Coming home

Just getting home after an extra-long micro ride back from Coban. Caught the last one out, so standing-room only the whole hour and a half. Not fun, but definitely a good arm work-out holding onto the ceiling bar for dear life. But as we finally pulled into Campur, I realized that the relief I felt wasn't only being able to get off the cramped, stuffy bus, but because I felt like I was coming home…the smell of burning garbage, the rocky roads, the tone-deaf singing at the evangelical church, the sticky air…the campo officially feels like home to me.

Went into Carchá yesterday to visit a fellow volunteer and avoid having to leave at 5am today to get to my Q'eqchi' lesson on time. It was quite lovely…made a yummy mushroom pasta dish, garlic bread, and we even splurged for a bottle of wine. It wasn't until we got it back to the house, though, that we realized: no cork screw. Oops. But as true Peace Corps volunteers, we were resourceful, and ended up hacking the cork out in pieces with a pocket knife (this is after we tried banging the bottom of the bottle against the wall for 5 minutes…apparently the pressure is supposed to push the cork out gradually…not as easy as it sounds). All in all, a lovely night of venting and good food. This morning I got up early and met with Liliana, my new private Q'eqchi' teacher. She's great, and really pushes me…it's exactly what I need to really start getting the language down. It is quite an experience learning a third language via my second…but I'm quickly learning that Q'eqchi' grammar is a lot English verb tenses, without all those pesky irregulars.

Back home with a fresh list of vocal words to learn. Settling in for the night with a big bowl of cereal and a book. Goodnight all.