So it’s officially been two weeks since I left the States for Guatemala. Soooo much has happened in that time, I don’t know where to begin. This is my first trip out of the country. What to expect? What will I see? What will I do? What will I eat? I guess I should start with week one:

Week 1
I was extremely excited about what lied ahead; I had no time to think about what I was really doing. Everything happened so fast. Touching down in Guatemala City for the first time was so thrilling! We all cheered and started saying “¡Bienvenidos Guate!” At this point, we are officially guatemaltecos – well maybe tourists for a little bit (but just for a little bit). The team of greeters from Cuerpo de Paz (Peace Corps) introduced themselves, showed us through customs, and introduced us to our new form of transportation, “La Camioneta” – the chicken bus. It was big and bright like an amusement park ride. How strange to see our big yellow bus turned into pinks, greens, reds, blues, and purples to name a few. I felt like I was back in elementary school riding the bus – my legs tightly fit between the seats as I look out upon the vast city that gave way to beautiful colors and urban sounds. Guatemala City is definitely the capital! I felt like I was back in New York City for a moment. Of course nothing captures you like the Big Apple, but this comes a distant 2nd.
As we took our hour - hour & half ride to our new home, I was amazed at all of the American companies saturating the Guatemalan market. I saw Burger King and even Domino’s Pizza. How true it is that we implant our culture in so many countries abroad.

We reach our destination – CUERPO de PAZ- and we are beyond relief to enter the gates. I’m not quite sure if any of us thought we would truly get here. The process has been so brutal, but for good reason. It has all been for this moment we are standing in. We are Peace Corps Trainees.

After a few welcomes and a brief deposition on our future events, we all packed a smaller bag and were off to our new families. Surprisingly, they put me with my roommate in Washington, DC. I was happy because even though we only knew each other for a couple hours, we had already shared so much about ourselves. (Plus she could speak Spanish way better than me!)
Experiencing our new families was quite a challenge. There was the language barrier (yes), but there are the custom barriers as well. After dinner, beans and eggs, we went to our rooms and fell fast asleep. I thought that day was never going to end. So much happened in so many hours; I needed to rest up for the next day. The next couple of days are a blur. We had training for full days with breaks for lunch. We got required shots and learned a little about common culture practices, and important things to remember – like not putting toilet paper in the toilet because in Guatemala you may stop up the toilet. All paper – whether it’s No. 1 or No. 2 – goes in the trash can beside the toilet. (Boy did that take some getting used to!)

So a couple of days have passed, and we have all packed up our things and ready to move to our new host family for the next 10 weeks of training. Each of us was placed in a different house and groups of us were placed in the same city. For the first time since I had been here, my heart sank into my stomach. OMG!

What is the new house like? Will I get along with my new family? Will they expect a lot of things of me? How far will I be away from the others? Will the others like me? How much time will I spend alone?
Scary huh?
Turns out, I had nothing to be afraid of! My family was great, and to top it off, I had some of the best views of the volcanoes money can buy. My house has 3 levels, and on top where we hang our clothes and keep our roosters, I can see Volcane de Fuego – which is the biggest active volcano I have ever seen in my life. (Of course it’s the first active volcano I’ve seen, but still . . .) It is beautiful! Words cannot describe how magnificent it is. Every morning it fills the sky with huge clouds of smoke, and if you look good, you can see the lava oozing down the side. (It’s the volcano on the left.)


Week 2
This past week has gone by so fast. It doesn’t even feel like it happened. This was my official 1st of classes including Spanish and tech training. It’s kind of weird how my job in the States correlates so much with what I will be doing here. On the day of our 1st tech class, my group had to meet our teacher at the entrance of our village. At first, I was like “Ok, no problem”. Boy was I wrong! The hill alone nearly killed me. I had never walked up a hill so steep in my life. It felt like it was going for days and days. Oh how I wish I took exercising more seriously before I came. The other members in my group seemed to walk it effortlessly. Needless to say, I was jealous! BUT, It was all worth it in the end. The view from the top was amazing.
After that catastrophic hike, we met up with our trainer and went to our class in a coffee field. (In a coffee field, people!) I have never been in one until now. It was great. We got to sit under the shade trees among all of the coffee and have class. I was a little weary about the bugs at first – I’m a city girl. But after a while, you don’t even notice they are there. You are so captured by the lesson, and how you can make a difference in your community realistically. I felt better knowing that we were not going to be presented as the “Great White Hope” with our American ways to the Guatemaltecos. We are here to learn and share with them, and in the process grow together. That’s so much more important.
Despues mis clases – Sorry. My English is turning into Spanish. It’s becoming more difficult to write in English. I find myself using more and more Spanish, but I guess that was inevitable having Spanish class for 6 hours a day. Should I expect anything less? My Spanish teacher thinks I am so funny because I crack jokes and tell stories despite the fact that my Spanish is not as good as everyone else’s. He seems to understand just find – so much so, that for most of this week he has turned red and even cried a couple of times at a few of our giggle sessions. I guess you can say class is going great.

To finish off the week, our entire group met in Antigua to hang out. It was so weird being in the city because our towns are very traditional, and the women dress traditionally. There are sooo many tourists in Antigua. It’s funny because 2 weeks ago, we were the tourists. Now we feel like Guatemaltecos because we live here. We have established relationships with our families, and we are starting to establish relationships with our communities. SO merchants beware – “No gracias. ¡Yo vivo aquí!” Although, it was like 18-20 of us, so on this particular day we looked liked tourists. Either way, we’re here to stay – or at least for the next 2 years.

Here’s to 113 more weeks!