A NEW JOB: INTERESTING TIMES AHEAD.

Chapel RL University

Weather these days: Sticky hot, warm breeze, occasional thunderstorms.

New Job and Volunteering

I made the last changes and turned in my dissertation a couple weeks ago and it is supposed to go to the other members of my committee. I haven't heard anything from my chair, though, except that he got it. *sigh*

Well, it is out of my hands for now. Nothing I can do about it, except wish it would move faster.

Meanwhile, have been working 24/7--I admit to a slight exaggeration here, but only slight--preparing the class I have to teach at a masters program here in Guatemala this summer semester coming up. I have taught all levels of undergraduate, but this is my first grad level course. So it's sort of exciting. And a bit nerve-wracking. I don't look forward to all the grading, though.

Reading hub RL University library

The masters program is in the Jesuit university. I am impressed at how high-tech they are. They even have the turn-it-in program we use in the US to catch plagiarizing students. There is also lots of security on the grounds (ample, green grounds!), even a couple of university buses for staff and professors which take everybody home in case of need or preference.

They don't have AC though, so I saw everybody sitting in classrooms, offices and computer labs inside the buildings, moist foreheads, hair sticking to temples and drops of sweat gliding down cheeks. I saw people all hot like that, with their jackets on!!!!

Grounds RL University

I recently spent a whole afternoon there getting my parking permit--got a great parking spot!--my staff ID, setting up my online portal account so that I can upload all the reading material for my students, etc. I also wanted to spend time absorbing the culture there.

Professors at this university dress up, at least compared to what is more usual in the US, where it isn't uncommon to see professors in sandals and frayed jeans and sometimes, shorts. I tend not to dress down for teaching, actually, but here many dress as corporate junior executives! I was at the computer lab and met another professor from the US, who teaches English. He, too, dress shirt all buttoned up, formal-ish pants.

I guess I will have to climb out of my usual sneakers and back to wearing pumps and lipstick on teaching days, then. I can't see wearing a jacket while sweat pours down my temples, though.

Preppie young handsome, RL University

To Get a Job: Some have written to ask me about this. To get a job here as a US citizen, you need a Guatemalan residency--a resident visa with a work permit--just as in the US. But it is much easier to get here than in the US, since they aren't exactly turning away foreigners who want to come work here, especially as professionals. Business owners are welcome too, obviously. People can also get hired while still in the US by schools and universities here, but you'd have to apply through their system, which usually is on their website. In English.

I just got a job while I was here. But I have a resident visa. I haven't had a problem yet, and I already worked for the City on a 6-month project. I have to pay income taxes, of course. I intend to look up the proper work permit information online and post the link for it on this blog in the near future.

Grounds RL University

On another note--though still work-related--I have been elected the chairperson of a citizen-government committee in charge of promoting development and investment in the Historic Center of Guatemala. It was a unanimous nomination and I accepted with trepidation.

I have sat in other non-profit boards here and my experience is that people may be well-intentioned, but aren't very organized nor punctual. Overall. I have never yet been the chair, though. On the other hand, I enjoy being part of the growing development and renewal of the historic center here, founded in colonial times, and which preserves so much of its original structures almost intact.

In that sense, I am looking forward to helping start this organization, a partnership between business owners downtown (such as us) and the City government, which may actually achieve something useful for all, even if it is an unpaid position which shall entail lots of work. I am sure it will be like an adventure!

Spectacular accident

Road Accidents and Rock n Roll

The other night on our way to meet friends at a very nice, fashionable bar/restaurant with live music named Allegretto, we went by the amazing accident pictured above. Unbelievably, nobody seemed seriously injured. The wheels were still turning fast on the top car! Driving here is like driving in the US around a big Florida university the day Spring Break lets out ...

At least the band was good. Quite good. Good enough that we stayed for their whole two sets. It was very cross-national, with one guitar player from Texas, the drummer from Louisiana, and the singer and other guitar player from Guatemala.

One Way rock band

Seems there are many young expats working in the ever-expanding call center industry here, as the IT managers and other key positions. Being mostly young, some form rock bands on their off hours or other artsy endeavors. One of our neighbors is actually from Canada and works as a supervisor for a call center. He tells me most of the executive level staff are from the US or Canada.

I keep crossing my fingers for a good, down-and-gritty blues band some day soon!

Anyhow, if you're ever around here and see that One Way is playing somewhere, go for it. They are good. Lots of 90s to early 2000s music, you know, Three Doors Down, Green Day, Soul Asylum, Crazy Town... the place was filled to standing-room only, and everybody really loved them!

What I'm reading right now

Talking of expats, the good thing about there being so many Europeans around here is that at the used books bookstores I find books that are already widely available in Europe but not yet in the US, such as Stieg Larsson's trilogy. I found the first one, a dog-eared exemplar of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, for Q.50 (about US$6) (yep, books are expensive here).

There is an interesting article on this which you can read by clicking here.

I am told these aren't out in the US yet, so I feel lucky. If you are staying in the city, I really recommend a day trip to the used books stores of Antigua, if you want stuff in English and a myriad other languages, as well. The bookstores in downtown Guatemala City are best for Spanish books.

National Conservatory of Music

Not all is rock and roll, though. We did go to the yearly Mozart Gala performed by the Classic Music Conservatory students and the amazingly good choral of the University of Guatemala. The choir seems to have some foreign members, for some very tall and blond men there seemed more German than Guatemalan, and there was also a very tall, Afro-American woman, but then, Guatemala does have a large German as well as Afro-diasporic community.

Many people are surprised that there are so many white-skinned or African-descended Guatemalans, but Guatemalans do come from all sorts of ethnic backgrounds, even Korean and Chinese. It's a surprising little country, this one.

19th Century publication, The Workers' Library

Back to the concert. The ensemble played all of Mozart's Requiem, with a soprano from abroad, an award-winning local mezzo soprano, and two tenors. They were SO much better than we had dared expect (I have gone to other performances of uneven quality). Goes to show us! The performance was simply thrilling.

Drypoint engraving print

Art School

So they haven't come out perfect (with my dismal skills, probably never will). I have been engraving in drypoint a series of Victorian dress patterns I photographed from some women's fashion publications from the 19th Century at this library I like to go to, The Workers Library (founded in 1890), with a treasure trove of 19th century periodicals. Great source for images and all sorts of fascinating historical trivia.

For this particular technique we engrave with steel etching needles onto plexiglass plaques--the engraving for these prints took me almost 2 weeks of work. Then the plaque is inked and used to print, through a big piece of typesetting equipment whose name I ignore. It's like a huge roller press.

Drypoing engraving prints

Because the popularity of printmaking is growing fast, thanks to the art collective La Torana in Guatemala, now city art supply stores carry much more in printmaking tools and paper. It's a small country, so when a trend takes off, it takes off wide and fast.

Getting supplies used to be a hassle even half a year ago. One had to order the stuff from the US and have a carrier bring it over. There are many local companies who will bring a small box for US$10, so the logistics weren't an insurmountable problem, but one has to wait several weeks to get the package.

Etching Needle

What I like about drypoint is that one can give the print an "old sepia" look, so it really lends itself to reproducing vintage-like pieces. However, I am going to add some cool salamanders to these prints. I love reptiles and I don't want to leave the prints as just some kitschy piece of Victoriana.

I an no good at any of this, yet I find that working with my hands, sharing and exchanging with other students at the workshop, is very therapeutic.

View from RL University

News Guatemala

The big issue here these days is the Arizona anti-immigration law. I find it sadly funny that authorities there deny it is a profiling measure, when "stopping people who appear to be immigrants" is not going to make them stop Canadian or Eastern European undocumented immigrants. Some politicians in Rhode Island seems to want to follow suit with that law now.

Interestingly, my son-in-law is a police detective and a Republican, and he is vehemently against this measure. He just finds it plainly stupid. On some issues, we sometimes coincide. Such as on my sheer awesomeness. Yes, indeed, he is another worshiper.

Anyway. Since elections in the US are coming, those who want to appear "tough on immigration" and as if they are going to "do something"--besides having allowed the despoiling of the economy in the past years and the present--are going to join in this counterproductive bandwagon.

Guatemalans are feeling quite sorely about all this, as can be imagined.

World Cup poster

Another big issue here, of course, is the upcoming Soccer World Cup--I couldn't care less about it, but then, I couldn't care less about the Super Bowl or Baseball World Championship either--yet it is a collective craziness here. Locura. I may watch the very last games of the championship.

And the third is the buffoonesque ways in which the current administration keeps avoiding turning in accounts to Congress for their murky expenses. It's sort of entertaining to watch, the corruption is soooo in your face.

Nineth Montenegro

Many believe that the upcoming elections will swing the vote to the extreme right wing again, and it may happen. I doubt it, however, if only because I have been hearing from many of the working poor who--even though they don't absolutely trust this government--fear military-friendly regimes even more. At least people in the streets and markets, whom I hear talk, really fear militarized regimes. They tend to suffer greatly under them.

Moreover, the poor (working or not) actually receive a great deal more in social benefits from this government than they ever had. Why would they care if the government is stealing? It is always the case anyhow, only now the poor are getting more out of it. And the poor here are just so poor! It boggles the mind. If I were that poor, I too would take anything I could get coming my way.

The wealthy do it--corporations get all sorts of goodies from the government here just as they do in the US--and they see it happen. Why wouldn't the poor want a piece of the pie?

People lining up for government aid

On the other hand, there is a congresswoman and human rights activist here named Nineth Montenegro, whose courage is longstanding and simply amazing.

Despite constant death threats, she has continued to spearhead the movement which demands accountability from the government and military. Especially from these social-aid programs headed by the First Lady, accused of engaging in murky accounting practices. Maybe if Ms. Montenegro ran for president she could throw a wrench on the whole thing.

Interestingly, the bravest in Congress here are all women. These are angry women. I have heard people nowadays, whom I know to be very conservative and right-wing, hoping aloud that Montenegro will run for president! I was like, Wow!

Night view of RL University

It has been surprising to hear that, especially since Ms. Montenegro keeps getting tagged as "a Communist" by conservatives. It's like calling Pres. Obama a Socialist! I always roll my eyes inwardly when I hear or read that. Conservatives here, just as in the US, often don't really understand the differences between Communism, and different expressions of Capitalism and Socialism, but that's a whole 'nother story.

I doubt, however, that the elite here would vote for Montenegro, though who knows?

In Guatemala many claim to be right wing, yet most everybody benefits one way or another from socialized medicine, mandated pregnancy time off, and other labor-friendly measures we don't have in the US.

RL University

Anyhow, that's neither here nor there.

The current Guatemalan administration is banking upon the vote of the poor--which are the vast majority here--as elections get nearer. The right wing is already gearing up for the battle, going on a "tough on crime" platform (there was as much violence when they were in power, and even when the military where in power, but whatever). The extreme left wing will also get into the fray, for sure. After all, there are 20+ political parties here!

Locura.

Either way, it'll be entertaining to watch from the sidelines. Interesting times ahead...

Night view of RL University

Innkeeping

Some weeks have been slow and some weeks we've been so full we've had to turn people away, which we hate to do. Wish one could teletransport people one has to turn away to the weeks that have been slow. We're still learning this business, since my mom died.

My favorite guest of the season, though, is an upbeat Irish businessman who stayed with us for a while. Then we helped him find an apartment. Then he left that apartment and came back to stay with us (till he finds another one). Long story short, I just love the Irish way of speaking. There's like a little lilt in the speech. I know the Irish are reputed to be melancholic, but my experience is that they tend to behave happily.

RL University

We're supposed to go out for beers one of these days. I seem to make more friends here, locals as well as foreigners, here than I do in the US.

I don't know if people are just more sociable, friendlier, or what. Well, English-speaking people tend to veer towards other English-speakers, that's normal. Guatemalan society is a paranoid society, yet paradoxically, it is also friendly.

For example, people do this thing here, where they'll just appear at one's house or place of business for a social visit, no previous call or anything. The first year here, that was very discombobulating, but I'm getting used to it. Or else, they insist--insist!--one go to their house for dinner or drinks. In short, want it or not, one ends up with lots of friends faster than one would ever in the US. You'd have to be staunchly anti-social not to.

Grounds RL University

Talking of people appearing at one's house. I recently received the visit of my quasi-daughters, Ale and China, who live in Manhattan and are spending a couple of months in Guatemala. (They did call ahead, but they are welcome to appear unannounced whenever they want to). To me, living in Manhattan or Brooklyn must be like the epitome of wonderfulness. Yet they quit their jobs, and are leaving New York to spend two years in Africa.

Ale Bara and China Yon

Ale is a furniture designer and China a photographer/graphic designer. Both have lived in Norway and Guatemala before, and are now on their way to Kenya, where they will work as volunteers for a humanitarian non-profit, helping physically-challenged people at a furniture factory learn how to design and package their own products for sale worldwide.

Can you believe such a wonderful endeavor? And fearlessness? The world should have more kids like them! I love these girls.

As artists, they have been greatly successful and won several awards. Do check out their awesome work in AleBara.com and China's Flickr page.

Sunset view from the Inn

Finally, I got wind my friend and blog buddy Bob Dunn got the seeds I sent him from here. He has the coolest blog in Texas, check it out. Not much makes me miss my 10 years in Texas, but his blog does.

Looking forward to hear how the manzana rosa seeds--a delicious fruit whose name translates as Rose Apple and I believe hails originally from Asia--fares in Texan lands. It sprouts a huge, shady tree and the fruit has a perfumed quality. Delicious. A friend from Jamaica (hey Trudy E.!) tells me the fruit is common there too.

Manzana rosa fruit

That's all that is new for now and I shall leave you with 2 recent sunset view from my balcony. One of the neighbors here sits on the wall at sunset and does yoga facing this view. Guests often come out to watch it at the end of the day. It is both inspiring and calming, provides a dreamy sense of timelessness, and I love to look at it every day.

I will be writing soon about my adventures teaching grad school in Guatemala. I wish you all peace and good times ahead. And please wish me luck in my new job!

www.QualityGuate.com

Hotel - Lofts - Parking
In the Historic Center of Guatemala City