Week 1: Sunday, August 27 – Sunday, September 3, 2023

 

¡Hola a todo!

I can’t believe it’s only been 1 week since I left San Diego and only five days since I left the United States. So much has already happened in this first week, and I am already loving every moment of it.

Last Sunday, I arrived in Washington DC for what the Peace Corps calls staging, the first three days of training before leaving the US for our country of service. Our staging took place at the Yours Truly Hotel in the northwest part of DC. The hotel was quite accommodating, and it proved to be a great place to initiate our time in the Peace Corps and to meet everyone in our cohort. In these first few days, we spent time in the hotel conference room learning about the core values of the Peace Corps and ultimately making our decision about whether Peace Corps service is right for us as individuals.

The 2023 Peace Corps Mexico cohort is comprised of 39 volunteers — 20 individuals who are going to be teaching English as a second language in cities around Mexico (TEFL volunteers) and 19 individuals who, like me, are going to be focusing on climate adaptation and action in smaller towns and more rural areas of the country (CCAA volunteers). You’ll be surprised to know that within our cohort, volunteer ages range from 22 to 78! Yes, you read that correctly—78. This just to say, if any of you want to take the leap and spend 2 years in another country, it’s never to late to do so.

On the fourth day of staging (technically), our cohort left DC and headed to BWI airport to begin our journey to Mexico. I say we “technically” left on the fourth day of staging because we left our hotel in DC at the beautiful hour of 1:30am ET on Wednesday, August 30, but do with that information what you will. After arriving at the airport, we spent about 2 hours waiting for the United desk to open so we could check in our bags, and finally, at 3:45am ET, we were able to check our bags, head through security to catch our first flight to Houston on our way down to Querétaro, Mexico.

We arrived in Querétaro around 10:30am MT and made our way in a coach bus to the beautiful Mision La Muralla hotel up in the mountains of the state of Querétaro. We spent three days at this hotel, gaining an introduction to the specifics of Peace Corps Mexico, learning about personal safety from the Peace Corps Mexico security manager, hearing from the Peace Corps Medical Office about staying healthy while in service, and getting an overview of Mexican history and the context for why we are here to serve as Peace Corps Mexico volunteers. The hotel was an excellent place for our group to further bond with each other and recommit to our service as volunteers.

On the third day at Mision La Muralla, we gathered our belongings and drove down to the city of Querétaro, where we were greeted by the wonderful staff at the Peace Corps Mexico offices. In small groups, our first task was to follow our Language and Culture Facilitators (LCFs) around the grounds of the office on a little scavenger hunt so we could become better acquainted with the rooms and areas we will be spending the next 10 weeks training in. My LCF (Lili) led our group with great enthusiasm, asking each of our six group members to read out the clues in Spanish and try to guess which room we were to find next. Our scavenger hunt was followed by a delicious lunch of tacos, followed by our first Spanish language learning class, also taught by Lili.

After this, it was time to meet our host families! My host mother Rubi picked me up at the Peace Corps offices and we walked to her house (suitcase, duffel, and other luggage in toe). Rubi and her husband Francisco have a beautiful home in Querétaro about a 20-minute walk from the Peace Corps offices. They have three children ages 15, 17, and 19 who all live at home and an adorable Chihuahua named Bambi. I already feel like a part of the family, having been fed three delicious meals (not being able to say no to all the delicious foods that have been prepared and purchased for me to try), and spending my free time conversing with the family and improving on my Spanish speaking abilities. 

As I prefaced this email with, this has been a jam-packed week with so many different activities—I seriously can’t believe it’s only been one week so far. But rest assured that I am loving every moment of it. Tomorrow starts our first official week of Pre-Service Training (PST), where we will begin learning about everything Peace Corps, Spanish, climate change and the specific work we will be doing over the next 2 years, and so much more. I can’t wait to share the details of this coming week with you next week.

Thank you all again for being the most supportive family and friends — I feel so lucky to have you all in my life.

All for now, 

Ilana