A Truly Humbling…and Bumpy Encounter

I just had the most humbling experience here thus far….my friend and I were feeling tired and lazy, and decided to leave our Friday evening festivities early. We were both strolling the streets walking home, feeling a little guilty for leaving, and also overwhelmed by the amount of work we have to accomplish in the next few days.

Here’s a little needed back story: every few days I see the same girl in a wheelchair on Calle Rancho Grande ( a street a few down from mine), being pushed by someone, usually a mom or dad, up and down, up and down the street. I've noticed her before. She always moves slowly, obviously….I can barely even walk the cobble stone dangerous streets, let alone push a wheel chair down them….but her family maintains this air of peace and content, moving at the pace that is inclusive of their whole family...patient and kind.

Tonight I turned onto Rancho. It was dark, no people in sight except for this wheel chair creeping along ahead of me, and her little brother, the size of one of my students, attempting to push her up the cobble stone hill. Cobble stone is an understatement…these streets are broken boulders, cracked in all places. There is no level concrete, and occasional 5 inch dips. It's impossible to take 3 steps without stubbing a toe, or tripping.  I watched them for a minute, not really comprehending what I was witnessing. My mind was racing through all the things I need to do tomorrow, all the stress I'm holding in, and all the "Guatemalan inconveniences" I’ve been dealing with this week (nonfunctioning internet stick, troubled students, so much planning etc). The next thing I know, her wheel chair hit a bump and her little brother was not strong enough to catch her, so this girl is lying face first, immobile in the street. I didn't even think,…I just started sprinting toward them. It was like this sense of humanity was driving me…. "puedo ayudarte por favor?" Can I please help you? – My Spanish words jumbled together, in a tone much calmer than my racing heartbeat.

I reached down, and lifted her, placing her back into her wheelchair, and then offered to roll her up the street. The little brother looked relieved, as he was rubbing his hands, like they'd been blistered from pushing her so far up the hill…who knows how far they'd come. We started chatting, and I learned he was only 7 years old. She was 12 and has been handicapped her whole life…everyday someone in her family takes turns rolling her up and down the street. It takes a long time for their family to get anywhere, but they are  used to it. It is they way of life.

After 5 minutes of pushing her, anticipating every bump we hit, and maneuvering around every loose stone, I was sure we were almost at her destination, but we kept going and going. I probably pushed her for 10 minutes up the street.  My hands were blistering, having to lift the chair every speed bump we came across or massive pot hole we had to dodge…it took strength to not let the pain be heard in the tone of my voice while talking to them. My arms were shaking and my hands were burning….to think that she does this trek every single day to just leave her house…and to think that her 7 year old brother was going to roll her all the way home….it would have taken 40 minutes to just get up Rancho.  We finally reached a tin roof shack off the side of the road and she said "mi casa"….my arms practically gave out, as did my voice when she thanked me profusely and the little brother reached out to hug me….I stood in shock for a few seconds…and just 20 minutes prior I had been so consumed with "my issues, and inconveniences"…ya my life is really tough, isn't it? 

Wow- we are all placed with an absolute purpose and I was guided to walk that road at 9:30 pm tonight, just as those children were guided to be there, to put my gratitude and life into perspective. We have so much to be grateful for and the power of human connection and our ability to help others and be rejuvenated by the strength and daily courage of others, should never be overlooked. This is a night, a moment of human connection, that I will never forget.

Giving Thanks: Acción de Gracias

Well I officially survived my first Thanksgiving away from home. In fact, as much as I missed the traditional Schoening family street hockey tournament, cousin dish washing extravaganza, and Auntie Marj’s amazing pies, I more than survived – I had an amazing holiday!

We began celebrating on Wednesday night, when one of our local friend's mom offered to cook us all a pre-thanksgiving feast of an…unidentifiable leg, we think pig? It was incredible! We devoured delicious meat, salad, and loved laughing and being present with this new group of friends. A year ago, I never would have imagined having such a sense of community and support in a land oh so far away! But there I was, sitting around a table, with new friends, speaking a new language, eating a new meat. 

My Thanksgiving morning started with a banana-nut pancake breakfast made by the one and only Emily! Meghan, Emily and I shared stories of what we were doing last Thanksgiving over a massive pile of hot cakes and coffee from our favorite café! We truly have become a family and it felt like the exact right way and place to start our Thanksgiving. I am so blessed and grateful to have such supportive friends here!

At 10 we all ventured to Alyssa’s house to cook our contributions for that evening’s feast! The idea of baking cornbreak for 25 had been consuming my thought for the past week and I was ready to conquer the task! After 3 trips to the market, and a backpack full of ingredients and supplies, I was ready! …Everything takes a little more planning, patience and thought when baking/cooking …or frankly doing anything in a foreign country. You would think – easy, get my recipe, go to the store, buy the ingredients and BOOM you’re ready. Well here, it’s find the simplest recipe, translate all the ingredients into Spanish, convert all the cooking measurements, visit 3 different markets (because of course not 1 market offers all the ingredients in one place…that would be far too easy), then go on a mad hunt with two empty backpacks for lugging all the ingredients around!

Meghan and Emily…cooking?

the infamous cornbread

Don’t worry folks, the cornbread turned out amazing…well with the exception of one small loaf. I was getting the loaves all ready on the platters, when a small ant caught my eye in one of the loaves…after scrunching down to take a closer look I realized the whole loaf looked as if it was about to crawl away. Yes…somehow one of the loaves had become infested with a colony of ants in the matter of 1 hour. Again- only in Guate. Buen provecho (Spanish Bon Appétit!).

I’ve been attending a Christian gathering on Sundays at Solomon’s Porch (a spot for people to gather and meet and sing and just be joyful!) It’s an incredible mix of people, both foreigners and locals! Thanks to fellow teacher Jason and his amazing wife, Carrie, I have been welcomed right into this community and have so appreciated the spiritual outlet and sense of family! The directors of the Porch hosted 50 some people to their home Thursday afternoon for a full on Turkey feast! It was such a humbling afternoon, seeing this selfless family give their time, opening up their home and preparing such a feast for anybody and everybody! There were visiting volunteers, expat Americans, and local Guatemalans all gathered around sharing gratitude and feasting on turkey!

The group at Solomon's Thanksgiving lunch

I took some “me” time that afternoon and read some Thanksgiving inspiration down by the lake. I cannot get enough of Lake Atitlán!

The feast that night was hosted by Ana, a mother of a AMA alumna. Again, the hospitality of the people here is humbling! She opened up her home to all of us teachers, friends and families, and we ate and laughed and expressed gratitude…and played Catch Phrase…. all night!

The AMA crew 

It was actually really neat spending Thanksgiving in a country that doesn’t celebrate the day. I walked around all day with an elevated sense of gratitude and love. But for them, it was just another day. I loved that. I was so at peace and this peaceful place allowed me to really recognize the peace and goodness of everyday life here, through every interaction and attempted Spanish conversation. Everyday can be like that. I love these spiritual reminders.

Even though they don’t celebrate Acción de Gracias (thanksgiving), I was able to integrate the idea of giving thanks, and communicating our gratitude in my classroom this past week. We are studying families and what makes our families special in Social Studies and… conveniently enough, we are studying Birds in Science. Naturally that meant we had to make gratitude turkeys!  See what my kids came up with below!

Annnd, like every year….with Thanksgiving over, we are officially encouraged to start celebrating NAVIDAD!!! The day after Thanskgiving, we took the chicken bus to the town up the hill, Sololá, to see the Christmas tree in their central park. It is called Árbol Gallo (sponsored by the biggest local beer company, Gallo, which means rooster). So naturally that means they have a lit Gallo logo on the top of the tree)…only in Guate does their city Christmas tree have an iconic beer symbol to top their tree….angels and stars are overrated.

I am really trying to get in the holiday spirit, but with 80% mornings, and no Starbucks red cups in sight…it’s been a struggle. Last night (to prep for December 1^st), I closed by blinds to block out the sun, cranked the Christmas music and put on my Burts Bees Peppermint chapstick. Applying peppermint chapstick prior to sipping on a hot cup of coffee is the closest I can get to sipping on a peppermint mocha. Hey folks…I’m doing what I can! I’m sure I will continue to get creative with my pseudo sense of ‘Tis the Season!

For now I am off to some lesson planning and market shopping! Thanks again for reading. I’m counting down the days until I come home for my dearest Megan’s wedding and the holiday season!!!