A big long update!

Ok, it has been awhile since I have written. The time has completely gotten away from me. I was in Antigua for almost 2 weeks with 3 days of training with one of my colleagues and then I spent the weekend there since it was too far to go back to site and turn around and come right back for Reconnect. Reconnect was a great time to get together with everyone from my training group and learn what everyone was up to after 4 months or so in site. It was nice to be able to get back and share frusterations and some success stories as well. The best thing about all of this is realizing that you aren’t alone in most situations. One of the most frusterating situations for me right now is the feeling that I can never be alone. I am a person that really values my alone time. It gives me time to recharge and step back out into the world and work again. Even right now as I type this one of the people from my community is sitting here staring at me wondering when I am going to be done, not talking, just sitting here. I told him that I had some work to do and that I should be done in a half an hour or so, hoping that he would take the hint and leave, but to no avail. This is typical. I could be happily in my bed, peacefully enjoying a Sunday morning, my ONLY day to sleep in past 6 a.m. and my counterpart will be yelling for me below my window at 7 a.m. Geez!! I mean, if my door is closed, that means I am not available. One of the issues is that I live in the hotel in the community since there is no other housing option available that meets PC guidelines. Hence, I feel like I am on duty 24.7. There is absolutely NO separation between work and my private life. It is like every time I do something, there is an interruption. I just pick up the phone to make a call and someone is yelling at me outside my window or knocking on my door. I decide to go use the restroom and someone comes looking for me wanting to have a conservation with me while I use the restroom. I have had full conservations with people while I am showering. They aren’t in the shower, haha, but yelling at me over the shower stall. I mean I have gone from privacy in the US to absolutely NONE here. I might as well be living in a glass box on display for all to see. So, that is my little vent session….
On a brighter note…here are some of the other things that have been happening in my life…
I am now teaching 2 English classes, one in basico and one with the 12 to 15 year olds. If some of my other work is frusteratingly slow, I do enjoy teaching because I can actually see some quicker results as the kids learn.
I will be getting a computer in about a week! I cant wait to be able to use Skype to communicate with everyone. One of the biggest regrets I had was not bringing my computer. It is going to change my life here. If there are any of you PC invitees reading this…bring your computer!!!!
I have the BEST family ever! I recently received the best box of goodies a girl could ever ask for…loads of high quality chocolate, the next vampire book Eclipse, magazines, MAKE UP, snacks, great smelling lotion, ohhh I was so excited to open up this package of goodies! Thank you to everyone. It truly makes a difference reading all of your notes and realizing that everyone is still thinking of me back home. Also, the beef jerky was a great addition! Not having refrigeration really makes one appreciate jerky. The lack of refrigeration has made me a 6 day a week vegetarian, but not by choice! I get one precious day a week with meat.

Random note, so I was shutting off all the lights in the hotel one night, taking advantage of the rare night when no one was here and walking up the steps come 2 guys in black, carrying rifles. Geez, it scared me! I was like, well, this is it! Then, I realized they were my 2 friends from the community and they were on nightly patrol. Turns out 2 guys from the community take turns and stay up all night guarding the community with rifles. Luckily these guys are my friends so I sat and chatted with them about arts and crafts for awhile, making earrings out of seeds and we hunted giant frogs for awhile around the hotel, but geez, I mean that is the kind of weird stuff that goes on in my life just about daily.
Another earthquake struck last Sunday. Again, lying in bed trying to sleep in, the ground starts shaking and I am like, ok, do I get up and run out of the hotel or wait it out and see if it gets worse. I made the call to stay in bed and luckily it quickly subsided. I am learning to hate these earthquakes though, you just never know and they really get the heart pounding and adrenaline going. There is no way to avoid it. It is like your body knows that it is fight or flight time and it is ready to move if necessary and fast.
People ask me what I miss the most and that answer is salad. I know this is weird coming from a forced vegetarian in the middle of a tropical jungle, but the weird thing about Guatemalan diet is that it doesn’t really include fresh fruits and vegetables. Sure, I can buy them in town and bring them up the 45 min trek to the community but in the heat, I have to eat them fast or they go bad, but there is NO PLACE in the community to buy or collect fresh fruit or vegetables. I have started a garden, but geez it is so weird that in the middle of this jungle while anything grows, they don’t grow fruit trees. I mean we have some fruit every now and then but I was expecting loads and there really isn’t any quantity. My diet, for those that want to know consists of eggs, potatoes, tortillas (that I make myself, by hand), pasta, oatmeal, and anything that can be mixed with tomatoes, onion, and garlic…oh yeah and pancakes. That is pretty much what I live on…and beans.
So that is my life in short lately. I must admit it was kind of rough getting back from Reconnect, living in a hotel for a week in Antigua with hot water, a washing machine, a television with CABLE, restaurants, and tons of friends to speak in English. The first few days back it was tough to get out of bed, but now it has been 2 weeks and I am settled in again. But oh some days I wish for the Easy Button. There is no Easy Button here, ever. But every day I get up, try to get at least 1 thing accomplished and if I can do that, I consider it a pretty good day.