boiling

I am sitting here in Livingston, Guatemala...one of the number 1 caminos for drugs traveling to the states. It is a dirty, smelly town. But I kinda like it. The streets are only wide enough for a car or a few bikes, and the stores line the river. Dolly Parton just came on the radio so I am happy. I am boiling in the sun because we spent all day on the carribean. I fell asleep and it was wonderful. Now I resemble a beat.

Traveling is such a growing thing. The best part is the people you meet. I compiled a list of the people we have met and the things I have learned from each one. I think I will post it next week, as I have some free time before julia gets here. YAYYYY. Our vacation ends tomorrow, as we bus it back to Antigua so Dana and Char can fly out. July 3rd is the infamous Peace Corpes Independence day party, and julia comes in the 4th.

I cannot wait to mix family and traveling.

Last week was wonderful, but a bit tiring, and definitely tried our friendships. We started into Semuc Champey, which was literally in the middle of a jungle. We started by hiking and swimming in the turquoise pools....but my favorite part....and POSSIBLY light highlight. was CAVING!!!!!!!!!! As we entered into the cave the small mayan boy wearing briefs (guatemalan swim suit) handed me a candle and said ´´use one hand to hold the candle, and the other to swim¨....WHAT!!! so we entered the cave, welcomed by bats and water. Some parts we could stand but other parts we had to swim. There were ladders and ropes and everything that we should ahve signed liability forms for. It was amazing. I could not wipe the grin off my face.

From Semuc we went to Flores, which is the main jumping off point for the ruins at Tikal. We were exhausted from many nightmarish shuttle rides so we took a day off. We swam in the lake, shopped, and watched SPANGLISH at a tv cafe. The next morning at 4am we set off to the ruins, which did not disappoint. We also saw MONKEYS!!!!!!!!!!! And something called a Cuete...see below.

After our bad shuttles we splurged on a FIRST class shuttle to Rio Dulce. It was an old greyhound with PERSONAL seats and air conditioning....we felt like queens. There was also a toilet in the back which i hads to use. Funny story......i went back to sit on the toilet.....and realized there was a very untinted window next to the john. I tried to close it but it was definitely stuck. So as i sat there doing business all the sudden WE GOT STUCK IN TRAFFIC. actually a military check of the bus...so we slow to a stop, and i am sitting there peeing while waving nnochalantly at the armed army men.

Rio Dulce was incredible. I will explain it more later. I am off to dinner....our hostel here has family style sit down dinner every night. Very communal. Tata XOXOXOXO etc.

Porfa

My friends, especially those who pray, please think of me! I am so sick- sinusitis among other things- and it makes it hard to enjoy my life here. I am hoping to get better by the time we start are week long travels this friday. If you want to see where I am going google these things (Tikal, Semuc Champey, Rio Dulce...Guatemala).

My head is spinning because of the pressure but also with Spanish. My thoughts are entanged in Spanglish. I know its a blessing in disguise, but I rarely rest.

Within the darker times of studying abroad, here are the things you MUST perfect.
1. The spread method. Unidentified meat? Hot dog in your cereal? Unidentified veggie in fully identified mayo? You must spread your food around so it looks like you´ve eaten it. Which brings me to number two...

2. The cliff bar. Buy a box. When you are poor or stiffed dinner, you will eat them in your bed. Which brings me to the 3rd item.

3. The fake sleep. This especially pertains to little siblings in your host family. If they run in after getting home from school and see that your eyes are closed, you have a little more time to nap before playing tag.
4. Hydration. Do not LOVE water? I found a grocery store with ICED TEA PACKETS. Crystal light. I drink ALL DAY LONG.

5. The carbohydrate. Throw that diet out the window because there is NO way you won´t eat bread 5 times a day. Embrace the carbs.

6. Take control fo the plumbing. Often times you leave a present in the toilet but the water is not turned on. Take a bucket of water and put it in the back of the toilet, it should be enough to flush.

absolutely none of these are known from experience.

Vale la pena

This is an excerpt from an email I just sent Peter. It is sort of inner dialogue-esque so forgive the spelling.

first off, I WENT TO A WORLD COP QUALIFYING GAME YESTERDAY IN GUATEMALA CITY.

So...Carlos Columbi is the head of INLEX (the program) and his son is 26 so we decided to ask him if he wanted to take us to the game, in return for him taking a ticket. so he said yes, and he brought his friend Rodrigo who is 24. Between them we were gaurded by 2 guatemalan natives. Ish. Diego is technically argentine but whatevs. He would probably hate that i just said whatevs cause argentines are very particular. anyway they picked us up at the bus stop and took us into the city. which was scary. diego kept pointing at buses and saying ´the red ones are where people get killed´or ´there was a shooting yesterday on the blue one´etc. So we were VERY happy we were accompanied. Anyway we got to the game and were sufficiently felt up by security (they took my clif bar wahhhh) and entered the estadio. It was big around, but not very high. seats 25,000 which is less than the dean dome. so anyway we bought the cheapest tickets which were 100Q and so we were in the general admission place. AKA the guatemalan masses. Not the officials or travelers.....the plebes. So we walk in and instantly there are stares and pointing from all over. Thank the LORD i wore my guatemala jersey because i have such obvious blue eyes an dirty blonde hair. Soon after we entered the americans (about 50 of them, fenced off in a small section and guarded by 50 armed guards) started waving their american flags. Then, all the guatemalans all around us stood up, and collectively waved their arms and middle fingers and said words i cannot write on here SOOO LOUD. I literally thought we may be killed. We kept our head down and headed to our seats. They played the national anthem as i walked to the bathroom and i kept my head buried. I pretended not to sing the words or be excited- and i said as many canadian things as i could. There was one especially rambuncitous (?) guy who was saying terribly obscene things the who time, but thankfully he decided to call us the good gringa bitches. Which is a better alternative than the things he called the folks in the america section. Throughout the game i just clapped whenever guatemala did something and jumped up and down shrieking GOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL when guatemala made their one goal.

In the end, an Impate was the best thing that could have happened. The guats thought they´d be whupped by the US but they managed a tie. Nobody was angry with us, and nobody wanted to take out anger on us. After the game ended i entered the mob that headed towards the parking lot. That was another time of spectacle, with people pointing and such. I saw about 2 gringos the whole time i was there. Char and Dana have dark brown hair, and they all 3 have brown eyes...so I swear I get a lot fo stares but i think i am imagining it. There was one point where this guy was completely turned around in his seat taking a video of us on his camera. Not very subtle at all. After we got to our cars we drove home and stopped at WENDYS !!!!!!!!!! which i could not afford so we ended up going to TACO BELL instead. taco bell is the most popular fast food her (besides pollo campero) which i think it HILARIOUS. so not real, but so good. then they dropped us off at home and it was the latest night i ahve ever had in guatemala: 12:30am. Seriously i am dead today. I usually go to bed at 9 or 930.

i got up at 8am today to go to the Puesto de Salud where CHarlotte and I have been working since Monday. I love it there. Monday I gave 25 vaccines, mostly to infants and children. It was so epic. I am learning a lot of medicinal words and getting to observe a lot. There are 2 NC State boys there who are cool, but take the ´rivalry´ a little too seriously. What rivalry!?!?!?!??!?!!!!!!!!! .

This weekend we are going to lay low in Antigua i think. Now that we actually have friends we may try to dancing scene a bit. Next weekend we start are big finale trip...up to Rio Dulce, Tikal, and Belize for a week.

I honestly am happy today. I woke up excited for what the day would bring. I feel happy about the work I do in the clinic, and I am loving hanging out with these girls My host family is incredibly kind and patient- and I have had TWO hot showers. I feel as though I live here and am not a tourist. I did not count down the days till i go home today!! Or the days till you get here!!! I actually want to stay here. I love Guatemala. I love that I have a favorite bread store, and I know what a good deal on a cocacola is. I love that we are regulars at a comedor, and I dream in Spanish. I love that I went to a soccer game and didnt sit with the americans. I love that I feel safe in my home, and sleep like a rock.

 I hate that i do not blink twice when i see automatic weapons in the street. I hate that poverty is started to appear normal. And malnutrition also seems to look pretty normal as well. Blehhhhhhhh.

Thanks for reading sweet friends. I feel your prayers, as I am way more at peace than I have been since I got here.

Fin de semana

Just got back from a weekend at Lago Atitlan. It was so rejuvenating and refreshing, and much needed girl time with everyone. I am so happy that these exact girls are here, and also sometimes shocked we are not tired of each other. I think the difficulty of the situation makes us cling to each other very closely, because we are all that is familiar.

The highlight of this weekend was creation and FOOD. The lake is incredible. We took a boat ride to 2 villages and then this morning we KAYAKED around the lake. Kayaking was my favorite. It felt bad ass. And outdoorsy. And I bought a new nose RING (!!!!!!!!!!!!!) so i feel especially BA.

I have bought some gifts for people and for myself. Its nice to be less stressed about trips. Last time I spenta lot of time obsessing over costs, but its better this time. Thank you (x2384723874892374) Eve Carson Scholarship.

I am just very content today. Creation was amazing. I cannot wait to add pictures.

Times up- thanks for reading! Your comments make me feel so honored to be here. XOXOXOXO

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY RACHEL. wish i could be there.

Hospicio

Take two. Kelsey and I arrived at the hospicio today, introduced ourself to today's nurse, and greeted the patients. There are two currently, both of them have AIDS. There were 3 last week but one died. One of the patients look pretty young. She cannot read so I brought my Spanish Bible and read to her. Some psalms. ecclesiastes, and the book of Ruth. She is very religious. Most people ask if you are catolico or evangelico during their first conversation with you. I always say evangelico but it is difficult for Kelsey to explain her beliefs. Here there are only two choices!

After reading the Bible the occupational therapist came so we went to help with the other patient. We bathed him yesterday and today and changed him. He is depressed. He is unable to move his right side because of sequellae of a stroke (Brocas area mom, not Wernicke's. So he can understand but not talk!). He spontaneously starts crying a lot. (SO do I when i work with him)

The best part of the day was obviously something humorous. We were sitting there reading the Bible, me in a mask because I had a cough, Kelsey with her hands folded in her lap. The patients are slumped over, both weak from the havoc AIDS has wreaked on their bodies. The cleaning ladies are meticulously cleaning the floors and walls, and the nurse is sterilizing tongue depressors. These two patients are about as immunocompromised as it gets. If I cough on them, it could result in a respiratory infection that could kill them. ALL THE SUDDEN, it was not dramatic at all actually.....it was very lackdasical. In walks two ladies from the kitchen area, HOLDING A LIVE CHICKEN. No big deal. They were taking it outside to kill it for lunch, so they walked the fastest way- through the AIDS ward! Chickens have EVERYTHING DIRTY ON THEM. Was this serious???? My jaw dropped. I hit Kelsey until she looked up but she did not notice. Nobody said anything.

The most rewarding part of our day is working with the physical therapist. Courtney Reed would love it. For example, the older man who had the stroke does not move out of his wheelchair. In fact, he is tied to it with a sheet. So by now his muscles have atrophied everywhere. It is hard to watch the PT push and pulls his arms and legs as he cries. He stands on his hands and knees as the tears fall on the cushions. You know he is crying because he has not been out of his chair in days. I just found out he has lived there for two years. And then I had a flashback of him from last year, I saw him walking! He is going downhill so fast. He has seen so many patients die around him. All we know about himis that he was a guard and has no family and the other things i saw when I snuck a look at the chart. He cannot communicate much except for by eye movements and frantic cries. He lives in a room with white walls and white curtains. Blankets with holes in them cover his bed that is always in semi-folwers position. He is not allowed outside he just sits and watches a muted TV. His sunken eyes and boney face give him the look of a 100 year old, but his full head of raven black hair reveals that he si much younger. He is on a bland diet, probably because of the meds. But as we walk into his room we see him sipping something brown from a cup he found in the trash. I still don't know what it was. The whole room smells like urine, and when we change his sheets they are wet down to the core. Kelsey and I are afraid to ask if he gets changed once or....hopefully....twice per day.

Adaptation.

We have a poster in the school with the steps of culture shock. I am finally at the end, I am home!

Last night my family made a very American meal. Grilled chicken, green beans with ajo (garlic) and carrots sauteed in cebollas (onions). My breath smelled terrible but my stomach was so happy. Wasting here feels AWFUL so i delight in finished my plate.

 Again last night they gathered around as i stumbled through getting in. They think I have such power.

I am biting my nails BADLY. mama and Peter would be so mad at me. Nothing has changed from the US except for in Guat I wash my hands before I bite them. I think I am just worrying alot about everyone. Today Kelsey and I did patient simulations in Spanish. She wants to work as a SALSA volunteer in SHAC, which means translating medical Spanish. It seems out of reach but I want it BADLY.

I cannot hear much through my bedroom wall. And my lack of Spanish impedes my eaves dropping skills ALOT. But I can hear two things clearly: Laughter and crying. Sometimes they blur together as I fall asleep. Last night it was tears. Here is how my mind wanders.....Possibility 1: Joseline is crying because the internet didn't work and she had homework due. Option 2- it's Jilmar. She is Nely's sister who lives with us. There is something sad about her. I do not know her past at all. I wonder if she has always been single. My mind always wonders to the civil war.

I ALWAYS finish my plte when we have panqueques for breakfast. Con miel.

La compu

Yesterday my family asked me to help me with their computer. Ensenar is the word they used, meaning to teach or show. I said yes, sor 25 quetzales. It took me about 2 hours to figure out how it worked, but I h(5 of them) gathered around the computer hoping to see internet. They believed in me. I am white so I must know everything about computers. I helped them send emails to other vol them write facebook posts that needed to be in english. They would say something in spanish and i would translate it in real time to english. It felt so good.i I have a SKILL!!!!!!!! I felt helpful. It does not always feel glamorous but to speak two languages is to be a bridge builder. To connect. To reunite. They were ecstatic.

Today I saw a family of 5 use internet in their house for the first time. Cement floors. Cement floors. Stone sink, wood oven. 4 rooms. And internet!

NC Views

It was weird showing my family the book I got them. It is a picture book of NC sights. It has everything from Charlotte skylines, to the Biltmore estate, to the parkway. I tried to show them my favorite parts, like the picture of Wilson and the Old Well. They thought it was a castle. They kept saying "Tres pisos!!!" (three floors?). Oh how they poured over each picture! Touching it first. How do explain what the Biltmore house is? Or the dogwood (smells bad i said), or the old well? Of course I sat there with a huge grin on my face, such state pride!!! But, thi is the best of NC taken with a thousand dollar camera. A book like this of Guatemala would be INCREDIBLE. I told them I honestly think Guatemala has more beautiful sights than NC. It would be a novel. Mayan ruins, and colonial architecture, and lakes and volcanos!!! Do they know how I see Guatemala? Do they know how naturally beautiful their country is? Is ther country pride like my state pride?

 My little sister Joseline is 12. She wants to be a singer when she grows up. I asked if she could sing for me and this is what she sang. She wrote it. Google translate it.

Yo estare a tu lado y le aduyare a encontrar la solucion a la violencia

Hay tantos ninos que necesitan nuestra ayuda, purque andan en malos caminos y dicen que no hay solucion a su problema

(chorus) Guatemala llora y llorare yo contigo
porque cuando y llore tu lloraste conmigo y eras como mi amiga
y nadie era contra ti y nadie contra me

Guatemala llora

Guatemala llora y llorare yo contigo
porque en los momentos de dolor
oh mi guatemala llorare y contigo
porque tu estas conmigo

En el cielo se nota que tu tristeza brota y no se agota, por eso decimos...

Que hay fuerza que nos une por el amor por el corazon y por Guatemala

Guatemala llora y llorare yo contigo
porque en los momentos de dolor
tu estuviste conmigo

I had goosebumps. After she sang it I asked if they were taught about the Civil War in school. Denis, my papa, said they learn history but that is a tough subject. I do not know how she knows so much about the violence.

An excerpt from my online homework...

I wrote this for my global health nursing class. A typical day in my life...

It is so great to be back in Santa Lucia. I am staying with the same host family that I did last summer, and they are so excited to have me! My day begins at 7am (which is like 9 am for me, so very nice to sleep late) when my mama says "va comer" and I reluctantly come to the table. I only eat with my 4 year old brother because the girls are already at school and the dad is at work. I eat panqueques, plantains, or eggs with salsa before I brush my teeth with my water bottle and head outside. The family has to buy bottled water for me, but they all use a concrete sink sort of like a well. At 7:30 I head out to meet Kelsey at the bus stop, which is half a mile up hill on a highway. The bus supposedly leaves at 755 but guatemalans are always slow, so we've never missed it. We hop on the bus (which is a revamped, out of commission, american school bus) and pay 2 quetzales with is about a quarter. We may share seats with 2 or 3 other people, and many times people are standing. We arrive atthe hospital and give greetings and kisses to the nurses. At first we worked in the HIV childrens section- where the nurses are basically mothers. There are 40 kids and the nurses do everything from changing diapers to helping with homework to giving advise on boy problems. The kids seem absolutely normal, and receive meds only once a day. There are no skilled nursing tasks involved. We help bathe and dress the babies, and end up playing a lot throughout the day. My favorite part is observing the physical therapist, who is WAY nicer than the nurses, as she worked with my best little friend Rosalie. Rosalie is overweight so she has to do a lot of exercise. She is 4 and not speaking yet, so I am very worried about her development. This was the most interdisciplinary thing that has happened. The doctors never come, the psychologists are not involved, and no other health care workers visit. The nurses run the house. The physical therpists are on a mandatory rotation for their schooling but you can tell the nurses do not love the help. They are very resistant to the scheduling interruptions that PT takes and you can see the therapists frustration. For example the nurses fed all the babies before the PT came, and so the babies spit up during PT. There is a lot of miscommunication. The nurses are resistant to us as well- most of them ignoring us or even talking about us in front of us. (We know more spanish than they think :) Anyway, so we are hopefully changing locations next week to a local health department. Today was a little better because I got to work in the adult section, where they have progressed to SIDA or AIDS. They were very weak, sickly and malnourished. It was a terrible place. I am not surprised that the nurse said they were very depressed. White walls, dirty sheets, no music or stimulation. One lady was watching a muted TV, and then I asked her if she could read the subtitles and she said she did not know how to read. How bored she must be!!! We helped with bathing and PT as well.

We leave the hospital at noon, return to the bus stop and go into town. The town is small enough that we are the only gringas, and big enough that we can eat lunch and use inetrnet there. We usually hang out at the school fr volunteers, or go into Antigua for the afternoons. We just catch up and process and journal a lot. At 5 or 6, I go home and have cafe y pan (bread and coffee) with my family. The are so kind, and speak slowly, and include me in conversations. Then at 8 we have a small dinner and we go to bed by 9. The sleep is great. If I want to take a shower I can take one in a bucket or during the few hours that there is city water each day. My room is just a bed, chair and dresser. I am homesick, but my little travel cell phone has helped.

The best part so far has been how rapidly my spanish has improved. So ecstatic!!!!

Sleepless night

Last night I did not sleep. Maybe because our room int he hostel is under a bar. But maybe because my mind is running. We hiked Pacaya today so I am exhausted and too scattered to blog....but here is the highlight...

1. hanging out with T boone
2. We are about to walk to a bakery to get the 2pm round of banana bread
3. at the bar last night, people were playing a drinking game called ´´WHENEVER FUEGO SPEWS LAVA WE TAKE A SHOT¨´ which was entertaining. Anyway.

I am so happy here. I loving the deep conversations and long talks with the girls. Travelling brings out vulnerability like nothing else. And vulnerability breeds friendships like crazy.

















& I miss Peter!

Lluvia

I am sitting here in the rain, waiting out one of the storms that is so typical of Guatemala in the summer.

It is good that I have not blogged recently. I think all of us would agree that the past 3 days were the lows of the low. We all had food poisoning except for dana. >Vomiting, diarrhea, you name it. We had it. We were homesick. Cried a lot. Lonely. Etcetera.

So we decided to take the day off Friday and go to Antigua in the morning. We met a peace corps volunteer who gave us advise on the best hostel and best travel agencies. We made reservations and sat with her at ´rainbow cafe´where we sipped orange juice and coca. We asked her all about the peace corps and she asked us about Chapel Hill because she applied to the MSW/public health program. It was humbling to us because she had been there SEVENTEEN months and we were whining about one week!

After she left TAYLOR BOONE came in!!!!!!! It was soooo good to see someone familiar. We went to lunch at a pizza place to get the american food we craved so much. After lunch we hiked up to the ´cruz´(see photo) to see the beautiful view. I cannot wait to show julia and peter this spot when they get here.

Taylor then took us to his house which was GINORMOUS AND GLAMOROUS AND SO NICE!!!! and we were all SOOOOOOO freaked out by the plumbing and architecture and furniture. They were so hospitable. I cannot tell you (TAYLOR) how much we needed that afternoon. It was so refreshing to all of us.

  Later after getting lost in the dark we found our hostal, changed, AND FELT LIKE WOMEN when we went out to dinner! There was live music and MOJITOS and we barely ate we were so full and happy. I think I got a bit tipsy from my mojito so we went home and fell asleep right away. We considered goingto the bar upstairs but there was nobody there so we went to sleep happy.

I have to go now, the rain has let up. But I am so thankful and happy today! Woke up under a volcano to panqueques and good conversations.

XOXOXOXO besitos

Day 4

(yesterday)

The highlights:

1. Playing 1.5 hours of soccer with the boys at the hospicio. I am actually kinda ok at it =
 two goals! But that is against 3 foot tall boys and we are giants. But oh well.

2. Reuniting with Joseline!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She is so big (FAT!!!!!) and has long hair. She is talking some but still behind developmentally I think.

3. Cafe y pan in the afternoons.

4. HORCHATA today during lunch! (Courtney Reed!!!!!!)

5. Improving Spanish!

6. After dinner talks with my family. Over chess, weddings, religion, y todo.

things I am thinking about...

Charlotte or Dana said something about not being able to be ourselves when we can't speak the language. In the US I am silly, sarcastic, snarky, extroverted, etc. But here I am SOOO timida. Sarcasm is not accepted here. And I do not have the cutesy vocab to be bubbly. It's almost as if we lose a little bit of ourselves. Maybe that is what is alienating and scary. I think of so many great comments I want to say in English but than they do not translate.

Spanish is such a beautiful beautiful language.

And today I am content. Here the word for happy is 'contenta' which is so appropriate. I am happy and at peace. I am exhausted from chasing kids all day but I know it is ok. They remember me and all the nurses do too - everyone is so shocked by me returning. Nobody has come twice. I do think it means something. I hope so.

Today there was a march for HIV awareness. Afterwards we had songs and a small service and lit candles in memory of those who had died of HIV AIDS this year. It was beautiful. And kind of revolutionary because we proclaimed HIV in public in Guatemala. A very conservative Catholic country. A very taboo topic. We stood proud. It was awesome. I think I will process more later.

Day 3

Today was a great day. Gracias a Dios. No more loneliness like last time. I get to share my love for Guatemala with my friends. Today we had a beautiful time exploring Antigua and I think they love it and I dunno why I was so worried! I surprised myself by how much I remembered about getting around and different streets and businesses. We used the internet and bought cell phones and everything was without knowing the time (which I love). We had nowhere to be and no clue what time it was. Beautiful. There is something natural about eating when your stomach says to, getting up with the sun, and going to bed when the sun goes down. Tranquilo. There are moments when having no purpose is frustrating and makes you stir crazy, but here it is good.

Day 2

Day 2:

My spanish feels so smooth and natural. It is flowing well. Now that I have more confidence... which means I talk very fast and mess up lots. But I can see fluency within reach one day and it is SO EXCITING.


Here's what's hard. I have been reading Proverbs and really meditating on how good it is to listen more than you speak. But here I am chatting away in Spanish (to practice) but I also need to stop and learn how to have an ear for it. Is listening or blundering better for learning a language? No se.

I am glad I was taught to never interrupt. When I catch myself doing it here I am ashamed!

Explaining scholarships to my host family is so hard. There is no word for it in my dictionary and my family has no concept of it. I told them I received money so I could come back. I really wanted to tell them about Eve and how incredible she was and how I hope I can honor her memory. But I did not know how to say that in Spanish. I need a whole new dictionary to describe her! But anyway scholarships make me feel like a sugar mama, or make me feel wealthy. I try to explain need-based aid scholarships but I do not think they can understand because to them I am the richest person in the world. I could explain at-risk/low income but I do not think it would be that beneficial. All that matters is I am here and I am blessed.

Day 1

Day one:

Airports are so glamorous to me. Today I dressed like a bum but normally I dress up in my most expensive-looking (Old Navy) clothes. I always wanted to look rich because people who fly are rich. Or I thought it was only rich people. You can tell newbies from pros... pros who have flown their whole life sit back and relax and don't even pay attention to the safety video; they sit and chat about how this flight/plane compares to others. #casual. But I think I am still a newbie. I get all flustered and rushed at security and bite my nails during take-off. Silly me.

But airports are not just glam because of rich folks - it's because they are so diverse. You see so many people and hear languages. You see things that are not in Chapel Hill. A whole army battalion on their way to Iraq? Umm Chapel Hill is not so military supportive. How's that for making you think about politics and death and war? Airports remind me of how diverse North Carolina ISN'T.

I remember the social worker at the Durham VA always said how people think Durham is SOOOO diverse but it's not. He said he dealt with race and class at work all the time, and intervened on behalf of patients when other employees are oblivous to culture. He was from NYC.

Who would know I could ever have a reason to roll my eyes at NC?? Never knew I could love NC less but I guess each one has growing to do.

Day 1 night time:

Thoughts=

1. I am laying in a bed I have slept in before. How cool is that? This room is kinda mine.

2. I have no idea what time it is when I am here. Am I going to bed at 7pm or 10pm? I dunno.

3. The first thing my host family said was "QUE GORDITA" as in... How fat you have gotten! Here it is kind of a compliment, meaning round or womanly or curvy. But they definitely spent 10 minutes on how much weight I had gained. lols.

4. Alex separated us 4 into 4 separate host families and I feel TERRIBLE. The girls are troopers though.

5. Anxious because I did not get to tell my family that I arrived safely. Do not worry family! #firstworldproblems

Voy a fartar!

That is in reference to my lactose intolerance. Leche is everywhere here. I dunno how to warn my family in Spanish.

Anyways I am here safely. Sorry to my family for not contacting them until now. Communication is sketchy.

I am already having a beautiful time. It is so wonderful to have friends here. A pretty view is not as pretty when you have no one to share it with.

I am already surprised at the words and phrases I remember. I know fluency is closer than ever, but it still feels out of reach. How I long to be a bilingual nurse! But as my host father says, I need paciencia.

I am in the same bed, in my same room, with my same family. I have so many memories of being sad and lonely last summer. Although my times were great, the nights got lonely. And now I have amazing company to keep it with.

Today we are spending the afternoon in Antigua, the most beautiful city in the world.

Tomorrow we orient at the hospital. I long to see Rosalie again! (see posts below)

I have so much more to say, but only 2 minutes of internet. So, until next time!

I love you all. I am here because of you. Besitos!

Take two!!!

Today at Chapel Hill Opthalmology I acquired new followers! Thanks ya'll for encouraging me by saying you wanted to follow my journey. In one week I will be flying out of RDU to Guatemala City. I am anxious and apprehensive, but SOOOO excited!

I will also be posting on http://evecarsonscholars.wordpress.com/ for the scholarship. My posts will probably have the same content.

I will be back in one week!!