We are all very excited to receive our site assignments TOMORROW! It´s strange to think that the next to years of my life are still such a mystery--Even though I´ve been in country almost 3 months, most of the people I´ll meet and become close with, the places I´ll get to know like the back of my hand, are still a big question mark.

Today was my fellow trainee Adrian´s birthday, and we just had a very nice dinner for him followed by dancing and lots of laughter. We realize that we´ll only be in Xenacoj a few more short weeks, and will be saying goodbye to our new families with mixed emotions. Tomorrow we´re all going on a long weekend vacation to Esquipulas with our families--more details to come.

This afternoon we did a ¨Taller¨ a ¨Workshop¨ for Joel and Cesár, the 2 teachers at the school in San Antonio that we´ve been working with the last 2 months. After cooking them a lunch of cheese empanadas from scratch, we did a variety of activities, such as activities and discussions designed to identify goals and ideas on how to improve the school, as well as information on educational methodology, the participatory learning cycle, etc. I led a discussion about classroom management and different learning styles. We were a bit nervous beforehand, especially since we did the planning a bit last minute, but everything seemed to really go well, and our technical trainer Carlos told us we did an excellent job. It made us realize that we actually have learned alot and that we may just make it here after all!

The only major recent event was my trip last week to visit Katie, a Healthy Schools volunteer in Huehuetanango, a highland province in the Northwest of Guatemala right below the Mexican border. I had a wonderful 3 days. The over 5 hour bus ride was beautiful and actually enjoyable, and I realized that sitting on busses for hours on end no longer seems to phase me in the slightest. The first morning we hiked 2 and a half hours up a mountain to one of Katie´s schools.
It was tiring but gorgeous--from the top we could see 5 of Guatemala´s over 30 volcanos, all spread out across the sweeping landscape. Distant volcán de fuego (which is visible from here in Xenacoj from another angle) was puffing smoke at frequent intervals. The most interesting thing I learned was the fact that at the 3 schools Katie works in, all different places on the same mountain, they speak 3 different indigenous languages! While I would love the opportunity to learn one indigenous language, I think 3 may be a bit much. I really enjoyed seeing a different part of Guatemala I hadn´t visited before, and was relieved to visit a volunteer in a more isolated site that seems to have adjusted successfully. I loved Katie´s house halfway up a hill at the foot of the mountain, especially the hammock hung in front of her front door. As much as I´m coming to appreciate Guatemalan food, I was in absolute heaven to get some comfort food home-cooked by an American... Cheese sandwiches, Spagetti with fresh tomato sauce, different types of tea, and trader Joe´s dark chocolate, YUM!