Mú. :)
Whew. I'm hoping next week is more tranquilo. Thanks for reading, folks!
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