Finally some updates!

As you might have guessed by the lack of updates, getting settled back into my life in Guatemala has been a little time consuming. As soon as I got back they asked me to start covering the shifts of one of the nurses since she decided to leave a bit early for her vacation (this is the second time that's happened, guess they're pretty liberal with their vacation time here, or else they're taking advantage of having me here while they still can). I definitely like working the shifts better than my usual 9-5 job, so I'm happy right now. The only thing that sucks is when I have time off I don't feel like doing ANYTHING. I literally lay in my bed or in the hammock and read all day. I'm not complaining because that's pretty much my ideal life, but my blog has obviously suffered. Thankfully today I forced myself to get out of the house and head to Antigua with the sole intention of playing catch up on all my entries.

Today's pretty exciting for me. One of the new volunteers arrived in Guatemala this week and I just caught a fleeting glimpse of him during my shift the other day. I love meeting people knowing full well that they're going to have a huge role in your life for the next half-year. This guy is replacing Mark in the clinic, so we'll be working together every day and then living together in the house. Since we'll be spending a lot of time together, it's important that we get along, and so far first impressions are good. I literally met him for two minutes, but he strikes me physically as someone I would have hung out with in high school. He actually reminded me a lot of a kid Joe Calabrese I used to hang out with when I was younger. They don't look much alike, so I don't know where that came from, must be his energy or something. He kind of looks like this guy from Boardwalk Empire/Hedwig and the Angry Inch:



But his face was rounder I think. Maybe more like Michael Buble:



Every I see Michael Buble it makes me think of a guy Shawn McCann my Dad was friends with when I was younger. They both have baby faces. Anyway, he seems like a shy/nerdy kid which is exactly what I'm seeking in a housemate, so hopefully that'll turn out to be right :) He was only at NPH for one day, now he's in Antigua taking language classes until he starts with us on July 1st. Since I'm off today I asked him to meet me for a cup of coffee in Antigua after his class, so I should know a bit more about him in a few more hours :)

I know I've said it before but I really can't believe we're already halfway through our time here. We have ten new volunteers filtering in over the next two weeks to start their training, then all the old volunteers will be leaving in mid July. I'm sad to see some of them go. While I'm not super tight with any of them, there are some that I definitely consider my friends and I'll miss having them around.

The next few weeks will hold lots of changes here!