CIACEP General Body Meeting

Last Wednesday my coffee coop celebrated their second all-member general body meeting, a yearly affair. Most organizations around here - whether it be an NGO, a community association, or the local government - hold a general meeting once a year to get all the members together (sometimes solely to remind them that they are, in fact, members still) discuss any achievements throughout the year and present new work plans and budget revisions. It's basically one big board meeting, where all the stock holders are allowed to attend and participate.

Since our foundation in October of 2008, it's been a constant struggle for survival as an organization dealing with coyotes threatening our coffee sales, bad weather hurting the coffee yields and rival coops enamoring our associates. So, needless to say, having arrived at this point in our lifetime as a coop was an accomplishment in itself. While it should probably go without saying that this type of affair generally turns into a big party, our board and members were especially riled up for this event. Now that I mention it, it seems like people around here are always looking for a reason to celebrate, something that shouldn't come as a surprise in a country that very seriously celebrates "Day of the child."

So, keeping in mind the true nature of our event, the team of board members and coffee promoters set about preparing the venue the day before. Not so surprisingly, it was an activity that took from lunchtime Tuesday until when the first guests started arriving Wednesday morning and took priority over points to be presented during the meeting – inconsequential details like the work plan, summary of activities in the past year and current budget, haha.

As part of the decorating commission, i was put in charge of the balloons and posters. Luckily my landlord Emeliano has a store where he sells school and office supplies in town. When i arrived and inquired about balloons, he smiled and said of course they sold balloons. What was I thinking? I forgot this place is party central. But, the funniest part, that I hope you'll appreciate too, came when I asked if he sold them inflated. Seeing as my Spanish is far from perfect still, I had to talk my way around the actual words for inflating balloons with a helium tank. Once I had asked he just sort of stared at me with a perplexed expression on his face, and after a few minutes to allow me time to retract my statement, said that no, they did not inflate them, in a way that implied that I was crazy for even having asked.

After a few moments, I had that epiphany that should be automatic by now because it happens so often: in my town, filling balloons with helium and attaching ribbon is unheard of, because blowing them up manually and hanging them with thread works just fine - no fancy helium tanks or shiny ribbon required. So, I quickly put two and two together, and realized that Emeliano had understood that i wanted not only to buy the 50 balloons in yellow and green, but that I expected him to blow them up himself. I could've kicked myself.

Like I said, I should be used to situations like this by now, they happen so often. But luckily I can still have a good laugh at myself.

The event went over really well and we even had some unexpected visitors from the National Coffee Association which made the event seem very official. The members left satisfied and happy, hopefully in part because of the beautiful array of balloons :)

Secretary Clinton Visits Guatemala

Last Friday Guatemala had the pleasure of receiving a visit from Secretary of State Clinton. We in the Peace Corps community were invited by the embassy to a small meet and greet session at the ambassador's house about two days before the event was scheduled to take place. For some volunteers, this was unfortunately not enough advance notice to be able to re-arrange work commitments and arrive on time. But, luckily for me, it's still coffee harvest for another month, so my coworkers are busy cutting and processing coffee and all my recent work has been self initiated. Also, I live extremely close to the capital in comparison to other volunteers, something I've usually taken for granted seeing as I don't do much in Guate. But for an event like this, 15 minutes long and subject to cancellation, I was thankful for my site location.

The meet and greet with Secretary Clinton was scheduled to take place at 2:30 at Ambassador McFarland's house in Guatemala City, but all visitors were required to arrive a fair amount of time beforehand in order to 'secure the area.' Our group of Peace Corps volunteers and staff members arrived around 12:30 at the ambassador's house ready to hunker down and wait - something I've gotten suprisingly comfortable with while being here. I'd been to the ambassador's house before, so it wasn't so shocking the second time and we were allowed to explore the grounds while we waited - a full size lawn, swimming pool, tennis court and various meeting nooks scattered around them.

As other guests trickled in, we got into conversations with some of the other people invited,as the invitation was extended to the entire Guatemalan 'mission,' a term with which i was unfamiliar before that day. Apparently that includes the embassy staff, Peace Corps volunteers and staff and the Center for Disease Control among others with the Ambassdor's house being the 'Chief of the Mission's Residence'.

While lounging around the Chief of the Mission's swimming pool, my friends and I got the chance to chat with several people living in Guatemala City working as part of the mission for various other organizations. It was really funny to see how we Americans collided, coming from completely different experiences in Guatemala. All the embassy and CDC workers live in a predetermined area in Guate, with similarly furnished apartments and little freedom to leave their path from Home to Work. (while Peace Corps Volunteers are basically sent off into the rural communities and asked to find their own housing, construct their own furniture etc.) I asked a teenage daughter of one of the Center for Disease Control staff what she did to hang out with her friends, and she said that while she did have some friends from school, and a few friends in her apartment building, she mostly 'just stays where it's safe.'While i was listening to her, i was thinking about all the things I'd done while in PC Guatemala that probably would be frowned upon by the state department, not even because they were not allowed but because of the liability issues. (I've been in a lot of rickety pickups)

Judging from the Foreign Service Officers we met, the embassy staff seeks out the most cosmopolitan setting in each post and tries to adjust accordingly. We got into talking about different restaurants and things to do in the city and somehow got onto the topic of American restaurant chains abroad; Crystal chandeliers in Pizza Huts and Botanic Gardens in McDonald's. After discussing the ambience at a certain McDonald's one guy urged us to 'GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN!'Needless to say, it was a nice check on perspective.

Finally, around 3:45 we were alerted to Secretary Clinton's impending arrival and all crowded around the podium that had been assembled for the occasion. She arrived in style, smiling in a pants suit, enormous pearls and a blinding diamond ring that i had not previously noticed (but that didn't surprise me). After greeting several women political leaders of Guatemala - including Rigoberta Menchu - she delivered a short speech to the mission staff (on the importance of our work in Guatemala and its role in the US's foreign relations, http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/03/137891.htm) and stepped down into the crowd to shake hands.

Unfortunately, after thinking about it all day, the best thing i could manage to spit out was 'it's so nice to meet you' and I only got that much out because I heard someone else say it. I'll have to think of what I'm going to say next time..