An update on my Guatemala life

 Time for another blog update.  I divided this blog post into different sections.

A typical day

I feel like I have developed a pretty good routine here in Guatemala but it is already changing.  I wake up every day at 6:45am, take a shower, eat breakfast and get ready for class.  I had Spanish class from 8am-12pm and 1pm-4pm with the 3 other trainees in my town every day of the week except Tuesday and Sunday.  Our classes are at one of the other trainees homes.  For the first week we were at one trainee’s house and last week we were at another trainee’s house. At noon I got to go home to have lunch.  After lunch we would either finish up Spanish class, go to the Health Center in Antigua where we are working, or have technical training with all the other Healthy Homes trainees.  After afternoon activities I go running with one or sometimes two of the other trainees in my town.  The roads are kind of dangerous to run on so we run around the parameter of the soccer field.  Sometimes we have spectators watching us run.  We have actually seen 2 local people start running the parameter of the field also.  We are setting a good example for other people to follow.  After running I walk across the street and I am home.  While we are in training we must be home before dark which is usually 6:30pm here.  I usually work on homework until dinner is ready which is usually between 7:30pm-8:30pm.  I usually end up talking with my host parents after dinner until 9pm.  After that I hope my homework is done because I am usually pretty tired then.  I end up crawling into bed about 10pm.  Now some of my schedule will be changing.  Because we are in an advanced Spanish class we only had 2 full weeks of Spanish class.  Starting this week we will have Spanish class with a different teacher only on Mondays.  On Tuesday of every week I have to get up at 5:45am to go to the Peace Corps Office.  I get on the bus at 6:30am and it drops us off about 1km away from the Peace Corps Office.  We have general sessions all day and I usually get home by 5:30 or 6pm.  On Wednesdays, Fridays, and half of Thursdays I will be at the health center. (see below what I am doing at the Health Center)

Technical Training

Several times a week we have technical training with all of the other Healthy Homes trainees.  At this time the technical trainers teach us about health in Guatemala, how to give informational presentations (aka Charlas), and lot of other good information.  Last week Thursday we practiced giving 10 minute charlas in English to each other.  My presentation was on malnutrition and ways to prevent it.  We ended up running out of time and so we split into smaller groups to give the charlas and I only had to give my charla to 3 people.  But it was still good practice. 

Work at the Health Center

The first few times we went to the health center we just went over the schedule with the social worker we are working with.  Last week Wednesday we started working by helping the center prepare for the Women’s Health Fair that was on Friday.  We made a big sign that had all of the services offered and what room they were in.  On Friday we showed up to the health center a little bit before 8am to help with the health fair.  Two of the other trainees had prepared a presentation to 15-17 years old girls about healthy relationships and safe sex.  There were supposed to be 3 groups of 35-40 girls and they were supposed to come at 9am, 11am, 2pm.  The first group didn’t get there until 9:40am and there were about 75 girls.  They separated the girls into two groups so we could have a more manageable number.  I was there to help out as needed.  The day before we heard 3 current Peace Corps volunteers talk about giving their first presentations in Spanish.  They all had really funny stories but I think ours is really funny too.  So in the middle of giving the presentation the girls were working in groups of 4-5 people.  Apparently a nurse and 2 clowns thought that we were done giving the presentation because they came out and started saying that they were going to give Tetanus shots and vitamins to the girls.  Our show was totally taken over by 2 clowns and a nurse.  After the shots we were able to get some of the girls back to finish up the presentation, what a funny first charla.  We did the presentation 3 more times and they were not taken over by anymore clowns.  The final group at 2pm did not show up. 

On Wednesday I am going to give a presentation on nutrition to people who are waiting in the waiting room to see the doctor.  It has to be observed by a technical trainer and a Spanish teacher.  Then on Friday the 3 other trainees and I will give a 2 hour presentation to 25 health education teachers on respiratory infections.  Sometimes I can’t believe how much responsibility the health center is giving us but it is nice that they trust us.  I hope it all goes well.

Guatemalan Food

Overall the food here has been pretty good.  My breakfast varies from day to day.  The selection can be:

1.       Cereal (corn flakes, Choco Krispy, frosted flakes) with powdered milk

2.       Oatmeal (in Guatemala it is called ‘mosh’)

3.       Refried beans, scrambled eggs, corn tortillas with instant coffee

Lunch is the biggest meal of the day and can include:

Rice, vegetables, potatoes, chicken, beef, gluten-free pasta I brought from US that my host mom makes me and with every lunch I usually eat 3-4 corn tortillas.  A meal is not complete in Guatemala without tortillas.  There is a person who delivers fresh warm tortillas to our door at about 12pm every day, just in time for lunch. 

Dinner is usually served between 7:30pm-8:30pm and always consists of black beans and I side dish of something else.  We either refried black beans, whole black beans, or liquefied black beans and the side dish could be fried plantains, hot dogs with tomato sauce, vegetables, potatoes, eggs, and of course tortillas.  I always drink flavored hot tea for dinner.

My training town

My training town is about 20 minutes in bus north of Antigua.  It is really small and tranquilo.  It has the center square with a church and little soccer field/basketball court.  There are 3 little stores that are around the plaza that are out of people’s houses.  The other 3 trainees live really close to the plaza.  I live like a 3 minute walk away from the plaza on the road that goes through town.    There is one elementary school in my town.  Most people go to Antigua if they need to buy something, go to the doctor or bank.  Antigua is probably the most tourist city in Guatemala.  It used to be the capital of Guatemala until an earthquake hit it hard in 1773 and then they built the current capital, Guatemala City.  There are a lot of ruins around Antigua.  There are also 3 volcanoes really close to Antigua that I hope to climb sometime in the future.  There are actually about 34 volcanoes in Guatemala including 4 active ones.

Chicken Buses

Ahhh chicken buses how I love thee!  Ok maybe not really but it sure is an adventure every time I get on one.  Just imagine an old American school bus that has run its course in the United States.  When they get over a certain number of miles people drive the old buses down to Central America and we get to use them as public transportation.  Once they get down here they get a good paint job done to them with bright and fun colors on the inside and outside.  You might not even recognize the big yellow school bus that it used to be.  Some don’t have to fancy colors and still have the name of the school district on the side of the bus.  I am going to keep my eyes open for the next 2 years for a bus from my school district in United States.  I have been in Guatemala for about one month and have ridden on many chicken buses and have yet to see a sign saying the maximum number of passengers inside the bus because they do not care how many people are on the bus, the more passengers there are the more money they make.  A bus is not full until every seat has 3 adults in it plus maybe a baby or child the mom’s lap plus many people standing in the aisles.  On every chicken bus there is an ‘ayudante’ or a helper who goes around and takes everyone’s bus money and also stands at the front of the bus screaming the destination to anyone who is waiting on the side of the road.  He has to be a skinny person because he has to squish through all of the people standing in the middle of the aisle.  Once he gets to the back of the bus he will jump out the back door and then run to the front of the bus instead of trying to squish his way back to the front.  On Saturday we had an activity where we went to visit another training town.  On the bus to Antigua I was literally smashed up against the windshield in the front of the bus.  I had to stand in an awkward position so that my leg would not hit the shifter and accidentally throw the bus into neutral or something.  Ahhh good times!!

Looking Ahead

Today my brother arrived in Guatemala but he will be traveling around with a group from his seminary.  In a week from Tuesday he will be spending one night in Antigua.  I am going to meet my host family in Antigua and then we will meet up with my brother, his girlfriend, his girlfriend’s mom and sister.  I am excited to have my first visitor in Guatemala.  My brother is nice enough to bring some things I forgot or couldn’t fit in my suitcases from the United States.  So I have 8 more weeks of training left.  In 2 weeks I will be going to Field Based Training where I along with maybe 10 other trainees will be visiting a current volunteer and doing some presentations and see what it is like to be a PCV.  Then I will be back to my training site for a week and a half and then I will be doing Individual Activity where I and maybe one other person will go to visit another PCV and work with them for a couple of days.  I will be ‘home’ for a few days and then I will find out my site assignment, where I will be living for the next 2 years.  A few days later I will go to visit my future site for a week.  Then I will come back to my training town for a week and then swear-in as a Peace Corps Volunteer on July 15^th.  I hope to run a half marathon on July 16^th in Antigua and the next day I and move out to my site for the next 2 years.  It is going to be crazy for the next 2 months but it is going to be fun. 

P.S. If anyone would like to send me something – letters, packages I would not refuse them.  My address is:

Cuerpo de Paz
Apartado Postal 66
Antigua Guatemala
Sacatepequez 03001
Guatemala Central America

Please send it by US postal service.  You could include letters, pictures, anything Gluten-free, candy, trail mix, craisins, crystal light/gatorade type packets to add to a water bottle, and anything else you think I might want.

I'm here!!

I have been here in Guatemala for 8 days.  What a crazy 8 days it has been. I don’t want my blog to be a boring timeline of everything I do, but I will catch everyone up on the past few 8 days and then I won’t talk about everything I do word for word, I will talk more about my experiences.  On April 26^th I was in Philadelphia for 1 day for “Staging” or orientation, which is where I met all of the other 52 other Peace Corps Trainees going to Guate.  We went over the goals and objectives of Peace Corps in general.  We had orientation from 12pm-7pm, I then went out to eat with a few other PCT, and then came back to my hotel room at about 9pm.  I laid down from about 10:30pm-11:00pm.  Then I got up, took a shower and was out of my hotel room at 12am.  I had my hotel room for a whole 5 hours but I only used it for 3 hours!  We took a bus from Philadelphia to New York City in which I slept most of the way.  Our flight from NYC to Miami was 3 hours and I slept the whole way and the flight from Miami to Guatemala City was 2 hours but I didn’t sleep at all.  When we arrived in Guatemala we were greeted by Peace Corps staff and a couple current volunteers.  We went through immigration and customs as a group.  Peace Corps welcomed us to the country by loading us up on nicely painted, decked out Chicken Buses (aka old American school buses that are driven down from the United States and then used as public transportation).  We were taken to the Peace Corps office, which depending on traffic, is 1 hour outside of Guatemala City.  We had a little orientation and then we were taken to our host families where we stayed for the next 3 nights.  I was in a home with 2 other cool trainees.  In my family we had a mom, dad, 17 year old daughter, 15 year old son, 11 year old daughter, 7 year old daughter and our mom’s sister lived in the home also.  They were such a fun family to get to know.  During the next 2 ½ days we had orientation at the Peace Corps office.  We had Spanish interviews, immunizations, information about how to stay safe in Guatemala, what to do if we get sick, and received many workbooks that we will be going through in the next 3 months.  On Friday we were told which Spanish groups we will be in depending on how we did on our interview.  I am in a group with 3 other trainees.  Each Spanish group gets placed into different towns around the Peace Corps headquarters.

On Saturday morning we said good bye to our host family.  Then at the Peace Corps office we received our cell phones.  All PC volunteers and trainees receive cell phones and phone calls between all PC volunteers, trainees, and staff is free!  I guess only 5 out of the 76 countries that PC serves in do volunteers get issued a cell phone.  Then we loaded up into big vans and we were taken out to our different towns.  I was the last person in the van to be dropped off at my house.  I was welcomed with a warm hug and kiss from my host mom.  I came into the house and met the rest of the family.  I have a host mom, dad, and 2 daughters in their 30s.  One daughter is married and has a 10 year old daughter, an 11 year old son, and a 15 year old daughter.  The other daughter is married and has a 6 month old daughter, 2 year old daughter and an 8 year old son.  I obviously live with a big family and I love it.  After I met my host family I saw my room and where I will be living for the next 3 months, during training.  After 3 months of training I will become an official Peace Corps volunteer and then live in a different site for the next 2 years.  I love my host family, they are so nice and I have been laughing so much with my host mom and dad.  I also have electricity all the time, hot showers and running water (the water stops from 8pm-4am).  This week we had Spanish class Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, today, and tomorrow.  Every Tuesday we travel back to the Peace Corps headquarters for general trainings about culture, safety training, medical training, immunizations, and technical training.  So far everything is going really well.