Tuesday, January 24, 2006
... in briefs
So on the first day back to work, we had a big office meeting and told we were moving offices. Everyone packed everything up and has been half working ever since. Would you believe we still haven't moved offices??? It's been 3 weeks!!!
But on a brighter note, Laura and I have more or less taken over the Big Boss' computer which happily is relatively quick and even has internet access! (mainly for online research). As well, it appears that we have become official English-Spanish, Español-Ingles translators, translating everything from the CEDEPEM webpage, to applications for EU Grants, and technical papers about Agriculture.
We're hoping to be able to have the most impact by helping the organization restructure itself. Up until now, we still haven't been able to talk to the Big Boss and haven't been able to move forward... at all. Very, very frustrating. We see a lot of potential, but it never fails to be lost in the inefficiency. *sigh*
We voted! Last week Friday we hired a private shuttle to take us to and from the Canadian Consulate in Guatemala City. Canadians must be really trust worthy because they didn't check any of our ID's before handing us our voting ballots! And I guess knowing who the candidates were in our respective ridings ahead of time would have been helpful :P On our way back to Quetzaltenango, we stopped in Antigua to take this (left) picture for Andrea's article - we ended up on the front page of the Terrace local paper!
The Japanese are working on a water project here in Xela where they're trying to get potable water to every household. So in that process, they shut down water in parts of the city (more specifically, my part). The idea was that the water pressure would end up being lower (i.e. I wouldn't be able to take a shower for 3 days), which was fine by me, but come day 3, the water pressure had not returned and in fact, had stopped completely. You learn quickly how dependent you are on water, even if there's only a little bit of it. Good thing MacDonald washrooms weren't very far away and thank goodness for friends willing to let me use their showers!!
H.R. 4437 - There was a newly proposed bill in US Congress last December (you might have heard about the extra length of wall that's going up at the Mexican-US border). It basically cracks down quite harshly on illegal immigration and doesn't address the root of the problem. Some Guatemalans here, the ones who know about this new bill, are joining the fight against the passing of this new law, also not addressing the root problem. What do you think?
But on a brighter note, Laura and I have more or less taken over the Big Boss' computer which happily is relatively quick and even has internet access! (mainly for online research). As well, it appears that we have become official English-Spanish, Español-Ingles translators, translating everything from the CEDEPEM webpage, to applications for EU Grants, and technical papers about Agriculture.
We're hoping to be able to have the most impact by helping the organization restructure itself. Up until now, we still haven't been able to talk to the Big Boss and haven't been able to move forward... at all. Very, very frustrating. We see a lot of potential, but it never fails to be lost in the inefficiency. *sigh*
We voted! Last week Friday we hired a private shuttle to take us to and from the Canadian Consulate in Guatemala City. Canadians must be really trust worthy because they didn't check any of our ID's before handing us our voting ballots! And I guess knowing who the candidates were in our respective ridings ahead of time would have been helpful :P On our way back to Quetzaltenango, we stopped in Antigua to take this (left) picture for Andrea's article - we ended up on the front page of the Terrace local paper!The Japanese are working on a water project here in Xela where they're trying to get potable water to every household. So in that process, they shut down water in parts of the city (more specifically, my part). The idea was that the water pressure would end up being lower (i.e. I wouldn't be able to take a shower for 3 days), which was fine by me, but come day 3, the water pressure had not returned and in fact, had stopped completely. You learn quickly how dependent you are on water, even if there's only a little bit of it. Good thing MacDonald washrooms weren't very far away and thank goodness for friends willing to let me use their showers!!
H.R. 4437 - There was a newly proposed bill in US Congress last December (you might have heard about the extra length of wall that's going up at the Mexican-US border). It basically cracks down quite harshly on illegal immigration and doesn't address the root of the problem. Some Guatemalans here, the ones who know about this new bill, are joining the fight against the passing of this new law, also not addressing the root problem. What do you think?
# posted by doris : 4:47 PM
