My Host Cats are Wild Beasts

I know that this is in no means Guatemala-specific, but yesterday I came back to the house only to find my two host cats crunching away on a blackbird.

The cute little culprit

Chivarreto: Guatemala's Little Hollywood

Every time I pass by Chivarreto I get a kick out of it's Hollywood-esque lettering on the mountain. I'm pretty sure there is nothing of any interest in Chivarreto, but I like their style. 

This is what I see from the bus basically every time I  leave my site

And a close-up

I Can't Believe That I Have Been in Guatemala for SIX Months!

Yesterday marked my six month anniversary in Guatemala! I cannot believe that I have been here that long! I also still ave so much more time here. That is also hard to believe, but time has passed quickly.

I thought that I would share one of my little annoyances. I work in ten schools, but sometimes it seems as if there is hardly ever school. There are always days off for sports activities, special events, and many other things. Also when there is school the kids are often playing outside. Anyway, today I got to one of my schools at 8:10 to start my baseline survey. I found the director and another teacher in her office eating breakfast. The director suggested that I begin my baselines on the other side of the school so that the teacher and her could finish their breakfasts. School was supposed to start at 7:30 aka at this point 45 minutes ago. But oh well I am beginning to get used to this kind of thing and just started at the other end of school.

BUT on the VERY bright side my host family dug up some hole in the patio, connected a pipe and now I HAVE RUNNING WATER IN MY BATHROOM!!! Can you tell that I am super excited about this? I can now flush the toilet the normal way (without lugging water up a flight of stairs) and I can wash my hands in the sink. It is pretty much awesome. Now if only there was electricity-a light in there...

My New Official Personalized Stamp!

Guatemalans love their stamps. So to further my integration (and just because it's cool) I had a personalized stamp made and now I fit right in with my counterpart the superintendent and the principals (at least official stamp-wise).

I love it I want to start stamping everything. I ordered my stamp with Farah and compairing them afterwards reminded us of the business card scene in American Psycho: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoIvd3zzu4Y
Well that mixed with pure joy and stamping almost everything in sight.

 Licda. is short for Licenciada which means that I graduated from college. This title has a lot of pull since there are very few people who have graduated from college and when there is they are always introduced as Licenciado/a.

 While most directors have a wooden stamp and an ink pad my stamp is self-inking and it pops out of that black rectangle on the right all ready to go.

 I am still looking for more pieces of paper which I can put my official stamp on. Sometimes I sign and stamp the schools' attendance book along with the teachers when I visit. I also sign and stamp the baseline surveys that I am currently completing in all of my schools.