the next existence

i'm sitting in the Belize city airport, waiting for the first plane to take us to el Salvador before we arrive in Guatemala. the thirteen of us with assignments requiring Spanish training are sitting or laying down on the wooden benches, reading, listening to music, writing... and smelling delicious. we found the duty free perfume store and found our favorite scents; i reminisced about the various chapters in my life that each scent defined.
prior to all this, we bonded together for a cause: to finish someone's bottle of brandy on the way to the airport... crammed into a white van... with all our luggage on top and underneath us...
i am currently in love with this life.

we spend one scrumptious night in Guatemala city, in what i believe must be the most decadent howard johnson hotel on earth. we cherish every second we have with these massive fluffy beds and these beautiful tile showers- this is something we will not come across frequently in the next two years and we know it. we devour our magnificent complimentary breakfast and sit in the lobby and wait, surrounded again by our luggage. we live out of suitcases- i'm used to seeing these bags all the time now.

once picked up, we are dropped off at our new host family homes, one by one. i can't imagine what it will be like for the 9 volunteers in the bunch that are coming here with no Spanish background whatsoever... i am helping them understand what the driver is trying to tell us, but then they are dropped off with a family of strangers who speak no English...
my family consists of one woman, but the house always has grandchildren running around. my new best friend's name is Andrea; she is 9 years old and she is spectacular. upon my arrival she shoved her coloring book and crayons in my lap and we worked on the picture together as she spoke to me in slow, clear Spanish. after a game of English/Spanish cherades that she invents, i can already tell she will be my greatest Spanish teacher here.

the training center is lovely- hanging plants, neatly manicured greenery, a futbol field, and another wondrous peacecorps library- the great land of book exchange happiness. i had one of the longest interviews with a language teacher today- this guy just couldn't get enough of my broken Spanish. i apologized for slaughtering his language.

after all the heat of Belize, i was actually pretty cold tonight, walking the streets in a drizzle with my host mother and the grandkids. humidity is low and the rain is plentiful.

my brain is exhausted from straining to form sentences and make sense of these short conversations. tonight, it doesn't take long for me to fall asleep.