Tuesday, November 21, 2006
No blog entries since October 28? Well, November has felt like a pretty slow month, and rather depressing, frankly. There was all the hassle of multiple medical tests to confirm that nothing is wrong with me. The good news is that I finally came through it all with a clean bill of health. But it put all my discussions with the Crisis Corps on-hold. In addition, I’m only teaching one course now, and lucky to have that, because the school doesn’t know if or how long I will still be here to teach for them.
BUT THERE IS MORE GOOD NEWS! Now that I have survived all the medical probing, the Crisis Corps has come up with a very interesting opportunity, and on top of that it is in Guatemala not too, too far from the city. That is making Myrna happy!
As before in El Salvador, it involves disaster mitigation and preparedness following Hurricane Stan a year ago. It will be working with the government and other aid agencies for six months, assessing the needs of the people and the activities of the various groups, to coordinate and improve current activities and future responses to natural disasters. If that doesn’t lock in my knowledge of Spanish, nothing will.
The location is in the mountains, the Santa Catarina Ixtahuacán region. That is not very far from beautiful Lake Atitlan, with its dark side in that a whole town on the edge of the lake was buried under a mudslide during that hurricane. The government seems to be very much involved in disaster mitigation now – a bit late, maybe, but hopefully better able to minimize their losses in future disasters. A Google search turned up a number of official studies of the effects and causes of the damage in Santa Catarina.
On top of that opportunity, it appears that the Peace Corps in Mexico is willing to consider me for a two-year stint after my six months of service in Guatemala is finished. That could be a great opportunity, as the programs here in Mexico are more technical and specific than the programs in other countries. They tend to get into areas that would use my chemistry – waste management and hazardous waste management and related environmental issues. I can imagine making contacts so that I might continue to work in that field afterwards, on a somewhat more relaxed schedule. After all, I have retired and so should be able to take it a little more easy now and then.
That is the dream, at least. But I can’t count my chickens just yet. By all accounts, the Mexico programs are the most competitive of any in the Peace Corps. So, cross your fingers for me.
Meanwhile, life goes on here in Querétaro. It is a vacation day today, Independence Day. But there are few people in the parks, or anywhere outside for that matter, because it is uncommonly overcast, cold and windy today. Maybe I had better get used to weather like this again – the information I have indicates that it typically gets down to freezing at night at Santa Catarina, and I strongly doubt that there is any central heating anywhere.
This weather may be a good thing for the government. The loser in the last election, Oberon, was planning to install himself as the “legitimate President” of Mexico and appoint his “cabinet” today. This, in advance of the official installation of Calderon as President on December first. By now it is hard not to simply take Oberon as a joke, but he still seems to have a strong following. I was surprised that there were no parades or demonstrations by his supporters in Querétaro today. I take that as a good sign.
BUT THERE IS MORE GOOD NEWS! Now that I have survived all the medical probing, the Crisis Corps has come up with a very interesting opportunity, and on top of that it is in Guatemala not too, too far from the city. That is making Myrna happy!
As before in El Salvador, it involves disaster mitigation and preparedness following Hurricane Stan a year ago. It will be working with the government and other aid agencies for six months, assessing the needs of the people and the activities of the various groups, to coordinate and improve current activities and future responses to natural disasters. If that doesn’t lock in my knowledge of Spanish, nothing will.
The location is in the mountains, the Santa Catarina Ixtahuacán region. That is not very far from beautiful Lake Atitlan, with its dark side in that a whole town on the edge of the lake was buried under a mudslide during that hurricane. The government seems to be very much involved in disaster mitigation now – a bit late, maybe, but hopefully better able to minimize their losses in future disasters. A Google search turned up a number of official studies of the effects and causes of the damage in Santa Catarina.
On top of that opportunity, it appears that the Peace Corps in Mexico is willing to consider me for a two-year stint after my six months of service in Guatemala is finished. That could be a great opportunity, as the programs here in Mexico are more technical and specific than the programs in other countries. They tend to get into areas that would use my chemistry – waste management and hazardous waste management and related environmental issues. I can imagine making contacts so that I might continue to work in that field afterwards, on a somewhat more relaxed schedule. After all, I have retired and so should be able to take it a little more easy now and then.
That is the dream, at least. But I can’t count my chickens just yet. By all accounts, the Mexico programs are the most competitive of any in the Peace Corps. So, cross your fingers for me.
Meanwhile, life goes on here in Querétaro. It is a vacation day today, Independence Day. But there are few people in the parks, or anywhere outside for that matter, because it is uncommonly overcast, cold and windy today. Maybe I had better get used to weather like this again – the information I have indicates that it typically gets down to freezing at night at Santa Catarina, and I strongly doubt that there is any central heating anywhere.
This weather may be a good thing for the government. The loser in the last election, Oberon, was planning to install himself as the “legitimate President” of Mexico and appoint his “cabinet” today. This, in advance of the official installation of Calderon as President on December first. By now it is hard not to simply take Oberon as a joke, but he still seems to have a strong following. I was surprised that there were no parades or demonstrations by his supporters in Querétaro today. I take that as a good sign.
