Reflection #2

We´re doing good! Two days in a row so far! (We´ll see how this keeps up haha)

Going off of my first reflection--which really wasn´t all that long or reflection-y--
Being here for a whole year has changed me in many ways. The biggest change?
I´ve grown up. A lot. In just one years time.
I imagine this happens to a lot of people when they graduate from college and join the ¨real-people¨ world; growing-up generally happens pretty quickly.
Down here, however, not only have I joined the ¨real-people¨ world, with a Monday-Friday 8-5 job, but I have done so in a third-world country. That makes for real quick maturing, let me tell you that much!
I have learned how to have a full-time job--how to interact with a boss, coworkers, have departmental bi-monthly meetings, how to be tactful when other coworkers´opinions are not the same as mine, (so, in other words, when they´re wrong) and of course how to lead my teams.
I have developed as a leader--I enjoyed being a leader before I came, but I think being the ¨mother¨ of a bunch of adults in Guatemala, sometimes twice my age if not more, really solidified that role and that part of my personality. (Eat this, don´t eat this, drink lots of water, but not from the faucet, you go here, you go there, LISTEN UP, don´t throw your toilet paper in the toilet unless on CH grounds, do what I say at all times, etc.)
It is fun, really!
So anyways, I have developed professionally.
How else have I matured?
Well, I have my own house. I am responsible for cleaning my own house, buying my own groceries, paying my own rent, etc. Instead of waking up on Saturday mornings and heading straight out to the deck like I do in Brainerd, I first wake up and start sweeping the floors and washing the sink. Washing clothes in the pila. Cleaning the bathroom. (Then, of course, after all that, I make time to go up to the terrace and tan!) But, I usually wake up Saturday mornings ready to clean. And it doesnt bother me! Weird, I know. But I think its because its my own house, my own mess, and when I keep it clean, its never too much work.

So how do I know I have matured? I wake up on Saturday mornings (sometimes at 7:30, 8, whenever I wake up,) and clean. Hahaha I am an old lady.
Besides that how do I know?
I make lentil soup on Saturday nights with classical music blaring. ( I literally did this last week; I am turning into my mother!) Which is not a bad thing! Like mother, like daugheter :) Or however the saying goes. But Mom I seriously didn´t realize how much I was acting like you, and then all of a sudden it hit me, (mid-Mozart symphony,) and I burst out laughing, because I am turning into YOU! (It was quite a lovely Saturday night, by the way, and the soup turned out great, despite the fact that I had to use fresh EVERYTHING, including make my own broth, because they dont have canned tomatoes or canned chicken broth here.)
Anyways.

I cook more. I water my plants. I pay bills. I live on a BUDGET. (This is a first for me, and has taught me important skills!) I buy expensive groceries only when I have ¨a little extra¨ that month. I don´t go shopping all the time. (This, folks, is saying a lot.) I have probably bought about... 4 items of clothing for myself in the past year. Seriously. Not exaggerating. (Wow. How is that possible??) Which brings me to a good stopping place for my rambling and a good next reflection topic...how I have learned to live simply.

Love to all! See you in 17 days :(