Dive dive dive! She´s goin deep!

Working on another blog but for this week, I decided to do something a little bit more deep and dramatic. Time to get serious here J. So time for some poetic talk… After spending a few hours on buses this week, had some time to think. At the moment I was thinking of all the little things I miss at home that just don’t fit in care packages. At the same time, I was thinking of all the things that I like about Guatemala and living here. Gonna share some with ya…

What I Miss At Home

- Being around people that understand your personality and sense of humor.
- Being able to go somewhere that you aren’t always being stared at and the ability to be anonymous (the fishbowl effect)
- Being able to find a public restroom! There are occasionally public restrooms but you would have to pay me to use those. You can’t just walk into any store or comedor down here and find a restroom. Pretty tough. And I am not using a tree!
- Being there for my friends and family and going threw life with them. I am missing my sister’s college years, after already being gone for her high school years which I feel bad about. Being away from my family and not seeing them as often as I like for special events. Being away from my friends and not being able to bake cookies, play Scattegories (Yell-a-Gories), going to all the weddings, attempting to go camping and just basically going threw life together. But again, God reminds me that family is a blessing that will always be there to see (if possible) and my friends are wonderful and I am still convinced these are the people that I will be friends with for many years down the road (we just may not always be near each other). We will ONE DAY go camping people!
- Feeling productive… Sometimes I have the thought of “What am I doing here! My life is passing me by back home!” Then I quickly realize that if God wanted me in the US, I would be there. Pretty simple.
- Being able to go to Borders, Starbucks, anywhere! To relax and read a book or just enjoy a cup of chai latte while listening to music. That’s a big one! I want to read somewhere outside my bedroom.
- Being able to travel on your agenda and not when the next bus comes, if it comes.
- Punctual people! There is a thing called the “Guatemalan Hour” which basically means, Guatemalans arrive when they arrive and there isn’t much of a set time for most things. Breath Liv… Breath…..
- The diversity of food and being able to go places that you have the option of eating something healthy or lite like a salad (something not cooked in butter or oil)
- Guys having respect for women…Won’t go into detail but lets just say guys saying “oh! My girlfriend is from here..But my wife is from somewhere else” isn’t that odd.
- FRIENDS and FAMILY! I miss you people like crazy and I can also say that in a better perspective… I am glad the Lord has made the hardest part about Peace Corps the fact that I miss my people back home sooooo much. I could be getting sick a lot, have a site I don’t like, have a job I don’t like, not like beans or tortillas, having a struggle with Spanish, being afraid to live here, have difficult site mates or a variety of other struggles that people go threw in Peace Corps. And I can happily say that I have none of those problems. I am in awe that God has set it up for me here that my only problem is missing the people that are cheering me on back home. Can I get an Amen J

What I Like About Guatemala

- The kids that stare at you in amazement with a deer in the head lights looks and then once you smile or make a funny face at them they melt with laughter
- So…we all know how Olivia loved to express her feelings and hug and what not. Well, Guatemala has something funky in the water here and all of a sudden I am expressing emotions. Woah! I know! I am just as surprised as you. So being here has for whatever reason, we may never know, forced me to get in touch with my sensitive side. Have no fear, this should only last for 2yrs and then I will go back to normal when I get back. Just kidding J
- Being able to get a snack or bottle of water EVERYWHERE you go.
- The excitement of work (sometimes). Everything from helping vaccinate chickens, trying to figure out why the tomatoes aren’t growing bigger, learning how honey is made and how to get it sold, working with people that want to move ahead in life and are willing to ask for help to do it (problem is getting them to do it)
- The food… It may be fried and greasy and repetitive. But you know you are getting use to Guatemala when you go out to breakfast in a big city and you have the option of either waffles or eggs and beans and you actually have a tough decision deciding which one you want.
- Getting excited because some farmer is giving you a handful of tomatoes, eggs or something of the sort as a “Thank you for coming” gift. I really do get excited! Except when I get turnips, ewwwww……..
- It’s GORGEOUS here! Everyday when I go out to the community I am continuously in awe of how pretty it is (as you can tell in my sufficient amount of pictures I have taken of scenic stuff). I once told myself that the rolling green mountains here are something you would see a poem written about Tejutla with something along the lines of “The patchwork hills are an inspiration to any quilter” (hey! Ya spend a lot of time thinking sometimes when you are waiting around for who knows what)
- The kindness of people. Everything from offering a cup of coffee and bread after a short chat about chickens to helping me on the bus when I have no idea where I am going or telling me when the bus driver is trying to overcharge me because I am a gringa
- The culture! I love seeing women that look like they have shucked their share of corn over the years who are still herding a group of goats down the road with a stick while balancing a basket of who knows what on their head and maybe even carrying a kid on the back. The traditional clothing that most of the indigenous people wear is so colorful and hours and hours of work go into sewing and you can tell. Not to mention, each pueblo has its on set of patterns and colors to identify who is from where.
- Being able to eat really good food in a restaurant for $5-7. You can eat like royalty here for hardly nothing (in US money. In Guatemalan money its pricey)
- Being able to do the things I never had a chance to do back in LA. I have the time and energy to read the Bible every night which is a big one. The option to read and knowing I have the time for it. The option to paint knowing that I don’t have to finish it right away because I have too many other things to do.
- Best of all… I am growing in my walk with God, and sometimes we just can’t do that like we would like to in certain places. Some places come with distractions that deter our focus, other places come with people that aren’t the best influence or also are distractions, some places just aren’t where God wants us to be at the moment. Hardest part of this is seeing that and realizing that there is somewhere else you need to be in life right now. Not saying all this is me, but in general I wasn’t able to grow in my walk like I wanted to LA, and only now living in Guatemala am I able to see that.