New Beginnings

On Saturday I officially moved to my new site, Chiché, which is actually only about 30 minutes away from my old site. After about a month and a half of waiting I finally have a new site!! I bought a bed, a stove, and toaster-oven (the essentials…at least for me…must bake chocolate chip cookies…STAT!) and I headed to my new town, and even better, my new HOUSE!!! My new house is HUGE—it has 4 rooms, a sizable courtyard, hot water in my shower and a flushing toalet ( I mean what else could I ask for??!!)

So far I really like my house (though i have had a few mishaps with my door, but my dueño, or landlord is pretty speedy about making repairs…he is probably sick of me from calling him like everyday for some silly repair…but he always does it!) And yes, I have a TON of space, so visitors, both other PCVs and friends from home are all welcome! However, I must warn you I currently have no furnishings…and I don’t plan on making any big purchases except for maybe a few tables and stools…in pure peace corps style, I am going to fashion some makeshift shelves with planks of wood and cement blocks...

Being on my own is great, however, it is weird to finally be on my own—I guess I forgot what it is like to have some privacy! I am a little nervous that I won’t meet people since I am not living with a family, but to be honest, my old host family in Santa Cruz didn’t really help me meet people…so I am sure I will be fine and slowly I will meet people through work and just exploring the town little by little. Anyway, hello freedom and privacy and being a real adult again!!! Woohoo!!!

On Monday I started work at the Municipal Women’s office. My new counterpart seems really enthusiastic, friendly and warm—basically, she is the exact opposite of my old counterpart. She actually wanted to introduce me to all the other offices in the MUNI as well as the police because she said it was important that people know me in the MUNI and community since I will be there for almost 2 years…Not to get too much into my former life in Santa Cruz, but my old counterpart was basically like, “if we don’t work with those people, you don’t need to know them.” (Not really great at networking…!)

As helpful and friendly as my new counterpart is, I still have no idea what I am doing, but I guess this will take time—just like it will take time to meet people and to integrate into my new community. But as they say (way too often) here in Guatemala, POCO A POCO…