Mi último blog de Guatemala.

Wow – ya estoy escribiendo mi último blog de mis experiences aquí en Guatemala. Hielo (frost/ice) is starting to make a regular appearance on the grass here in the mornings, Christmas celebrations are in full swing, and we just got back from our weekend trip to Antigua…which means, although I can hardly believe it, my time in Guatemala is coming to an end. A week from now, I will have arrived in Ecuador to visit one of my best friends, Mike, for a few days before heading home for Christmas. I am really excited to go to Ecuador, and to see my family and friends back in the States, but at the same time it is going to be very difficult to leave the place I have come to call home.

Practicing our salsa dance before the big show tomorrow night!

Things are coming around full circle in the school. My teacher this week, Vilma, is one of the only maestras who has had all of the Creighton grads at some point (myself and Becca this year, as well as Rachel a year ago). She is great to talk with and I am learning a lot! We have a graduation ceremony on Friday, complete with our host families, diplomas, and a reception. It should be fun!

 Making pumpkin pancakes at the school after our final exam! Yummm. 

The parties here haven’t let up a bit; we had Sergio’s (my host dad) birthday party last Thursday. After some convincing from my host family, I decided to try making my mom’s tuna casserole for what I though would be a small family lunch. The guest list grew quite a bit, so I ended up doubling the recipe. But, the casserole and brownies turned out great (thankfully!) and it was really fun to have everyone together again. I am getting used to a few large family gatherings per week now!

My host mom, Carolina, and I with our tuna casserole. 

This weekend, we packed ourselves into the microbus one last time for a group trip to Antigua, a small tourist town between Xela and Guatemala City. Although the town was a little touristy, we had a great time together exploring church ruins and a chocolate museum (yum!), as well as finishing up last-minute shopping before heading home. We stayed at a hostel in the mountains twenty minutes outside of the city, and it was gorgeous! It is going to be hard to leave the landscapes of Guatemala, where seeing active volcanoes and beautiful lakes has become normal. Throughout the weekend, we had a lot of time to enjoy each others’ company and reflect on our personal experiences here in Guatemala as well as how we have bonded as a group.

In case you were curious, here is how we pack into the microbus for our trips...sometimes for 12 hours or more at a time..

When I arrived in Guatemala nearly six months ago, the program coordinators asked us to set some goals for our time here. I remember my first goal being to ‘have a very difficult time leaving this place and the people I have developed relationships with.’ It sounds a little weird, and maybe even a little backward at first, but the idea is that the more something has become a part of who we are – and the more positive the experience has been – the harder it will be to leave. My time in Guatemala has, in one way or another, touched and affected nearly every part of my being. Learning about this country’s history and current affairs has challenged me to become more informed about global concerns. Living with a host family has demonstrated the true depths and meaning of ‘hospitality.’ Traveling throughout Central America has opened my eyes to a world I had never experienced and ignited a passion to continue exploring the world. And getting to know a group of twelve amazing people who are passionate about medicine has, in addition to giving me faith in the next generation of health care professionals, reaffirmed my passion and desire to pursue medicine.

So, as I sit here now after six of the most exciting, challenging, and formative months of my life, I am happy to say that leaving will indeed be a very challenging experience.

I was able to take my host family out to their first Italian restaurant last night as a thank-you for the last six months.
We loved it! 

Thank you so much for joining me throughout this experience. Thank you for your thoughts, and thank you for your prayers. I still have a lot of changes coming my way in the coming weeks and months before heading off to medical school at Georgetown, with a trip to Ecuador next week and moving to Fort Collins, CO, after spending the holidays at home, and so I am going to continue with the blog every couple of weeks.

Until next time, espero que todo esté bien y que tengas una buena navidad. ¡Nos vemos pronto!

Paz,

Nico

Fiestas, Despedidas, y la Navidad

Hola todos, y ¡feliz diciembre! The nights are starting to get cold here in Xela, my host family and the Spanish school have their Christmas trees up, and all of the cafes are playing Christmas music. It is a really exciting time here, and also pretty busy (and sad) with the program starting to wrap up. My family just got back from a wedding in Guatemala City, and I have spent a lot of the day wrapping up my thesis over the Affordable Care Act in the States. Good news is, I’m done! (with the first draft, anyway)

With Andreita, packing sweets for the kids in San Marcos, Guatemala (hit hard by an earthquake in November).

As for class--- this week, I am finishing up Avanzado II, and we are working on imperfect subjunctive (things like ‘I would have bought the house if I had had the money.’). My teacher is Claudia, a hilarious, middle-aged woman that somehow manages to work gossip and chistes (or jokes, usually about me) into every example.

The last week has been a week of fiestas y despedidas. Late last week, my host family and I said goodbye to Lisette, the niece who came from Houston to visit for a couple of weeks. It was probably the best party I have been to in Guatemala, filled with plenty of food, drinks and dancing. I realized that night just how comfortable I have become here with my new family. You really can make a home wherever you’re at in the world.

Lisette's despedida, with all of the cousins!

Last night, my friend Vanessa and I were invited to Doctora Mery’s house for a Christmas party. We worked with the doctora during our volunteer time at Puesto de Salud (a rural clinic), and we were thrilled to have worked our way up enough to be invited to her family’s party where they turn on the Christmas tree lights for the first time. We ended up staying for hours, eating dinner, and having some great conversations about everything from traditional medicine and cultural differences to our families back in the States. I also met what may be one of the most adorable girls in Guatemala (or the world)…there’s a picture below J.

Dra. Mery's Christmas party.

This weekend was our last free weekend in Xela – when did that happen?!? It could not have been a better weekend, though. On Saturday, we ended up at La Pradera, where we found Santa (!) and watched a concert for the ‘Luces de Campero’. Sunday was pretty relaxed, with brunch and a Xelaju game. All in all, it was a great, relaxing last weekend here in Xela.

We found Santa!

The biggest part of the last week was definitely the whole Spanish thesis thing. Although the days leading up to my presentation on Thursday were a little stressful – including a 9-hour café day to finish it on Wednesday – the presentation went really well! I presented for nearly an hour about health care systems and answered questions from the people in my group, all without any major problems (although I may have used a couple words of Spanglish --- oops!).

This week, between talking with people casually at the parties and my thesis presentation, I was really struck by how much I have learned in the past six months. Sure, I still have days where my brain hurts and the Spanish doesn’t come out like it should. However, never in my wildest dreams would I have been able to give an hour-long presentation – in Spanish, over a topic that is hard to explain in English – before starting this program. I don’t know exactly when it happened, but sometime in the last few months things ‘clicked,’ and I have been able to achieve a dream: talk, listen, laugh, cry…communicate…in Spanish. A door that I never thought would crack is now open, and I now have the base I need to continue learning and working on Spanish fluency. There have been a lot of long, difficult days. And every one of them was absolutely worth it. I could not be more thankful.

One of the concerts at Luces de Campero on Saturday night. Impressive, Xela!
('Campero' is short for 'Pollo Campero', a fast-food place here with a chicken mascot -- hence the huge chicken in the picture, haha) 

I have ten more full days in Guatemala. With a group retreat, salsa performance, several goodbye dinners, and my host dad’s birthday to go, the rest of my time here definitely won’t be slow. Here’s to living each day to the fullest, and to appreciating the little things that make life great. ¡Hasta pronto!

Paz,

Nico