Take Two...

Starting all over again in a new community is somewhat frustrating and awkward...and I wish I could just fast forward to three or so months from now when I am feeling more settled and comfortable here in my new, and very permanent, site. Just as I had gotten completely (almost) comfortable in my training town and with my training host family in the small aldea of San Luis Las Carretas, I was snatched out of my this created comfort zone and placed in Santa Cruz del Quiché with a whole new family, who has never had a Peace Corps volunteer. This means not only do I have to explain who I am and what I am doing here, I also have to fully explain the Peace Corps...over and over and over and over again...because the Peace Corps is a strange concept to many people (even including within the United States) and explaining it in a foreign language can be quite trying....

So for the second time, I find myself trying to carve a niche for myself in a family that is not my own. While my new family is very gracious and warm, the fit between me and them hasn't been as instantaneous as it seemed to be with my prior host family. They also ask a lot more questions, many of which are the same questions over and over again...like,

"do you speak English well?"

"I sure hope so since it is my native language...!" (Ok, I don't actually respond that way, but I want to!)

"Wait, so you do speak English?"

"Yes, I was born in the United States where the national language is English, and therefore, I had to learn it"

"But your parents are Indian?"

"Yes, but I grew up speaking English in the house"

and this conversation carries on indefinitely...

or: "Wait, were you really born in the United States? Because you don't look like other North Americans"

"So, you are American?"

"You were born in America?"

then I have to explain that the USA is very diverse, etc., which is fine, but having to do this like 30 times a day, sometimes explaining this concept to the same individual is trying...And then when the day is over and a new day begins, they ask me the same questions, as though maybe I was lying the day before and they are testing me, waiting for me to admit to not speaking english and not being born in the USA....Actually, in retrospect it is actually pretty funny, but at the time this usually happens, in my head I am super frustrated, but of course I answer patiently...over...and over...and over again....

Sometimes I feel like I am playing 20 questions, except it is more like a billion questions, and sometimes I just don't feel like answering anymore. But of course I have to, and of course I have to understand where my host family is coming from. They haven't met many North Americans, so, understandably, they are curious. It is just hard having to start from scratch...again...However, I did it once, and I can do it again...!

So, take two...