Gross styrofoam cup.
Weak, with a pound of sugar.
Instant and unstirred.
Things that have yet to stop amazing/surprising me in Guatemala:
1) The Carrots. I love carrots, so the first time I saw one of Guatemala's carrots I nearly fell over. They are HUGE. Huge is not even the right word- they are Ginormous. One carrot is enough for at least two meals, if not more.
2) The Acronyms. Guatemaltecos loveee their abbreviations. I mean, so does teh US Government, right, but Guatemalan acronyms are so much more...inexplicable. Take, for instance, my organization, CODEFEM --> Colectiva para la defensa de los derechos de las mujeres en Guatemala. How the hell they got CODEFEM out of that I still can't figure. Another instance? While working on the POS (Plan Operativo Anual- that one's boring) for CODEFEM at our meeting in the capital, the group kept referring to the plan estrategico (strategic plan), but on all the handouts it was abbreviated PLE. I asked every person in the room why the heck there was an L in the abbreviation and no one could tell me what it stood for. Even better, none of them had ever even thought about it before.
3) The lack of urgency (AKA Hora Chapin). Sorry if this makes me an impatient, uptight American, but I don't think I will ever, EVER get used to this. Yesterday I had to go to a COMUDE (Consejo Municipal de Desarollo- another boring one) meeting at the Muni. IT's a very official thing, and they even send out printed invitations, so I have written proof that it was due to start at 9AM. I knew it wouldn't , so I took my time getting ready in the morning and even forced myself to read a chapter of my book to make myself a little later, arriving to the meeting fashionably late at about...9:10 (what can I say, it's physically painful for me to be late. I hate it. It makes me anxious). There was no one else in the place. The community presidents started to drift in around 9:30, 10 and finally around 10:30 they were ready to start. People were still arriving at 11, 12 and 12:30. And don't even get me started on buses that sit for 10, 20 minutes at a time in towns waiting for passengers.
4) The fact that...I live here. Every once in a while (usually once a day, at least) it just kind of hits me- this is my life. Bargaining for tomatoes at the market is my life. Saying "Adios" to every single person I pass on the street is my life. Watching a lizard eat ants above me on the ceiling while I shower is my life. Trashy telenovelas are my life. Spending a weekend on the pacific ocean and releasing a baby turtle is my life. Sometimes it's a This. Is. My. Life. For the Next. Two. Years. thought, and other time it's a "This is my life for the next two years!" but it has not ceased to amaze me that I am actually here, in the PEace Corps, fulfilling a life long goal. Honestly, I hope it never does.
Yup, this is my life:
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