It's been a while...

So its been a while since I have added a blog, if a while can constitute about 6 months. So many things have happened in 6 months. Just going to start at this month, and leave the prior months out.

I will start publishing more blogs and more frequently.

interesting morning!

first off just wanted to whats up to everyone. hope everyone is doing great wherever you may be.

what is up with Latin cultures and slaughtering livestock for special occasions? I say latin because at first i thought only us, Mexicans, did that but this morning I was wrong. don't get me wrong theres nothing like chivo, cerdo at a party but there has to be other ways of slaughtering the animal.

for example for my brother's 21st birthday we got a live pig and killed it, but it was nothing like what i heard this morning. With one gunshot the pig was dead. Not here!

The dueños to my apartment are celebrating their daughter's quinceñera, like a sweet 16 but happens when a girl turns 15. I don't know how long they have been raising this pig, but it was huge, and my apartment happens to be pretty close to where it was staying. This morning at about 530 a.m. I woke up to squealing, not just normal squealing but horrific squealing which lasted for about 15 minutes- 20 minutes, which can only mean that the pig is dead. But were those minutes necessary? I have seen a pig being slaughtered here in Guatemala, refer to the pictures on facebook. They first stun the pig by hitting across the head with the butt end of an axe, and just mount it up on a table and slit the throat and let the blood drain. I am assuming thats what was done here due to the minutes of squealing and being awoken at 530 and not being able to go back to sleep for a good half hour. Why not just get it over with, and cut the head off or something... all in all cant wait for the meal tomorrow!! Carnitas!!

Update!

so its been a month living in site. and things have been interesting. as you all may remember i got sick in february, and i got sick again this past week, but not with a bacterial infection, it was.....AND THE WINNER IS....AMOEBAS! dont recommend that at all. not as painful as the bacterial infection but very uncomfortable. now i can say everything is back to normal.

with work: Samra and I are just about done visiting every school in the municipality. Out of the 23 schools, we only have 4 left. after visiting all of them, we are having a meeting with all the directors, and then with all the schools individually to see what the teachers and parents have as a priority with accordance to the schools and what we are able to do. so work will actually be more invigorating and more hands on in the next couple of weeks. Even though our main job as for now is to integrate for the first three months and then when we go back to reconnect we will get the information needed to do projects.

The whole month of May, every weekend, there are welcome parties for all of us new volunteers. The Totonicapan/Solola party is not until the 30th of May, which coincidentally is the same day as Samra's birthday. This next upcoming weekend is the Huehue party!! we'll see how things go!

Can't wait to start projects, and start working, to do activities that inspired us to join the Peace Corps.

settling in.... slowly but surely!! can call a place home!

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

Its been a while... can see the light at the end of the tunnel!!!

so it has been a while since i have written a blog... and i know i said i was going to try to be better but the month of march have been pretty hectic. its our last month of training and every week it seems like they are bombarding with us with information and activities before we embark on our assignment. in the first weeks of March, which seems so long ago... we had individual site visits.. and a week later they told us our site, the place where we will be living for the next two years. im very stoked about my site. this week since tuesday and until tomorrow we are visiting our sites so we can get somewhat situated, and bring the maj0rity of our luggage...also to find a place to live, meet the mayors, and all the other auxiliary mayors... so have to behave, at least for this week..hahaha

next week is the day that we have all, 32 of us, been waiting for...our swear in day!! lots of pictures will be taken and of course will post them up. the people here in my site are so warm and welcoming. the population of the town including the "aldeas" is about 17,000 but only in the pueblo is 7,000. 98% indigenous and they all speak the native language of Quiche, a derivative of the native Mayan language. the town is popular is very popular for the church, which comes out in a lot of the guidebooks. so every now and then i catch some tourists coming into this town which is somewhat secluded and taking pictures... have to get used to this...

by the way... i already have a new nickname... el colocho!! the curly haired one!!! pictures will be up soon... all the way from my birthday... its been a while... im behind!! i know!! hope all is well... and hope to hear from everyone!

Field Based Training... and whats to come!!!

Whats happening everyone? Its been a while again.. I know. This past week we had our field based training. That is when we go out and visit different volunteers in certain departments, states, in Guatemala. We met some awesome volunteers who are COS´ing (Close of Service). Throughout the week we went to go visit certain schools and played with the kids... as you can see. That is Josh and me. Those kids were awesome. And it was Carnavál that week...so we all got ambushed with eggs filled with confetti. Thursday was a day of stress for most of us. It was the day that we all had to do a health presentation to a certain grade at this random school. My topic was teeth...since there are several dentists in the family I thought I had sufficient knowledge on that... Nailed it!! On Friday, we went to go to some hot springs, and hung out with other volunteers. Now that was awesome. Gotta love Peace Corps. haha We returned to our perspective towns on Saturday.

This coming week on the 4th we go on our individual visit training. For me it will not be individual since the 4 of us who got the job position will be visiting the other 2 volunteers in that position. Should be an enlightening experience. And the big day is near... not my birthday... the day AFTER, the 12th, they finally tell us our site... where we all will be staying for the two years here in Guate. We´ll see how it goes. Hope to hear from you guys... at least some of you...hope all is well.

picture site for field base training....

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2354283&id=3314158&l=72aea

Kennedy´s Priomise!!

"We will only send abroad Americans who are wanted by the host country- who have a real job to do- and who are qualified to do that job. Programs will be developed with care, and after full negotiation, in order to make sure that the Peace Corps is wanted and will contribute to the welfare of other people. Our Peace Corps is not designed as an instrument of diplomacy or propaganda or ideological conflict. It is designed to permit our people to exercise more fully their responsibilities in the great common cause of world development."

John F. Kennedy Jr.
March 1, 1961