Feeling HOT HOT HOT

I met my counterpart on Weds to the laughter of many of my closest friends because we won the award of volunteer/counter look alike. He is in his early 40´s and is a licensed architect. I really liked him from the start and believe that we will have a very productive two years together.

We embarked on our journey of 4.5 hours and left the training center in his 1985 Nissan as he asked me
Andrés, que tipo de música le gusta.¨ Drew what music do you like
¨Todos tipos.¨ Any kind

We then proceeded to travel through this beautiful country listening to some type of Rancho music when I in fact learned that I do not like all types of music. He then told me that he had some CDs in English. I had no idea what to expect when he put in the CD and I jammed with him to the song of ¨I’m every woman¨ by Whitney Houston. We were about an hour from my site when he put in the other English CD and it was the Beatles greatest hits. We rolled into town as I sang ¨We all live in a Yellow Submarine.¨

As I stepped outside my breath was taken away by how hot it is here. Holy cow!!! I am not complaining because you all know how much I hate winter but holy Jesus is it ever hot here.

All of my future co-workers are truly wonderful people and were all very accepting of me. I helped out during the morning at the city Health Center putting up signs about how to stay Abstinent and prevent AIDS. I also got to go to the children’s center and play with some of the sick kids which was really special for me.

After work I was invited to a City council meeting. Many of the people in this town are real characters. It is almost like dying and going back to the 1800´s with some of the guys in Cowboy hats, riding on horses, and having their pistols holstered on each side. The mayor of the town gave a welcome speech for me and said it was a true honor to have me here as the group gave me a nice applause. I then stood up and thanked them for this opportunity and told them how excited I was to work here and live in their community.

At 1:00 today I go to meet my future landlord and I am praying that I have a decent house to live in for two years. Really hard for me to miss HOBO days today but there will be more in the future.

Take care and thanks for all of your comments,

Drewski

Mini Craig D

Today is a very big day here at the center. Our counterparts are coming from across this beautiful country to meet all of us. As I got ready today and put on my dress clothes, did my hair, and brushed my teeth I looked in the mirror. Who did I see standing there? Craig D Anderson. I havn't shaved my Mustache for about four weeks and it is scary how much I look like my dad.

I found out my site and I don't think I can give you the exact location but...

I am in the east of the country close to the border of Honduras. It is really exciting for me and tomorrow I go to my site to meet the mayor and my future coworkers for two years. Should be interesting. I got to read the end of service report of the volunteer that served in my city from 2003 to 2005. He said "This place is hot. Absurdly hot. If you don't like heat you will not like it here." Should be a nice change from the arctic zone of South Daktoa.

Take care,

Andres

Mini Craig D

Today is a very big day here at the center. Our counterparts are coming from across this beautiful country to meet all of us. As I got ready today and put on my dress clothes, did my hair, and brushed my teeth I looked in the mirror. Who did I see standing there? Craig D Anderson. I havn't shaved my Mustache for about four weeks and it is scary how much I look like my dad.

I found out my site and I don't think I can give you the exact location but...

I am in the east of the country close to the border of Honduras. It is really exciting for me and tomorrow I go to my site to meet the mayor and my future coworkers for two years. Should be interesting. I got to read the end of service report of the volunteer that served in my city from 2003 to 2005. He said "This place is hot. Absurdly hot. If you don't like heat you will not like it here." Should be a nice change from the arctic zone of South Daktoa.

Take care,

Andres

I need Dr. Klozenbucher to put some dogs to sleep!!!

Last night was really interesting. I went with Julia to the championship of youth "Papifut" Papifut is Futbol but in an enclosed space with a fence around the court. I guess you could call it Arena Soccer. The kids that were playing were only 12 years old and you should of heard the fans. It was unbelieveable how hard the fans were riding the young kids, all I could think is how much I would be crying. There was easily 15 times as many people at this youth soccer match than compared to my basketball games.

I am getting pretty excited for the next couple of weeks. The staff is currently deciding where to send all of us for the next two years of our lives. I am kind of hoping for the eastern part of the country. I think I could spend two years of my life near the eastern coast which has a carribean vibe much different from the indigenous communitites here in the mountains.

All was going well until the other night. I was going to visit my frined Meghan and work on some spanish homework when a couple of dogs started barking at me. In case you didn’t know the streets of Guate a filled with “Chuchos” which are random street dogs who find it necessary to strategicly deficate in places where I am destined to step. Anyway three of them started barking like crazy so I did the volunteer defense mechanism and faked like I was going to kick them, suddenly before I knew it five more came from around the corner. So there I was on a dark street of Guate surrounded by 8 dogs. As they got closer and closer I picked up a giant rock and clobbered one in the head. They scattered breifly but then returned, luckily my Mom saw this and yelled at all of them for me. This was the first time I was scared and really wanted my 22 rifle to take care of business. Maybe I should just walk the streets with cheese burgers to create a diversion.

Take care,

Drewski

The classic Guate friends and photos

These are my three closest friends here in Guate. (right to left) Meghan from Nueva York, Liam from Idaho, and Jacob from Nashville.








So you all heard the classic Guate story. Here is the classic Guate photo. We had STD day in our medical class and for fun acted out the steps of putting on a condom. I was lucky enough to draw ERECTION and then have Meghan snap this picture of me.

Got to keep you hanging

One of our trainers filled me with pride the other day. She just doesn’t understand why people would leave a place where most Guatemalans dream of going to and sometimes even die trying to get there in order to come to here country and work for two years. I gave my family here a bunch of gifts and my family sent me. They told me how much they missed me last week while I was gone in Huehuetenango and I really missed them also. No funny bathroom stories this week but that can always change. Feeling much better and healthy!!! After my game yesterday (which we won) I met a nice looking Guatemalan girl…

Take care,


Andrés