Big time stuff here at the house on Water street. We got a small refrigerator! I've never had a refri in Guatemala, always putting my few and far between parishable foods floating the cold water of the pila.


But now, since I live in warmer territory and because it's now so very important as to what I eat, I have my very first refrigerator. Living so close to Antigua allows me to put some of the best stuffs into my refrigerator, and my growing belly, like Doña Luisa's natural yogurt and real cheese made from real cows. I used to buy the smallest amount of said dairy products, lug them out to where I lived in the campo and eat them room temp in one day. Classy, eh?

And things are generally different here. As this is my first time living in a more urban and developed part of Guatemala, I have found that people are totally cool. I have not been cat-called once since moving here a week ago! It feels phenomenal. Antigua and its outskirts are pretty foreigner-friendly and even foreigner-bored, so I'm really not that special. It feels phenomenal!

But of course the other day I was sitting on the bus to my appointment with my midwife and Andres was sitting across the aisle but right next to me when some guy scooches in and says, in English of course, Oh my stop is next so I'm going to sit here. Even though there are 2 seats, count 'em 2 seats, totally empty closer to the door. I sighed, here we go I thought. So this guy, nice enough I guess, starts talking to me in English as if I initiated a convo. Then I turned to him and said in Spanish, Sorry I don't understand you - I speak German. He kept talking in English and I just kept shaking my head. I know this isn't super nice but he was obnoxious. So finally he says something about something in a mix of English and Spanish and then asks, So how do you say "mother" in German? Uh, uh, uh, uh well... then he goes, "es Mod-her, right?" And I say, Yep you got it. Finally he gets off.

But to redeem myself, on the bus ride back, some guy was asking me all the regular questions like, How long you been here? Where did you learn Spanish? And I was all about chatting him up. He asked, What do you do? And I said, Social worker (easiest answer at this point) and he repeats back to me "Social worker" but in English. I love talking to people, but I get super short when I start to either 1) get hit on, 2) be the recipient of a one-way conversation where they practice their English, or 3) I can tell they're gonna hit on me.

And it feels slightly bad ass to take the Guate bus to my prenatal appointments. At some point it's gonna feel not so bad ass and just really uncomfortable. That will probably be happening sooner than later. Living here has become so comfortable to me, so second nature, but nothing really challenges that notion more than being pregnant here.