s'mores

I love having visitors because they always give me a new perspective on my experience in Guatemala.

This weekend, I saw Lori again, but in my site this time. To have someone visit who hasn't been living here for a year and a half reminds me that maybe life isn't as easy or as "normal" as I have grown accustommed to thinking. Or at least you have to learn to roll with the punches.

The plan was that we'd go learn to moler queso (final step in making fresh cheese -- grinding it on a rock) with a friend of mine; get the pizza dough ready for dinner (some other PCVs were coming over); go to a youth group campfire/marshmallow roasting activity; make the pizza. While we did go to moler queso, on the walk home it started pouring which soaked my blankets that I had hung out to air. Thus leaving us short on night-time warmth for the group. Next, when we went to buy flour, the power went out indefinitely. Thus no baking pizza in my toaster oven. (Also no showering -- electrically-heated shower -- and I hadn't, and still haven't, showered for a few days.) I also recently lost my headlamp; my normal flashlight is almost dead; and my candles suck. We came home to make some tea. Gas tank empty. No way to cook food. Stores closed by this time. We made the dough anyway, just in case, then prepared for the marshmallow-roasting extravaganza. It started raining. S'mores = cancelled. The outlook for the night became: sit in the dark and eat carrots and apples. And to top it off, my friends coming out specifically for these activities were almost here; too late for them to turn around. But we just laughed and laughed. I hadn't laughed that hard in a long time. It felt good. It also felt good to remind myself that things go wrong here, a lot, and you just have to deal with it. Why get frustrated? Why not just laugh?

In the end, we got lucky. My neighbor agreed to let us use her gas oven to bake the pizzas and take some firewood to make a bonfire on my patio. Then the power came on! So it was actually a spectacular night. Delicious home-made pizza, s'mores and good company. Plus, the neighbor boys experienced their first s'mores ever!

I never know what to expect with each day presented to me here, but I know that with a positive attitude, it always turns out okay.