Life Update

Hello friends and family,

 

It has been awhile since I have updated this blog, so I wanted to share a little life update.

 

For those who do not know, I graduated from Texas A&M with my Bachelor’s in Communication in the spring of 2012. I then married my husband, Colton White, in the fall. We have almost made it to the two-year mark!

 

Our little married life has already weathered a few storms and reached a few mountain tops. We learned to love through suffering with the death of his mother and through rejoicing with Colton’s acceptance into graduate school and moving to a new city.

 

After one year of youth ministry together in Holland, TX, Colton moved to the position of college pastor in Belton, TX. While being a young pastor’s wife has its challenges, I love that the Lord has trusted me with the unique opportunity to encourage, equip, and challenge Colton like no other. We bought our first house in March of this year and love welcoming college students into our new home.  

 

Since our marriage, I have been working at Horizon Bank in Salado, TX as a wire transfer specialist. However, beginning this fall I will start a new position with Go Corps as a mobilizer and missions coach. Go Corps is a Christian organization that recruits and sends college students to the world’s poorest and least reached areas to use their degree serving overseas for two years after graduation.

 

I would love to hear what you/your family has been up to! Let me know what is new in your life.

 

I hope to be updating this blog more often. To keep you in the loop, my updated contact information is Katy White, 511 Stiles Drive, Belton, TX 76513; email address katywhite@outlook.com.

 

Feel free to send over your updated contact information as well!

 

Blessings,

 

Katy

A day in the life

Many of my past posts have been about the spontaneous and memorable adventures I’ve made trekking across the mountain, lake, and tourist side of Guatemala. But no matter cool and Indian Jones-esque I would like to think you think of me, the truth is most of my time in Guatemala was spent as a student, volunteer, and adopted family member living just like you do—in a foreign city of course. That still makes me at least semi-cool, right?

All joking aside, these familiar routines and moments of everyday life are one of my favorite aspects of the trip. Sure it was incredible to be higher than I’ve ever been on Chikabal, hotter than I’ve ever been in Las Fuentes Georginas, and more Chaco-tanned than I’ve ever been at Lake Atitlan, but the thing that I will most remember from this experience is simply the fact that I was able to start from ground zero in a completely new country and culture and survive. And not just survive, but thrive with new friends, new job experiences, and new knowledge.  

So in my last week I set off to document the moments of just plain life I experienced living as an eager student of this amazing city and culture. Armed with my new, non-crazy-mind-of-its-own-glitchy camera I took to the streets of Xela to capture the scenes of my everyday life. Enjoy!

These are the chicken buses we took to all our weekend trips

 Where I found my favorite chocolate donuts! (conveniently located on the way from the orphange to the house)

Microbuses used to get around inside the city. They are normally PACKED with people.

 One of the gorgeous buildings surrounding Parque Central

The rotunda in the middle of Parque Central

 My favorite spot to sit and write in Parque Central

The Dispensa Familiar, a Wal-Mart owned corner grocery store where I bought lots of food.

El Cuartito Cafe! Now I guess we'll see how good of a writer I am. Is it what you were picturing?

This picture is kind of in the wrong spot...beautiful cathedral next to Parque Central

The ENITRE bathroom of El Cuartito was painted in chalkboard paint, and the messages changed every day

"Express yourself!" The chalk for this unique and totally awesome bathroom

A beautiful mural in the cafe. However, I think the girl is a little creepy. Am I right?

My church! In English it means "Rivers of Living Water"

A hilarious poster for a bakery that I always thought was a baby in the middle of flames. Until my friend pointed out that is bread behind him, not fire....

The outside of the orphanage. Wish I could have gotten some pictures inside...

The "iron fist" logo of one of the presidential candidates. Propaganda was painted not posted everywhere.

What a normal paca looks like

The outside of the house I stayed at with my host family

Part of the inside of the house. This is just one of the four houses that were all within the same complex.

The garage/patio that my room overlooked

Weekend at Lake Atitlan

First thing you need to know about Lake Atitlan: It. Is. Beautiful. Second thing you need to know about Lake Atitlan: It. Is. Gorgeous.

Lago Atitlan is said to have gotten it name from the Mayan word translating into “the place where the rainbow gets its colors.” ‘Nuff said. And I think the Mayans were right.

Clear blue skies, tropical green vegetation, deep charcoal volcanoes, flowers in bright purples, reds, and yellows, all melt down under the fiery orange sunsets into swirly watercolors ready to be splashed across the land and sky the next morning with the brilliant white sunrise. Beauty.  

Located about three hours away from Xela, Lake Atitlan is the largest lake in Guatemala and the deepest in all of Central America. It was formed in the crater of a massive volcano, and nowadays is surrounded by three volcanoes and a multitude of tiny villages named after the twelve disciples. And let me tell ya the greatest thing of all, it perpetually stays at a temperature of about 80 degrees during the days of bright sunshine and dips down into a comfortable 60 during the breezy nights.

Kristi, Kyra, and I caught a microbus, van, and then tuk-tuk Saturday afternoon to wind our way down to the lake shore, where we spent our next three days and nights basking in the sun and relaxing by the lake. We arrived in San Pedro in time for a late lunch on a patio overlooking the greenish-blue water.

We spent the rest of Saturday afternoon hunting down a hotel and exploring the city. The two-month-long Guatemalan citizenship in me was a little disappointed to find out this historic town had been hijacked by the tourism industry, replacing its traditional markets with gas stations and bars and causing its citizens to trade in their Mayan and Spanish languages for a few particularly polished, though not usually grammatically correct, English phrases.

Entonces (therefore), we hopped on a tuk-tuk (see below) and rode over to another nearby village called San Juan. This sleepy little town, almost untouched by foreign influences, couldn’t have been any farther from the big city hustle and bustle of Xela and the never-ending instant gratification of the touristy San Pedro. Finding our way down to the fishing pier, we spent the last hours of sunlight lying on the pier talking about life until the sun disappeared to reveal the first stars I have seen since Texas.

We awoke from our starry-eyed lull rather quickly however during our tuk-tuk ride back jamming out to Spanish rap music throbbing with deep bass notes and adrenaline. We grabbed dinner at a pub and relaxed the rest of the night in solar hot tubs located deep within a jungle of tropical trees and flowers. Interesting fact about our dinner: Saturday was a dry day in Guatemala, prohibiting serving alcohol since the presidential elections were the following day (not a bad idea, if you ask me). But what’s a pub without beer? Entonces, the pub served everyone their drinks in coffee mugs. Creative.

Sunday we got to experience another breathtaking view of the lake, from the inside looking out! After breakfast we rented kayaks and paddled our way to the center of the glassy lake where we spent an hour floating, splashing, soaking, laughing, tanning (or in Kyra’s case burning..), and above all enjoying.

On the way back to shore, we found out the only thing cooler than running through a flock of birds taking flight is paddling through a gigantic flock of birds congregated in the middle of the lake! Surrounded by flapping wings on every side while gliding through crystal water, surreal.

Later that night we found a funky restaurant serving Mediterranean food. A large striped tent strung with Christmas lights and multi-colored paper lanterns gave shelter to straw-woven mats and a plethora of cushions as guests lounged on the ground. Here, we ate amazing hummus and pita bread, drank fresh fruit liquados or smoothies, and created a bajillion inside jokes.

Monday we got to experience the lake in yet another way, from within! We started off the morning jumping on the early morning boat to another small pueblo on the other side of the lake called San Marcos. The town of San Marcos is built like a maze, with small tunnels and walkways cut out of the overgrowing jungle that lead to different places around the town. Along the lakeside, the rocks and trees open up to swimming holes. At one point along the side, the people of the town had built a wooden platform perfect for cliff jumping.

The ledge of the platform stuck out above the cliff side below and was long enough for the running start needed to fling yourself into the air. It was hilarious to see the different shapes everyone’s body takes on when left to itself for a few seconds in the air before the water’s impact. Below are some of the best shots from Kyra, Kristi, and I’s jumps.

Enfermedades y una familia cariñosa

The past week I spent in and out of the doctor’s office and pharmacies diagnosing and treating the bacterial infection in my stomach. Luckily, however, I didn’t have to navigate this new chapter of my Guatemalan experience alone. I spent the week with the Scott family who graciously offered me their five years of experience living in Xela, Spanish medical term translating ability, and spare bedroom for the past five days.  

This week-long journey started Monday with a doctor’s appointment with a specialist in gastroenterology and parasites. The 10:30 a.m. appointment turned in to a nine-hour day of no-food-or-water-allowed blood tests, breath tests, and an endoscopy under short-term anesthesia. For someone who has never even gotten their blood drawn, and definitely has never been on an operating table, it was quite a new experience.

Jenny filled the waiting bench, patient bed, and operating table side with conversation, experienced advice, encouragement, and laughter the whole time, filling my heart with comfort, encouragement, and peace. Her Spanish fluency covered my two-month Spanish gaps and I went into each new test or procedure with full confidence, even though it may have at times been accompanied by shaky nerves.

The nine-hours spent in the clinic and multiple new medical experiences were vale la pena (worth the pain) however because we came out on the other side with answers and some never before seen photos of my insides. The diagnosis: a bacterial infection which had led to a build-up of bile in my stomach and aggravated a previously-unknown hernia in my esophagus. Thankfully, nothing that isn’t easily treatable or manageable!

My treatment includes a few different (temporary) medicines taken before and after each meal and a slight (permanent, thanks to my unusually short esophagus) change in diet.

Although finding out bacteria has taken temporary residence is my stomach for the past two months, the good news is Spanish must be taking up permanent residence in my brain! Jenny told me that when I woke from the anesthesia and stumbled out into the lobby I came out chatting away in Spanish, albeit heavily-slurred and incredibly comical!

I spent Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday as part of the family, playing with the three adorable kids by day; running around to different pharmacies, back to the doctor after they couldn’t read his handwriting, back to the pharmacies to search for the medicine, and back to the doctor for official test results and receipts for my insurance during nap times; and hanging out and learning tons about life as a married couple, young parents, and missionary family from Brandon and Jenny. I could see so much of myself and who I want to be in Jenny and I can’t believe how blessed I was to meet this amazingly strong and incredibly giving woman.

Spending meal times, story book times, discipline times, home school times, temper tantrum times, frazzled times, unconditional love times, backyard muddy times, prayer times, and many other just plain life times with this family gave me such a sweet glimpse of what a marriage and family done right looks like overseas.     

Their three uniquely different and similarly loving kids gave me so much joy these past few days, and along with it, some hilarious memories. I will share a few with you below so you can get a taste of how fun this family is.

One night while getting the kids ready for bed, Deacon (the oldest, five years old) noticed his foam pool noodle transformed into a lightsaber was sitting under his bed. One thing led to another, and next thing I know Deacon, sporting a full-length Jedi cape and wielding the real deal light-up noise-making version, and I are engaged in an all-out battle flying across the pitch black living room in true Jedi master fashion.      

The next day Madeline (the second oldest, three years old) waltzed down the stairs to join us for breakfast in her Sleeping Beauty costume and proceeded to spend the rest of the day in the pink and sparkly ball gown. Later that afternoon Deacon, Madeline, and I acted out all her favorite princess movies in the backyard—placed, directed, and feed lines by Madeline. At one point, we acted out “Mulan,” the timeless endearing story of two sisters rowing in a boat until the princess jumps out and swims to her beloved’s castle only to find him dead but then brought back to life by a magical cape from Jesus after which they dance and live happily ever after while the other sister keeps rowing in the boat. Not the Mulan you are familiar with? Nor I, but it sure made for a great laugh!

Counting my blessings

Going on my eighth week here leaves a lot of room (53 days, actually) for missing a lot of things, from the food to the fellowship. At times, four weeks left feels like an eternity. So today I decided to make a list of things I miss and follow it up with a list of things I’m thankful for. Always a great reminder of how much I’m blessed :)

List of things I miss:

·         Reese’s peanut butter cups

·         Wearing shorts

·         Having roommates

·         My guitar, I’ve been able to still play with other ones, they just aren’t the same!

·         The deliciousness of Pei Wei

·         Homegroup!!!!!!

·         Worshiping in English

·         Sharing meals, church, laughs, and just plain life with my family

·         Aggie football

·         Doritos that AREN’T SPICY! (they have plenty of Doritos here, but even the nacho cheese flavor make my mouth burn..)

·         My fiancé—the warmth of his hugs, the comfort of his smile, the fun of our inside jokes, and of course his handsome face!

·         Drivers who obey the rules of the road

·         Pandora (it doesn’t work outside the US! who knew?)

List of things I’m thankful for:

·         A great, welcoming host family

·         My own bathroom (some students share with eight other people…)

·         Good friends at my volunteer sites

·         Beautiful places to travel, and the means to travel there!

·         Local people who love to take time out of their day to chat and help me practice my conversational Spanish

·         Warm blankets

·         New Guatemalan friends from Texas who spend nine hours in a waiting room with me

·         Skype!!!!!

·         The prayers of everyone back home

·         A great Spanish teacher with lots of experience

·         A church family that is excited to see me every week

·         The chance to learn something new every day

·         Children to love

·         The fact that donuts exist in Guatemala too

·         And last, but not least, the invaluable experience and confidence from creating a life from ground zero in a completely different county!

Food, fashion, and forecast

While most of my past blog posts have been about different experience and out-of-the-ordinary adventures, today I thought I’d do a little catching up on Guatemalan norms. If you have been wondering what the typical food, fashion, and forecast is like here in Xela, this is your chance to learn!

First, fashion. There are two main types of style, as different as night and day. The first is my favorite: traditional.

The traditional Mayan traje is my favorite because its wearers are clothed head-to-toe in vibrant colors of every hue, a mixture of soft and strong textures, and richly unique patterns. This type of style is all about the play between textures and layers. Braids and twists adorn their hair, wrapped intricately around deep purple sashes or rainbow-patterned head wraps. The ancianos weave the sashes as the third part to two three-part braids hanging down their back and the mothers pile all of their jet black hair into a bun encircled by a halo of ribbon. The younger girls tie their hair half-up and decorate their locks with rhinestoned and sequined hair clips in the shapes of butterflies, hearts, and swirls.

Hand-woven blouses boast embroidered patterns of parrots, people, harvests, suns and moons, zig-zags, and flowers around the neckline. Some are made of thick cotton material while others are made of shiny silk and accented with lacey ruffles and swirls of rhinestones. The blouses are tucked into high-waisted skirts that fall to the ankle. The skirts are made of the same thick cotton in navy blue, woven into a pattern of stripes with a rainbow of metallic thread. Thick belts of even more intricate handiwork cinch the skirt and the blouse together at the natural waistline, creating an hour-glass figure in all the young women. To finish it off, women of all ages (from 2 to 102) wear satin high heels, embellished with ruffles and rhinestones.

While the everyday display of such vibrant colors in itself is stunning, the beauty I find in this wonderful ensemble is the fact that it has survived the infiltration of Western modernization that has touch almost every other aspect of life.

In Xela it isn’t just the elderly or the people from tiny villages who dress in the traditional Mayan traje. It is quite common to see representatives from the entire age spectrum dressed in el traje tradicional browsing the aisles of the supermarket, eating in fast food restaurants, walking the mall, coming from school, and enjoying live music in the park.    

However, it is sadly only the women’s traditional dress that has survived the influx of the European and American style. In my almost two months here, I have yet to see a man, young or old, dressed in traditional Mayan clothes.

The second type of style seen in Xela is a carbon copy of the “hip and modern” style one can find in any mall in the United States. This trend is all about the scarves, solid-colored layers, and yes, skinny jeans. Even the deep man V-neck (unfortunately) hasn’t escaped the closets of Guatemalans. Here, skinny jeans are worn in every color, from neon to black, and are worn so tight one might mistake them for a second skin—not to be confused, of course, with the even tighter leggings worn under everything else. Neutral cardigans are paired with richly-colored flats or sandals to complete this look.

Second, climate. First of all, it’s important to note that the climate of Xela vastly differs from other places in Guatemala. In fact, Xela is known as one of the coldest cities in all of Central America, largely due to the high altitude.

The months of September and October are practically interchangeable in Xela. Average daytime highs reach 68 degrees Fahrenheit, while the nights dip down into the 40s. And just like the two completely opposite types of styles, the climate has two starkly different sides to it.

The Dr. Jekyll of Xela’s climate are beautiful sunny days during which the sun’s intense heat can make 68 feel more like 85. One of the greatest feelings in the world is when I leave the orphanage around noon and can roll up my pant legs into capris and remove my jacket to soak in the sunshine on my way back to the house. These afternoons are mostly spent blissfully roaming the streets and hanging out in the many parks catching up with friends or studying Spanish vocabulary and grammar. Bright blue skies are dotted with soft white clouds and the clear sky offers a view of the beautiful Guatemalan mountainside up to many miles away.

The Mr. Hyde of Xela’s climate are days of chilly rain and gloomy dark clouds that hide the sun and all of its warmth, making 68 feel more like 45. On these days, rolling my pants into capris is one of the worst feelings since it is usually done out of necessity, not pleasure, when puddles trade their place on the streets to my ankles. Fog and day-long misty rain covers the landscape and makes even the closest mountain giant disappear from view. These afternoons are usually spent inside, wrapped in blankets and sipping hot tea or frantically running to only completely necessary places.

I’ve been told that most September and October days are normally a happy medium of these two extremes, warm sunny mornings followed by daily showers in the late afternoon and clear nights. However, this year has been a year of the unexpected in Xela weather patterns. November normally brings a close to the rainy season and opens up to a cold, yet dry holiday season. I’ll let you know how that turns out!      

Third, comida a.k.a food. Every Guatemalan meal revolves around four basic foods, huevos, frijoles, tortillas, y arroz (eggs, beans, tortillas, and rice). A normal breakfast consists of one large fried egg or plantain served with black beans, either whole or mashed into a smooth paste. Another common breakfast item is eggs scrambled with chopped unions, diced tomatoes, and sliced hot dogs. Cornflakes with milk are also a popular choice in my home-stay, inverted style—meaning you dip separate spoonfuls of cornflakes into a small bowl of milk and repeat until the milk is gone, although I haven’t figured out if that is culture-wide or only the kids I live with.

Lunch is the biggest meal of the day as opposed to dinner in the States, which originally took some getting used to. Lunch is also by far the meal that varies the most from day to day and contains the most daily varied ingredients. Every lunch offers some kind of vegetable, usually a mix of vegetables. Most common is diced carrots, potatoes, and green beans mixed together with mayonnaise to create what the Guatemalans call an ensalada. At times, boiled chicken or breaded and fried patties of ham or ground beef balance out the vegetables, although it is common to go a few days without ever eating meat. We also eat rice, carrot, potato, and pea soup with homemade croutons regularly for lunch.

Dinner is very similar to breakfast, usually a fried egg with black beans and tortillas on the side.

Coffee is the most popular drink in Guatemalan culture. Adults and kids as young as five drink coffee with almost every meal. Sugar is the only thing every added to coffee, although many people drink it without adding anything. Fresh juice made from lemon, pineapple, papaya, oranges, and every other fruit available is a great choice for lunch on sunny afternoons.      

Recap of week six

Going on my sixth week in Guatemala and there are still new things to write about every day! The semblance of a semi-routine I had going from the past five weeks mixed up a bit this week. Friday was my last day of Spanish classes, leaving my afternoons completely free. I still volunteer at the orphanage in the mornings, but come two o’clock I have the whole day to explore the city, practice my Spanish, and catch up with friends. And I definitely made the most of this first week of tardes libres. Here are my weekday adventures from this previous week.

Monday. Autumn here feels colder than Texas winters. At first I thought I just needed a few weeks to get accustomed to sub-100 degree temperatures, but after six weeks of wearing two jackets at a time and still shivering I finally decided to buy another jacket. Luckily, Xela is the perfect place to find a nice warm jacket for a nice cheap price. Hundreds of second hand stores, called pacas, line the avenues and fill the street corners. At these pacas, one can find anything. Seriously, eh-nee-thing.

They are fun to wander into if you feel like immersing yourself head first in piles of shirts, jackets, pants, and everything in between—yes I even found adult footie pajamas. If you are really lucky, like I was hoping to be, you can even find brand name apparel, I’m talking Columbia and Ann Taylor, for under $10. You really never know what you are going to get. If you have something in particular you are looking for, however, it is a pretty hefty task.

So Monday Jessica, Maria, and I browsed the entire afternoon away in nearly twenty different pacas (covering only two streets!) in search of a warmer jacket. After trying on tons of way-to-large jackets and a maybe just a few silly what-was-that-designer-thinking tops, I finally found a nice Northface fleece for only $6! Glad I found such an awesome deal, but even without the amazing find I still would have counted it a win to spend a good afternoon laughing over the interesting ropa we encountered and the still-developing Spanish we conversed in.       

Tuesday. Upon arriving back at the house for lunch after my morning at the orphanage, I was greeted with an official yellow piece of paper with an urgent message. At first glance, I thought it was a telegram—because those things are common place these days?—or maybe I just secretly wanted it to be. After further examination I realized it was a notice from the post office that I had packages ready for pick-up. I’m not sure why they held them there this time instead of delivering them to the school like the previous time, but nonetheless it gave me the chance to explore another part of Xela I hadn’t yet!

I had about an hour to kill before meeting my friends, so I headed that way after lunch. It took me a little longer to find the post office oficina de correos than I was thinking. I knew the general area it is located in, so I took off figuring I would just make my way over there and stop when I found the official looking government building with the classic (American, duh! What was I thinking?) logo. It took me a few wandering passes down the street and back to realize the post office was just another chink in the brown-brick chain of stores. My feeling of triumphant was soon deflated, however, when the clerk told me he couldn’t help me and I had to come back an hour later.

The hour delay turned out to be a blessing in disguise because when I arrived the second time, I had three other people in tow to help carry the two heavy packages from my mom and sister. And  the heaviness turned out to be a blessing too, because it was caused by the likes of peanut butter, Nutella, a beautiful new journal and photo album, and many more amazing things. Gracias familia! Te amo!

After we dropped off the packages, Marjorie, Jessica, Maria, and I spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out, eating chocolate donuts! (okay, maybe that was just me), and speaking entirely in Spanish. It was exciting to see how far we have all come in our ability to speak Spanish. Although we still have a long way to go, we were able to converse more or less easily about our lives in Guatemala and back home, goals, favorite stories of families and friends, and even make jokes like any conversation one would expect four chicas to have in their first language.

Later that night, the Spanish school hosted a showing of the Argentinean movie Historias Mínimas (English title “Intimate Stories”). This multiple award-winning movie is said to follow three seemingly insignificant characters who’s day of seemingly insignificant tasks intertwine to create an underlying story of great significance.

We started off confident choosing to watch it in Spanish without any subtitles, and after about an hour clash between our pride and our severely lacking understanding we finally all caught each other’s glances and erupted in laughter realizing none of us had any clue what was going on. Even with the last half hour of subtitles and piecing together what we each happened to catch in the beginning of the movie, we all still left a little confused but no doubt thoroughly cultured in the art of Argentinean movie making.  

Wednesday started off with a whole lot of a rain and a whole lot of bad luck. First, I woke up late, ate breakfast late, got ready late, and arrived at the orphanage way late. Second, on the hurried walk to the orphanage I found myself the victim of someone else’s lateness too when a car sped past me without regard to the huge puddle-river on the side of the road and completely soaked me from the waist down. Third, when I finally arrived at the orphanage late and dripping no one answered the door bell or my knocking, leaving me standing in the rain for ten minutes until I decided to walk back home, take a warm shower, and change into dry clothes.

Luckily, my luck was so bad it was too comical to be frustrating and the rest of the day only went up from there! After a nice long shower, I spent the afternoon filling my walls with last-minute-packing forgotten and long awaited pictures of home I had received in my care packages. Surrounded by beautiful familiar faces and memories, I couldn’t help but be hopefully for what the rest of the day, and weeks, had in store.

And what was in store was a very interesting night. Our newly dubbed weekly guitar and cross cultural songs jam session was joined this week by another (American) classic campfire companion—smores! Ashley, Marcie, and I introduced the Guatemalans Javier and Julio and the Spainard Christina to the wonderful sticky yumminess of smores after a little bit of coaxing. The outcome? Julio loved them, while the other two “appreciated” them. And then they introduced us to the Guatemalan and Spanish names for marshmallows. In Spain, people call marshmallows nubes, which literally means clouds and in Guatemala they are called angelitos, which literally means little angels—interesting thing to think about next time you are snacking on some of that fluffy white goodness!  

   

Once again, our song selection varied across languages, decades, and music styles. But my favorite memory of the night, and one of my favorite memories of Guatemala so far, was the hilarious scene of three gringas and two heavily Hispanic-accented wannabes belting out We Are the World by Michael Jackson.   

Thursday started off with an exciting yet bittersweet moment in the orphanage. The youngest baby, Jaime, crawled for the first time! I have grown so close to all the sweet children after six weeks of working with them, and getting to witness such a big moment in one of their lives filled me with so much pride and excitement. However, the excitement was tinged with a bit of sadness knowing that these first few crawls went unnoticed by the people who brought him into this world and that the only person who took joy in his accomplishment is going to leave his life for good in just a few short weeks.

Later in the afternoon, the sun decided to finally grace Xela with its presence. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder; after so many days of chilly clouds my skin welcomed the kisses of the warm rays like it had never known such love. It’s crazy how 68 degrees can really feel like 90 after a few days of temperatures in the 50s. I celebrated the return of this long lost friend by passing the afternoon away in el parque central studying Spanish vocabulary and grammar. Now that I don’t attend Spanish classes every day, I have to make a conscious effort to keep up the studying and practicing so my pace of improvement doesn’t slow—or worse, stop. But sunny days like Thursday make it easy to grab a bench outside and spend a few hours with my Spanish book and journal.

That night, I went to El Cuartito to finally catch the live music. Supposedly every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, the café hosts local live artists spanning a number of different genres. However, the past three times we’ve tried to check it out, no band was on schedule for that night. The only time I’ve caught a glimpse of the promised nighttime entertainment, was a last Thursday night when I had gone to the café to Skype expecting some peace and quiet. So this Thursday I went ready to hear the self described “Latin vibes” band.

The band consisted of an acoustic guitar, bass guitar, trumpet, a set of large bongo drums, and lead electric guitar and the vibes were definitely Latin! This band of guatemaltecos also had attracted a crowd of local university students and professionals and for once the foreigners were heavily outnumbered, so the café took one a whole different, and much enjoyed, atmosphere.        

On the way home, I grabbed a chicken sandwich from the fast food place Pollo Campero and thoroughly enjoyed my first Guatemalan fast food experience!

Friday I started a second volunteer project at a local church. The project provides a free hot lunch to ancianos, or elderly people, in the community five days a week. After a morning of working with the children in the orphanage, I walk about thirty minutes on the other side of town to the church where I help serve the food and just provide company for the thirty or forty men and women who come.

Although I have only visited for one day, I am already excited about getting to know this sadly forgotten age group that has so much to offer to their community and to volunteers like me in the process of shaping the way I see the world and the different but beautiful people in it.

I also had two pequeño mundo experiences with the two other volunteers in the lunch program. When I first showed up, I was surprised to see the English woman I had met previously in El Cuartito there for her first day of volunteering as well. In addition, I found out the second volunteer is from Texas and she knew even where Rogers was! That is definitely a first since being here.