The adventure begins..

So I just found this blog saved in a word document on my computer from one of the first days in site. I completely forgot about it and decided to add it (despite starting a real blog in July). I thought it was really funny to read after 6 months in site..

April 30th, 2011

Where do I begin? The last few days have been decently busy after arriving in Guatemala and the first three days of training.

I guess the first part I should explain was how we finally ended up in Guate. The night before I left, I busily packed last minute things into areas of my bags that clearly didn’t have enough space, meanwhile already being over the weight limit. Therefore, I had to make last minute decisions of what to keep and what to leave behind. Needless to say, this took me until 1:30AM.  Approximately less than two hours later at 3AM I woke up to take my last American hot shower and headed for the airport around 4AM with mi familia.  From Myrtle beach I flew to Charlotte then Philly where we had our “staging event” at a hotel in downtown philly.

I should say at this point, one of my roommates from college, Meridith, picked me up from the airport..which I am SO thankful for considering the massive amount of luggage I had.  Meridith and I then walked around downtown Philly where we saw some pretty sweet Amish people.  Once we got to the hotel, Mer and I met some of the other fellow Guate volunteers. When Mer tried to leave I pretty much begged her to let me go with her. However, she refused and made me go back to the hotel (Thanks by the way!)

Luckily, as soon as I got back into the hotel, I met my friends Megan and Madelynn who made me feel so much better about the whole PC deal. We then had staging for about 7 hours where we discussed what to expect, what’s expected from us, and safety/security things. That night, at midnight we got on a bus to drive 2 hours to JFK Airport in New York.  At about 7AM we boarded the plane and headed to Miami.  Finally at about 3pm ish, I believe, we flew from Miama to Guate.

From Guatemala city (where we flew in), we drove about an hour to the Peace Corps office. I don’t remember much from the afternoon at the pc office considering I had only had about 7 hours of sleep in 3 days at that point.  However, that night we went to our homestays where we would be for 3 days. Here, I had 2 roommates where I was luckily paired up with Madelynn and Janece. Fortunately, they are both pretty awesome at Spanish so it wasn’t too difficult communicating with the family.  The house was much different than what is common in the US. The hallways of the house were outdoors so when switching between rooms, we were outside which I thought was pretty sweet. The first morning I took a warm bucket bath, however the next 2 mornings I had the chance to take the coldest showers of my life – it was fab.

Finally, that gets me to today – my first day with the family that I’ll be living with during training for 3 months.  Well, I got here at about 1ish I believe. However, before that, we were gifted with cell phones, nokia phones that is.  It is 10x harder to use than my iphone (which I happen to miss more than anything), but it is still the most exciting possession I could have possibly been given.  It even has Spanish radio..which I may or may not be listening to right now.

I finally got to talk to my sister, dad, and bester Katiemac. However, we’re given 75 minutes to call home, and yep, I have already used 67…today. Go figure.

Okay, soo now to my new HOME (for the next 3 months). It is AWESOME and I’m pretty sure I have the best family out of any volunteer – #handsdown. The mom and dad are so outgoing and SO forgiving with my Spanish.  They have a daughter who is 29 who has been amazing as well. She has an 11 month year old daughter who I am in LOVE with already. 

When I first got here, they gave me a tour of the house- which is baller.  The bottom floor includes a garage type thing, a foyer, my bedroom, a bathroom, living room/dining room AND a kitchen. The upstairs contains two apartments.

My favorite part is the bathroom – which is INSIDE and contains a toilet that ACTUALLY allows toilet paper. Yes, yes I know I’m spoiled. (FYI, most TP has to go in trash cans next to the toilet).

We then ate lunch which consisted of soup and vegetables/noodles (nice break from rice and beans).  After lunch, everyone took a “siesta” which apparently they do every day, while I unpacked my bags and made my room much homier. 

Later that night, they took me into Quetzenhalgo, or Chetzenhalgo..something of the kind..where we visited a mall type place.  It was really nice to see a bigger city in Guatemala and I appreciated my family so much for taking me there. I just wish I knew how to tell them that more than simply saying “muchas gracias por tomando mi aqui” over and over.

Anyway, I held the baby at the mall while the family talked to their friends while I danced with el bebe to Soulja Boy - #swagright? Don’t worry, Shakira came on after and we rocked that too.

Once we got home, we talked for a little bit then I came into my room to pass out.  The family is Catholic, and very strong believers. One of the first things they asked me was what religion I was.

But yeah, so this house is awesome, my room is awesome, and this family kicks some guate butt. The dad does construction and built his entire house along with almost every piece of furniture in it.  He also showed me his other house today that he owns and built.  Oh and nbd, but this house is where he stores his 2 cars.

So, they’ve been teaching me Spanish all day, and not only did I teach them a few words in English but I also taught them about why they get cold after they eat. #wishicouldsayShuntinginspanish.

Well, I’m gonna go attempt to brush my teeth and wash my face with the lack of H20 (it shuts off at 3pm everyday). LATERGATERZ