Last night I didn't sleep well, I ended up going back to bed and sleeping until 12. I think my body is worn out from all the walking I'm not used to doing, and my brain is tired from processing all the Spanish I'm not used to hearing all day, everyday!
I am taking today to get situated and hopefully finish unpacking
. (I've been here a week and still haven't done it!)
And since it's national coffee day, I came to get coffee at my favorite little place in Antigua.
Yesterday and the day before I went to serve at Village of Hope. The first day I did about 14 haircuts but the second day I only did 3. My friends are here serving also and I wanted to help with them instead!
So I got to sweep out water from a storage room so they could paint in there, use a machete and cut down weeds, have lunch with the kids, take a tour around VOH, meet the nannies and see the property. It was a good day!
People here have jobs with intense physical labor AND they walk to and from work, sometimes in the rain, and sometimes climbing on a packed bus with 60+ other people. All of which I have experienced this week.
It makes me grateful for having a car in the states to get to work and home in a timely manor without getting soaked from rain or sweating my bum off from walking and sitting on a bus packed like sardines.
At the end of my first week, I can say I have a lot of respect for the people here. My feet hurt from walking so much, my back hurts from carrying my things with me, my knees hurt from sitting so squished on the bus and they live this day in and day out.
And my life is STILL so privileged here. I have a bed to sleep in, hot water and food to eat. Some people don't even have that. And yet, they still have so much joy! I can learn a lot from them.
I am looking forward to the day that my Spanish is enough for me to have proper conversations with people to ask questions and talk with them about their lives. Right now I speak enough to get by and it's getting better every day. When you're in a store with no one that speaks English and you need to buy something... it's amazing how your brain figures it out!!!
Tomorrow I am meeting with The Parkers (my friends from home that came to serve here) and Pastor Cesar and his wife, Amy, to spend the day with them!
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