Going Strong

Well, Monday we went to Lake Amatitlán and saw the envio problems there...trash from all the roads in the area flows there so the eutrifiction rate has increased so that they expect the lake to become a swamp in 20-25 yrs, intead of a few hundred...and al the runoff from farm causes the algae groth to cover the rntire shore, and not to mention the lake is part of the watershed of Gaute (capital). Kinda depressing, but that's part of what I'm here for....

Ok, got to go to class.... later..

Guate is Great

Guatemala is awesome. I can see why some other blogs I've read were so long; there's so much to talk about.

Orientation in DC was fun. Everybody was able connect really quick so it made the 2 days fly by. We had to leave the hotel at 4am the day we left for Guate, which made the day very long, but when we got here it was pretty cool. From the training center we can see Volcan de Agua and Fuego. Spanish lessons aren't too overwhelming yet, and there's a ot of other stuff to talk about, like health and safety, culture and some b.s. too.

I love the familia I am staying with. There are 4 kids, and the youngest has already drawn me pictures of Piglet and SpongeBob. We've played kickball in the streets at night with a bunch of neighbothood kids with some interesting rules that I have yet to understand and there are dogs everywhere. Mi madre cooks all of my meals and the eldest son, who turns 15 on Jan. 15, brings my lunch to me at the training center. The 2 middle age kids are fun too, they loved the kickball also.

Don't want to bore you with too much writing, I'll leave it gonig piece by piece, some things won't change too much. Keep in touch-

and....I'm off

Well, first let me say thanks. Those of you who put in the effort to send a little contribution to Beth's project really made my day. I always knew I had great friends and relatives and you all just proved me right. It looks great, so many thanks to Beth as well.

Anyways, enough with the sappy stuff. I'm off in less than 18 hours for DC, and I don't know when I'll be able to wirte another entry. I'll be there for two nights, and on the morning after the second night I leave the hotel for Guatemala (I'll be calling it Guate mainly from now on....[Gwa-tay]). I'll live for 3 months doing language, cultural, technical, etc. training and then I'll be assigned to a community doing my actual assignment. Should be pretty cool.

I'll be updating my blog when I can and be posting pics too. I'll be doing my part, so I want to know what you are all up to as well. Leave a note or something, make a mark on the map, send an email...or packages that'll probably take a month to get to me maybe. I'll give an address later.

I won't go on any longer, but thanks for being awesome. See you all soon.

Take care. Love you all.

-adam-

Happy New Year

Happy New Year, everybody. The family here is doing great and so are the friends, and I wish everybody the same for the upcoming year.

Only a little more than a week till I leave for DC and then to Guatemala.... Things are coming along poco a poco, but everything will be set by the 9th. I'm gonna miss all of you, especially Beth (who has always wanted me to mention her here). But I'll be thinking of everybody while I'm away. Anyways, there isn't much interesting to mention now; just wanted to say hello.

Later-