2 more days!

Wow. Can we say culture shock?!

I think I experienced every emotion on my few days trip to my new place...Excitement, fear of the uknown, afraid, happy, sad, joyful, missing people,confusion,frustration,exhaustion, energetic, anxious,appreciative,surprised,awed, and the list goes on.

I know I already explained my town to you, but I officially met them! My family is super sweet and treats me as their own child. THe children are really young and they ask my parents sometimes for ice cream or some type of 'dulce' (sweets).  Whenever my mom gives in, she always buys three of something; one for each kid plus me. I live in a very small house. my bathroom is right outside my house in the back, along with the water. No running water in the house, but its very close and im investing in a boiler. i have my own room, whew! i cant get my camera to work so i cant post pics. but theres a small living room, a kitchen, then a room for my parents and a room for me. I''m still trying to figure out where the kids sleep. I dont know if they sleep with the parents or if they sleep in a room close to the bathroom. Right now i have a dirt floor but am getting a carpet! another plus. I have no cell phone reception and limited internet access, but i DO have electricity so i can still straighten my hair, hahahaha. I'm such a girl. As long as I got electricity I'm good to go. oh, and i do have a shower but im a little scared to use it so im learning about bucket showers at the moment. ive never had a bucket shower, itll be interesting!

So the foothills are BEAUTIFUL. every morning I run around this HUGE mountain that the community hikes once a year and has a fiesta at the top. theres a couple palm trees, a beautiful park in the center. What I normally see in a typical day while walking my village: a herd of bulls walking along its herder, maybe a few hogs roaming around, kids playing volley, girls talking while the guys drink in circles outside their houses, women passing the streets with their donkeys and usually a baby on their back wearing the traditional sombrero and long skirts,and the scorching sun probably burning my face (dont worry mom im wearing sunblock! the strong stuff so i wont die). Theres also a few dogs--theyre so nicer than the ones here in Chacra! they actually dont bite!


transportaion is a bit difficult bc i live so far away from just about everything. but we are working on this situation and the country director is driving me to my city this time so i wont get lost on my own at night, so thats a good thing, whew. it took me 30 1/2 hours to get from Llama back to Chacrasana. but they do have these awesome full layout buses for the last bus ride i have to take, the 15 hour one. those things are fun!

its a little hard having people understand me in my broken spanish. ive gotten better but they speak in a different accent in this small village. however, they are super nice and are already teaching me their slang, and i met a friend of my socio (the person im supposed to work with for the next 2 weeks), and they took me out to the one restaurant in town. menu: rice and beans and soup. ha. you get the same at a restaurant and in the house, but i guess they think its different.i think once i start getting better with the spanish, ill be less frustrated and hoping ppl will understand me! but its exciting to always learn something new and is always funny and adventure with all my awkward encounters i have. i dont know when youll hear from me again.im leaving to go to site in 2 days, after my ceremony and initiation into becoming a volunteer this weekend! im almost a real volunteer! im still classified as a 'trainee' until this weekend! until then, nos vemos!