Photos

Volcan Pacayavolcano s'mores

So training, as it turns out, is jam packed with activities. Besides regular classes in spanich,culture and technical training we'veclimbed Volcan Pacaya, visited several volunteers in various sites around the country, started working at our schools and we leave in a few weeks for a week of training in Totonicapan. Anyhow, I'll post more later...here are a few photos from our Superbowl Fiesta on Sunday and climbing the volcano.

Tony, Me and Adrian at the Monoloco

Training

During the 48 years Peace Corps has been operating they have studied, adapted and relocated the training program volunteers go through prior to swearing in as official PCVs. Volunteers were originally trained in the US as the educational and housing systems in country were not yet established. Volunteers trained at universities during the summer vacation months, allowing the PC access to high level language and job training programs as well as ample housing. UC Berkeley was the original training site for all volunteers. Berkeley also boast the highest number of returned pc volunteer graduates (go bears!) All volunteers are now trained abroad, most in the country they will be serving in although some countries have joint training.

In Guatemala we are participating in Community Based Training (CBT), meaning that we receive technical, cultural and language training while living with host families in various communities in the areas surrounding the training center. The first three nights in country were spent living with other trainees with a host family in the same community as the training center. This is the only time that we will live with other volunteers, Peace Corps only allows married couples to live together. During the first three days the 32 of us were given Spanish language exams and broken into groups of four based upon our program assignment (ecotourism or healthy schools) and our language skills. Each group of four lives in a different commuity and does Spanish language training four days a week together. The entire training group reunites every Monday at the training center for training in health and saftey, Spanish class and vaccinations. Thursday mornings we have tech training with the others in our program, leaving us with Saturday afternoons and Sundays free from formal training. There is never a shortage of cultural activities to participate in on the weekends. Thus far I've attended four soccer games, two weddings and two birthday parties. While full integration into Guatemalan culture is the PCs goal for us, spending the afternoon in Antigua with the other trainees provides with a nice balance between work and play...

Shout Out

Just a quick shout out to Samra's mom. Feel free to send us cookies. Samras doing well, but she'd be doing better with cookies.

Training

Don't have much time to post right now, Ive got to be in Spanish class in about 2 minutes, but quickly. We arrived safely, the climate here is very similar to home during mid march, its cool at night but it warms up during the day. We took Spanish tests yesterday, and my teacher seems to think Im quite witty. This is a mistake. I simply don't know enough Spanish to speak intelligently so I use the words I know to say funny things like , "Mi mama es muy baja, no estoy seguro porque soy grande" and things like this. Im living with two other volunteers with a host family a few blocks from the training center. Hasta luego!

Staging: Washington DC

The last time I was in Washington DC was on an 8th grade field trip. This is what I learned: It is possible to finish and entire card game of war, there is no Macys in the Capital Mall, and reenacting the battle of Gettysburg with 100 8th graders is not a good idea. So last night, one of the other volunteers and I wandered around DC, really looking for food, but ended up running into the Washington Monument and the White House.  These are both very large buildings, and you would think one wouldn't just stumble upon them, but it was cold and dark and a bit confusing with all the security and roadblocks set up in preparation for the Inauguration. This morning a few of us set out to see things (again), we stayed out for about 2 hours until it started pouring so I'm back in bed until our official meetings start at 2pm and we're off to Guatemala tomorrow morning!

2,500 miles away

I have a few friends posted in the Peace Corps.  They are all very far away, like a few dozen lay overs and several thousand dollars worth of airplane flights away. Guatemala, however, is not far away. In fact, I wanted to find out exactly how far away it was so I used Google Earth to see.  The distance from my house in Berkeley, to the Peace Corps training site outside of Antigua is approximately 2,500 miles. Not a big deal at all. So, you ask, how far is 2,500 miles anyways. Well I'll tell you. Using Berkeley as home base, 2,500 miles will get you to Times Square in Manhattan,The White House, Disney World in Florida, or swinging around to the west, it will land you on Maui. So I really wont be far away at all, so there are no excuses for not visiting. You could even make it into a weekender. 

Donde esta Guatemala

After months of anticipation I finally received my invite to Guatemala. During the application process you are first nominated for a geographic region,  work area and departure time.  My nomination was for Latin America, Community Development leaving early Jan '08.  While waiting it out in Peace Corps limbo, as medical files are processed and dental and legal clearance go through, nominees love to play a guessing game of what country they'll be going to. This involves an elaborate collection of past departures, the work areas in specific countries and all sorts of online gossip and rumors. At first I thought I might be headed to Belize, possibly Nicaragua, at one point I'd hoped for Costa Rica and been not nearly as enthusiastic about a few other places.  In September, another nominee from Berkeley received her invite for Guatemala and I'd hoped I'd be joining her. As the medical clearance dragged out, and the 6 week departure deadline grew near (the PC will not send out an invitation to an assignment with less than 6 weeks notice) I gave up on Guatemala and started scouring blogs and online groups to see where I might be headed.  However, my medical clearance came on a Monday, and that Friday I received my invite, on the 6 week deadline date. 

So for those of you who don't know, Guatemala is the country directly south of Mexico... heres a handy little map of the country that Peace Corps describes as being approximately the same size as Tennessee, but since I dont know how big that is, its easier to say, about the size of CA from the bay to Santa Barbara.