Jueves

Well, back in the internet cafe... These places are so funny. It´s like you forget how much we use the internet in the states until you get to a place where there is no internet and then you go to an internet cafe and you are super overwhelmed and don´t know what to do. Anywho, these past few days have been more relaxing. Just lots of spanish and homework and passing time with my family here.
I found out today that most likely I will be part of a program with a partner and we will work together to implement the healthy schools program in a ¨county¨here. It is kinda hard to explain and I think I´ll just wait until March 11 to give you all the details. Why March 11? Well that is site assignment day. Meaning that is the day when we find out where we will be living and exactly what we will be doing. It will be exciting. So I guess you guys will just have to wait like me.
In other news, life is pretty good. Next week we will begin working in the schools in our community to practice for our job. And in 2 weeks we will go on Field Base Training. It should be exciting. As for now, tomorrow we are going to a coffee farm and museum. Good times. Although, I´m just going to be sad that when we drink coffee it is instant coffee full of sugar. Ie not super tasty. It is just that real coffee is too expensive. But all is well here and next time you get the starbucks guatemalan blend, size up for me! love and miss you all.

3 Weeks(ish)

Well I guess tomorrow marks the official 3 week mark! Wow! It feels like it but at the same time not at all. This past weekend has been very busy. Saturday I went with my family to a little baile or parade type celebration in another village. It was so fun! Bascially all of the pueblo-dwellers get dressed up and then dance to music in the middle of the street for about 20 minutes. Then everybody moves with them down the street and they do it all over again. People are wearing like mascott costumes and it's really funny. Also, we thought the trucks were jacked with speakers in the DR, imagine a firetruck sized truck, that has lots of speakers, like tons! loaded down and then when they stop to play the music they have to use jumper cables to get the power. The connect the speakers to a local house to get the juice. It's pretty funny. There is also a chance that your truck could have a live band as well. Needless to say, it's pretty fun and very entertaining.
Then Sunday, I hiked the volcano Pacaya. There was a group of ten of us. It was a long day and pretty cool. No lava, just hot rocks and hiking straight up hill. I was super dirty and spent the whole day traveling back. We met some really nice Canadians who befriended us and made the trip more fun. We didn't go all the way to the top where you can see the lava flowing, maybe next time. Anywho, we rewarded our selves with some McDonald's, after a long day you just need a reminder of home.
Anywho, then yesterday we went to Guatemala City. To see the embassy and just learn how to travel safely in the big city. It was fun, we went to the mall there and it is so crazy. It's just like being back in the states, but then in my house, there's only running water for part of the day. What a crazy life.
In other news life is good and I'm def going to put some pictures up as soon as possible. Sorry, life is so busy and I just got lucky today to be able to get on the computer. Miss you all so much and I'll be in touch soon. love love love

Jinx

Well just now walking to the internet cafe, i was saying I feel like my stomach is finally back to normal but now i´m sitting here with a very ¨bean belly¨ as barb rupert has named it. Not so great but ok. Anywho, it has been a very busy past few days. It is really really hot. Like I wish I had brought completely different clothes but we´ll see. Yesterday we learned more about our future job, and it was exciting but I still have lots of questions and am anxious about my future. But everthing is poco a poco. Yesterday we went to Antigua for the afternoon. It was really fun. We explored the mercado, where they have all of the fresh fruits and veggies and then each one of my town mates bought a piece of fruit and today we made a fruit salad. It was yummy. Pineapple, watermelon, bannanas, apples and papayas. With honey, which by the by, my group calls me a honey snob because ¨My parents are beekeepers and we raise our own honey.¨And although I´m not crazy about honey, I certainly prefer my home grown VA honey...
Anywho back to yesterday. After the maket we walked around the streets of Antigua, which are very cool, all cobblestones and such. We went to the main Catholic Church there. It is yellow and very pretty. Then we stopped at a cafe for a small snack. Then we went to the Jade museum. It is really cool, you can see how the process the jade and make it into jewlery and sculptures. Then there is history about the Mayas. And that´s when I was just like, wow. This is so crazy. All of history here and I can´t wait to see ruins and just learn more about all of the culture here.
I also bought a bag yesterday. It is cool. My thought process was that on a camioneta a backpack really isn´t optimal unless completely necessary. So I purchased an over the shoulder bag that´s really pretty and big enough to hold things on the camioneta that I might need. Also, I feel the need to say that the vendor wanted to sell it to me for 90 Q (like $10 US) but I was able to negociate down to 70Q. Suh-weet. Also in stomach news, ¨bean belly¨ has just passed.
I´m glad to be able to update my blog relatively frequently and hope that this will be the case in the future. I´m looking into possible buying an internet card that would go into my computer and I would pay as I go, just like with the cell phone here. So we´ll see. Maybe I´ll get some pictures up here soon. It´s just that I end up randomly popping into an internet cafe, un prepared. But I´ll be sure to post some pictures ASAP. Until then I´ll just leave it that it´s really pretty and really hot. (right now) There are mountains all over, and volcanoes and brightly colored buses and lots of short people.
Love and miss you guys so much and your support means everything. I love hearing from you all. xxxxxxxxxxxxoooooooooo

Miercoles

Alright it is offically that I have gotten my first illness here but it wasn´t too bad. It´s basically my stomach adjusting to beans twice a day and lots of other foods that I don´t normally eat but it was fine. Monday we got to go visit current PC volunteers that are in the Healthy Schools programs who we will be replacing, ie their close of service is when we swear in! It was exciting to see a real life volunteer and how their life is here. It is very nerve wracking though because we have so little time to learn everything about our new job and take spanish classes and get ready to live on our own. Today I was thinking about it and I´m really excited but also pretty terrified of living on my own completely but it was exciting to see a Volunteers house that wasn´t at all like I pictured. She had painted the walls and decorated and made it seem so homey and bright! It was exciting. We also experienced our first earthquake on Monday while visiting one of the schools. It was pretty exciting but I wasn´t really scared even though we don´t have those in our parts.

And speaking of our parts, I hope I´m doing a good job of representing the east coast... There are so many west coast peeps, I´m just a small town girl but I´m doing good!
Yesterday we had lots of clinics and offical Peace Corps business. Long day but it is nice to see everyone from our group. Every week we get more information and lots of clinics about health and our jobs and such. Then today re started spanish classes. Which is fun. I hope I´m getting better right now I feel like I´m in a bit of a funk this week but I´m sure my skills will get better.

I really love hearing from you guys and it helps to make the transition easier. Life is good, it´s just long days and lots of alone time. It´s all exciting and more news to come in the future! love love love and hasta pronto.

Hola otra vez

Well, I´m in antigua again for the afternoon and i have lots of exciting news to share. First is that I think my sickness might be approaching. But I´m ok with that, I´ve learned to accept that it will happen and probably sooner rather than later. Anywho, I realized that in my last post I forgot to explain the most crazy thing that has happened so far and that is riding on a camioneta or ¨chicken bus¨. Ok so where do begin. These methods of transport are very common in this area of Guatemala and there is really not an easy way to describe them except as pure chaos in bus form. Picture a US school bus that has been revamped with crazy colors, and stickers (usually of naked ladies) that gets packed with people to travel from one city to the next. Guatemalans can comfortably fit about 3 to a seat but seeing as I am pretty much on the taller side here, you can see how it is diffcult to ride comfortably on a camioneta. Although they are pretty cheap, and effective. They can be a bit scary as there are no passenger limits and you usually spend most of the ride becoming closer to people than you would have ever imagined. But no worries, it is usually a laugh afterwards and only a ride of about 20 mins.
The next exciting thing is last night I went with my family to a mall and it is similar to our malls. Lots of stores and a food court with TACO BELL, McDonalds, pollo campero... Yeah so I had a crunch wrap supreme last night for dinner. Haha, how funny that taco bell is here!
Finally this morning had the most fun activities, we learned how to make tortillas! It was so cool and one fun fact is that here there is a verb just for making tortillas. Tortillarse! hahah, it is a bit difficult to make them but basically you get the dough that is water and corn and then you take a small ball in your hand and pat it out into a circle then you cook it over the fire stove! I was actually pretty good at it not to toot my own horn but beep beep! Also we made guacamole and I learned how to open an avacado without a knife... I´m pretty impressed with myself. We also made a tomato sauce and then we ate our delish treats. It was pretty exciting. Tomorrow I´m going to have more tortilla practice and my mama is going to teach me how to make lots of foods in the upcoming months. I´m pretty excited. I guess when the prospect of really living alone is so close, I´m finally getting interested in learning how to cook.

In other news, all is well. (execpt for the possible future sickness!) I love hearing from all of you and I´m very excited to share these new experiences with you! I know soon i´ll be a tortilla pro and I´ll always be able to make my own delish treats! I guess that´s all for now, time to catch another camioneta home! love you all

One Week Down

OK, so hi everyone from an internet cafe in Antigua! Wow has life been crazy. I have moved in with a new family and they are wonderful. I live in a small town near antigua and today we had spanish class here! It is just as neat as it sounds, cobblestone streets with volcanoes in the background. It´s crazy. Anywho, my days have been filled with classes and learning lots of new things. My family is wonderful. There are 10 people including myself. It is a bit crazy. They are so sweet and excited to have me, they have never had a PCT before so it is a new experience for both of us. I´m still rocking the bucket bath, the sarong is a lifesaver mom! I also bought a cellphone today. So i´m hoping to make some phone calls soon! It is really cheap to call from here, about 2 quetzales and 8 quetzales is a dollar. So things are nice and cheap.

Everyday I get up and I can´t really believe that this is my life now, I´ve been eating lots of beans and tortillas and this saturday, I´m going to learn how to make the tortillas. I´m excited. It is really fun here. I´m finding that my spanish is really improving and I can actually have conversations with my family and they are becoming my friends. Last night they made funny of me because I love the beans. And today we laughed at these other gringos that came to lunch at their house. It is kind of hard to explain but bascially people pay to go on tours through Guatemala and their tourist organizations pay for school supplies in the small pueblos in return the families have to host the tourists. It is weird. I feel like these tourists want to feel like they are having a real experience or are doing something to help people. It is a load of bs, excuse my french. But anyway when they left, my family and I made fun of them because this was the last time they had to host people. It is funny but kinda demented and annoying how people think they are being ¨worldly¨ but they are actually being really rude.

Anywho, in other news life is really good. I really miss everyone and I love hearing comments. Aunt susan, life here is awesome, you would love to take pictures, I think a visit is necessary. Mom and dad I think of you guys everyday... and it makes me admire you so much more for what great people you are. You have given so much in your lives... I hope to make you proud. Tyler, i guess you should be jealous of the weather, it´s nice. But it has been pretty cold and I spend most of my nights in long johns, sweats, hat, coat, vest, long sleeve shirt. The bed is ok in comfort but you know, i´m pretty young so no pains yet. Also, no sickness yet, although I am waiting. I know my time is coming. Teryn!! it was so good to hear from you! Please come to Guatemala! You will love it here and you will learn so much! and I would love to see you. Thanks for your thoughts, i miss you and hope all is well. Casey, if you are reading i´m thinking of you often, i miss you and I am looking forward to hearing even more about your adventures. PS we had the same staging coordinator, small world huh? Claire, miss you lots can´t wait to catch up and share adventures... CC and others, i miss you all and I promise more personal shout outs to come! Ah, mrs. Rupert thanks for the love! I´m thinking of you all, always. This is such a special experience and I´m so thankful to have your support as a part of it! Sara! te quiero!

I´m trying to think of any last life details. ummm, lots of beans and tortillas and sugar filled nescafe here! Also more info about my life as it comes. Poco a Poco as they say here! All is well.... con mucho amor

Finally Here!

ok everyone! I am finally here and safe. Traveling was a long crazy day that began at 3 am but it was well worth it. Guatemala is so beautiful and the weather is really nice. I have been staying with a host family here and tomorrow I will move to my smaller training village. My thoughts are a bit disorganized at the moment and I do not even really know where to start. I guess with wednesday traveling it was a long day. We got here by 3 pm and then settled in to our new host families after a brief intro at the Peace Corps office. My first cena was spagetti with garlic bread. Then it was basically time for immediate sleep as the days leading up to traveling had been filled with very little! Then I woke up thursday morning and took my first bucket bath and it was fine. The water was hot and over our shower door you can see the mountains that surround our village. It is pretty beautiful here to say the least. Then we went to Cuerpo de Paz as our host family calls it and it is pretty much like school. We took spanish tests, got some shots, got to know each other a little and then had some general orientations. It is really neat because the weather here is so nice and everyday we are pretty busy. My host family is very friendly and it will be sad to leave them tomorrow. Today we had our first day of Spanish classes, some more shots, and are just getting ready to move into our training communities where we will take spanish classes for 6 hours a day! and learn about our jobs over the next 11 weeks. It is already harder than I thought it would be here but all is well. It is just a whirlwind of emotions and I am hoping that things will get better with everyday. I really miss everyone terribly and so far things are going well, except that it gets dark here pretty early but I mean that is ok. Lots of love from Guatemala... miss you so much!

Pre-Pre Departure

Well, today was supposed to be pretty uneventful. I only needed a few minor toiletries and little things but of course in the amazing store known as target... I found things I needed that I didn't know I did. It started with some appropriate "business casual" clothes that I need tomorrow for staging. I hope I will wear them again. I also purchased a new carry on bag. It's red. That's what's important. Also, it's really really full, with three days of clothes to wear in Guatemala as well as the computer, camera, journal, etc. I really can't imagine how all of my stuff fits or how I couldn't bring something. So, it's going to be some interesting travel days.

Today was also full of emotional phone calls. I know I'm not saying goodbye forever, but it is still hard to say bye for a little while. I think it is the uncertainty that makes it hard. My tear ducts are also incredibly sensitive, so I cry at the drop of a hat. I think that I'm ready now but I'm not sure. Tomorrow should be just as eventful but hopefully more exciting.

Oh and I almost forgot the most crazy detail of today. After I had packed my two suitcases and moved them downstairs. We discovered that the wheel on one suitcase was broken. Requiring a trip out to purchase a new, larger, better suitcase. That allows my luggage to be even heavier! I hope I can manage and that I won't be cursing myself for being such a terrible packer. It was great to have mom to help me weed out the unimportant things, like my backpacking chair. I mean really what was I thinking?!?! Anyway, more news tomorrow!