"Acostumbrarse-ing"

It’s hit me….that no matter how hard these next two years are, I’m going to stick it out. You know why? This is an opportunity of a LIFETIME. L-I-F-E-T-I-M-E. I’ll be talking about these days when I’m old to my grandchildren and it’ll be so enticing, they won’t be able to believe me. What happens to me on a daily basis is indescribable. I see the most magical things from the people of Peru, yet I’m surrounded by extreme poverty. This is a land and an experience of contrasts.

                If there’s anything I’m learning about life, it’s that it’s all about seeing. See as much as you can. Go walk where no one else has. Do things that people don’t do on a regular basis. Be extraordinary. Every day is yours to aprovechar (take advantage of) and do whatever the hell it is that you want to do. Why wait? What could possibly be holding you back from your wildest fantasies and dreams? You only have one chance at all this. Better take it, or one day, you’re going to wake up with a weird feeling in your stomach. That’s called regret and it’s poison. Days are a gift. Every single one of them. We don’t know the future, and we never will.  Opportunities come and go, but don’t let yourself be the person that let great opportunities slip. You let one slip, you let two slip, sooner or later you’re stuck doing something you don’t like – and there goes your life. Wake up to find your happiness. You know when you’re happy too, so don’t kid yourself. Really do it – whatever it is. You’ve got it in you to carry you through.

                I have a passion for service and travel and it’s carrying me through 1) being in a third world country without hugging my mom for two years, 2) not living a normal 22 year old life going out with friends and whatnot,3) having to deal with cat calls from disgusting men 24/7 because I’m a gringa, 4) living in a house made of sticks, 5) having connection to the outside world/INTERNET maybe once a week, 6) struggling with the fact that I want to be more present in my brother’s life as he treads through the crazy world of college, 7) if my friends are sad, I feel like a horrible friend because I can’t immediately be there for them (we are both getting stronger in that sense), 8) just not living a normal ife…or is it? There’s many ways of living.

                In conclusion, I’m okay, I really am…which is basically the translation of “acostumbrarse.” Everyone asks here, “te acostumbres?” “You getting used to it here?” Well, I think it’s safe to say, after that rant, I’m acostumbrarse-ing.

These guys help with acostumbraring too, Arian and his mom, Raquel, my favorite woman on the planet, and the nurse I work with!