Chicken-killer!!!

Hey everyone -

Sorry it's been so long since my last post...I've been keeping busy! Two weeks ago we were moved to our temporary homes for the next 3 months. I'm living with a family of 10 in a town called San Antonio Aguas Calientes. It's an awesome little town of about 10,000 people. So far the family has been great! I'm living with a couple around 50, Don Francisco and Doña Esperanza, who have 6 kids ranging in ages from 30 down to 7. One of the sons, Hugo, who is my age is married and his wife and 5 year old son also live in the house. I have my own room, which is nice, but I do share one bathroom with the 10 other people! Luckily we all have pretty different schedules, so it's working out okay so far. We do have electricity, running water AND a flush toilet, so I'm not doing too bad! The shower is cold in the morning, but I'm just happy to have a shower and I don't have to take bucket baths every morning. The family has been very welcoming and inclusive...they're making me feel right at home. And I'm definitely eating well! Breakfast normally consists of coffee (instant - they export all of the good stuff!) and freshly baked bread. For lunch, the biggest meal of the day, we normally eat some type of meat - normally chicken, black beans and rice or pasta. And then for dinner we normally just eat something small - tortillas and beans or some type of soup.

My first Sunday here I went with one of my host brothers, Marvin, who's 13, down to the basketball court to shoot some hoops with this friends. We ended up drawing quite the crowd! For some reason the sight of a big white boy playing basketball isn't the norm down here. And the best party was they all thought I was the best basketball player they had ever seen! I'm pretty sure this was all due to my amazing bball skills and had nothing to do with the fact that I'm a foot and a half taller than the average Guatemalan. One kid even told me I was like a white Michael Jordan. I guess all those years playing church basketball really paid off. GO PUMPKINS!!!

And thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes this past Sunday. I had a great first bday down here in Guatemala! The day started with my family waking me up with the Guatemalan birthday song at 600am - Guatemalans don't seem to understand the concept of sleeping in - even on the weekend! I then had the honor of picking out the chicken that we'd be cooking for my special bday dinner and killing it. Yes...I am now a chicken-murderer. Well...more like an accessory to chicken-murder...the freaking thing wouldn't die! So my host mom had to take it from me and finish the pobre pollo off. After that she showed me how to remove the feathers and clean it. The meal she made for me was awesome, it's called Pepillan and is the national dish of Guatemala. It was delicious....except for the chicken. For some reason it just didn't taste the same...

I've finally posted some pics for everyone below. We're starting to travel around more for training, so hopefully I'll be able to take more pics in the future. We're heading to Guatemala City on Monday with our language group to learn where the US Embassy is and how to safely travel in and around the city. Then we're headed to Antigua on Friday. Should be fun!

I've had several people ask for an address for me down here. For the next 3 months, you can send things to the address below, which is the PC Headquarters. If you're going to send anything, it's better to just send cards or letters, nothing bigger than a padded envelope. And using USPS instead of UPS or FedEx will mean I won't have to pay an import tax when I pick it up, so go that route if possible (remember...I'm poor now:) ).

Dirk Davis

Cuerpo de Paz

Apartado Postal 66

Antigua Guatemala, Sacatepequez

Guatemala 03001

Thanks everyone for the emails and messages! Keep 'em coming!

Hasta la proxmia!

Dirk

My host mom, Doña Esperanza cooking in her kitchen. Notice that she's cooking over an open flame. This is pretty typical of Guatemalan kitchens and is one of the main reasons respiratory illnesses are the leading causes of death among children and women here. One of my projects as a Healthy Home volunteer will be to help build covered stoves to help prevent this problem.

My other pictures are taking too long to upload, so I'll try again later!

Estoy aquí!

I made it to Guatemala in one piece!

After a short half-day staging event in Atlanta on Tuesday where I met the 51 other Healthy Homes and Youth Development volunteers (where I discovered there were only 6 other guys), we all boarded a plane on Wednesday morning and made our way to Guatemala City. Once we arrived, there were several PC staff members there to help us get through customs and very quickly escort us to the PC Headquarters in a small town about 40 min outside of Guatemala City. The PC HQ is an awesome little compound (literally-it´s surrounded by barbed wired and has armed guards), but is really cool inside with an awesome courtyard where we eat and have some of our classes.

We were all placed with temporary host families for three days while we´re here for orientation. I got pretty lucky with my family- a couple with 4 kids who are all pretty outgoing even around a big gringo (most of the kids here just stare at us). I think their house is pretty nice by Guatemalan standards - electricity, cable TV, several rooms. There is running water, but not in the bathroom, so that means a warm bucket bath in a shower and just dumping a big bucket of water down the toilet. It´s actually not as bad as it seems and I´ve already gotten used to it.

The past couple of days have been full of general health and safety information and determing our different Spanish levels. Today we were placed in groups of 4-5 with other people in our same project (healthy homes for me) and around the same level. I think I got pretty lucky with my group - everyone seems pretty cool. Tomorrow we will all move to different communities with our little groups where we´ll study Spanish together and receive our technical training...so I´m looking forward to meeting my new host family for the next three months.

Guess I better run home for dinner. The foods been great so far...lots of black beans, fried plantains, tortillas, and chicken (which I like!). And the best part is...I still haven´t pooped myself!! Let´s hope it stays that way!

Hasta la próxima!

I'm going to Guatemala!!

Hey everyone!

As most of you know, I'm heading to Guatemala this Wednesday for 27 months as a Rural Home Preventative Health volunteer with the Peace Corps. In an attempt to keep y'all updated on my experiences and share some photos, I've started this blog that I will hopefully be updating on a regular basis.

The PC is something that I've been interested in since high school and I'm thankful to finally get this opportunity. The application process was long and challenging, but I'm sure it will be worth it!

As a Rural Home Preventative Health volunteer, I'll be working with community partners to teach health and hygiene and how to build five principal sanitary technologies in rural homes (water tanks, latrines, stoves, drainage systems and cement floors). These infrastructures will hopefully help combat diarrhea, respiratory diseases, and skin infections, all of which are associated with high infant mortality rates in Guatemala. The fun part is, of course, that I have absolutely no idea how to build any of these structures. Luckily the PC has a pretty intense 3 month training program that will begin this Saturday . We'll receive several hours of language training in the mornings and several hours of cultural, health/safety, and technical training in the afternoons.

I'll be flying to Atlanta for a half-day orientation tomorrow with the 52 other Guatemala trainees and then we'll all fly down to Guatemala City together from Atlanta on Wednesday. Hopefully I'll have some time to post some pictures and give you an update once I get settled in.

Thanks to all of my family and friends who have supported me through this process so far! It's been great spending time with everyone here in Charlotte this past month!

Til next time!
Dirk

What 80lbs of luggage looks like!