Day 2

I am in bed at my new host family's home and can name a few reasons I know I am no longer in America...I hear dogs barking non-stop, a telenovela echoing in the house and some claw-like squeaky animal crawling on the tin roof. My surrounding walls are cement with seafoam green paint and I just killed a crunchy quarter sized bug on the floor. My shirt is tucked into my pants and my pants are tucked into my socks to avoid potential bed bugs. Cute huh?!?

I also know this is foreign land when I look outside and see rows of bright green lettuce, milpas (corn fields) and beautiful volcanoes in the near distance. And, earlier today when we were trekking to meet our host families, the cobblestone streets were filled with barefoot kids playing soccer, women laughing outside the tiendas and a group of little girls practicing some self-choreographed dance/song act. The town was alive and the entertainment was organic (no x-boxes or computerized pass times).

 My 3 week adventure so far feels a lot like Peace Corps again and the Entrepreneur Corps experience provides everything from Spanish classes, home stays, cultural training, development work and of course, the touristy excursions on occasion. I must admit, I wasn't quite prepared for this level of intensity again and envisioned my trip being a bit more like a vacation (I should have known better considering I am getting 6 class credits!) Four hours a day of Spanish, riding a chicken bus and a complete lack of control over everything however is far from a vacation. Tomorrow my spanish teacher and I are going to the market since my spanish level doesn't require verb conjugation classes but rather just proactive brushing up on vocab and grammatical details. I am looking forward to exploring since my patience with school-like settings is limited after finals.


Yet, despite all of the challenges that come along with total immersion and the developing world, I am happy to be here and I know great things are going to come from this trip. I just need a day or two to get adjusted again and then I will let the journey will begin.
Well, I gotta get some sleep! After a full day, I worked for an hour on homework with my 8 year old host brother Javier and my host mom Lesley took me to her uncle's house located on a lettuce plantation. From the looks of the huge house- lettuce must be profitable?!?


Buenas noches!!