My awkward Peace Corps Life

Warning: This post has things that might make parental unit people feel uncomfortable, so you’ve been warned, and stuff.

Many random, funny things have happened lately. Unfortunately they have all been the kind of funny that isn’t funny in that moment, but the kind that become funnier as more and more time passes. The first example that pops into my mind happened my second night here when I learned that my family doesn’t have/use a shower instead they sauna together. For the record, sauna is a little bit of an inaccurate word…it’s a tiny cement box that you burn wood in, there is a blanket covering the door to keep the heat in, super fancy.  Anyhoo. My first night we made that happen, host mom explains to me the situation, so I get ready, we are hanging out, sorta metaphorically and literally speaking. I am a little body conscious so I kept my towel around my shoulders, host mom and host grandma are less concerned and just wore their towels around their waist, I was not prepared for seeing so much of my no family, but I was adjucting. Luckily for me my little sister Meli becomes very concerned with my not understanding how to sauna properly and decides to help me by pulling my towel off as I started to wash my hair. Yay unexpected toplessness! She then spent the next several days telling everyone about my strange pink nipples that weren’t brown like hers. Hello new town.

Or there is the time that I was really, really ill, and it was one of the days we didn’t have water and I had to borrow water from the neighbors to flush the toilet then they wanted to help and see if it worked so everyone gathered around the toilet waiting for me to lift the lid and dump the water in. Awkward.

I must say though, my favorite moment that is yet to be funny, though I am sure will be is the time (yesterday) when I came home to find that my host mom had cleaned my room while I was at work, which is weird and uncomfortable, because I like my messy piles in the piles that they are, not different, less messy piles. But wait, there’s more (because that’s not really that funny) however, my host mom found my decently hidden vibrator and nicely laid it and the case out on my bed next to my pillow.  Now, I don’t really know how much indigenous Guatemalan women know about vibrators…but I hope it is minimal, because I really have no idea how to begin this conversation, So…I couldn’t help but notice you found a sex toy in my room and relocated it and…touched it and stuff, but could you please never, ever do that again or I might actually die of shame, m’kay thanks.  

I suppose if nothing else it has given me a funny story, or something. I’m not ready to laugh about it quite yet, so hopefully you all will, because it is admittedly quite humorous for everyone who isn’t me.