In high school, I hated Spanish, couldn't wait to be done with it; now I miss it every day. When I was leaving for Guatemala, the question about communication varied depending on how well the person asking actually knew me - "Are you fluent?/what are you going to do about Spanish?" My high school friends obviously asked the second question and strangers typically assumed the first. My response, however, never wavered - "ehh, I'll figure it out when I get there."
Throughout the first few months of living in San Lucas, any time a Guatemalan even looked like they were going to speak to me, I would be terrified. It was a little disheartening to feel so lost in a language and even nervous to practice. My worries spanned across the board - that I wouldn't understand them, that I wouldn't know how to respond, that they wouldn't understand my response, etc. To say my social anxiety was through the roof would be an understatement.
Then one night at dinner, we were talking about a construction project that was going to be started in January (almost a year ago today); they wanted at least two long-term volunteers present full time so that there could be some consistency in personnel. Before I could stop myself, my hand was in the air to offer to be one of the LTVs at the work site for the proceeding 3 months. This was the best decision I made during my whole time abroad.
The first day at the worksite, a guy from the States named Jereme was getting Rachel and me acquainted with what the construction site would look like. He'd lived in Guatemal, been an LTV himself, and also works in construction in CA, so it was obvious he was comfortable in this setting; I was immediately intimidated. We started out getting an English tour of the layout, then he started asking us what construction words we knew in Spanish. I knew none and wanted to die. I thought to myself, "what the hell am I doing here?"
Fast forward 5 months and I was sitting on the roof top of my house with a couple other volunteers, when one of them asked me what my favorite memory or accomplishment of living in San Lucas had been. Boni's house was, and still is, my response. However, it wasn't just the physical construction of the house that was my favorite memory, it was what I learned while helping build it. My Spanish vocab increased like I could never have anticipated, but more so did my confidence. I became comfortable with the guys I worked with and could tease and joke with them. The ability to communicate humor is the absolute best thing that came from working on Boni's house.
As I prepare to go back to San Lucas, I've been reflecting on why I want to return. There are the obvious reasons of seeing the places and people I love (and eating the tacos in the central park), but there's one more thing I hadn't realized until now - interpreting is a huge responsibility and used to scare me a lot. I am by no means completely comfortable with it still, but there's something really special about interpreting that hadn't occurred to me until recently. The people I get to interpret for totally trust me to communicate their thoughts, concerns, and thanks. Yeah that's a lot of responsibility, but that is such a cool thing to be able to do for someone.
Interpreting is something that I've grown to really appreciate. When I was in San Lucas, it was sometimes challenging to enjoy it because it's hard work; it is absolutely exhausting to interpret for a whole day. However, after being separated from the language for awhile now and missing my Guatemalan jokes, it's something I cannot wait to get back to and will not be taking for granted again. I'm so incredibly blessed to be able to return to Guatemala this May to do something I've learned to love.
Finally, to answer everyone's old questions - no, I'm not fluent and yes, I will continue to just roll with the punches and figure things out as I go - I've kind of grown to like the unknown actually.
So this is where I leave you, asking for your thoughts, prayers, good vibes, and donations. I can’t thank you all enough for the love and support you’ve given me over the past couple years. If there is anything at all that I can give you in return, please let me know. Thanks for helping me pursue my dreams, for always believing in me, challenging me, and giving me the courage to never let an adventure get away from me. I love you all
https://fundly.com/give-back-project-guatemala <-- donate here!