lifeee

Hola!

Sorry it took so long for me to get one of these up here but I'm finally doing it so here is an update on my life so far...

The first four days of my time in Guatemala were spent in a town where the peace corps headquarters are. I stayed with a woman named Irma and her family and it was awesome because Irma's family was the first family in santa lucia to host a volunteer and shes had more than 150 volunteers staying with throughout the years! It was also awesome because I got to stay with another trainee named Jaron who was super nice and also spoke much more spanish than I do so she helped me a lot in understanding/communicating. Jaron and I shared a room which had two full beds and a dresser (although we didn't even unpack since we were only there for four days). The bathroom was down the hall on our right and had a shower when you first walk in followed by the toilet and we had running water and electricity which was awesome. All of the rooms in the house were separated by sheets for privacy and to keep bugs out. In the kitchen there was a big cement fixture called "la pilla" which is where dishes are done, teeth brushed, clothes washed and sometimes bucket baths taken if the water isn't working. The food was also delicious but I am not used to so many carbs and not many fruits and veggies so that will definitely take some getting used to. Irma's grandfather kept teasing me that I was too scared to try to speak spanish and told me before I left that I should come back and visit them when I am not so scared... I will definitely do that!

Yesterday was our first day with the host families we will be with throughout all of training. My family is amazing!!! The mom is Norma and the dad is Roberto and they have four sons (Melvin 12, Kevin 9, Diego 7 and Daniel 5). The boys are great because they are so interested in me that they help me try and speak spanish and help me with my pronunciation so hopefully that will allow me to learn spanish even quicker! Roberto also speaks english well so that is helpful when I really have no idea what is going on (which is often). My mama is so cute and nice, I can't wait to get to know her better and to learn more spanish so that I can talk with her more because right now it's a little difficult. Their house is also absolutely beautiful! The town we are in is a little bigger compared to some of the other cities trainees went to and it is also very hilly. Everyone who has a car here has to drive stick because the roads are so steep that you'd never make it up them without it. My house has three floors and the top two have "decks". They are actually more like balcony's but I want to call them decks because they are so big and we are higher up on the hill so it overlooks all of the city and the view is really unbelievable! We also have a great bathroom with running water and a shower and a sink. My room has a full size bed and a big wardrobe and desk, it's perfect. All the boys play soccer so I can't wait to go out with them and practice my skills :)

Last night (my first night here) we went to a birthday party for one of their family members. In Guatemala most of the friendships are within a family and the families are pretty big. I'm pretty sure this party was for someone on my padre's side but I'm not 100% positive because there were so many people that I was really overwhelmed trying to listen and understand anything of what was going on. We had a delicious potato-y dish with coffee for dinner followed by two HUGE cakes, one was peach and one was chocolate. I had a piece of the peace cake and it was so delicious! You really have to be careful of what you eat here because since the water is bad it really matters how the food is prepared/cleaned as well as how the silverware/dishes are cleaned but so far I've been aok. The birthday party was really similar to one we'd have back home with the singing of happy birthday and gathering of family members (although their happy birthday is much more fun than ours!) The party was an awesome experience and I had a great time but by the time it was over I was definitely ready for bed. It's amazing how tiring it can be just trying to take everything in and learn as much as possible every day but I'll get there, it's just gonna take time.

Language classes start back up on Monday but my group for that only has 2 other people so hopefully that will be helpful for me and my teacher, Isabel, is awesome. Every Tuesday all the trainees head back to headquarters for group sessions and I can't wait to get back to see all my fellow trainees (we all were split up between different villages and there are only 8 out of 32 here in my city). I miss everyone back home a lot but am thinking of you guys all the time! I hope you are all doing well and I'll try and get back on here in a few days to write you all an update :) Pray for me!

Love,
Kristen