I feel like a small town celebrity.
Even walking home tonight from getting 10 minutes of crap wifi one of the teachers from the school I am volunteering at stopped her moto to say hi to me and exchange updates on the past few hours.
I have a new ‘Abuela’ down the street that no matter what hour she’ll pull me into the house for a prayer and to for sure feed me. I will say that her tortillas are the best I’ve ever tasted. Mí Abuela is someone who will take every opportunity to dress me in the traditional Mayan clothing and improve her English and improve my Spanglish (mix of Spanish and English).
All the students I teach gawked when I saw them around one day in normal, not professional dress, and I remembered the exact feeling of seeing my teachers out of class and being like “WHAAAAT YOU’RE REAL?!”. I never thought the tables could be turned and I would see my students and share a huge smile. Every school we visit there is a full assembly welcoming us and I remember when I was in high school and had to sit through 2 hours of intros.
Everyone knows where “Casa de Gringos” is. So much so that my tuk tuk driver (a tuk tuk is a taxi here) knew where to go when I jokingly said “CASA O GRINGOS” one night and to my horror he pulled up straight to the bright green door.
Stray dogs think it’s a palace, and YES….I have been bitten by a dog here. Everyone knew it was coming but I did not provoke it. I did have food in my hands though.
