My parents came to visit me last week and as I awaited their
arrival in the airport I silently prayed that Guatemala would be on its best
behavior. I wanted my parents to love this country as much as I do. I was determined
to show them the best of what Guatemala had to offer.
Flash forward to three hours into our trip and my parents,
our luggage, and myself are hurling across a very choppy lake in the middle of
a thunderstorm. My mother asks nervously if it’s normal for all the Guatemalans
to be clutching lifejackets. “Yes,” I reply although I have never actually seen
this before. My eyes wander the insides of the boat and I silently note that
all of the life jackets appear to be in use. This boat ride would prove to be
just one of many transportation glitches. It turns out that things that I
consider to be fun and/or a luxury, such as riding in the back of pickup trucks or taking tuk-tuks, my
parents consider to be terrifying and uncomfortable…woops.
Transportation aside, one area of the trip that I managed to
succeed in was the food. My dad likes to joke that trips are often planned from
meal to meal. For example, at breakfast you would be planning what you are
going to do for lunch and dinner. To me this is not a joke and it’s exactly
what I do. Large amounts of my day would be consumed (pun intended)
brainstorming our breakfast, lunch and dinner options. With my parents here, a
slew of fancier restaurants that I had never experienced were now available
to us. The trick was to fit them all into a week’s time and therefore much
planning was required.
Neither of my parents speaks Spanish but they each developed
unique approaches to dealing with the language barrier. My mother has a great
aptitude for language and within an hour of being here could use her knowledge
of French and Italian to figure out much of the conversation I was having with
the shuttle driver. I found this immensely annoying since it had taken me a
solid eight months to get to this point. She was supposed to be gaping in
amazement as I talked logistics with the driver not following along with the
conversation. So my childish jealousy was delighted a few days later when my
mother proclaimed to our boat driver, “Mucho gusto tilapia!” She had wanted to
say that she liked tilapia a lot and she was actually quite close, but her
sincerity in being pleased to meet the fish was priceless. After that my mother
stuck to mostly greetings and thank yous, but could still impress us with her
ability to read Spanish menus and signs.
My father also speaks French, but he decided to utilize his
knowledge of the language in a different way. He rationalized that since French
and Spanish are closer than English and Spanish he would simply speak French to
anyone and everyone for the week. While his theory was sound, it did not work
very well in practice. Many Guatemalans, especially people working in the
tourist industry, have some basic knowledge of the English language. This is
not the case for French. However, my father would hear none of this talk and
continued his French as though it were the most natural thing in the world. I
do have to give him some credit, though, because he managed to get around a bit
by himself. How he managed to
negotiate a cab ride alone remains a mystery to me.
I brought my parents to school with me one afternoon so they
could witness my impressive teaching skills and meet my students. My mother,
wanting to document this event, began snapping away. The kids at school love
getting their picture taken, but what they love even more is getting to look at
the picture afterwards and then asking for fifty more pictures. The class’s
attention disintegrated as all the students left their desks and huddled around
my mother. Embracing his rediscovered French roots, my father, filled with ennui, whipped out his Kindle to pass the time. With the
addition of a second electronic device, English class had turned into show and
tell. Helpless against the pull of these strange, new people with their cool
electronics, Lorena and I decided the students were probably prepared enough
for their test.
Overall it was a great week with my parents. Did everything
go according to plan? No. Did I remain cool and collected when it didn’t?
Again, no. Cam has this impression that he does of the girls in the house when
we are freaking out over something relatively unimportant. It involves him
speaking in a Muppet voice and overreacting a lot. It is alarmingly accurate.
Panicking aside, we still managed to have a great time. My parents were
good-humored and able to roll with the punches even if I was not. It was
rewarding to share just a few of my experiences in Guatemala with my parents
and I believe they left reassured that I am safe and happy here.
Emily
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