Time Flies When You Aren't In Control

I think I am slowly but surely conforming to the Guatemalan way of time. You don't work for time, time works for you. There isn't such a thing as a day, I can't put a date to anything these days. Days meld into a continuous circle, not a definitive date. I kind of enjoy this way of life, it's comforting to know what I can't get done today I can get down tomorrow or the next day or maybe not even until next month but that is okay.
I started working at a school in an aldea (little village) outside of Sumpango.

This is the outside of our school, there are only three rooms inside. It consists of primera, segundo and tercera. It's the equivalent of junior high in the states. There are only two rural schools in the youth development training group so don't assume all schools are like this. Many of the others are pretty well developed and have hundreds of students. Kyle and I are working with 25 students while the other half of our group, Maggie and Pete are working in a different aldea. Our school is a NUFED which means they prepare the kids with skills to work at home or in the field. This is a great thing and a bad thing. Great because the things these kids are learning are applicable directly to their lives as they are now. A hindrance because it limits their hopes and dreams. How can you hope to be a nurse when you are focusing on how to cultivate crops?
Last week our group went with our spanish teacher, Felipe to the museum of coffee and music which was an awesome experience. I had no idea how much time went into my weekly cup of peppermint mocha from Starbucks.

This is a picture is of my group with the best spanish teacher of all time. I honestly lucked out to have such a cohesive group and such an incredible spanish teacher. To my group if you ever read this, you are amazing, I am so happy that I ended up with you guys. You make this experience that much better. Maggie with her bright disposition and words of encouragement, she is the one of the sweetest girls I have ever encountered. Kyle with his many words of wisdom, he brings a small sense a maturity to our otherwise lacking team. And Pete for knowing everything in spanish, always helping us out and cracking us up. My group rocks and I hope they know how incredibly fortunate I feel.
I have cooked two successful meals for my family with the help of my group. This last one was pizza, from scratch! It was delicious! Amazing food here is few and far between so when we have something that resembles a former favorite it's a serious blessing. Not to say the food here isn't good, just not what we are used to. The pic is of Pete and I getting our hands dirty.

We went to Antigua last weekend and had an incredible time. Antigua was a much needed break from training. Yes, we are still volunteers 24/7/365 but taking some time to be a little less professional has to happen just to keep some sanity. We had a blast, saw some amazing things and had that much needed beer that most of us had been craving for the last month. While Antigua was a beautiful place to visit I do not see myself spending much time there. There are so many tourists! It was really great to see so many white people since there are only 8 of us out of the 47,000 people that live in Sumpango but you feel a sense of entitlement there. You don't want to be bunched in with the tourists. I live here, I want that credit. I want the locals to know I do not see Guatemala through the eyes of Antigua like so many of those tourists do. When my friends and family visit I will take you there for some fun times and as an escape from the reality that is Guatemala but you will see everything. The beauty, the poverty, the life and the death that Guatemala has to offer, I'll make sure you get a taste of it all:) Antigua was a great way to bond with other volunteers, release some stress and revel in english for a day. The following are pics of our day out in Antigua.




So it has been more than a month since my arrival in Guatemala. I have learned a lot. A massive amount of spanish, how to work with the youth of Guatemala, and about myself. I get caught up in the thought of learning about myself. I know I am getting to know myself more than I ever have but shouldn't I already know myself after 23 years...I suppose not. I will keep you posted on my discoveries in Guatemala and in myself, should be an interesting journey:) I love and miss you guys please keep the emails coming! And if you are interested in seeing my home go to youtube.com look up chrismeredith86 and there are two videos up, enjoy!

Salud, Dinero, Amor

Sorry it has been so long, life in Guatemala has been quite time consuming.
To start, I am very happy and content. To be honest I didn't know what I was getting myself into when I started this adventure. I didn't know if I could hack it, I didn't even know if I wanted to hack it. Here I am though, surprising myself. Time has flown, I can't believe it has already been three weeks since I last saw the states. My days are filled with everything from spanish lessons, to technical training, to learning how to tortiar (make tortillas:)

A lot has happened in the last two weeks. My spanish has improved incredibly. I learned how to wash my clothes by hand. I made a very successful and delicious meal for my family with Maggie's help (she is all kinds of awesome). I have experienced a comedor/cantina (bar) in Sumpango and don't plan on returning. I get harassed everywhere I go. The men here love me, the blonde hair and blue eyes drives em wild apparently. The head of safety says I am exotic here, definitely a first. Not something I am really excited about either, it gets old real fast. I traveled to Guate which was exciting and overwhelming. It is crazy how different our communities are in comparison to Guatemala City. It is like any big city you might find in the States but with some seriously depressed looking buildings peppered in there. We went to their "Walmart" literally it is owned by Walmart but I can't remember the name. I am not a big Walmart fan back home but here it was like heaven. Everything I have dreamed about for the last three weeks was in there. The group is headed to Antigua this weekend, so ready for a beer. I think the malaria pills have me dreaming wierd dreams about alcohol consumption.

I start working in the schools tomorrow with my partner, Kyle. We have 24 students in a little village outside of Sumpango. I am super excited since this is the introduction to our actual job. I feel pretty confident in my spanish although I have a looong way to go.

Salud, Dinero, Amor...things to say after people sneeze. One word per sneeze. Three sneezes and you get blessed with all three:) Enjoy that little tid bit, I am bringing it back to the states.

I have more bites than I could begin to count, my body feels achy all the time, I get aweful headaches, and I get new shots every week but I am exactly where I need/want to be. This has already proved to be a challenging and rewarding experience, I can't wait to see what's next. Stay tuned...

Realism Vs Fatalism

One week down!
The days pass by insanely quickly but it feels like I have been here forever. I arrived in Sumpango on Saturday, I will be here until I swear in on July 16th. I lucked out and got an amazing host family. My dona Berta, Don Mario, his sister, dad and their 5 month old baby, Gladys. I have eaten more wierd food, rode on a camioneta, gone to a Catholic church and started thinking in spanish. A lot has happened in just one week.
My daily schedule looks something like this:
6am: Wake up, shower, eat breakfast, and do the dishes
8am: Leave to one of the other 3 people in my study groups house for spanish lessons
12pm: Almuerzo!
1pm: more spanish in the central park where everyone can stare:)
3-5:30pm: explore the town with my group for just because that's about our only freedom
5:30-7:30 Hang out with the fam, cook dinner, eat dinner, and do the dishes
7:30-9:30: Work out, talk with my real family and then head to bed

While writing this down I thought wow, how boring. It is honestly anything but boring. At this point in Peace Corps this is all I could ask for. My brain hurts from speaking/hearing primarily spanish all day long. By the time I get home all I want to do is dumb down for awhile, if I could watch some reality TV I most certainly would.
I have observed some crazy things while living in Guatemala. Some things I have found interesting:
*There are very prominant gender roles here.
*Most of the people in my town are extrememly traditional
*The majority of women wear traditional dress
*Kids are far more interested in us gringos then anyone else (they like to get really close and then run away laughing, this may be a game to them:)
*The more money people make, the more like americans they are (I can only truly say this about two families and it is because both of the guys in my group are staying with host families that fit this description, I don't mean to generalize)
*The drivers and ayudantes (helpers) of camionetas (buses) are by far the craziest people of all time
*Hand washing your clothes in a pila is freakin hard!
*I couldn't do this without my family and friends.

There have been some serious struggles, I miss everyone way more than I could have imagined. The buildings look depressed, I have no control over what I eat for meals, I have very little freedom and my head hurts. BUT the streets are full of life, everyone is so colorful, my host family is so helpful, the weather is incredible, I love the new bonds I am forming and I love the independence I am gaining from the only life I have known. I hope you all are taking some time to better your lives. For those of you who made me lists, we will be chatting in the near future and I hope to hear about a lot of accomplishments:) I wish I could share everything I go through with you all but after all the spanish lessons I am lacking a memory and the motivation to do so.

I do want to share an interesting concept with you guys though, fatalism. During training we were told that many people in Guatemala believe in fatalism. This is the idea that everything that happens to you was God's doing. You have very little control over what happens in your life. This includes sickness, pregnancies, money, and just about everything else. I had pretty strong feelings about this but I am more interested in hearing your guys' thoughts on this. Is it better to believe you have all the control in your life and therefore ALL good and BAD things are your own doing or is it better to believe all of your accomplishments and all of your failures are the work of God. Something to ponder.
Love you guys!