Appetizers

Last week we took an impromptu trip up to the Ulpan Valley, which will be our "permanent" home in less than two weeks now.  It turned out that there were several project-related things that needed to be taken care of before we went, so we just took off and left.  Because we are still in language school, and because our teachers are all Qeqchi, we asked if they wanted to go with us, and sort of to our surprise they were all very excited to go.  In retrospect, though, we probably could have done a better job of telling them what they were getting in to.  Minor details such as "you will be sleeping on a concrete floor" and "it's going to be pretty cool and pretty wet" probably could have been conveyed before we left.  Although I think they had fun I couldn't help but think they spent the 3 days terrified they'd been abducted by the Griswolds.

Out time there was a microcosm of what we anticipate the next year will be like.  We fixed a solar system that had a broken power supply in one community, confirmed that the 3 water systems we'd previously installed were working and came up with a few maintenance items, delivered 32 toilet seats to a community (note - the funny scene of me driving a pickup loaded with 32 toilet seats through the mountains is tempered by the fact that they were being delivered to a community so impoverished that no one there has a latrine at all), we surveyed for the construction of a new training facility, and facilitated midwife training for the 17 communities.  I was more than happy to be out surveying while the midwife training was going on, but our teachers seemed to be interested in that.  Water and sanitation and health and economic development and human rights are all real and tangible things in the Ulpan Valley, and our trip there last week has only served to reinforce our desire to be there. 

We even let the kids clear out our garden with machetes, which was a real treat for them, and is certain to cause angst among their grandparents, so anyone reading this who knows them, please be sure to let them know that you "saw on their blog that the boys spent a few days chasing butterflies and studying safely in a bubble-wrapped room far away from sharp objects."  It was nice to find out that a new cell phone tower that the Project Ulpan had pushed for is operational and has excellent service, including data, so we will be able to Skype and Blog and Facebook very easily from the Valley.  Please keep in touch.

As for the main items this week (language development and purchasing a truck), we still have not been able to find a truck, but we have learned at least some Qeqchi.  Probably my favorite thing I've ever discovered language-wise is this tidbit:  the Qeqchi word for light bulb is "kaxlan xam" which translates into "burning chicken".  I love that.  When my Qeqchi teacher told me that I said that the first Qeqchi people to see a light bulb must have thought it was some sort of "poultry-geist", but she didn't get it (I laughed at my joke for 4 hours and didn't learn anything else that day).

This was the view shortly after sunrise on Friday.  We look forward to waking up to this every day.

Ginger and DeeDee and our Qeqchi teachers at the top of a mountain near the Benitzul Ulpan school