Culture Shock – Page 3

El Reposo (or.. when I fell) | 75 Palabras in Guatemala

September 24, 2017September 24, 2017 First Person Foreign75 Words in Guatemala

I’m experiencing this ankle sprain on every level: the writer in me is taking copious mental notes, the foreigner is overwhelmed at how rattled they are by a sprained ankle and the human is simply[…]

El Tobillo (or.. when I fell) | 75 Palabras in Guatemala

September 24, 2017 First Person Foreign75 Words in Guatemala

Before that day, that fateful afternoon, I could say wrist, liver, distinguished, decade, hallucinogen, family planning and chemotherapy in Spanish, but not ankle. So when I called my host sister and said “Yo necesito ayudo[…]

La maña | 75 Palabras in Guatemala

September 6, 2017September 6, 2017 First Person Foreign75 Words in Guatemala

In 2015 my friend had a baby. Many of my friends have made a hobby out of birthing babies. It’s like my version of crafting. She told me that her mother-in-law, who is from Central[…]

First Time Back | Coming Back to Service

September 2, 2017 First Person ForeignBeauty

And I left the cab driver who couldn’t get his payment machine to work for me to leave a tip. I felt a little bad but couldn’t do anything. I went through LaGuardia security heaving[…]

First Time Back | A Peace Corps’ Brain on Fire

August 12, 2017August 27, 2017 First Person ForeignBlank Slate

On July 1, my cousin got married. After 9 months outside the US of A, I was returning for 5 days. In late March I bit the bullet and bought the ticket from Guatemala to[…]

Significa | 75 Palabras in Guatemala

May 7, 2017May 7, 2017 First Person Foreign75 Words in Guatemala

I called from across the street to a man in a bright red shirt. I recognized something: the font of that familiar “KEEP CALM and CARRY ON” message. It said “KEEP CALM and TAKE ACTION.”[…]

Creído | 75 Palabras in Guatemala

April 30, 2017April 30, 2017 First Person Foreign75 Words in Guatemala

After I moved in to my Santa Clara home, a lady in the market asked my host mom “So are you proud now?” In Spanish, estás creída? She’s referring to the time my host mom[…]

Pena | 75 Palabras in Guatemala

April 30, 2017 First Person Foreign75 Words in Guatemala

Pena is like concern for another. It should have been my first post in Guatemala! Before we even stepped foot in country, we were told “no tengas pena!” and it keeps popping up like the dead[…]

Bolo | 75 Palabras in Guatemala

April 11, 2017 First Person Foreign75 Words in Guatemala

A Very Important Advisory: I must recognize that one could easily read this post and believe that I am painting a picture of the customs of this culture. This is not at all the case. I’m[…]

Aguacate | 75 Palabras in Guatemala

March 9, 2017March 9, 2017 First Person Foreign75 Words in Guatemala

So many beautiful things happened yesterday. And then something hit my back as I walked home from the outskirts. And I saw red. The day started with a 6:40 alarm (early by my standard). I[…]