so slowly but surely this place is becoming home. i caught myself the other day after spending a long hectic day in Xela, Quetzaltenango, I caught myself saying "damn, i cant wait to get back home" where i was shocked because i realized that when i said that home was no longer back in the states, or san diego, or el centro. home is my town here in Guatemala. in a town that i would not have thought ever would be home. but it is!! and im really stoked about it.
so samra and i have started working after having a week off for semana santa. this week we are going to the schools that we visited with our counterpart...the licenciada, the superintendant of the schools. this time we are going alone and doing our diagnostics. these diagnostics is an evaluation of the schools marking down what they have, they do not have and what needs improvement. later we will have a meeting with each school individually and present our findings, and set the agenda in projects of what we can and will do in these next two years. i can already feel the connection between the kids and myself. walking down the streets and the kids coming up saying hi and shaking your hand and inviting to be part of their soccer games.our biggest accomplishment these next three months is gaining the confianza, the trust, of the village. which is not as easy as someone thinks. people are so weary of strangers but they have all the reason to be. just hope we can show them that we are here to stay and are going to be Xeculenses for the next two years. wow, when i put it that way it seems so far away, but as a fellow volunteer told me... the days may go by very slowly, but the weeks fly by, and the months even quicker! so with all hope with these fast months that will quickly come and go, there will be some improvement in all the schools of the municipio!!
to see more pictures of the town check out this site:
http://www.downtheroad.org/Photo/9Guatamala1/2xecul.htm
http://www.downtheroad.org/Photo/9Guatamala1/2xecul.htm
