What I Really Do

Hello! Hello! First of all, I apologize for the lack of posting lately. Not having internet in our home has been good in some ways, but it has also made emailing and blog posting much more challenging. For this reason, our blog has been a bit neglected lately. On the other hand, not having internet has encouraged us to rely less on the world wide web for entertainment, to focus more on our lives here and has forced us to spend time doing other activities like reading (which I have been doing a lot of lately) or going on a walk with Lucia.

I was sitting back and thinking about what I should post about and I realized I haven’t written much about my job. Aside from my family and very close friends I feel like most people don’t know what I do here so I was inspired to write this blog post titled “What I Really Do”. When people find out that I work in Guatemala I think they envision something awesome and perhaps even glamorous. Or at least something like me in the middle of a village playing soccer with a million children while also simultaneously saving lives.

I am not hating on Angelina (she does some great things!)
Just wanted to give you a visual.

Well, I hate to break it to all of those dreamers, but the truth is my job is mostly an office job. This means I spend most days at my desk in front of my computer writing and answering emails. Woooooo! Let me explain. My job (Education Program Coordinator at Mayan Families) can be broken down into two parts:

#1- Administrative work With over 2,000 sponsored students to keep track of there is a LOT to do administratively. My co-worker, Laura, and I were the only TWO English-speaking people working in this department until recently a really hot new guy was hired. Haha I am talking about Dan (my Dan). He is now working at Mayan Families and we sit side by side. Awww :) Having him working with us has definitely helped us share the load. Before I was hired Laura was doing our job solo!

Laura and I share the same position so we try to divide the tasks. She deals a lot with payments (sponsors pay throughout the year for their sponsored students and it can get really confusing) and I deal a lot with asking for money. Mayan Families allows sponsors to be as involved in their sponsored students’ lives as they desire. In some cases the sponsors have requested to be contacted if their student needs anything, but in general, we write sponsors if their students have an extra school-related need. These are things that our yearly sponsorship fee doesn’t cover things like parade uniforms, graduation fees, and field trips. Lately, this has taken up a huge chunk of my time. In the past three months, I have written over 100 emails for extra school costs! Every email is personalized so I write them one by one. Ah! (Just a side note: ALL of Mayan Families’ money comes from individual donors and sponsors.  No grants or government funding.)

Something that Laura and I both do is answer questions from sponsors. They vary from legit concerns to questions that make you want to bang your head against the wall. Recently, someone asked if I could send a map marked with the location of Mayan Families’ office and with the location of where her student lives. Really!? Even though answering questions can be extremely tedious and time consuming, it’s a really important role because we act as the connectors between the sponsors and their sponsored students.

We also sign up new sponsors, promote students needing sponsorship on the website and Facebook, and write newsletter articles and stories.

#2- Field work The other part of my job is getting out of the office and into the field. I think it goes without saying that this is the part I love the most! Oftentimes sponsors come down to Guatemala to visit. Mayan Families offers all visiting sponsors the chance to get to meet their sponsored students. My role is to coordinate the sponsor visit with the student and his/her family. On the day of the visit I accompany the sponsor to the student’s home and act as a guide and a translator.

Mayan Families (MF) works in various villages in the Lake Atitlan region. MF runs 7 Preschool Nutritional Centers in 7 different villages, but our students are not limited to just these villages. I’d guess MF has sponsored students in over 20 villages so when a sponsor comes down we could be traveling over an hour (usually in the back of a pick-up truck!) to get to a village. This past week we went to a village about 45 minutes away and then hiked almost half a mile to a student’s home! Mayan Families has vehicles and drivers on staff that transport MF staff and visitors. I am always accompanied by a local Guatemalan that speaks Kaqchikel- the local indigenous language. It’s very common for the entire visit to be translated twice- I translate from English to Spanish, then the Guatemalan worker translates from Spanish to Kaqchikel and vice-versa. It can be time consuming, but it’s 100% necessary since many of MF’s sponsored students and families do not speak Spanish. Oftentimes the parents of our sponsored students have never studied and cannot read or write or only have an elementary level education.

Checking out a family's kitchen during a home visit

For me, this is by far the most satisfying part of my job. The visits are really meaningful for both the Mayan families and for the sponsors. For the families and sponsored students it’s really special to put a face to a name. Oftentimes, they do not even know their sponsor’s name until they meet him or her. They just know them as “godfather” or “godmother”- the translation of the Spanish word we use padrino or madrina. For the sponsors, the visits are usually a really touching experience. Most of the families in our program live very, very simply and it’s extremely humbling to see their living conditions. Many times the families have dirt floors, cook on open fires, sleep on woven straw mats and do not have clean drinking water. The conditions vary, but I have seen some very difficult living situations that have brought me to tears. It’s very common to enter a kitchen and see no food or hardly any at all. What a contrast to our stocked fridges and pantries.

During the visits I interview the family and take notes writing down basic info and also recording their greatest needs. This is information I then pass on to the sponsor in case they want to meet any of the family’s needs. Sponsors are never obligated to provide anything beyond the yearly sponsorship fee, but many times they purchase items for their sponsored students and families; gifts include things like water filters or a fuel-efficient wood burning stove.

Visiting another family who was very much in need

Today at church the message was on humility and upon seeing the subject my mind was immediately drawn to the many home visits I have participated in. It’s incredibly humbling to see people living in very challenging circumstances yet despite them they are kind, loving, and grateful for the support they are receiving especially for the opportunity to give an education to their children. It’s common for these families to give the sponsors (and sometimes me too) a thank you present during the visits. Families that can barely afford food go out of their way to purchase or make a present to say thank you. It’s pretty incredible and heart-warming. I have had the opportunity to witness some pretty magical moments in the field. Sometimes I have to struggle not to burst into tears! In fact, this past week I was doing a visit with a sponsor and he brought clothes for his sponsored student- a little girl about 5 years old. He was handing her the clothes (a sweater and a couple of pink long sleeve t-shirts) and all of a sudden she BURST into tears. I was confused about what was happening until her mother said that the little girl was so happy because she had never been given such beautiful things. It was truly a moving moment!

Although I love being out in the field it can also be very exhausting. This past week we were busy with a group of 10 and after two very long days in the field I was struggling. I felt run down and like I was fighting a cold. I love being around others and being that bridge between visitors and locals (something I am passionate about and feel gifted in), BUT I was reminded this week of the importance of rest.

Cheesin! Walking through a corn field
to the home of the family in the photo above.

Thanks for reading this post! I hope it gives you a better idea of what I am doing here in Guatemala with Mayan Families. If you have any thoughts or questions please send them my way! Look out for a post soon from Daniel about what it’s like to make international cuisine here in Guatemala.

ONE LAST THING.... Sometimes someone just really makes an impression on your heart and that's what happened to me with the family above (the photo where I am sitting on the stool). This family was so kind and very poor. They lived in a very isolated location and their house was in rough shape. They only have one child sponsored through Mayan Families. If you are interested in helping them especially by sponsoring one of their children to go to school please shoot me an email at my work address- rachel[at]mayanfamilies[dot]org
Thanks!

Our Nueva Casita

We finally moved into our new place about two weeks ago! It feels good to have our own space even though we really enjoyed our temporary housing and are grateful for the generosity that was shown to us! We decided to put our awesome Flip video camera (a present last Christmas) to use and take you all on a little tour. Please disregard the part where Lucia attacks me. She was just in a playful mood... :)

The best things about our new place:

• Cute little garden with room for Lucia to run around!
• Back porch to sit and relax
• Shower with HOT water and good water pressure
• Oven (a lot of people only have stove tops)
• Guest room for visitors *hint hint* Come visit!!! :)
• MUCH further away from the river (less danger of flooding)

The not so awesome things:

• No internet (I am trying to enjoy being less connected, but it's tough!)
• No microwave- a pain for reheating food, but not a huge problem
• A little buggy at night- Thankfully a friend recently gave me an army supply of bug spray, mosquito coils, etc. Thanks Esther! ;)

Let us know what you think in the comments section below! Want to see more videos? If so, of what? Our town? Our office? Give us some ideas and we'll try to make them! :)

The Trip Home: Part 1

I wanted to write a post about our two weeks of Stateside fun a couple months ago, but with our visitors in June/July, and then with starting my new job at the end of July, time like always got away from me. Also, when reflecting on our time in the States, I wanted to make sure I approached this blog post with some sensitivity. While it is important to express some of the bitter with the sweet, I have no desire to offend anyone’s hospitality. But I will come back to this later.

My mind was a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions as I was sitting on the plane waiting for it to take us to NYC.  We had not been home since the beginning of October 2011, only a 1 ½ months after our wedding. Since we desired to see as much of family and friends as possible, while doing as many things as possible, we had our trip planned out to the hour for every arrival and departure of each town we were visiting.  Thinking about this plan, I tried to meditate not on the craziness of the schedule, but the faces I would see and the wonderful emotions I would have with every face I saw and every physical embrace that was given.  I still could not help worrying though. In this trip of almost 12 days, we planned on visiting three of four corners of PA, attend 2 weddings (being best man in one),  have many lunches and dinners with friends and family, tell countless stories about our lives abroad, listen for hours catching up with everyone, have as many goodbyes as hellos, try to bring back as many items from the States as possible, and…well… drive everywhere!  I had not driven a car since we left the States, so the fact that I would drive across PA multiple times in a week was a little disconcerting.  My biggest worry was finding time to relax, which ended up being a very genuine worry as relaxing had little to do with the trip. But let’s move on to the actual details.

Landing in NYC and going outside with all of our luggage to see hundreds of cars and taxis with large lines of people and crowds, with the smell of cigarette smoke and exhaust, and the insane humidity!... All of this was the start of some lovely reverse-culture shock for me.  I never really experienced any culture-shock in my time abroad, so it seems only fitting that it hit me on the back end.  It is… there is not a good word for it… weird to go from a town with a small amount of cars and never any traffic to the highways of NYC with countless cars and never-ending traffic. We took a taxi to Joel’s apartment in Brooklyn, and of course we had to get a taxi driver who loved to accelerate and then slam on his breaks during the bumper-to-bumper traffic.  I remember focusing on seeing Joel, a home cooked meal, and good beer. Joel and Saman did not disappoint- some wonderful Middle Eastern cuisine, and two of my favorite beers on this planet: La Chouffe and Allagash Curieux. After drinking Guatemalan beer for many months (which I do enjoy by the way, no snobbery here), my taste buds, which transcended the warm feeling to my entire body, were in complete bliss.  Luckily, this was just the beginning of good hops and barley hitting my lips this trip.  Being at Joel and Saman’s place was as perfect a start to the trip as any.  The best counter to the struggles of the mind when re-entering a world of substantially more stuff, stress, and materialism is… friendship, community, and fellowship.  Joel and I had an amazing conversation about life on the rooftop of his building, which peacefully hovered quietly above the chaotic city below.  Skype might be amazing and necessary for our lives, but it can not compare to the intimacy of a in-person conversation with someone that you care about and love. 

The best of friends

After dinner my parents and sister arrived to take us back to Dallas, PA.  Words could not express embracing them.  Anyone who has been away from his or her family knows what I am talking about. The incredible feelings I felt in that moment could not be lessened by attempting to define the experience with words. I think many of you reading this can relate to this, and I will leave it at that.

The following day, Friday, was not exactly a family reunion like I wished it could have been. Rachel and I were heading down to Philly that night to see all of our friends and be in the city we fell in love in, were married in, and spent a large portion of our very important young adult lives in. So instead of spending time with family on Friday, they all went to work and school and Rachel and I started running all of the errands we had to do while we were home. But we did have one enjoyable moment with my sister on Friday. We had the opportunity to be guest speakers in my sister’s Spanish class!  We were able to share about our lives and work in Guatemala, why we love it, the struggles of living abroad, and the challenges of learning the Spanish language. Some kids seemed as interested as if they were watching paint dry, but some were very inquisitive and interested, asking many questions and expressing their interests with visiting or maybe even living in another country in the future. The best part about this was sharing with students a point of view maybe a little different than what they were used to hearing, letting them know that living abroad is a real possibility if that is something they are interested in.

Before heading to Philly, we made a quick stop at Target, or as I think of it now: the overwhelmingly huge store with everything you need and everything you don’t. I will talk about Target later though.

Being in Philadelphia was nothing short of amazing. This trip reminded me of how much I love that city and all of my friends that live there.  Living in and around Philadelphia for almost 9 years creates a great deal of memories, more than can be relived in a day and a half. Despite the short visit, I believed we lived it up as much as possible. It is easy to see now how much I took that city for granted the last couple of years that I lived there.

The best part of visiting Philly was the first thing we did when we arrived: have dinner with friends at Earth Bread + Brewery. Not only is it top 5 in my favorite Philly restaurants, with being a former employee there for 2 years, it was awesome to see how it is still thriving.  With amazing flatbreads, beer, and a multitude of friends to eat with, catch up with, laugh with, and just have general awesome community with, it was the highlight of the first half of the trip home. 

That night was the embodiment of home for me.  It helped to give me clarity about what this trip was all about: being with the people we care about and rekindling the love we have for each other as best as possible. I had grand plans for that night. After eating at Earth Bread, we had every intention of heading into Center City/Old City to visit some of our favorite places in the city for a drink and maybe even do a little dancing. It was going to be a reenactment of everything I love about Philadelphia in one evening. But even though I love taking the regional rail into the city and walking the streets of Philly, that was not what this trip was about. It was about being home with the people we love. After spending a long time at Earth, instead of going out we decided to head back to my friend's apartment to continue our good conversations, and to squeeze out every drop of enjoyment of spending time together as we could. In the end, Philly, while a great city, would be nothing if the people I spent that night with were not there. For those who were there and understand what I am talking about, thank you for the amazing memories of that night and of the many nights over the many years before it.

The best of times with good friends, laughter, beer, flatbread, and sriracha.

I hope you enjoyed part 1 of my retelling of our Stateside adventure. I will post part 2 soon. Thanks for reading!

Our wedding: all the little details

Writing the anniversary post I started reminiscing about our wedding and what a wonderful day it was. I wanted to take a moment to highlight all of the little details that made our wedding day extra special. For our vendors we used a lot of friends and friends of friends; it ended up working out wonderfully. We had confidence in them because of our personal connection and it made everything seem less business-like. Also, we felt good about supporting local people many of whom were just starting out in the wedding business. If you or anyone you know is wedding planning I highly recommend all of the people we worked with for our big day! :)

Our flowers were done by a friend, Christine Herrman from El Girasol. She did such a fabulous job! I didn't think I cared much about flowers, but she got me really excited about them. The flowers ended up being one of my favorite parts of the wedding decor!

 

My good friend, Meredith, helped me SO MUCH with all of the decorations. She has a great eye for decorating and event planning so she helped me with a lot of the little touches. Meredith made all of the things you see above AND she worked her butt off the day of helping to set everything up. Thank you Mere! ;) You can see more of her DIY skills on her blog, That's the Plan.

Cold soup shots- Cantaloupe Mint

You probably know how much Dan and I love to eat! Haha :) Luckily we stumbled upon a FABULOUS local caterer- Birchtree Catering. They worked with us to create a unique vegetarian- friendly menu. Also, they helped us be as "green" as possible by suggesting we use compostable, bamboo-pressed dishes and recyclable silverware and cups. In addition to all this, Allegra, our wedding coordinator from Birchtree, helped keep me sane. Not an easy task! ;)

It may come as a surprise to you that Daniel had a hand in a lot of the wedding planning- including the little details! From picking out the music, to suggesting we hang Ball jars from the trees, to staying up until 4 am making the place card holders, he was very committed to making our wedding beautiful! He also chose all of the wine and beer.

got this hanger made on Etsy. i was pretty psyched about it.

I had my influence too. From creating a photo guestbook- full of photos of Dan and me, to designing our program, I was very involved and spent countless hours working on it all. Tracking down sparklers in August is no easy feat! Instead of spending money on favors we decided to donate to an organization we love, Plant With Purpose. I even had the opportunity to meet the founder and director just a month or so before our wedding! (He came to speak to my co-hort at Eastern.) Many thanks to the talented Rachel Applegate for making my dream of a tree guestbook come true! :) As you can see, all of the "leaves" are our guests' fingerprints.

Rachel & Dave singing during the ceremony

Kyle spinning the tunes

We were blessed to have our talented friends, Rachel & Dave Applegate provide live music! And for our friend, Kyle, to serve as a fantastic DJ! Check him out here- KM Music Productions.

I can't forget the amazing dessert! Cupcakes by Kristen at Eat Dessert First. They were to die for! I actually saw some people fighting over how many cupcakes they could take. Lol! Oh how I wish I had one right now... Maybe next year! Ours were Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.

we originally wanted to get married in a vineyard.
it didn't work out, but there were beautiful grapes at our venue!

Where did I get the gorgeous flower? Target!

Some other details that I loved. Last, but not least I can't forget our amazing photographer, Brae Howard, who gets full credit for all of these awesome shots. Plus, our insanely talented videographers from Exhale Productions.

Thank you to everyone who made our wedding day perfect! If you want to see more check out our wedding video clip by Exhale Productions below! Here's to one year and hopes for many, many more! 

Happy 1st Anniversary to us!

I can hardly believe it, but today marks ONE YEAR since Daniel and I tied the knot! :) I think we both expected our first year of marriage to be an adventure, but I don't think either of us expected it to be this much of an adventure. Two international moves, new jobs, adopting a puppy, dealing with sickness, multiple transitions and so much more, this year has truly been a whirlwind. Even though at times it has been tough, I am grateful that Dan and I have had each other through it all. I can truly say that marriage and all the transitions have only brought us closer. It has helped strengthen our relationship and our faith. I am grateful to be with the one I love through the highs, the lows, and all the in-betweens. As we grow closer I see new things in Dan and thank God for giving me someone that balances me out so well! He is optimistic, understanding, and adaptable just to name a few of the traits I love. Also, he is an A-mazing cook! I am so spoiled... heehee. It has been awesome watching Dan fall in love with international living and in my moments of doubt, he has helped remind me why we are here. Cheers to our first year of marriage! I love you Daniel. This is just the beginning... ;-)

Here are some of my favorite shots from our wedding day! Photos courtesy of the very talented Brae Howard Photography.

the ladies

the gentlemen

First look tears

Model Rachel ;)

I really wanted a "feet shot" lol

Already busting some moves!

the entire wedding party

done in ONE SHOT! well done boys ;)

Pre-wedding. Looking pretty calm if I do say so.

Getting married under a beautiful, humongous tree in a vegetable garden

It's official!

Taking a moment to let it sink in

all the single ladies!

Mr. & Mrs. Katyl leave with a bang! I mean spark! Woohoo!