Hungarian, Japanese, Guatemala

I’ve been doing a terrible job at writing in my diary since I’ve been at my site, which I’m starting to regret, but I will definitely set aside a couple days during my break from work to try to account for all the interesting things that have happened since the beginning of November.

Thanksgiving weekend was a blast. About two-thirds of our training group met up at Lake Atitlan and stayed at a great hostel, complete with a Thanksgiving feast, a gorgeous view and a great atmosphere. It was the perfect opportunity to catch up with the volunteers in our training group with whom we hadn’t had the chance to talk to since swearing in. We took advantage of the cheap kayaking and went out to the middle of the lake where we all dipped in for a swim- a bit chilly, but absolutely worth it.

Just to clear up things- when I wrote about fleas in my previous entry, I did not mean that I will put up with them! It was just a joke, the more the merrier… fleas and mosquitoes seem to love my blood, but rest assured, the feeling is not mutual! Hanging my clothes and sheets out in the sun have seemed to do the trick for the time being, so unless the problem persists, I will stick to the tried-and-true method.

As an end of the year treat, everyone from our office will be taking a road trip. Because people don’t really travel here out of pleasure, this is a real extravagance for coworkers. When everyone in the office was trying to decide on where to go, everyone wanted to go everywhere… and that’s pretty much how it will be! We will only be staying overnight, but will be visiting four cities in western Guatemalan, Xela, Panajachel (both of which I have already been to) and then Chichicastenango and Quiche. A bit too much for barely two days if you ask me, but then again, why the hell not? It should prove to be an interesting and friendship-forming time, so I’m sure it will be well worth it.

Since being in Guatemala for four months, I have searched far and wide for Hungarians, I have come up with nothing. Even having my training site close to one of the most popular tourist destinations, Antigua, nada.

So, what do you do? First, go to one of the most remote sites in Guatemala, then you find me. All right. Second, put a Japanese volunteer in one month after you put me in. Doesn’t sound good? What if this Japanese volunteer happened to major in Hungarian linguistics? Sound too farfetched? Well, then I don’t know what to tell you. The guy speaks pretty well, I’ve gotta give him that much. After my counterpart, Isa, asked me what, not where, is Hungary when I first met her, this has given me more hope that she (along with my other co-workers) will understand more about me and know that “my” language is something other foreigners actually learn (oddly enough).


One of the most exciting things I have done since I’ve been here I accomplished this past weekend. Though I hadn’t planned it, another PCV in the next town over mentioned a few weeks ago that he and some other PCVs were planning to climb Tajumulco Volcano, the highest volcanic point in the Western Hemisphere, measuring at 4220 metres, or 13,845 feet in height. Not what you would call a walk in the park (although it technically is a park… har har).

Luckily for me, it is only about a 2 hour trip from my town, which is really quite short considering the roads to get to my side of the country. We arrived at the foot of the volcano around noon and didn’t get to our camp site until 4ish. Let me tell you, I will work out for at least a month before I climb that again! Justin and Laura were kind enough to lend me some fleece pants and wool socks, which were a great deal of help in keeping me warm up at that altitude. We made a campfire, which kept us warm for a few hours until we went to bed.

In order to catch the sunrise, we all woke up at 4am and continued the climb to Tajumulco for another good hour until we reached the summit. If my site isn’t cold enough in the mornings and evenings, this was the icing on the cake- my WORD was it COLD! I don’t think I’ve ever been as cold in my entire life, but leave it to Guatemala to make it that place! Some other PCVs, along with me, suffered some altitude sickness, but we all managed to get up to the top and wow- I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything as beautiful before. The view was stunning. On one side of the volcano you could see Mexico, and the shadow of Tajumulco once the sun rose, and the other side about eight other volcanoes in Guatemala, as if lined up right next to each other, were visible as the sun rose behind them.

Whenever anyone comes to visit me and is up for this expedition, I am more than game to do it again! It was definitely the most difficult climb I’ve done as of yet, and even have the benefits of the aches and pains in my legs and knees to remind me of my accomplishment. 

One month in

Hard to believe, but December is already here! This means a number of things:

1. Time at site: one month
2. Thanksgiving weekend was spent with Peace Corps friends at possibly the most beautiful lake in the world, lounging in hammocks and kayaking for hours
3. I missed all those great deals on Black Friday; but most importantly, I was even further away from all those crazy shoppers
4. I’ve made a conclusion on fleas: If you can’t beat them, let more join you
5. Despite what some of you may think, I will not be dreaming of a white Christmas, but still will be freezing my butt off (2300 m. altitude)

Out of 24 months of service, I’ve completed one month thus far, or 4% of my service. I’m still not quite settled in; I will be moving in to my permanent place in January, still with a family, just a bit of a different set up. I’ll actually be sharing a place with one of my work colleagues, Heidi, who is the same age as me, so it will also give me the opportunity to speak a lot of Spanish and get to know a Guatemalteca my age. Heidi is really cool, and the family she/I rent(s) from is super nice as well, so it seems like the perfect set up!

Work has been going well- I have been to four out of the 10 communities and met the women’s groups in those communities. I have also met a number of women who have come into town during market days when they come into my agency’s store to purchase supplies, but there are so many that I know it will take a few months for me to be able to remember half of their names! I feel a bit bad, but it’s really quite challenging, and until I can put names with faces and communities with products, it will be a little more time until everything comes together. All together, there are about 110 women in the women’s groups. Each community makes different products, and each community is at a different level of progress in both their commitment and quality of the work that they do.

The “quality” issues are not anything that can’t be fixed, it’s mostly just consistency and “gringo-fying” the products so that they would sell better in an international market. Because the women work on most of the products while they have extra time at home, they don’t see how the other women in their communities are making the products. My counterpart and I are working on methods, handbooks and charts for the women to be able to refer to for product specifications so that each product can have more consistency.

Two main things I have been working on with my counterpart is cleaning up the agency store and teaching her how to use a computer. A couple weeks ago when Isa, my counterpart, and I were walking to a community, I started talking to her about the importance of using a computer and how it would not only benefit her in her work and personal life, and it would also allow her to gain her independency and not have to always rely on other people to type up things for her. She told me she was a afraid that only people who are educated can use computers. She said that because she has a 5th grade education. I told her that was absolutely not true: she can read, she can write, and most importantly she is a leader in her community and 110 women, raised eight children, and what struck her most is when I told her if my mother could learn how to use a computer, then anyone could learn how to use a computer.

I think that pretty much sealed the deal with her, because the next day, on her own, she told me we were going to work on the computer together. At first I thought this was her way of saying that I would be doing some computer work, which I was getting ready to come up an excuse for if she didn’t want to join me in the work, but to my surprise, she sat down in front of the computer and waited for me to tell her what to do.

Isa had never used a computer before, let alone type, but by the end of two hours, she was getting the hang of the keyboard and had written all of her eight children’s full names and even wrote out a few sentences. I taught her how to open a word document and save as, save; I was extremely proud of her the whole time, and she was even laughing at herself when she made little mistakes that she was actually using a computer. After we finished up, she told me and the two other girls in the office that now that she is learning how to use a computer there is one more thing she wants to learn. There is a machine in one of the communities that she doesn’t know how to use- the only artisan machine she doesn’t know how to use because she is afraid. But now that she is learning how to use a computer, she will learn how to use this machine too.

That was probably the highlight of my entire stay here so far. Though I know she won’t be typing out entire documents anytime soon, just her motivation and attitude really struck me. I was truly dreading that a year later I would still be pushing her to sit in front of a computer. Of course, there is still a lot of work to do, but I am very happy for both my small success but what will be a huge success for her.

The other “accomplishment” is the organization of the store. The store was quite disorderly, if you know what I mean. Since I didn’t really know what to do the first couple of market days, I just started sorting out some of the display cases and shelves, and then found myself reorganizing and sorting everything. It really was quite a bit of work since Isa works the store, but by the end of the day the display case was organized, extra products were put away a few other things were organized. I was half jokingly scolded her when I found some really cool products that were nowhere in customer sight, telling her that they should be out so that customers can see what we have in stock. The second market day I was reorganizing, I found a bunch of bags in another display case and was reorganizing them. The president of our association was also there, and when she saw one of the bags that was hidden underneath all of the other products, she took it for herself right away- and I told Isa that is exactly why we need to have things neat and organized, so that customers can see things they didn’t know were in the store and will have a higher chance of selling those products, and she seems to be catching on, which makes my job a lot easier, but more so, it makes me really happy that she’s starting to “get” it… now my job is to help her keep the organization so that inventory won’t take three days each time we buy more supplies! Great progress though, which I’m thrilled about.

That’s all for now… I will for sure write another update soon and keep you posted. Since some of you may be wondering what I’ll be doing for Christmas: staying in town. It will be quiet and nothing like at home, but that’s one of the experiences I came for. I still don’t have plans to go to anyone’s house, so perhaps I’ll just spend a quiet evening by myself, which isn’t as bad (or even sad) as some of you may think!

I hope everyone is well and isn’t taking the shopping and chaos of this year too seriously (or seriously at all), and remember that emails, letters or a short phone call are always greatly appreciated!

Végre egy magyar beszámoló!

Na végre probálok egy magyar beszámolót is írni, nehezen, de megteszem azoknak, akik esetleg már nem bírnak az angol beszámolóimat olvasni!

Sajnos a elejétől nem fogok kezdeni, mert ha csak augusztustól mostanáigról írnék, akkor egy novelát tudnék irni mindenről, szóval röviden probálom összerakni a múlt két és fél havi történeket... már töröttebb (ha az a szó egyáltalán létezik!) magyarral, előre is elnézést kérek!

Röviden összefogva, nagyon gyorsan elszaladt a múlt két és fél hónap tréning alatt. A családom nagyon kedves volt, és a guatemálai pótmamám még mindig ír SMS-eket nekem. Nagyon bőbeszédű emberek, szó nincs rola (illetve az Ő részükről lenne), de sajnos sokszor nem voltak otthon mert elégé el vannak foglalva: a papának van egy építő cége, a mama pedig két ÁBC-ét vezett... szóval hogy miért van nekik vendégük, amikor alig vannak otthon, azt nem tudom. Magyarul amikor otthon voltak, akkor nagyon mulatos volt, de sokszor egyedül találtam magam a cselédlányokkal... ja. Békehadtest önkéntest olyan családhoz küldenek, ahol cselédlányok dolgoznak a házban, elég íjesztő volt, mivel sokkal szerényebb életre készültem hónapokig mielőtt elindultam. De ahogyan eddig is tanultam, az élet mindig meglepetéseket hoz létre, és legalább volt lehetőségem tapasztalni, hogy Ők is nagyon jó szívű emberek, hetente két különböző helyre adományaznak egy szép adag ennivalót.

Már vasárnap óta itt vagyok az új hazámba a következő két évre, magyarul fogom betűzni, ha esetleg ellenőrizik (mivel különböző dolgok után néznek, nehogy rossz képet mutasunk a Bekehadtestről vagy a helyről, ahol lakunk, az emberek, akiket segítünk, mert már olyan előfordult), és ha magyar ellenőr az amerikai államon keresztül is olvasa, akkor hahó!  Na, szóval magyarul betűzve, a helyemet úgy hívják, hogy komi tán szíjó, persze egyben az egész, spanyolul írva!

Őszintén, amikor először ideérkeztem pár napra megismerni a környéket, hol fogok dolgozni, meg kicsit jobban ismerni a szervezetet, ahol már dolgozom, annyira nem jött be nekem, és picit megíjedtem az egésztől, azért is, mert elég messze van a többi helyhez képest, de mondjuk nem panaszkodhatnék, mivel és eredetileg Afrikába akartam menni, ahol olyan helyre küldenek, ahol a legközelebbi önkétes kéttő nap utazást betelik, hogy odajuss! Mindig arról probálok gondolkodni, ha átgondolom, miért is vagyok itt.

Tudtam, hogy nehéz lesz, és csak most kezdődik az igazi próba, de az az igazság, hogy bármit is csináltam volna, mindennek megvan a saját nehézsége, persze más formában. Szerencsém van, hogy van még egy önkéntes a falvamban, és elég jól jövünk ki egymással, szerencsére.

A munkám arról szól, hogy nő kézimunkás csoportokat segítenem kell a marketingolással, találni új vevőket és kidolgozni jobb fizetési módokat. Az a baj, hogy az irodában nincs internet, és azokat a dolgolat, amiket akarnak csinálni, nehéz internet nélkül megvalósítani, főleg ha a saját költségemre megy az egész, ami úgy nez ki, hogy úgy is lesz... Fizetésről beszélve, hogy csak legyen fogalmatok, hogy egy általános beketadtest önkéntes hogyan él: Forintban 70.000FT havi fizetést kapunk, amiből én arra számítok, hogy körülbelül 17.200FT lesz a lakbérem... remélem. Egy átmeneti helyen vagyok, és hamarosan kell találnom egy új helyet, ami olyan hely lesz, reménykezem, ahol két évig fogok tudni élni. Meglátjuk, hogy mi jön össze nekem, drukkoljatok, imádkozzatok nekem!

Eddig a legrosszabb dolog nem a nyelv, sőt, nem is a kúlturai különbségek, hanem kutyának való probléma: szerintem kutyáinknak életükben soha nem volt annyi bolhájuk, mint nekem perpillanat van. Nem tudom, hogy hogyan vagy mi okozza, hogy ennyi van, de borzalmasan viszkedek bokáim, derekám, meg csuklaim körül. Amíg tréningen voltunk, kaptunk eukaliptusz ágakat az egyik tréning társunktól, mivel az apukája termel eukaliptuszt, és az elég jól elírtotta a bolhákat. Itt eddig még nem láttam a falvamban, de valamit csak fogok csinálni, találni ellene, mert már kibírhatatlan!

Még egy dolog, amiről minden magyar biztos, hogy nagyon kiváncsi: a koszt. Haj, jaj jaj. Hát itt nincs semmiféle Zsuzsi Kifözde, az biztos. Sőt, túró rudi sincsen! Majdnem meghaltam és visszaindultam, amikor ezt megtudtam... de gyorsan meggondoltam magam, és rájöttem, hogy Amerikában sincsen túró rudi. Na de a mostani diétám nagyon sok fekete bab (sok féleképpen készítve) meg tojásból áll, igazi kávé (itt az világnak az egyik legjobb kávéját termelik, de olyan áron adják el, hogy a mindennapi guatemálai nem tudja megfizetni, és már megszokta a Nescafét, úgyhogy azért sem issza a rendes, igazi kávét), tej és/vagy szója tej por a kávé meg a búzapehelyhez, sok zöldség (heti kétszer van piac itt a faluban), és sok ásványvíz, mivel a csapvíz legjobb esettben enyhe hasmenést okoz. Rosszabb esettben? Használjátok a fantáziátokat! Nem egy kellemes tapasztalat, annyit tudok róla mondani.

Majd többet írok, de mivel most szépen, törötten magyarul írtam, annyit tudtok megtenni, hogy írjatok nekem vissza egy-két sorral! Semmi nem bekerül, és csak örömet fogoktok nekem okozni, azt meg tudom igérni!
Remélem mindenki jól van és hallani fogok felöletek!

Settling in site / Getting to know Guatemala

Quick update to be followed by a more detailed one in a few days. I arrived at my site Sunday evening, just as dusk set in. My first few days have been good- some challenges have already come up, but I know to keep a strong stance on some things (read: not becoming a personal secretary), so I’m not seen as a pushover. The main problem right now is that my counterpart doesn’t know how to use a computer, and this means that she will give me everything of hers to type up. Or so she thinks.

My solution? Teach her how to type. However, since the office is making it seem like she can’t practice on office computers during office hours, I’m going to have her practice typing whatever she wants me to type up with me assisting her. No, I will not become a pushover! And especially not a personal secretary (unless, of course, that were to be my job title :P).

In all seriousness, I don’t see the point in me doing a job that anyone else in the office could do. That’s not my job; my job is to help them with skills the office is lacking, and that is marketing. But if I’ll need to teach my counterpart how to type, then so be it. She’s an incredibly smart woman, I just need to build up her confidence so I can do what I came to get done, which is help the women’s groups promoting their products.

Anyway. More on all of that later. I’m starting to really warm up to my site, despite it being anywhere from 2.5 to 4.5 hours away (depending on the time of day and state of the roads) from what I would have considered the “real world” back in the beginning of August. My temporary housing situation is great, I just need to start looking for something more permanent before time runs out. The past 2.5 months of training went by fast. Of course there were slow times, but looking back, I have trouble figuring out where all the time went!



Now for a little lesson in Guatemalan culture. Since Peace Corps Volunteers aren’t allowed to drive cars or ride on motorcycles, and unless we can get a ride with a friend in their car, we have but one option: the chicken bus.

Probably the most noticeable person on chicken buses is not the driver, other passengers, or even the real chickens clucking as the bus jumps over an ignored speed bump. The guy collecting the money, the same one who threw your 80lbs bag on his shoulders before running up the ladder of the back of the vehicle to load it on the roof of the bus. This immortal-like person is the ayudante.

The Ayudante: A Romantic Goldmine
by Miriam Pope

As seen in the Xela Who – Quetzaltenango’s leading culture & nightlife magazine

Ladies: if you’re looking for some sweet lovin’ while in Guatemala, we would like to direct your attention to a generally overlooked man-hunting hotspot: the chicken bus.

Even before entering the chicken bus, listen for that striking voice that hollers the bus’s destination 27 times in 2 minutes. Then observe as t hat same gentleman grabs you and practically shoves you inside the bus. Once aboard, monitor this Indiana Jones of Guatemalan transport as he risks his life to scale up the moving vehicle, grab your stuff, and be waiting at the door, backpack in hand- all before the bus stops.

Because it’s this hunk- the ayudante- that makes the chicken bus a haven for potential Latin love! Derived from the Spanish verb ayudar- to help, the ayudante assists travelers, and so much more. You owe it to yourself to take another glance at these grand helpers. Here’s why:

• If you’re already impressed by the performance of an ayudante on the bus, imagine him off the bus! Consider the way in which an ayudante finagles his body through the masses in order to collect bus fare. Imagine that ability on the dance floor, or even in the bedroom!

• Recall those life-threatening moments when the ayudante keeps his cool, no matter that the bus is going 87 MPH, around blind corners, in the dark, on a dirt road/cliff. The ayudante is a guaranteed low-drama boyfriend.

• He is damn smart. At a bus stop, say 13 people get on, 6 get off, 8.5 (.5 = baby on back) switch seats, all simultaneously. An ayundante isn’t confused by this. He can instantly recall who paid, who didn’t pay, and who still needs change for their 100Q bill. With that memory, he is sure not to forget your birthday!

• Ayudantes are not typically applauded for their fashion sense. But we beg to differ in this sentiment. Confidence is in these days, and as such, ayudantes are like fashion gods. Imagine being a man confident enough to flaunt his chest hair in an unbuttoned, plaid shirt, tennis shoes and rad 70s glasses. Top that off with over-gelled hair and starred teeth- a sure way to get you rolling your rrrrrs.

So ladies, jump on a bus today to find your Guatemalan romance. Ayudantes are sure to help you out; both on and off the chicken bus.

New Site / Address Change

As you all know by now, I have been assigned to my post for the next two years in the department of San Marcos in western Guatemala. It's beautifully scenic, though it takes 1.5 hours to get to the nearest big city, San Marcos, and the second biggest Guatemalan city, Xela, is about 2.5 hour bus ride, which is managable on weekend getaways when I'll just want to spend some time in the city and escape my Guatemalan reality for a couple days.

I met up with a women's group and got a chance to see them in action. While they were replicating a meal that another volunteer gave at a nutritional meeting a few weeks before, some of the women were crocheting yarmulkes (yes, yamakahs)- they're a great seller in Canada (again, go figure) and so I'm going to try to look into further markets to export them, because they are quite fantastic little things!

The trip there was 7.5 hours- apparently not that bad. I got in with my counterpart by 7pm, and let me tell you, the bus drivers had no remorse for any of in the bus. I took anti-nausea medication for the way back.

Right now we have just over a week of training left. We're all focusing on our individual projects now and are finishing up training things, swearing in on 31 October and headed out to our sites that weekend!

I hope you are all well and to hear from you!

Barbara

Site Assignment

The past few weeks have been jam-packed with activities, from one-day tech trips to the near by department of Chimaltenango, and also a site visit to a current PCV who has already completed one-year of their service in the same program (Sustainable Agriculture Marketing). Rachel (from the other marketing training town) and I were sent to the same PCV in Chimaltenango, so luckily we didn't have to travel too far. We visited Mackenzie, who works in a coffee cooperative and also is involved in a few woman's groups in the area.

The first full day we sat in for the monthly meeting, which was scheduled for 8:30am, in chapín time (that is, Guatemalan time), started just after 9:30. Patience is a key factor here! The meeting consisted of the guys in the group talking mainly about the goals, and they all seemed to repeat one another, probably because they all felt they needed to bring something to the table, even if it was already said, so they wouldn't be looked upon by their peers as not giving something. Mackenzie has been doing a great job with the group, and has also said she's talked to them before about repeating what others have said is not an efficient way to run a meeting. They seem to be embracing it slowly, which is a huge stride. It's a difficult thing, I've been learning, to change people's approaches to things when it seems like something that is so natural to you that change could be beneficial, but that same thing in their culture could be looked on as culturally inappropriate, or it may mean that you don't know something because you haven't said something. Enough of philosophising...

Rachel and I went to one of Mackenzie's woman's groups to make pineapple carrot jam, which turned out great, but we didn't have enough gelatin. Because Mackenzie wasn't able to be there the next day and the women wanted to make more jam, Rachel and I took the opportunity to go their on our own and spent about 3 hours with the women the next morning making a good 10 jars of pineapple carrot jam. On our way back into town, we wanted to make a short trip to the city, and so we hopped on the bus and away we went. When the ayudante, or the bus fair collector, came to us, I told him our destination. He looked at me, smiled, put his hand up and pointing his pointing finger waving it back and forth said "no no no," laughing, and told us that the bus wasn't going to the city, but the aldeas, that is, the small villages out in the country. By that point we had been on the bus for 20 minutes and were in a bit of a state of panic as to what we were going to do, because that was the only bus going to and from the aldeas, and it would only leave an hour after arriving to the final destinations, miles and miles away from where we wanted to be.

After the entire camioneta (read: bus) finished laughing at us, the ayudante was nice enough not to make us pay (he probably just felt bad for us) and actually stopped the bus when he saw a jalón (pickup truck) going back into town. So we hopped off the bus and hopped into the back of the truck and rode with another Guatemalan for the 20 minute ride back. We made it back safely and instead of going into the city, we decided to just go back to Mackenzie's place and relaja, or relax, after we'd been 40 minutes back and forth down a bumpy dirt road, first in an old American school bus and then sitting uncomfortably in the back of a pickup truck, black tarp covering and all.

Fast forward to yesterday: the day all us trainees had been waiting for. We finally got our site assignments, and mine came to a bit of a surprise, even to my current sitemates. My main assignment will be working with a woman's group of artesans in the department of San Marcos, about 300 km from here, but with the state of the roads it takes at least 7 hours to get there!

The assignment wasn´t quite what I was expecting, but it seems like it´s a good organization, fairly organized, and the women are hard'working with goals, so that is already a promising start. I´ll be helping them find markets within Guatemala to sell their products, as well as help them to try exporting to North America and Europe, if all goes well. Additionally, I´ll also have a chance to work with agriculture, as my title suggests, which will be considered secondary projects. I´m really excited for this experience and will update you all once I´ve arrived back from my site visit to tell you all about it!

Hope everyone is well and to hear from you all!

40 days and 40 nights

Since I haven’t written for an entire month before just a few days ago, I thought I’d bring everyone up to speed with a more informative update.

A bit about my host family: they’re wonderful people, I really couldn’t have asked for better-hearted and kinder people to live with my two and a half month initiation into my two year living stint in Guatemala. My Guatemalan Dad, Don Gabriel, owns a construction company and my Guatemalan Mom, Doña Lubia, runs two corner stores, one in our town and another the next town over.

By Guatemalan standards they are quite well off, which means by Peace Corps standards I’m quite spoiled. Unlike some of my site mates, I have the luxury of running water in our house (with only occasional interruptions), warm showers every morning from what I like to call a “suicide shower;” because there is no heated water, the heater that is attached to the shower is connected to about 4-5 wires right above your head; but instead of being frightened by it, seeing wires in my shower have become a pleasure. Despite my current living situation, though, my site for the next two years could very well have no running water at all, so I’m trying not to get too comfortable.

I have two host siblings, but they’re both married and have families of their own. Eddy is 30 and lives just down the street with his wife, two children, 6 and 3, and have one on the way. Gaby just got married this April to Eduardo and they live in the next town over. They have also been extremely welcoming, friendly and great to get along with. Maria-Reina, Eddy’s daughter, is very charming; though she took me by surprised when one of her first questions to me when I first met her was “do I have an iPod?” Very cute and once in a while I help her practice her English since she has English class every Saturday in Guate (short for Guatemala City).

My family is wonderful though. They’re extremely talkative, so making an effort to talk comes second nature to them. They’ve taken me out to a few places to show me different places around the area, and have also taken me to relative’s houses to have dinner. My second week here Doña Lubia said I should invite my friends over for lunch/dinner. Since then some of my site mates have come over a few times and every time Don Gabriel says “esta es tu casa” (this is your home). They can talk up a storm and I can still understand them!

It is pretty much an unwritten rule that at some point during Peace Corps Service, PCVs will get some kind of “stomach-related” irritation; but let’s not beat around the bush here: diarrhea will probably get the best of any PCV. Hell, we had an entire medical session dedicated to it, which gave a whole new meaning to “D-Day” Though I haven’t had any “major” disturbances, I’ve had some up and down days, and Doña Lubia has been extremely helpful. Because our host families are not allowed to give us any OTC or especially prescription medication, Doña Lubia has given me a bit of herbal teas from leaves she picks from the garden outside in the yard, which is just one more reason my host family is awesome.

My Spanish is getting better every day, it seems. I still understand a lot better than I can speak, but my comprehension is improving immensely, and my conversation skills are also getting better, thanks to my family. We will be sadly be switching Spanish teachers, which means Mirsa, our teacher since our first week of training, will no longer be teaching us. To ensure that we hear a variety of Spanish, PC Guatemala switches teachers once throughout training.

From Thursday morning till Friday evening we had non-stop rain. Saturday was so heavy that all the streets in town started flooding about mid-calf. I was still at Sara’s house when I decided I should get home and drop off some of my stuff before heading to Antigua to work on a project with Scott, from Alotenango. When I reached the street I realized I should have left a bit earlier. The streets had turned into brown rivers, streaming downwards towards the valley. I walked on as much sidewalk as I could until there was no more.

I stood there looking at the water flowing for about 10 seconds deciding on whether or not I should just turn back to Sara’s and wait it out, but knowing that this could very well last a good day, I did what is considered a bit taboo here otherwise: I took off my socks and shoes and walked barefoot through the flooded streets I tried not to let my imagination take over when I felt soft, mushy substance between my toes and concentrated on not dropping my shoes into the brown water.

After getting home and changing into more weather-appropriate clothes, I left the house with Tevas and capris. I have yet to purchase my rain boots, which would have come in quite useful many times now, and could have possibly saved me from this cold I have now gotten. Tomorrow we leave for field-based training in Sololá, on Lake Atitlán, about 3 hours west of our training site. There we will meet some more current volunteers and have about three and a half days of site visits and activities. This past week the Marketing volunteers and Food Security trainees have been preparing “charlas,” or presentations, on better practices, usually to groups of farmers or entreprneurs. It’s all based on Adult Experiential learning and is really
a great way to teach adults in a non-conventional way.

That’s pretty much it for now. I’m getting used to the food (mainly black beans, fresh tortillas, cream and fried plantains is a staple dinner) and freshly squeezed lime-onade or instant (yes, instant) coffee. You’d that a country, such as Guatemala, that is known for its’ coffee would have great coffee readily available at an affordable price. Unfortunately for me (other PCVs and all Guatemalans who appreciate good coffee), the export price for coffee is much more worth the coffee farmer’s while to sell to foreign markets than to sell in-country, which just adds to the list of sacrifices being made while here. But believe you me, the benefits far out weight the sacrifices.

A day in the life of...

The music is cranked up, fireworks go off sporadically, men laugh and talk loudly as the dogs bark and play relentlessly and the cocks crow to compete with one another from opposite ends of the village. It seems like the perfect party, albeit the missing women and children. That’s because they, as I, are still in bed trying to get the last minutes of precious sleep before the long day begins.

It’s about 4:45am and I roll around in bed, trying to savior my last hour of sleep that I can get if the neighbors finally leave to Guatemala City; maybe the music will suddenly turn off and I can wake up to my $20 Nokia phone beeping annoyingly and not the neighbor’s music cranked up like there’s a Latin disco with Mexican marimba music playing right next door.

But if it’s not the music, the “chuchos,” or street dogs, are fighting off one another from each other’s territory, howling, barking or just playing with one another while all the roosters in town decide it is indeed the best time to see who can crow the loudest. The old American school buses, now used for day-to-day public transportation Guatemala, honk uncompromisingly on the main road outside of the house just before they reach a corner, as to avoid a run-in with another “camioneta” trudging down the other end of the road; in an hour and a half or so, people will be soon hanging out the emergency exit door of the camionetas and hopping on while it’s still going slow enough to jump on from behind. It’s stuffed with people, but the more people, the better!

Just as the noise comes to a dull roar and I start falling back asleep, I hear gun shots- short and quick, one after the other. As if trained for a gun raid, I automatically duck lower into my bed covering my head with my arms, as if it would provide me any more protection from any stray bullets. As I cover my head, I hear the gun shots getting faster, like popcorn, and sink further into bed with a sigh in relief. Independence Day is just around the corner and the sound of “bombas,” or fireworks are not uncommon to hear; the closer it gets to Independence Day, the more rehearsed I am for covering myself in a fire out. But if it’s not a national holiday, it’s someone’s birthday, which in this town, seems to be everyday of the week.

And so, my day starts. I turn my MP3 player on to listen to some Led Zeppelin, Soundgarden, Guns ‘n Roses and whatever comes on and start off my day. One of my three site mates, Sara, and I, go on our morning run (which really turns into an elongated walk) around town at 6am. As if perfectly rehearsed every day, we see the town drunk eating his sweet bread at the corner near the park, sitting on the side of a building and mumbling to himself; a few minutes later, we see the guy in town we have dubbed Rambo, or Genghis Khan, as I like to call him, due to his very “distinct” haircut. Machete in hand and work boots on ready for a day of hard labor, he walks confidently, smiles, and greets us as we walk past one another. As we walk on, we are greeted by two pet parrots perched on the tin door of the entrance to their owner’s home. We pass numerous people and greet them all, and they greet us back smiling back in delight that the “gringas” have spoken to them.

At home, we get ourselves ready, eat breakfast with our families and then meet in the park at 7:30am to walk to the training center, a 30-minute walk from our training town. Just as we get outside of town, heaps of schoolchildren greet us.

“Hello lady, how are you?,” “Good morning!” and even “Hello, love” are called out to us by prepubescent boys whose eyes light up in disbelief as we smile and greet them back in Spanish.

Further on, before we reach the Pan-American Highway (which runs from Panama to Alaska), I hear a motorcycle drive up close to me; thinking it’s going to run into me I start to turn around to see what’s going on, but before I can move, or do anything, I feel a hand on my toosh, a firm squeeze and then the mystery man on the motorcycle disappears off into the dust. I stand in place for about five seconds to process what has just happened and Sara bursts out laughing at what she has just witnessed.

It’s something that is bound to happen to almost every woman in Guatemala, foreign or not, and although I told myself I would confront it when it happened to me, I was violated in such a way I didn’t know what to do in the moment.. No one ever told me about drive-by groping, and as I would find out later, the PC Training Staff had never heard about it before, either.

As we reach the Pan-Am highway, we look to make sure when it’s safe to cross, and when it is, we bolt across to the other side, as if making a run for it from Mexico across the border to the US. We reach the PC Training Office and start our day: two hours of technical training, two hours of health training, and then lunch.

Training in general is quite interesting. We are learning an immense amount of information, cultural and technical skills, as well as people skills, but in many ways it feels like we have been placed back into middle school, never allowed to stay overnight at a friend’s house, no partying since it’s not safe to be out after 6pm, lots of homework and studying, and of course trying to communicate with our host families, to whom we must sound like a 5-year-old child to when we open our mouths and try to explain to them the complexities of our lives back home in the US and the cross-cultural ordeals.

At lunch, we meticulously compare what our host moms have packed for us in our hand-weaved lunch baskets that we carry on the “Guatemalanised” school buses-turned public transportation. Almost everyone has at least five tortillas back in their lunch, regardless of the main course, which could be black beans, beef, chicken or even spaghetti. As much as I got frustrated with the bland corn tortillas when I first arrived, I have acquired a taste for them, especially when fresh from the tortilleria, the store where the women “tortilla” all day long. In Guatemala, they have created a verb, “tortillar,” which plainly means “to tortilla.”

As we sit outside eating our lunch on the picnic tables, Doña Rafaela sits with her homemade jams placed out, ready for sale. She is one of many successful Peace Corps projects, now with her own small business of selling jams and carrot cakes in the market, and coming in every Monday to the Peace Corps office to take advantage of the trainees.

The rest of the day goes on with more training geared towards cultural sensitivity and awareness, and at 5pm, we are finished for the weekly Monday common training session.

Training is close to half over, which in many ways is quite frightening, but also very exciting. We still do not know where our future sites will be for our 2-year service, but we should know those by the second week of October. Until then, all we can do is learn Spanish better, learn as much as possible about our assignment/duties, and form closer friendships with one another before we get split up and sent off to our respective communities, which could very well be 12 hours from each other.

So far it’s been very exciting, and I know from here on in it the speed will just accelerate faster and faster each day. There are many things that we are doing in training, but as David, the Agriculture Marketing training says, it’s not what you do, but how you do it. For development work, this is especially true. People see and copy things they see as successful, and if that happens, it will spread like the plague through a village, and hopefully people will be able to see the benefits of doing something in a “different” way than they are normally accustomed to.

This being just the beginning of my two-year experience here in Guatemala is making me look forward even more as each day approaches. The people are warm, kind and have the biggest hearts, so I am really looking forward to getting to my site, my new home for the next two years.

Fireworks, dogs and earthquakes

Those three words pretty much sum up the health and safety training that we got for two and a half days once we arrived in Santa Lucía Milpas Altas after a short 2.5 hour plane trip from Miami to Guatemala City. A handful of people from the training staff met us just as we passed through immigration to help us with our bags, and then out we went from the airport in a 1980s American school bus.

Everyone from the PC staff is truly fantastic- there's no beating around the bush with anything they tell us, which, as most of you could imagine, is really important here since they have to keep their eyes on about 180 or so volunteers/trainees throughout the country.

The first three days basically consisted of the main health and safety things we need to keep in mind and abide to while we're here with PC. Almost the first three things we were told to keep in mind were: fireworks, dogs and earthquakes. Craig, one of the fantastic trainers, said that in the past the staff forgot to mention the fireworks to PCTs (PC Trainees) and they were scared out of their you-know-what in the morning when they woke up to what they thought were gun shots. To celebrate someone's birthday, Guatemalans tend to go all out and fire off fireworks from 5am. Dogs here are extremely abundant, and also uncared for. Anywhere you walk you will see a dog, and of course there is a small chance that it may bite you (of course if you threaten it or make it feel threatened then you just multiply you chances of this happening). Because of this we are required to get a rabies vaccine (among quite a few others), and per chance that we do get bitten by a dog, or any kind of mammal for that matter, we are still required to let the nurse know so she can make the appropriate decision.

And finally, Guatemala is in a major earthquake zone; in fact, apparently we had a minor earthquake since we've all been here, but not all of us felt it.

There are also two active volcanos, and a town between them where one of the training groups got placed. So there you have it, fireworks, dogs, earthquakes and volcanos.

Bienvenidos a Guatemala!

Back again

I arrived to JFK in NYC on Thursday afternoon. The entire plane waited around for our luggage for a good half an hour, but luckily the customs officials just waved us through. My Dad picked me up from the airport and because I ended up watching three movies on the plane instead of sleeping, I was passed out for the entire way back home, hallucinating when woken up as my Dad slowed down and had no idea what was going on.

The past five weeks were incredible. I wasn't bored for a single second; how could I have been after seeing all my friends for the first time in four years? The wedding was fantastic, as was the train ride there. The only disappointing thing is that we weren't able to spend more time together. Be that as it may, it was absolutely fantastic to be able to see everyone and be together after such a long time- especially as close as we are, it's hard for us to get together for a weekend when everyone lives in places such as Australia, Italy, Canada, the US, Hungary... and now, Guatemala!

The next week and a half is going to be full of getting things organised, make sure I have everything I need, and get myself mentally ready for the next 2 years, 3 months in a completely different country and culture than what I have been to exposed to.

And the winner is....

After a long wait and much anticipation, I'm finally happy to be able to tell you all that I will be going to Guatemala on August 13th. I will be leaving for Washington on August 11th for two days of pre-training staging; we are given an official introduction to the Peace Corps, it's mission, expectations, realities, etc.

My official title is "Sustainable Agriculture Marketing Facilitator." Pretty fancy, I know, but I suppose it has a lot of potential, especially because of the food shortage it is a realistic (or so I think?) project that has great potential in Guatemala since 25% of the GNP is agriculture and it provides employment for 55% of the population.

A short description:

Sustainable Agriculture Marketing Facilitator

Provide training and technical assistance with efficient practices and functions in agricultural marketing, as well as provide technical assistance about adding value to farm products in harmony with the environment.

The main focus of the marketing component is to show small and medium farmers how to earn more money from their farms by either diversifying their crops or to increase the sustainability of market prices of vegetables, fruits, meats, dairy products and eggs.

To read more information on Guatemala and the programs there, please refer to the following link:

http://www.peacecorps.gov/welcomebooks/gtwb520.pdf

Across the Big Wide Blue

After saying good bye to my parents at Terminal 2 at JFK, I got dropped off at Terminal 4. Because I still had a considerable amount of time before my plane was to depart (we're talking about eight hours), I opted to stay inside the airport for the day instead of venturing out into the city once again for the second time that day. I was tired and didn't feel like cashing out the money to take the train in, nor was I prepared to haul all of my carry-on luggage around NYC alone, my laptop, cameras, passports, etc. As for my checked luggage, I still had a four hour wait before I could even check in, and instead of carrying two huge duffle bags around the terminal with me, I checked those in to airport storage- it cost me less than it would have for me to go around the city, and it freed me of my bags for the five hours while I waited before I could actually check in, so it seemed rational to me.

I hand the guy at the luggage storage my passport to show some identification. He looks at it and says:

"¡Qué Bárbara!"

Which in Spanish means something to the effect of "how great." The first time I heard this was at the dodgy Mexican restaurant I worked at for less than three weeks before it closed due to "immigration problems," but working with Mexicans proved to be good for my Spanish, in the least.

Mr. Luggage Storage went on to speak Spanish with me, Spanishized the pronunciation of my surname until I told him I was not Spanish, but Hungarian. He continued to speak Spanish to me anyway, albeit my not-so-fluent form; it felt great to just randomly speak Spanish to someone, and I suppose in NYC you can't really miss that opportunity much.

After checking in, I waited for what seemed like forever at the gate. Our plane left a bit late, and when we landed at 11:20, I checked my boarding card for my transfer flight and noticed that it was boarding at- well whaddya know, 11:20. I jetted out of the plane, and I'm fairly certain that I walked from one end of the Amsterdam airport to the other, and when I came upon a queue that led up to the passport control, I thought that I would for certain miss my flight.

I managed to push my way to the front of the line, get through the passport check and once again go through security. I took off all of my items I knew which would set off the beeper, and lo and behold, it set it off anyway, which awarded me a no-privacy, spread eagle frisk right there and then. Apparently it was a random check... ja.

After meeting my friend Tünde at Ferihegy airport, we took the lovely BKV back to downtown Budapest to the flat. I unpacked, did some light grocery shopping to prepare me for the next travel day, and took a nap. The next morning I left for the train station, Keleti Train Station with a good 45 minutes to spare, you know, just in case something goes wrong. Good planning, Barbara.

If waking up at 5:45 in the morning wasn't a big enough achievement the day after arriving from half way across the globe and having no sleep on a 12 hour flight, I think going head first and buying a train ticket at Keleti Train Station in Budapest was the icing on the cake.

Because of the renovations going on at the train station, I wasn't quite sure of where to go to buy my tickets, so as any normal person would do, I asked someone who worked there. The lady was kind, helpful and quickly explained the way to get to the international ticket counter; walk to the other side of the train station, out the hallway into the street, around the building and in the back. Simple enough, and thankfully it was. And that's just about where all the simplicity ended.

I got the the counter, one person standing in front of me, and no one else in the huge hall. Once the man in front of me finished, I went up, greeted the lady and explained to her that I wanted to go to Csap on the 7:35 train this morning. But before I could finish, she asked me for my ticket. Dating back from what seems like communist time, every bank, post office or any other government office with public services has about a list of 20 different items to choose from. Of the 20, about 19 of them are the same, but you still must get your number and patiently wait.

Annoyed as there still was no one else in sight in the hall but myself, I went to the ticketer, got my number, handed it to her, and continued to explain where I wanted to go.

"Oh goodness, excuse me! You have to go to the national ticket sales to buy your ticket, please forgive me."

Confused and even more annoyed, because Csap is in Ukraine, I naively went to the national ticket sales counter which was in the train station in the underpath, waited in line (no ticket this time!) and asked the young lady for a ticket to Csap.

Looking at me like I'm stupid, she tells me that Csap is in Ukraine.

"Yes, I'm aware of that, but the lady at the international ticket counter told me that I need to buy it here."

She went back to speak with her manager twice until she told me she couldn't help me.

So, back I went to the international ticket counter even more ticked about the whole situation. I got my ticket from a different woman, but before you think "well that was easy enough" I still had to get a seat ticket from a DIFFERENT ticket office. I went to about three different places until I figured out that the one where I was supposed to go only opened at 8:00, and of course my train was scheduled to leave at 7:35. There was a lady in the office with some construction workers, and she was quite unhelpful, to say the least. As my luck would have it, the ticket counter right besides the office opened and I managed to buy my ticket, costing less than $1, and ran to catch my train, which left one minute after I got on.

Unfortunately the drama did not stop there. I had two connections, and although my first train left on time, it got to the next station over half an hour late. This made me miss my connectiong train, thus making me miss my second and last connection which would have taken me from the border of Hungary right across to the border of Ukaine. I tried reaching my friend, Kati, to let her know (and also to tell my other friend's (Zsuzsa) parents who were coming to pick me up at the Ukrainian border that I would be arriving much later) for her to tell Zsuzsa's parents since I didn't have any of their contact information. She finally called me back just after I got off the train in Záhony. The conversation went something like this:

Kati: "I just spoke with Zsuzsa's parents and told them that your train was late and wouldn't be coming by train. It's too long to wait for the next train, so just hitchhike across the border and they'll be waiting for you at the Ukrainian side."

Me: (I stopped dead in my steps when she said "hitchhike" and said, "Umm... and how do I do that?"

Kati: "There are probably a lot of people who are going across the border from the train parking lot, so just asked someone for a ride and then you can meet Zsuzsa's parents."

Me: "O...K..."

I managed to get a ride from some two nice guys who took me up till the border, since they really weren't going that direction, but took me anyway since it was only about 3 kms from the train station. Once I got to the border, I thought I could just walk across, like the border at Esztergom at Hungary and Slovakia. That would have made things too easy, though. After the borde guard thoroughly looked at my Hungarian passport, he asked me if I was born in England.

"No," I replied, "America."

"Where is your American passport."

"I didn't bring it with me, I'm in Hungary."

"All right, well you can't walk across the border, so I'll seat you in the next car that comes."

And just to spice things up, the next car that came was something close to a rusty red, banged up pilot model of the Lada, and it's owner pretty much fit the same description. Reluctant, but not wanting to cause a scene, I got in after the border guard asked the guy, who just as well could have been on Hungary's most wanted list, if he would take me across.

The guy seemed a bit confused when clarifying with my that I was Hungarian, even though he had my passport to give over to the Ukrainian officials. Other than feeling like I was forced into a really awkward and potentially dangerous situation, I just acted like I did that all the time.

We finally got pass the Ukrainian border patrol and as soon as I saw someone that resembled a kind face, I just assumed that it was Zsuzsa's family and asked the guy to stop. As I was getting out and making sure I didn't leave anything in the car, he looked back at me with the look of "so are you going to give me anything or what" on his face. I quickly thanked him and wished him well on his way and shut the door.

Ukraine was fantastic- I had a great time with Zsuzsa's family. They showed me around the orphanage they organise and direct, and then they took me to Kati house in Mukachevo (Munkacs). I had a wonderful four nights at her family's place as well; she took me around Munkacs and Ungvar (Uzhhorod), I met so many wonderfully nice people, and the icing that topped the cake was probably the trip with her uncle and cousins to the Vereckei hago- where the leader of the seven Hungarian tribes came and declared that the land in front of him would be the new home of the Hungarians.

The way back to Budapest was a bit less dramatic, thankfully. I met my friend, Tunde, at the airport, and there we met our friend Bela and his friend, Adam, at the airport. I hadn't seen Bela for four years by then, so it was so great to finally see him.

It's getting late, but I'll make a next post more Peace Corps-oriented...!

Up, up and away!

Before I start my service in the Peace Corps, I still have some unattended business to take care of: seeing all the family and friends I didn't get a chance to really visit with while there doing my internship and studying. Man, I really didn't realize what a time-consuming semester it would be! But as trying as it was, I got through it and it made it that much more worth it. One is able to learn their potential as soon as they challenge themselves beyond their capabilities. Would I do it (working and studying full time at the same time) again? Probably not. But hey, you never know.

My parents and I leave the same day, though I'm not going on with them. They will be going to Germany to visit an old friend of their's, Jakob, and also visit a relative in Geneva, Switzerland and another friend in France. I skip Western Europe and head dead on to the Central Beauty, the Motherland. This summer will surely be jam-packed. I managed to piece up my schedule, book (CHEAP) flights, and best of all, I get to spend time with friends in their homes in each place I will be visiting. You really can't ask for more when traveling: spending time with friends in their homes, cities and countries.

The schedule for this summer:

24 June - leave JFK (NYC) for Budapest in the evening
25 June - arrive in Budapest in the mid afternoon
25/26 - 29/30 June - Munkács (Munkachevo), Ukraine
29/30 June - July 7 - Budapest(/Pécs?)
7 - 10 July - Dublin, Ireland (this was unplanned but turned out saving me $ on the way to Manchester, crazy enough as it sounds, and I'll be staying with my dad's old roommate and buddy from South Africa, Mike
10 - 14 July - Manchester, England, England! (with Helen and Shaun, friends I met in Argentina)
14 - 17 July - Aachen, Germany (Dad's former colleague and good family friend
17 - 18 July - Vienna, Austria (with Lili, my former roommate from my year in Hungary. Eszter and Béla will be there as well)
18 - 24 July - Budapest
24 - 27 July - Transylvania (yes, the place does indeed exist, and infact I am part Transylvanian - my fangs come out occassionally. My friend is from there, but now lives in Budapest, and will be having her wedding there)
28 - 31 July - Budapest
31 July - leave back and arrive in the US

That pretty much sums up my time. I still don't know where I'll be headed off to, but that should be figured out in the next week or two, as I was promised. Cross your fingers I won't have to leave 3 days after I arrive back, which I am afraid will be the case.

Updates throughout the summer will come sparingy, so savour them whenever they come!

More updates to come, but until take care and hope to hear from you (yes YOU)!

Update

After I sent in my medical packet, I got my dental clearance just days later- on a Sunday morning at 5am to be exact! The next few steps took another trip to two doctor's offices, but thankfully I didn't need to have an actual appointment (since my health insurance is no longer- Happy Graduation to me!), and just days later I sent in all the filled out/signed paper work.

Yesterday I got an email that my toolkit was updated, but all it said that a decision regarding my clearance has been mailed (snail mail of course- geez!), but as luck would have it, a few hours later I got an email from the Peace Corps congratulating me for getting medical clearance from my Placement Officer! I know, it sounds like parole officer, but this is the good kind of placement you get from the US Government! ;)

So, I would like to thank my family and friend for their continuous support in this major endeavor in my life. Nothing's set in stone quite yet, but the chisle and hammer are out, polished and ready for action!

Hopefully I'll know within the next couple weeks where I'll be shipped off to to live my life for the next 27 months, so as soon as I know, I'll be sure to post it up here! Until then, I hope you are all doing fantastic and keep reading on while I write updates in the weeks (and years) to come!

Pre-Departure: Peace Corps Latin America

As many of you know by now, I have applied to the Peace Corps and hope to fulfill the 3 months + 2 year service commitment in my community. This was not a choice I made out of the blue, because I couldn't find a "real" job, nor was it because I don't know what to do with my degree. I started my application over three years ago, this is exactly the kind of work I want to be involved in both short and long term, and I believe that with my degree and my interests, this is the best thing I could do with myself, gaining experience first hand by teaching people while learning about myself, my abilities, and being able to learn a language or two in the mean time.

I completed the application process while I was still in Hungary, had my interview there and received my medical paper work shortly thereafter. Due to the fact that the lab reports would have been issued in Hungarian, and also that it would have cost me about a billion and a half dollars to get them officially translated (not to mention the standing in queues for hours Hungary is known for), I opted to wait till I got back to Buffalo to get everything done.

It hadn't even been two weeks after I had gotten back when I managed to get everything taken care of; eye doctor, physical, dentist, lab work, the whole nine yards. I sent in my paper work, which I was clearly anal about looking over about five hundred times to make sure every last "i" was dotted and "t" was crossed, as to avoid any annoying delays that the Peace Corps (PC) Medical Office is known for.

I sent my paper work out Thursday afternoon and the Medical Office received it on Friday before noon, and for some reason they decided to grant me my dental clearance on Sunday at 5am. Now I just have to continue playing the waiting game, be patient and merry and try not to go crazy as I keep playing guessing games as to where I'm going to live in August for the next two + years of my life, not that that really makes a difference or anything.

So a lot of you may be wondering, why all this medical mumbo jumbo? As I just mentioned, you sign up for over two years, so as any employer, PC wants to make sure that 1) you're healthy and that 2) if you run into any medical problems, they'll know your full medical history and place you in a country where they would be able to treat something that might not be treatable in other countries (eg, certain medications may not be available in some countries, or a certain kind of medical service may be of low standards or completely unavailable, so in those cases they wouldn't place a volunteer with restricting medical cases in a country that wouldn't be able to provide for that volunteer. It's very intricate paper work, and according to the Medical Office, over 75% of the medical paper work is sent back to the applicants due to something being incomplete or just completely missing. So this is why I made endless amounts of visits to my doctor's office (to whom I apologized about a million times for leaving messages, or just rocking up and requesting signatures, etc.).

Where will I be stationed? Well, as soon as I find out, I will let all of you know. But while I wait in much anticipation, please take some time to read more about the PC to understand it more if you have any questions. Click below on "Resources for Family and Friends" to find out more

Resources for Family and Friends