Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Happy Early Birthday to ME
Well it is the day before my birthday and I'm sweating bullets... I know I shouldn't complain because I know most of you are freezing but please bear with me. I can't wear shorts... It's hard to wear jeans in 80 degree weather. My 2nd complaint is that my ipod touch is broken completely. I would like apple to know that they really should make products that don't break in less than one year. It is incredibly frustrating to have something wonderful break... but the brightside of that situation is that my friend here happened to bring 2 ipods to Guate and she was sweet enough to give it to me. So it is a wonderful birthday so far... Honestly if these are my two biggest problems we can say life is pretty good. Yesterday marked our 7th week of training. How exciting. 4 more weeks until swear in. I can't believe the date is getting so close. It is very exciting but very nerve wracking at the same time. I think that within the next week I will be finding out who my 2 year partner is... talk about stress. But I'm excited and super ready to find out more about my new life. Being in this limbo stage is crazy... It's exciting but as the time gets closer, the nerves keep building and my patience is getting thinner... not really patience but just my desire to know what is going on! In other news, I can't believe tomorrow is my 23rd birthday and my first of three in Guatemala. I know that my family is planning on buying a cake to share with my townmates... We also have technical training in the morning so I will be able to see most of my friends. Mom, I got the toby birthday card... Super Cute. Saturday I think we will come into Antigua for a nice lunch and afternoon to celebrate my birthday with more people. Anyway, thanks for all the love. I really miss you all and I'm so glad to know that I have so much love... especially on my birthday... Aunt Susan, no card yet, but maybe next week... Oh which reminds me of my 3rd complaint... the mail system here takes forever... But please keep sending me letters because whenever I hear from anyone... It rocks my world. love love love
Sunday, February 21, 2010
End of a Great Week
So, I am back in Antigua again after a long week of traveling and learning. We really learned a lot this past week. Visiting lots of schools, seeing other volunteers and getting a glimpse of what our life is going to be in the next two years. I think it is finally time for me to explain as much as I can at this point about my program. In Guatemala there are 6 different volunteer programs and mine is called Healthy Schools. It is a program that partners with the Guatemalan Ministry of Education to go into rural schools in Guatemala to create healthier health practices. It can be anything from infrastructure projects to help schools get water, to teaching basic hygiene lessons such as when to wash your hands or how important it is to brush your teeth. It started in 1996, so it has been around a while. It also is going to start partnering with a healthy homes program, meaning a volunteer goes into a rural community to help back up the practices children are learning in schools to be re-enforced in the home. What is super super cool about these programs is that the money Obama has given to expand the peace corps will be applied to three programs worldwide, in order to make a larger difference. One of the money programs is "Health" in Guatemala. So this year there were 27 people in Healthy Schools, next year there will be 40 and when I close my service, there will be 60! In health Schools and Healthy Homes, so there will be 120 Health volunteers in Guatemala in 2012! How exciting and crazy!
So now I can explain more about how Healthy Schools works. For the first 13 years, volunteers would be assigned alone to work with 2-4 schools and after 4 years they would hopefully become certified as healthy. There is a pretty detailed profile about everything that a school needs to become healthy, involving adequate water for drinking, clean school, clean bathrooms, clean looking students who wash their hands, etc. The idea is that when students are healthy they learn better and are overall better people. So anyway, with that said, they feel that working with 2-4 schools, they were averaging at certifying 10 schools per year and there are 18,000 schools in Guatemala and with an end goal of certifying all schools, that would take a while. So they have created 2 new phases that my group will be beginning to pilot and hopefully direct the future of the Healthy Schools program. So phase 2 has had a few volunteers before (like 6); however the majority of my group will be doing this program. What this means is that with a partner you work to certify all of the schools in a county. So that could be anywhere from 20-40 schools. I will most likely be doing this phase and what is nice about it is that you get to have a partner to work with as well as see your work on a larger scale. Then there is Phase 3, which is working with all of the schools in a department (or state). There are 2 volunteers doing this phase right now and there will be 4 from my group. It is really an exciting time to be learning about these new projects and be starting something new. Everything we have learned this far tells us that we will be making our job and get to learn as we go! So that is very exciting.
Now that I have addressed at least the tip of what Healthy Schools is you guys can have an idea of what my life will be like. The past week was spent seeing what life is like for the few volunteers that are working in Phase 2 and Phase 3 right now are doing and how we can take their experiences and apply it to our own. Also, we spent time really getting to know each other. It was nice to spend some time away from home, even though I missed my host family and was definitely ready to come home yesterday. We really got to bonding as a group and I've really met some great people here. We also had a general info about where we would like to live here in Guate... like we have any idea! We also get some input on who are partner is for the next two years?!? Talk about pressure. Two years is a long time, but I've got some good prospects and I'm just really excited to get started. As far as I know I will be receiving all of this info on March 11 so that's d-day for now. As for this week, just more work in the schools, my 23rd birthday and my madre's birthday as well. Just adjusting back to the life of a PC trainee. Anyway, love and miss you all lots and love hearing from you. As for now, life is great and I'm enjoying the hot weather here! love love love
So now I can explain more about how Healthy Schools works. For the first 13 years, volunteers would be assigned alone to work with 2-4 schools and after 4 years they would hopefully become certified as healthy. There is a pretty detailed profile about everything that a school needs to become healthy, involving adequate water for drinking, clean school, clean bathrooms, clean looking students who wash their hands, etc. The idea is that when students are healthy they learn better and are overall better people. So anyway, with that said, they feel that working with 2-4 schools, they were averaging at certifying 10 schools per year and there are 18,000 schools in Guatemala and with an end goal of certifying all schools, that would take a while. So they have created 2 new phases that my group will be beginning to pilot and hopefully direct the future of the Healthy Schools program. So phase 2 has had a few volunteers before (like 6); however the majority of my group will be doing this program. What this means is that with a partner you work to certify all of the schools in a county. So that could be anywhere from 20-40 schools. I will most likely be doing this phase and what is nice about it is that you get to have a partner to work with as well as see your work on a larger scale. Then there is Phase 3, which is working with all of the schools in a department (or state). There are 2 volunteers doing this phase right now and there will be 4 from my group. It is really an exciting time to be learning about these new projects and be starting something new. Everything we have learned this far tells us that we will be making our job and get to learn as we go! So that is very exciting.
Now that I have addressed at least the tip of what Healthy Schools is you guys can have an idea of what my life will be like. The past week was spent seeing what life is like for the few volunteers that are working in Phase 2 and Phase 3 right now are doing and how we can take their experiences and apply it to our own. Also, we spent time really getting to know each other. It was nice to spend some time away from home, even though I missed my host family and was definitely ready to come home yesterday. We really got to bonding as a group and I've really met some great people here. We also had a general info about where we would like to live here in Guate... like we have any idea! We also get some input on who are partner is for the next two years?!? Talk about pressure. Two years is a long time, but I've got some good prospects and I'm just really excited to get started. As far as I know I will be receiving all of this info on March 11 so that's d-day for now. As for this week, just more work in the schools, my 23rd birthday and my madre's birthday as well. Just adjusting back to the life of a PC trainee. Anyway, love and miss you all lots and love hearing from you. As for now, life is great and I'm enjoying the hot weather here! love love love
Monday, February 15, 2010
FBT
Well, we are in the begininng of our field base trainning week and so far things are good. We are seeing the lives of real volunteers while getting to know each other better and finding out who we want to be our job partner for the next two years! It´s big stuff. Yesterday was a lot of driving and getting to see some of the guatemalan country side. It was cool. We stopped for lunch and 5 of us ate at a comedor, which can sometimes be sketchy. For 4 out of 5 of us... it was sketchy. My fellow lunchmates spent the majority of last night in the bathroom. Somehow I have evaded sickness for now and I can just say I´m pretty lucky. Some have equated my luck to the Cuban background.... hahah, who knows.
In other news my family was sad to have me leave yesterday and they told me they were going to call me this week to see how I was doing. Aren´t they the cutest? I´m just so happy with them and lucky to have them to take care of me. They gave me gifts for valentine´s day and are super excited for my return so we can have a bread making lesson. It´s pretty sweet.
I feel like I should have more things to say but life is pretty great. I think at the end of the week I will post more about all the wonderful things I have learned and how excited I am about my new job. Right now the exciting things are free time and real showers! love love love for now.
In other news my family was sad to have me leave yesterday and they told me they were going to call me this week to see how I was doing. Aren´t they the cutest? I´m just so happy with them and lucky to have them to take care of me. They gave me gifts for valentine´s day and are super excited for my return so we can have a bread making lesson. It´s pretty sweet.
I feel like I should have more things to say but life is pretty great. I think at the end of the week I will post more about all the wonderful things I have learned and how excited I am about my new job. Right now the exciting things are free time and real showers! love love love for now.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Dia del Carino
Well, hello from my netbook in Antigua. I'm sitting in McDonald's and let me just describe it. It has a beautiful courtyard and I'm sitting in a booth outside with lots of pretty plants. It's pretty sweet. I realized that yesterday I forgot to mention what we did in Spanish class this past week. We watched the movie "Sin Nombre" and I highly recommend it. It is pretty violent and sad but it is really educational about gangs in central america. It was made in El Salvador and I really found it interesting and educational.
This morning I cooked stir fry for my family for lunch. It was pretty successful and they told me that it was delicious. I hope it was, I tried to get the flavor right. Also tomorrow is Valentine's day, which is a huge holiday here. It's kind of funny. Everyone buys flowers, chasky gifts, and candies. It's kind of cute. It's such a big deal, we didn't even have school yesterday. Today my host sister, who works in a flower shop, came home and brought me some roses for "el dia del carino". It was so cute, I have to organize them when I get home today. It was really sweet and just made me realize how happy I am to be living with my host family.
Anyway, I'm in a bit of stimulation overload, lots of people here in McDonald's. Life is good and tomorrow begins our week of field base training. Hope to speak soon! Love and miss you all lots!
This morning I cooked stir fry for my family for lunch. It was pretty successful and they told me that it was delicious. I hope it was, I tried to get the flavor right. Also tomorrow is Valentine's day, which is a huge holiday here. It's kind of funny. Everyone buys flowers, chasky gifts, and candies. It's kind of cute. It's such a big deal, we didn't even have school yesterday. Today my host sister, who works in a flower shop, came home and brought me some roses for "el dia del carino". It was so cute, I have to organize them when I get home today. It was really sweet and just made me realize how happy I am to be living with my host family.
Anyway, I'm in a bit of stimulation overload, lots of people here in McDonald's. Life is good and tomorrow begins our week of field base training. Hope to speak soon! Love and miss you all lots!
Friday, February 12, 2010
Busy Week
Ok well it has been a busy week. Starting with Sunday and watching part of the superbowl. It was kind of a surreal experience; it was like being at home but then being in Guate. What I have to say about that is Go Saints!
In other news, the week has been full of lots of classes, homework, school practicums, and Spanish. My mind goes into overload occasionally but things are great. We are also getting ready for our week excursion into the field. Where we will meet and see real volunteers and learn all about our job. I´m really excited for this learning opportunity and hope I will feel much more clear and excited about what the next two years really entail for me.
Yesterday, we had a small field trip to two organizations that are working in Guatemala to improve the quality of life of people here while also helping the environment! It was a pretty neat and inspiring afternoon. Our first stop was a water filter factory called ecofiltros. Their website is www.ecofiltros.com and I highly suggest you check it out. A guatemalan invented a filter that is made of a mixture of clay and pine sawdust that purfies even the nastiest of waters and makes it drinkable. It is really pretty impressive. The company just donated 1000 filters to Haiti and they have distributed over 60000 within Guatemala. They are also the leader in this form of potable water technology and have about 14 other factories that are attempting to implement this filter in other places in the world where water is not accessible. These filters only cost 25 US dollars to make! Doesn´t that blow your mind? I was very impressed and even more excited about being in Guatemala. I think 80% of water in guatemala is undrinkable or unsanitary! That´s crazy.
Our second stop was a tech training site where people learn how to make latrines, stoves, wells, and lots of other environmentally useful materials. We learned that we can use this center as a resource if in the future we want to take on secondary projects of this nature. It´s pretty cool to see that you could make a ¨well¨, that holds rain deposits that you can then pump from and use the water in the non-rainy season!
Anyway, yesterday was very interesting and everything is going well. We are learning so much and life here is so exciting. Got to jet back to spanish and the busy life of a pct. Lots of love. Miss you all lots!
In other news, the week has been full of lots of classes, homework, school practicums, and Spanish. My mind goes into overload occasionally but things are great. We are also getting ready for our week excursion into the field. Where we will meet and see real volunteers and learn all about our job. I´m really excited for this learning opportunity and hope I will feel much more clear and excited about what the next two years really entail for me.
Yesterday, we had a small field trip to two organizations that are working in Guatemala to improve the quality of life of people here while also helping the environment! It was a pretty neat and inspiring afternoon. Our first stop was a water filter factory called ecofiltros. Their website is www.ecofiltros.com and I highly suggest you check it out. A guatemalan invented a filter that is made of a mixture of clay and pine sawdust that purfies even the nastiest of waters and makes it drinkable. It is really pretty impressive. The company just donated 1000 filters to Haiti and they have distributed over 60000 within Guatemala. They are also the leader in this form of potable water technology and have about 14 other factories that are attempting to implement this filter in other places in the world where water is not accessible. These filters only cost 25 US dollars to make! Doesn´t that blow your mind? I was very impressed and even more excited about being in Guatemala. I think 80% of water in guatemala is undrinkable or unsanitary! That´s crazy.
Our second stop was a tech training site where people learn how to make latrines, stoves, wells, and lots of other environmentally useful materials. We learned that we can use this center as a resource if in the future we want to take on secondary projects of this nature. It´s pretty cool to see that you could make a ¨well¨, that holds rain deposits that you can then pump from and use the water in the non-rainy season!
Anyway, yesterday was very interesting and everything is going well. We are learning so much and life here is so exciting. Got to jet back to spanish and the busy life of a pct. Lots of love. Miss you all lots!
Sunday, February 7, 2010
More Pics
Kristin and I at the ruins yesterday. Pretty cool!
These are my super cute host siblings!
These are my community members and our spanish teacher oscar.
Re-inacting a volcano erruption duh!
Super Bowl
Well,it´s offical.ONE MONTH in GUATE! How exciting. Yesterday we went to a Mayan Ceremony and it was so interesting. We got to participate and ask for blessings in our two years of service here. How exciting, we are part of history. It was so neat to see how mayan culture still exists today and to partipate in something new and exciting. Today is a day for relaxing and possibly trying to find a way to watch the super bowl. GO SAINTS!!! In other news, I can´t believe I have been here for a month. Things are still going well. I love my family here but I really miss you all too!! I feel like I should have more to write and describe but life is life here. I get up around 7 every day and go to bed around 9. Speak a lot of spanish and am just enjoying my life right now. Lots of times I just question myself and I can´t believe I am in GUATE. I am so lucky and I really am learning a lot.
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