Preparation for the Experience of a lifetime

So now there are 12 days left before I leave for the Peace Corps! It is very hard to believe that this moment is so near after such a long application process. It is crazy how time has been flying by, it seemed like yesterday I was just back from Guatemala, and now I find myself racing to gather all of the things for my two year service. Que ridículo! So I have recently mustard the desire to diligently work on my blog. Which brings me to why I am writing right now. My blogging abilities while I was in Guatemala were pretty poor, but I think having that experience definitely drives me to work on it better. It’s incredible how fast you begin to lose memories of little experiences. So from now on I am going to try my best to keep you all updated.

My year after graduating from Muhlenberg College has been an interesting one to say the least. Many ups and downs, times filled with moments of massive amounts of work and times where I was aching to do anything haha. After Guatemala, it was nice to be home for a little while, however as they say waiting was the hardest part. I never really knew when I might be heading out or even I was going to be lucky enough to be selected for the Peace Corps. So I felt a bit constricted in terms of searching for a Job, but I also really wanted to travel to South America just in case the Peace Corps did not come through. So there I was living with my Mom and Dad again, which after practically 4 years of college being independent was an adjustment (basically getting readjusted to having my parents continually questioning what you’re doing and receiving advise about you should do this/that). However, my parents are great, and I feel lucky that they let me stay with them after college, because I don’t think I would have enough money to have my own place. It was really nice to be home for Christmas ( I haven’t missed one yet! So this upcoming year maybe the year). I had the opportunity to hang out with my brother for a quick second which is always since he works all the time.

The winter was definitely something to try and get used to again after being in Guatemala for 6 months. I have come to terms with the fact that I really do not enjoy the cold :P. It just happened that this winter was one of the coldest and longest in a very long time. It really seemed to go on forever. I am a person who needs the outdoors and sunshine. I know that is certain. However, it’s always nice to lay in bed with like 5 blankets with a book. My parents decide to get a puppy while I was home as well since our dog Midnight has passed away. When we went to pick up our new puppy, and it turns out they were just too cute and we couldn’t resist getting another one. Below are some of the pictures of our new family members: Chula y Guapo. They are a blast, and definitely made staying at home more exciting and a bit more work.

In March, I decide that two months of hanging around at home and volunteering in Allentown at Casa Guadalupe and The Caring Place was enough being around home. My urge to travel kicked up quick again and I really wanted to go experience something new. So I found the Cheapest flight I could get to South America, which happened to be to Ecuador. Considering I had two friends living in Quito, I thought why not. So I hopped on a US$390 there and back again flight to Quito. It’s pretty incredible the price of the flight, that is a ridiculous deal. I have found it is hard to get a flight in the states for that much. I went to Ecuador for two main reasons: To test my Spanish/take classes and also to test out what the experience of travelling alone would be like. In total, I spent a Month in Ecuador, and I barely even scratched the surface of the country. I travelled to Otavalo (1 day), Quito (8 days), Baños (4 days), El mitad del Mundo (1 day), y Canoa (12 days). Overall, I really enjoyed Ecuador, very interesting people overall, and extremely friendly. In my travels, I would just start up conversations with people of bus trips and countless times people provided me help with getting around, and even offered me places to stay.

I would have to say my experience with Ecuador was a great one, albeit a short one. However, by the end of my trip I came to learn that Peace Corps offered me a position in Ecuador. It was a bumpy road, but a great one. I have spent the last two months getting ready for the experience of a Peace Corps Volunteer. The puppies have gotten really big and are super energetic. Its been nice to wake up every morning to two black waging tails.

Other things over my time home: My 23^rd Birthday, Foals concert, working out, reading a ton, gave two talks at Muhlenberg, lots of rain!

It'll Next time.

Los Super Chivos

So I have been really terrible of keeping up with the blog, so Im going to recall as many stories as I can and fill them in as we go. Lo siento

So in Xela, to really integrate yourself, you have to become a super chivos fan. Guatemaltecos love their football. They really love it. This is the most excited I think I ever seen the people of Xela get. On game days, you can run into hundreds of people all decked out in their gear. So they are the super goats. After much dilberation and have a schedule caulk fill of activites, it seemed as though we were never going to get to share in the fun. Then the night came. We celebrated a little before hand to get in the mood for a rowdy crowd. Before heading to the game we had heard rumors from our field director ellie. She had apparently gone to a game before and ended up getting shot in the face with a bottle rocket! So we were prepared for an intense night.

We gathered all the gear we could afford, which included price haggling and such. So there we were headed to our first game, we could see people as far as we could see all pouring in for this game. People were cheering as loud as they could. One of our group had a drink with her and as we were entering the security stopped her and we all thought she was going to get into big trouble. However, it turns out that they just wanted to give her a plastic bag to put her wine into. Yes we were all as shocked as well. Oh no miss the guy came running after hes your drink ahah. We could see rowdy soccer people had already filled the stands and were cheering and doing all the normal chants. WOOOOOOO XELA WHOO WOOOO XELA WHO!! and so many more.

At first we were a bit apprehensive about whether or not we should dive in with the hooligans. Or if they would even accept us into the crowd. It could some courage from Rachelle to hop in and then come get me to hop in. It was insane, the next moment I knew we were all jumping and chanting and sharing in the merry making with all the Local die hard fans. And I must say they were loving it. Or rather they were loving rachelle's craziness in the crowd, it was really impressive she was meeting people left and right, but I pretty sure if I was a good looking extranero they would have accepted me in the crowd the same. However, they were awesome, they were showing me all the chants and hand signs and really getting us into it. There was so much energy. So indescribable. I loved every second of it. The game was super close and the super chivos finally pulled out the win at the end. The fans all went nutz and were shooting fire works off. They even let me hold the flag and wave it in pride. That night I felt like a really Guatemalteco from Xela. It was wonderful.