guate.

Back.

It's hard to believe that two years ago (almost to the day) I was meeting up with my parents (and new puppy!) back in Chicago after having spent four months living and working in Guatemala. Now I'm back. It all feels very familiar, and I have a hard time believing that so much time has past. A few thoughts to share from these past few days:

-The woman next to me on my flight out of O'hare was originally from Guate, but now lives in Chicago, and was going to visit...someone...in Mexico. I missed who it was, sue me. It was early. She noticed my braided hair, asked if I'd done it myself, and then asked if I'd braid hers. So I did. Yeah, I thought it was odd too... I don't even know her name.

-The man next to me on my flight from Mexico City is from Chile and was going to spend some time in Guatemala visiting friends. We chatted, he corrected my grammar (kindly), and gave me a business card with his email address written on the back. You know, in case I'm ever in Chile and want to stay with his family.

-In Mexico City they changed the gate my flight left from at the last minute, and for some reason I knew to check the departure board because some random kid looked at it and then left. I'm thankful for that random kid.

-I found great comfort in finding Antigua familiar after all this time. We did a scavenger hunt through the city yesterday, and it felt like I had just been there.

-I have already locked the key to our room inside the room once, but our host mom just laughed, said it happens all the time, and showed us where we could leave our key in the future outside of the room, so that it would always be available.

-Walmart in Guatemala is pretty much just like Walmart in the states.

-I could never drive down here. I would be so stressed all the time. I am thankful for others who will drive us through the chaos.

-It feels a little strange being back, but in a really good way. Looking forward to the rest of this trip! First group of short term teams comes this week, and then we'll really be kicking it into high gear. We (the summer interns) will be starting at ministry sites on Monday, and then the group will join us Tuesday. Excited to see what God has in store, and hoping my Spanish comes quickly back!