Busy-ness

Almost anyone that I talk to about busy-ness in life will say, “Yeah, I love being busy”. And although I obviously also like to rest (my last blog recounts how many times a day I like to nap), I would completely agree with that statement myself. Here in Guatemala, Brooks and I have been blessed with a good kind of busy, where our days are full and good, but there is still space to be flexible, to spend more time chatting with our host families after meals or to spend more time hanging out with the kids at the orphanage. At college I was always a slave to my schedule, and it is so nice being here and finally having some flexibility with my days. I am guessing this will be a rare moment in my life and I should cherish it, but I also hope this understanding of relationships over time will carry into my life after Guatemala (because I must admit again, I have always been a slave to time). This weekend Brooks and I had a perfect combination of busy-ness and relaxation, chalk full of good relationships. On Friday, we woke up, had breakfast, and I headed over to the orphanage to cash some checks with the orphanage director. Unfortunately, I realized once I was 9/10^th of the way there that I had forgotten the key to the locker in which Brooks and I store our pen pal stuff. I was frustrated, but I decided to stay for a bit to visit with the kids to both kill my frustrated feelings and also to make my trip not feel pointless. After my short morning there, I headed back home in time to send some e-mails and go to the gym with Brooks. At this point I was exhausted – being that it was Friday and I hadn’t had my morning nap – and I was irrationally worried about what was to come in the afternoon. We came back to lunch, and I took a short and intranquil nap and headed over to Brook’s host house to start cooking. Brooks and I had been planning a surprise birthday party that evening for our host parents, and I was worried about everything – whether the guests would come (many hadn’t responded to our calls), how I would get sugar and oil out of the house without Sheny noticing, how we would distract them and get the food and decorations back into the house, if the moment of surprise would be great or ill-timed, and how the food was going to turn out. I started by making a no-bake cheesecake, which did not turn out quite right due to the lack of heavy whipping cream and heavy cream cheese in Guatemala. Ugh; one out of two things I was making for the evening was already bad. Then I chopped vegetables, tried to go back to my room to send some more e-mails, and headed quickly back over to Brooks’ host mom’s kitchen to start making a lasagna, worried it would either be ready too early or too late. The lasagna making process went along just fine, and in the end, with 15 minutes until surprise time, it all layered together quite beautiful. We changed quickly, and then ran between Cony’s house, Sheny’s kitchen, and my room, putting up balloons and signs and putting lasagna in the oven with Sheny only slightly suspicious. The moment of truth came, and Brooks and I stood by the table under our signs, and yelled out surprise when Sheny came out. And luckily, surprised she was. We told her what was awaiting her for dinner, and she was so thankful, graciously saying “gracias” over and over again. Everyone started sitting down, setting out plates, putting the salad (made by Cony) on the table, getting out water glasses. It came down to the last 10 minutes of lasagna time and everything was happening right on time. I pulled out the lasagna when it was golden brown, and although I’ve never made lasagna before, I will boldly say it may be one of the best lasagnas I have ever tasted. Everyone around the table was so joyful, and although it is normal for us to have 12 at a dinner table some nights, this night really did feel especially party-like. The meal was amazing, the company was perfect, and it all went off without a hitch; even the runny no-bake cheesecake was enjoyed. I have no idea now what I was even worried about. We ended the night watching part of Up, which we did not finish both because the DVD stopped playing, and because Brooks and I were too tired from our day to continue.

            On Saturday Brooks and I awoke, had breakfast with our family, and headed out to the orphanage in our work out clothes, ready to finally cash some checks. The plan was to quickly cash the checks, and then head straight to the gym. I haven’t mentioned this yet, but an exciting new addition to our Guatemalan schedule is the news that Brooks and I will now be teaching a yoga class at our gym. Only in Guatemala can two white people with somewhat limited Spanish and without a yoga training certificate, teach a yoga class in Spanish. It was an idea Brooks came up with after doing yoga with our host family once and realizing it is a much desired rarity here; not many people know how to teach it, and we’ve been told the last yoga instructor left Huehue years ago. The plan for Saturday morning was to make signs and start advertising for our class. But of course, Guatemala time goes by differently than American time, and trying to pack a morning with activities doesn’t always work out. We arrived at the orphanage, went to the bank with the checks, and were told they would process them and call us back in half an hour, at which time Sandra (the director) needed to come and sign the paperwork. A few days earlier we had gone to the bank to process the first batch of checks – seven American money orders – and it ended up taking 2 hours. So the promise of a call in 30 minutes was suspicious, but we were hopefully. Of course, about 2 hours ended up passing by before we got the call to head over to the bank with Sandra, and at that point we realized making it to the gym before lunch was not going to happen. We went back home, where I quickly showered and raced to get my clothes in the washing machine. Laundry is oddly a stressful activity for me here (yeah, can you tell I get stressed easily?), because we only have enough water to wash every other day, and it’s important to get the clothes washed and ready to line dry while the sun is still shining and the rain has not started yet. Plus, I didn’t bring a ton of clothes with me, so I really calculate down to the day when I need to wash again, trying to wash less and get more out of my clothes. Of course, as I’ve learned, my stressing was unnecessary and my laundry was done in time. I spent the afternoon sending e-mails, translating letters for our pen pal program, and generally organizing our project information. I was starting to stress again that every child was not going to have a pen pal, because looking down at my list there were still many people that said they would write and have not yet. But talking with Brooks about this, we realized we have more options still, like people that are willing to write to multiple kids, so I told myself to calm down and just let God lead it. That evening we left to spend the night at the orphanage, spending our time before bed hanging out with the babies, eating dinner, passing out clothes Brett and Brooks had donated to the older boys, and passing out pen pal letters. Giving the children a letter is exciting every time, and one little boy, after getting his letter and putting the picture of his pen pal’s family in his wall, pointed to the picture and told Brooks, “This is my family”. So sweet. I stayed the night again in the niñas room, and after reading books and tucking them all in, I slept quite nicely and without pee or other distractions in my bed.

            Sunday we awoke at 6:30am (which is sleeping in at the orphanage), and Brooks and I headed home to read and rest before breakfast. Brooks gave me the first of The Chronicles of Narnia books this morning, and although I never read them as a child, I decided it was now time to see what they were like. I started this morning and am already 150 pages in (so 50 pages from the end), and am loving it. Brooks brought the whole series with him (along with stacks of other books. It’s amazing really how many books he managed to fit in his suitcase), and I am excited to work my way through the series while I’m down here. Brooks and I went in for breakfast at 8am, finding the remains of a party in the living room of our house, and some leftover tamales on the stove. Brooks and I helped ourselves to tamales, and Sheny shuffled in to explain that Otto’s cousins and family had come over last night for a dinner in celebration of Otto’s birthday (which is today). Brooks and I enjoyed our tamales on the patio, and went our separate ways to read and relax. At 11:30am, Brooks and I began practicing our yoga routine, which he will be the instructor for and I the pose model. Although taking instruction from Brooks is difficult for me, we made it through the routine with only a few snide remarks from myself, and I am excited for our class to start on Tuesday. I am nervous too; I have never gracefully made it through an entire yoga routine, and the fact that I have to do it in front of a group of people in order to properly model the poses… Well, I’m nervous about this. After our yoga practice, Brooks accidentally fell asleep on my bed (he didn’t get much sleep last night at the orphanage), and I sat and read some more Narnia. Following this we had lunch with our host family, showered, more reading and some blog writing, and then naptime before church at 4:30pm. Church was again a wonderful experience. Still not quite what I am accustomed to in the States, but with great music, an interesting message comparing soccer with our relationship to Jesus (only in Latin America…), and afterwards Brooks and I met the pastor and song leader, the pastor who told us where his house was and if we ever needed anything we shouldn’t hesitate to come over. We both have a feeling this church will probably be a more comfortable and hopefully homey environment for us. Unfortunately, we only have Sunday evenings to commit to it, but even with that I am excited to see how our relationship grows with them. Sunday evening was finished off with dinner with our family (more tamales. Yum), and watching the rest of Up. By 8pm I was tired and ready for bed, but realized that was a ridiculously early time to go to bed. So I began finishing the Narnia book I had started early that day, as well as Donald Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. Although I haven’t written about this book yet, it has been ever applicable to my life here in Guatemala, and it is a book I highly, highly recommend to everyone. Donald Miller (one of my favorite writers now – a Christian writer from Portland, OR) writes basically about the notion that our lives are stories, and if your life wouldn’t make an interesting story, it is not an interesting life. Miller encourages us all to reevaluate our lives, and essentially seize the day by daring to live better stories. Although this was my second time reading the book, I still got so much encouragement and wisdom from it. Please, if you’re reading this blog, you should go out to a bookstore right now and get Donald Miller’s book. Although living in Guatemala and volunteering at an orphanage is an easy way to be living an exciting story, I strongly believe you don’t have to be on an adventure in a third world country to be living a good story; I am so excited to take the principals I have learned here, and the passion I have built for living a good story, and apply them to my life back in the States.

            This weekend was a great time of both relaxation and time to be involved. Although I have noticed through the process of writing this blog that I worry too much, I am hoping my graceful Guatemalan schedule continues to change that about me. It is important for life to be filled with the makings of a good story, but it is also important to balance these things with enough time to relax and reclaim your sanity. Life will always be a balancing act between the right amount of busy and “stop and smell the roses”, and I think it is a challenge to each one of us to continue searching for this balance in life.