Dichosote/a = a very lucky or happy person

I’m going to preface this post by saying that my dates won’t necessarily be matching up with the exact events that I’m describing. I’m trying to keep up with writing down stuff fairly regularly though, even if I won’t be able to immediately have internet access.

Anywayyyyyyyyyyyy, so today was the day we arrived in Guatemala. I spent my last night in the States visiting with my sorority sister, Anna, so I got exactly one hour of sleep before I had to be up for the 2:30 wakeup call. Awesome. Needless to say, the plane rides to Miami and then Guatemala were a blur. We finally arrived in Guate around 1-2, and when I looked out the window as we were landing I saw something I had never seen before. I come from a fairly mountainous place (shoutout to the north GA) but as we flew over Guatemala I was actually amazed at how rolling the landscape was. I’m used to a range, where there are mountains, and bases of mountains, and that’s it. This was like seeing a continuous wave of land with houses hanging on for the ride. It was beautiful and green and surprisingly not rainy! The Peace Corps compound is about 7,000ft. above sea level!

I have to admit, when I finally landed in Guatemala after 7 months of applications, forms, and waiting, I was surprised by some of the feelings I had. I was obviously overwhelmingly excited and actually had a “purposeful” feel, but what scared me a little bit was the other intense emotion that came at me. Selfishness. I felt extremely selfish to be sitting in my plane, off to do noble deeds and pat myself on the back for 2 years about how I was “helping the world”, all the while leaving my loved ones behind. Now I’m not trying to think anybody’s world will collapse at my departure, and I’m sure none of them want me to be worried about them back home, but how could someone make the decision to just check out of life without truly consulting the people they love? I know the Peace Corps won’t be a walk in the park, and most people actually think it sounds like complete hell, but isn’t it nice to be able to escape the daily hardships of life for 2 years and come back with these types of experiences under our belts? All the while, my family and friends are back home dealing with tough situations and sadness, and where am I? Feeling like I won’t be able to support the people closest to me makes me very sad, and feel like a selfish jerk. I guess what I wish I had told a lot of them was not just to read my blog and send me care packages, and wait for my phone calls, but to also always always keep me updated on what they are doing. I think about my family every day, and it breaks my heart to feel like I’ve abandoned them. And this is only the first day!!! I didn’t mean for this post to take such a negative turn so quickly, but I’m sure we all have different anxieties that will fade over time, so that’s just my little bit of negativity.

Fortunately, after being in Guatemala for almost 12 hours now, I can safely report that there are no negative feelings about the actual country, job or Peace Corps in general to report. The people here, both staff and natives, are exceptionally kind and accommodating. I even surprised myself by how sure I feel of my role here. After the plane landed, we were taken from the airport to the Peace Corps Guatemala compound, where we met our Training Officer, Country Director, Medical Officers and other staff. The next few days, like the 1 day we had in DC, will be filled with technical and logistical information, and general overviews of the Peace Corps’ role in Guatemala. We also will be tested on our Spanish skills, where I hopefully won’t be embarrassing the foreign language department at Tech, and given shots. Seriously. Shots. On the first full day. I can’t WAIT for them to watch me bawl like a baby at a syringe, and question if I’m actually old enough to be there.

After a short info session, our language teachers then took us to meet our host families for the next three days, and boy did we have fun. We arrived at Doña Eva’s house and were shown our bedrooms and started small talk with the family, which consists of 7 kids (and various neighbors’ kids that seem to roll through too, as if they lived there.) And then came the lull in conversation. I blame the lack of sleep and Spanish-speaking deprivation for the past year, but I could not seem to keep a conversation going tonight! It’s also funny to see how differently Doña Eva and I reacted to the “awkward” silences. I feel like we’re so trained in the US, with our constant music, TV, and filler words, to keep a room noisy and get uncomfortable with the idea of simply sitting around a table together. This doesn’t bother Doña Eva at all! She didn’t blink or giggle, or do any of the other awkward things I was doing, because with all the free time they have here, it’s much more common to simply be around people. And there really isn’t a word for “awkward” in Spanish. Life would be so much easier if I never had to worry about being described as awkward.

Oh, and speaking of awkward, I’m about to give you all a beautiful mental image: first morning in Guate, me standing in a shower completely naked except for my sandals, lookin down at the bucket of luke warm water and smaller bowl. That’s right, it’s time for my first “guacalazo” or bucket bath. After about 2 full minutes of me scratching my head in confusion (and in the buff), I realize there’s a small window with a flimsy lace covering in the bathroom wall, which is the perfect height for my madre to lean over and ask me how I like my eggs. I would feel awkward about her possibly seeing all my special parts, but since the rest of the family is starting to get up, I just hurriedly dumped water over my head and got the hell out of there. I have to admit, though, it saves an embarrassing amount of water to use a bucket, even with long hair.

So that’s all. The group I came here with consists of “Municipal Development” and “Sustainable Agriculture” people (that’s me), and all seem to be fairly awesome people. It’s been great getting to know the other trainees over the past 36 hours, and nothing will bring you closer with a person in such a short time than watching them try to sleep, mouth open and drooling, in a plane seat. Awesome.

Also, just to rep the dirty South, this is the culture I'm leaving behind for Guatemala (watch out for the racy lyricssssssss)