Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain

I thought I loved the rain. The rain always gives me the opportunity to be lazy, which is a hobby of mine. The rain always lets me sleep with the soothing sounds of water falling on my window. The rain evokes me to think about meaning and understanding of my life and others. I have always been the person who was excited for it to rain. While the rain would be a hassle for others, I would be smiling, inside and out.

My values have changed. It been raining since I arrived in Guatemala, which was almost 6 months ago. Now I was warned of the “rainy season”, so I wasn’t caught off-guard by all this rain. I was, however, caught off-guard by my reaction. Reasons I don’t like the rain here in Guatemala:

1.     I am always wet. My hair, my clothes, my skin, etc…I am never wearing the right shoes. I don’t want to wear hiking boots (which are my rain shoes) to school every day. I am trying to look professional.

2.     It’s so much more slippery. Now I am clumsy, but with the rain I fall even more. The dirt gets packed down, and then turns a shade of green. The shade of green means that it is very slippery. I get so many more looks when I walk on the slippery, packed dirt, because I am concentrating hard and going very slow.

3.     My clothes are never dry. Since I don’t have a dryer or a washer, my clothes must dry outside. And 60 degrees with hard rain is not a suitable environment for clothes to dry.

4.     Not being able to leave my town or go to school. The reasons being mudslides, cresting rivers, etc…

5.     I can’t enjoy this beautiful country as much as I want to. I go outside less, which is some ways is kind of nice, but mostly is absolutely awful.

6.     Boredom.

I have come to this conclusion over the past week. This week has been very rainy! On Tuesday, I woke up and it was raining hard! In Guatemala, it never rains in the morning, only in the afternoon and night. On Tuesdays, I have my school in Pasajquim, which is 1.5 hours away by mini-bus. It is a very long ride, with very bumpy, dirt roads. On Tuesday, I was worried about my ride, if it was raining in the morning; I hope the roads are okay.  The rain stopped, and I went to school. When I got home at 5, it started to rain hard. As I went to bed that night, the rain was so loud. I had to use earplugs to be able to sleep. I woke up on Wednesday, and it was still raining hard. Hello, Tropical Depression 12-E! Not good. Wednesday, we had no electricity until about 1. Schools were canceled, and Peace Corps put us on Standfast. (Standfast means that I can’t leave Santa Clara.) I taught UNO to my family, and we played for about 3 hours. The electricity finally came back on, and I could charge my phone (I was down to one bar, which isn’t good in situations like these). On Thursday, classes were cancelled again. Yesterday, I was supposed to have a Peace Corps meeting in Sololá, which I was looking forward to, and that was cancelled.

Now I come to boredom. What have I done with all this time? Well I have played UNO with my family. Tried organizing all my papers, which I didn’t finish. I have spent a lot of time on the Internet. What have I been watching? Well I downloaded Modern Family, Community, Parks and Recreation, and The Office. In the movie department, I watched V for Vendetta (Occupy Wall Street reminded me of this awesome film), Horrible Bosses twice, and I am currently downloading Magnolia. I have finished one book, and am halfway through the next one. Could I have done some work, yes! I am so bored, that can’t see myself doing any.  It’s not logical at all. I hope to do some today, but I don’t have a lot of faith in myself in this area.

I haven’t seen blue skies in I don’t I know how long. I haven’t seen the sun since Monday or Tuesday. I might be having affects of SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). I am trying to enjoy the lovely sound of rain, but it gets difficult when it’s all you hear. I know walking to my mirador of the lake would really boost my spirits. However, it’s raining, and it’s too cloudy to see Lago de Atitlan anyway. This rain is supposed to end soon, so I will get my lake view in a couple of days. And no pictures have been taken this week, because I didn’t want to get my camera wet.

And, I should mention this. There have been many mudslides, cresting rivers, falling rocks, etc with this particular storm. Right now, even if I wanted to go to San Juan, Sololá, or Xela, I couldn’t.  So many people have been affected by this storm. There have been more than 20 deaths. I don’t have it that hard; I am just bored and dealing with a small case of SAD. There are people who have lost their family members, homes, cars, and businesses all in a matter of days. I am keeping those people in my thoughts and trying to be positive about their future.

Anyway, I know that by early April, I will be saying “Where is the friggin’ rain???? I want it!” The grass is always greener on the other side.

Paz y Amor.