Vaquero = cowboy

We all sat nervously in the kitchen of my padre’s house, listening to Sal’s (our boss) last minute speech about how we should “stay focused during the rest of training” and that “you still have 2 weeks and a quiz left before your done” but all any of us could think about were the thin yellow folders in his hands. Even the donuts on the table weren’t enough to distract us, and as he used he folder to gesture, our eyes followed its every movement. Finally, he looked up, and said “And the first folder is for the person that wanted the very hot place……Emily” Hurray!!!! I hurriedly opened my folder, ignoring all the other noises around me and for the first time, saw the name of the place I’ll be living for the next two years. I can’t put the exact place I’ll be at, but I can say I’ll be in the department of Zacapa , which is in the East, and is known for having lots of cowboys and drug lords. Hurray! I’m about 5 hours away from the Peace Corps office, and 2 from the capital. Not too bad. I’ll be working for the municipality, which means I’ll be living in a slightly larger town of about 6,000 people, but working mostly out at the smaller towns around it. My main work will focus on reforestation, family gardens, soil conservation, and natural compost (with worms and normal kind.) The place is 100% ladino, and apparently very Western, with all people carrying pistols and sombreros, but I hear the people are very kind and I can’t wait to get out there. The temperature of my town ranges from 82 degrees in the winter to 89 in the summer, and is one of the cooler areas since it is still in the mountains. Perfect! The only part about my assignment that makes me a little nervous is that I will have an office space. I know to most people that sounds normal, but since I’m suppose to be working on a smaller scale, in a more rural setting, I’m not exactly prepared to be tied to a schedule. Also, I don’t have enough cute office clothes.

Anyway, I’m so excited I could bust. This is exactly where I wanted to go. What makes it even better, is that one of my super good friends, Kristen, is going to be right next door in Chiquimula, only an hour away, and some other really awesome volunteers are going close by as well. If any of you try to google Zacapa, make sure you’re reading about the department, not the town. My town is much smaller, and is one of the 10 municipalities of the whole department. So now all I have to do is get prepared for meeting my boss on Monday and going out to my site for a weeklong visit starting Tuesday. No pressure. Oh, and I also have to pack up ALL of my stuff this weekend, and live out of a backpack for the next few weeks. Yikes. Honestly, taking all of my luggage on a camioneta is probably the part I’m the most nervous about!

So we have site visit the 19th – 23rd, then we’re doing a family “thank you” luncheon on the 24th, orientation 25th – 28th, a Friday of rest, SWEARING IN on Saturday the 29th, and then after a night of festivities in Antigua we’re heading out to our sites just in time for Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). Time here has flown by, and I can’t believe I’ve been in country for almost 11 weeks. I’ve gotten used to a lot of my surroundings here in Sumpango, and I’m ready to be shaken up again by the move to the Big East!

This last week was fairly uneventful, since our minds were taken with site assignments and training is starting to wind down. Last weekend we had another go as vaccinating chickens, and this time I DIDN’T cry!!! Hurray! Then again, I didn’t really have to give an injection. We mainly did eye drops, and the wing lancets (where you actually puncture the wing) so I stuck with the eyedropper, although I did do one lancet, and did it without freaking out. I’m improving every day. We took our final Tech quiz, covering small animals, chemical fertilizers, and other stuff I’ve already forgotten. We also went to visit our Training Director’s house to see his rain harvesting system, which is pretty amazing. He also served us a block of cheddar cheese, which may sound silly to bring up, but you have no idea how good it was. Kristen and I have also been trying to cook for our families together, and we made the most AMAZING pasta with chicken and veggies and homemade alfredo sauce. We ate a disgusting amount, but it was too good to be true. We’ve also tried sweet and sour chicken, which was delicious, but a little too weird for Guatemalans, and we made “tacos gringas” which is basically regular U.S. tacos, and are known as gringas because they use flour tortillas. We didn’t do as good a job on those, but we still hoovered them like it was our last meal. I get teased regularly about how fat I am, but then still get food pushed at me. I think they’re just amazed I eat so much!

I’ll be honest, I feel like my Spanish is in the downhill slide. I’m at the point where my brain is overwhelmed with conjugations and vocabulary, and whatnot, and I can’t even form a sentence anymore. It’s turned into a brick! Hopefully I’ll have a weekend of break to let my brain remush back up so I can squeeze more stuff in. I’ll just watch some American TV. That should do the trick. Maybe I’ll start with the terribly boring Georgia Tech game today. Middle Tennessee? Really?

Anyway, it’s been nice hearing from everyone back home. I love you all tons and I guess I be in touch after site visit! Wish me luck!

P.S. Last weekend, I was accidentally in a religious Catholic parade. It's a little hard not to be some weekends, since it's basically just a group of people in suits wandering around town. Either way, it was awkward.