It’s only been 2 weeks??? (part I)

Wow… these last two weeks in my community has felt like a month! It’s probably because we utilize every second of the day and we’re extremely busy. So much has happened in this last week… let’s see if I can catch you up…

Ok, so to follow-up with my thoughts on the funeral from last week-end. Actually, what they call a funeral was equivalent to what we call the wake. The funeral like in the States is called Mass here, more than likely because the family is Catholic. I attended Mass and it was very interesting. Since I didn’t understand much, I just observed everyone and everything that I could. Mass was pretty similar, the priest said a few words, the family said a few words, they collected tithes/offerings, and then they gave communion.  What was interesting was seeing them walk with the body/casket to the Church. It was very solemn. One of the differences is that they had a band (for lack of a better word), a couple of men playing Don Albuerto’s favorite music as we walked to the church and then again as we walked to the cemetery. I enjoyed seeing what seemed like the entire town come together for his behalf.

My Spanish has been improving day by day. Some days are much better than others, but overall, I’m now able to have a conversation with people and almost understand everything they say, and they almost understand everything that I say. It’s been an interesting learning experience. Overall, I’m pleased with my progress but I know that I have a long way to go. I need to study study and practice practice…on top of all the work I have to do… Training is basically an accelerated Master’s program wrapped up in 3 months… Intense but great! I’m so glad I got my Master’s before coming to the Peace Corps because a lot of the themes that we are discussing, I have an understanding of it. Thus, I don’t need to learn the Spanish word as well as what it means in English. That’s a load off!

Well, this week brought me my first bad day in country. Tuesday, I had the worst day Ever! It was so bad… Let’s see if I can give you a short version… Tuesday is my day to travel to the Peace Corps office for training sessions. I woke up not feeling too well and because of that was running a little short of time getting ready. As you know, I don’t do too well when I have to rush, it makes me so anxious thinking that I could possibly be late (however, that anxiety is slowly dissipating the longer I’m in Guatemala!). Anyway, I had to be out the door by 6:30 to catch the bus. My host-mom met me at my door with my breakfast and lunch packed in a bag. Thanking her and filling up my water bottle, I quickly left out the door. I met my group members at the bus and we headed to Santa Lucia… well, enroute, I started to feel very nauseas (probably b/c I took an allergy people and Dramamine on an empty stomach). I eventually fell asleep, only to wake up to hear a guy in my group say “Uhhp, that was our stop!” (as we were passing it). However, we were able to get off only a few minutes walk away, so it wasn’t too much of a big deal. We finally arrived to PC with only a few minutes to spare before our first session began. I, who always sits in the front, was in the front asleep! Can you believe it.. I pretty much fought to stay awake through the Diarrhea session. I mean how exciting is it to learn what to do when you have loose stools… lol I really was interested but couldn’t stay awake, also probably because of the Dramamine. Anyway, at some point I thought, Hey, what did I do with my key? So I started looking through my bag, pretty much emptying it and I couldn’t find it. I searched my pockets…nothing! At this point, I begin to panic. Trying to retrace my steps as I rushed out the door this morning. The only thing I could come up with is that maybe I put them down when I got my water. I prayed all day that they were there. I would hate to be that “Gringa” that lost her keys within the first 2 weeks! I made it through my day, and of course a whole lot of things happened to me, as it does when you’re having a bad day. But, since this is the short version, I’m leaving those things out. Anyway, so I rush home to see if I can find my keys…and of course they are not there. I tell my host-sister and my host-father (who looked pissed, very pissed when I told him)…Mind you, they were getting ready for the Mother’s Day celebration, and this was not the time for me to be locked out of my room! So anyway, eventually the mom comes over and tells me that it’s ok and that they will try to find another copy, since they didn’t have one…However, I had already lost it… I mean this was my day from Hell… I just wanted to go to my room and cry myself to sleep, but couldn’t because I was locked out!!! Oh my… and I don’t think it helped that I hadn’t cried since I left the States… I think it all accumulated at this night…with pink and red balloons around me and a big cake! I had to call the PC staff member  that places us in our homes and informed him. He also assured me that it was ok and not to worry, this happens all the time. It only took the 2 year old, Jasmin, to calm me down. She’s so sweet. She took me by the hand and led me to this wall and looked up to me with her finger over her mouth and said Shhh as we were suddenly hiding from someone …It was too cute…I mean who can cry with her? Mean while, as my host mom and father tried what seemed like every key in the community, they eventually found a key that worked! They told me they would make another copy the next day. Thankfully, the Mother’s Day celebration could continue. We had a few of the family members over for cake and then had dinner. I still couldn’t stop thinking about how I could have lost my key, was it on the bus, did I put it down as I was walking, did it fall out of my pocket? I just couldn’t figure it out…After dinner, I went to my room…so exhausted and just ready to start another day. I could have definitely cried myself to sleep…this was definitely the moment that I wished I were at home! And as I undressed and got ready for bed…there falls my keys out of my bra! After a few seconds of confusing…I burst out in laughter…I couldn’t help but laugh at myself, my day…and all the stress I put myself through. The putting things in our bra came from the PC Security Officer. He told us this was one of the better ways to avoid getting pickpocketed on the bus…apparently I through the keys up/in there on my way out of the door…It’s so funny no recounting this story. I mean, the keys were there the entire day…and I didn’t feel them…that is hilarious. My host-family got a really big laugh out of it too…I’m sure I confirmed their thoughts that I was crazy after this incident!

Lol… we’ll I hope you got a good laugh out of that one! I sure did… and I’m glad I can say my worst day in-country ended with me laughing myself to sleep, instead of crying! How lucky am I?

Love and miss you all,

Shantrice

P.S. I’ll add my best and worst to my next post which will continue talking about my 2^nd week…there’s so much to talk about!