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Te estaria mintiendo si te diria que esto no se siente extraNo (for example, where is my n with a tilde on the keyboard). Its about 4am right now and yes, I passed out on Perla's couch like old times, way too early, leaving Perla, Alberto and Roy awake and maybe slightly disappointed that I didnt make it past 11. But I was tired. I had to wake up at 3:30 yesterday to be able to take a shower and be picked up in time to make it to the airport. Lying on this couch feels natural because maybe it really hasn't been that long since I've left. Six months. Maybe it's not enough time to make you forget specific feelings things and places give you (obviously not feelings you have towards people; those would never go away with certain people in my life) but the feeling you get from going down to the Fox River or from driving on Farnsworth. Or driving down Lehnertz Circle during Christmas. These next two weeks or so, I imagine I'll look at everything kind of like its new and make a comment about how it looks the same. I wonder if I will get the feeling I got in Huehue of being somewhere back in the states and actually feeling and seeing it as I moved through life. Will I imagine a Maxi Bodega instead of a Wal-Mart or the down-town with a bunch of one-ways no one cares to respect. Will I see Guatemala here in Illinois? Like everytime the camioneta passes by the terminal. Or every time I walk by the clinic and prepare myself to say hi to Don Polo. Or everytime I have to greet every teacher at my school with a kiss. Am I going to be trying to kiss everyone here? Maybe. Be prepared.

Blogspot is a rogue

I've been trying to post my clausura (graduation) pictures several ways and days now and no luck. What the hell does javascript void mean? Someone explain please. So its about 5:30am here and I'm up with my friend, another volunteer because last night was too damn cold. I spoke to my friend on the phone for about an hour, after coming back from getting Thai food, took a shower then tried going to sleep. But it is/was quite impossible. One, it is freezing in this place. There are a million windows, just like at Perla's house. There aren't enough blankets. And I'm sleeping on a couch that I am way too big for (even though I've lost 20 pounds...oh shit!) Numbero dos, my comrades (or maybe I should call them uno de los mios as my Guatemalan friends tell me to say when I see another American walking around Huehue, mainly Mormons)...the birds outside are insanely gossiping about me, or who knows what? They are mad snitching though because they have been comadriando the whole night. Don't they know that O-town has been telling me that I've been looking rough lately and need to fix myself up or no man will love me? I need my beauty sleep! Don't they get the same pep talk from their mama birds? Any who, today we all have informal presentations on the NEEDS, LOCAL RESOURCES, LESSONS LEARNED/SUCCESSFUL EXPERIENCES, and ACTIVITIES FOR 2009. This should be interesting. Then I'm hopefully going to go visit my host family for an hour or two. That is today but going back to last night. So my friend and I were walking, went to buy shampoo from a little tienda and decided since we were done we'd keep going and get something to drink or eat since we hadn't had dinner. We ended up at this Thai place with good Pad Thai but horrible Thai Iced Teas. It was about 19Q which is almost three dollars. It was basically a lot of milk with a few drops of peach flavoring. I was thinking, can I complain and return this or am I being culturally insensitive? I wasn't going to pay three dollars for something that tasted nothing like the goodness of a Thai Iced Tea, so I asked the girl, is this REALLY a Thai Iced Tea.?"Uh, yes, we, uh, mix it with a little bit of this and that." "BULLSHIT LADY! I know what a Thai Iced Tea tastes like." Ok, those words were never exchanged except for the initial question. I was going to take it and sadly sip on my milk in the corner but decided nah. I took it back and got something else. That, my friends, is what we call being assertive.

Clausura de 3o SL

Today started off with Jellyto peeing on my floor. Typical morning. I gave him his food but he wanted my human food (oatmeal chocolate chip cookie). I listened to my Keyshia Cole CD, as I do almost every morning. Gotta start the morning out right, singing about how your ex did you wrong. Crazy, Keyshia Cole. Then I ran my behind to the Institute because I had to print off a bunch of documents to give to my teachers, basically a overview of what the Youth Development Proyect is (in writing) because some still dont get it, but Im sure by January most of them will be set to go. But anyway, finally made about 400 copies and ran to the bus stop only to find out that the Vuelta Ciclista was still going on and no buses were passing by. WHAT? I have a graduation to go to. Waited, waited, and waited some more. Just when I was about done waiting, the bus came. Got off and waited for the next bus (for about 45 minutes). Should I walk, should I not walk? I have heels on. I will be harassed by men the whole way there. So I waited and finally the bus came. Got there and the graduation still hadnt started. I think it started 2 hours late. Thats a good thing about events in Guatemala. You can count on them being late. So when youre late, its all good and very acceptable. So the shindig started and all my 3o babies were looking super cute in their uniforms, they got their diplomas and some of the mamas got emotional. So did some of the students. I was really taken back by one boy he got really choked up and made me start crying. It was really special for them because these kids come from familias de escasos recursos, many from single-parent homes so its been extremely difficult journey for some of them. I was so proud of them. Unfortunately, only about half of the class graduated. Hopefully we can change that next year. After the graduation, we had lunch (Pollo Campero) and the choir sang and a girl danced for us all. It was very nice. Pictures to be posted soon. Love u guys.

Los Cuchumatanes son visitados por una chascona

Jellyto aka Son bka Bebes