So this week a new set of trainees have touched down in Guatemala! There are 52 of them, and only 7 are guys! How sad! The women to men ratio of volunteers is so high now, I dare not try to calculate. I knew we were raising the number of volunteers, but this is crazy! Then the question becomes "Where in the country will they be placed?" Chimal is already running over with the new volunteers from the last batch. Well, "vamos a ver" {We'll see}.
This group pushes me one step closer to my year-mark. That's right.....9 months in-country, and 6 months in-service! It just gets better and better. My Spanish has improved, yet still not fluent, but I'm ok with that for now. Poco a poco {little by little} I will get there. So the next three months should be interesting as the new trainees try to make it through training and cross over to the other side as a volunteer. Oh the days.......it seems like only yesterday I was in there spot. I remember when we first arrived so green awaiting instructions and filled with nervous energy. I remember the day-long classes of Spanish and the weekly get togethers of other trainings.
Well I hope they all make it through. I wish them luck, and we will see at the end of their training.
This group pushes me one step closer to my year-mark. That's right.....9 months in-country, and 6 months in-service! It just gets better and better. My Spanish has improved, yet still not fluent, but I'm ok with that for now. Poco a poco {little by little} I will get there. So the next three months should be interesting as the new trainees try to make it through training and cross over to the other side as a volunteer. Oh the days.......it seems like only yesterday I was in there spot. I remember when we first arrived so green awaiting instructions and filled with nervous energy. I remember the day-long classes of Spanish and the weekly get togethers of other trainings.
Well I hope they all make it through. I wish them luck, and we will see at the end of their training.
It's 3am, and I can barely keep my eyes open. Just 30 minutes before, I was washing my face, brushing my teeth, and putting on my clothes to get ready to travel with our coffee. Yes......today is the day! We are moving all of our coffee for export! My counterpart pulls up to my house, and I quietly sneak out my host family's front door. I hop in the front seat, and with a little shiver, I greet Nazario with "Seqer" -{Kaq Chikel for 'Good Morning'}. He greets me back in English, and we take off for the office. At the office, we wait for a good 30 minutes for everyone else to arrive. Needless to say, I could have been sleeping for that extra 30min, but I can't complain.
It's time to go! We load the pick-up truck with blankets and soft cushions because it's 11 of us in a medium size truck and only 3 of us can fit in the cab. That's right, even in a pick-up, we are squished beyond recognition. I think I may take a job as a circus clown when I leave. Did I mention it was a manual? I really didn't have any room.....two grown men and me trying to fit non-comfortably in the cab. We hit the road for Xela, an almost 4hr drive, and I attempt to catch some Zzzzzzzz. Ha ha, the joke is on me because an hour and a half later the truck stops, and not because we're making a pit-stop. The truck is malfunctioning! What are we going to do?! We all look under the hood as if we are mechanics, and none of us are.
I checked the spark plug, and sure enough it was covered in so much dirt that it couldn't catch. I must stop for a moment here, and interject. I know absolutely nothing about cars or trucks. I just happened to get lucky.

From this point on, the guys called me a "truck girl". Whatever that means?! We make it to Xela with only 2 more mechanic-stops, and take a break to have breakfast. It's great to sit and eat with the guys. I'm like a little princess with them. I order the baked chicken with rice, and my guys politely tell the waitress, "no tomatoes". I love them! We finish breakfast, and make our way to the warehouse where we prep for the great unload!



FINALLY, I'm home. It's 9:30, and I want to fall flat on my face. I unlock my bedroom door and lay on the bed. Needless to say.............. that's where I lay.............. until the next day.

F-R-I-E-N-D …..FRIEND. What does that mean? The Encarta Dictionary describes “friend” in a few different ways: (1) somebody emotionally close • somebody who trusts and is fond of another; (2) acquaintance • somebody who thinks well of or is on good terms with somebody else; (3) ally • somebody who is not an enemy; and/or (4) advocate of cause • a defender or supporter of a cause, group, or principle.
Remember when you were younger, and you made friends so quickly? And remember how easily those friendships could end? Remember when you use to write “Best Friends Forever” on everything, and you would defend your friend no matter what? Remember when you use to lie about being at your friend’s house and they would do the same, just so you two could sneak out to a party or something? Those were the good old days. Then you graduate from high school, go off to college, and make new friends. Now these friends came with more complications. Life is more complex, and thus, so are your friends. You try to hang on to those friends from high school, especially the ones who went with you to college. You build new friends and your circles change. After you graduate from college, you start to find friendships with the people you work with, all the while, trying to keep a connection to the friends who got you through this far.
As life changes, you change, and so do your friends. I kept in touch with 3 of my friends from high school on a semi-regular basis. None of them went to college with me, and therefore, I made a whole new group of friends. Surprisingly enough, those friends didn’t really stick that well. I left with 2 really good friends. From there I worked awhile, and I got 2 really good friends out of that experience. I went back to college, and made some great friends, of which I still talk to today. Now, I am in Peace Corp, and making friends again is the expectation.
Just think… it took me several months if not years to form the friendships that I have, especially the ones I value the most. They throw you in a group of 30 or more, and make you spend almost every day with at least someone from the group. You’re in a new country with strangers going through a new experience, and you’re missing home. You have no choice but to try to bond with people. Sometimes you get lucky, and you bond immediately. Other times, people change and you find yourself not so close. People aren’t who they seem to be at first because everyone is new to the experience, but as time goes on, people show who they truly are. I bonded with a few people in my training class. I even have a super close friend who I think will be a friend for life. Only time will tell.
The weird thing …. You live with this group for 3 months. You have bonded. Now it’s time to start your service, and they separate you. Each person goes to a different location in the country depending on your skills and needs. If you’re lucky, you will live relatively close to the people you bonded with in training. Some are not so lucky. Some are split up by at least 6 hours or more. In a country where there is no unlimited-minutes plan, you may talk to your friend here or there, but it won’t be often. The goal is for you to make friend in the site you are in, to share experiences with those people, and to fully integrate yourself there. But what about the bonds you made? Do you just forget about those? Was that a waste of time? Why did you really go through it if you can’t be friends later?
So you integrate yourself. You make friends with the people in your site, yet there’s still a whole. You miss the bond you had during training. You miss those things that make you alike. You miss talking to the person who understands the things you are going through with your service. Your friends at home will never understand what you are going through. They just don’t have the perspective. So you reach out to your PC friends. Despite the fact that they are, at times, over 5 hours away from you, you try to find ways to hang out or at least talk via the minutes you just bought the other day when it was a triple day from Tigo. Or, if you are fortunate to have a site mate that you get along with, you try to hang out with them as much as possible.
I am very fortunate. Despite the fact that my site mate is leaving in about 2 months, we have had a great time together. We get along well, and I will truly miss her when she leaves. I also have friends that are about 3-4 hours away from me. We try to get together when we can (at least once a month), and we try to talk to each other once a week. It’s important to have these friends. It’s important to be able to share your experiences with someone who understands. We come from different parts of the States, and in any normal circumstance, we may have never seen or talked to each other, but through Peace Corps we have forged friendships that we can take back with us.
To my friends in the States, thank you for your support and friendship through the years, and to my PC friends, thank you for your understanding and I look forward to the many years of friendship to come.
My Blog List
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Life Sad Thoughts1 year ago
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The Circus is in Town10 years ago
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Normal to Me, Incredible to Others13 years ago
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Becoming the person who "did that"13 years ago
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Adios13 years ago
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