A little of this, a little of that

We are heading east for our "white Christmas" this year. Yes, you heard correctly. We will spend our week off on the white, sandy beaches of the carribean coast just 6 hours from Chamelco. Spending our first holiday season without family will be strange and a little lonely, but we are taking advantage of being this close to the coast.

There is a governmental state of siege in our region for the next month in hopes of fighting the Mexican drug cartels. The Mexican government has really cracked down on drug trafficing, but unfortunately for Guatemala the "Zetas" cartel have relocated themselves here. They are taking advantage of the poverty by recruiting indigenous through promises of financial prosperity. The police and military have the right to search any car or house without a warrant and have been doing so. Our lives have continued as before here in Chamelco, but in some nearby cities more armed men are seen patrolling the streets. We hope and pray this will help take care of the problem before it becomes an even bigger one. Now don´t freak out and vow to NEVER come to Guatemala, because it's just part of being in another country.

Mayan Style

This is what a gringa in a corte and guipil (mayan dress) looks like. I borrowed this from a friend and everyone was just thrilled that I would attempt to identify more closely with their culture. Mayan clothing differs alot from region to region and everyone will know where you are from simply by your attire. The people here have been absolutely amazing and have done everything they can to welcome us. We have been invited to 5 different homes to celebrate Christmas. Fortunately, the tradition is to visit different homes throughout the entire night which means we will be eating tamales at each one these 5 homes.

Pray that I (Kallie) will continue to learn keq`chi since it is the Mayan language in this area. The women don`t speak spanish and the obvious barrier of communication will be broken, but as I have already seen, they are quick to bring down their walls of defense and distrust when I try and converse with them in their maternal language with the few words and phrases I`ve learned. When I meet a gal for the first time she will be very quiet, timid, and seemingly unfriendly, but as soon as I ask her, her name in Keq`chi (ani`aka`ba) her whole demeener changes as her face lights up with a big smile. They are not customed to foreigners taking the time to learn their language and this has really helped me to begin friendships even though communication is very limited. As you know, I still have alot of spanish learning left to do, but I am trusting that God will give my mind the ability to learn both simulataneously. To my delight and surprise I really enjoy learning languages. I am so talkative that I had anticipated frustration at the inability to express myself, but thanks to God this hasn`t been the case at all.

Thursday, December 2, 2010; 18:23...

We arrive home. Flip on the lights. I go to the bedroom to change. I see our window is broken next to the latch. First thought, did someone enter our house and take something. I examine the crime scene.
No glass inside the house, some mud on the wall underneath the window, a slightly soiled toilet seat. Strange. But nothing is found missing from the house. From the evidence I deduce someone needed to use the bathroom badly. He broke into our house leaving mud on the wall. It was such an absolute emergency that he forgot to lift the toilet seat (hence I conclude it is a male). Feeling bad about breaking our window he cleans up the glass and throws it out the window. My companion, Kallie, says my explanation is naïve. She says someone has either entered the house looking to take something or possibly we are being over paranoid gringos. I say, it’s elementary my dear, the evidence explains all. Case closed.

Monday, December 6, 2010; 7:29...
Though seemingly a closed case, my mind was restless all night like a fat man on a low-carb diet. I cleverly place a little wad of paper next to the sliding window. If an intruder reenters the house I will know without a shadow of doubt. I also lock our bedroom door, so that access is denied to any other room in the house.

Monday, December 6, 2010; 18:39...
We arrive home. I check the window. The wad of paper has moved. More mud. I look for anything missing. I discover that our now not so friendly intruder took two hidden thumb drives along with a CD with special family photos saved onto it. Why these things? Everything else is perfectly in place. It is as if he does not want us to know he had been in here. What is going on? My deductive reasoning fails me like a stealthy panther fallen into water.

Presently…
Our landlords will be welding our windows shut in a few days and until then I have tried to lock our window doors shut with some nails. Apparently, even though intruders have entered our house multiple times we are still on Guatemalan time and feel vulnerable as we wait for our new window and for the welders. We are pretty confident our intruders are just kids, but knowing we’ve been robbed leaves us feeling a little uneasy. It feels weird to think that someone has been searching through our stuff, and we have learned that for us getting robbed is not so much about the material loss, but about the loss of feeling secure. So now we are just trusting God and asking Him to keep fear, paranoia, and distrust from creeping in and gnawing on us while we live here. We would appreciate your prayers for this too.