Almost there..

Well, next Wednesday June 27th we find out our site assignments, where we will be living and working for the next 2 years. Man, training really has been alot of hoops to jump through, but it is nice to see the light at the end of the tunnel. After we find out our site assignments, the following week, we visit our site for about four days to decide where we want to live & familiarize ourselves with everything. We are required to live with another family for our first three months in site before we can live by ourselves, unfortunately. This is a requirement because it is thought to help us integrate into the community. I know most of us are very ready for some independence & time living alone, especially since we will have already lived with a host family for the three months of training. In any case, just being in our final site will be exciting, it is so hard to picture what life for 2 years will be like when we are still in training just because it is so different.

One of the more recent training activities that we have done is spend a week in the Western highlands of Guatemala, in Quezaltenango, also known as Xela. There, the small business development adults as well as youth development training groups taught 2 hour classes for 5 days to 6th graders about business fundamentals. It was a very long week, it seemed, but enjoyable at the same time. The scenery in this part of Guate is particularly gorgeous. The microclimates within Guate vary so much, that is is nice when we visit other parts so we can see that difference.

I have finished with my Spanish language classes, me and four other girls. They needed our teachers for those who are still at a lower level, and we are all considered Advanced in our Spanish level. We do still have one 2 hour a week Spanish class for any questions or things we would like to focus on in our language development.

I am attaching a few more photos. They are from when we went to Xela and taught at the schools and visited some other nearby associations. Next time, I will post pics of my new host family. Enjoy! Miss you all very much!!

This photo is of our ¨going away party¨from the school in Cantel, close to Queztaltenango in Western Guate. Nothing like finishing a dance party with the electric slide! :)

Some of the girls dress in ¨traditional¨clothing whereas others dress more modern. This is a highly indigenous area of Guate.

This is a pic of the girls in the two training groups for small business development: adults and youth development. We are visiting another Peace Corps Volunteer currently working in the Quezaltenango area.