It’s the little things that mean so much.

Saturday morning, after a full week of non-showering or truly washing (only with baby wipes), I got to take a shower. But this shower wasn’t just any old ordinary shower. IT WAS HOT! The best shower of my life! My first HOT shower since I had been in country, which is about 7 weeks. It felt so good to stand there underneath the hot water as it ran from the top of my head down to my feet. I never knew that a shower could make feel so happy. I felt like there were rainbows and fairies singing in the background. The only sad part of this experience, I couldn’t let the water get into my eyes or mouth. (Water contamination is possible!) It wasn’t even a major factor for me because nothing and no one could take that moment away from me!

During my training in FBT, I experienced some challenges (like walking). To get to my host family’s house, I had to walk through this huge corn field. Now there was a small path with a pretty decent size hill on it. Most of the time I was able to walk up and down the hill (slowly) without much incidence, but there is one time I was not so lucky. I was on my way back to the house (in the dark) with my lantern in hand and my backpack (heavy as 17in. laptop with all the fixings, baby wipes, 1st aid kit, notebook . . .) on my back. Now when returning, I go down the hill which is normally better than going up. This time, I slide down the hill like a surfer catching a wave or a skateboarder sliding down a rail. It was sooo scary because I just knew I was going to fall. By the grace of God, I managed not to fall, but I had shoes covered in mud.

Later on that week, we visited a coffee farm that had rows of coffee plants as far as the eye could see. It was so beautiful. I loved it until I found out we had to hike up to the top of the coffee farm. I’m not quite sure how many kilometers we hiked, but by the time I reached the top, I hated everyone I was with. I sweated so much. I felt icky and gross, but the view was spectacular! I took several photos. You could see the corn fields that met the end of the coffee fields. Words do no justice for this place! It was that beautiful! As we were walking back down, gravity decided to take control, and I fell down 2 rows of coffee plants. That’s right, finally some falling! I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry or feel sorry for the coffee plants. I know one thing, my butt was sooo dirty! As I got up and attempted to finish down the steep hill, I fell again down another 2 rows of coffee plants. This was the day for falling, I convinced myself. I had been blessed earlier, but now I had to face reality and gravity.

I was relieved to know I had enough baby wipes with me to at least wipe my hands well!

I must preface this story with the following information: This experience
documents my moments of personal growth. This story is meant to share my
feelings at that time, and does not represent how I feel now. Enjoy the
story!


The drive up to Coban was so much fun I almost forgot why I was going. We sang songs, picked on our only guy trainee, and even harassed our tech trainer. It was a blast! But reality quickly set in as I found out we were not going to stop at Hyper-Paiz (Wal-Mart in Guatemala) before going to our host homes.

Now let me just stop right here and say that I was not thrilled about FBT when I found out we were going to be staying in host homes. The other groups are staying in hostels, and it’s just not fair! I’m tired of staying with people, and having to explain what I can and can’t eat. By the way, FBT is a week of training outside of your normal city where they semi-prep you for your new city.

The first night in my host home was crazy! Crazy I tell you! First, I had to walk (in the dark) down this long dirt road, and then we switched to a path in the middle of a corn field. (For those of you who have seen Children of the Corn, you know how scary this was for me!) When we arrived, I found out that the bathroom was really a latrine out in the corn field, there was no shower (just tarp surrounding 2 planks of wood), and there were huge pigs that were not tied up! We enter what I thought was the house, but to my surprise it was one giant room with several beds. This means I do not have any privacy!

So 1st things 1st, I need to set up my bed. Ha ha! I don’t have one; just a wooden frame. I roll out my church-sponsored REI air pad and my sleeping bag. Of course I sprayed the wood and the extremely thick blanket they gave me with Raid. (So if I have a brain tumor, you know where it came from!) Then I asked if I can put my water in the fridge. My host dad opened the door, and I almost threw-up. Giant ants came crawling out of the fridge. I was terrified, and the fridge is right across from my bed! Later, they asked if I was hungry for which I immediately responded with NO. I told them that I don’t eat past 6:30pm, which is actually true since I have been here in Guatemala. They finished eating, and put their food in the fridge (with the ants). There is no way I’m eating anything that was in there!

After dinner, they all piled up in the room and began watching Fox & Hound. I stayed up and watched number 1 & 2. By the time Spiderman 1 was coming on, I was ready for the bed. Now, I have to change clothes somewhere, but where? (The make-shift shower room in the dark with chickens all around it?) Not going to happen! I waited until all the lights went out, and then I proceeded to remove my jeans and changed into my sweatpants. I had to learn very quickly to change fast. As I attempted to sleep, all I could think about was the giant ants. Finally, around 1am I got some rest, but it was short-lived. At 2am in the morning, the 1st rooster began to make his call. I couldn’t believe it; I had finally gotten asleep only to be woken up by the roosters. It was horrible, and it was every hour on the hour. By the way, there are 3 roosters at this house, and they all seem to be right outside the part of the house I sleep at. I felt like I was listening to the animal version of the Phil Harmonica because as soon as the roosters started, you could hear the pigs going. This gives a whole new meaning to Ol’ McDonald Had a Farm.

Just an FYI: This was just day 1! That next morning I decided to pray because I hadn’t in about 2 days. This definitely called for prayer. As I began to pray, I thought that maybe I should pray in both English and in Spanish just in case the LORD only spoke Spanish in this part of the world. I know it sounds crazy, but at this moment I wasn’t thinking straight. Afterwards, I felt much better!

By day 2, I was starting to get a rhythm of how to do things. My host dad offered me some hot water to take a bucket bath. I was kind of sketchy about the whole thing, but I didn’t want to be rude (especially since I wasn’t eating any of the food). I took my bucket of hot water, soap, bath cloth, and baby wipes (just in case) to the make-shift shower room. I placed the bucket in the mud and stood on the 2 planks of wood. As I attempted to wash, I heard the tarp moving. Who could it be, you wonder? One of the pigs was trying to get in. I’m giving a peep show to a pig! I need to at least charge! But that wasn’t all! The chicks (pollitos – po ye toes – here) were trying to get in as well. I decided this was not going to work, and I quickly finished up with my baby wipes. I walked back to the big room, locked the door, and began to change clothes. As I was pulling my pants to the end of my back, my host brother comes walking out of the back of the room. I didn’t even know he was there! Was he watching the whole time I was changing! Here I am mad that the pigs and chicks want to peek and see, and now I have given a full on exotic XXX show for free! I was so red on the inside!

By Thursday I was so comfortable with them, I just changed my pants at night to my sweatpants without hesitating. There was no point being shy; they’ve seen everything! I had a decent routine by then as well: I only ate crackers and Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast; and for lunch, I ate at restaurants with the rest of my training mates. I never went to the bathroom at night, I only washed with baby wipes, I always checked the room before I changed clothes, and I sat and talked with my family til 7:30/8pm every night. The family really grew on me; and by Friday morning, I was okay with walking through the corn field by myself, whether it was day or night.

So it turns out that Terror at 1800 (6pm – the time we first arrived) was no really just a chance to adjust to a new life style and face my fears. It was good, and I am happy I went through it. Would I like to live in a place like that in the future? NO, but I can if I have to. Am I still afraid of the corn fields? A little, but as long as I know my way out, I will be find. Would I recommend this trip to anyone else? Definitely! It’s a great experience, and the tea and coffee coops were extremely beautiful!

Ok, so most of you know me as Shaniqua, and several of you know me as Janine (my professional name). I even use J9 for a lot of my computer stuff. Well here, I tried to use Janine because that’s what I prefer. Ha-ha, jokes on me. I was told I needed to use Shaniqua because it was easier to pronounce, and there is a Telenovella star name Shaniqua. Apparently Janine here is pronounced (Ha knee nay). Ok fine! I will use Shaniqua. Well, my family has a hard time pronouncing that! They say (Shan KNEE kwa). There is so much emphasis on the “KNEE” part, it sounds really weird. So I have been given a Spanish name “Shani” (Sha Knee). They like is soooo much, except for my little brother and cousin here. They like saying (Shan KNEE kwa) because it makes them feel special. Oh well! I like the name. Looks like I have added another name to the list of names I use. Maybe I will come back with another name as well. Only time will tell!

After a long week of Spanish class and tech training, several of us decided to go to the beach. Now I must preface this with a little back story of my own.

• Earlier in the week, my group mates and I argued over going to the beach. You see, in a country where we all stand out (no matter how much we feel we are a part of the culture because we live here) we have to be really careful when we travel. So being the realist of the group, I asked several questions – How are we going to get there? (camioneta or microbus); What time are we leaving and coming back? Are there a lot of tourists that visit this particular beach? etc. By Saturday, my group mates convinced me to go to the beach (by answering some of my pressing questions).
  

So off to the beach! We all met in front of Pollo Campero (a huge KFC type restaurant that’s everywhere in the country). We all piled up into the rented tourist van, and we were off to the beach. . . . or so we thought! Not even a ½ mile away, we realize we’re missing a person. Yes! We left a soldier behind! How could we leave her? We were all so excited about going to the beach; we forgot she was in the bathroom. We picked up our comrade, and we were finally on our way to the beach. The drive was pretty smooth, but you could definitely tell when we were getting closer to the beach because of the temperature change.


We pull up to a parking area behind a restaurant. We were told if we want to park for free, we had to eat at their restaurant. What did we know? Sure! We piled out of the van and made our way to the beach. It was beautiful, but I stopped dead in my tracks. The sand . . . it was black! The entire beach was covered in black sand. I had never seen anything like it! It definitely wasn’t dirty. I have seen dirty sand before, and this does not qualify. Wondering why, yourself? Because Guatemala has so many volcanoes, the sand is black. Interesting! We find a spot for all of our things, and we get ready to hit the Pacific Ocean. Some folks had to change into their suits, so they went to use the restaurant we were required to eat at later. Boy were we surprised and filled with awkwardness when we went to use the bathrooms. We had to walk down this long hallway of rooms to get to the bathrooms. Hallway of rooms, people! Nothing but beds inside of them! OMG! We’re in a brothel! Ewww! We quickly scurried out of there, and focused on the beautiful sounds and smells of the beach.


I really enjoyed my time there. It was sooo much fun, and the Pacific Ocean is really salty! For lunch we visited a local restaurant, but not the one we were supposed to go to. We all sat down, looked at the menu, and decided fried fish would be the best choice. Boy, were we right! That fish was sooo amazing, and so fresh! I couldn´t have asked for a better meal (huge piece of fried fish, rice, salad, and potatoes), and all for under $10.



I look forward to beach trip number two!