Today was day 1 (of 14) of my “Mid-Life Crisis”. I needed it to be something where I can finally give back something to the world, and at the same time, challenge myself by stepping out of my comfort zone. It would be my first attempt at traveling alone, to a country that I had never been to. This was also part of making sure I am a positive role model to my kids – and to show that helping others and/or giving back is important.
After some extensive research on organizations that handled international volunteering, I chose International Volunteer HQ as they not only seemed most affordable, but also had good reviews overall.
I chose Guatemala from their list of volunteer destinations based on my requirements for my first experience, which included: affordability, relatively short and direct flight from Atlanta, and a country with significantly low income and high poverty rates – because I wanted my time to be as impactful as possible.
I then chose Childcare/Orphanage from their available categories – after narrowing it down to include Elderly Care and Teaching English. I thought working with children, especially orphans, would be more impactful than the other options.
All of this was pretty overwhelming. Although I was excited, the anxiety was kicking in from the morning – I just didn’t know what to expect at all.
My flight from ATL was in the morning, around 10:40am. Even though it was the Sunday after Thanksgiving, I assume it wasn’t crowded because I was in the International terminal of the airport.
Some regrets I had at this point was not spending enough time learning about Guatemala’s culture, places to go/see, and learning Spanish. My straight C’s from High School Spanish was most likely not going to help me much – but I thought I’d do OK.
I was quickly reminded how wrong I was – and how much I needed to learn Spanish – when a man was trying to tell me he needed to be sitting in the same row as myself on the plane, showing me his boarding pass and pointing to the label above the seats. I was in 38C – and he kept on pointing at the “38 ABC” label saying “A” – but I kept on repeating to him and pointing to the “40” on his boarding pass, and pointing at the “38” on the label, telling him he is in the wrong row. It took a few minutes for him to figure it out – but that’s when I realized he was trying to speak Spanish to me, and then I could not remember how to say the number ‘40’.
After a 3.5-hour flight, landing in Guatemala City, picking up my luggage, and going through customs, I followed the directions from the volunteer organization to veer left and look for a person with a sign that has a big yellow smiley face – I was glad it was easy to find in the crowd of people waiting with signs just as I exited customs. I pointed to him as I walked towards him, he smiled, and he mentioned my name, “Takahito,” and I repeated back “Taka.” I said “No hablo espanol bien. Hablas ingles?” to which he said “No.”
As we walked to the transportation van that would take me to Antigua to put my luggage in the car, he handed me an intro/welcome packet from Maximo Nivel, the local volunteer organization that had partnered with International Volunteer HQ.
As he started driving towards Antigua, I started reading through the packet – it had all the “rules” I needed to know, a map of Antigua, mentioned my orientation started at 8am, and some information on my Host Family – “Olga” – among others.
The driver initially spoke a lot of Spanish to me that I didn’t understand – and I felt really bad and embarrassed that I wasn’t understanding him. I realized later, that he may have thought I understood Spanish – just not speak it well. And this is when I had decided that I needed to sign up for the optional Spanish lessons given by the local volunteer organization. Even though knowing the language was not a requirement, I was starting to feel that my experience was not going to be as enjoyable without knowing more Spanish.
As he drove towards Antigua, there were 2 things I noticed. 1. I might be the only Asian in Guatemala. 2. No male was wearing shorts – everyone had pants on (I saw 2 with cargo shorts or capris – covering up the knees), and 3. a guy was wearing a UGA shirt, and I doubt he knew what it was. The weather was about 60-65F – so incredibly nice.
As we entered Antigua, the driver said that we are in Antigua, and that he would be taking me to the local volunteer office first – which is 5 minutes away – and then to my (host) house. At that time, I was just excited that I completely understood everything he said – so maybe those straight C’s were still useful!
As we stopped by the Maximo Nivel office – I got to meet Jean at the front desk – a girl from Pennsylvania that worked for them and stayed in Guatemala after “finding a boy.” She gave me a very quick tour of the public areas, including the beautiful courtyard and computer room. Next, I was heading off to the Host Family’s home.
The driver knocked on the door and a young girl, not Olga, came out. I assumed she was her daughter. They said a few things (again, I wasn’t catching any of it) and we unloaded my luggage and brought it inside. Olga then came out, and as soon as the driver shook my hand and left, I told her “No comprendo espanol bien” to which she and the girl laughed.
They showed me my room – a small, simple, room, across from the bathroom/shower – with a private entry from their back yard. One thing I noticed with the room – no heater (or air conditioner) – so I was getting concerned over whether I will get too cold/hot even though it was expected to be 50-65F daily for my whole stay.
They asked if I was hungry (which I initially misunderstood for “Am I eating food (later)?”) – to which I said no. They asked if I wanted water, and I said yes – and got a glass of water.
Then, the girl game me keys for the front door of the house, and the back gates – and she proceeded to walk me to show me where the back gates were. As we walked to/from the gates, I was reminded again on how minimal my Spanish knowledge was as the girl, who I learned was 18, and I struggled to hold a conversation without me getting confused.
After that, I went back to my room and unpacked my bags and decided to go back to the Maximo office to get online – primarily to download the off-line Spanish language pack for Google Translate on my phone after my frustrating and embarrassing experience so far - Later learning that the speech-to-text for Spanish may not work while offline.
The Maximo office from the Host Family was only a 10-minute walk with lots of beautiful structures – a parade – and something going on at the Central park.
I rushed back to the Host House from Maximo – since the instructions said “dinner” (provided by the host) is at 7pm – although I learned that my phone and watch never automatically adjusted the time – so I was an hour early.
At the dinner table – where I was fed a very delicious soup and a chicken sandwich - I met Sara, 28 (who guessed my age to be “early 30s”), a perky, partying Australian nurse who had been volunteering for 2 weeks doing medical work after graduating university, and Dennis, a retired empty-nester with 3 children from Toronto, Canada who arrived on Friday – 2 days before me – and is planning on staying for 6 months.
Initially, Sara and I were the only ones at the table chatting away (in English), later joined by Loretta, the 18-year old girl who I learned is just working around the house – cooking and maintaining - for Olga. Dennis, who wasn’t feeling well, later joined our dinner table, as did Olga. What I learned from then on was that Dennis, who had been studying Spanish for 5 years, was extremely fluent, and Sara, who had only started learning Spanish since 2 weeks ago here, was also more fluent than me. I probably missed out on 80% of the conversations at the dinner table. I also learned that Olga studied English in college, and is perfectly capable of understanding English (but prefers to help the other volunteers learn Spanish) and Loretta can also speak and understand a decent amount of English.
After a long, chat-full dinner, it was time for bed – especially after writing this blog entry which took 1.5 hours! Fireworks were still going off outside – until around midnight. Lots of celebrations go on almost every weekend, I was told.
So far, so good.
After some extensive research on organizations that handled international volunteering, I chose International Volunteer HQ as they not only seemed most affordable, but also had good reviews overall.
I chose Guatemala from their list of volunteer destinations based on my requirements for my first experience, which included: affordability, relatively short and direct flight from Atlanta, and a country with significantly low income and high poverty rates – because I wanted my time to be as impactful as possible.
I then chose Childcare/Orphanage from their available categories – after narrowing it down to include Elderly Care and Teaching English. I thought working with children, especially orphans, would be more impactful than the other options.
All of this was pretty overwhelming. Although I was excited, the anxiety was kicking in from the morning – I just didn’t know what to expect at all.
My flight from ATL was in the morning, around 10:40am. Even though it was the Sunday after Thanksgiving, I assume it wasn’t crowded because I was in the International terminal of the airport.
Some regrets I had at this point was not spending enough time learning about Guatemala’s culture, places to go/see, and learning Spanish. My straight C’s from High School Spanish was most likely not going to help me much – but I thought I’d do OK.
I was quickly reminded how wrong I was – and how much I needed to learn Spanish – when a man was trying to tell me he needed to be sitting in the same row as myself on the plane, showing me his boarding pass and pointing to the label above the seats. I was in 38C – and he kept on pointing at the “38 ABC” label saying “A” – but I kept on repeating to him and pointing to the “40” on his boarding pass, and pointing at the “38” on the label, telling him he is in the wrong row. It took a few minutes for him to figure it out – but that’s when I realized he was trying to speak Spanish to me, and then I could not remember how to say the number ‘40’.
After a 3.5-hour flight, landing in Guatemala City, picking up my luggage, and going through customs, I followed the directions from the volunteer organization to veer left and look for a person with a sign that has a big yellow smiley face – I was glad it was easy to find in the crowd of people waiting with signs just as I exited customs. I pointed to him as I walked towards him, he smiled, and he mentioned my name, “Takahito,” and I repeated back “Taka.” I said “No hablo espanol bien. Hablas ingles?” to which he said “No.”
As we walked to the transportation van that would take me to Antigua to put my luggage in the car, he handed me an intro/welcome packet from Maximo Nivel, the local volunteer organization that had partnered with International Volunteer HQ.
As he started driving towards Antigua, I started reading through the packet – it had all the “rules” I needed to know, a map of Antigua, mentioned my orientation started at 8am, and some information on my Host Family – “Olga” – among others.
The driver initially spoke a lot of Spanish to me that I didn’t understand – and I felt really bad and embarrassed that I wasn’t understanding him. I realized later, that he may have thought I understood Spanish – just not speak it well. And this is when I had decided that I needed to sign up for the optional Spanish lessons given by the local volunteer organization. Even though knowing the language was not a requirement, I was starting to feel that my experience was not going to be as enjoyable without knowing more Spanish.
As he drove towards Antigua, there were 2 things I noticed. 1. I might be the only Asian in Guatemala. 2. No male was wearing shorts – everyone had pants on (I saw 2 with cargo shorts or capris – covering up the knees), and 3. a guy was wearing a UGA shirt, and I doubt he knew what it was. The weather was about 60-65F – so incredibly nice.
As we entered Antigua, the driver said that we are in Antigua, and that he would be taking me to the local volunteer office first – which is 5 minutes away – and then to my (host) house. At that time, I was just excited that I completely understood everything he said – so maybe those straight C’s were still useful!
As we stopped by the Maximo Nivel office – I got to meet Jean at the front desk – a girl from Pennsylvania that worked for them and stayed in Guatemala after “finding a boy.” She gave me a very quick tour of the public areas, including the beautiful courtyard and computer room. Next, I was heading off to the Host Family’s home.
The driver knocked on the door and a young girl, not Olga, came out. I assumed she was her daughter. They said a few things (again, I wasn’t catching any of it) and we unloaded my luggage and brought it inside. Olga then came out, and as soon as the driver shook my hand and left, I told her “No comprendo espanol bien” to which she and the girl laughed.
They showed me my room – a small, simple, room, across from the bathroom/shower – with a private entry from their back yard. One thing I noticed with the room – no heater (or air conditioner) – so I was getting concerned over whether I will get too cold/hot even though it was expected to be 50-65F daily for my whole stay.
They asked if I was hungry (which I initially misunderstood for “Am I eating food (later)?”) – to which I said no. They asked if I wanted water, and I said yes – and got a glass of water.
Then, the girl game me keys for the front door of the house, and the back gates – and she proceeded to walk me to show me where the back gates were. As we walked to/from the gates, I was reminded again on how minimal my Spanish knowledge was as the girl, who I learned was 18, and I struggled to hold a conversation without me getting confused.
After that, I went back to my room and unpacked my bags and decided to go back to the Maximo office to get online – primarily to download the off-line Spanish language pack for Google Translate on my phone after my frustrating and embarrassing experience so far - Later learning that the speech-to-text for Spanish may not work while offline.
The Maximo office from the Host Family was only a 10-minute walk with lots of beautiful structures – a parade – and something going on at the Central park.
I rushed back to the Host House from Maximo – since the instructions said “dinner” (provided by the host) is at 7pm – although I learned that my phone and watch never automatically adjusted the time – so I was an hour early.
At the dinner table – where I was fed a very delicious soup and a chicken sandwich - I met Sara, 28 (who guessed my age to be “early 30s”), a perky, partying Australian nurse who had been volunteering for 2 weeks doing medical work after graduating university, and Dennis, a retired empty-nester with 3 children from Toronto, Canada who arrived on Friday – 2 days before me – and is planning on staying for 6 months.
Initially, Sara and I were the only ones at the table chatting away (in English), later joined by Loretta, the 18-year old girl who I learned is just working around the house – cooking and maintaining - for Olga. Dennis, who wasn’t feeling well, later joined our dinner table, as did Olga. What I learned from then on was that Dennis, who had been studying Spanish for 5 years, was extremely fluent, and Sara, who had only started learning Spanish since 2 weeks ago here, was also more fluent than me. I probably missed out on 80% of the conversations at the dinner table. I also learned that Olga studied English in college, and is perfectly capable of understanding English (but prefers to help the other volunteers learn Spanish) and Loretta can also speak and understand a decent amount of English.
After a long, chat-full dinner, it was time for bed – especially after writing this blog entry which took 1.5 hours! Fireworks were still going off outside – until around midnight. Lots of celebrations go on almost every weekend, I was told.
So far, so good.
Those pictures remind me so much of where I grew up. Love it!
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