I just ate some chocolate chips. Yum.

Here I sit on the couch wasting time playing on Facebook. So I thought I had better write a post. 

A couple of months ago I was lamenting in my head that I had nothing to write about in my blog and how sad for my followers. Now I have a lot to write about and I am just not doing it! Shame on me. :(

I have now been in Chimaltenango for a month. Well, on Monday it will be a month. :) I love, love, love my apartment. It sits on the highway which is a 2 lane road of madness that leads into (and consequently, out of) Chimal. My room sits right in front of it. Lucky me. After a week of waking up at 5 (yes, 5 in the MORNING) to the symphony of bus horns, I got used to the noise. I can now successfully sleep until I feel like it. Or until my alarm goes off. I think God has blessed me with the gift of sleep. Yay! 

My place sits on top of a motorcycle parts shop. And the repair shop is right next door. And the new repair shop is being built out behind my place. My view while making lunch was two guys bending rebar on the wall. Fun? Awkward? You choose. 

You walk into the front door and enter the kitchen. A fairly good size room with a whole inch of counter space bordering the sink.  At least I have a table to work on! This kitchen gets used often due to the fact that I can't go out at night to buy fast food. :) I don't have a vehicle (yet) and it is too dangerous to walk around by myself after dark. I make waffles with chocolate chips, chicken and pineapple pizza, fried egg and cheese sandwiches. Hmmm. Who needs fast food to keep my stomach diameter on the rise??!! I also got a fridge at a really great deal. I was so proud of myself. It was used but by a cafe run by North Americans so I figured it would be in okay shape. Didn't realize until I got it here that there were no shelves in it!!!!! Just the fruit drawer at the bottom. What a steal! :)

The one problem with the sink is that you have to turn the tap the wrong way to turn it on and off. After 4 weeks of being here I STILL get it wrong about 97% of the time. Even when I consciously think about it!!

Then you walk into the living room (the three rooms are in a straight line). I have a couch, 2 arm chairs and a TV! With lots of cable. I pretty much just watch one channel. It is english programs with subtitles. I am supposed to be relaxing!!! I don't want to try and understand the cheesy, cheesy spanish soap operas. :) It is a bunch of shows like NCIS, CSI, Criminal Minds, etc. I have become a little hooked on Criminal Minds. Which surprises me because it often scares me! I think the living room is the smallest.

The bedroom is last. It is an okay size for me. Bigger than my place in Kamloops! And I have 2 dressers! Which is great. I bought my own bed. I was only going to buy a double because I thought I wouldn't be too selfish and get a queen. But then a friend of mine said that it is hard to get good sheets for a double in the States. I figured I wouldn't take the chance that it was the same in Canada. And the sheets here are..... Ridiculous!!!! I had to wear my pants tucked into my socks at night because the sheets felt so terrible that I kept waking up! Apparently I am a princess because Taraleigh had no problem when she came. Hmmm. Anyway, I am going to buy sheets when I get home. Right now Maureen is letting me use hers. It is so nice to sleep sockless again! 

The bathroom is below my kitchen. So I have to go outside and down the stairs to get to it. And it is TINY! I stand in the shower to brush my teeth in front of the sink. But it works. The shower head is new so it is great. Going to the bathroom at night used to be a problem. They go down in a circle so I had to walk underneath two spiderwebs that housed 2 large spiders. I don't know if they jump but I didn't want to find out. I admit it, I ran underneath them. I also didn't want to look up because if they were to "jump" I didn't want them to land in my eye. So I bought Raid and was afraid to use it. I thought if I hit them with not enough and they fell and then I couldn't find them anymore and then what would I do! They would just pop up in some unexpected place! But I tell you, Raid is your friend!!!! I just sprayed and sprayed and sprayed and they tried to run but eventually just curled up in a dead little ball in their web. Which bothered me to see their dead bodies. But not as much as seeing their live bodies! They are gone now. YAY! The construction guys must have seen it and got rid of it. They sweep my steps every day when construction materials fall on it. How great is my landlord!!! (I forgot to mention he owns the moto repair and parts shops and is building the new one. So he gets them to sweep it for me.) He also carried my big 5 gallon water jugs up the stairs for me. And when I moved in he got the construction guys to help with my bed, fridge and all my stuff. He is very thoughtful. 

There are also 2 other families living in this little area. There is a main door on the highway and when you enter it (next to the shop) there is a long driveway and another small apartment with a family there. And then a bigger house with another family. The house has the brother and his family, the apartment has the sister and her family, and my landlord is another brother. Maureen has known this family since she arrived in Guatemala 19 years ago. So I feel good about living here. They are trustworthy and very kind!

I can walk to the children's home every day which is really nice. It takes about 20-25 minutes depending how tired I am. The bus takes about 3 minutes but I don't like to wait for it and I don't really think there is a schedule for the in-town buses. Not that I can figure out anyway. Which is also not surprising. 

I will write more about my work in another post. Just want to mention that it is a volunteer position. I will be with them until March 31 when I will go home for a visit. 

So that is a little glimpse into my living space. I love it! And it is much cheaper to live here than in Antigua. So I can't complain there. :)

My next post will be on the summer camp I attended this week with the kids. It was great! Tiring but so worth it to see the smiles on the kids faces. Real joy at the simple things, simple bits of attention from others. Makes me embarrassed to not always find the joy in interacting with others. So stay tuned! 

Cute lil' story.

The kids from the boys and girls home that my pastors run stand at the church exit every week with a big plastic container for donations. They regularly visit an old folks home and a home for kids with AIDS and the donations go towards buying snacks etc. 

So today we had some visitors from the U.S. When I was headed to the back door I saw the boy with the container and THE biggest smile on his face saying to another adult "they put a bill from the U.S. in" He even let us peek in to see it but his smile was the best! I loved it. 

I also was picked up this morning by another couple who attend our church who had some of the girls from the home in their van. I was waiting for the bus and not paying attention when the van stopped beside me. In my best ignoring stance I refused to look in it. Then I heard my name being yelled from within the vehicle. :) Anyway, there was a little girl in there named Marisol and she is 3. The perfect age and size in my opinion. We walked into church together holding hands. Then I started tickling her and pulled her onto my lap. It was the best feeling. I regularly tickle my friends girls at home and I had forgotten how good it felt! If I could have taken her home I really would have. She was very chatty and had a constant smile. 

A lot has happened this week. I have a new job in a new city, with a new apartment, a new fridge and tomorrow I will buy a new mattress. Actually, the fridge is "new to me". What a funny saying! Just say used! I may have ranted about this once before. :) And amazing things happened along with all this new stuff. But I don't have time to write about it now as I am packing. Or going to pack. Or gearing up to pack. Or avoiding packing. 

As always, there are mixed emotions about leaving. I am very excited to start a new job and have my own apartment. I have been wanting my own space for a while. But, I have been with this family for 5 1/2 months and I feel very comfortable here. My "mother" eats my onions for me, she ironed my blouses the other day when I asked to borrow the iron, (thank goodness for that! The last time I ironed something was a work Christmas party in 2004. I bought a new shirt, washed it and decided to iron it. It was some weird material and I melted a line into it! I was so sad.) and regularly go out of their way for me. I will not be far and I will still visit them but I may feel lonely for a bit. Ummmm. Or not. :)

So those with kids, pull then onto your lap and tickle them for me tonight! I may have to go visit Marisol and the others. They are only a 10 min. bus ride from my new place.