Hello everyone! I just wanted to send a quick note to say that I am doing great! Not a whole lot of internet time, but I'll deal.
I had a great weekend. There was a fiesta in Alotenango and there was a huge parade (turns out I have a slight fear of costumed people...) with lots of people dressed up like looney tunes and old people and dancing in the streets. There were also "banditos" running around "holding up"the crowd until a chosen person gave them a donation. Turns out I got chosen by every bandito because I stick out of the crowd, haha. It was a lot of fun to hang out with my family.
On Sunday, the volunteers met in Antigua at the Mono Loco. The restaurant is conveniently highlighted in the guidebook nicole gave me but contrary to the rough guide, the food is NOT mediocre and it was FANTASTIC. Almost everyone showed up (which is a lot because there are 36 of us!) We got to hang out and watch the Patriots/Chargers game. Despite the lame outcome it was really nice to relax and bond together, we had a lot of fun.
When we got home, my family was all in the kitchen making tortillas and we all got to cook together. Jaime was home for the evening (kind of rare because he works so much) and so he was helping out too and it was really really great.
I am feeling really good today. I am excited to start working, I love the country, I love my home and my family here. I cannot wait to share all of this with you guys when you come to visit. The postal system is a little slow, but I hope I get your letters soon. Thanks for all the encouragement! Lots of love! (I get to go get Rabies shot #2!)
Monday, January 21, 2008
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Photos de mi Vida!
Hey All! Here are some pictures of my beautiful home in Alotenango! Enjoy! This one is the view of the Volcan de Agua from my rooftop!
Here is a picture of the Volcan de Fuego (the active one)...it's the view from the other side of my rooftop!
Christian in front of Fuego (Agua is his favorite though!)
Here is my room! There is lots of space and a TINY little skylight in the ceiling! I love it, lots of privacy and right next too the bathroom, shower, and the pila! Also sharing a wall with a VERY loud evangelical church...it keeps me up at night, I guess it could be worse!
Here is Christian riding his moticicleta in the main hallway/courtyard of the house! If you look closely you can see Aura and Andreita in the background!
This is the Spanish class in front of the Volcano. This was taken on top of Melanie's house on the other side of town. We have been having Spanish classes there this week! That is all for now, I have to take the camionets right back to town from Santa Lucia. Love you guys! Write to me pleeeease! You can also call me, let me know if you want my phone number and I can e-mail it to you!
Love!
Andi
Monday, January 14, 2008
Place of Volcanoes...
Hello all!
I only have a few minutes here at the training center. It turns out that my town doesn't have an internet cafe so I will have to travel to Antigua or wait until mondays when we return to Santa Lucia for training classes. I feel bad robbing the other volunteers of internet time so this one will have to be quick.
Now I am living (for 3 months!) in a town called Alotenango. It is just south of Antigua at the bases of the volcanoes Agua and Fuego. Don't worry thoug, Agua is dormant. Fuego, on the other hand, causes small tremors and sometimes has lava flows but I am asssured that it is very safe! It makes for some beautiful scenery though, I can't wait to send pictures! I am there with 3 other volunteers and we will have language and technical classes there in town most of the time. My family is really nice although a little quiet so far. It will be a lot better once my Spanish is better because we can have more conversations. They are pretty young. Don Jaime and Don Aura are both around 31 or 32. They have two kids, Christian who is 4 (starting Kinder today!) and a 6 month old little girl called Andrea (there are always 2 Andreas in my life...). Also there lives Aura's mother and father, and her sister. Her Aunt and Grandmother live next door so there is always lots of family around.
It was a little hard to leave the safety net of the other volunteers in Santa Lucia, especially Jan who has been my companion through everything so far. The night before we left the power went out and Don Estuardo pushed his motorcycle up to the door and we had dinner by motorcycle headlight. It was great fun!
When I got to Alotenango there was a bit of confusion because a sticker from Mark's luggage got stuck to mine so they thought I would be a little different. Dona Aura said she had flowers in the room but she took them out because she thought I would be Mark.
I am adjusting well and I know it will get a lot easier from here. Well, I need to go get my rabies vaccine! I miss you all, keep writing. e-mails too (that means you Kerianne!)
I only have a few minutes here at the training center. It turns out that my town doesn't have an internet cafe so I will have to travel to Antigua or wait until mondays when we return to Santa Lucia for training classes. I feel bad robbing the other volunteers of internet time so this one will have to be quick.
Now I am living (for 3 months!) in a town called Alotenango. It is just south of Antigua at the bases of the volcanoes Agua and Fuego. Don't worry thoug, Agua is dormant. Fuego, on the other hand, causes small tremors and sometimes has lava flows but I am asssured that it is very safe! It makes for some beautiful scenery though, I can't wait to send pictures! I am there with 3 other volunteers and we will have language and technical classes there in town most of the time. My family is really nice although a little quiet so far. It will be a lot better once my Spanish is better because we can have more conversations. They are pretty young. Don Jaime and Don Aura are both around 31 or 32. They have two kids, Christian who is 4 (starting Kinder today!) and a 6 month old little girl called Andrea (there are always 2 Andreas in my life...). Also there lives Aura's mother and father, and her sister. Her Aunt and Grandmother live next door so there is always lots of family around.
It was a little hard to leave the safety net of the other volunteers in Santa Lucia, especially Jan who has been my companion through everything so far. The night before we left the power went out and Don Estuardo pushed his motorcycle up to the door and we had dinner by motorcycle headlight. It was great fun!
When I got to Alotenango there was a bit of confusion because a sticker from Mark's luggage got stuck to mine so they thought I would be a little different. Dona Aura said she had flowers in the room but she took them out because she thought I would be Mark.
I am adjusting well and I know it will get a lot easier from here. Well, I need to go get my rabies vaccine! I miss you all, keep writing. e-mails too (that means you Kerianne!)
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Bienvenidos a Guatemala!
This is the first of what I hope will be many entries about my adventure in Guatemala. Thank you for all your support and interest in what is going on here with me! I (obviously) arrived safely in Guatemala after two days of orientation in Washington D.C. Orientation (also called staging) was great and I have met a lot of really wonderful people so far. One of the guys here used to live in D.C. so he took us sightseeing and my roommate, Jan, is really cool. She is in her 50s and really adventurous and down to earth. I am glad we got paired together, she was a great encouragement to me.
It has also been a rough week saying goodbye to everyone. I am a little bit homesick and I am missing all of my friends and family a lot. I made some phone calls during our layover in Miami yesterday and it was really tough. I know it will get better over time though.
So here I am at the Peace Corps training center in Santa Lucia de Milpas Altas. We got here yesterday afternoon and have had several training sessions and spent time getting to know each other a little better. I also had my Spanish interview today (I was muy nerviosa!) and it went alright. They will be grouping us in training communities according to job and Spanish level for the remaining 3 months of training. This means we will have on-site small group sessions and lots of hands on experience which I am looking forward to. I also found out that the Peace Corps office is moving from Guatemala City to here so my address will be changing already (sorry!) but not worries, they are keeping the other address open for awhile so don't quit writing me letters! I need them!
My host family during these 3 days at the training center is at a lady's house who is called Dona Marleny. She has two beautiful children named Maria Jose (7) and Carlos Manuel (2). They are really cute and very smart. Jan and I are staying there together and she has been really welcoming. My Spanish allows me to communicate fairly clearing but I am still pretty shy. Dona Marleny says it is good but she may just be being polite. Last night she made us spaghetti and pancakes this morning which were delicious (althought not so traditional) but it smells like they are cooking something really great here at the training center for lunch.
The scenery is beautiful. The montains are all around us (it is 7000 feet here) and all of the hills are really green. We can also see three volcanoes from here and the rumor is that you can sometimes see lava there! Also, they have been having some small earthquakes this week which I hear is pretty normal for this region.
Other than that, there is not much happening yet. On Saturday we will be sent to our training communities and I will have an idea of what life will be like for the next 11 weeks. I am a little anxious about it but everyone here is kind of in the same boat so it helps a lot and there is a lot of support. All the staff are really open to us and ready to help wherever needed. They want us to succeed and they don't want anyone going home so it helps.
Well, lunch is being served outside and I think I am due for some vaccinations (fun!) so I have to sign off. Write to me, I miss you!
Muchos gracias y te amo!
It has also been a rough week saying goodbye to everyone. I am a little bit homesick and I am missing all of my friends and family a lot. I made some phone calls during our layover in Miami yesterday and it was really tough. I know it will get better over time though.
So here I am at the Peace Corps training center in Santa Lucia de Milpas Altas. We got here yesterday afternoon and have had several training sessions and spent time getting to know each other a little better. I also had my Spanish interview today (I was muy nerviosa!) and it went alright. They will be grouping us in training communities according to job and Spanish level for the remaining 3 months of training. This means we will have on-site small group sessions and lots of hands on experience which I am looking forward to. I also found out that the Peace Corps office is moving from Guatemala City to here so my address will be changing already (sorry!) but not worries, they are keeping the other address open for awhile so don't quit writing me letters! I need them!
My host family during these 3 days at the training center is at a lady's house who is called Dona Marleny. She has two beautiful children named Maria Jose (7) and Carlos Manuel (2). They are really cute and very smart. Jan and I are staying there together and she has been really welcoming. My Spanish allows me to communicate fairly clearing but I am still pretty shy. Dona Marleny says it is good but she may just be being polite. Last night she made us spaghetti and pancakes this morning which were delicious (althought not so traditional) but it smells like they are cooking something really great here at the training center for lunch.
The scenery is beautiful. The montains are all around us (it is 7000 feet here) and all of the hills are really green. We can also see three volcanoes from here and the rumor is that you can sometimes see lava there! Also, they have been having some small earthquakes this week which I hear is pretty normal for this region.
Other than that, there is not much happening yet. On Saturday we will be sent to our training communities and I will have an idea of what life will be like for the next 11 weeks. I am a little anxious about it but everyone here is kind of in the same boat so it helps a lot and there is a lot of support. All the staff are really open to us and ready to help wherever needed. They want us to succeed and they don't want anyone going home so it helps.
Well, lunch is being served outside and I think I am due for some vaccinations (fun!) so I have to sign off. Write to me, I miss you!
Muchos gracias y te amo!
Friday, December 28, 2007
Into the Wild
"I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence. I wanted excitement and danger and the chance to sacrifice myself for my love. I felt in myself a superabundance of energy which found no outlet in our quiet life."
-Leo Tolstoy, as quoted in "Into the Wild"
I jut got finished reading the book "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer. I had some of these same thoughts a few months ago when I saw the movie that was made from the same book but it is relevant to the way I am feeling right now so I thought I would share.
If you haven't heard the story it is about a boy who graduates from college and is really unsatisfied with the life that he is living. He donates all his saving to charity ($25,000) and leaves everything behind to set off on this great adventure across the US and eventually pursues his dream of living off the land in the Alaskan wilderness. I won't be ruining the story if I tell you that in the end, he makes a mistake and ends up starving to death in the wilderness.
I can't help but see myself in that boy. Just out of college (me too!) he is young, adventurous (sounding familiar…), he is unsatisfied with his life and leaves everything behind to follow his dream (I am going to do that!). In his case, his dream is to live off the land in the Alaskan wilderness. So I see myself in his spirit.
If you haven't heard the story it is about a boy who graduates from college and is really unsatisfied with the life that he is living. He donates all his saving to charity ($25,000) and leaves everything behind to set off on this great adventure across the US and eventually pursues his dream of living off the land in the Alaskan wilderness. I won't be ruining the story if I tell you that in the end, he makes a mistake and ends up starving to death in the wilderness.
I can't help but see myself in that boy. Just out of college (me too!) he is young, adventurous (sounding familiar…), he is unsatisfied with his life and leaves everything behind to follow his dream (I am going to do that!). In his case, his dream is to live off the land in the Alaskan wilderness. So I see myself in his spirit.
I wonder if he knew how it would end—death and lonely starvation—would he have still gone? I think he would have. I am almost sure. Dreams like that are too powerful to walk away from. If I knew that following my dreams would cost me anything important, would I have the ambition to follow them? I think I would have to.
This concept is really hard for some people to understand, but if your dreams aren't that compelling, you are living the wrong life. Those are strong words but I believe in them completely. Let me repeat that in case you didn't get it because I mean it: if your dreams aren't that compelling, you are living the wrong life.
Some people think that the guy in the story was an idiot. A lot of people think he was too unprepared and it was a wrong decision for him to go into the wild. I won't get into the details but I would urge those people to read the book and understand who he was and what really happened. I personally think that thinking he was an idiot is completely absurd and most people who understand what it is to dream big would never say that. He had a dream and he had the courage to follow it no matter that the personal cost. What would you sacrifice for your dreams? If you can't answer that question you should take a hard look at your life and wonder if you are selling yourself short.
People tell me all the time that the Peace Corps will cost me things. It will cost me experiences with friends and family, it could cost me my dignity, even my life. Realistically I know that the experience will be really really difficult. It will be uncomfortable most of the time, frustrating all of the time, and I will be probably really lonely. To tell you the truth, none of that matters to me. I know what it could cost and what I will probably have to give up in the long run and the short run. I also know that I have to do it. Period. I can't explain it, I don't understand it, but my dreams have compelled me to do this and nothing else matters. I understand why that boy had to go to
He had some crazy dreams and he believed in the possibility of realizing them. He had the courage to chase his dreams no matter what the cost…do you?
Note: Excerpts of this blog are from a similar blog I posted on myspace on October 22 after seeing the movie. Sorry for anyone who is getting repeat information. Thanks for being interested.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Two weeks!
Well, it seems there are only two weeks left until my departure. Time went really fast. It seems like just yesterday I was looking at two more months in the US. These next few weeks are going to be really crazy trying to see everyone before I go. I have a tendency to want to do everything and make everyone happy which is ending up being really difficult. I already feel like I have run out of time to do all the things I was thinking about doing.
I am starting to get less nervous and more excited to go. I am ready for an adventure and after all this time building up my expectations I am anxious for things to get started. I am also anxious to get my goodbyes over with. I am horrible at saying goodbye and I have to basically say goodbye to everyone I have ever known in the next two weeks. I am really going to miss everyone here. Sometimes I wish life could just stay the same as it is now forever. I also know that we never learn anything if we stay where we are comfortable. I need this experience and so does everyone else I love.
Good news, I have an address you can send me mail at! I will need lots of encouragement so start sending me nice letters!
I am starting to get less nervous and more excited to go. I am ready for an adventure and after all this time building up my expectations I am anxious for things to get started. I am also anxious to get my goodbyes over with. I am horrible at saying goodbye and I have to basically say goodbye to everyone I have ever known in the next two weeks. I am really going to miss everyone here. Sometimes I wish life could just stay the same as it is now forever. I also know that we never learn anything if we stay where we are comfortable. I need this experience and so does everyone else I love.
Good news, I have an address you can send me mail at! I will need lots of encouragement so start sending me nice letters!
Andrea Stanaway, PCT
8 Calle 6-55, Zone 9
Office Tel. # 502.2384.3800
(needed for FedEx, DHL, etc.)
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Why???
I am often asked about why I joined the Peace Corps. Sometimes it is in the form of a friendly question and sometimes it is accompanied by the same look you give someone who tells you they are going to go skydiving. It's a bit of a difficult question for me to answer, not because I don't have a reason, but because the real reasons are often hard for others to understand.
There are a lot of practical reasons to join the Peace Corps. I get to differ my student loans, get priority for government jobs, and it looks really great of a resume. I spent my academic career talking about other cultures and about global issues. It makes sense that after I have graduated, I should go out into the world and experience that which I have spent all that time talking about in school. All those things are true. I want to travel, to have an adventure, to help others. All those things are extremely important to me and a really huge part of who I am as a person.
Honestly? The real reason I wanted to join the Peace Corps is less tangible than that. It is very hard for my to explain to others, but joining the Peace Corps is just something I know I have to do. You could say it was the call of God, you could say it was destiny, you could say it was the universe nudging me in the right direction. The truth is, I just feel it.
One year ago I never would have considered the Peace Corps as an option for myself. Going to South Africa really changed things for me. Spending time in those villages and townships really opened my eyes to new possibilities. I felt like I had finally found someplace where other people understood who I was. I wanted to stay there forever. If I could fit in South Africa, there has to be other places like that in the world. Suddenly, it didn't matter where I went, I just knew I had to get out of here. When I got home from South Africa, it was so clear that the Peace Corps was the only option that made sense for me.
So here I am, exactly one month before my departure. Sure, I'm nervous. Really nervous. There are a lot of unanswered questions about what my experience holds. In truth, it really doesn't matter to me. I know the Peace Corps is the right thing to do. It can be as bizarre and spiritual or as simple as you want it to be, but its the best answer I can give.
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