My squad and I have officially been on the field for a month! Here are just a couple things I’ve learned this month:

 

    1. Guatemala is truly one of the most beautiful places ever.

  1. The guys on T-squad are constantly hungry, and will do some pretty great things to get food. (Pictured below is a poem written by Jordan Kouri in exchange for a packet of oatmeal) 
  2. Peanut butter is like gold on World Race. My team goes through an average of 2 jars a week.
  3. It’s better to attempt to speak Spanish and get laughed at then it is to not try at all.
  4. Personal space is a lie (Pictured below is a chicken bus, our normal mode of transportation
  5. I am so much more of an extrovert than I thought. I spent my first real alone time in a month this week when I had a room to myself the first night of debrief and it was the worst. I missed my team the entire night and was incredibly bored.
  6. Our clothes will never really be clean again due to our lack of skills when it comes to hand washing laundry.
  7. Don’t leave one arm flailing away from your body when cliff jumping because you will have a huge bruise the next day.

  8. Corn tortillas are actually good in other countries.
  9. You can fit 53 people in a 15 passenger van if you try hard enough.
  10. You can use anything around you to work out, including a hydro flask for a dumbbell and garden walls for box jumps. 
  11. If during a house visit you are given a sketchy drink, it is totally normal to pray away the parasites. And so far we are parasite free! 
  12. You can eat on under $5 a day, even if it is chip tacos- a super fancy dinner invented by the guys that consists of tortilla chips inside of a tortilla.
  13. 6 girls sharing a room means So. Much. Hair. Everywhere.
  14. Community is so sweet. I have fallen in love with living with 53 other people, and they are truly like family now.