Training here is winding down gracias a Dios. We have our swearing in a week from Thursday where we actually become PC Volunteers instead of trainees. I’m really looking forward to being in my site and getting to know people. They have been keeping us incredible busy here with classes, projects and other activities. Once we are in our sites we get to completely set our own schedule and do whatever we want whenever we want. I find out which town my site this Thursday, which is probably the biggest thing that I have ever left to chance in my entire life since I will be spending two entire years. They have been emphasizing to us the importance of building relationship our first few months in our sites. This involves meeting everyone, participating in local activities and building trust. I am really excited to do this since I my only responsibility is to hang out with everyone. Sounds like the worlds best job to me.
Life here has been good, I have given up trying to learn Spanish quickly and have resigned myself to a more “slow and steady wins the race” approach, which has relieved some of the stress I was feeling. I can get my basic point across usually but still get very lost in most conversations. My go-to Spanish words are bastante which means plenty or enough (I have heard this when I asked how many kids someone has), quisas which means maybe and va a llover which means it is going to rain, which is almost always the case here and can serve as a great conversation in itself.
We had a free weekend for the first time last weekend and most of us pooled money to rent an enormous house on the beach complete with hammocks, a pool, patio-bar, and general awesome tourist amenities. We finally got to drink a bit and hang out and speak English and get to know each other better. The house was right on a beautiful beach and was basically a slice of paradise to relax in. It was a very much needed vacation.
We have been meeting with a group of kids for the last few weeks trying to get them to do a community project of some sort, and they decided to do a community clean-up today. However, none of them actually showed up this morning. The other gringos seemed a bit surprised, but I knew that the last thing kids probably want to do on Saturday is clean up trash in the mud. We’re going to try again Monday morning.
Even though my malaria medicine gives me strange dreams, its usually stranger when I wake up and remember what I’m doing and where I am.