Life as a Peace Corps Trainee in Guate!

So even though this seems commonplace to me, I figure most people are wondering what a typical day in the life of a Peace Corps trainee is like. Thus, this blog entry’s main purpose is to describe the details of what Pre-Service Training (PST) is like in Guate and what my living conditions currently are.
After the first three days, we were introduced to our new home during PST (for security reasons, I cannot say the location and for any family or friends that post a comment, please do not disclose this info). My new home is made of concrete and has a tin roof. Upon entering there is an open outdoor +process takes forever because it’s always raining!). There’s a little patio and on one side is the kitchen and on the other side is my room! I’ve got a good size room probably ten by twelve with a bed, table, shelves for clothes storage and another shelf for shoes and toiletries. There are two other bedrooms and then a couple of steps to go into a common room where the computer and toys are and then to the left is the master bedroom where my host padres and the two little ones sleep. The tv is in the master bedroom and sometimes we are all in there together watching whatever random movie is on, or if I’m with the little ones we watch “oso agente especial”, “los imaginadores”, “Olivia” or whatever else is on Disney kids network. I really wish little Luis were with me, he would have such a blast playing with all of us! As for the bathroom situation, there are two: one in the outdoor area and the other inside. The one inside has a bath with…wait for it…hot water! It can get pretty freakin hot too so that’s oh so nice. Also, as in any developing country, toilet paper goes into the trash not the toilet.
My family consists of a madre and a padre, three hermanos and one hermanita who is super precious. Ages range from 16 to 5 and basically the five year old boy and the 8 year old girl are my bffs. Every day when I get home from classes or on the weekend we’re playing cards, jump rope, hide and seek or whatever else we can come up with. If anyone has any thoughts on sweet kids games let me know, I have a feeling that the same games are going to get old after a while (especially hide and seek! There are only so many places a five five girl can hide haha or wait, I’m in Guate now so jaja). The family is awesome and I’m in love with the way we can all gather around the dinner table to talk about our days and also laugh at each other or crack jokes. The padre works with construction and specializes with iron and the madre is a medical assistant and also works as a natural healer after work on certain days of the week. I am so amazed by the madre as she does a lot at home and in terms of work, I’ve never heard her raise her voice to her kids (they are incredibly well behaved!) and she’s just got it going on, super fuerte. Momma I wish you were here so you could meet her!
The weather here is like Seattle in the winter I’m told (in my pueblo I’m the only volunteer that’s an east coaster). So slightly cold but nothing out of this world (a sweater with some layers and a rain jacket is sufficient) and it always rains. Apparently there’s a tropical storm going on right now so it’s raining more than usual, but you should always carry a rain jacket with you because it can be sunny in the morning and then rain buckets a couple hours later. The sun sets around six thirty and we have to be in our casas by sunset. HUGE no no to be out after dark, which makes sense, I don’t think I’d want to be out after dark anyway (unless it’s clubbing in Antigua which we’re not allowed to do anyway so it’s all good). I tend to go to bed around 9:30 or 10:00 and get up at 6:30 unless its training day (Tuesdays) and I get up at 5:30. What’s crazy is that it’s not a big deal waking up, I feel like in the States it was torture to wake up at 7:45, but here I’m chillin. It’s awesome when it rains a little at night because the rain on the tin roof is incredibly soothing (reminds me of HPS!) and that also means that dogs don’t bark non-stop! When it’s a festival day or weekend, these fireworks go off at all hours of the night to celebrate which is what happened the first weekend I arrived and scared the living daylights out of me because it sounds like a bomb going off. Also, Sundays at 5 am you can hear the church ceremony. Apparently they think it’s a good idea to let everyone know that mass is going on and instead of just keeping the sermon inside the church, it’s on super loud speaker phone so the whole community can hear it. It reminds me of the call to prayer in Tanzania, eventually I won’t even hear it. I also thought the bed was super rock hard but I’ve gotten used to it and it doesn’t bother me. My pillow is also slightly hard, you could feel every oversized cotton ball, but I’ve also gotten used to that.
So what the heck do I do all day? Basically, Monday through Saturday I have Spanish classes either from 8-12 or 8-3 with a one hour break for lunch. After Spanish we either have tech training (which is where we learn about municipal development, what that entails, and tools we will need to do our job). Tuesdays are training days where we have to go to the main Peace Corps office and learn about health issues (thus far, focus is how to avoid diarrhea and what to do when it strikes…which will happen inevitably at some point). We also discuss culture and the core expectations of Peace Corps and what it means to be a volunteer, PC’s view on international development which focuses on capacity building, and more info about Guatemala! PC believes in capacity building which I think is right on, we’re helping people help themselves instead of just coming in, “fixing” a problem, and then high-tailing it outta there. Every idea has to be from the community and our primary role is to serve as a facilitator in the process and sort of as a trainer in the experiential learning process that goes on in a community. Guatemala is very used to receiving gifts for free and so instead of earning something, they’ve just received free improved wood stoves, free new houses, etc and this doesn’t help them in the long run. That’s one reason why we’re not allowed to receive big donations from someone in the US for a specific project we’re working on because the idea is for them to connect with resources themselves instead of a gringo coming in and magically a bunch of money appears. Eventually, when Peace Corps leaves, the population needs to have the tools, resources, knowledge and training to develop on their own. Anyway, Tuesdays are long days, but it’s good because we get to see our entire class. We were separated into various communities based on our Spanish level. Thus, I only have three other people in my pueblo and only get to see everyone else on Tuesdays.
So this post is INCREDIBLY long now, but I hope this helps answer some questions that you may have about what it is that I’m doing. I miss home incredibly but I know this is where I’m supposed to be so for all friends and family just know that I’m going to go through some incredible highs but also some incredible lows and when I hit a really low point, the best thing to say is “it will all get better soon, hang in there, call me if anything” PLEASE don’t talk to me about “oh well you can always come home”…that’s not an option I want to pursue because this is going to be an amazing experience!!!
Anyway, lots of love to all and hope to post more soon!