In the thick of it

This is week 7 in Mexico and it’s a little surreal that in 4 weeks I’ll swearing in as an official Peace Corps volunteer and heading out to my future site for 2 years.  We’re in the thick of pre-service training right now which means it’s a bit like finals week back in college, only for more than a week. Some days I feel really good about my Spanish and some days I just stare at people with a confused look as they talk to me.  The two best things about this point of training are all my fellow future volunteers and my host family, because both provide lots of opportunities for good conversations and lots of laughs!

  Last weekend's Festival de Comunidades Extranjeras. This booth was definitely the most entertaining.

   Germany's sausages were extremely popular.

   And then there was the booth for the USA - all the sugary drinks you desire. 

   The USA also had hot dogs and hamburgers, and star wars posters.

   El Salvador

For training this week we went to a small community outside of Querétaro to learn about how they’re working to help reduce soil erosion, capture rainwater and provide jobs for local youth. It was amazing to see these people living in a small, remote community without access to public transportation using a cistern to collect water for their house, collecting greywater for their plants, using solar to heat their bath water from the cistern, composting alongside their house, growing a small garden for food and using a biofiltration system to clean water.  They are doing these things for survival and all I could think about was how in the states it’s often people with money who are the only ones who are able to utilize all of these tools.

 View from the peak of our hike

 Pictures from our community hike. 

Two young people in the community who spent time building trails, terraces, gaviotas and other projects to help protect their local environment took us hiking in their mountains, and then to lunch at a local woman’s house where we enjoyed delicious rice, chicken, beans and homemade popsicles. The landscape was really dry and so, so windy but it felt like a different glimpse of Mexico and I’m always excited to see animals.  I got a little wind-burned and sadly got my first sunburn in Mexico.  Reminder to self: bring sunblock for reapplication every time you leave the house.

 Livestock roaming in the hills. 

 My language teachers Rocio and Quitze. They are the best!

Perfect conditions for a sunburn. 

My host family has become real family and I’m going to be sad to leave them at the end of May. We laugh so much together and they give me hugs when they see I’m having a hard day. And most importantly, they let me sleep in late on the weekends if I need it :)

   Sunset view from my room.

Next week I go to Puebla for a full week to shadow a current volunteer and give a 30-minute training on biodiversity to a large group of university students ALL IN SPANISH.  Fingers crossed that is a successful venture.  And the following Monday I have to give my “Readiness to Serve” presentation which is essentially the culmination of 8 weeks of training and my site visit with my future team in Jalisco, and then I have a language test to hopefully show I’ve improved an appropriate amount to make it in my future community.  Like I said, it’s busy but I still found time today to a) sleep in, b) go to the post office for the first time in 7 weeks (Katie – your letter from week 1 is finally on its way!) and c) go for a walk on my favorite street in Querétaro.  Now, it’s time to get back to work.  Adios!

    Fun art at a local cafe.

 Found the city sign again after it moved to a new location!

 One of my favorite streets.

 Local art.

                                                    Sights in my neighborhood.