New Year … New Beginnings (Part II)

The title of this post could not be any truer. And with new beginnings means a lot of changes. The next day after I received the email from Peace Corps Guatemala (PC/G), I went to talk to my counterpart and tell him that we have to cancel the meetings for next week. Well I told him I had a meeting and couldn’t be there. He stated that we could just reschedule for the following week, and I said well that’s a great idea, but let’s just cancel it for now and we can find a date to reschedule the meetings after I get back. So he was immediately alarmed because there had been a lot in the news about PC/G closing. But I told him not to be alarmed just yet, and that I would keep him posted on what was discussed after the meeting.

As soon as I left talking to my counterpart, I got a call from my PCVL or volunteer leader for my program and department. She said, “Hey Shantrice, … I was calling to see if you had heard that San Marcos is NOT included in Central Western Highlands.” And I responded, “Well didn’t you want to call me with some good news.” But good news was far from the picture. The call caught me completely off guard. I was devastated; tears even fell down my face. She explained that she was calling because she did not want us to find out in the meeting the following week. And to be perfectly honest, I am so glad she did. However, she comforted me by stating that our APCD or my boss over my specific program has been working hard to come up with possible sites if they do decide to close my department, which is San Marcos. I stated well that’s a relief. I’m glad to know he is so on top of things. I took the news a lot better than I expected. I remember the day before when I received the email, I stated very firmly that if they make me leave San Marcos, I am going home… I can’t leave my family and all the awesome work I’m  doing. I was very adamant…. But the next day, when there was no more speculation and it was more of a fact… I suddenly had a different perspective and was much more flexible than I knew I could be. I knew that me leaving does not help the people of Guatemala, and that’s why I‘m here!

Thankfully, I had a dear friend call me from Africa to distract me from all of the drama, confusion, questions, and anxiety in my life. However, while conversing with him, I was informed (through text msg and a call) by PC/G that I was being evacuated from my department for the weekend due to issues with drug traffickers and the police. Well let’s just say, that is one clue that my behind should not be in San Marcos… but  in my town… all is well. My family is amazing and take care of me better than I take care of myself. And my town is really calm, barely nothing happens there. But anyway, so I had a few hours to pack my stuff and get to the nearest big city, Xela, through the weekend and until the conference started.

The weekend was long, but good. It was long because I spent 3 days in a hotel full of Volunteers with all the same feelings. By the 2 nd day, I wanted to jump off a building… not really… but it was just too overwhelming.. I mean that’s ALL we talked about; what may or may not happen in this meeting, why we were here and where we were going. By the time the meeting got here, I was just exhausted about it all and ready for it to be over. However, the good part about all that time is that I had the opportunity to think about what I really wanted. And I realized that I wasn’t ready to leave Guatemala. I came here with the mindset of being here for 2 years. The fact that I would be offered all the benefits as if I had completed 2 years was appealing, I’m not going to lie… but it just wasn’t my time to go. So, I went into the meeting with a positive attitude, ready to hear the facts right from the decision makers. Our regional director flew in from Washington and some other support people were there to help us with the news and help us make the transitions we decided to make. Basically, they started right out with we are unsafe in this country (being that we are in the upper Central American triangle). They made the decision to pull all the volunteers out of Honduras and were reducing Volunteer numbers in El Salvador and here in Guatemala. Right now we have about 230 volunteers and they want, by the end of all these changes 100- 120 volunteers left in country. They spoke about a lot of the security data and how necessary it is to make these changes right now. I was shocked, I mean, I knew I feared riding buses (due to a number of my friends being robbed by gun point) but that was all that I was concerned about. Not to make this blog post any longer, I’ll just say we all had an “aha” moment by the end of the conference. We were not happy about the news, but we understood the situation and that there wasn’t any other option.

My program met, and we discussed all of the issues the group ahead of me was going to face, being that they were being forced to leave 4 months earlier than expected. The biggest problem is that they had already promised their communities projects (such as latrines, improved stoves and cement floors) and now they couldn’t even turn in their grant applications. Thus, another reason why I should stay. I, along with the rest of my group who are being forced to leave our communities, will be moved to the communities where the group ahead of us was. We had a lot of discussions, a lot of tears were shed, and a lot of words were said. I was surprisingly quiet through it all. I realized where my stance was, I was upset, definitely… but there was nothing I could do to change the situation. So I accepted it and let my boss know that I was not leaving Guatemala and that he should continue looking for me a new site. Only a few people from my group decided to leave, which was great. I was excited that we wouldn’t be losing a lot of people before our time, especially since there were so many people leaving from the other programs. And by the end of the meeting, my boss met with us again to let us know where our new sites would be. I was told that I was moving to El Quiche, which is 7 and half hours from my current site. OMG, almost 8 hours to visit my family!!!  I´ll tell you more about my new site in the next post. However, I was not happy to go back to my community and give them the bad news. It was very overwhelming and sad as well. I made promises to my community as well. I promised that I would be there for them for 2 years to work with them to improve their health habits and do other necessary projects. Now I had to tell them, well actually, I won’t be here for 2 years, and really, I won’t be here for another 2 weeks. 

The following week after the conference, I told the people that I could and packed my belongings. Within a week of finding out my site, I was on a bus for a site visit and to figure out my living situation.  I was completely overwhelmed by my new site. It´s HUGE, as compared to where I am now. For instance, my current community in San Marcos has about 5,500 people and 8 aldeas or smaller surrounding communities, this new community has 36 aldeas and around 12,000 people… OMG… and huge difference…  Also, the big thing that hit me during my site visit is that I will be leaving completely on my own. I mean, I will have a host family but I will be cooking for myself and I probably won´t have a lot of interaction with them, like I currently have with my host-family… I was devastated. I grew to love the life I was living in San Marcos, and in El Quiche, it would be a completely different life and PC service… I really didn´t think I could do it… I cried some more. I called one of my close friends here and let her know how I was feeling. She was very supportive and explained that my feelings are normal at this point… being that I really haven´t dealt with all of the changes that has come our way, just took in stride (as compared to other Volunteers) … and shockingly was doing a site visit the following week after getting the news… it was a lot and I needed to give myself time to understand it all. She told me I wasn´t in the right frame of mind to make the decision that I couldn´t do this move and that I couldn´t stay in Guatemala. I told her she was right…I needed a break from it all… which is hard to do in this country because all the volunteers are talking about is this big change! However, my APCD (program boss) wanted me to take Spanish classes for a week, being that I was in transition to a new site. I definitely followed his advice and took a week of lessons. It was a mental break, definitely. I had the opportunity to not think about my situation and of course think a lot about my situation. I decided that I would give this new site a chance. I wasn´t really excited about the new site because the volunteer that I was replacing did not receive a lot of support from her counterpart and the rest of the people in the health center, and I received a lot of support (for the most part) from my counterpart… and especially my host-family!

Well, this has been a very long post and it was well over due. So sorry for the delay… but as you can imagine, I´ve been busy adjusting to all of these changes and getting myself together, mentally for the most part. However, what you should know is that I definitely decided to stay in Guatemala… I´m not finished here and Guatemala isn´t finished with me!

Love and miss you lots!

New Year … New Beginnings (Part I)

Well this year has definitely started off interesting. As it should, being that this is my first full year in country. I actually brought the year in with my Soror Keisha, in Livingston (my favorite vacation spot thus far)! It was very exciting. We talked about all the exciting things this year was going to bring us. And how excited we are that PC brought us together! I am very thankful that I have my Sorors here to share this experience with me.

However, on the 2^nd, I was back on a camioneta headed to site… or to the real world. I had a very big meeting scheduled for the 4^th with all of the teachers in my town to discuss the 2 programs I will be starting this year. One program is a series of workshops just for the teachers (i.e. working in a team, being a leader, and even domestic violence). The other program is a Youth Promoter group for the schools. The teachers will select 5 students to represent 8 of my communities and I will meet with the group monthly to teach them different health topics so that they can share the information with their schools and community. It seems to be a promising project. So let´s just say I´m VERY excited about these programs.

But of course, everything doesn´t always goes as planned. I got back to site, after a wonderful vacation. Refreshed and ready to get some great work done for my community! Really feeling like a PCV! With the meeting scheduled on the 4^th and being on vacation, I gave my counterpart the program plans for him to review so that I could hand them out during the meeting. Well of course I came back and he had not even looked at the plans to make any edits. And on the 4^th, he was not even there to attend the meeting with me. I was like Great… this is not how I wanted to start the year. But I made the best of it, I talked with someone else to make any necessary edits and went to the meeting by myself. I still have a lot of confidence issues with my Spanish, so I prefer not to attend important meetings alone, but at some point I need to grow up… right? Well the meeting went well. The teachers were very excited about the programs and eager to work with me, as I am with them.

The next few days I spent in my house, mostly in my bed, as I was in protest against seeing my counterpart. Lol … I was so angry that he completely stood me up and wasn´t there for me when I thought I needed him. So, I took a few days to calm down and get over it. I talked with my PCVL (Peace Corps Volunteer Leader) and she reminded me that this is Guatemala and that we cannot depend on our counterparts for everything. But we can demand that they be up front with us and at least let us know when they won´t be available to us.

Thus, when I finally saw him again, I was much calmer. I let him know that I was upset he was not present, but the meeting was a success. He told me he heard the same and that the teachers were excited about the program. They were hopeful that they would get a lot out of it, for their personal development. So that was a good thing. We then worked together to create a data set for me to enter all of my census data I collected last October in one of my communities. I will use this data to start my primary project to invite needy families to receive monthly health talks. The families that are really interested in the talks and improving their health habits will be those that I work with to implement my projects (i.e. build improved stoves, floors, latrines or drainage systems). I am excited that I have data to make decisions off of, however I DESPISE entering data… it is Sooooo boring! Lol But I got it done. And thankfully for me, I have lots of missing data. So, my counterpart and I will have to go back into this community and un-do a lot of the errors my team made last year. But that´s ok, it means more face time in my community, which is always a good thing!

So, this brings us to the week of Jan. 16^th. I had a few small meetings. I met with the women´s office in my Muni to discuss my women´s group meetings for this year and with the supervisor of the schools to discuss the first meetings of the programs. I also began to prepare my meetings for this week, with my Health Promoters (theme: Usage of purified water) and with the Teachers (working in a team and being a leader). Preparing for these meetings always makes me nervous. I´m not sure why, maybe it’s the Spanish or just the fact that I´m talking about things that I´m not an expert in… but yeah, I definitely procrastinate when it comes to getting my meetings together.

However, in the midst of preparing for these meetings, I received a very important email from Peace Corps Guatemala. This was my week that I didn´t have internet, so I had my friend read the email to me. It was definitely VERY important and upset me in a number of ways. First, the email stated that they were scaling back the post here in Guatemala. We were reminded that no new training groups would be sent this entire year. That the next 2 COS-ing groups (Close of service) would be leaving early so that the number of volunteers could decrease. That they are offering Early COS to any volunteer, regardless of how long they had been in country. That they were only going to have volunteers in the Central Western Highlands. Finally, that we would be having an All Volunteer Conference the following week (3 days, Tuesday – Thursday). Obviously, this caused a lot of anxiety. For one, I had to cancel my two meetings that I had scheduled for the following week (so maybe it was good that I procrastinated and not finished my lesson plans). Secondly, I wondered- what exactly is Central Western Highlands? The thought of having to move caused me great anxiety and confusion. Where had this email come from? What is really going on in Guatemala?

Well, stay tuned for blog post Part II as I answer these questions and discuss the All Volunteer Conference.

What am I really doing?

I remember being so excited once I received my nomination, especially once I found out what I would be doing … and I’m happy to say the description I received was not far off!

So I was recently asked about my day to day activities, which inspired this post…

Well my life is a lot busier than I had anticipated. If you remember my schedule while working at CDC, I would wake up at 4 in the morning to be out the door by 5:20 so that I could catch my vanpool for work. I’d be at work (mostly sitting at a computer all day or in meetings) until about 3:30pm and then off to either the gym or to hang out with friends… I was also doing a lot of traveling shortly before I left. Thus, by the time I got to Guatemala, my body was physically exhausted! But my mind was rejuvenated… for the possibilities that were ahead of me.

I am happy to say that all though I have not slowed down one bit, I am still very excited and rejuvenated in my spirit. It’s funny because once we made it through training, I promised my fellow volunteers that I would be the one relaxing for months at a time… well let’s just say I STILL have not taken a break! Lol

I spend most of my time in my Puesto (health center) interacting with the nurses or planning charlas (health talks I give to the community). I’m usually at my Puesto by 8:30. If I have a charla scheduled for that morning, I am usually out the door at 9 for a ride to my community or I leave at 8 if I have to walk. I also have monthly meetings or trainings with my Health Promoters as well as the Comadronas (women that deliver babies) two weeks apart from each other. So I try to spend a week prepping for those meetings.  On days that I don’t have charlas or meetings in the morning I just work in the Puesto. I usually always have a 2 hour lunch break, except for the days that I have women’s group meetings in my community. I have to walk to those so I’ll eat lunch at 1:30 and be out the door at 2 so I can make it to the community by 3. That’s my schedule for about half the month. The other half of the month entails me hanging out at the Puesto in the morning and taking the afternoon to relax or spend time with the host-fam. We usually get a lot of visitors to our house or we are always going somewhere and they always invite me! And as my motto is to say Yes 10x the amount of times that I say No… I’m always with them! That is basically how I spend my time, giving charlas in the communities or in the schools, planning charlas, in meetings, or spending time with the host fam! I have been super busy…busier than I had hoped I’d hoped I would be… But it’s all good.

Lucky for me, my 2012 is planned to be even busier!

•           On top of my charlas and the monthly meeting with my Health Promoters and Comadronas, I have added monthly meetings for Youth Promoters. I’m starting a new program where I will be training youth promoters to work in the schools. There are 18 schools in my town and I cannot be in all of them giving health talks. Thus, I met with the director of my school district and we came up with a 10 month training program. I will meet with 40 students (a team of 5 students from all 8 communities) and teach them a health topic and how to deliver it to their peers. They will then spend the next few weeks giving charlas in their schools. Should be exciting! 
•       My women’s group meetings will continue, but instead of only going to 2 communities, I will be working with all 8. I think I would prefer to just work in the 2 I’ve been working in, but it’s hard to say no…especially when you are trying to build a partnership. We shall see how things pan out. We may plan to work in all 8 but who knows what will happen. I know I will definitely be working in the 2 we are currently working in…so that’s awesome. In these meetings I have talked about Nutrition for the family, Domestic Violence, and Family Planning. The topics I plan to talk about next year ranges from Healthy Hygiene, Respiratory Infections, to HIV/Aids.
•          I will also be working with the Teachers of all the schools. I will have 2 meetings on the same topic (50 teachers in both meetings) every 2 months. The director was so excited about what I was doing with the students that he wanted me to also work with the teachers. But every 2 months is not too hard to manage! It should be really exciting. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.

-          Also, I will be working with the Women’s office of my town to not only work with women’s groups but to also start youth groups in every community. This is really exciting because the youth here have no opportunities for things to do outside of school. The young girls go home and take care of their siblings and help with house hold chores and the young men help their dad’s work or hang out with their friends. I’m looking forward to meeting with them and giving them other options than what they have been doing. I hope to inspire their thoughts about their future…hopefully reduce some teen pregnancy along the way!

All that I have mentioned has a lot to do with my program, but more indirectly than directly. My program is called Healthy Homes and my priorities are to work in the communities to educate families about their habits, hopefully encouraging healthier habits and improve the way they are currently living. Working with women’s groups definitely is part of this but it doesn’t get to the heart of it. Thus, I’m planning to start a project, titled Hogares Saludables de Rio Blanco, or White River Healthy Homes. In this program we will invite all of the needy families from the 2 communities with most need to participate. I plan to work with my Health Promoters to give bi-weekly charlas to the community members in the program. I have to plan it out but I’m thinking we will work with them for 5-6 months to improve their habits. This will include them coming to the meetings as well as us doing house visits. Once we have talked them to death, and hopefully they have begun to change their habits … I will start my PROJECTS!!!! This means I will work with the community to get funding to give each member of the program an improved stove, a cement floor, or a latrine. This shall be the grand finale of my program and my service. I plan to start projects at the beginning of 2013. So that should be exciting! Hopefully everything goes as planned… we shall see!

Well I think this is enough for now... I hope I’ve given you a great snapshot of my work life here in the Peace Corps. It’s definitely as exciting as I thought it would be… but definitely more tiring than I thought it would be. I always heard stories of Peace Corps Volunteers relaxing, reading 50 books in their service and finding themselves along the way. Well for me, my 2^nd week in site, I was giving reproductive health charlas in the schools. The only unfortunate part of me being so busy is that I haven’t spent as much time on my Spanish as I would like. However, that is definitely one of my plans for the following year. My goal is to be Fluent, and I will be!!! If everything goes as planned… Pray for my endurance, strength and courage to stay focused and see the change my community needs!

Thanks for reading and enjoy some pictures of some of the things I’ve listed above…

 Health Promoter Meeting: How to give a good Charla..

Same Health Promoter meeting... Love my Posters! lol

World AIDS Day: Went through the town handing out material and talking to people about HIV/AIDS.

Giving a HIV/AIDS charla in one of the schools with one of my nurses.

Monthly meeting with my Comadronas: Danger Signs of a Pregnancy- Before, During, and After.

Women's Group meeting: Family Planning

Doing House Visits with one my Health Promoters.

Doing a Census of one of my communities with my Health Center Staff.

1st Thanksgiving from home....

So I apologize that this blog is looking like a monthly post... I just had a very busy November traveling. Let me tell you about it! 

October marked 3 months that we have been in our sites so in the beginning of November my training group got together for Reconnect. We spent a week back in the Peace Corps Guatemala office talking about our 1^st three months and also learning more Spanish. I was asked by another volunteer how it felt to be back in the office… I smiled and said “Like being back at home!” It’s interesting how much of an impact the office had on me. But also, I was coming in the office as a Volunteer, and not as a Trainee, so I felt a sense of ownership, like I belong! It was a great feeling!

I heard a lot about what Reconnect is “about” from older volunteers and how they compared themselves to each other and it wasn’t a pleasant experience for them. However, my Reconnect experience was fabulous. Other than a sense of pride for where I was, it was sooo great to see everyone from my training group (I’m not big on reunions, so I was pleasantly surprised on how good it was to see everyone). But for me, the most fabulous part was the time we spent discussing our first three months, what we’ve experienced and overcome. I was happy to hear all the wonderful things people were doing in their sites and took notes on some things I could do as well. I guess for me, I went in to Reconnect knowing that I am doing everything I possibly can in my site and that comparing myself to what other volunteers was doing, wasn’t where my head was. I wanted ideas on things I could do in the future or ways to improve my Promoter groups. And I got exactly just what I wanted.

After 2 days of getting additional training, we spent 3 days learning more Spanish. I’m not sure why this Spanish session was different for me, well maybe because I’ve been spending so much time speaking and I had questions and things I wanted to learn. So I was really excited about my session and the things I learned. I realized that there is soooo much I need to learn and how far I am from being fluent, which is my ultimate goal. I’ve made a goal to really spend time studying and perfecting my speech. I feel confident that I can achieve my goal because I have an awesome host-family that helps me and some other people I can practice my Spanish with. God has definitely blessed me in so many ways. I am very Thankful!

So, after Reconnect, I spent another week traveling and having a mini-vacation (I say “mini” because it seems that when volunteers take vacations it’s for weeks at a time, lol). But first, I went to a place called Monterrico, where I had my first Guatemalan beach experience. It was very interesting. The beaches there are black sand beaches because the sand is made from volcanic ash over the years. You could definitely feel it too, its hard under your feet, almost like walking on glass. But it was absolutely beautiful. Gorgeous. We went because they had a Sea Turtle exhibition, in which they released baby sea turtles into the ocean. That was really fun and different. I’m glad I have different types of friends because I probably wouldn’t have done that had someone else not had the idea first. And of course, my motto here is to say yes much much more than I say no… I’m here, I might as well do all that I can, especially the things I wouldn’t normally do in the States. And I am glad I did.

Monterrico was just one night. The next few days we went to one of my close volunteer friends’ house, who is also a Soror, and had a roof top barbecue! We had so much fun, ate really good and just relaxed and enjoyed each other’s company. It was really good to be out of site and enjoying the company of my friends. We also did a little volunteer talk, so I got some pointers as to what I need to do as I fulfill my service (having been one of the newest volunteers). So that was great.

However, the absolute best part of my vacation was I trip to Livingston. After the rooftop barbecue, we got up super early and started our half-day travel to Rio Dulce/Livingston. We spent one night in Rio Dulce, which is gorgeous as well and then traveled to Livingston. Livingston is not like any other place in Guatemala. It spoke to me because Livingston is where the Afro-Caribbean Guatemalans live. They look exactly like me and other African Americans, except their Guatemalans that speak Garifuna (their own language, in which they are named) and Spanish. It was awesome getting to know them, walking around their town, and seeing the struggles they have, much like those African Americans suffer in the states. I was amazed, puzzled, and overjoyed all at the same time. I met some wonderful people and had the time of my life. I can honestly say that since I’ve been in Guatemala, I have not had as good of a time as I did there. And it wasn’t just the partying, it was the conversing, the hanging out, the relaxing … all of it was awesome and just what I needed. I actually was sad to go… but had to get back to my site and get some work done. I’m glad I had such a great time because I felt ready to work, especially since I had been away from site for 2 weeks, it was time to get back to work.

Speaking of being away from site for 2 weeks, I must comment that my awesome host-family missed me a lot! I loved the fact that my host- mom would call me every now and then and check on me to make sure I was doing ok. Also talked to one of my host sisters and my host-mom’s dad. One time they called me and everyone said hello to me, I guess I was on speaker phone. And I missed them as well. It’s great that I can say I have a great relationship with them. I can imagine how it will be when my service is up… but I’ll deal with that when that time comes!

I guess that is all for now… Thanks for reading!!! 

A few pictures from my vacation!

Sunset in Monterrico, Pacific Ocean.

Black sand beach!

Sea Turtle!!!

Beautiful waterfall in Rio Dulce

View of the Caribbean Sea from Livingston.

House Visits....

Soooo I have a love/hate relationship with House Visits! Let me tell you all about it... lol

So the last month has been very busy for me, actually, my life/work here is starting to pick up. I have been working with the O.M.M (or Women's office with the Mayor) to host bi-weekly women's groups in 2 of my aldeas. Also, I have been giving lots of charlas (health talks) in the community. You know, things I am here to do. Finally it seems that people know what I am here for (well a lot of people, but definitely not all). I am really starting to get to know my community and let them get to know me.

One of the best ways to get to know my community is through house visits. And thus, in the last few weeks of house visits, I've developed a love/hate relationship....

I LOVE getting to meet new people. It's great to tell people why I am here and that I'm here to help their community over the next 2 years. I like seeing the confusion on people's face when I walk up to their homes (not alone of course, I go with leaders in the community) and then the relaxation once I tell them my purpose for being there! It's great...

I HATE being ignored, mostly by the kids, but some adults too... I mean how hard is it to say Buenos Dias back, not hard.. B-u-e-n-o-s D-i-a-s... Seee you can do it too! Anyway, that drives me absolutely crazy, I don't know why, but it does!

I LOVE the scenery... my town is absolutely amazing, and while I'm hiking up and down the western highlands of my town, I can look across and see lots of other mountains filled with towns! Its great!!!

I HATE being barked at and chased by dogs... oh my goodness, these dogs are relentless! They decide they don't want you on their property and that's a wrap! This one time I was walking, which is very hard to do, but that will be my next hate...and this dog came up behind me and scared the crap out of me barking...my life literally flashed before my eyes! I for sure thought he had bitten a chunk of my leg off...it was really scary..so scary that I almost fell back on this pig pen...well I did, but the lamina on top stopped me, thank God! Ohh...I have got to do something about those dogs!

I LOVE getting my work done....!?!?!?

I HATE the walking paths...I don't know how they do it here...and they don't even wear secure shoes...here I am with boots and the whole nine and I'm slipping and sliding everywhere. For one, most of my walking path is dirt as there is not a lot of paved roads here. And, being that we are in the rainy season, most of my walking path is mud! Not fun at all...I've decided that it has to be the fact that my feet are so big that its hard for me to walk..that's the only explanation there could be..You definitely have to experience it to understand! Imagine walking down and up muddy hills with a short (width wise) walk way, and to your side is a long drop off... not fun right... kinda scary actually, but hey, it's Peace Corps right?

I suppose you have a pretty good idea of my love/hate relationship with House Visits... the ultimate part is that here we have people that are so nice, they love to offer you a snack or lemonade or something for your trouble! I think its wonderful how hospitable some people can be here...even if they barely have, they are willing to offer something for their visitors! Well, that part i LOVE about them... however, what i HATE is that that same snack can lead to my next bout of parasites and I'm scared every time I take a sip or a bite of something that was offered to me... However, I wouldn't dare say No! That's the ultimate sign of disrespect and will definitely make me integrating into the community much harder! So...I eat, and I drink, and pray that this isn't contaminated! lol... but as I said before, Hey, this is Peace Corps right? and that I LOVE!!!!