Realizations – 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[…]

Terremoto | 75 Palabras in Guatemala

September 4, 2017September 4, 2017 First Person Foreign75 Words in Guatemala

In Guatemala, temblores/tremors are a part of life. Terremotos son otras cosas, they are earthquakes. Terremotos jumble the earth. My host family asked: “Do you have them in your home?” and la verdad es no,[…]

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[…]

Learning a Language | Half of sentences…

May 13, 2017 First Person ForeignBlank Slate

When I met Training Host Mom Rosa Maria, she was very patient and spoke slowly. I told her Spanish was ‘difícil’ for me before I knew the phrase “me cuesta.” And she told me “pero[…]

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.”[…]

Machismo | 75 Palabras in Guatemala

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

This is about gender roles/roles de género as I see it. My writing shares my opinion, experience and reflections. I can’t speak for the whole country of Guatemala, in fact I don’t speak for Guatemala[…]

Chow Mein | 75 Palabras in Guatemala

April 1, 2017 First Person Foreign75 Words in Guatemala

Until moving here, I hadn’t truly considered how eating Chinese cuisine in my country is a far cry from being “authentic.” Chinese inspired? Sure. But when I say “Chow Mein” for example I’m sure that[…]

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[…]

¿Preguntas Dudas Quejas? | 75 Palabras in Guatemala

February 9, 2017February 19, 2017 First Person Foreign75 Words in Guatemala

Questions/Doubts/Complaints At the end of each session, without fail, we are asked “Preguntas? Dudas? Quejas?” And without fail, there are preguntas. Sometimes dudas. Often quejas disguised as preguntas or simply statements in the form of[…]