living (in shanghai) check out my photos at: http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahfuhrmann/China#in august my friend from grad school, ashley, came for a visit. that was so
much fun, she came to my house for a week and came to several women's meetings with me too. every week we here in the women's office go off to the communities to teach women about all sorts of topics. http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahfuhrmann/WorkingInTheAldeas#
much fun, she came to my house for a week and came to several women's meetings with me too. every week we here in the women's office go off to the communities to teach women about all sorts of topics. http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahfuhrmann/WorkingInTheAldeas#here is the link to some photos from the aldeas (small communities in the countryside) the last ones are from when ashley was visitng! you can see from this picture how much taller i am than all the women around here...and i wasn't even wearing my platform shoes!!
after getting back from china it was a bit of an adjustment and a slow month of october but on nov 1 the people of guatemala celebrate all saints day. it is a time to remember the dead and adorn their graves, and even have a bbq in the graveyard if you want! most people fly kites to send messages to the heavens, some kites are as big as 5 meters across! i headed to todos santos where they have a famous celebration and drunken horse races to boot!
i was also happy when november rolled around because we had our one year in service anniversary and mid-service conference.this is where all the volunteers from my training class get together and discuss, evaluate and discuss some more our service thus far.
at the end of november jan came to visit, my great friend from college. click here to see the 
photos from our visit: http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahfuhrmann/ThanksgivingWithJan#
photos from our visit: http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahfuhrmann/ThanksgivingWithJan#we had a great time too! here in the women's office we celebrated the international day of non-violence with a march and workshop where over 400 women attended. it was great that jan was also able to be here for that event! (photos to come on this one)
soon december came and a visit from mom and ron. they spend christmas and new years here with me in guatemala, christmas at my site and we headed north to tikal for new years. it was a great trip overall and they had an unforgettable experience for sure. this was their second visit so the family where i live greeted them with open arms and were so happy to be able to share this special holiday with them, including a 4 hour church service, whew!
in january we continued to plan for the upcoming year with the women's office, the first lady of guatemala came for a visit and we ha lots of work here in the municipality!
the end of january i finally got the oppourtunity to meet my little niece kaia in san diego! i was only able to go for one week but it was such a great trip. i love that little girl so much!!! here is a link to the photos of my trip to san diego visiting kaia and the family! http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahfuhrmann/CaliforniaAndKaia#throughout february through may (this month) we have been travelling to the communities alot, writing and present new workshops and i also finished my capstone paper for grad school!!! whew! i have been quite busy but what a relief to have that done! i will be heading to vermont to present and graduate at the end of this month, woo hoo!!
my brother niels came for a visit during semana santa (easter week) which is a huge celebration 
here in guatemala. we went to the beach, to lake atitlan and also hiked a volcano. here is a link to those photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahfuhrmann/NielsVisitToGuatemala#
here in guatemala. we went to the beach, to lake atitlan and also hiked a volcano. here is a link to those photos:http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahfuhrmann/NielsVisitToGuatemala#
below is a link to one of the many hikes i have taken on some weekend trips, guatemala is so beautiful and has a multitude of micro climates which you shall see!
we climed the highest volcano in central america, volcan tajamulco and also hiked from todos santos to nebaj, a 25 mile hike in two days!check out the photos of the nebaj hike: http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahfuhrmann/HikeToNebaj#
well! it sounds like i have done a ton of traveling but also had a lot of visitors. overall i have been really busy with work, my capstone and other school work and also getting to know and show off guatemala! what a great year and i will hopefully update this again before 2010!!!
