Last Few Months in Guate

I apologize for how long its been since my last blog.  I know you all wait anxiously every day to read my exciting adventures...



So, I guess I left off in September after my trip to Roatán, Honduras.  I think I haven't written in a while because life here is starting to become normal.  Everything isn't new and exciting and I don't really have much to say.  But Thanksgiving just passed and I'm starting on a new project, so I guess I will fill you in. 



Not much happened in September.  I did my first workshop with all of my school directors.  It went really well (thankfully), cuz my boss was there as well.   We went over Healthy Schools expectations, the learning pyramid, teaching techniques, and we also had each director make their own healthy schools dice.

 My Spanish is definitely getting a lot better and things are coming along.  Both my sitemates left for over a week sometime in September.  Starting next July I will be in Aguacatán alone so I knew this was a good opportunity to see what it would be like.  It was great!  I hung out with one of my Guatemalan family, worked on my garden, painted my house, and celebrated day of the dead with family.  Having this time without my sitemates showed me that I will be okay living here alone when my sitemates leave. 



Then October came!  My family got to visit me for two whole weeks in October.  It was absolutey amazing.  My parents and I went up to my site for a few days and visited some schools.  I showed them the project I am currently working on, which was really nice.  They loved going to my schools and taking photos of the little kids.  It was so nice introducing my two worlds.  We were only planning on staying three nights but on the third night we were hit with a huge tropical storm and had to stay in site for another day.  We had to change a lot of plans on this trip but we def made the best of each situation.  We ended up taking an alternate route down to Antigua, because Emily was flying in that next day, and it was quite exciting.  We climbed over a landslide right next to a raging river, flew into the air on a bus flying threw the mountains, and ended with an awful chicken bus ride with far too many people.  My parents were troopers through it all.  I guess they got to see a part of Guatemala that not most tourists do. Emily came the second week and we headed up to Lago Atitlan.  We stayed in an amazing hotel with a pool, hot tub, and sauna.  It was so relaxing and nice.  All in all the trip was great, besides the two tropical storms and being put on stand fast... twice.

After my family left I was feeling lonely and decided it was time to get a cat.  It was hard decision for me because I just kept thinking about Bear.  I decided that I was in a place in my service where I am actually ready to own a pet.  I have a good home for it and they are much less work than crazy husky puppies.  One of the families I know in town just had two little kittens and sold one to me for Q25 (3 dollars).  He is a tabby and only weighed one pound when I got him.  He is the cutest little thing. 

 In a week the construction of my first project is starting!  I have been working on this project for the last two months and its starting on December 5th!  It is a 2,000 liter tank with 8 faucets.  It is in my school EORM Xixviac about 45 minutes east of my site.  The school only has water during the rainy season so this will allow them to wash their hands and brush their teeth every day.  I received money from the local community, teachers, WaterCharity, the muni, and friends and family from home.  The local men in the community will be building it with two professional masons.  This project takes 10 working days so it will finish the Friday before I leave for Minnesota!!  The directora of the school told me that we need to celebrate by having some tequila, ha.  The directora and I have gotten to be very close because we have been working together a lot lately :)



I celebrated Thanksgiving in Livingston, Guatemala.  This is a whole other world.  If you were to be dropped off in Livingston and opened your eyes, you would NEVER know you were in Guatemala.  Everyone speaks Spanish but with a Jamaican accent.  Its hot and tropical and everyone is just chillin'.  There were a ton of volunteers there to celebrate Thanksgiving and enjoy the nice Caribbean sea.  For Thanksgiving dinner, a few friends and I went to a little hole in the wall restaurant for some curry.  It was very yummy but had no resemblance to Thanksgiving food.  The Saturday after TG was Garifuna day.  Basically this meant that there were two full days of drinking with no sleep.  There were parades all day long and dances performed in the streets.  Every where you went there were drum circles and women dancing.  It was very cool.



After a longgggg road trip back to site, I am finally home.  It is nice to be back in site and resting with my little Lito.  Every time I come home from a trip it feels so good to be back in my bed and cook food in my kitchen.  It makes me really happy to finally feel like I have a home and that people here missed me. 



I will be home in 3 WEEEKS(!!!!) so I will be able to talk to all of you face to face instead of blogging.   I absolutely cannot wait to eat good food and sit by the fire.  I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and are appreciating the time you have with friends and family.


Adios,



Margarita