A few days of the past

Day 3…Welcome to Guatemala (August 13, 2008)

Today has worn me out more than any other day yet, any of those other 2 days I have been on this little adventure. Eloquence will be lacking in this entry. But today we got to Guatemala and now it’s fully on me. I floated mentally and physically in and out of consciousness today due to waking at 3 am for the flight, although the flight was at 730, its nice to be treated like a child again. Really though, today I felt pretty good all day compared to the last two days. I still feel massively homesick for my people. Being out of phone and Internet range is the ultimate distance.

I arrived into Guatemala City at 2 today. It’s a rainy, cool place, 7,000 feet high. We spent plenty of time meeting the people in the airport. I had a solid long conversation with an American who has lived in Guatemala working for the Peace Corp for the lat 18 years. I reconfirmed my reasons for embarking on this adventure with him. Although sometimes I feel like I’m just trying to convince myself. Part of me wants a natural disaster to occur just so I have an excuse to flee back to my comfort zone. I wont say it wont happen.

Currently its 7pm here, and I am lying in a small room with my temporary roommate David, who is a municipal volunteer and will be sent to another part of the country after the initial orientation here. Saturday the group of 30 will be broken down into the assignment groups and sent out for community based training in which I will move to another home stay. Dinner tonight was interesting, I had platanos, beans?, cheese and tortillas. I enjoyed it mostly, except for the fact I had just eaten a banana I bought from a tienda. The family here is nice, the kids are great and I talk to them frequently.

Tomorrow I have my first day of training in country. Early in the morning we take evaluations of our Spanish level, of which I was disappointed in myself today upon arrival. I really struggled to pull out some simple phrases. However, I think the anxiety and exhaustion contributes to that ha-ha. Shots and further medical evaluations occur tom too. I am tired as f***. I love you family and friends. And I want to say to those who I had last minute conversations and texts with; they really went a long way in making me feel better mentally. Those of you know who you are. I’m in a tough place in all respects.

Day 4…Turning day numero uno

The third world clashes with the first world as I listen to a new CD (thanks JV) on my MAC and blog, while getting annoyed by the barking dogs and early morning rooster cries. This morning I awoke to a 5 am alarm, incorrectly set by my temporary roommate and friend David. He never set the time back 2 hours to Guatemalan time, so don’t feel so bad for me, I got up at 7 after 2 more glorious hours. After the luxury of a hot shower, eggs, beans and tortillas, I trekked a whole of 2 minutes to the Peace Corp compound, guarded with a couple soldiers with sawed off shotguns. On Monday there was actually a shooting due to a disagreement over bus payments to gangs outside of the compound. It’s pretty safe though, slight sarcastic smile.

We opened the day with more introductory courses, followed by a Spanish level evaluation. I did pretty well, although I haven’t used it for a bit I worked my brain back into a solid 20 minutes performance that I believe put me in the upper half of the marketing facilitators. I will find out tomorrow. There are 8 of us here, and 8 more food security people, and 14 municipal development volunteers. Of note, the average age of our group is 26. I had a preconceived notion most people here would be fresh out of school. Not the case. Many are out of grad school, or coming off of successful or not so successful or fulfilling positions. There is one very interesting, nice man that is well into his 60’s, old enough to be my grandfather, easily.

Before lunch the sustainable agriculture group took a peek at the gardens exhibited in part of the massive complex I didn’t know existed. After checking out some tire gardens and miracle California worms that emit tons of fertilizer and eat like pigs and increase crop yields hugely, we walked through some basketball courts that bordered what I guessed to be an elementary school. Over a barbed wire fence I fist pumped a group of 3 kids, I got one fist pump back, then I gave another, got 2 back, then saluted, and got 3 back. After this they we collectively had the attention of the whole group who waved, prompting a clearly audible thanks.

The afternoon passed with presentations by the deputy director Jim, who for Weeds fans looks like Doug, and by a self proclaimed red neck from Georgia, Makali. Makali is the director of safety and security for Guatemala. He gave a humorous and overly entertaining view of serious crime in Guatemala and our risks during his hour and a half presentation. I felt like I should have taped it.

I made some solid connections through good conversation and acknowledgements today too. Honest John the Potato Farmer is one of my favorite colleagues of the group of 30.

In the evening many of the group moseyed up to the central park, guided in most part by various 8-12 year olds from the temporary host families. The park overlooked an ancient volcano, an amazing site. I would have taken a picture, but I hopefully left my camera at the compound after spending the time to dig it out of my bags there.

I also got the chance to get online today, only to find out the US is getting crushed in Gold medals, and lost to Nigeria in soccer, although Nigeria should be applauded for being the 1^st place team in the group.

In all, today was a great day; one that I feel is a turning point in my time here. I know after today that I can do this, and feel passionate about it. I know there are plenty shitty days to come, but this was a great day. My energy level was high, and I was happy. I still miss you all (family and friends, not any bystander virtual stalkers), but thankfully at least for today that longing has moved from the forefront of every thought, to somewhere less noticeable.

I received my “syllabus” from the head of the sustainable agriculture today, it’s going to be tough and a lot of work, but very real, and extremely valuable. I wont get into it now, but you’ll all see eventually. I’m not going to let these people down, and that excited me.

Read of the day, I started “The End of Poverty” by Jeff Sachs. You should Google it, for those of you who are at work, reading this to catch a break. Here is a quote I like from it, maybe because I feel like i'm doing it in my way:

“Rather, it is our task to help them onto the ladder of development, at least to gain a foothold on the bottom rung, from which they can then proceed to climb on their own.”

I now turn my computer off, laughing with my roommate about the brutally loud vibrating rudder sound coming two rooms away from our host patriarch, and after telling of a story about a certain champion of snoring I know from Charlotte. I hope to load these entries in the next few days.

Day 6…Time to meet family numero 2

Firstly, I would like to say with an absolute smile on my face, im drinking my first beer since leaving DC and drinking yeunglings with Jack and Ananda on Tuesday night. Yeah its Saturday night. About time. The beer is called Gallo, which is a rooster (Cock), and its pretty good. I also have not had a cigarette in 2 days. You may think I’m miserable, but this is my 3^rd great day in a row. Yesterday we finished our initial Peace Corps orientation at the Guatemala headquarters, and today we moved out of our temporary housing to travel to our training quarters. The marketing facilitators have been broken up into 2 groups at this point. My group is made up of 4 people; myself, Scott (from Ohio), Alexander (NY) and Rachel (Minnesota). I am pleased with the group, we get along well, and we will maximize our time here as friends.

As the different groups departed today from the center to go to the various training sites it was disappointing. I saw my first roommate (David) go to a different site, along with a number of other interesting people I was just getting to meet. For those of you I talked to in DC, its quite a 180 from when I said I don’t know if I connect with a number of these people. Fuck its hard to concentrate w massive dog barking in the background…earplugs.

That should lead me into my new site. My van set out w 8 volunteers, 4 municipal development and 4 marketing facilitators. The van dropped the 4 muni people at a tiny (the smallest training site) site about 25 minutes away from the center. It looked like a pretty common developing country scene, to put it properly. Seeing the site I had relatively low expectations for my site. We had been sold pretty hard on our site during classes on Friday due to it being the furthest from the center, about an hour. But no sale was necessary. I had a permanent smile on myf ace after realizing my group was only 10 minutes on the other side of Antigua, squished in between not 1, or 2, but 3 Volcanoes. It’s the closest site to the beach. And the kicker, the houses we are staying in are the nicest I have seen in Guatemala, save our assistant director Craig. The houses here are still generally low income in the area, but we are all staying with reltively successful families. My family consists of a father, his father, and his 3 children (21 F, 13 M, 9 F). The 21 F definitely wants to marry me and had dropped several remarks about romantic things offhand already. I might start showing her pictures of ex girlfriends. There is a woman who lives here and does the housework, but I don’t know her relation yet. I find it very interesting I live in a home with no mother. I can only imagine she died at some point. I have connected well already with them, after only a day. The kids cant stop playing w me. The dad and his dad are good guys, and good humored. I find myself fortunate to be in this city. It has much to offer.

On a day when I met a new family, I was reminded of mine. I found a letter from my dad in a book I had been reading. I wont go into much detail, but It brightened and saddened my night at the same time. I want to throw in an “I love you Dad, and family,” after reading it. This is definitely the hardest thing I have ever invited myself into, but Im stepping to the challenge. I am fortunate to be supported by amazing staff who know exactly what I am going through. I am confident today, that I will be confident for the next 26 ½ months.

Day 8

Yeah this is short because I only pasted the last few days of blogging on here and havnt written today, but I will hav a phone very shortly and I am excited to get in touch. Im feeling great and I have gained a mental clarity.

Come to Antigua. You dont know what youre missing.