tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24520592015542750442024-03-12T16:32:39.019-07:00Me Voy Pa' GuatemalaThe words and thoughts expressed in this blog are mine, they do not in any way represent those of the peace corps or the united states governmentDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04755790994068628127noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452059201554275044.post-63959208503796832842010-10-31T23:22:00.000-07:002010-10-31T23:31:07.824-07:00David *****, RPCVSo there is a phrase repeated among many volunteers I have met who successfully finished their 27 months in the Peace Corps and COS'ed (Close of Service): "The second year flies by!"<br /><br />And I have to say, I agree with that statement. As I sit in a hostel a stones' throw from Guatemala's Aurora International Airport, waiting for my flight to Panama to see my family, I took advantage of the free wi-fi to check out some stuff online. Then I seemed to remember at some point in my service I had a blog, and checked up to see if it was still up. Lo and behold, it was still here, and my last post was almost exactly one year ago, just as I was finishing up my first year of service. <br /><br />Since it's all over now, I took a moment to run through some of my sparse postings, and I laughed at stories I had forgotten over the course of two years. For this, I plan to take advantage of the next few weeks of vacation I have carved out for myself and plan to augment my stories on this blog, if for no other reason than to jot them down before I forget. <br /><br /> I finished my service with Peace Corps Guatemala on October 21st, 2010. It's been a crazy two years and three months, but the last year was truly special. I'll now try to post some of the greatest hits of the last few months...Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04755790994068628127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452059201554275044.post-7606956958851048382009-10-30T09:11:00.000-07:002009-10-30T09:43:50.867-07:00Finally an UpdateSo I know its been like 3 months since I posted anything, but life has been really busy lately. I have fortunately had alot of work, and unfortunately had little access to internet. <br /><br />On the good news side, I found out I now have 50 channels on my cable tv in my house, which means that I was able to watch both national and american league championship series, and now I'm able to watch the world series games. <br /><br />A crazy story, I just hosted a couple of PCV's from El Salvador who were passing through Huehue and needed a couch to surf. They were really awesome and we had a good time. A few minutes after meeting, we started sharing about where we had been, gone to school, etc. I came to find out that I had actually been at a Thanksgiving dinner with her back in 2006 when she couch surfed with a mutual friend we had in Panama. It was wild we met three years ago and finally met because we are both in Peace Corps. I really enjoyed their visit but unfortunately they were only here for a few hours and had to keep going on their way back.<br /><br />I'm now sitting in a swanky hotel in Huehue receiving training on how to use the new GPS devices our planning office received. It's awesome, we have a shiny new toy, and I'm really looking forward to going out in our communities and making maps of the Muncipality. We just got our snacks, pastry and coffee, which should keep us going strong all morning long. <br /><br />In the last month I had my mid service physical exam, and I came back healthy, if not with a couple cavities which I'll have to return to get fixed. I also tested negative for TB which has been making the rounds up here in Huehue lately. There was also a panel with the older volunteers and the trainees, soon to be volunteers. We shared our experiences and gave them some ideas of what to do in their first few months in site. I had a really good time with all the people who were in town, it was good to see old friends and meet new faces.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04755790994068628127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452059201554275044.post-3838303500944382052009-07-11T13:10:00.001-07:002009-07-11T13:35:10.387-07:00July<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivekSK4S2BZz_alDKw1VYf6JpoDubE2_ws9TuUc-Kn0crROlZynfNhqcLndPzwV7O9PycdFxM52ffJ1KSP_fBhBjCWI7vAqErf2Fc42fyDgqCDENC_mG1cUAP4lV-rYALH-OwjoAm-1P8/s1600-h/001.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivekSK4S2BZz_alDKw1VYf6JpoDubE2_ws9TuUc-Kn0crROlZynfNhqcLndPzwV7O9PycdFxM52ffJ1KSP_fBhBjCWI7vAqErf2Fc42fyDgqCDENC_mG1cUAP4lV-rYALH-OwjoAm-1P8/s400/001.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357303579358326242" /></a><br />Here's a picture of the radio station. That's my partner on the Public Info show.<br /><br /><br />So it's now July, a month before our one year anniversary of arriving in Guatemala. <br /><br />I can not believe its been nearly a year. This time last year I was chasing kids around the day care and putting band aids on boo-boo's. I was serving ice cold, (most of the time) delicious brews at the coffee shop. Not both things at the same time of course.<br /><br />Now I'm working in a small municipal office in the mountains of Guatemala and working with two radio shows which I enjoy immensely. <br /><br />I'm preparing to go visit my family in Panama in about a month. It should be awesome. <br /><br />I got a box from my dad the other day, packed with lots of beefy jerky and puerto rican treats. <br /><br />Earlier this month I was at the Peace Corps center for some training and conferences, and then we had the 4th of July party which was in one word, Epic. <br /><br />Now I am listening to some funk from my favorite radio station in San Antonio, KRTU. You can listen up on krtu.org and by checking out the archive. I highly recommend the diggin deep soul shakedown and the super soul saturdays, both on saturday. I also LOVE labkids radio which is on sundays' at midnight. The great thing about the audio archive is that I don't have to try to find an internet connection when the shows are live, cause midnight on sundays, there isn't much inter-netting going on in Malacas. <br /><br />So about the radio show, I do an hour of public information on wednesdays, where we talk about health topics, citizen participation, and general community announcements. As for the other show, I do two hours of strictly music on Saturday nights. I call it Musica del Mundo, and I always focus on a few different genres. I did a Salsa Merengue show, a Rock/Rock en Espanol show, HipHop/Reggaeton show and for mothers day, I dedicated the two hours to only female performers. I also did a Jazz Funk and Soul show, but I'm thinking I'm going to have to do another one cause they seemed to like that one. <br /><br />If you got some good music and would like to share, please do share. You can email me for more info.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04755790994068628127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452059201554275044.post-56020215309589096752009-05-28T17:03:00.000-07:002009-05-28T17:36:00.449-07:00Crazy WeekSo my family is coming to visit this week!<br /><br />Of course everything at work decided to pick up, so I had a crazy busy week. Starting last Friday, I had the COMUDE meeting, which is kind of like a great big town hall meeting. It was productive, so that was nice. <br /><br />On Saturday, I hosted my music radio show for the second time. I barely screwed up this time, much smoother than the first time. It was all going well, until the lights went out. They came right back, but it took the PC a good 3-4 mins to boot up. The FM broadcaster however, came right back online. This meant we were on the air, but without music. What did I do in this case? After apologizing profusely for our ¨slight technical difficulties¨ I began to tell stories. That´s right, about where I grew up, how I learned Spanish, how long I was going to be in my town, etc. This luckily kept the listeners occupied, and before I knew it, the music was back on. Like I said, a smooth show give or take. We listened to Reggae and Reggaeton, and we had 5! callers call-in to reqest songs. However, almost without fail, they wanted songs either a) I didn´t have or b) I didn´t want to play. Also, even though I repeated it every five minutes, people kept asking for songs of other genres, even after I specifically said, ¨Tonight we will only be listening to Reggae and Reggaeton.¨ People still kept calling asking for their favorite banda songs. ugh. <br /><br />On Sunday, I went on what ended up being a 4 hour hike, which we were told took half an hour there and a half hour back. In our defense we did a fair amount of sightseeing before hand, but my sitemate was looking for a school in one of our outlying villages. We decided to walk even though it almost always rains in the afternoons. We threw caution into the wind and hit the road with our rain jackets and umbrellas. <br /><br />After an hour of walking and severely missing the fork in the road we had to take to get to the school, we decided to turn around and ask for directions. After getting on the right path, we then came to a river, which we had to cross. We didn´t want to get our feet wet, so we decided to walk the LONG way around. (after returning to town, a friend said, why didn´t you just take your shoes off to cross? - DUH!) <br /><br />Anyways, it had been raining the past few days and the river, while not quite white water, looked a bit strong. As soon as we started walking however, we saw a pickup begin to cross the river. At this point we were out of shouting range, and miserably continued our path. There was one last crazy steep hill to climb to get to the school, and then as soon as we got to it, surprise, it began to rain. Hard. And thunder some. Now I was the tallest thing around, so I was pretty worried. <br /><br />And as for our shoes, they were totally, inexorably soaked. I think if we would have crossed the river on the way back they might have been drier, but what the heck, we took the long way around. I am please to report however, my Marmot Minimalist Goretex Jacket is 100% waterproof. That was a sage investment I made. When I got home, I was super tired, so I went to sleep. And I woke up to a crazy work week. <br /><br />So on monday, I had a surprisingly busy day at work, with lots of meetings. One tuesday, I attended a Women´s group meeting, which are always interesting. Then on Wednesday was my super day. I had a meeting with a nutrition NGO who is trying to work in our community. I wanted them to give me info to say over the radio. I met them in the morning. Then I had to go get money and a pizza for lunch, since it was the Champions league final, and I was having some folks over. Barcelona won handily, and I ran to the top of the hill in town, where I had to begin my radio show right after the game.<br /><br />I did my show, only blanked out like 3 times, (a marked improvement from the first week let me tell you) and actually ran out of time! We talked about the COMUDE meeting, the womens group meeting, some info on avoiding the H1N1 virus (pig flu) and finally disaster preparedness, in this case having to do with flooding. I should have done it on earthquakes because that night we had one. <br /><br />After the radio show, I returned to work where I learned we had been challenged to play in a indoor soccer match by the environmental agency office in Huehue. We headed to the match, and I was goalie. I only let in 3 goals (Again, a marked improvement over last week) and got to use the goalie gloves I got a few weeks ago (great investment by the way!)<br /><br />Then it was back to the house, to try and catch the NBA playoffs, which were supposed to be on TV. When we flipped to the sports channel however, the audio was working but the image was not. Add to that the fact the lights kept going out about 10 times an hour, and it made for a pretty interesting game. We made cheeseburgers and relaxed watching the game for short stretches. I went to sleep early, and then woke up early today to go to work. I got ready to head out because tomorrow I am picking up my family!!!Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04755790994068628127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452059201554275044.post-59175642236801634872009-04-15T15:49:00.000-07:002009-04-16T08:45:01.496-07:00Visit to Panilla<p class="MsoNormal">So we took a field trip with the Planning Office a couple weeks ago to check on the progress of some projects the Muni is helping on (Read: we basically went to figure out why the project was behind schedule.) When we found out it was because one side of town didn’t want to hike up the hill to work on the road construction, we had to agree to a community meeting to seeverything straight.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCA3PHXIKHnLxXYIiKyH4DtvCzAXQQDdjLiVdSy4UY3q5jYV7Qpzkm1oNUQgnv9ZbTy9ecGdXIQT4YU376_o1UtKwenG5O1TVAmnUTwRJIVwjz7anLfI-aZ0jVkN6fUeiSpVuRg7ZOVa4/s400/014.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325056926112684386" /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">It was a dusty and bumpy ride in the back of a pickup because Peace Corps has decided it is too dangerous to ride motorcycles for us volunteers. Please note that was a formerly BLACK leather jacket in his lap.</p><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh4guK8O7QCJty0lik8y641djax1szw7CZFX2hIe1XDWntcOCVnv1gIRvFY0BFneRIRb52Y5TBA59xtlDwdhObdg98PBPJGIA9xg8FEQhzbV6yJijvHomZzauEq03niJeZu8lU2iTOEh8/s400/019.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325055227089379426" /> <p class="MsoNormal">When we started our ride, the bed of the pickup was relatively clean. Imagine all that stuff in your face anytime we got any kind of speed going. </p>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04755790994068628127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452059201554275044.post-84571110281257414002009-04-15T15:37:00.000-07:002009-04-15T16:06:29.846-07:00Xela Hot Springs Part II<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><!--[if !mso]> <style> v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]-->So I’m trying to post more since some people, Katie, feel I have been neglecting my posts as of late.
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<br /><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">So I went to the hot spring in Xela again. I had been nagging everyone who talked to me that we should go soon. I finally succeeded in convincing Charlotte, Katie and Nice in joining me. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">We took the tour again, which just makes everything easier. Before taking off, we were tempted by a pair of tourists eating what appeared to be a delicious brownie outside our micro bus. We were however, disappointed to find that the brownie was in fact not delicious. On the other hand it was quite strange. Example: I guess the lady in the cafe micro-waved it when they bought it, but somehow the Styrofoam was melted underneath the brownie. It was kind of weird, like I said before.
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<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">ANYWAYS, back to the story, This is what the water looked like.
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<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXg3LtNl9rQKOdRtFlQHdJmvo_4waGXY1GcrAdqLdvPW11xJe_OckX6BZs1UvywG6NIniPwGkIsgrJNLYxJWPzY805xRDW4w4hnzjRvKa6XeyLD-yZcFIr5f1fbFeUBhCKFYjQIdkImKY/s1600-h/006.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXg3LtNl9rQKOdRtFlQHdJmvo_4waGXY1GcrAdqLdvPW11xJe_OckX6BZs1UvywG6NIniPwGkIsgrJNLYxJWPzY805xRDW4w4hnzjRvKa6XeyLD-yZcFIr5f1fbFeUBhCKFYjQIdkImKY/s400/006.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325056778864251522" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal">
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<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" spt="75" preferrelative="t" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f"> <v:stroke joinstyle="miter"> <v:formulas> <v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"> <v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"> <v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"> <v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"> <v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"> <v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"> <v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"> <v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"> </v:formulas> <v:path extrusionok="f" gradientshapeok="t" connecttype="rect"> <o:lock ext="edit" aspectratio="t"> </v:shapetype><v:shape id="_x0000_i1025" type="#_x0000_t75" style="'width:430.5pt;"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\Users\DAVIDL~1\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image001.jpg" title="006"> </v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]-->
<br /><!--[endif]--></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Notice the steam coming off the water. That’s kind of remarkable given it was probably 80 degrees outside that day. The water was incredibly hot this time around. I had been to the springs about a month earlier and it had been considerably colder out. The water had been hot, don’t get me wrong, but this time it was ridiculous. I got in, but could only take it for a few minutes.
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<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">In the following picture, Katie and Charlotte illustrate what it felt like to get in the hot pool.
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv-Dp1dFrswaHN76Ggv7pc7ab5mtguZFi3RNeL2Z5oV0-G8hNMdoxvTt_nqe_N8yNUhDuE18skyeqqCqrLTBhY1dxiAEOpFHIZO3BVOtuqFQ7zFyhFhtaUOFh7uXufZNNw_a3basPW34s/s1600-h/008.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv-Dp1dFrswaHN76Ggv7pc7ab5mtguZFi3RNeL2Z5oV0-G8hNMdoxvTt_nqe_N8yNUhDuE18skyeqqCqrLTBhY1dxiAEOpFHIZO3BVOtuqFQ7zFyhFhtaUOFh7uXufZNNw_a3basPW34s/s400/008.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325055316519868722" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="_x0000_i1027" type="#_x0000_t75" style="'width:297pt;height:395.25pt'"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\Users\DAVIDL~1\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image003.jpg" title="008"> </v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]-->
<br /><!--[endif]--></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The other pools (There are three, Tepid, Hot and “Are You Kidding Me?”) were acceptable. Here’s the gang in the tepid one.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7SUONRAi1BjvlAAF_G9uoQf4RTbUWL03nVAVTuhyGDgcaJzkrvb-8fk79A5KetY4-YSW6ir1d-q3pDPDRsyfBR1V-BgzwaIaK_WgoFcb3mg1YMQxRAJFTlZkQAdS6p0nshSabtZHNStw/s1600-h/002.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7SUONRAi1BjvlAAF_G9uoQf4RTbUWL03nVAVTuhyGDgcaJzkrvb-8fk79A5KetY4-YSW6ir1d-q3pDPDRsyfBR1V-BgzwaIaK_WgoFcb3mg1YMQxRAJFTlZkQAdS6p0nshSabtZHNStw/s400/002.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325052029562335074" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="_x0000_i1026" type="#_x0000_t75" style="'width:430.5pt;height:323.25pt'"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\Users\DAVIDL~1\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image005.jpg" title="002"> </v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]-->
<br /><!--[endif]--></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal">At the top is a guy who accompanied us on the bus. He was here taking Spanish lessons. He gave out candy and Canadian flags to all the kids who wanted.
<br /></p><p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:";font-size:100%;" >On the way back, we stopped to take pictures of the Volcan Santa Maria.
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<br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAikXXGa1iefZyqTifizPyGa_7RoufFLyW04QJ_jWesqhlnk1yl2_ZREqear12bpeg2qXiA7vNQGdT8sa56M1jO_Hw7SwoupZYhUhZlqt4fkNHIzTsvXMgjCIvFfxOFLhUUp5J3X551Kk/s1600-h/015.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAikXXGa1iefZyqTifizPyGa_7RoufFLyW04QJ_jWesqhlnk1yl2_ZREqear12bpeg2qXiA7vNQGdT8sa56M1jO_Hw7SwoupZYhUhZlqt4fkNHIzTsvXMgjCIvFfxOFLhUUp5J3X551Kk/s400/015.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325052034930858434" border="0" /></a>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04755790994068628127noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452059201554275044.post-9702432292982049782009-04-15T15:15:00.000-07:002010-10-31T23:08:30.978-07:00Henry the cat<div style="text-align: left;">So there is a cat that hangs out in my backyard. His name is Henry. We had been getting along fine, as he respected some simple rules of cohabitation.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig9Sfobdd3lbtLEIjnLVZ0HXDpCkUIZ1O3v6PWy2Z0PfWoCF6-JOops66-S-BDgaH5HXP-LupSJKxHODQ1xKcveQUpvr3s3MvHYjnE_nWNqaQR3BB9BOUpGsel6L8qNv-20WCgQOd1BwQ/s400/038.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325051164032900786" /></div><p class="MsoNormal">The first rule was he didn’t come in to my living space. And for this I didn’t poison him. It was a mutual agreement we had going. It worked out for both of us. A friend also pointed out that he would probably keep the mouse population under control. It seemed to make sense.</p><p class="MsoNormal">The second rule was he didn’t eat my food. Barring an isolated incident many months ago when he ravaged a loaf of bread in my kitchen, plastic wrapper and all, we had gotten along relatively well.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Until recently that is. I understand he is a street cat, and probably has to hunt his own food. Well this shouldn’t be a problem, as I know first hand there are quite a few mice/rats roaming around town. I have seen him hunting as far as the central park. However, he seemed to be incapable of hunting down the little mouse that was frequenting my bathroom for a few days. I considered this an affront to our mutual agreement. Ultimately though, this isn’t the greatest transgression. Inept hunting skills, I can deal with. Its unfortunate, but I haven’t really witnessed any mice for a number of months (knock on slightly rotted wood I hang my hammock from.)</p><p class="MsoNormal">However, when Henry began getting in to my food stores, my bread and butter (literally) I began to take issue with the feline fink. The volunteer I replaced had warned me to watch my food, because he sometimes helped himself to your foodstuffs. I had heard stories of a bold Henry making steaks on the grill disappear. I had not experienced such a contravention of our agreement so I thought I was safe. Until a few weeks ago when I was getting ready to cook up about a half pound of ground beef for some hamburgers. I left the meat unattended for a few moments, and when I returned it was gone, nowhere to be found. It took me a few minutes of searching to find some of the meat tucked away in a dark corner, half eaten.</p><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7v5U9xNmPLjfIzZHMHk_ojiuNoo0Kb0zD2N4fel9nkA70QZXctEpIKM0BhEvnPxYyiVlciiG_lPD7ko7pLmL5W4nbQbBuB_DCAwovL0KuG-NSZw9KDftQjPbgsKAOsKBct7Ysknik1wM/s400/032.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325050692895266018" /><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US; mso-bidi-language:AR-SAfont-family:";">I wasn’t going to risk cat cooties to salvage the rest of the meat, so I just let him eat the rest of it. Luckily for me, my mom had sent me a spam single package, an ingenious individualized serving of that delectable, fully cooked meat which only required heating to consume. I had already prepped the hamburger bun with ketchup and mustard, so I wasn’t going to waste that simply because Henry got greedy. It worked out in the end, the Spam turned out to be a formidable hamburger substitute.</span></o:p></p><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6MjU6vmvNFFtBGLp9PVnyqesHIC_3GlA-cyT0Urpf4H0_7x91UYzFAp-l2PDA24zoaqMp4mb_kXwQCiKsEubI2qdgp8ACNKGfMUUyco-SxToiyvf_vGlZhvlIKpSnZvR9xz0kf51xtVg/s400/spamSingle.png" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 326px; height: 334px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325048209234661074" /><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04755790994068628127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452059201554275044.post-33659511396890315842009-02-20T10:51:00.000-08:002009-02-20T11:07:09.919-08:00TV Blues<div>My TV broke about a month ago. I haven't been able to replace it because the big box store I bought it at doesn't carry the same model anymore. This is what it looks like when I turn it on.</div><div><br /></div><div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRQOtbIesZmrK_iMxvemb7sy9XVm8b6nrPItBKT-ujt_NSkB1v1CeT6AptBORsOXaUKY4nTurDRTWgFvvrdPYc8id1EYWw70vDf_7K8XCJdCdiUNVQ1WIoI9yodDcmvoU5remBIYxDemY/s400/014.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304957475193835762" /></div><div><br /></div>So I know the first thing you are gonna say, "What business does a Peace Corps volunteer have with a TV, in his house!?" Well damnit, it gets boring sometimes. And if nothing else, the TV let me watch countless hours of soccer, which was fantastic. I also knew all the gossip on Mexican soap opera stars. <div><br /></div><div>Since it broke, I have had alot of free time, and I started organizing my itunes library of 10,000+ songs. I have also been reading alot. And occasionaly, I even leave my house to walk around and enjoy this new thing we got called, "sunshine." It's pretty rad. </div>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04755790994068628127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452059201554275044.post-89483036318106793242009-01-24T08:45:00.000-08:002009-01-24T09:30:18.402-08:00A Chocolate AffairReports are coming from the department of Huehuetenango of an unfortunate event which took place this last week. Information is still a bit hazy, but here are the facts:<br /><br />The victim was a 8 month old, dual core processor, 4GB RAM, 250 GB hard drive, 13.3¨gateway laptop. It´s model number is being withheld pending notification of next of kin. The culprit in this most regrettable of incidents is said to be a 150 gram bar of ¨Cote D´or - Noir de Noir¨ (roughly translates to: expensive as hell) Belgian Chocolate. For the protection of the rest of David´s electronics, the chocolate was preventively consumed in its entirety to avoid future mishaps. What follows is a cautionary tale of the dangers of chocolate to our modern way of life.<br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5294913690500241474" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 191px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 191px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibpKDyWCwMc6mEO9GyXT8oX4HyZ3-UGVORjafnZ0F1Ig1KrR5OcDHTnd3C9TOBRS0-2MqgvOpa_HeCx-f-PCqlQyN3gxNqBi35VzGMLR4pa7Qm3SmxstCmNDDmL8wALBslGCucXtSWaUQ/s400/COTEDOR__113_NOIR_DE_NOIR_5oz.gif" border="0" /><br />So the other day I was enjoying some of the afore mentioned fine Belgian Chocolates my mother sent me during lunch. I was also watching an episode of Band of Brothers, which I got in my last package from home. At some point, I became distracted and moved on to do something else in my house. I´m not exactly sure how it happened, but a piece of fine, expensive, delicious Belgian chocolate was left on my laptop, right by the mousepad.<br /><br />Not suspecting there was a piece of cocoa deliciousness on my laptop, I closed the lid and went back to work, the whole seven steps away from the front door of my house. When I returned after work, I decided to go visit the local internet café in order to finish downloading a movie I got from Itunes.<br /><br />You can imagine my surprise when I opened my relatively new, and very well preserved (until now at least) laptop to find a brown pool of muck all over the front. I honestly did not know what it was for the first few seconds. My first thought should have been ¨Oh crap, there goes my laptop, tool I use for my work daily, giver of entertainment in the form of dvd playage and music reproducing, link to the modern world!.¨But honestly, my first thought was ¨Damn, I didn´t eat that chocolate? How´d it get away?!?¨<br /><br />I´d be lying to you if I said I didn´t consider eating the melted chocolate off my plastic protective sheet-covered laptop´s deck. But common sense and the horrified stares of the other patrons at the internet café stopped me from saving what I could of this sticky situation.<br /><br />A confused face and a offer to pay her cold quetzal cash convinced a nearby food vendor to facilitiate some napkins, which only did a so-so job of slopping up the mess. Unfortunately, a very snazzy dress shirt I was wearing, as well as the handkerchief I was carrying at the time were victims of the cleanup. Doctor´s listed their conditions as stable, but still horribly stained with dark chocolate. Their outlooks for recovery look grim.<br /><br />Luckily, the piece of quite expensive equipment has kept functioning until this moment (fingers crossed). It did get some chocolate mashed between the screen edge and the frame, which is a bit troubling, but like I said, so far so good. Also I´m pretty sure my media card reader is kaput as it´s pretty much jammed full of 56% cocoa beans from papau new guinea.<br /><br />All in all a scary experience from which I have extrapolated the following moral. If you got the chocolate, don´t futz around and eat it all at once, or your pc may be the one to enjoy it for you.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04755790994068628127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452059201554275044.post-14642555808058317892008-12-20T10:01:00.000-08:002008-12-20T10:24:01.212-08:00Justice<div>7.52 am Saturday<br /></div><div> </div><div>I am awake. I have been awake for the last hour and a half. I have been awake for the last hour and a half because my neighbors (whom I share a very thin wall with) have been playing gospel music very, very loudly for the last hour and a half. I had no intention to be up this early.<br /><br />My eyes itch from the sunlight coming in through the window above my door. I have managed to block most of it with a strategically placed towel. It isn’t a problem most mornings as I generally sleep through sunrise without a problem. However, when I’m awoken against my will around that time, I have a tough time falling asleep again. I bury my head between my lumpy pillows to no respite. I pray, no pun intended, for a break in the barrage in order to doze off comfortably into the nether world of sleep once again. But honestly who am I kidding. No such luck. My head hurts from a combination of lack of sleep, the bone rattling music coming through the door that separates our respective domiciles, and my brains vehement denial to process this “music.”<br /></div><div><br /></div><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5281939093543057618" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 299px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNruvgRdSlXnXtZlo9kmtjs6k7EyrwMPS3ZtEZcFRCIAowWJ3LeAtoyk35ZmPfKwBdXm8f-szK7ExAWrHZeXwifzWIVp2PWT2Jmul_THy_eXiOgY1bHIlAltQRcYHjmVqshnPAOeDk0kA/s400/door.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div align="center">My door at 6.30am</div><br />When I say gospel music I don’t mean down home, dance-inducing, clap-along spirituals. No. This is a smorgasbord of ill-produced songs in every major style (rock, pop, cumbia, ranchera, salsa, regular guitar-y religious chant, etc). It seems like a sampler they give out at the temple or something. All of course include many passages such as “God is the Path,” “I found the light in the Lord,” and my personal favorite, “Entregate al Senor,” meaning roughly “Give yourself to the Lord.” There is one in particular that grind my gears. It reminds me of an “Old McDonald had a farm”-esque campy rhythm but with the aforementioned lyrics and sentiment. I wish I could go back to sleep.<br /><br />And its not that I mind the music so much. I mean, music is great. However, variety is the spice of life. And these people play the same 10 songs over and over and painfully over again. My ears ache at the sound of the crescendo beginning of the first song on the album. I’m all for religious freedom, but not at 6.30am on a Saturday.<br /><br />Oddly enough the last few tracks on the album are DJ Flex’s (The artist known as Nigga around the world, except in the US for obvious reasons) “Baby, Te Quiero.” This Panamanian reggae artist is quite popular here, but how he got his song (and various remixes even including an a capella version) on this particular album will forever elude me. He must have one hell of a marketing team. It’s hilarious to me that the strictly religious stuff is played when the father is home, but as soon as he leaves, its “Baby, Te Quiero!!!” blasting for hours on end. Same song. On repeat. I think my ears are going to start bleeding soon.<br /><br />And this has been happening for the last 7 days in a row. They also turn the music on at night, but that doesn’t bother me so much. It’s just a horrible way to be awoken, that’s all. So I resolve to fight back. During the week I don’t mind so much, because I can forget about setting my alarm clock and don’t have to worry, because sure as the sun will rise, the music is on at the crack of dawn. I don’t know what time the sun comes up around here, I have made a concerted effort to not know. But it must be pretty damn close to 6.30am judging by the weak sun rays filtering into my room when I am awoken by the music.<br /><br />I fire up the old laptop, and turn on the awesome Logitech speakers I found on amazon.com for 25 bucks, even though they retailed at Best Buy for 100 clams. I try to select from my 45 gigabyte library of tunes what I judge as the furthest cry apart from what they are listening to. I settle on a French duo called Justice (I know, I know, with a name like that it is a godsend.) Even better the tracks I play are off of their latest album, Cross, whose album art is a gigantic yellow catholic cross on a black blackground (pictured below.) It’s perfect. I feel justified to play their songs, righteous you might even say. The names are even right for the situation, with names such as Genesis (which was featured on a Cadillac commercial recently), Let there be light, Waters of Nazareth, Stress (what I’m feeling right now) and last but certainly not least, DVNO (which is sounded out phonetically in spanish sounds like “Divine.”<br /><br /><br /><br /><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5281937588182238066" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 399px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCn2Kj-GbqEk45lcKI4yymTmIEiWwD1y6bxDk1_1nt2yh6wjTDTQr6siof-OL9stKLOLkqtNz_qm9C45XaHlRmeGhoGxdBkrSXLDMfv0cgJF85lDw_Yy3DZ2oXSVBCviYxVWNEU490Mww/s400/justice%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" />Justice´s album cover for Cross </p><p align="left"><br />I turn the music up, but just enough to drown out the noise from next door. Even though my european electronic music is pretty loud, it’s just nice to have something streaming in my ears that I chose, something I know and appreciate. I start to drift into a highly relaxed state of near unconsciousness. I can’t turn off their music, but I can damn sure drown it out.</p>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04755790994068628127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452059201554275044.post-42723027247494042292008-12-13T11:44:00.000-08:002008-12-13T12:13:20.380-08:00And then my house flooded... Twice.<div>So wednesday was a big day. I got a visit from my project specialist, kind of like my supervisor at peace corps. All the comedors in my town were closed, so we drove into Huehue. The first eatery on the road is none other than the golden arches, ambassadors to the world. You got it, McDonald´s which had opened up recently near my town. She said she had craving for it and who was I to intervene. It was her treat. Awesome. Over my quarter pounder with cheese we talked about what I had been up to the first month and a half in site, and all the projects I would like to see undertaken with the coming year.<br /><br />It was a good visit and I got my vacation plans all squared away with the boss. She came to talk to my counterpart, who gave me rave reviews. My mayor also had good things to say about my work so far so that was good too. Now, this visit ended around 4.30pm. It looked like it might rain, so I grabbed my rain jacket, just in case. Everyone in town swore up and down that it NEVER rained here after November. Boy, were they wrong.<br /><br />It started raining as we say in panama, ¨un palo de agua.¨(read: alot) So now I was stuck in my office, which is really just two doors down from my house, but for solidarities sake, I stayed with everyone else who was stuck and had a long commute home. One guy had to ride his bike 2 km, through now muddy uphill roads. I did not envy him. So around 5.45pm when I had finally had enough, I waltzed home to find my house flooded. </div><div><br /> </div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279370224050868498" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 326px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKghcqjpq8wHTGYSZsY0fiy0I6FQEkG38auRlLv3oS6LJ8UaBiJuMS8YRy7Vyet3HvsGiK1jFzWJfCzzEKucrAnN8BBbI3FwhqD0xa1Y7w2h1xLTex_m80phKntJPq1ddN0zl5UlROgmE/s400/n5200930_48309828_1893.jpg" border="0" /><br />On the ground was about an inch of water, product of a drain clogged with leaves. Luckily my room had been spared, with the my computer and tv connections on the floor. Also spared, the carpet I had inherited from the past volunteer. My kitchen, bathroom and backyard were not so lucky. They was a mix of dirt, leaves and rain water sloshing about my house. Most comical of all were my shower sandals floating through my kitchen. The culprit in this unfortunate debacle? Leaves that were not picked up by me in the backyard because everyone had sworn up and down ¨it never rains here during december!¨ I had to go out in the rain and constantly keep clearing the drain. My shower drain had also mysteriously clogged so i had to take turns between clearing the other and sloshing my way into the backyard to clear the other.<br /><br />Fortunately I had invested in a pair of waterproof hiking boots before I joined the Peace Corps, and boy did they deliver on this occasion. My new rain jacket I received in my christmas box from my mom also worked to specifications.<br /><br />I woke up the next day to find my floor caked in dirt with leaves scattered about. It was going to be a bear to clean and I had just run out of cleaning fluid to mop. I decided to shower, and go to the store to get some cleaning supplies for the project at hand. As I turned the shower on, only a hiss of air came out. Great, no water today. So I took a bucket bath, and went into town. I came back around noon. As I entered my house, I heard the sound of running water. Of course now there´s water! But at least this meant I could flush my toilet without prejudice. So I walked into my kitchen to find once again, a good deal of water on the floor. I turned to the bathroom, where I had left the shower on, product of forgetting to turn the knob to the closed position. Verdamnt. I had to wait for the mess to drain again, and then set about cleaning it all up.<br /><br />Hey, at least I got McDonald´s out of the whole deal.<br /><div></div><br /><div></div>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04755790994068628127noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452059201554275044.post-53708616776728087132008-12-03T12:52:00.000-08:002008-12-03T13:14:37.775-08:00Now that I´m settled...I didn´t really post up anything while I was in training because time kind of flew by. I can see now that once at my site, the pace of life is alot more shall we say, ¨relaxed.¨ Since arriving at my town near Huehuetenango, I have been able to visit about 8 communities of the 17 that surround us. I consider this a success. Getting out there has been an ordeal at times, but the Muni has made arrangements since we are not allowed to use motorcycles. A few of the projects we have been working on are organizing our COMUDE, which is like a super community group, gathering info for a new census the central government asked us to do, and getting internet for the office. It´s slow going on all three, but progress is being made. A few interesting things that have happened lately:<br /><br />1.I have a cat named Henry which is in my backyard regardless of whether I want it there or not. He ate a can of tuna I left out. It wouldn´t be so bad, but tuna is about 2 dollars a can here.<br /><br />2. I went to Lake Atitlan for thanksgiving with a bunch of other volunteers, which was awesome. It was relaxing, the food was good, albeit expensive, and it was just nice to not have pressure to be ¨on¨ all the time.<br /><br />3. I don´t think I am going to be able to get rid of all the spiders in my house, I guess I am just going to have to get comfortable having them around. One upside, they keep the fly population down.<br /><br />4. I finally figured out how to make rice well given the altitude, turns out I have to use a lot more water than I regularly would.<br /><br />5. We will be receiving ArcView GIS training soon, which I´m looking forward to very much.<br /><br />6. Being able to talk on Tigo after 9pm and being charged only the first five minutes goes a long ways towards staying in touch with everybody.<br /><br />So that´s about it for now. Hopefully my office will get internet soon and I´ll be able to update this guy more often.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04755790994068628127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452059201554275044.post-49911818226454289762008-09-19T11:36:00.000-07:002008-09-19T12:03:37.658-07:00A Month InSo I have been in Guatemala for a month now. It feels like its been years. My town feels pretty safe, and I feel like I can travel without problems. I have taken a few field trips to visit other volunteers and haven't run into any problems. My housing situation is great, I have a really nice house with my own bedroom with a door and its own bathroom, which is alot more than I can say for some of the other volunteers. The walk uphill sucks to go into town, or to catch the bus, but its getting better.<br /><br />My host mom's dog doesn't bite me much anymore, but now has turned on her, which is kind of funny. It was also her birthday (host mom, not the dog) last week, and she totally did not mention anything at all about it. I found out about 6pm because her daughter came in with a birthday cake. I was on my way out, so I wasn't even there to sing happy birthday. She did however get a washing machine, which is awesome because now when she washes clothes, it dries alot quicker.<br /><br />I did my first charla, or talk, to a group yesterday. I talked to about 15 high schoolers about citizen participation. It was awesome. When I asked why it is important to be a part of your community, they answered almost exactly what I had in mind to tell them. Also, they really got into the activities, and participated alot. If anything, I didn't give them enough chances to speak their minds. I also talked a little about the importance of going to college.<br /><br />I am going to another town tomorrow to see some ruins, and its supposedly really impressive. I am really excited to just travel around, since during training we are so limited in our freedom. That has probably been the toughest part of this whole thing so far, not being able to move about freely, stay anywhere overnight, go too far. But I guess that this trip I am taking this week will ease that concern a bit. We are going out west for a weeklong training session. We are going to give a presentation to a community group about leadership. We are also staying at a luxurious hotel where we will be paying about 4 dollars a night for, so I am super curious to see what that will be all about. I am all packed already (no se rian mom and vali) and just not looking forward to the long ride in the bus. It sure beats getting on a camioneta with our luggage though.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04755790994068628127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452059201554275044.post-6671270373852932742008-08-14T17:28:00.000-07:002008-08-14T17:40:04.727-07:00First day in trainingSo I am writing from a tiny town in the mountains of Guatemala. We arrived yesterday and had about a half day of training, but most of us were so wiped out from the early wake up, 3am, that we went to sleep around 7pm. We were all separated into groups to stay with host families and I got to stay in a house with one other volunteer. We both share a room, but its pretty big. We get three meals a day, which have so far been all based around platano, beans, cheese and tortillas, though today we had chicken soup with rice and melon. we also get some maicena, cornmeal like drink most of the time, which is hot. its not too cold, about 70 during the day and a little cooler at night, but we do have a shower with hot water!!!!!! the house also has a microwave which was surprising. We deal mostly with the mom of the house, a nice lady who doesnt really talk to us much, but whenever we do talk she always laughs at us. the husband really doesnt talk, and so far he has said hola to us and not much else. there are too kids about 10 and 12, boy and girl but i avoid talking to them because i cant for the life of me remember their names even though they have repeated them many times. as for the peace corps thing, today we had a language test, which was a breeze for me, but they told me that i will definitely be learning a mayan dialect since i have advanced spanish skills. also we got some shots for certain nasty diseases. furthermore, they gave us our first batch of antimalaria pills which we are to take weekly. common side effects can include nausea, diarhhea and ¨lucid dreams.¨ can´t wait for tonight. I´ll write more as soon as possible but its getting dark and i dont want to get in trouble with my host family.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04755790994068628127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2452059201554275044.post-43775274192135483982008-07-06T21:09:00.000-07:002008-07-06T21:40:20.195-07:00In the beginning...So I am leaving for Guatemala in a little over a month for 27 months to serve with the Peace Corps as a municipal development advisor. I am starting this blog to stay in touch with my family and friends back in Panama and the US. I am already starting to pack, and trying to figure out just what I need to take with me.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04755790994068628127noreply@blogger.com0