Vivo en Guatemala

SOOOO I am finally here, after a year I have made it into another country. Where to start is the hardest part. We arrived on Wednesday and jumped right into training. It was a bit humid but so pretty. There are volcanos and all sorts of beautiful things I have never seen before this. I met the people that would be my host family for the following three days before we are shipped off to our training site where we will be for the next three months. In the beginning I was so apprehensive, what the hell did I get myself into? Why am I doing this? I wanted to go home to be completely honest. But the following day I was back on track. My host family is the sweetest and I have been staying with two other female volunteers who are great people. I have a brother, two sisters, a Don, a Dona and a dog named cacahuete. They have been nothing shy of incredible. We played games outside with the kids last night. I saw my fist firefly and ate my first granadia. I think that is how you say it. It is a fruit that you eat the seeds out of and they are super slimy, like snot consistency but delicious! Mom you would be so proud of the stuff I am eating here!! I have tried everything except the squash. I had my spanish interview yesterday to test my spanish skills so they could pick an appropriate training site for me where I am grouped with three other volunteers at around the same fluency level. I am moving to Sampongo tomorrow morning and hopefully by Sunday I will have an official internet connection and maybe even a cell phone! I miss these luxuries.

There weather here is crazy. It goes from super hot to torrential downpour with thunder and lightening I have only heard horror stories about, all in one day. I also saw the volcano spit out a huge load of smoke today, also a first for me. The last few days has been full of incredible firsts I could never have imagined. I saw a guy walking a cow on a leash with his son yesterday. I have sat in on a spanish bible reading. I am a minority. I learned some mayan. I have sisters! I don´t have a phone, a car, an official room to call my own or the means to communicate as effectively as I would like as of yet. All this in mind though I couldn´t be more content with myself. I can´t believe I made it this far and I know while there will be harder feats down the road I will succeed here and I am doing the right thing for me. I miss you all more than I can say. I appreciate your emails so much, please keep them coming. My time is so monopolized right now it is hard for me to get back quickly but believe me I will. Your words of wisdom give me strength and I will need them more and more in the coming months. A guy just walked past on the main road with two cows on leashes and a woman walk with a box on her head and no hands, another first! Hee hee. Love you guys!