First of all, let’s begin with the fact that I am not the biggest fan of writing blogs but I figured 1. I’ll need something to do on my downtime and 2. It’ll give some relief to friends and family at home missing me ever so much. This shall act as my disclaimer as this blog will be an emotional rollercoaster as I attempt to figure out Guatemala City by myself for the next 6 months.
For those of you who do not know, I am currently in Guatemala City, Guatemala about to begin a 6-month internship at TechnoServe. I’ll share more about TechnoServe when I start on Monday. But, I will share my first 24 hours.
Let’s be real, I accepted this position in October and did not think about what it actually would entail until Sunday night- please note I left Monday morning at 4am. So. I got in my cab and headed to Logan. My first flight was to Houston- it was the WORST. But since the 2012 adventurous Rob is finding the positive in every situation… at least I got to experience a little bit of plane sickness for the first time? Anyways, moving on. Upon arriving in Houston I needed to haul my rear-end to another terminal to catch my connecting flight which was already boarding. But have no fear- the flight was delayed as soon as I boarded.
I arrived in Guatemala City strung out and quite tired. As mentioned, I had not put much thought into what this trip would entail, but let me tell you… my mind definitely started going full speed once I stepped off the plane and remembered that I had no one to meet and technically no where to go. Luckily baggage claim and customs were a breeze and so was finding a cab considering I had at least 7 men trying to haggle a price to bring me to my hotel. I did experience my first reference to me being a gringo though. As I approached a cab across the street, a man hailing cabs goes “What do you need, what’re you looking for? No one is going to understand your language here, but I will. I’ll help…for a small fee. I simply replied, “Hablo espanol” and got in the cab and left. Now, as nonchalant as that may sound…in reality I got into the cab and thought “thank god all I needed to say was I speak Spanish!”
I severely overestimated the amount of English speakers I would encounter at the airport and hotel. I made a reservation at a hotel and went up to my room. I’ll be honest… I may have then sat in silence staring at a wall saying out loud.. “Where am I?” and “What the hell did I get myself into?” After composing myself and speaking with my dear mother, I went downstairs for the complimentary dinner (or so I think though the hotel bill may say otherwise). This dinner consisted of me getting laughed at by the waiters as I attempted to speak Spanish as needed. For those of you who do not know, I have studied Spanish since middle school, took AP in high school, and placed into 501 at Northeastern but my Spanish is still far from fluent. Anyways, after my dinner experience I decided to call it quits and head to bed. The sound of two gunshots put me right to sleep.
Today I woke up ready to go! I slept in and caught up on sleep. I spent the first 2 hours of my day frantically searching for my passport that I “put in a safe place” last night, but naturally I completely forgot where that safe place was (a skill I’ve learned from my mother- thanks mom!). Anyways, I finally got to venture out and get a feel for the area. Now I’m no fool -I won’t sit here and say everyone was wrong about the safety- but let’s be real…I’m in a good part of the city surrounded by expat hotels and shopping centers… I can walk a few blocks. After spending a few hours out, I decided it was time to head home and plan out what I need to do the rest of the week…oh and learn Spanish. I now have an appointment to look for apartments tomorrow!
So that’s been my first 24 hours. I swear from here on out it won’t be as tedious to read if you choose to read again. Basically, these next few days I will be attempting to refresh my Spanish, find a place to live, and get accustomed to the area. As scary or lonely as it may be at times, it’ll all be part of the journey. Over the next six months I am going to learn so much about myself, this country, its people, and so much more. Everything I learn and experience within the next six months will be taken with me the rest of my life. It’s an incredible feeling. Though I am sure this will be an emotional rollercoaster, I have never been more excited to live. After all, the only plan I have the next six months is to live life like I never have before.
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