Saturday, August 1, 2009

ahhh my first time with internet here!!!!

helllllo wonderfuls of my life!!!!
thanks for your comments on my posts of my town and my home! and katie! i didn't do most of the decorating.. the plastic over the table.. it's a guatemalan thing! and i'm not 80! although i don't have tv, internet and i wash my clothes by hand.. i'm not 80!! hehehe, you make me laugh! i'm glad to catch up with you guys here, right now because it's going to be few and far between, i fear! i'm sitting at a pollo campero.. i guatemalan fast food restaurant in san juan sippin on cafe, eating flan and chatting with my friend rebecca who is living 30 minutes away from me! she has portable internet on her computer.. woah.. right? and so she's being so kind as to let me use it!!

so about my site and my life the past two weeks!! we missed our bus on the way out here because we were running around like crazy people in antigua the day we were supposed to leave.. and so missed the second of four buses to get to our site.. so we went back to antigua stayed the night and went to the carnival! what fun! next day, we made it out, barely, on the last bus!! its a 3 hour bus ride but they were doing a lot of construction on the road as usual, but this time.. we waited 3 hours for them to clear the roads for us!! we laid down on top of our luggage beneath the cloudy sky atop the microbus and rested until it was time to go! it was an unexpected length of time, as we usually wait 3 times for about 30 minutes.. this time 3 hours! but, it was relaxing and a unique experience, probably not the last time either! wooo!!

so the first week at my site from tuesday until sunday.. i probably left the house eh, i'll give myself.. 6 times. i was just so tired, a little depressed, nervous to go out into a town which i do not know anyone at all, and just not feeling confident about what i was doing and a lot about being here. i slept a lot, finished the alchemist by pablo coehlo.. and began and finished another of his books called, i sat by the river piedra and wept. they are incredible incredible books, i suggest them to anyone!! so much wisdom in such a simple and beautiful format! oh man, i was sooo happy reading them. i had to stop multiple times to screech a little bit because of what they were saying, especially in relating to the love story entertwined in both of them!!! oh man, i loved them!! but yeah so i slept, read and wroooooote a whoooole lot!! although i was depressed, confused, scared, lonely and sad, and felt like shit that i didn't really want to leave the house ever.. and felt like i would feel better IF i left the house.. i really needed the time to think, to be in my own head, to feel the emotions of this huge change that i've made, and to dive into the depths of my mind and my perceptions of myself and my life here and there and all. it was a tough week, but this week i feel much calmer in myself and feel better about what i'm doing- both confident in an idea of my work and in understanding my fears and doubts, as well. i so needed that time and this past week i've felt sooo much better, honestly and truly!!!

what really changed my sense of this was i was in my office, oh yes, i have an office and a computer there! woooah! and i was talking on the phone to rebecca and i was like, i don't exactly know what i have that i can give or share with this community, because i was just feeling down and lonely and you know. i just wasn't feeling confident. then within 10 minutes after, a man comes in and asks me to help him with his project of learning numbers 1-100 in english! sooo! we sat down together for an hour and went through each number up to 42 and wrote down "1 one guan".. so the number, how to write it, and how to write the pronunciation! and then the next day he came back and he had written numbers 42-49.. and then we spent the next hour with 50-100!!! and he was so happy!! and i was sooo happy that i could help him!!! and honestly, that just turned me around because i realized that i did have something to offer, as simple as that, with spending time with one person, helping him with his homework! it was so special and for the first time since i've been here, i felt like i was doing my job as a volunteer!! wooo!!!

so after that, i was feeling so much better! i've gone to visit all my schools, two middle schools and two high schools!!! i met with all of directors and chatted with them and planned my schedules for next week to come and observe the classes!! i've played soccer a couple times with my homestay brother, abner, whose 10, and a few kids from the middle schools!! the campos where we play are at the edge of the mountains.. soo beautiful!! along the way we picked guava and ate it!! it was speciaaal!! i went on a drive into the mountains with my homestay family and saw el chol from afar!! ooof, it's really gorgeous, the town, the mountains, the flowers, the trees, the plants, it is all just so beautiful!! there's lots of fruits everywhere too which i loveee!! it's soooo hot though honestly and truly, hot hot hot!! i'll get used to it, the fruits and flowers and plants definitely make up for all the heat!! it's worth it!!

yesterday was a big evening of folklore, all the kids from the middle school put on plays about the history of mayans, and the spanish conquistadors, and the history of their annual fiesta (fairia) every year!! this year is the 50th, big deeeal! so that was a big community event in the center of town!! the best, and scariest part, they put a box over a kids head with fireworks attached and set them off as his skipping around the center of town! it was reeeally scary and looked incredibly dangerous, i could not believe that it was actually happening! there was so many fireworks!!! ooooiiiii!! one of them fell in the crowd, thank god that everyone moved!! ooof, they reeally love fireworks here, i hear them every day somewhere in town!!

so yeah, as for my family, they are super sweet, really fun and we talked last night about how we feel really good about each other living together. we get a long really well.. i've been eating every meal with them! and let me tell you, i've had some interesting meals- so far.... cows tongue.. wrapped up in tortilla with some honey mustard.. pretty good! then i had chicken intestines.. questionable to say the least.. and then two days ago i had cow's liver.. pretty good, not gonna lie!! i had mac and cheese last night.. so the meals range from crazy to mmm comfort!! yeeah, so that's that!!

i'm really happy with my site, i think i'm adapting pretty well.. i'm starting to get to know the kids and the directors and the people around town!! it's really cute and everyone is really friendly!! i've seen way too many spiders and cockroaches, of which i do not want to talk about anymore because i want to pretend that they do not exist in my life here. but yeah, it's so good to express to you all what's going on in my life!!

in two weeks, we have our welcome party in coban, which is about 3 hours away from el chol. we are staying overnight in coban, which is a pretty big city i think.. and then the next day we are going white water rafting!!! wooooooooah!!! i'm so scared of whitewater rafting which is exactly why i feel inclined to do it!! and then we are thinking about some hot springs somewhere in there!! sooo i'm reeeealllly excited about that, we're hanging out with all the 25 other volunteers who live in baja and alta vera paz!! wooo and some adventure, yaaay!!!

so it's time to go or i might just miss my bus from san juan back to el chol, the 3 hour dirrrrt road!!! hate to miss that!!! no but seriously, the drive is spectactular through the mountains! but boy is it bumpy!!!

I'M SO HAPPY TO CHAT WITH YOU ALL!!! I WISH I COULD TELL YOU MORE OR I WISH THAT YOU ALL COULD BE HEAR WITH ME SHARING THIS EXPERIENCE!!!! I MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH AND I LOVE YOU ALL SOOOO MUCH!!! THANKS FOR ALL YOUR COMMENTS AND THOUGHTS, YOU ALL ARE IN MY THOUGHTS ALWAYS!!!! I'M SENDING MUCH LOVE AND CARE YOUR WAY UNTIL WE TALK AGAIN!!! I LOVE YOU ALLE VERY MUCH AND HOPE THAT ALL IS HAPPY, SAFE AND HEALTHY WITH YOU!!!! UNTIL NEXT TIME, TAKE CARE OF YOURSELVES AND OTHERS!!! I LOVE YOU!!!! AND THANKYOU!!!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!!

3 comments:

  1. Cool to hear from you. Have pasted it into an email to Sue.

    Sorry to hear you had some rough days. Can't imagine the adjustment for you.

    Keep up the good work. Love, Padre

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  2. Sarah - so wonderful that you were able to use Rebecca's computer to post to your blog and to your Facebook page (yes, I did spot that this afternoon when I got home from work!). Once again, you are sounding upbeat and enthusiastic about your life down there.

    I can certainly understand why you might have needed that week of alone time. These past few months have surely been quite an adjustment for you, and your new site has you facing some additional challenges, not unexpectedly. But you knew what you needed to do to wrap your head around this new situation, and you did it. Look at you now, you have come out the other side into the bright sunshine again (ooh, sounds like the Wizard of Oz, right?), and all it took was some poor guy who wanted to learn to count in English! Who'da thunk, huh? What a wonderful thing you have chosen to do down there. I believe completely that you have so much more to offer the people of Guatemala than you can even begin to imagine right now.

    I love how you have so readily adapted to all of this new stuff - cow's tongue? EWWWWWW!!!!! Chicken intestines? Double EWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!! Does the mac and cheese down there taste as good as it does back home? It is good to know that you are able to get your hands on some comfort food to help you fortify yourself when necessary!

    Your trip to Coban sounds like it will be quite exciting and eventful for all of you. Especially the white water rafting part! Way back when, (back in '84 or so, summertime), I did 5 days and 4 nights w.w. rafting and camping on the Salmon River in Idaho. You know me, I was filled with a fair amount of trepidation beforehand, but that first set of rapids you reach and get through will bring nothing but exhilaration, trust me! You will have the time of your life! It is a blast. Enjoy the trip - hope you will all take lots of pictures to post for us back here in the good old (boring) U.S. of A. We have to live vicariously through your adventures down there, you know!

    As always, wonderful to hear your enthusiastic tales of life en Guatemala. You will do wonderful things down there and will bring so much of your experience from there home with you. They will be experiences that will help to shape the rest of your life.

    Proud of you, once again, as always!

    Much, much love,
    Judy

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  3. Sarah,
    Where does the time go... I love reading your blog.... I would expect that you would have some moments of adjustment, big change though I know you know it is worth it. Memories for a life time and also how much you are growing from the experience... Love ya, Mom

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