Navidad = Christmas

Happy Holidays! My first Christmas away from my family, snacktivity, matching pajamas, and (fortunately) Flood Town. Getting ready for and celebrating Christmas in Guatemala has been quite an experience!

Christmas here is like in the US, where a lot of the focus is on family and food. We had my uncle and cousins visiting, so we had quite the full house, but we also had enough food to match. My family ended up making about 150 tamales, which we ate for every meal until they were gone. That’s a lot of mushy corn. Kristen also came for Christmas, so she and I helped make the punch and watched a lot of American tv. It was a lot of fun and kept us busy. At one point during the day, I actually convinced my family that I still believe in Santa. Funniest. Moment. Ever. As everyone talked to me and questioned me about how Santa would find me, and my other traditions (leaving out cookies is a really foreign idea to them) I could see them exchanges confused glances. I even had my 5-year old sister come whisper to me “Santa is in your head…” I finally got to tease them as hard as they usually tease me, and it was hilarious.

Later that night, Kristen and I waited up with the rest of the family to light fireworks and sparklers, a tradition I don’t quite understand, but was fun all the same. All down the street you could see other people lighting fireworks, and nearby cousins came by to give a Christmas hug and a wish for a happy new year. The next morning was Christmas Day, and as we watched the kids open the presents I finally realized I’m not the kid anymore. When did that happen????? My family got both me and Kristen high heels for Christmas (luckily they fit my huge American feet!) and I was so touched they thought of us. What good good good people.

I have to admit, I did cry twice on Christmas Eve. The first time I cried was definitely the funniest and awkwardest. Kristen and I had gone to visit some friends in Chiquimula the night before, so we were headed back early on Christmas Eve to spend time with the family. Giddy from exhaustion and missing our families, we got onto the chicken bus at 7am and were greeted by the song “Feliz Navidad.” What luck! Of course she and I sang along as loud as we could, happy that it was Christmas and that we were with friends. However, as the 2-hour journey progressed, things got worse. Kristen was hit with a hangover, and I was hit with…..sadness. After not having thought about missing home too much the preceding week, I finally got to thinking about how much I wanted to be home. The bus pulled up to a town about 20 minutes away from mine, and a young family all piled in. They were poor and dirty, and probably wouldn’t have a tree, much less presents, but they were together. All of a sudden, I looked at Kristen and said “Oh np. I’m going to cry!” And I couldn’t stop! As I was crying, I was also laughing at how silly I was being, probably looking like a crazy gringa and completely scaring the other passengers. It was only a minute, but the rest of the ride was definitely awkward, as I kept receiving covert glances from my fellow busmates. The other time I cried was later the day when I opened a present from my dad and it had a really cheesy Hallmark-style card. I know it was just a piece of plastic, but the words actually did remind me of my dad. Ah, well. I’m such a softie.

Despite being so far from my family, they really went the extra mile to make me feel missed and loved. I got SO MANY packages from my family!!!! My mom sent me a “12 Days of Christmas” box with a little present to open up for each day of Christmas. It was so cute, and really put me in the holiday spirit. It was a little hard explaining to my family why she would wrap a can of pears, but it was funny to me. It was amazingly thoughtful and kept my mind off of being alone. She also sent Mannheim Steamroller and the obligatory terrible pajamas, so when my Guatefamily caught site of me in my bright red onesie, I was called Santa Claus for the rest of the night. Great. I also got knitting supplies, and a crossword puzzle. I’m so cool. From my dad I got a TON of candy, which lasted approximately 3 days after the kids realized how much of it was under the tree. I seriously had enough candy to fill about 3 piñatas, and it was the good stuff too!!! He also sent me more puzzles and some amazing art supplies, so that I can pass my time becoming a budding artist. My favorite present from Dad was a flash drive I requested, but he had filled it with pictures, home videos, and music. I’ve showed all my Guatemalan and Volunteer friends, and even though I know they don’t think it’s as cute or special as I do, it’s fun to show off my family to everyone. I also got a card from my Aunt Carole, even though she was busy getting ready to leave the country too. What amazing people love me! I’m so lucky!

So anyway, family, thank you so much for not just the presents, but your thoughts too. I felt missed and remembered. You guys are the best. I love you so much.

Everyone else, I hope you had a happy holiday season!

Bailar = to dance

The month between Thanksgiving and Christmas was filled with a whole lot of nothing. Not that I’m complaining. Too much. Who would have every thought that lazy Emily would be wanting work?! But the office was closed for most of the month, and we Volunteers passed our times by hanging out with our Guatefamilies and each other. Some of the more interesting happenings during my down time were going to pick beans and corn with my family, random dance parties with my Guatemalan family, and going to parties (like Jesse’s birthday!) with other Volunteers.

Picking beans and corns is exactly as much fun and as much work as it sounds. It’s not the most difficult thing in the world, nor the worst way to spend a morning, especially the way my family does it. We all woke up early at about 5 to pack up the truck and get ready to head out to the family’s land. Once we got there, we all spread out and started picking beans, joking and singing (or as the boys of my house would think of it “howling”) and working on our my tan. After a few hours of fairly diligent work, we stopped for breakfast and all ate around the campfire in the small lean-to they have setup on their property, complete with hammock! We leisurely ate before we got back to the beans. The best part about going out with my family was that there was such a good atmosphere and no “push” to get things done. Obviously they wanted the beans picked, but no one was going to get yelled at if they were tired and didn’t do as much, and enjoying each other’s company was just as much a part of the day as actually picking the beans. The same was true for when we went to pick corn, except this time the whole family (all 21 of us who stayed in the house over the holidays) went, and even more fun was had. My family truly treats me as a part of the family, from helping me through my roughest times and making sure I shower every day (I swear I don’t need to! It’s a constant battle every day) to teasing me about how terribly I make tortillas and making me wash the dishes instead.

My family and friends are also some of the most fun people. When the day is done, the cheese is made, and all the corn separated, my family also likes to get down. Every volunteer who I’ve brought here can tell you that my family likes to get down and are funny, energetic people. For Brynna’s birthday at the end of November, Kristen came to visit, and we made FOUR HUGE CAKES!!! Then all of us (not just the young gringas!) knocked a few back (the basically only do shots here; wtf?) and the dance party commenced. I have never seen anything funnier than about 10 Guatemalans and 3 gringas crammed into a tiny room all singing to Spanish music and “dancing” for literally hours. We definitely all learned that night that even my 12 year old sister can move her hips in ways I’ve never seen.

That wasn’t the only time Brynna and I have been seen dancing in front of a crowd here in San Diego. For all of December our town has “bailes” (dances) in the center of town, which basically consist of about 200 people standing around just watching a group or singer. Kinda awkward. At one of the first bailes, they made us get on stage for a dance-off, where I immediately got super awkward and weird and refused to dance. Not the best image for America, I know, but I just can’t compete with these Guatemalan girls! The next week, after Brynna and I had gotten on stage and looked like complete assholes, we went to another baile. This one turned out a little different. At the beginning of the night, I wasn’t too excited to go to this baile, since we had to leave really early the next day, so I embarrassingly enough went in my pajamas. Yikes. As it turned out, Brynna and I had caught the eye of a local young gentleman (also coincidently a little mentally challenged, as we later found out; awkward) who came up to us and made his intention of dancing with a gringa quite clear, by pointing and basically humping the air. Both of us tried shifting around my family, hiding behind whoever was closest, but apparently we don’t blend in so well. After a good THIRTY MINUTES (you would think he’d get the point) of my family laughing as we awkwardly avoided getting close to him, we finally gave in and fell into the arms of our dance partner (and my future husband, probably.) We both tried to jokingly do a little shuffle in hopes that seeing our terrible dance moves would scare him off, but boy were we wrong. The “little shuffle” quickly caught the attention of the ENTIRE TOWN who was standing there, and we found ourselves in the middle of a huge circle, all chanting “Hey! Hey! Hey!” while she and I moved around, trying to get out of the way and get the other closer to the random guy with a flashlight hooked to his belt. (wtf?!) Oh, Neilson, the lucky man that got to dance with TWO gringas at the same time!

Besides the “Misadventure of Brynna and Emily in San Diego”, I’ve also been lucky enough to hang out with the Volunteers in my region a good amount of time. Although there are only about 20 of us out of 200 Volunteers out in the East (and even still, I’m about 2 hours away from the next person besides Brynna) we have a really really good group. Even though just 2 months ago I wouldn’t have known which people I would want to be nearby, especially since I didn’t know half of them that well, everything has worked out so great. I enjoy my little group out here, and we make sure to get together as often as possible to hang out and relax. We went to Jesse’s site to celebrate his birthday with some grilling out and a baile. We all had a good time, but since we’ve all gotten out of the habit of staying up late and partying, most of us were asleep before 11!

Anyway, that’s all for now. Hurray for Christmas and New Years!

Pavo = turkey

So coming in as the November swear-in group has provided a few slightly unique challenges, mainly that after only being in site for a few weeks, we spend the holiday season away from our families, with people we hardly know. This Thanksgiving was my first Thanksgiving away from my family, and although in some circles it pales in comparison to Christmas, it has always been my favorite holiday, and a pretty big one in our family. I come from a home where everybody is a great cook (except for me, for some reason; I think it’s the impatience) so it seems every Thanksgiving I get to try some new spin on a classic, and it’s (almost) always delicious. It was therefore hard being away not only from the comfort and love of my family, but away from the food too.

This Thanksgiving, almost all of us in the East (less than 20!!!) got together to eat, thank, and be merry. We headed up into the chilly mountains of Jalapa to Libby’s house to have our potluck, and we couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful setting. Although my site seems to run at about 80 degrees at it’s coldest during the day, Libby’s site was just chilly enough to give us a perfect Thanksgiving setting. After a confusingly long bus ride(s) by my sitemate, Brynna, and I, we finally arrived and immediately got to eating. We were some of the first people there, which was nice because we got to socialize with other Volunteers that we either new very little or didn’t know at all. And we ate all the Puppy Chow Chex Mix. So good. Libby had been cooking the turkey for hours already at that point, and it looked AMAZING. The smell in her little Guatemalan home was delicious, and almost had me licking the walls. When the rest of the group finally arrived, we dug into all the typical Thanksgiving food, including the worst cornbread I’ve ever eaten, made by me. Awesome. Really doing the South proud. Everything else was perfect though, and chowing down on a huge turkey leg with new and old friends was a perfect way to end the first month of my service.

After our meal, we all loaded up in the back of a pickup and headed to Pino Dulce to stay at an amazing ecolodge there, where I stayed for a few nights during Field Based Training. The owners already had a fire going, so we pulled out the marshmallows and relaxed. It was a beautiful night, and a great end to a relaxing day.

The next day, a few of our group had to leave, so it was a smaller crowd of us that was lucky enough to make friends with the owner, his son, and his grandson, and we all got to do the ziplines over the park for free! The park is one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen here in Guatemala (and that’s quite the compliment!) and it was breathtaking flying through the trees and across huge crevasses. I screamed for probably the first 3 ziplines before I finally got the hang of it and stopped freaking out. Or so I thought. Around the next corner was a “hanging bridge” where we walked across a wobbly group of boards with NOTHING to hold on to! When I finally made it across I was so proud of myself, but everyone else in the group was laughing about how long it took me to cross. I thought I had done a good job, but apparently taking 20 minutes to walk 30 yards isn’t that impressive.

After our ziplining adventure, we went into the nearest town and stocked up on food and booze for that night. It was a fun time that night, with only a short scary period where we thought we had run out of booze, but luckily Carmen and Kristen saved the day by talking the bus driver into taking them into town. Crisis averted. The next day we packed up and headed back to our sites. I missed my family a lot, but my new Volunteer family made sure I didn’t have time to be sad.

Disfrutar = to enjoy

So here we are, about 2.5 weeks into my new permanent home, and I really can’t believe how fast time has gone! It has been an easy few weeks, and I haven’t felt any new jolt of fear like I thought I would. My family has been great about making me feel at home, and they do everything to treat me as part of the family, including making me wash dishes and help make the tortillas. It’s a fun, interesting group of people that live here, and coming home to them everyday has been great. The rest of the town has been very accepting of my sitemate and I as well, and we’ve become regulars in the only store that sells Diet Coke.

I’m still slowly adjusting to work life, and haven’t exactly found out where I can be used. My town has an amazingly advanced agricultural team, and I sometimes feel out of place and useless. They’ve very graciously taken me along with them at (almost) every opportunity, but sometimes, as I’m clinging onto one of them on the back of their motorcycles, I wonder if they’re confused about why I’m here. I think most volunteers go through this, and we were told over and over that the first three months are disorienting and sometimes boring, but it’s still a shock to go from busting ass on Peace Corps schedule, to the slower pace of a small town. I’m shocked sometimes by how at ease the people are with doing absolutely nothing, because if you ask any temporarily unproductive American “What did you do today?” you will either get a sheepish “Well, there wasn’t much to do” or the joking “I’ve just been so lazy! What’s gotten into me?” response. Here, the nonchalantly say “Ahorrita, no estoy hacienda nada. Tal vez despues del almuerzo, pero solo si no tengo sueño.” This isn’t to say they’re lazy, or don’t get anything accomplished here, but time is much more fluid, and there isn’t much time wasted on work. And I do mean wasted. Because really, even though you call it work, you can still be wasting your time.

The main guy I work with, and my chauffer and guide most of the time, is Gustavo. He’s pretty much my best friend here, and is absolutely the bomb. He just turned 22, and is studying for a degree in Agricultural Engineering. We’ve gotten to be good friends, and he was the officially the first Guatemalan boy I gave my number to. We head out on the motorcycle most days to “conocer” (get to know) the aldeas, and the people in them. He’s extremely personable, and seems to know basically everybody, so he’s great at introductions and keeps me included in conversation (and keeps me updated on the gossip.) He even took me to a nearby aldea, Las Delicias, that is known for hat-making, and I currently have a half-formed sombrero sadly sitting at the foot of my bed, waiting for another trip up the mountain. If I can master it, it’s probably what all of you will be getting for Christmas (not this year, I’m not a magician!) The women there love laughing at my lack of palm-weaving skills, but assured me that since I was getting better at making tortillas and was finally getting a tan, maybe someday a Guatemalan might want to marry me. One can only hope. All I have left to learn is how to turn any vegetable or fruit into atol (a weirdly sweet drink made from random things like beans, squash, or bananas) and to be able to wash all my clothes by hand without leaving my ever-present soap streaks all over them.

Our town also celebrated its feria (HUGE town celebration in honor of the patron saint, but mainly an excuse to drink and dance) and Brynna and I invited a few of our Oriente friends into town. What followed was probably the most perfect day ever. I woke up at 4am to the sounds of drunk men singing outside the door, a tradition of serenading all the women in the town, and was forced by my madre to go out to the truck, full of boys ranging from teens to old men, to give them all a hug. They then offered me a shot of homemade kusha, but being the shy, innocent girl that I am (and it being 4am) I declined. I then had my usual breakfast of coffee and about half a dozen cookies (if you call it “pan dulce” it’s ok to eat it for breakfast; ask Jim Gaffigan) and started getting ready for the day. I coaxed my younger sister, Janet, into walking in the “procession” with me, which consisted of about 60 people loudly singing off-key, and a giant gringa awkwardly shuffling along. It was great though, because if you’re going to be part of a town, you have to march in a religious parade at least once a week. After that, I sat down to an amazing lunch of tamales with the familia, and waited for my friends to arrive. The first set of people came in from Chiquimula (Kristen, Lexi, and Jesse) and after catching up for a bit, we dove right in to making mojitos for the entire family and enjoying an early afternoon family drinking session. Amazing. Next was the “jaripeo” (rodeo) and after meeting up with some coworkers and finding seats, Gustavo and I went to buy a few dozen beers, and the socializing began again. There’s seriously nothing better than looking around at your two completely separate groups of friends, and seeing new bonds being formed. I love both the volunteers I’ve gotten to know, and the people at my office. Both groups really made an effort, and I’m pretty sure everyone had a great time. Oh, and there was bull-riding too, so I hear. So afterwards, back to the house to relax, change clothes, cook some spaghetti, and get ready for the big “baile” (dance) that night. After a quick goodbye to the family, we headed to the rented hotel room to booze and joke around, and were soon full of Venado and Squiz, a truly lethal combination. The baile was great, and all of my friends were kept busy with plenty of male suitors, while I danced with the gringo volunteer that puked on everybody from the top of the “rueda” (ferris wheel) earlier in the evening. What a match. At least he (mostly) kept me from falling down, even in my huge heels. We finally made it home at 2am, and feasted on the best combination I’ve ever put together: spaghetti with pasta sauce and refried beans on top. Try it. Amazing. All in all, a fantastic day.

So now as I lay here, trying to go to sleep despite the sounds of a cat being murdered outside my door, and the telltale rustle of rats coming into my room to sleep for the night, I feel content. My friend, Kristen, noted that I seemed happier here. More relaxed. More at home. It’s all true. This is exactly where I’m meant to be, and despite any frustrations, I’m looking forward to every day.

Empezar = to begin, to start

(So this blog post is a week old. Bear with me; I’m putting up a new one soon.)

Friday (Oct. 29) was the big day. We all put on our finest, and headed into Guate to the Ambassador’s house to officially swear-in as Peace Corps volunteers and employees of the United States of America. The part you actually say aloud is actually pretty cool, and you basically affirm that you will protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. No pressure or anything. It was a fairly quick ceremony, and at the end you could feel the happiness spread through the new volunteers. We were ready to begin.

It’s easy to forget that when we signed up for the Peace Corps, we were signing up for 27 months, not just two years. And these 3 extra months have been something completely different from what I imagined when I thought of Peace Corps. Training was……exhausting. I didn’t stop to think during training about whether or not I was doing something difficult, or if I enjoyed what my days were like. It quickly just became what my life was. But my god, I’m glad it’s over. I’ve realized now that although I completely love what I’m doing, and I’m overwhelmingly honored to be here, I also unfortunately have had some problems with Peace Corps admin. They don’t seem to think my personality fits here, or that I will become a security risk, or some other vague “you’re just too much of a square peg for this round hole” type of argument. I still don’t understand why I have a huge red flag hanging over my head, but I do know I will work twice as hard to prove to them that there isn’t one type of person that can excel in Peace Corps or in Guatemala.

So I finally start my two years. To be honest, in some ways it’s the countdown clock that has started to tick. That makes this seem like a chore, and something I’m counting down until it’s over, but no matter how happy I am to be here, there will always be that sense of a time limit. Some days I’m sure I will be thinking “thank god, only 15 months left” and other days will be “how can I possibly only have 15 months left??” Either way, it feels good to be walking the streets of the town I will call home for the next few years. I’m excited to get to know these people and be part of their lives.

Starting my service also has me thinking about my role here in Guatemala. We have been trained to think that we are some integral agents of change, and that what we will do will impact someone every day. I have brought this up to others in my training group before, and I know that it’s offensive to some, but part of me just feels like a farmer. The goals of my program are to start 15 family gardens, 3 school gardens, and talk about the importance of nutrition and proper chicken care. After I leave, the gardens could be abandoned, the kids could stop caring about vegetables, the people could go back to eating what’s easiest, and the chicken coups could fall into disarray. What’s my impact? Because the physical, tangible goals of my project have the possibility of being short-term, I want to focus more on my people interactions, and hopefully finding a finding a passion in myself that I can share and fuel in others.

Viajar = to travel

The way Peace Corps works is that it assigns each person a country and a “role,” mine being Guatemala Food Security. This means I’m basically an immigrant American farmer. Cool. But there are also programs here within Guatemala such as “Municipal Development” “Healthy Homes” “Education” “Agricultural Marketing” and whatnot. Anyway, after that, different organizations or communities WITHIN Guatemala solicit for a volunteer. They have to go through a lot of paperwork showing that they have work for a volunteer, and that they can provide security and support for a volunteer. Part of this is that each volunteer has a “counterpart” that is a host country national, usually an employee of the organization that solicited the volunteer that will work with the volunteer throughout their two years. It’s a pretty great system.

As I explained in my last blog post, I finally got my “site assignment” which is where I’ll be living and working for the next two years. I’ll be in the department (aka state, kinda) of Zacapa, working for the municipality (government) and sponsored by a guy within the Office of Municipal Planning. There’s actually another girl, Brynna, in my training group going to my same town, and she’ll also be working with the municipality, but as a “Municipal Development” volunteer, and mainly working with the Women’s Office. So the following Monday (a week ago) after I got my site assignment was “Counterpart Day” at the office, where I finally met Sergio, my new boss. I don’t know exactly how to describe the feeling, but it’s almost like “bring a parent to school” day, since we all had our bosses there, and were awkwardly meeting them and trying to make conversation with them in broken Spanish. I think it really hit us all that we’ll actually be splitting up soon, for all different corners of the country, without our constant American support system.

The next day, Tuesday, we all set out for our “site visits” where we’d go see our communities for the next few days, and get accustomed to where we’ll be living for the next few years. So we packed up as much stuff as we could, and crammed into a pickup truck to head on our 5 hour trip to our new home. It was actually a pretty funny situation, and very Guatemalan, because at first we squished 6 people in the truck, with 2 riding in the back with the luggage. Then the two in the back got out and went their separate way. Then we somehow picked up a different volunteer and their counterpart during lunch, while people got in the back with luggage again. Then we finally dropped off one last person, 6 people were in the truck again, until finally we dropped off the two people we had gained halfway through the trip. Make sense? Not really. I actually ended up falling asleep during the ride, and had my head forced on Mary’s (Brynna’s counterpart) shoulder. So nice. By the way, Brynna’s counterpart, Mary, is CRAZY. Boobs everywhere, glittery makeup, tight jeans, and lots and lots of inappropriate jokes, BUT she can’t dance because she’s Evangelical. I love it.

After we got to Zacapa, I met my new family, and I’ve got to say, this will be a COMPLETELY different experience than living where I’m at now. The people I live with now are extremely conservative and reserved. The new family is a loud group of jokers, with constant reggaeton music in the background, and a carefree attitude that’s really infectious. I think I’m going to get along great with them. I now have 5 new siblings, ranging from about 25-5, one of which is married with her own kid, and one of which is grown and lives in Guatemala City. The other three are younger and pretty cool. One of my new brothers is about 17 probably and loves walking around with his shirt off. Reminds me of home. He’s adorable, and teases with his sisters, and I’m pretty sure the one I’ll be closest to. My oldest sister is the married one, and she has the cutest little baby. He’s not even 2 and knows how to count in Spanish AND English, can recite the sounds animals make, and sings “Happy Birthday” in English. Actually, the volunteer that was at my site before me is his godfather. Random, right? The oldest brother came into town to meet the new gringa, and he’s extremely nice too. He, and the rest of the family, included me in their jokes and teasing immediately and made me feel right at home. My two younger sisters are 9 and 5. The 9 year old is a little adult, and tried teach me how to make tortillas, and had the best time making fun of my ugly tortillas. The youngest one is a precocious little thing, and is constantly talking to me, even though I pretty obviously only understand about 80% of what she’s saying. Doesn’t deter her one bit. My new madre is the bomb, is laid-back, and says she can’t wait for me to be like one of her daughters. My padre is a little on the quiet side, and is almost always chilling in the hammock, and he also makes his own AMAZING fruit liquor. Chilling in a hammock, getting a tan? I’m totally meant to live there.

Anyway, we stayed in Zacapa from Tuesday night to early Saturday morning, going on a ride around to see the smaller towns that make up the municipality and the pool (yup, they have a town pool, way too cool) and meeting the people that I’ll be working with. On Friday, I actually met the mayor of the town, who seems like a pretty legit guy, and went to a beauty competition for the “flower of the feria” which is in 2 weeks. Cute little kids doing the competition, then boys dressed up as girls competing for “Ms. Guatemala” and half-dressed high school girls shaking their booties on stage during the breaks. It was part extremely amazing, and part jaw-droppingly inappropriate. Apparently they have “dances” all the time in Zacapa, and this Friday was no exception, so after the competition, the lights went out, and all the families (myself included) hauled ass to the door so the 18-30 year olds could “enjoy the evening.” It was pretty funny, because all the girls in Zacapa wore REALY tight/short/inappropriate clothes and the highest heels ever to the community event before, with their families and whatnot. It was like a Friday night in Miami, except at a children’s beauty pageant. So random. My madre is making me go to the next dance during feria, and I can’t wait for the awkwardness that will surely follow.

If I could name any downsides to my new site, it’s that I’m a little worried about what my role will be, working with the municipality. I don’t want to be in the office ever, really, and I hope it doesn’t turn out that way. Also, I’ve already had the mayor tell me he’s “single in Zacapa” because his wife lives in another town, I’ve had another guy ask me if I didn’t just want to be his “personal secretary” instead of “work in the corn” and I got confused looks by a few women on why I dress so “conservatively” even though I was wearing a spaghetti strap dress with no sweater, something I would never do where I live now. It’ll be interesting adjusting to the new life, and the pros definitely outweigh the cons. The town is EXTREMELY small, and everyone knows everyone, and I’m pretty sure that after a few months the novelty of a gringa will wear off and I’ll have gotten more of an image of a worker than of a new blonde girl.

Anyway, the next morning I woke up to catch the 5am bus back home, and found myself sitting on the curb in the dark waiting for a run down school bus. So Guatemala. After the first 4 hours, we landed in Guatemala City where we somehow managed to get a cab to take us to the next bus stop, but not until after we found a Burger King and got some fast food breakfast. So delicious. A short hour ride home, and I was happily back with the family I’ll be leaving in one short week.

Also, in the interest of full disclosure (you asked for it, readers) I finally faced and will hopefully survive my first case of fever-inducing diarrhea. Almost as soon as I got home on Saturday, I got intense chills and called my mom crying, thinking I was dying. Then the liquid green poo started happening, and to be honest, hasn’t let up. I survived the night, and made it through today well enough, but I’ve been alternating between sweating my ass off and freezing to death. A little dramatic? Maybe. But I’m sick, so cut me some slack. Anyway, there’s nothing more fun than having every member of your family know that you destroyed their toilet for 24 hours straight. My padre actually told me “I know you must be really sick because you refused food and your hair isn’t washed.” Great. Well they say you know you’re getting old when you talk about your bathroom life more than your sex life. …….Or you’re a Peace Corps Volunteer.

Side note: the dogs at my house keep barking for no reason. They must not know I’ve kicked puppies for less.

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.