Not a crazy cat lady, but...

Today I’m thankful for my cat, Manchas. She’s traveled the world with me, from Colombia to the US to Guatemala (poor kitty didn’t get to go to Europe with me though).  I let her out after work today and when I left for Bible study several hours later she was still outside, nowhere to be seen.  Last I’d seen her she was walking along the top of the wall that surrounds the yard, heading towards the neighbor’s to check out the excruciatingly loud fireworks coming from the vicinity.  I figured she’d be back by the time I got home, and sure enough, as I walked back into the yard a few hours later, my mind on other things, she came streaking across the yard to me to greet me.  She followed me like a shadow into the house, and then curled up next to me on the couch purring as I read before bed.  She’s good company.

I'll be home for Christmas...and bringing someone with me!

Today started off with gratefulness at 1:30 am.

I woke up randomly in the middle of the night and checked my watch- 1:27 am, plus 8 equals 9:27 am in Finland.  Cristian’s appointment for a visitor’s visa at the US embassy was scheduled at 9:30 am.  I froze, undecided if I should message him right at that moment- there’s an entire page of dos and don’ts for visiting the embassy and I didn’t want him to get a notification at just the wrong time.

So, instead, I prayed that whoever listened to him and received his paperwork would grant the visa. And then, just a few minutes after 1:30, I decided that it would be safe to message him because his phone should be locked in a locker by then.  When I turned on my phone I saw I already had a message from him, received at 1:30 on the dot.  One word.  Approved!

So, now my heart sings, skips, and jumps with thankfulness.  Guess who will be spending Christmas with my family and I?

Election day!

The sign outside the local polling station, held at the school.

Today I’m grateful for democracy.  Guatemala elected their new president today, and while I sat with friends eating dinner after church, we watched the results come in.  While it’s not a perfect system (here, or in the US), we still have so many freedoms I know I take for granted.  And the thing about democracy is, it doesn’t work perfectly, but it does work.  Since I’ve been here, scandals about corruption regarding the president and vice president erupted.  The vice president was pushed to resign, followed by the resignation of the president several months later.  That never would have happened in a country that didn’t allow for the right to protest against the government.  And in these elections the winner was a surprise political outsider as people reacted against the former frontrunner with too many ties to corrupt politicians.

A restaurant in town on election day, the sign says "come with your finger marked that you voted and for the purchase of a crepe or waffle, get a free drink"

I know very little about Jimmy Morales, Guatemala’s next president.  But, I do know that democracy is working and that gives me hope for Guatemala’s future, and for the future of the US as well. 

Halloween Thrift Store Shopping

I'm thankful for the fun of pulling together a Halloween costume (which I won't show you now, because that takes all the fun and surprise out of it...)

I headed up Calle Principal after breakfast to scour the "pacas", the Guatemalan version of thrift stops.  The first one I come to is claustrophobically crowded with clothes, and two employees are going through more clothing to hang on the racks (Clothing comes down from the States in giant bales. I have to wonder if it's the clothes our 2nd hand shops don't sell and then send on when they get new donations).  There doesn't quite seem to be room for another person in there, so I skip it and head into the next, almost directly across the street. Everything is packed so tightly on the racks it's hard at first to discern if there's any order, but it seems that at the very least kids clothes and adult's clothes are separated.  I find a couple shirts that might work- but one's too big and the other's not really the right color, so I pop into the next one, practically next store.

One of many Pacas

I make my way up the street, searching through just discernibly organized racks of clothes (no size or color organization here).  By the time I've gone into the 4th shop on the block I've found what I'm looking for and continue on to the fabric shop.  It's just another couple of blocks away, but I think I pass another 4 pacas before I get there.  The man behind the counter cuts off 3 yards of ribbon for me and I head off to my 2nd to last stop- the market.  The inside of the market is like a maze of little stalls.  I'm looking for a hat and I'm not sure they sell them here, but if 6 months of life in Pana have taught me anything, it's that if you can't find it in the market, it might not be for sale.  So, I wind through the narrow stalls, trying to go about it in an orderly way so I don't miss anything.  Finally, I spy a table stacked with hats.  I pick one up and look at it.  It's 200 Q ($25), out of my price range for a Halloween costume.  The woman shows me her "economic" options, tells me they're 90 Q, but she'll give me a discount of 85.  I try it on, look interested but not convinced.  She drops it to 80.  I figure I really need the hat to complete my costume, so I buy it.  There's only one thing left on my list- fake flowers.  I have a faint recollection that I may have seen them in a store that reminds me of the dollar store if the dollar store had aisles that were so narrow it's hard to pass someone.  My memory doesn't fail me and I find the flowers in a narrow row between office supplies and kitchen wares.  Everything purchased, I look at my watch as I walk home- it's only been an hour.  Not bad at all for the number of shops I went into!

The hammock life

I'm thankful for naps in my hammock in the sun.

They say it's easier to ask forgiveness than to ask permission, but I figured I wanted to keep things on the right foot with my landlady.  So, one day as I ran into her on my way out of the gate, I asked if she minded if I put up a hammock.  She found some weight bearing beams and said that was fine.    So I headed off to the artisan shops that line the street just a block from where I live.  Best $20 I ever spent.   When my back porch was a bit small for the hammock and the leaky porch roof meant it was perpetually wet, my landlady asked the men who were remodeling another of her houses to build me a frame.  So now my hammock sits on my front porch, nice and dry.  I'm sitting there now (my internet works better out here than indoors) and today there's a nice breeze.  I have a beautiful view of the mountains surrounding me and sometimes, if I'm lucky, a humming bird comes and visits.

Colors

Today I’m grateful for living in a colorful world.  (100 days of Gratitude day 2)

When I moved into my apartment in Finland, I was overwhelmed by the white: White walls, white ceilings, white floors, white furniture.  The first thing I wanted to do was splash color everywhere.  Here, color surrounds me: women wearing intricately embroidered shirts, storefronts painted vivid pinks and bright yellows, woven tablecloths in every open air restaurant, blocks of stalls selling shoes, purses, bedspreads, and rugs in a riot of colors. Everywhere I go, a feast for my sense of sight. 

Bolts of Guatemalan woven fabric for sale

100 days of gratitude

My blog has been sadly neglected lately. I've also been a bit down, focused on my disappointments and frustrations instead of the things that bring smiles to my life. So, in order to cultivate a spirit of gratitude, and start sharing glimpses of my life with you again, I've arbitrarily decided to blog 100 things that I am grateful for. No promises on how long it will take me to post 100 days worth....

But without further ado...

Today I’m grateful for raindrop bejeweled flowers. This one stopped me in my tracks on the way home from work. We’re headed into the end of rainy season, and while fording rivers in the streets and remembering an umbrella every time I head out the door can complicate things, there’s also the coziness of an evening inside listening to the rain on the roof. A rainy afternoon is a bit like a snow day (and luckily for me, the rain usually waits until the afternoon, after I’m back from work, to start). Unless something is really important, it’s easy to say “it can wait til tomorrow” and curl up on my couch with a book.  So I'm thankful for the rain, that leaves flowers dazzling, paints the world green, and gives me the perfect excuse for cozy evenings at home.