Sunday, June 8, 2008

Field based Training

Hello everyone!!! Right now i have a huge wad of money in my bra and its poking out! haha I juyst used the atm and got out a shit ton of money for my host family. Here in guatemala you can hardly ever use a check because they check the signautres sooo closely and if they dont match your family will have to pay 70 Quetzalez...thats a lot!!! Anyway while I was using the atm my friend matt walked up and then some other guatemalan guy walked up-...I tried to hide my pin number and I fgot my money.. then matt used the atm and the guy was totally trying to see his pin ever though he truned his shoulder to hide it. I am sooo scared my money will all be taken out. the guy was totally sketchy too' I hope everything is ok. Anyway.......We just got back from a whole week in Bueatiful Quiche. It was field based training week. We spent the whole week builing everything and anything!! My job for the first year is going to be to give lectures to people and educate them...then for the next year part of my job will be to help them build the things i taught them about. so this week was hands on training. We built a rain water catchment system that went into this huge cement tank for storage and then attached it to a pipe that connected to a pila (a hand washing station) for the little kids to wash their hands. we also built a ramp for them to walk on. We planted 8 pine trees.....and also gavce charlas (lectures) to the little kids everyday about the importance of washing your hands. We also built a cement floor for the bathroom and a seperate rain water run off system so they can use the water to cook with. We ALSO built 2 stoves. we were only able to complete one stove in time but another volunteer will finish the other one. It was sooo exciting though because we worked with 3 current volunteers and they were all very nice. The stoves were built in the kitchens of two local houses. One of them was down this crazy forrest trail and it was absolutely gorgeous. Everything was so peaceful and quiet and then had a tiny little house with dirt floors...no water supply....a ton of chickens and a little farm. It was so amazing to be able to work with them. And they hardly spoke spanish. The language spoken was quiche and I couldnt understand any of it....although now I know the words for pig- HAGK and Water- HAK. haha Anyway they were very nice and tried to communicate with us as much as possible. the little kids all had these wart things growing all over their arms and hands though. Im not sure what they were but it was sad and weird.We stayed in this hotel in the capital of quiche. sometimes we had water sometimes we didnt and it was always freezing. And if we were lucky there were 2 toilets working! haha for 16 of us! We had eggs and beans every morning for breakfast and beans and rice every night for dinner. We had to go shopping for our own lunch everyday and bring it with us. so everyday we ate peanut butter, honey and banana snadwiches...hahaAlso we were supposed to pack super light for this trip.. so I brought my little backpack. and then dona rosa asked me if i would like to bring some snacks...of course I said yes and she shows up in my doorway with 2 mangos, 2 pears, 4 bananas, a cantelope, and a papaya for me to take!! haha It was hilarious and super nice. We all shared the fruit during lunch time. During this week we also had our interviews with our head honcho guy named basilio. He pulled us aside one by one and asked us questions about what we would want for our future sites. I did my whole interview in spanish and he had already heard me give a charla once....but I think it went really really well. He asked me where I learned spanish.....told me I spoke really well.....and then when he asked me if I wanted to learn a mayan language ( which essentially means live in a community where spanish is a second language) I said I wanted to be fluent in spanish before I leave here buit I would like to learn the basics of a mayan language so I can say goodmorning and build trust with the people....To this he replied.....well....youre pretty much fluent!!!! ahhhh. I was very happy. to hear this from the boss!!!!!! But now Im terrified im going to be in some rural rural place where spanish doesnt exist....ugh but life is an adventure and I'll live either way. I also told him I wasnt sure if I wanted another site mate and that I didnt care if I was close to a city of not. He asked me how important electricity and water were and I told him the only thing I need is a cement floor! haha Now Im freaking out with excitement and Im scared but I made all these decisions before I got scared so I knew I was saying the right things. I will know by the end of the month where my site is going to be! I love you all. Ill post pictures soon.I found out about Hillary losing while I was in Quiche also and It was horrible. I started crying in front of my roomates. I just felt so disconnected from the world I once knew. I also semi feel like me and Hillary are walking the same paths and to see this happen to her made me very scared. Im also scared for the future of our country and it all hit me too fast. But even though Im thousands of miles away I am also working for the future of our country and everything will be fine. Love you

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