Adjustments

The first few weeks of PC training are a series of adjustments; adjusting to the climate, the language, the foods, the schedules and the cultural customs. Those are the big things. Currently, I’m learning to adjust to the little things. Like the best way to position my headlamp in the shower b/c there is no light, and where to put my towel because there is no rack or hook in the cinderblock stall (I throw it over the rebar that runs near the shower head. But I also had to learn not to touch the showerhead, as I got a shock when I did). Or how to make the crackling sound stop coming from the outlet in my room when I charge my computer or phone (I rubber band the charger to the outlet; it hangs from the ceiling. After that, I prop it with my pillow so the weight of the charger doesn’t separate the casing from the outlet). What to do when kids in the streets stare at you as you walk home (I personally like the old greet-them-with-the-wrong-time-of-day trick. For example, it is afternoon and I say to them, “buenas noches!”. They die laughing). Adjusting to the ayudantes (helpers) on the buses inevitably trying to charge you more for your fare because you are a gringa and having to politely but sternly ask for proper change. Or trying to listen to the guatemaltecos that generally speak very quietly (for that one, you just hope it’s not raining).
Probably the adjustment that I am still working on, and has done me the most good thus far is the ability to laugh off frustrating or humbling moments and maintain a smile on my face. My fellow PCTs here in Santa Maria Cauque keep me laughing, which I am very greatful for, but there are moments when frustration can overwhelm. It is all about a mindset. I try to remember this quote when I’m in a frustrated mood:

I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I posses tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate of humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. It we treat people as they out to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.
n Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

When I am able to come out of the other side of frustration, I am usually greeted with a joyous moment. Like last night, I arrived home wet and cold from working in the garden in the rain and tired from a day of particularly hard Spanish class. I almost told my family I wouldn’t be eating that night, that I would just rest in my room, but decided to push though myself. At dinner, I nearly peed my pants laughing with my family at Estephani, the 2 year old daughter of Irma who had us wrapped around her finger. I fell asleep that night with all the frustrations of the day a memory.