A few photos!

So, Mom has been NAGGing me for WEEKS to put up pictures of my house...(Haha just kidding, she hasn´t been nagging, she just asked me once, very politely!) BUT, I finally have a few downloaded on my work computer. More to come, of course, but these are just a few pictures from the week. Below is my wonderful bedroom. Unfortunately it looks a lot nicer than it smells. (Still getting over the mold people)

Here is another shot of the room. The door to the living room is to the right. The black door I was forced to cover, because light streaming in from the neighbors was a slight annoyance. This door is also the wonderful window to hearing everything that goes on next door with my neighbors. They have 3 sons, 9, 13, 18, and a dog named Yogi. Sometimes I yell at Yogi through the door. ¨Yogi. SHH.¨ But only when he barks like a maniac.

Here is my living room...note how much furniture I have! Its over

whelming, I know.

The rest are just random shots from the week. Salsa dancing with Oso, a dear friend from the city, with whom I Love to dance, and then Maura and I, (the Bennies of Common Hope!)

More Letters!!

AHHH I got more letters today!!! :D
One from Grandma, one from Dad, and one from Poppy!!!!
(For those of you who don´t know Poppy, no, her name is not actually a flower, or the seed, it is Megan Poppler, but we call her Poppy as a nickname :))
I loved all three of the letters. (Well, except Dad´s, which included a....dental card...with my next appointment on it.) Hahahahhah just kidding thanks Dad :) It made me smile!
And Grandma, I loved your letter! My favorite was the picture of Minneapolis. I am going to hang it on my wall at home.
So fun to get mail! I loved hearing about the latest of what you and Grandpa are up to. Love you both!

And, Poppy, can I just tell you how much I loved your letter??? It made me smile COUNTless times, and I actually laughed out loud at one point. I think it was about when you said ¨Whats new in music? Are you kidding me, its me¨. I literally laughed. Hahahah Poppy I miss you so much!

It was so fun to get mail guys. Thanks so much!
Love to all.
(Heading to the beach tomorrow! Guatemalan Revolution day. Overthrew the dictator Ubico in the 1940´s, after he had been in power for 17 years.)

Still alive and kickin...

Yes I know I haven´t updated the blog in about 2 weeks, but it has been so darn busy, I haven´t had time! (Even now, I STILL don´t have time, which is why I find myself blogging during the lunch hour.) (Even if its just to let people know I´m alive.)

I am alive and well, loving the sunny weather, and loving being busy! I´ll take busy-ness to sitting in my office and blogging all day during work, that´s for sure.
Shelly just had a Vision Team leave on Saturday, so last week we were all very occupied with them. (They were a great group, btw, thanks guys)

My next team (Best Buy) comes Saturday! So this week will also be a busy one, finishing up plans and preparing everything for their arrival. (Plus a holiday thrown in there midweek, Guatemalan Revolution day) (Which means BEACHTIME!!!) But which also means a crazier 4-day week at work, trying to finish up all the Best Buy details. I am very excited for them to come--already sound like a wonderful team.

So much has happened in the past 2 weeks I don´t even know where to begin....
So I´ll just hit the highlights and lowlights.
1) Definite lowlight: The Twins lost. BOOOOO. We even were able to WATCH the last game in the series, all of us Minnesotan baseball freaks crowded the one sportsbar in town that sometimes shows MLB games...and cheered them on and everything...but despite all of the cheering, the Twins broke my heart and lost their third and final game of the series. It was disheartening. They didn´t even PLAY well. Oh, well, there´s always the Vikings to cheer for I guess...(whose games ALSO seem to appear in Antigua sometimes! Strange.)

2) Highlight: It has been sunny for going on 3 weeks now. HOLLA!!! I love it. My house is starting to dry out a little, and I haven´t seen a single slug in about a week, so I am eternally thankful. I LOVE the dry season, and the only downside is dust everywhere and dirty feet. I suppose there isn´t a compromise, is there. I´ll take what I can get! THE SUN.

3) Otro highlight: 2 Sundays ago, I spent the day translating in a hospital in Antigua for a group of doctors from none other than Minnesota. It. Was. Sweet.
I have found my profession. I wanna be a translator. It was the coolest thing ever, helping people who would otherwise be helpless. This translating however was even cooler, because there were 2 translators. Most of the patients came from 8 hours away, from remote Mayan villages, and didn´t speak Spanish. They spoke indigenous Mayan--I forget what dialect. But anyways, they would speak to the Mayan/Spanish translator in Mayan, who would then speak to me in Spanish, and then I would speak to the doctor in English. It was quite the translating train. But it was so. cool. To know that I was a part of helping people who would otherwise be two languages away from understanding each other was really cool.
The doctors I worked with were gynecologists, (gynecological surgeons, I guess they were,) who were visiting patients for pre-op to schedule operations the following week. They saw some of the worst cases--mothers who had had 8-10 children whose actual uteruses were falling out....some who had pain for 7-10 years and this was the first time they were able to get to the doctor....I won´t even go into it all. But it was amazing the cases we saw. One of the doctors, Jerry, works at United Hospital in the cities, when I asked him about translators, he said that the hospital hires out from a translating organization and calls them in when necessary. (Hello, future occupation.) But anyways, it was really neat to work with them.

The weird part? His name was Jerry (noted above), real name Gerald. (Isn´t that funny Dad?) I have not met many Jerry/Geralds in my life.
The REAL weird part??
He has a daughter named Brianna! Can you believe it? I was incredulous. I was like NO WAY! Your name is Jerry and you have a daughter named Brianna....and MY name is Brianna and my Dad´s name is Jerry! It was too strange. Here we are, down in Guatemala, both from Minnesota, I worked with him in the hospital, AND I happened to translate his sponsorship visit later on that week as well.
I should have asked if his wife´s name was Sandy.

:) Anyways, speaking of Jerry´s, its my FATHER Jerry´s birthday tomorrow!! :) Happy birthday Dad! Love you.
´
I think thats all for now folks...
Oh and Karsten thinks I´m a prodigy.
That´s definitley the highlight of the day. I love being compared to a child prodigy. Not to mention the fact that its MOZART. Hahaha. I am definitely going to brag about that one for the next...ohhhhh, 6 months.
:) Love to all! More news to come later.

¿Movie advice please?

As Shelly and I were sitting in our office this morning, mourning the Twins loss and working hard, we somehow happened upon the topic of movies. We mutually discovered that we have absolutely NO idea what current/good movies there are.
Actually, we discovered that we haven´t known what current/good movies there are for the past four months.
I mean, I´ve heard on facebook that some movie called The Social Network is good, but what the heck is that? Also, some movie with Leonardo DiCaprio is supposed to be wonderful?
Anyways. I decided to reach out to family and friends on this one. If anybody has seen any movies in the last 4 months that they would recommend, please comment or let me know what they are! I will look for them in the market :)

Same goes for music, because I officially recognize 3 songs of the current iTunes top 20. This is an issue. (Of course, on iTunes Latino, I recognize all of them) At least I am up to speed on my Latin music. Anyways, post your favorite songs and movies and I will be ever grateful :)
Thanks guys!

Earthquake Central!

Last night, I felt the strongest earthquake tremor that I have felt in all my time in Guatemala, ever. EVER. (And I´ll have you know that that is a total of 8.5 months, people.)
I think I have felt about 6 or 7 tremors, and last night was DEFinitely the strongest. It actually made me freak out, a little. And made all the dogs in the neighborhood start barking in fear.
I was literally startled. My house shook. My bed rocked. Its a strange sensation, really, because your entire surroundings shake. The whole house--the windows rattled, the whole foundation of EVERYthing shakes. Luckily my China teacup collection didn´t fall off the wall.
(Nah, just kidding, I don´t have a China teacup collection)

Later I found out that the reason this felt the strongest was because it actually originated in Antigua, Guatemala! It was only a 3.8 on the Richter scale, but since it originated in Antigua, it felt a lot stronger. It lasted 6 seconds, which doesn´t sound that long, but trust me, it feels long. 6 whole seconds of foundation-rattling? No thank you. I´ll pass.

But, you can add that to the list of natural ¨disasters¨ that I´ve experienced while living here....earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes-turned tropical storms, floods, and landslides. I am starting to appreciate Minnesota´s relatively flat, dry, and solid landscape...where the biggest fear is a hail storm or tornado.

The Latest

Not too much to report in a world of no vision teams and rain. Haha but I will do my best to give a report.
The biggest news around here is that Shelly bought a puppy...a cocker spaniel that is SO cute that I actually have fallen in love. I usually don´t like dogs, (at all) but this one I love! Probably because its so small and sleepy and adorable. VERY cute. Ya quiero un perrrrrooo!
What else is there...hmm yesterday Mo, Kevin, and I went on an excercise jaunt to a nearby soccer field, ran some laps around the track, and played a little soccer. It was fun to get out and excercise! Although today my nose is not thanking me; little did I know the sun was actually quite strong beneath the clouds. (Also, my running muscles are not thanking me, because the majority of exercise I do is walking and dancing. Neither of which are RUnning.)
But it felt good.
Also. What most definitely did NOT feel good: Seeing allllll my roomates and allllll my college friends and fellow classmates of 2010 going back for homecoming this past weekend. Seeing all the pics and statuses on fb? IT. WAS. TORTURE. SOOO not fair! Homecoming the year after is like, THE biggest thing for the graduates to come back for..and I missed it. OH well. I will try not to get TOO jealous by looking at all the pictures, and remind myself that the time will come when I can come back for reunions this winter to good ol´ CSB/ SJU.

On another note...
Best Buy comes in a couple of weeks! I am already getting excited and pressing forward with their planning. Should be a fun group, I will undoubtedly learn a lot.

This Sunday, I am spending 8-5 translating for a doctor from the states in an Antigua Hospital. That will be 1) a very good experience and 2) very very, VERY nerve-wracking. I dont know how I feel about translating in a hospital setting, translating around here (without blood) is already stressful enough, trying to separate out the two languages in my head and speak to each party in their respective language. Its harder than it sounds, people! Its really easy to start speaking to the Americans in Spanish, because you´ve just been conversing with the Spanish-speaker, and then sometimes its so easy to begin the conversation in Spanish. But, it will undoubtedly be an amazing experience, and give me a glimpse into the life of a translator in the states. (In case its ever something I want to do when I get back.)

I think thats about all for now...I can´t believe that its already October. It seriously feels like....June. (Surprise, surprise, its felt like June for 4 months!) Haha. But the sun is FINally out today, so I am ever thankful. Its the first day without rain or clouds that we´ve had in....oh....uh...4 months? Haha no jk. Maybe like 2 or 3 weeks however. I cannot believe it did not rain ONE DROP today!!!!!!
In 40 minutes, I plan on walking home, (in the SUN) opening my windows (to let the SUN in) and making dinner and eating upstairs (in the SUN) on my terrace. Should be wonderful :)