Coco by Georgia Beckmann

(This was written last Sunday) 

I walk, smiling, with five quetzales in my hand and a friend beside me. When we reached the ice cream shop near the Sevilla school, I ordered a "coco", a coconut popsicle. Normally, I hate coconut, but this helado, like nearly everything else here, has been unexpectedly, extraordinarily amazing.

The night before we left, I didn't sleep, not for excitement, but because I was paralyzed with nerves. Guatemala was going to be a lot of firsts for me; my first time leaving the country, my first time being away from my family for so long. I had no idea what to expect, just like when I first tried a coco, and I was terrified. However, within about 3 days here I felt at ease and at home. 

One of the major things that helped me to become accustomed to being here  was teaching, which went by way too quickly. Due to scheduling, our last class will be on Monday, and when I told one of our students this, her face fell with shock and I realized just how much I would miss our class. I will miss each day, being greeted with  bright faces, eager to learn about the simplest of things, like the alphabet and how to count, to more complex things like how to say nieto and medusa in English. I will miss how each day during recess, we would play "gatito and ratita" and get tackled with hugs. I will miss Flor, Mildred, Humberto, Andy, and all the other students whose excitement and passion helped me to find some of my own. They helped me to discover my openness to try new things, like the blue jello they sell at the school, the new foods our homestay mom makes, and climbing up a waterfall. They helped me to realize that sometimes you need to put yourself out there. Even though you know there is some risk, like when they try to pronounce new vocabulary, or when I conjugate in new tenses with my teacher, or when my friends and I jumped off the balcony into the lake, you have to give it your all. 

To conclude, I wouldn't say that I feel like a different person here, just a person who likes things I never liked or knew I liked before- like coconut popsicles. And although I can feel this popsicle melting away, with only 8 days left, I am saddened that it will soon be gone, but forever grateful to have gotten to have it.