Estoy Muy Feliz

So I'm pretty happy today and decided it would be a good time to update the blog. I've been living in my site for about a week now and I can tell I'm starting to get accustomed to it. The bucket baths outside with limited privacy don't even phase me. I've found a brown recluse and other spiders in my room and just realize that is part of life. Not to say, however, I don't still freak out a little when I find one in my shoe or my mosquito net on my bed comes untucked... Overall I am getting settled in...Well, minus the whole nesting in my house part. It is hard for me to want to spend time on this room because I will probably move to another room after three months that is in the cooperative. It will be free of charge and most likely include a hot shower and toilet with a seat. Also, a volunteer that is leaving near my site has offered his stove and refrigerator to me. I'm so excited! That was really a God-send.

Anyway, a few interesting things happened this week. One, I weighed and found out I have lost a little weight. Actually I had used the same scale and have probably lost about five pounds since a week or two ago. Now all the people I work with know how much I weigh and are interested to see how much more I lose because I weighed on the big scale they use for the coffee bags. Two, I watched a lady prepare a soup with chicken for a group of visitors. I had never seen the whole process of skinning, cleaning, cutting, cooking, etc of a chicken. They throw in most of the organs and the roasted head too. They served me and I ate what they called part of the brain. I thought it looked like testicles, but nonetheless I ate some random chicken part the other day. Third, today was my counterpart's birthday. I went to Coban this morning to retrieve my laundry and picked up a few pieces of cake for her birthday. Then we met with a guy from Contraparte Internacional, which was pretty successful, and then we sang and had cake for her birthday. Also we planted some plants and started constructing an arch for these cool vines with flowers to beautify the entrance of the tour. This was kind of exciting because I'll get to see them all grow over the next two years. Also, it is going to be so interesting to see the changes this community has over the years.

I have picked up only a few local phrases in the mayan language that they speak. However, we have our first language class this Saturday and soon will be gaining lot's of local confidence of the people by speaking their native language.

To sum it all up, I'm really liking my life and work here in Guatemala. I can see that the future is going to be really interesting here with many ups and downs along the way. However, I feel that I am going to truly enjoy living here, making many friends, experiencing a new culture, working alongside people in an effort to improve their lives, and also learning so much about others and myself along the way. Thanks for everyone's support through kind words, mail, prayers, and other things. It is all much appreciated. I'll soon have a new mailing address for my new site.

Muchas Gracias y Hasta Luego!