¡Hola, todos! Although I have been in Guatemala for over
three months, I feel like I have finally gotten ‘inducted’ into the Guatemalan
life this week. It hasn’t been easy, and it involved a lot of firsts: my first
so-crowded-and-hot-you-don’t-know-what-to-do chicken bus ride, visiting an
orphanage to throw the kids a party, an earthquake, and needing to take cipro
for the first time (to get rid of a parasite). It definitely has not
been an easy week, but I won’t be forgetting it any time soon J.
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| Sunrise in the cemetery (beautiful colors!) on a morning run last Friday. |
Volunteering has continued picking up, and I have found a
rhythm with teaching classes and going to the clinic. The schedule is starting
to become routine and the people I work with have started to become good
friends. The clinic had some cool new cases last week and I got to spend a lot
of time with the nurse and doctor. It is making me excited to start med school
in the fall!
Teaching English classes to the police is a great
experience; their attention spans are a little longer than the kids in the
music class (although not much!) and it has been fun to watch them learn the
language. It is also proving challenging since I only have two more weeks with
them, and deciding what is most important for them to learn has been a lot of
trial-and-error. They are all very open and give good feedback, though, which
has helped me a lot.
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| We made our way to Guatemala's water park on Sunday - it was awesome! |
Now on to a little more detail on some of the stories from
my first paragraph…
On Saturday, my group and I spent the day at Aldeas
Infantiles orphanage in Xela to throw a party for the 60+ kids that live there.
We had our hands full! My favorite part of the day was the piñatas that we
broke open at the end; I have never seen anything like it. The best way to
describe those few minutes is to picture an intense battle scene of the movie
of your choice, only with kids and candy in place of soldiers and guns.
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| The girls' piñata at Aldeas Infantiles. All was calm...until the candy started falling out. |
I also met Jonathan, a little boy around 2 years old, who
made a big impact on me during our time at the orphanage. It was difficult to
see the injustice of all of those children without parents, and it gave me a renewed
sense of appreciation for my family while reminding me that life is a lot more
complex than we often realize.
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| Snack time with Jonathan! |
The past weekend was full of great experiences, and at the
same time, held some of my most challenging moments in Guatemala. I spent a few
hours on a chicken bus traveling to and from the coast. Although I have done
this several times, this weekend was a little different; I ended up standing on
the bus for a couple of hours, squished between over 100 other people (who knew
a school bus could fit that many?!), dripping sweat in the hot, humid coastal
air because everyone’s windows were closed
to keep out the rain from a downpour. A few hours later, I got to know
my host-family’s toilet more intimately than I ever hoped as my body reacted to
some type of parasite. As I was lying on the bathroom floor, I felt I had
reached a definite low point in my time here.
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| School-bus-turned-chicken-bus. Guatemalteco style. |
This week taught me a lot about challenge, about being
uncomfortable. I had a couple moments where I was throwing a pretty raging
pity-party, and as I look back on that, I realize that I will try looking at
things through a different lens the next time I encounter some challenges both
here in Guatemala and throughout the rest of my life. Things are not always
going to be easy and fun, nor should they be. I think that challenges and discomfort
make us stronger, give us the ability to empathize, and, when approached
properly, broaden our perspective to something greater than ourselves and the ever-insistent
idea of ‘me.’ As I look back on this week, I am thankful for the challenges.
And, as I have heard some people say, you haven’t really lived in Guatemala
until you have gotten a parasite. I guess that means I am working my way into
the fold.
Here’s to another great week, to embracing the challenges
life throws at us, and to finding a sense of peace in the uncomfortable. Te
extraño, y cuídate.
Paz,
Nico
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