First Impressions

Think for a moment, anyone reading this, about a time when you felt totally out of your element and unsure of what the heck you were doing.
That may be a good way to describe these last few days, my first 3 days in Guatemala as a Peace Corps Trainee. Not since my freshman year of college have I felt like such a "newbie."
First, the "staging" or introduction in Washington D.C., then being whisked away to Central America. In D.C. I met the other 31 young Americans in my cohort, and since arrival in country we've been living with host families in a pueblo just east of Antigua en route to Guatemala City. (There are two or three volcanoes due west of us, and the sunsets are absolutely breathtaking between them.) Training has kept us pretty busy every day thus far (although I feel as though I haven't yet been trained in anything - a whole lot of policies, logistics, and "we'll get more into that later, hold onto your question..."), but getting to know the other Trainees has made it pretty enjoyable. And who wouldn't enjoy some 70 degrees-and-sunny weather in January, eh??
The PC/Guatemala staff is generally pretty cool. Today we had our first Spanish lessons, and I can tell I'm going to really enjoy them. Lucky me, based on a short oral interview yesterday with one of the Language Instructors, I was placed in the advanced group, which means we joke a lot in my class of four. I love the individualized learning that such a small class can afford, and Jorge our instructor is a neat guy - really patient, clearly explains things, isn't afraid to tell jokes, challenges us... I'll do everything I can to take advantage of these classes.
Tomorrow we leave these host families, which is a bit of a sad thing. I've been living with two other female trainees, and our host mom Consuelo has been very kind, patient, and flexible with us... she's hosted many PCTrainees before, so knows the ropes. In fact, she took Liz (my current roommate) and me jogging this morning which, for those of you familiar with Guatemala or Latin culture in general, is not a very common pasttime. Apparently she used to run more often before having her sons Roy (11) and Jarol (5). They have been a wonderful family to live with: Jarol loves to play with us, is a jokester, and saved the menegerie of Play-Doh animals we made with him last night to treasure forever, presumably (or at least until he loses patience and squishes them all to make something new in a few days). Roy is reserved, but is cheerful and helpful, and helps with walking us around the town, quite necessary for gringas (white women). Consuelo doesn't take offense at anything we gringas inadvertently do, and allows us to help make meals all the time. I'll be sad to leave them, and hope my host family when I move tomorrow to my community-based training site, a pueblo on the other side of Antigua from here, is as amable (nice, easy to get along with). Still, moving in with a new family, by myself this time, will inevitably lead to feeling out of my element and unsure of what the heck I'm doing. Here we go again...