Feria, Coro, y Cambios

¡Feliz martes! Another week has passed more quickly than I could have imagined, although I have definitely had a week’s-worth of experiences and changes. From the longest ferris wheel ride of my life to working my way into the church choir to beginning full-time volunteering, this week has brought a lot of opportunities and helped me learn a lot about myself.

We had a tour of General Hospital in Xela late last week - it was great to see how they improvise with what they have got to provide some really top-notch healthcare. 

I finished my first big round of Spanish classes on Friday – what a weird feeling! Now I have got eight weeks of class under my belt, which should be enough (fingers crossed!) to get me started with volunteering. The biggest thing I have noticed in the language piece this week has been how much easier it is to read the newspaper now. I have been reading an article or two each day, which would have taken me hours a couple of months ago. It still takes a while, but not quite that long J.

Part of the theater performance from this weekend.

This weekend was hectic but unbelievably fun. On Saturday afternoon, I ventured to the fair one last time before it shut down for the year. I worked up the nerve to ride the ferris wheel (which may sound easy, but it was honestly the world’s fastest ferris wheel – more like a roller coaster than anything), and definitely got my 10 Quetzales (around $1.25) worth; we were on the thing for an hour. The first 30 minutes were great, but by the end, getting my feet on the ground felt like landing after a long plane ride! Later that night, I went to a theater performance with a few friends; it was one of the most artistically creative things I have seen! The audience ended up being ‘part’ of the show, as we actually followed the actors around to different rooms.

For the last few weeks, I have been talking with people about ways I can get involved with music; I miss it a ton. I had some luck talking with one of my teachers at the school, and on Sunday, she took me to meet the choir at the church close to my house. Everyone in the choir was great and extremely welcoming! I got to sing with them and am planning on singing every Sunday that we are in Xela. I am hoping I will eventually be able to work my way up to playing piano a time or two as well…

The view from the choir loft at church - my new gig! 

The biggest change this week has definitely been the switch from full-time class to full-time volunteering.  Toward the end of last week, I found out that one of my clinic sites fell through due to a lack of physicians, which left me with one clinic site and weekly piano lessons with kids. At first, I was surprisingly anxious because I felt like I would end up wasting a lot of time and not have enough to do. It took me a couple of days to realize that my anxiousness was more fear than anything – fear that, for one of the first times, I would be forced to slow down a lot. This idea still intimidates me, but I think this time is going to do me a lot of good. I have decided to talk with people from Xela and the surrounding communities to get a real grasp on their needs and possibly work toward starting something more long-term that I can continue supporting once I return to the States. I got a promising start on this today in a meeting with a guy named Hugo, who has connections with leaders in small towns and works on starting up community-development projects in those areas.

The view of the Xela feria from the top of what may be the world's fastest ferris wheel.

This week has taught me a lot about change. One thing I realized is that, although I like to think of myself as adaptable and comfortable with change, change is a difficult thing. It is counter to the order we try to create in our lives. A lot of change has happened at once in the past week – between the change from class to volunteering and the changes in where I will be volunteering – and it has been challenging. But, I have learned a lot about myself and re-affirmed the importance of ‘adaptability’ in my life. This quote struck a chord with me this week:

“Once you accept the inevitability of perpetual change, you can abandon your quest to gain control, and instead, go with the flow.”

Living in Guatemala has definitely pushed me a lot in respect to change, and for that, I am incredibly grateful. I am realizing more every day that in each change, each challenge, there lies space for something great. We don’t always know what it is, but I think that is half the fun…

Here goes another week. Te extraño y te quiero, and I will talk with you soon!

Paz,

Nico