I´ve officially become a part of a medical trial. There are ads at my school, and in every free publication here in Antigua for asking for participants with "traveler´s diahreah". Seeing as how I always manage to come down with this affliction when I´m out of the country, I knew my time would come.
My friends and I had actually joked about it. The compensation is pretty nice, $250. We called it the diahrrea lottery, and the first one of us to win would have to treat everyone else to an all you can eat Sunday Brunch at Cafe No Se. Well, I won the lottery. I visited the research center on Saturday for a full physical exam and to give all kinds of samples. I must have been admistered the placebo, though, because nothing has gotten better.
On another bright note, I climbed up on the roof last week to take a nice picture of the volcanoes. When I was climbing back down, I fell and broke my camera. I´m thinking of using my diahrrea money for a new camera.
Antigua Guatemala
I´ve been here for almost a full week now. It´s a beautiful city; the kind of place I picture when I daydream of living in Latin America. Cobblestone streets, brightly colored buildings lining the streets, short women carrying baskets of tortillas on their heads, beautiful colonial churches.
We´re staying in a guesthouse run by a young Guatemalan woman named Magdelena. Along with Magdelena there is Josefina who makes fresh corn tortillas three times daily, and another young lady who helps with the cleaning and cooking. 3 surprisingly delicious meals are provided everyday. The place has about 10 rooms built around an open, tiled courtyard. I wake up everymoring and walk out of my room for a view a cloud obscured volcano. It has been pretty rainy since we arrived, so I haven´t had an unobscured view of the volcano yet.
We have some sort of happy ragtag international family in our guesthouse. Arriving the same week were two french girls, a Kiwi (New Zealand) and another girl from Nasvhille. We all get along well and are all spending around 2 months here. We have avoided any major international incidents as of yet, mostly due to the fact that our proudest patriot is the Kiwi, and no one is too threatened by a land flowing with sheep and flightless birds. There is also a group of 3 Germans staying in the guesthouse, but my experience has been that (broad generalization) German travelers stick to themselves. There is a reclusive Taiwanese guy too. I tried to speak Chinese with him, but couldn´t get beyond the first phrase. Spanish has taken over the second language part of my brain already.
My daily schedule has been this so far: I wake up about 6:45, get dressed, and have breakfast with everyone. Class begins at 8 and ends at 12. Magdelena serves us lunch at about 1, and then I attempt to have a siesta. I wake up in a foul mood around 2:30 and go find a nice cafe to study in. Dinner is at 7, after which we all play cards, talk, read and go to bed.
My Spanish lessons are one on one with a man named Reginaldo. I wasn´t sure what I thought about him the first couple of days, but he is a good teacher and an interesting guy to talk to. He goes into long speeches about Guatemalan customs and the moral decline of the society following the feminist revolution. I don´t follow all of what he says, but its great listening practice. I think I will spend one more week with Reginaldo, and then change teachers.
Yesterday, David and I along with the two French girls (Audrey and Amelie...easy to remember, one is the actress and one is the fictional character) and the kiwi (Husky) hiked Pacaya Volcano. It was a lot of fun. Who has never wanted to poke lava with a stick. The muddy descent in the dark was a little frightening though. There were times when I thought I might just have to curl up in a ball and wait for morning.
I´m going to end this abruptly as I need to return to see whats for lunch, but I will post some pictures when I can.
Guatemala!
David and I are leaving in 3 hours for Antigua, Guatemala to study Spanish for 8 weeks. We'll be back in Chattanooga for Christmas, and then off to Chicago to live. It's been great catching up with everyone this last couple of weeks. My cell phone will be cut off and I'll have a new number when I return. See you again soon. Cuidate!
Church Signs
I don't know who deserves credit for this, but I got it from my friend, Andy.
Beaujolais
Talk radio is my guilty pleasure. I don't usually even care what they are talking about. Local talk radio in Chattanooga is interesting, because you have hosts who want to talk about progressive issues and fine wines, but you have an audience that might rather hear about NASCAR and how to make one's own muscadine wine.
Earlier this week, two hosts had a guest discussing a popular wine from the province of Beaujolais in France. I was only half listening because I generally take a quick look around the liquor store before picking up a bottle of Yellowtail. The hosts were about to take a call. What might this listener have to say about fine wines?
"Hey, how do ya spell that wine you were talkin about, that bolajay?"
"B.E.A.U.J.O.L.A.I.S"
"Oh okay, see I have that name registered on a fishin lure I made, but its spelled different."
Close call. The French Wine Industry wouldn't have known what hit 'em if that lawsuit had been filed.
Madeleine L'Engle
Madeleine L'Engle, a great author, thinker, and poet among other things passed away last month. She wrote many great books, the most famous being A Wrinkle in Time. I have read many of her memoirs, and each time, reading them made me want to sit down and spend some time with her. She was smart, wise, compassionate and funny. I hope that people continue to discover and be inspired by her books. I found "Madeleine L’Engle on God, ‘The Da Vinci Code’ and aging well", one of her last interviews, to be quite entertaining.
Here are some of my favorite quotes from her works:
An infinite question is often destroyed by finite answers. To define everything is to annihilate much that gives us laughter and joy.
We tend to defend vigorously things that in our deepest hearts we are not quite certain about. If we are certain of something we know, it doesn't need defending.
I do not think that I will ever reach a stage when I will say, "This is what I believe. Finished." What I believe is alive ... and open to growth.
Truth is eternal. Knowledge is changeable. It is disastrous to confuse them.
Reverse Culture Shock
People sometimes ask me if I've experienced any reverse culture shock since I've returned home. There are three instances I can think of. The first night I arrived in Canada and went out to dinner, I had the feeling that I knew everyone around me. While I was living in Taiwan, if I saw a white person there was a good chance that I knew them. In Canada, almost everyone around me was white, and I was overwhelmed with the feeling that I somehow knew them all. Then, when I was in Las Vegas, I went into a Walgreens just to pick up a few things, and I think I ended up looking for an hour, overwhelmed by all of the food products. Who knew there were so many choices when buying M&Ms?
The other one happened right after touchdown on North American soil. We were in the Vancouver airport, and decided we should celebrate being in Canada with donuts from Tim Horton's. I got in line, and had a moment of panic. What if I didn't know how to order when I got to the register. What if I took too long to find the correct change. I had grown accustom to making a fool of myself nearly every time I ordered something in Taiwan. Either my Chinese would be wrong, or the cashier wouldn't understand my hand gestures. I was just used to it. But now I was in a place where everyone spoke English, and I was expected to order competently. I was greatly relieved when the cashier spoke to me in accented English. It was an easy transition into Englishland.
I often have to be reminded that I am in Englishland and that people around me understand what I am saying. No more saying out loud, "Wow, look at that guys mole hair" or "Gross, did you just hear that old woman spit?" or "civilized people know how to wait in line, why can't they just wait in line".
I'm glad I had the 2 week buffer period in Vancouver and Las Vegas before going to Chattanooga. I'm not sure I could have handled it as well if my first stop were in Chattanooga. I needed to readjust to the continent before learning how to be a member of my family again.
To Do Lists
Whenever I am home, I see little to-do notes and shopping lists that my mom has left around the house. The other day I borrowed her car and inside there was a note that said:
"Go to NP, bring back blood"
WTF, is she a vampire? Or maybe she just works for vampires.
Vietnam Food
Pork with sesame seeds steamed in a banana leaf
Clay pot fish
Snake curry
Elephant Ear Fish
Floating starbucks
Rambutan
Vietnamese drip coffee. Its very strong, but nice with some sweetened condensed milk (seen in the background)
Vietnam
Mekong Delta
Biking in the Mekong Delta
Mean game of foosball
Propaganda
Always napping
Selling drinks
Floating market
Uncle Ho
Bathing in the river
Going kayaking
Staying on the 8th floor of a walk up building
Convictions Transcend Party Lines
Just when you're about to lose hope in all politicians, one stands up for something he believes in regardless of how popular that stance is.
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