The first week in site, welcome and instructions came in a shower of words from my host mom. Lots of words. At dinner, she’d eat a bite, wipe her mouth and say more. Eat a bite,[…]
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Pelar | 75 Palabras in Guatemala
This post is meant to convey first: humor and b: humility. Beyond that, please take it with a grain of salt. For flavor. And oyster pearls. I woke up this morning with a food hangover[…]
La Publicacion | 75 Palabras in Guatemala
So it’s the New Year and I haven’t heard from Socio #1. I get up the nerve to call. I leave a message: “Can I come visit the school sometime to familiarizandome? Gracias.” I still[…]
Cualquier Cosa | 75 Palabras in Guatemala
When I moved to site, I become immediately aware of two phrases: “Cualquier cosa, con confianza.” Like peanut butter and jelly, they compliment each other and often come as a pair but can just as[…]
La Navidad | 75 Palabras in Guatemala
I’ve never been awoken into Christmas morning by a rooster, bombarded by the harsh snaps of endless cohetes and bombas (firecrackers), with small chicks chirping for food around my feet as I walk downstairs to greet the[…]
Fomentar | 75 Palabras in Guatemala
December 17, 2016: K’oliw! (kuh-olee-ew) is K’iche’ for “Is anybody here?” I say this as I walk into the kitchen. I took my second Mayan language class (Cuerpo de Paz pays for 20 hours) and[…]
Moler | 75 Palabras in Guatemala
Moler means ‘to grind’ or ‘to crush.’ After we’ve toasted coffee beans over the plancha (stove) in the kitchen, Doña Rosario produced a wide cylindrical stone out of the other room where she keeps kitchen supplies.[…]
Cortar Café | 75 Palabras in Guatemala
My alarm went off at 7:17am. Already winning. On my second morning in my new pueblo of Santa Clara, I descended the stairs to find my host mom in her tasked cooking pace, donning her[…]
“Mondays Are Hard Here Too” And Other Easing-In Stories
This is a patchwork of all the feels from week one. As wavering as unrooted as the feelings were, they came and went like the incumbent GI issues I experienced. I laid on the cold[…]
Arrival into Site: The First Morning
On my first night: As we eat, I look over at Doña Clara at 88 years old as she calmly eats. As her daughter teaches me K’iche words, she erupts in laughter, her body doesn’t[…]