Okay, so it has been entirely too long since I have updated my journal and my blog. I have some time this Sunday afternoon and I’m going to try to recap what’s been happening. I wrote a little bit about our adventures during FBT, or field based training. It was a week to learn some skills, like trail building, and also get to see some current sites for ecotourism volunteers. Since I last updated, we have received our sites for the next two years and I’m actually going to live at one of the places we visited during FBT. I didn’t really pay attention to the site while we were there because us volunteers thought they would surely send a girl there. We had kind of forgotten there was a security incident there recently and they prob wouldn’t send girls to Alta Verapaz.
Anyway, after FBT, we had our last week of classes and working in our training towns. The last update I was excited because we had made some tire swings for our park and had plans to cut down trees. We actually went to cut down trees which was quite an adventure and achievement. Highlights: cut down many trees with only machetes and one ax, carried huge tree trunks with six men, patty pooped in the woods, and we really were making progress. We reported to our whole group Tuesday at headquarters about our great progress and how great our counterpart was with punctuality and such. Well then we had a turn for the worse. We found out our counterpart was not going to be able to obtain the screws, rope, or other things to finish the games. Our tech trainer said we would need to make a plan b and make games solely out of tires. Long story short, we only made one giant worm by burying big bus tires half way and curving them around. A girl who worked for the city with our counterpart ended up dying of brain cancer and he stood us up a couple of times for work days because he was dealing with that. Also, the one game of monkey bars that was already there ended up getting stolen. The park is in the location of where people used to go cut trees down for firewood. Firewood is used here by many families to cook all of their food. Just another example of how the park might not be the best location. Lesson learned: you have to play the cards you’re dealt. Flexibility is vital to the peace corps experience. Even though our park didn’t really develop as we had planned, we did our best and at least taught our counterpart how to make the tire swings for when he has time and resources.
On a lighter note, our group of four managed to finish the whole first season of Glee in between waiting for our counterpart and resting from the long work days. Also, one day, Patty and I made a peanut butter and chocolate cake at my house. Also, even though the park kind of fell apart, our group still wrote an annual plan for the tourism office and made new brochures. I think we will all miss our counterpart, D Gil, and his grill.
So I bet you are wondering how we found out our sites?? We all went to headquarters Friday afternoon last week, after our group went to a coffee museum and had lunch in Antigua. Our assistant peace corps director spoke to us for a few minutes about how hard of a job he had in assigning sites and how it was not just randomly done. Then we were all blindfolded and individually placed on a map in the grass where we would live for the next two years. Then before we removed the blindfolds he told us to feel around and figure out who we would be living near. I had already kind of peeked and was kind of confused because I realized I would be going to Alta Verapaz and didn’t know which site would be mine because most of the other six guys standing near me also had business backgrounds. I am going to live near the capital of the department of Alta Verapaz at a coffee cooperative. My site has a coffee tour for tourists that includes a little tour of a pine forest and a ZIP LINE! Woo hoo! I have a zip line at my site!
So then after receiving our sites, we of course went to have celebratory drinks in Antigua. I won’t be living near the majority of the trainees in my group because they mostly live in the west of the country and we are more in the north. But I think I’ll managed because we’ll still have phones and meet up at different times throughout service. After all, our sites are sought after tourist destinations! Anyway, then Monday we had counterpart day where we met our future work partners, who had actually traveled all the way to headquarters to have a few meetings and then accompany us back to visit our new sites. Monday night we all had to pack our bags because ideally you want to take most of your luggage to your site during this visit because you will have help from your counterpart(s). Then Tuesday we departed after a few more formalities. PC drove us to the capital and then we took a Pullman bus, equivalent of a greyhound, to Coban. Then my counterparts and I took a taxi to our community. The whole trip in all takes about six hours probably from headquarters. When we arrived at the house that I was going to stay at for the week, I was greeted by the dad, mom, and FOUR kids (all under the age of 10). I had read in my site folder that the majority of my community spoke Spanish. Well that didn’t exactly mean that they did speak Spanish. I soon found out that most people’s first language is Q’uekchi, a mayan language. So looks like I’ll be needing to learn a new language. Thankfully peace corps pays for language classes for those volunteers who live in indigenous communities. I was so excited when they showed me my NEW bed the cooperative bought for me. It is bigger and more comfortable than the one I had during training, which was a double. That’s about all the furniture I have. I will have my work cut out for me trying to furnish my future room since I don’t have a volunteer leaving my site like some of the other volunteers have. I am actually the first PC volunteer to ever live in my site. Talk about pressure…. No, I think it will definitely be an interesting adventure.
So even though my site is very close to a big city, I think about a mile and a half, it is still very indigenous and developing. They do have electricity and running water. However, I was quick to learn that my host family uses newspaper for toilet paper, has to squat to use the “toilet”-without a seat, bathes next to the outside sink sans curtain and in full view from the kitchen because of gaps in the walls, has a kitchen without a floor-yup it’s dirt floored, and really aren’t fluent in Spanish-not that I am either but it makes it hard to communicate. All of this on top of the fact that they are having a foreign “gringo” live at their house definitely made for an interesting experience. I did check out other “options” of where I could live. Sorry, I forgot to explain that the purpose of this week long site visit is to meet your counterparts, see where you’ll be working, and most importantly line up a place to live with a host family for the first three months. It is a rule of peace corps that all volunteers must live with a host family for their first three months in site. Fun Fun… So like I was saying, I went and looked at other “options” but they all seemed to be lacking vital things for a house: roof, bathroom, area to bath, electricity, a family, etc. So I ended up deciding to live with the family that was kind of given to me originally by PC and the cooperative.
The cooperative has a room that they want me to live in after the three months that is right beside my office and would have my own bathroom and shower, but are in a different building. However I think a hot shower and toilet will be at the top of my list after three months. It wouldn’t be so bad showering outside without privacy and squatting over the “toilet” if it wasn’t so cold in the mornings and nights. My site is supposedly temperate weather, but often is cold and rainy. While I was there it rained two days and didn’t the other two. The co-op actually gave me an umbrella from the coffee tour too (I’m a sucker for free stuff). They actually have offered to pay half of my rent while I live with a family and then the room at the co-op would be free. I am so fortunate and excited about this. PC volunteers really have to budget the little money we’re paid, so savings are always good. After eating with the family this past week, I realize I am not going to be able to eat all of my meals with them and will thus need a kitchen. All of the food tasted like campfire because they don’t have a stove or anything and just cook with fire wood. Also, none of the coffee I drank was more than lukewarm and I’m afraid I will get sick from not boiling water or cooking foods thoroughly. So when I tried to discuss how much I would pay for rent with the guy after I decided that house was what I wanted, he was so confused as to why I didn’t want to pay for all of my meals for the month at the same time. We kind of discussed me buying stuff to cook in my room (I have two and will put pictures up in a bit), and he was so confused. Anyway, worked out my rent and will just pay weekly for food until I figure out a plan and have a chance to buy a stove and refrigerator.
We left Sunday morning and traveled all day back to our training communities. We’ll be staying here through Wednesday night. We have our swear-in ceremony Thursday morning in Antigua, with supposedly the ambassador from the US or someone from his office (that is, if I pass my Spanish test tomorrow), and then the training group is spending Thursday and Friday nights in Antigua. So excited to finally (fingers crossed) be a volunteer, even though we really can’t travel or leave our sites for much time over the next three months. Just the title of volunteer will be a nice change from trainee. Overall, I’m excited about my site and especially my work. The site is pretty developed and I expect to just increase tourism and better the operation. I like efficiency and hope that will become an integral part of the operation. I am also excited about being an ambassador of the US and the first PC volunteer. It is going to be tough. I already experienced lot’s of staring and the kids always peeking in my windows. Also, not knowing the language is going to be pretty tough. I think I’m up for the challenge though. And lastly, it is truly shocking to me that this community is so close to a big developed city and yet many of them don’t even have latrines or a place to bath, lack floors and electricity in many of their houses, don’t have great hygiene (no toilet paper or bathing locations), etc. I hope that my work in the future will make a difference in their lives and mine as well. I’m so excited for this new beginning. It is going to be tough and I’m sure there will be many ups and downs, but what fun would it be if it were a piece of cake. I hope everyone is doing well back in the US.
Hasta Luego.
(PS. I’m going to try to update pictures later….but soon because I have some of my future house and site!)
(PPS. The title of my blog is going to be quite appropriate for the next three months....)
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