(Don't) grill me a cheese.

All moved in to my new place. I know I keep promising pictures, but honestly I keep forgetting to bring my camera to work to upload them so I’ll stop making empty promises with the word ‘soon’ in them. One of these days I’ll get to it. Maybe.

Roommate situation is okay so far. In the past couple of days, there have only been some slight annoyances and one significantly more aggravating incident involving a burnt grilled cheese sandwich, but I will spare you the details, because I might just get angry again. Hopefully there won’t be too many problems. It kind of feels like freshman year of college again, this whole moving in with a stranger business. (At least it worked out the first time around! Shout out to Alex, and happy birthday on Sunday!) But who knows what I got myself into this time… he seems nice enough, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt for now. For those of you who may be worried that this situation presents a safety concern, worry not. All of my lovely, intelligent coworkers know this dude and could assure you that he’s harmless.

Things at work are still going well. Not much new there. Although there was some slight drama in the office the other day involving someone at the New York office. I don’t actually know what exactly went down, but everyone was a super tense all morning and I didn’t like it. Normally everyone’s really chill and eating junk food and making fun of each other. That’s the type work environment that I like. It suits me.

Other stuff…yesterday I ate a falafel sandwich that I bought at a German bakery in Guatemala. Globalization, guys. It’s really a thing now.

I bugged my boss yesterday (politely, of course) about going on another community visit. Looks like I’m going to get to go to another one sometime in May. And she wants me to write a blog post for the MG website. So once that’s up, I will notify you all to look for it there! Exciting stuff, kind of.

Still haven’t found a way to crack those macadamia nuts. Although I’m afraid of improvising again because I might seriously injure myself. I’m open to suggestions (unless the suggestion is a crack-a-mac—that is not exactly a common household tool, Mom). I don’t have proper kitchen utensils for this. These horrible things have shells made of steel, I swear to god. Never again will I be bamboozled by street vendors. I’m learning by trial and error every day.

I’m just going to go ahead and apologize for the lack of super-interesting things in this post, and in other posts... This is not your typical travel blog, and I am very aware of that. I’m trying to think of more intelligent-sounding observations for this blog without also making it boring, but honestly I feel surrounded by Americans lately, and I’m trying to figure out a way to change that. I’ve lost track of my Guatemalan friend David, because he doesn’t have a cell phone so I can’t make plans with him. And I need to practice my Spanish, because the most Spanish I’ve spoken all week was when I went to the plastic store today (yes, the plastic store) to buy a bucket. Sometimes I also try to chat with the bartenders at the bar I frequent. (They think my name is Hannie. I haven’t bothered to correct them because my sister calls me that sometimes and I miss her, so I just let it happen. Love you, Stephie!) Anyway, I’m going to ask my coworker to take me to the place where she takes Spanish lessons, and I’m signing up ASAP. I refuse to face the pathetic irony of getting worse at Spanish while spending 4+ months in Central America. I could keep a second blog in Spanish, but I’m not going to do that because that’s more work for me, and also it would definitely sound like a four year old wrote it, and no one would read it.

How about I leave you with another helpful Guatemala tip of the week, dear readers?

--Never trust a dog with your laundry. No—never trust a dog with anything.

[too lazy to come up with post title]

It feels like so much has been happening in these first couple of weeks here. We’ve been pretty busy at work since I’ve arrived because of a big event coming up in two weeks in Silicon Valley, where Mercado Global’s largest donor base is. Basically, it’s kind of a schmoozing event for current donors to invite their friends and hopefully capture some new donors by letting people know what the organization’s all about. So I’ve been simultaneously trying to learn how everything is done around the office and also help them prepare for this event. Both of my bosses are flying up to California next week to attend.

Other fun things—I went on my first community visit yesterday to meet two of the artisan cooperatives that MG works with in San Jorge, about a ten minute chicken bus ride away. (Chicken bus: a very crowded, very colorful school bus. I will post pictures of these.) The purpose of the visit was health training—talking about hygiene practices and other health stuff. So Barbara, who is one of the Guatemalan women that works in our office, brought me and my other new coworker along to observe the training. We introduced ourselves in Spanish to the women, but after that, the entire training was in their indigenous language, so we couldn’t understand most of what was said, except for when a Spanish word was thrown in here and there. It was interesting though, and I was glad I went along. I hope I get to go on more of those visits in the future, but for now work is going to be mostly entering a bunch of donations after this crazy Silicon Valley event is over, and drafting donation acknowledgement letters and all the other fun things that interns get to do.

Also, last Sunday I decided to venture out of Panajachel on my own for the first time! Like I mentioned in my first post, they have these pickup trucks that stop on this main road every 15 minutes or so, and you just ask where they’re going and hop in. So I decided to go to San Antonio de Palopó, hopped in the back of the truck and I was there about 20 minutes and 5 Quetzales later. It’s a really quiet, really pretty town. I was only there for a few hours, just walking around. They have a really nice church there that I went and sat in for a while just to get some shade and relax. And there’s a beautiful view just as you walk outside the church. I went down to the lakeshore and just sat for a while, and walked around a bit. Until this creepy guy started following me around and asking me to marry him and live at his house and wouldn’t leave me alone for the longest time, even after I snapped at him, so eventually I just left and went back to Pana. Besides the annoying dude, it was a nice, relaxing day.

In other news, I’m moving out of Doña Angelica’s house this coming Sunday so I don’t have to pay for a third week here, because it’s too expensive. I found an apartment! It’s not actually in Panajachel, I don’t think. Technically it’s in Jucanyá, which I’m not sure is a separate town or not… But the place is a 15 minute walk from the center of Pana, so it’s not too far. I found the apartment listing on a community bulletin board at a store that’s basically like the wal-mart of this town. It didn’t have any pictures or names on the sign. It was just a plain piece of paper that said (in Spanish): “two rooms for rent in Jucanyá” and then listed three phone numbers. Seemed legit enough to me, so I gave all three of those numbers a call until I got ahold of someone, who told me to take a tuk-tuk (taxi) to Calle Salpores and someone in a green shirt would meet me there. Again—legit.

It was a lady named Luisa, who was very kind and showed me the two rooms. They’re on the second floor of a three-level house that is unfinished because there’s nothing on the third level. On the plus side, this means extremely easy roof access with a decent sunset view in the evening, as I saw for myself. You can even almost see the lake, but there are a bunch of trees in the way. Anyway, one of the rooms was empty except for a bed, but the other was full of stuff that the last tenant had left behind because he was only there for a couple months. So there was a bed, two shelving units, a table, a stove and gas tank, a pure water dispenser, a ton of dishes, and even sheets and a blanket, so I only have to just wash everything and I’m set. Talk about furnished, right? I mentioned the place to the guy from New York who’s also living at Doña Angelica’s, and he decided he’s going to take the second room and split the rent with me, so it’ll be about 500 Quetzales a month each, which is like somewhere around $70. Wayy less than I expected to be paying for rent here, so I’m thrilled about that. It’s less than he and I have been paying per week to stay at Doña Angelica’s. As much as I’ll miss Lorenzo and Jenny’s adorable kids, and the chocolate pancakes they made me for breakfast yesterday, I’d rather not pay so much money to stay here.

So, after that whole process, I was kind of proud of myself. It wasn’t a huge accomplishment in the grand scheme of things, but it’s the little victories that keep you going, right? Or just figuring out you’re capable of things you haven’t had to do before. Like finding an apartment in Pana all by myself, and realizing that I have a Spanish vocabulary that’s at least just enough to be able to find a decent apartment for super cheap.

Anyway, the next challenge will be trying to fit my suitcase into a tuk-tuk when I move on Sunday. I’ll put up a picture and you’ll see what I mean.

Things you should know when traveling to Guatemala, based on my first week of awkward/embarrassing situations.

In the US, I think on average I have about 1-3 awkward things happen to me on a daily basis. In Guatemala, as you'd expect, that average is much higher. Here are some tips so you don't repeat my stupid mistakes if you ever find yourself here in Pana:

-Don’t buy macadamia nuts in the shell if you don’t have a nutcracker. If you buy them anyway without realizing how hard they are to crack, don’t resort to using your hair straightener, because you will hurt yourself.

-Beware of adorable little kids who try to practice speaking English with you at cafes. They might just be very clever salespeople. But maybe just buy their postcards now and then anyway, because they could be about 8 years old, have 13 siblings, and still have to work on the weekends. True story. Also, kids that clever are deserving of a reward.

-When you go to bars, always try to mention you live in Pana, because it will usually lower the price of your drink. Otherwise you get what they call the “gringo price,” formally known on this blog as the “obruni price.”

-Try to steer clear of Danish ex-pats, especially if they’re clearly wasted.

-Always pay careful attention to how you’re saying something in Spanish, and whether you’re using the formal ‘you’ or the informal ‘you’ to the appropriate person. Or you may be embarrassed to realize later on, that while describing how snow angels are made, you accidentally sort-of rudely commanded a respectable adult to sit on the ground.

-Apparently, that European cheek-kiss greeting really is a thing, so just try to not be so taken aback when someone you just met abruptly shoves his/her face at you.

-Even if there may be a lot of mean, scrappy, vicious dogs running around town, try to contain your excitement when you finally see a cat, instead of being a loser and shrilly blurting out “GATITO!” because you thought no one else was around. But there definitely were people around, and now they are staring.

-If you lost track of what’s going on in a conversation in Spanish, just laugh when everyone else laughs. It usually works out just fine. Except when it doesn’t.

-Talking to middle-aged to elderly Guatemalans is the best way to feel good about oneself. They’ll make you feel good about being young and in your prime, (“Veintiuno? Eres pollito!”) and tell you you’re funny and pretty. Just don’t tell them you’re single, or they will probably try to find you a boyfriend.

-Don’t tell your host you like fried plantains if you actually hate fried plantains. This is a classic Hannah mistake.

Stay tuned for more. It's only been a week.

Bienvenidos a Panajachel

After what felt like days of flying, (despite the fact that it was only about 10 hours or so) I’ve made it here safely! This place is wonderful. I was pretty tired and a bit cranky on Monday when I got off the plane, because I hadn’t been able to sleep very well, but I met up with Salvador, the driver that Mercado Global sent to come get me at the airport, and we set off for Panajachel and I started to feel a lot better. It was nice to just sit in the car for a few hours and stare out the windows in awe of this place. I was trying so hard not to fall asleep so as not to miss any of it, but I was so exhausted that my eyes were rolling back in their sockets and my head would fall backward and hit the headrest and wake me up again.

The drive though, despite being gorgeous, made me a little nervous. Once we got out of the city and were nearing the highlands, the drive got more and more mountainous and there were hairpin turns and rough roads and signs everywhere saying to watch out for rocks falling from the sky. At one part of the drive, it looked like part of the road was actually out because it crumbled away, so we had to drive on like a makeshift dirt road that went through a stream. So that was comforting. But it was some of the most beautiful mountains I have ever seen. And they surround Panajachel, so they’re still everywhere I look.

Salvador dropped me off at Doña Angelica’s house and I met my host family for the next couple of weeks or so. There’s Angelica, the oldest member of the family, who’s a woman probably in her late 60s or early 70s. Then there’s Jenny, Angelica’s daughter, who is maybe in her mid 30s or so. Then there are Jenny’s two daughters, ages 7 and 11, named Jacqueline and Shirley. They’re not around much, but they seem very nice, and throw me an “hola” every now and then when I run into them. I only speak Spanish with the family, and they’re very patient with me. There’s actually another person living with them right now, a guy from New York who is close to my age. He’s here taking Spanish classes every day and just living here for a couple of months. He and I seem to be close to the same level of Spanish, so the family is helping us a lot by speaking slower and helping us improve our speaking.

Anyway, I probably arrived around 2 or 3pm and they showed me to my room, which has its own bathroom, so that’s nice. There’s running water in the shower, but not in the sink, so there’s a giant bucket for washing your face and hands. This house seems to be set up almost like a boarding house, so there are a few other rooms just like mine, and an open-air area that they all open up to, and a kitchen upstairs. It’s a beautiful house. En la Calle Navidad. Christmas Street.

After lunch, I went downstairs to take a nap for a while, but had some difficulty sleeping at first due to a screaming child outside my door. I opened the door to go get some water and because I wanted see what the fuss was about, and it turns out it wasn’t a child. It was a big, green parrot that sounded eerily like a screaming child. His name is Lorenzo, and he’s very old and seems to be hanging on to life by a thread. Anyway, when I opened the door he stopped screaming and just stared at me, so that solved that problem. I quickly fell fast asleep after that. One of the ladies I’ll be working with stopped by at some point during that nap to welcome me to Pana, but I was so out of it that meeting her felt like I dreamt the whole thing. I may have embarrassed myself, but I can't really remember anything I said, because I am a champion at napping.

I was woken up from my nap at 7ish to go have dinner, where I met the other guy who’s staying at Angelica’s house. He and I went to hang out and have a couple of drinks after dinner and chatted for a while, so it’s nice to have someone at the house to be able to hang out with every now and then. What’s also nice is that drinks here are really cheap, especially during happy hour, so I spent the equivalent of like, less than $3 on two G&Ts, and they were delicious. We went back pretty early and I went to sleep again, and still slept through the night despite my long nap.

On Tuesday morning I got up a little late and went to go have breakfast, where Jenny and I engaged in some small talk, which is all I can really manage at this point. Like how beautiful the weather is, as well as the flowers on the balcony, and I asked what hummingbirds are called here. Carrillónes, is what I thought she said, but I looked it up in my dictionary and that means “chimes," so I don’t know if I got that right. But I swear that's what she said. Then I went out for a walk to try to find the office, but got lost because I apparently misunderstood Jenny’s directions. So I just decided to give up and explore. I found the lake! It was my first time seeing Lake Atitlán, because it was really cloudy and foggy when I arrived on Monday. But it truly is gorgeous. I could see one of the three volcanoes that surround it as well. I even met a friend from the area when I was walking around there. We were speaking in Spanish for quite a while, so I was super duper proud of myself. I think I was almost a tad better at Spanish than he was at English, so whenever we tried speaking English we would give up and go back to Spanish. So that experience gave me a slight boost of confidence with my language skills. I think I’m actually going to be fine, despite how extremely nervous I was about that aspect of this trip. I might still take Spanish lessons every now and then, because a couple of people here said they have Spanish lessons for really cheap somewhere near Doña Angelica’s house, and you can just go whenever your schedule allows. So I’m considering that.

So then after slowly finding my way back to the house, Leah, my supervisor called and wanted to send someone to help me find the office and show me around. So another intern Karyn came and picked me up, and we went to the office where I met some of the team. It seems like a very relaxed, casual work environment. I really liked it, and everyone was really nice. There's even someone here who just started working in marketing and product development who went to UW-Madison as well, so we bonded a little over that, because it's a small world after all. Today was my first day actually working, and it’s going well so far. They’re just kind of easing me into it, so I didn’t do a whole lot on my first day. Next Wednesday, I’ll be heading to one of the communities with the training coordinator, to see what it’s like and get a better feel for what kind of work they do here within the communities.

So far I’m really enjoying myself! This weekend I might go explore one or two of the neighboring towns along the lake. We’ll see how that goes, or if I can even figure out how to get there. I’ve heard you just catch a pickup truck that’s headed in the same direction. Which makes me kind of want someone to go with me, so hopefully I can find someone who wants to go.

I’ll put up pictures sometime soon. Hope everyone at home is well!

New year, new country, and new adventures to be had.

You heard right folks, this time I'm off to Guatemala! So I'm bringing back the blog.

I can't believe it's been over a year since I left for Ghana. I miss everything about it, and I miss it every day. Especially now, since it's winter. Every time I trudge along in the snow or scrape the ice off of my car before work, I just miss the beach and the sun and even the times where I would be covered in sweat in a crowded trotro because I think I'd prefer that any day to the cold and barren tundra of Minnesota/Wisconsin winters. I mean, I do like the seasons of Minnesota, but it's March and it's still snowing outside and I didn't really have to deal with winter at all last year so I'm a little bit impatient for it to end.

So it's time for me once again to head south, towards the equator. I'll be working in Panajachel, Guatemala for an organization called Mercado Global. It's a non-profit that helps Guatemalan artisan women escape the cycle of poverty by offering education, training, loans, and access to markets. It's main focus is empowering women and as a result, it works to alleviate poverty, malnutrition, and other such things.
Here's the website. I'm extremely excited to be working with this group. Not entirely sure on the specifics of my position yet, but I know it will possibly involve some outreach, as well as some work doing evaluations of training programs and things like that.

One thing I've been struggling with wrapping my head around though, is the language barrier I'm going to run into. Obviously, they speak Spanish down there, and while I've taken a few years of it in high school, I feel like my skills aren't nearly where they need to be right now. I've had a friend helping me practice my speaking quite a bit, and I'm hoping that I know enough at this point to get around by myself. I'm pretty nervous, but my hope is that through immersion, I'll pick up a ton while I'm there. I'm pretty excited about improving my spanish skills, actually. As much as I love German, it's not quite as useful to me in the long run as Spanish will be.

I am so glad I had the experience I had in Ghana because I feel like I'm a little more mentally prepared this time for culture shock. It'll be a different kind of culture shock, but at least I've dealt with it before. And I'll be there for roughly the same amount of time as I was in Ghana, too. It might still be pretty hard this time because I'll be going alone instead of with a group of peers. I will be working with people all the time, but when I go home at night, I'm hoping I won't get too lonely. I have to find my own housing, so I'll most likely be living alone. Which both sounds exciting and a little scary. But I'll be just fine.

Anyway, so things are starting to wrap up here in Eden Prairie before I go. I just told Walgreens--for what will hopefully be the last time--that I'm leaving, I've gotten all of my appointments and meds out of the way and checked off my list, and all that's left to do is work for a few more weeks, pack my suitcase, and say my goodbyes. So I just wanted to throw this post out there to let everyone know that I will be leaving on April 8th and that you should follow me here for updates and stories and general musings about my life in another new place!

“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” – Miriam Beard

I apologize to all those who regularly read my blog. It's been a while since the last time I posted. I had big plans to do all of these top 10 lists related to my favorite things in Ghana. But alas, I opened up my laptop a week or two ago and about half of the keys on the top row of letters on my keyboard had stopped working. Which is unfortunate to happen right before finals, but I'm glad it at least waited until the end of the semester to break on me rather than it happening earlier.

So due to the inconvenience of posting from other people's computers, this may be one of my last posts. I may add more when I get back to the US, because I'm sure the readjustment to American life will be somewhat interesting.

Anyway, I have only two weeks left in Ghana to the day. And I can't tell you how weird I feel about leaving. There are so many things that I'm going to miss, yet so many things I'm excited to return to at home. Get ready for a mushy, sentimental post.

I may not have expressed many of my deeper emotions when I posted about arriving in Ghana, but now that I'm reflecting on my experience I feel okay sharing them now. Before I left for Ghana I had surprisingly few strong emotions about coming. I was excited of course, and I was sad to be leaving my family and friends for so long, but I didn't really feel all that much fear or anxiety about coming. But when I arrived, went through orientation and was dumped on campus with a week or two before school started and was trying to adjust to so much change at once, I initially felt really lost and homesick. Now, it's so hard to imagine leaving. What is it going to feel like being able to walk down the street again without sticking out like a sore thumb? Having access to all the drinkable tap water I want instead of drinking from plastic bags, and be able to even get hot water straight from the faucet? Having air conditioning and bathrooms in most buildings? (And soap and toilet paper included!) Being cold in 70 degree weather? Will I accidentally use phrases like “oh chale!” and “it is finished” and “you are invited” or accidentally throw in some twi phrases as well, and get strange looks? Are the African print clothes I had made here normal for every day wear in the US? (Even if they’re not, it won’t stop me from wearing them.) Will I accidentally snap my fingers after I shake hands with people? Will I forget to wear my seatbelt? Will I still feel that moment of panic that arises whenever I don't have exact change? And as my mom’s been joking about to me lately, will I try to bargain at the taco bell drive-thru? (I wish I could! How great would that be?!)

These are all things I'll need to figure out how to deal with when I get back. Just little things. It’ll just feel strange, but won’t actually be a problem. Also, I’m not going to know how to answer the question, “How was Ghana?” …I'll probably just refer people to this blog because it's hard to sum up four and a half months by being asked just that one question. Of course it was wonderful, but it was also extremely challenging at times, and experiencing life in a developing country just kind of changes the way you view the world. I've purposefully avoided that subject on this blog and just focused on my cultural and travel experiences, but taking classes on development and hearing the African perspective has been one of the most interesting aspects of being here. I'll definitely take that perspective back with me, because it's made me think about and reevaluate aspects of the way I live life in the US.

I also can't tell you how much I'll miss the people here. I've made really great friends, which of course makes it even harder to leave. Both my Ghanaian friends and the people I've had amazing travel experiences with have made this all the more unforgettable. And just the everyday kindness you receive from people you don't know. I've had wonderful conversations with taxi drivers, made friends with vendors (my favorites, of course, being Maame Louise and my favorite little girl named Rahina that sells me apples and bananas at the night market), and just been shown so much kindness from complete strangers.

One of my favorite views--the mountainous Volta region

I’m going to miss how beautiful it is here as well. Ghana has no shortage of breathtaking ocean views, beaches, country-sides, forests, mountains and valleys. Even the cities, though not quite as beautiful, have their certain charming qualities. (And the best/cheapest street food I’ve ever had.)

And since I’m being completely honest here, there are of course things that I won't miss. Mainly the oburoni comments (only when I'm in a bad mood), creepy guys asking for your number/asking to marry you, people asking me about my religious beliefs on almost a daily basis, people trying to rip me off because I'm a foreigner, and never knowing what time I need to be somewhere because the one day I happen to be on Ghana-time, everyone else decides to be punctual. But those were all part of the experience, and are only slight annoyances when overall, I've been extremely happy here. I’ve learned that it’s easier to deal with frustrations if you just shrug it off or laugh, and I think because of that I’m a little more relaxed and perhaps a little more patient than I was before.

I'm getting more and more emotional about leaving with every passing day. I’m feeling both sadness to leave and excitement to get back to the amazing people at home that I've had to do without for the past few months. But I have two weeks left here, and I plan on making the most of it. Turns out I will be able to go to the north after all, so I'll be able to go see some elephants at Mole National Park, as well as see the oldest mosque in West Africa, the Larabanga mosque. I also have two finals to take before that, but I'm much less excited about those…

And then on May 27th, I'm heading home. Back in Madison by June 4th so I can start a summer class and two jobs. Goodbye relaxing slow-paced Ghana, hello busy, stressful life back home.

Thanks to everyone who read this while I've been away. I really appreciate the love and support you all have shown me while I've been here, through facebook, phone calls, texts, letters, emails, etc. I can't tell you how good it feels to know that people back home haven't forgotten about me. :)

I love and miss everyone, and I'll see you back in the US! So-long from Ghana! Yɛbɛhyia bio.