mi vida guatemalteca

I’ve been in country now for a little over two weeks which is still super-new, as I am reminded every time our group meets PCVs who have been here a year or more. Language classes are going well and yesterday instead of a technical training session we went to visit a current volunteer in the Healthy Homes project. It was exciting to see how comfortable she felt in her community and in the work. We visited a school where she had the students make their own shampoo out of water, aloe vera, shampoo concentrate bought in Guatemala City and little bit of salt and fragrance. The students were around 10 or 11 I think and really excited to have us in the class, they let us practice “filleting” the aloe leaves and invited us to play a chaotic game of soccer at recess. They had Kaqchikel words hanging around the classroom and I asked one of the girls to teach me how to say some of them. I’m not sure how well I did but we both laughed when I messed up and I might get the opportunity later to actually learn some Kaqchikel (if that is the language spoken where I am eventually placed).
On Tuesday my host mom made Pepían which is a local specialty and it was delicious! It is meat (beef for mine but I think it can vary) and a sauce made from some special blend of peppers and spices that looks a little like mole. My host family and I get most of our bonding time around the dinner table; after dinner we usually sit and talk for a long time, I’m definitely going to miss them when we get our new locations.
Last Saturday we went together for lunch to Chimaltenango where the youngest daughter goes to school. It is a slightly higher elevation there, it was a little cooler and there were lots of pine trees. It was a beautiful day and we had a picnic outside of her dorm building. My host mom picked up Pollo Campero (kind of like KFC) and brought mangos from home. We didn’t stay long because she had homework but it was fun to see a little more of the country.
We´ll be seeing Guatemala City soon and will be doing field based training in another department (similar to states in the US there are 22 departments in Guatemala).