Verapaz

I thought it would appropriate to talk about the name of my department in this blog.  Verapaz loosely translates into "True Peace".  Something that many of us may not ever find on this planet, but is important none the less.  I feel like being here, even though it has only been for a month, has begun to teach me a lesson that will probably be my hardest lesson here.  Finding true peace. Not only in my day to day life and inside, but true peace with those around me.  My life has slowed down since moving here to something that would have driven me absolutely crazy back in the states and sent me into a frenzy on the internet trying to find something more.  Something else I could be involved in.  I will not lie and say that I haven't gone into that frenzy here, but as each day passes I am finding more and more peace within myself to just be.  Just be here in this community at this time with these people and REALLY learn something.  Learn something about a new culture, learn something about myself.  Its amazing the things that can come up in conversations with people in town. The connections that I can have.  for example I bought a dining room table last week (and when I say dinning room table I really mean a small table that is now pushed up against the wall in the room that I have Dubbed as my kitchen) and was struggling to get it back to my apartment, well two guys in my town on their break for lunch threw my table in the back of the truck and took me the last block and a half to my home.  While driving i was talking to the young guy and found out that he had just returned from Gastonia, NC.  Working in construction.  We talked a little about sonic and walmart and then it was time for me to carry my table up my stairs.  But it was so nice knowing someone who sorta knew where my home was!

The more time I spend with my host family is also time that i end up feel fulfilled.  Just learning about their lives before I became a part of it and learning about their families has opened my eyes to so much more.  My host mom struggled to put herself through school against her parents wishes.  She slept on the floor of a room, which she shared with two other girls, cleaned in the afternoons, and worked in as many on the side jobs as possible.  She and her husband still have this mentality working incredibly hard so that their two oldest children can attend private schools in Coban and Salama.  They are saving now so that their son can go to medical school in Cuba in a couple of years, but are always generously buying my mangos, bananas, and cokes during our talks.

This "true peace" is something I know I will carry on after my time in Peace Corps comes to an end.  I am beginning to accept that my life will not be the fast pace go.go.go. that it was in college and even last fall as I waited to leave for this adventure.  But I am coming to peace that I now have the time to learn how to make paper cranes, help with the local english lessons that a north american evangelical lady does every wednesday,  and learn achi (the local mayan language).  I am finding that now when I slow down I can actually see the beauty around me.  I saw a bright blue and yellow parrot on the way to some of my schools this morning. I know that this is something I will struggle with week to week, but I hope that I can remember what this place is giving me day to day.

Until next time....