lunes, 19 de diciembre de 2011

Back in country..

Myrtle Beach Sunrise 
So I'm back in country now after spending 2 1/2 weeks at home in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. When my friends here ask me how home was, all I can say is how relaxing and comfortable I felt.  The number one thing I definitely enjoyed the most was hot water.  Having fast, high pressured hot showers was a blessing. Also, being able to drink water from the faucet while choosing your temperature was a plus. Other things I really enjoyed were being able to walk around without shoes, waking up at 4am and not having to put on shoes/sweatshirt to walk outside to my outdoor bathroom, not putting toilet paper in the trash, having privacy of a closed bathroom, privacy in general, eating out at restaurants, having a refrigerator, having a television, football, the comfort of a couch, the sense of actually being inside, heating and air conditioning, a bed with a comforter, my iPhone!, running with music, the radio with US music, the beach, driving in a car, not having to guard my pocket/backpack every time I leave the house, not worrying when putting my purse over the back of my chair, not having to put money in my socks/shoes/bra/money belt, speaking English, bathing daily and feeling clean. I think that's about it.
Myrtle Beach, SC





Reading to my nephew Kaleb 
So, although I wasn't super busy everyday doing activity after activity, it was just amazing to be surrounded by my family in such a sense of comfort. Although at times I think how different we all are in my family and how it was possible we were all living under the same household for 15 years they're still the ones who know me best and made those 2 1/2 weeks so wonderful. On siblings, in one of my favorite songs, it says, "They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future." My two sisters and I, as different as we all are from one another, have gone through similar triumphs and tribulations together. And although we all react to each of these in different ways, we still always come back together in the end. These two girls, two sisters, two wonderful beings, are my best friends and I know no matter how far we may be from each other in the world, nothing will change our relationship. Spending time with my sister's beautiful 8 month baby boy made me appreciate her little family so much and really commend them in all the effort it takes.  Watching my sister pack up and move to New York made me realize that it's the point in our lives where all three of us are literally taking different steps in different directions in this world. So, pretty much to sum up this sentimental little thing, it couldn't have been better timing to go home and I am so appreciative of my grandparents who gave me such a wonderful gift and allowed me to see all this.

Our Christmas tree. (Sideways)
So after arriving back in Guatemala, I stayed with my boyfriend's family for a few days. Unfortunately, I decided to hold the cutest little puppy in the world and got eaten alive by fleas. But I like to think of it as just a quick readjustment back to my Guatemalan life.  After arriving back home in SPJ, it truly felt like coming home. I guess after all the traveling and almost after a month of being away from site, I was really relieved to see familiarity.  Venoni and I went to the market and finally bought a kitchen table! I have to say it was the most exciting purchase I have bought since being here (Thanks Mom!). So now I finally have a place to eat. Before, I had been eating on top of a sleeping bag mattress on my floor.  Next, Venoni took me about a mile out into the woods behind our town to look for a Christmas tree. It seemed like another world out there. Pine trees, rivers, bridges made me rocks, and no trash. The main surprise simply being there was no trash. The country is already so naturally gorgeous that it's so sad to see it usually littered with trash giving off quite an unappealing view. So after quite a while off walking Venoni climbed up a 50 ft tree with his machete and chopped away at the top. The top part of the tree then tumbled to the ground where he then literally carried it over his shoulder back to my house. Being able to see this part of their culture makes this whole experience for me. It's the, "Oh Chelsea, let's go find an arbolito (little tree)" that turns into some crazy cultural thing I would never have the chance to see without him. I just love the continuous acts and events in my life that happen daily due to having him as my best friend :-)

I then had a day of training at the peace corps office on bottle projects (ex- bottle schools, eco-bathrooms, benches, etc) with some other volunteers. It was a great taller with presentations of the experiences of other volunteers who have already done a bottle project, speakers from programs such as 'Hug it Forward' and 'Pura Vida', and lastly a hands on mock bottle wall demonstration. After seeing it directly, it becomes much clearer, as well as give motivation to actually start a project in our sites. My site-mate Jacob and I have had a running joke since site-assignment that we're going to build a 5 story bottle hospital or a bottle bridge that brings you over all the mountains so it therefore does not take 1 hour to travel 20 miles (truth). Anyway, so it was fun to go with him so we can start on this little hospital of ours. Orrr maybe even just a kitchen for a school :-)

So after the taller I then visited my boyfriends family again where I went to a baptism. I spent about 2 1/2 hours at a catholic church trying to understand the mass and the blessings of the priest to the 32 babies. Never having been up a baptism even in the States, it was interesting to see how one actually works. The priest went around to each baby twice blessing them with something. The Godparents then brought the baby up to the alter to then be baptized. After the baptism at the church, we headed back to the house for lunch where I then met Venoni who stayed home to supposedly work on construction of the house although he played soccer the entire morning instead. We then ended the afternoon with watching a soccer game in the stadium. In my opinion, it felt great to be outdoors soaking in the sun rather than inside an old church trying to decipher Spanish scripture. Either way, both were integration to the culture and good learning experiences.

This week my counterpart and I will attempt to take a census of the community and on Friday I will head back to Chimaltenango to spend Christmas with Venoni's family. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Hope everyone has a wonderful time celebrating Christmas wherever we all may be!