"If you have come here to help me, then you are wasting your time. But if you have come here because your liberation is bound up in mine, then let us work together" -Lilla Watson, Aboriginal Activist

Friday, March 4, 2011

Reacostumbrandome...

I don't know why I ever believe myself when I think "I won't need my book today." Here I sit, 25 minutes into an emergency parent-teacher meeting that's completely in Q'eqchi' (and by "emergency" it means it wasn't planned until about an hour ago, 5 minutes before my women's group meeting was to begin). So instead of reading my book (which I would love to be doing right now), I'm doodling and scribbling this blog entry on a scrap piece of paper, waiting for the meeting to finish so I can have the floor and start the women's meeting.

These past two months of travel have really left me out of shape in more way than one. I have blisters on my hands from sweeping the daily polvo (dust) out of my house and from wringing out my laundry. I have blisters on my feet from walking the rocky dirt paths up to my schools. I had to go back through the market twice last Wednesday because I kept forgetting things. I've forgotten almost all of my conversational Q'eqchi', and even though I've been waking up early, I can't seem to get back to my 9pm bedtime (and am therefore sleep-deprived). And this is now the third day in a row that I've found myself wishing I had brought the book that I didn't bring because I didn't think I'd have the free time to kill. But surely this readjustment will be ever so easy compared to the initial adjustment I went through when I first got here. I'll just have to suck it up, slap on some band-aids, bust out the Q'eqchi' flash cards, and get back on track.

And from now on, I'm bringing my book.

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