Field Based Training, etc

Hey y'all,

Here's some pictures to start:

First here are some fellow trainees (minus the guy in gray) and me in Antigua (that's a volcano in the background):

Some of the Healthy School volunteers on field based training after giving our first health presentations in an elementary school:

Just a few of the redheads in our training group:

At a mayan ceremony that the Peace Corps arranged for us:

So last week we got to go on a field trip with the healthy schools group to visit some current volunteers in the department of Totonicapan (Toto). Ten of the sixteen of us will be sent to work in that department and seven of us will be replacing the volunteers that we went to visit. It was cool getting to see everything we've been learning in training put in to practice as we visited a bunch of the schools, learned about infrastructure projects they are working on in the schools and participated in a workshop for teachers. Seeing the sites and homes of the volunteers gave me an idea of what my life will be like once I get sworn in and sent out to site. It was also some good bonding time for our group because all sixteen of us stayed in a hotel for the week while the PC staff stayed at another hotel. We felt like we were teenagers whose parents had gone out of town for the weekend and we took advantage of the opportunity for nightly dance parties. This may sound a bit juvinile but keep in mind that we have to be home by dark every night and we have our lunches packed for us and our laundry done by our host mothers. Basically, for all intents and purposes during training we are all twelve again.

I have to admit that visiting the volunteers that we will be replacing left me a little disappointed because the reality of the life of a healthy schools volunteer in Guatemala is quite different from the life I imagined myself living as a PCV in Central America. All but two of us will be sent to the western highlands which means my dream of hammocks and mango trees and layers of sweat from the tropical heat will be replaced with plenty of wool blankets to keep me warm in the mountain cold and layers of dust during the dry season. Also I was imagining roughing it out in some rural town in the middle of nowhere when in fact most of us will be sent to fairly large towns with plenty of buses and concrete buildings. The good thing is that I will most likely have a flushing toilet, a hot shower and electricity. Also, we will be working in 2-4 schools that are in small rural towns of the municipality where we will live which means we will have the opportunity to get out and see the natural beauty of Guatemala when we go to work. I guess I just have to adjust my expectations and realize that no matter what the site I am sent to is like it will definitely be a unique experience and an opportunity to challenge myself.

Next week we are each going out on our own to stay with a current volunteer for a few days to shadow them and ask them all of our burning questions like "how do you buy gas?" and "how did you find your housing" and "what do you do when you are going crazy from loneliness?" I am being sent to visit a volunteer about 45 minutes from here, which again I am a little bummed about because I was hoping to go somewhere further out there, but it will still be cool.
We find out our sites on the 12th of March which sounds like its soon but to all of us it seems like a lifetime away because we are all dying to know our destinies for the next two years. I guess this gives me time to adjust my expectations so I won't be disappointed when I get my assingment. The week after we find out we will be sent out to visit our sites with our host country counterparts (in our case the superintendent of schools in the municipality) and we will figure out housing, transportation, etc.

I'm still loving life with my host family. They took me and a friend to the beach a few weekends ago which was really fun. I still haven't gotten sick from any of the food and I now eat on average five tortillas with every meal (but somehow have managed to lose weight). I have eggs and beans every morning and have tried all sorts of yummy tropical fruits. Mango season has started and my neighbor gives me avocados almost on a daily basis so I am pretty much in heaven as far as food goes.

Anyway, all in all life is good and I am happy. How are you???

Paz,
Crystal

A few photos...

Hey guys,

I've been really busy lately and haven't had time to write a complete post but here are a few pictures in the meantime. I hope you all are well and send me an email sometime to let me know how y'all are doing. Shoutout to Emily and Kris (and Grandma CeCe)- Congratulations!! Little Raye is beautiful (thanks aunt c for sending me photos!)

I dont know why the above text looks like a link but just disregard it. Anyway, here's the photos:

Here's when we learned to make tortillas:


Here's my house's bathroom (toilet on the left, shower on the right):

Here's my bedroom on the left, my host parents bedroom on the right and the boot workshop upstairs:

That's it for now! I will write more soon...

Hasta luego,
Crystal

La vida chapina

Well, I made it to Guatemala safe and sound! I’ve been here for almost a week now but it already seems like it’s been ages. For the first three days I stayed with two other trainees (that’s what they call us until we become official volunteers in March) with a family in a town called Santa Lucia Milpas Altas, where our training center is located. The family was super nice and had hosted almost 100 volunteers and students in the past so they knew how to take care of us. After the orientation and group placements they sent us out in groups of four to different communities, all within an hour of the training center. For the next three months I’ll be living in this community and almost every day the four of us will have language/cultural orientation class with our teacher Sandra at one of our houses and Mondays and Thursdays we will have training.

My host family for the next three months consists of Doña Ana, Don Carlos, their son Armando who is 25 and his wife Ingrid who is 27. There are no kids living in the house which at first I was a bit bummed about but it is nice and tranquilo here. Also, the other trainees in my community have children in their homes so I can always go hang out with them when I need a kid fix. I live right outside of a town called Pastores which is famous for leatherwork, especially cowboy boots. Don Carlos and Armando run a shop where they sell their handmade boots. The other day Don Carlos showed me around the workshop (upstairs, above my room) and explained to me how they make the boots and showed me all of the different leathers they use. He told me I can design a pair of boots how I would like them and he will make them for me, which I’m really excited for.

Also, nobody needs to worry about me because Doña Ana worries enough for the rest of you. The first morning I woke up and she was washing dishes and she hurried toward me as I opened my door and asked me how I had slept. I told her I had slept well and she breathed a huge sigh of relief and told me she hadn’t slept the whole night because she was worried that I wasn’t sleeping well. She is constantly telling me to eat more and I literally had to force her to let me clear my plates from the table. She packs a lunch for me when I go to the training center and I worry that if I don’t eat it she might have a stroke. It’s nice to know that I’m so well taken care of but at the same time I don’t know how many more times I can say “No tenga pena” (Don’t worry).

Anyway, I have so much more to say but I feel a bit overwhelmed and very tired. They’re keeping me busy with training and when I’m not in class or doing homework my host family wants me to do things with them. I’ve already been to a wedding and a piñata (child’s birthday party featuring- you guessed it- piñatas) and this weekend I’m visiting the in-laws, going to a 50^th wedding anniversary and possibly going on a roadtrip to Escuintla.

Here are a few pictures:

With my first host family and one of the other trainees:

With my orientation roommates on the training director´s front yard:

Here is the training director in his backyard with a few other trainees:

I’ll try to update as often as I can but in the meantime I would love to hear from you all! I miss you all very much!

Paz,

Cristal

I'm goin' to Guatemala!

Hello friends and family!

Well, here's my blog. I just figure it's a better way for those people who would like to stay updated, rather than flooding everyone's email inboxes with mass emails. Also, this way you can check this site at your leisure and if you're not all that interested then you don't have to check it! One thing I do ask of you, though, is to please drop a line in the form of a comment every once in a while. I want to hear from you all and it'll be nice to know that someone is actually reading this. This post will mostly just be an introduction to what I'm heading out to do, but future posts should be less boring and I'll try to include interesting stories, reflections and funny anecdotes.

Anyway, I think everyone reading this knows that I'm joining the Peace Corps. However, I have noticed some confusion about where exactly I will be going and what exactly I will be doing (i.e.: "You're going to Nicaragua, right?" "So, Crystal, when do you leave for Spain?" "Crystal, I hear you're being sent to Afghanistan?") So, here's what I'll actually be doing: I will be going to Guatemala with the Healthy Schools program (I have included a map of Guatemala and a map of Central America for those of you confused about the geography of all those little countries south of Mexico). As far as the work I will be doing: I will be a School Health Facilitator and basically I will be working with rural primary schools developing sanitation and health projects, working with teachers to promote healthy habits and to incorporate health lessons into their curriculum, and helping to identify and implement necessary changes with the end goal of certifying these schools as "Healthy Schools."

Here's the map of Guatemala, followed by a map of Central America:




So, I'm leaving San Diego the morning of January 5th and will be flying to Washington D.C. where I will meet up with the rest of my training group, which I guess will be about 30 people, and we will have a day of orientation. Then, very early January 7th we will all be flying to Guatemala! For the first three months we will have training and all of us trainees will be centered around a town close to Antigua. Toward the end of training we will find out our permanent sites, then we'll be sworn in as volunteers and sent out on our own!

I'm getting pretty excited about embarking on this adventure and so far not so nervous. It does help a lot to know I have great support here at home and I'm really thankful for everyone's words of encouragement and excitement! We'll be in touch!



Much love,
Crystal