Just Thinking

Well I am sure that most people have heard that we will be coming home in May for a little visit. It is hard to imagine that when we land in Denver it will have been over a year since we have been in the States, a record for the both of us. The anticipation that is building inside of me reminds me of being a kid and waiting for Christmas. The excitement builds with every coming day, and I know that it will be impossible to sleep the night before the flight.
As I lay in bed at night dreaming of carpet, hot water from the choro, driving, bathtubs, and beer from a tap, a question starts to nag me from some corner of my mind. How will I describe the past year of my life to everyone? Most of the time only one-word answers come to my mind. Guatemala is great, frustrating, heartwarming, heartbreaking, amazing, lonely, crazy, boring etc. I suppose that if anyone were to be asked what their past year was like the answer would look much the same. Still, I crave something that could sum it up for people as I anticipate this question to come up.
“So how has the last year been in Guatemala”?
The last year has been sprinkled with just about every emotion that I can think of. I have felt elated after an especially great class and I have felt despair and thought of quitting after a terrible one. I have basked in the beauty of a volcanic lake, but I have also lamented the destruction of the environment. I have felt connected to Guatemalans but others have also robbed me. I think that development works some days and think it’s a farce others. I suppose it all is summed up that my life here is filled with opposing feelings and contradictory experiences. Perhaps that is the Guatemalan experience.
Guatemala is a land of contrast for me. It is a place where the rich and the poor live in relative proximity. It is a place where people wish for security but life is so uncertain. It is a place where ancient cultures live next to and perhaps compete with modern culture. Guatemala is a land of agriculture but also of malnutrition. At times one can feel guilty about living around this but still having the luxury of being removed and only a plane ticket away from escape at any moment.
But that did not answer, “How has the last year been in Guatemala”?
The last year has been… Interesting? Fun?
Those words seem so trite and so far removed from the truth. I suppose it is cliché and again only a one-word answer, but the truth is the last year has been an adventure.