Guatemala Part 1

Written on an early flight to Miami yesterday...

Well, I know it's been a long while since I last wrote on this blog, but I've been a little busy. I have all sorts of things to share, however I keep finding other (aka better) things to do with my time. 
 
I'll hopefully share more in the future, but the biggest news in my life is about the great guy I've been dating named Steve. I'm pretty sure that I know each of you who read this and there's a good chance that you already are aware of that.  If not, surprise!  

Now that we've gotten that out there I can at least mention him in other blogs. And if I figure out how to add a picture to this post using my iPod Touch, then lucky you. 
(Side note: hey Steve. I hope you don't mind me mentioning you on my blog! I miss you!)

So, anyway, I'm sitting on a plane right now and I have an abundance of time on my hands. I am on my way to Guatemala for about a week on a Compassion sponsor tour and I'm excited and nervous and a host of other emotions all at once.   I also have a multitude of funny (and some disturbing) thoughts going through my head that I think some of you may enjoy. 

For starters, when I caught a glimpse of my seat as I approached my aisle I had one of those "are you kidding me" moments. For real? Could there be two bigger men in seats A and C of row 27? They're large guys. And i quickly found out that neither of them seemed to have personal bubbles. Not cool. 

Before we even took off Seat C dude struck up a conversation. I was badly wanting to write in my journal some, maybe read some, take a little nap with my new neck pillow that I'm all excited about, watch a movie, etc. But nope. C dude was ready to bond. 

We started off with the predictable "where are you from?" and "where are you going?"  He learned that I'm headed to Guatemala with a Christian organization and he perked up.  He said he's also a Christian and then declared that he would henceforth be speaking to me in Spanish to help me practice. Oh boy!  I had a hard time ripping my thoughts away from all my previously scheduled activities.  To get the conversation started he threw out the topic of my faith. "Tell me how Christ has changed your life," he said in Spanish. (He's from Nicaragua by the way.) Again, for real?! Are we really going there even though i just met you? After a bit of talking I was beginning to accept this change of plans and was even thinking that this could be a good thing. I could use some practice. And how do you turn down such a request? So we chatted for a short while in Spanish and then Seat A dude chimed in. The conversation quickly transformed to talk about A's life, including his wife who is from and still lives in the DR, his kids who are older than his wife, immigration issues in the US, and much more. Interesting, but really odd. 

I wish I had a snapshot for each of you of the situation, but alas I do not. Mr A and Mr C were both leaning on the arm rests on each side of my seat and I could not make myself skinny enough not to end up touching them both. Sheesh guys, back off. Remember how they're both big guys? 

So eventually Guy C decided he needed a nap. Whew. It's about time. A movie was about to start so I watched it. (Diary of a Wimpy Kid or something like that.) Guy A has had his eyes closed off and on for the last couple hours or so, but I think he's just pretending so he can keep leaning on my left arm and make me uncomfortable. Good thing I have my left hand holding this thing and blocking his view at the same time because I think he keeps trying to read what I have here. 

In other news, I met my roommate for this trip right before boarding the plane. We didn't get to chat hardly at all but she seems nice. I hope we connect quickly as we get to spend more time together. Katy, Brandy and I have already had some good times together too on the ride up to Denver and in the airport. They are going to be very fun and great co-trip leaders along with Sean.  I'm only a little concerned that Brandy changed her own flight and that of Katy once she learned that our planned flight out of the Springs was cancelled. She sort of neglected to change mine or the other two travelers leaving with her.  I'll try not to bring that up too often over the course of the next week. It's a good thing Compassion has travel agents to help with these things.      

So there you have it. This is the first flight of 3 today and I'm sure I'll have more stories to share. I hope I can post this at some point so you can feel like you're here with me. I better charge this thing in Miami so I can use it all day. Stay tuned in case I have more time to write later. Sorry if that doesn't end up happening though. Just know that all is going well and I'm keeping busy.