Switchfoot and monkey bonding

Yesterday marked two weeks in Guatemala; I know pretty soon I'll lose track of how long I've been here but when I remembered that this morning it lifted a huge load off my shoulders.

If you know me, you know I'm kind of a perfectionist and also a bit of a control freak. So the fact that I'm barely able to communicate here, I'm still struggling to get the feel of the office and spend 85 percent of my time feeling like an idiot is a little tough for me to take. Inadequacy is pretty much the worst feeling in the world, if you ask me.

BUT. I have so much time to try a little harder to reach perfection (and to relearn for the 317th time that I'll never get there).

Last weekend was great. A fellow intern found out that Switchfoot was playing a show in Guate Friday evening and to make a long, Myspace-laden story short, we ended up meeting Jon Foreman and the band manager before the show.

I have a lot of entries in my list of dream jobs, but that list got a teense longer after standing backstage during the concert. Watching Jon climb up on the drum set and, along with the rest of the band holding some ridiculous(ly cool) pose for about a minute with smoke and lights and all the fixins made me realize I could totally be a rock star.

Afterwards we went with the band to this funky restaurant in a new mall in town. It was sort of built around this huge aquarium, complete with sharks and fish and fake coral and a scuba instructor. Yup, a scuba instructor. I woke up the next morning pretty sure I dreamed that I sat down to eat and talk with members of the band and their staff while Jon Foreman and his brother swam around the tank, but I have pictures to prove it.

After attempting to sleep in Satuday (ahem, thank you Mr. Construction Guy next door and your dear friend Sir Chopping Wood at 7 a.m.) Victor came and took Alex and I to the zoo!! Wrestling bears and scary Hippos aside, my favorite part was hanging out with the Spider monkeys. So much personality, so cute.

One of the little ones and I stared at each other for a while, and then it reached out its hand through the cage toward me. So precious.

Now if only my Spanish was as great as the weekend. Onward in my march toward competency.

Watch out for those crazy bus drivers.

Today I conquered. Today I gained a tiny bit of independence. Today I drove into work from my apartment on the crazy streets of Guate. Alone.

The soundtrack was a mix cd in the car I found of fantastically awful American music. I sang along at the top of my lungs, in part to drown out the people beeping at me for driving too slow. (Just kidding, who knows what they were honking at.)

Oh, sweet freedom.

fijate

I’ve decided to keep this blog going, seeing as I can’t send support letters out every week and you’d probably like to hear from me more than once a month. (Yes, I’m choosing to believe that you care deeply about what’s going on in my life and eagerly await any communication from me. I don’t care if it’s not true.)

I have an apartment! Well it’s not exactly mine, it’s an apartment that my current roommate (or flatmate, as she would say in her rad Australian accent) will live in with her future husband after their wedding in a few months. But for now, I have a lovely room with big sliding doors out onto a little tiny patio, a view of the hills painted by the sun when I wake up, and a really happy place to come home to after work every day.

We’re still working on finding a refrigerator and a stove so it can also be a happy place to come home to and grab a bite to eat. I love peanut butter and banana sandwiches, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t think I’ll be able to sustain my love for them more than a couple weeks more.

Everything is going remarkably well, except my Spanish. I’m getting by, but talking to myself in Spanish in my head all day long is different than actually greeting people, understanding what they’re saying or getting any sort of point across. I’ll get there, I feel it; I already understand a ton more than I did the first days I was here, but I’m still frustrated because I feel like I should know more, should have practiced more and should have studied more before I came so that I could be as effective as possible in my new surroundings. I guess patience, huh? I’m not so good at that, either.

Whoa, how did I get here?

So here I am in Guatemala. Months of waiting, prepping and worrying over the moment I stepped off the plane. Too late to turn back now, huh?

It's a little early to be posting anything since my experiences in Guatemala so far have been pretty much limited to the airport (not that busy at 10 p.m.) and the lovely apartment a fellow intern is letting me stay in until I move into my new place this weekend. I've spent the morning more or less lounging around; it's totally justified, since I start work tomorrow and probably won't have many more Wednesday mornings to spend reading outside in the sun. (A little chilly, but I'll take 65 degree weather over the sub-zero temps people home in Michigan are experiencing any day.)

But I wanted to take a moment to jot down how excited I am about this adventure, how anxious I am to take in and be overwhelmed by a new place, and how I feel a sadness deep down being away from my family and friends but a peace surrounding it knowing that I'll be better after this, and therefore so will all my relationships. I've always wanted to do something that matters. I think this matters.

More soon.

I was recently reminded that this blog exists. I would apologize for my poor posting habits, but I'm quite sure that I don't have any regular readers so it's irrelevant.

I'm sitting at work, eating almonds I stole from a refreshment table down the hall meant for a group of people needing sustenance after their deep conversation about God, or war, or something (I haven't figured that out yet). They meet every day, which is great. While their door is closed and they're in deep discussion, I pop on down, duck when I pass the window, and fill up my coffee mug and select from the array of goodies. I barely need to pack a lunch anymore.

That's one thing I'm going to miss about Calvin - free food. I know there are others who have mastered this craft, but I'm pretty good at finding coffee and cookies h whenever I want it. I'm certainly not above popping into a lecture I care nothing about 5 minutes before it ends, simply to score a glass of punch and a scotcharoo. I've even gone so far as to sit in on a Faculty Senate meeting for a can of Cherry Pepsi. (OK, that's not entirely true. I'm the kind of nerd who actually likes to hear professors argue about the future of the college, and have a sneaking suspicion that Emma and I will be sitting next to each other griping about the fairness of a maternity leave policy someday. But you can just believe I go for the snacks.)

So it's about time to head home to my empty house and watch 30 Rock like it's my business. I rented season 1, and I'm loving it. Ooh, there's a new one on tonight. Score.

Then it's on to packing for my visit to my two favorite men: to Pittsburgh for Colin and then on to DC for Obama!