Cell phones and other modern inconveniences

I truly can’t believe it. I lost ANOTHER cell phone. I’m now on my sixth since arriving in Guatemala a year and a half ago. That’s ridiculous, even for me.

Those of you who have even a passing acquaintance with me, may not be so surprised. I’m Kristina. I lose everything. I freely admit that. But I would like to point out that in seven years of cell phone usage in the States I owned a total of three phones (four including the one they gave me at my last job), and I never lost any of them. The only reason I ever got a new phone was because it came free with a new plan. So something is seriously wrong here.

Juan Jo and I have decided it’s because I don’t have a car. I think it’s a good theory. Non-private transportation (e.g. buses and micros) has accounted for the loss of four of the five phones. I’d like to say they were all stolen, but the more likely story is that they fell out of my pocket or I left them sitting on the seat next to me or dropped them on the floor when I fell asleep waiting for someone to return a text.

Another was lost when I decided to test the phone’s water resistance by jumping into a pool while it was tucked into my bathing suit top. Conclusion: the Motorola Frijolito model is not water proof.

For those of you who are wondering, my number remains the same and my telecommunications systems are operational once again.

Customer Harassment Representative
The following is a story about the dangers of mixing cross-cultural miscommunication with poor customer service. Before starting, I want to preface it by saying I realize I have high standards when it comes to customer service. As much as I sometimes hated working retail, my college job at Bed, Bath and Beyond did teach me the value of providing friendly and professional service, no matter what the industry.

Let me also say that I have encountered plenty of establishments with high-quality customer service in both the States and Guatemala. I’ve also had some unbelievably horrible service experiences in both countries, but this latest one nearly takes the cake. I promise to thinly veil the identity of the company in order to protect myself from a libel suit. Here’s the story:

I’d been having issues with my broadband Internet toward the end of last week. I was able to sign on, but was getting kicked off every few minutes, which made checking my Facebook account a very annoying experience. I was as sure as not that the problem was with my computer and not with the modem, but because I had to go into town for a separate-but-related purchase anyway, I decided to go to Guatemala’s leading cell phone and internet service provider’s store and get the modem checked out.

I was a little leery about the experience, having heard horror stories from several people who had tried to do troubleshooting with this company, but as I said, I just wanted to ask a few questions, so I figured it couldn’t be that bad.

I walk into the store, am treated cordially at the door and attended to immediately. So far, so good. The saleswoman (heretofore known as Exasperatingly Defensive Salesgirl) greets me politely and asks me to explain the situation. She tells me we’ll start by using the modem on one of their computers at the store, in order to figure out what is going on.

We walk over to the computer, she plugs in the modem and signs online. She does this before I have the chance to inform her that I haven’t yet purchased a package for the day, and therefore being connected to the Internet is draining my account at a much higher rate. I am calm when I give her this information. It’s an easy fix. We just have to disconnect from the Internet and send a message requesting the hourly package at the reduced rate before signing on again.

When I do this, I receive a message that I don’t have enough money in the account for the Q5 package I requested. That’s weird because I had Q45 in the account when I walked into the store, and while the dial-up rate is expensive, it should not have emptied my account during the 10 seconds we were connected.

[Note to reader: I was not at this point, nor at any point during this interaction, concerned with getting my money back. Even though something had obviously gone wrong and I probably could have made a case for reimbursement, I’ve lived here long enough to know that refunding is not part of the Guatemalan business culture. In fact, I’m not even sure there’s a word for it. Defensive Salesgirl, however, must have dealt with enough Gringos to make the assumption that I would expect one, a likelihood that didn’t occur to me until it was much too late.]

I am still calm, but puzzled because we are still able to connect to the Internet, even though I’ve been told there is no money in the account. This is where Exasperatingly Defensive Salesgirl starts getting defensive. You didn’t tell me you hadn’t bought a package, she tells me in a slightly panicked, high-pitched voice. I explain to her that I know, but even so, I should still have money in my account. She scurries off to check my account registry to see what happened and tells me I can use the Internet until she gets back and to make note of how long it lets me stay on before kicking me off.

Five or ten minutes pass and Salesgirl comes back with a piece of scrap paper looking satisfied. The conversation went something like this (translated from Spanish):

Exasperatingly Defensive Salesgirl: Okay, I figured it out. You scared me. Here’s what happened: (She shows me the paper with the registry log handwritten on it) You put money into the account this morning at 11:30.
Me: uh-huh…
EDS: Then you bought two hours of Internet.
Me: yeah...
EDS: Then you made some international phone calls…
Me (eyebrows raised): Wait, what? No.
EDS (face sets): Yes.
Me: No, I didn’t.
EDS: Yes, you did. It’s on the registry.
Me: Okay, but I didn’t make any international phone calls.
EDS: Well, it’s on the registry, and the computer can’t make up phone calls.
Me: Right, but I didn’t make any international phone calls. I don’t even know how to do that with the modem.
EDS: Well, then someone else made them.
Me: That’s not possible either because I’ve had the modem with me all day.
EDS (getting more defensive): Well, someone made some international phone calls with it.
Me: Look, I’m not upset. I just want to figure out what’s going on, because I don’t want to keep putting money into my account if someone is going to be able to steal it electronically. Is it possible something like that happened?
EDS: No, they can’t do that. Someone made the calls with your SIM card. (The SIM card is located inside the modem and is the same as a cell phone SIM card. So what she is suggesting is that someone on the bus or somewhere, got a hold of my modem, took out the SIM card, put it in their cell phone, made three international phone calls, put the SIM card back in the modem, and slipped the modem back into my wallet, which was inside my shoulder bag which was sitting in my lap. I know there are some pretty amazing pick-pockets in the world, but come on.)
Me: You’re not hearing me. That’s not possible. Let me tell you what I did today. I got up. I ate breakfast. I did some chores around the house. I went to the store, and had the modem with me. I put money in my account. I went home and used the Internet for two hours. Then I came into town and came to this store. The modem has been with me the whole time.
(At this point, two friends who were with me walk into the store.)
EDS: Well, these calls are on the registry.
Me: I understand that, but there must be some kind of mistake.
EDS: No, there was no mistake.
Me: I don’t know why you’re not listening to me. I didn’t make any international phone calls.
(Friends walk back out of the store.)
EDS: Well, someone did.
Me: I swear to you, that is not possible. I’m not lying to you. I don’t have any reason to lie to you.
EDS: I know you’re not lying, but these calls are on the registry.

This pattern goes on for another five minutes or so, before I figure out a way to put a stop to the insanity:

Me: Listen, I just don’t want to keep losing money. Can’t we call someone and…
EDS: I already called.
Me: Okay…is there no one else we can call? Because something is wrong here.
EDS: Okay, I guess I can call again.
Me: Thank you.

She walks away and leaves me to surf the web. I am still connected to the Internet even though I apparently have no money in my account, but this doesn’t seem to strike her as odd.

Defensive Salesgirl comes back ten or 15 minutes later looking less confident but still combative and gives me some story about how if I put money into my account and don’t use all of it up right away, then hackers can get into my account and steal my money and they’re probably the ones who made the phone calls.

First of all, I’m pretty sure I suggested something like that about 20 minutes ago. Secondly, that makes their system seem kind of faulty, no? But at this point I’m done arguing and don’t feel like pointing those things out to Salesgirl because this isn’t even the problem I came to get fixed in the first place, so I just smile and nod along.

Then she goes on to give me some other B.S. excuse that there are certain web pages (and they can’t tell me which ones) that will charge a me the dial-up rate when I view them. I’m no tech expert, but this seems like crap to me. Plus, I hadn’t visited any web pages that morning that I hadn’t been to a hundred times before, and this is the first time this has ever happened to me. But, again, I am past caring and a little confused as to why she is still arguing the point when I had accepted her first justification with no objection.

After giving me these explanations, she quickly adds, “So that’s why we can’t give you credit.” That’s when the light bulb went off.

Me: Ohhh!! No, no, no, no. I’m not asking for a credit. (I am so ready to eat the Q45 it’s not even funny.) I just wanted to figure out what was going on. By the way, it finally kicked me off.
EDS: Okay, I'll have to give the modem to one of our technical associates to find out what the problem is.
Me: How much time will that take?
EDS: 48 hours.
Me: Yeah, I can’t leave it here that long because I don’t live nearby and have to go home today. Maybe next time.
EDS: Okay.
Me: Thanks.
EDS: Bye.

You’ll notice that at no point in the exchange did I ever ask for a refund. But because I was being assertive in my quest to solve a problem, I must have mistakenly said “Give me back my money” through indirect communication. And just when I thought I was getting fluent in Guatemalan.

Peace out,
Kristina

When Gringos attack

We celebrated the Fourth of July in true Peace Corps Guatemala fashion last week. We had a two-day volunteer conference from which I gleaned just enough information to freak me out about going back to real life after this, but also had a good time hanging out in Antigua, at the basketball tourney and at the BBQ on Saturday. The week’s festivities:

We were kind of a rag-tag bunch

Wouldn't YOU be intimidated?? (Yeah, we took last)

Uncle Dave

We LOVE 4th of July!!

This dude was awesome

Our resident PCG rap group, Pan Dulce

As a belated birthday treat, I went out for sushi with some friends on Friday night. It was AMAZING! I thought it would help satisfy the cravings but now they’re only worse. I may be going back to Antigua sooner than I thought.

Ye of little faith
For the first time ever, I actually was not chomping at the bit to get back home and back to work. After spending nearly a week with other volunteers and people with whom I have virtually no cross-cultural communication problems, I was not looking forward to coming back here and diving back into the whole mess again. Especially since I was certain everything would be totally off track after the two-week break from school.

Well, I stand corrected because both of my schools are actually doing relatively well. And at my big school in Buxup they finally excavated the organic trash pits, even though I wasn’t able to be there on the day we had planned to do it. That was a nice little pick-me-up.

As for the kitchen, we’re still waiting on word from the municipality on exactly how much they’re going to give us, but we plan on bothering them every, single day until they give us something just to shut us up. Being a reporter certainly taught me well the art of being a needle in someone’s side, so here’s hopin’.

Peace out,
Kristina

¡Feliz Cumpleaños a mi!

Thursday was my 26th birthday. I hadn't planned on doing anything on the actual day really, because both my site mate and Juan José were supposed to be going out of town. And because we're so close to the annual volunteer conference and 4th of July BBQ it didn't really make sense to try and organize a get-together because we can all celebrate together in Antigua in just a few days.

I hadn't told many of my Guatemalan friends because I didn't want them to feel obligated to put something together for me. Well, that plan failed. I was at Maria's house sharing photos with the family that we had taken together at Christmas time, when Juan Jo stopped by to drop off some DVDs before he headed out. He came up, gave me a hug, said happy birthday and then asked the family if they had wished me happy birthday yet. That's when I got mauled by about 15 Guatemalans who then proceeded to chastise me about not telling them it was my birthday.

I think someone must have called a Code Red because suddenly everyone was manning battle stations, cooking, calling relatives, going out and buying supplies and before I knew it, my Guatemalan birthday party was in full swing. We had a really great time and I feel so blessed to have this family in my life.

Sounding off
As I mentioned before, I am the editor of a newsletter called La Hora Chapina for Healthy Schools volunteers. I still haven't figured out how to upload issues here. But I wrote a Letter from the Editor in the latest edition that I wanted to share with you all. Let me know what you think:

It's a swine line

I woke up one morning in April and the world had gone crazy — and it almost took me with it. The swine flu has arrived! We’re doomed! We’ll all be wiped out! I’ll admit I had fleeting thoughts of dressing myself up in one of those man-on-the-moon looking clean suits.

But that was only until I decided to dig a little deeper and not allow myself to fall prey to melodramatic headlines and the panic-inducing images being run on all the news stations. That’s when I found out, as we now all know, that contracting influenza A H1N1 did not mean certain death. That, in fact, this strand of the flu is really no different than any other strand of the flu. It’s spread and treated in basically the same way and manifests itself through basically the same symptoms.

Yes, it is a pandemic (another one of those panic button words), but the World Health Organization has been very clear that this classification “is a reflection of the spread of the virus, not the severity of illness caused by the virus.”

A little perspective: The Spanish Flu of 1918-1919 killed nearly 50 million people, equivalent to roughly one-third of the population of Europe at the time. Approximately one-third of the world's population (500 million people) became infected. The Hong Kong Flu caused 700,000 deaths in 1968, while the Asian Flu outbreak was blamed for about 100,000 deaths worldwide in 1957. Conversely, the WHO reports that as of June 26, 263 deaths are linked to the current flu pandemic.

And yet these facts seemed to have widely escaped notice by the general public, due in large part to a sensationalist media of which I am a little more than embarrassed to admit I was a member in my pre-Peace Corps life.


That is why I believe it is our role as Healthy Schools Volunteers to be the voice of reason for our teachers and our students and their parents, especially because their access to quality news and information is fairly limited. Certainly we do not want to diminish the importance of taking preventative measures. By all means, invoke the name of the evil pig flu to get your kids to wash their hands and eat well, but give them all the facts.

Well-informed people (of any age) feel empowered and in control. They are far more capable of making smart decisions than people who feel cornered and under attack.

Peace out,
Kristina

Poco a poco

Just a quick update: The municipality finally approved our kitchen project and said they are willing to provide some funds (yay!). That said, we won't know how much they're giving us until they get their next deposit from the federal government and are able to write out a budget. That deposit is supposed to be made in the next two or three weeks, but after a year and a half here, I now know enough not to hold my breath.

The hard part is, we can't solicit any other institutions until we know exactly how much we're getting from the muni, so that we can write out an exact budget stipulating which funds will be used for what. So, it's back to waiting. This whole experience is giving my patience a workout.

School is still out and I'm going a little nuts with all the free time, but am getting excited for the Fourth of July. It's the biggest event of the year for Volunteers. We have a two-day conference on the 2nd and 3rd and then a huge BBQ on the 4th with a D.J., talent show, all the works. Almost every volunteer in the country comes in for it. Last year was a blast, and I'm hearing good things about the agenda for this year's shindig.

I've been researching grad school programs for when I get back. Most of the ones that interest me require the G.R.E., which scares the crap out of me. Guess I better start studying.

Hope all the Daddios out there had a great Father's Day. Here's a shout-out to my Pops: Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!! I <3 u 2.

Peace out,
Kristina

I'm lovin' it ... mostly

Stole this idea from my cousin’s blog (KT does Japan.. again, see link to the right).

Things I love about Guatemala:
*Beans (there are so many ways to prepare them)
*Mangos
*Papusas (kind of like hot pockets but handmade and sooo much better, bigger and cheesier)
*Tostadas
*Guacamole
*Living a slower-paced life
*4-hour work days
*Seeing people’s faces light up just because you showed up when you said you would
*Hearing old ladies giggle when I greet them in the local Mayan language
*My students
*Watching one of my students wash his hands after going to the bathroom without having to be told
*Traveling
*Being surrounded by natural beauty all the time
*Saying things like Saaaaber! and Hiiiijola!
*Ayudantes who recognize me and don’t try to put me on a bus to Mexico or the lake because they know I actually live here
*Chuchitos
*Crazily decorated camionetas
*Ranchera and banda music
*Tortillas (but only Huista-style)
*Xela

Things I don’t love about Guatemala:
-Roosters in urban settings
-Trash EVERYWHERE
-The mechanic’s workshop located behind my room
-The guy who works in the mechanic’s shop and thinks he’s a really good whistler (he isn’t)
-People never showing up when or where they say they will
-Ayudantes who automatically assume I’m a tourist who speaks no Spanish
-Bombas (fireworks without the cool light display, basically just loud noise)
-People staring at me ALL THE TIME
-Not having access to good sushi
-Having way more free time than I can handle
-Having to share my seat on the bus with two grown men, and a woman and her three children
-Cocky backpackers who think they know it all because they’ve been on the road for two months
-… which reminds me … Antigua

Help Support Peace Corps!

If you get a chance, tune in to Hardball with Chris Matthews on MSNBC tonight. According to the information I have, the show will air at 5:30 p.m. EST. He's going to be interviewing a returned Peace Corps Volunteer and a Congresswoman who are pushing for legislation to strengthen the Peace Corps. The show is supposed to re-air at 7:30 p.m. EST.

We Are the Champions!

Most of this past week was spent attending sporting events and recovering from food poisoning, that I'm embarrassed to say I think I got from food I cooked myself.

The Jacal Olympics
So I've reached a level of acceptance when it comes to how much school the kids here miss for various extra-curricular activities that always take place during school hours. For example: approximately 25-30 kids from my school in Taj Buxup participated in Jacal Olympiads on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, yet school was cancelled for everyone because all the teachers decided they needed to be at the games to support the athletes. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all about supporting students in their extra-curricular interests and hobbies, but in this case it is such a see-through attempt to get out of working and spend a day at the stadium (maybe I'm not as over it as I thought).

As I was saying, with my newfound tolerance for these kinds of events, I was able to enjoy the games much more than I did last year. Our Division A boys soccer team from Taj Buxup took the championship on penalties. We also had a few boys from Taj Buxup helping out a team from a neighboring village that didn't have enough players. That team took first place on penalties, overcoming a 2-0 second-half deficit. Taj Buxup also took first place in the Division A boys high jump and Division B girls triple jump.

Sorry that most of these photos are post-game/celebration shots. I was too into the game to take action shots. Plus, my sports photography skills are seriously lacking, so they probably wouldn't have come out that great anyway.

The winning penalty kick in Division A

Celebrating the win

Division B celebrations

Juanita, Division A triple jump winner

Buxup (the bigger school) didn't place anyone and that was a subject of much debate at an excruciatingly long teacher's meeting the next day (It must be the sports committee's fault because they don't practice with the kids. No, it's the teacher's fault because they don't give their P.E. classes and the kids don't know how to play any sport but soccer. No, it's the director's fault, because....aaaahhhhhhh!!!!)

A H1N1 status in Guatemala
School has now been cancelled for the next two weeks because flu cases have been on the rise in the country. We still haven't had any cases here in Huehue and only one death in the country (a nine-year-old boy). Closing every school in the country when only a few departments have been affected seems a little drastic, but that's just one of the issues that go along with having a federalized school system.

I still think people are going slightly out of their minds over this thing. Yes, okay, it's now been classified as a global pandemic, (not to sound cold) but we are talking about 141 deaths (as of June 11th) versus tens of millions of deaths from other, serious, flu pandemics in the past. And from reading the news, it seems the majority of deaths have been people with other health problems or otherwise compromised immune systems.

The World Health Organization itself stresses that the "pandemic" classification has nothing to do with the disease's severity, rather its global spread. This is a manageable virus, treatable by the same or similar methods as any other common strand of the flu, but because of early, irresponsible and alarmist media reports people here still think you'll be dead within minutes of contracting it. Anyhow, that's my rant on that.

Nos vemos, Sarita
We all had to say goodbye to our good friend Sara (Juan Jo's fiancée) who finished up her dental internship at the hospital and went back home to the capital yesterday. We had a goodbye dinner for her on Thursday, but I was unfortunately unable to attend her final sendoff as I was still needing to run to the bathroom every few minutes, having to guess whether it'd be coming out the top or bottom (I just started bringing a bucket with me and holding it on my lap.).

We were all very sad to see her go, especially Juan Jo, of course. He'll be staying here running his clinic at least until November or December. Business is going very well for him, because the people in Jacal all know and trust him from when he did his internship at the Health Center last year.

Sarita!

I guess that about wraps up the week. Hopefully with the unexpected time off from school I'll be able to make some more headway on getting financing for the projects in my schools. Keep your fingers crossed, send up a prayer and/or send some good karma my way.

As always, loving and missing everyone like crazy.

Peace out,
Kristina