Random...

*** Note to readers...this was written very quickly so please excuse all the mistakes!!!

Hey everyone…this update is not really about anything! What an opening sentence makes you really want to read right?!

First off I want to thank my mother, brother and grandma for being faithful scribes, they have made me the envy of my technical training group! I get letters, packages or cards every week without fail! Also a big thanks to my best friend Juliane for an awesome care package, love ya!

I have gotten a lot of emails asking me what I need/want so since you asked….
Target Brand raisins and fruit snacks
Trail Mix
Sticky tabs to mark my tech book (cannot find any here)
Pens
Reeses/Baby Ruths are always good (candy bars are expensive)
Books, any kind are welcome ( I have read six books since I got here)
Little Peanut Butter packs (hard to come by here)
A travel size Febreeze and Downy De-wrinkler
Surprises are always welcome

I know some of this stuff sounds superficial and stupid but when you are feeling down or sorta homesick, these things make all the difference!

Now that I got ME out of the way, I do have a few more observations! First off, the women here are unbelievable! They work so much harder than any other people I have every met in my life! They will hike up our mountain, like an hour, and not an easy hike for fire wood, food, etc, and carry up to 50 lbs or more on their heads back down the mountain! They never stop, no matter what age they are! For example, my 83 year old grandmother still chops her wood every morning! At first I didn’t realize that she was actually the one doing the chopping, so one Saturday morning, I asked her to show me how to chop wood, her response was this (translated) “I don’t think that you can do it…young people can’t do anything these days!” I mean I knew we were a lazy generation but to be told by this 83 year old woman who was chopping wood that I could not do it was a shock! I wish I was better with words so that I could explain better the women of Guatemala, I guess the best words I can find in the thesaurus is astonishing, astounding and remarkable!

Today, Monday October 22, the US Ambassador to Guatemala came and spoke to us! It was nice to see the stance that the US has here in Guatemala but at the same time I was thinking the Peace Corps goals are the total opposite. He made some very good points and has some great ideas about how to help Guatemala develop! I also like him because he bought us all pizza for lunch and let me tell you, pizza has never tasted so good!

Well three weeks and three days until I officially swear in as a Peace Corps Volunteer! We are having our swearing-in service at the Ambassador’s residence in Guatemala City! It should be a good time, the exciting part is that our host families are invited which should be a nice treat for them! I have grown quite attached to my host family, mainly my mom! She is awesome! She is so cute, whenever I leave the house she always tells me to be careful, to watch my money and to call if I am going to be late! I know that I always complained about my parents nagging about stuff like that but now it is kind of comforting knowing that there is someone here looking out for me!!