Well, I have survived my first week in Guatemala. It has been an emotional roller coaster of excitement, sadness, and constant wondering of “what am I doing here”. I’m not sure what is scaring me the most. The thought of not having a hot shower or Starbucks for 27 months or getting malaria, amebas, rabies, or any other of the common illnesses here. I’ve definitely learned a lot about myself in this last week. I understand why people never leave the comforts of what they know. Let’s just say I am definitely out of my “comfort zone”. Starting a new job in a new town is pretty tough. Try starting a new job in a new country, speaking a different language and adapting to a new culture…might be time for me to consider counseling.
The next 3 months I will be living in a municipality called Parramos in the department of Chimeltanango. My host family is nice and my living conditions, compared to some of my fellow volunteers, are not so bad. There are 3 other PC trainees in my town. We have Spanish classes in the morning and technical classes in the evening. The workload has been pretty intense, it’s like being back in school again. We will be constructing “lava manos” or hand washing stations at a school in the aldeas (small town) about an hours walk away. Currently the school has 1 hand washing station and 4 latrines, all outdoors of course. We will add an additional 4 or 5 hand washing station. We will also be working with a local health center. The health center has all kinds of issues, so there will plenty of work. In addition to constructing much needed technologies we will also provide health education or give “charlas” (presentations) to the community on common health issues. This should be interesting considering my level of Spanish.
Thanks to everyone who sent me words of encouragement through email or comments on my blog, I will definitely need more of that in the coming months. Since I have email access every Monday, I will try and post something each week. Thanks for checking in!
The next 3 months I will be living in a municipality called Parramos in the department of Chimeltanango. My host family is nice and my living conditions, compared to some of my fellow volunteers, are not so bad. There are 3 other PC trainees in my town. We have Spanish classes in the morning and technical classes in the evening. The workload has been pretty intense, it’s like being back in school again. We will be constructing “lava manos” or hand washing stations at a school in the aldeas (small town) about an hours walk away. Currently the school has 1 hand washing station and 4 latrines, all outdoors of course. We will add an additional 4 or 5 hand washing station. We will also be working with a local health center. The health center has all kinds of issues, so there will plenty of work. In addition to constructing much needed technologies we will also provide health education or give “charlas” (presentations) to the community on common health issues. This should be interesting considering my level of Spanish.
Thanks to everyone who sent me words of encouragement through email or comments on my blog, I will definitely need more of that in the coming months. Since I have email access every Monday, I will try and post something each week. Thanks for checking in!
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2 comments:
No hot shower, but email access? What a world we live in! So after you construct the lava manos, will you do the same thing in other towns, or work on something completely different? Pipe is making a differnce!
Felipe, good luck for your journey bro...
Keep writing ur blog, it's a wonderful experience you're having.. awesome, but no hot shower? tsk tsk tsk...
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