The Language Barrier

I expected life in the Peace Corps to be difficult, but prior to coming to Guatemala, I frequently thought to myself It can’t be that hard. I’ve done some challenging things in my life. I will easily be able to handle it. I want to report that life in the Peace Corps CAN be that hard. Perhaps, when it comes down to it, I guess I didn’t know what to expect, but one thing is for certain. I never expected to be this lonely. I was placed in a tiny town of 300 people where 90% of the inhabitants do not speak Spanish, and each day is a struggle. I am trying to learn Q’eqchi as quickly as I can, but it is incredibly difficult. I believe that part of the Peace Corps training process should consist of Mayan language classes for those who are being sent to areas where it is absolutely essential that they learn a Mayan language. In that sense, pre-service training is flawed. I did, however, call my project specialist desperately asking for assistance, and she thinks that Peace Corps will be able to pay for me to take a week-long intensive course in a nearby city. I really hope that happens.

I realize that I will not be successful if I don’t at least become conversational in this language. Every single member of the junta directiva, or governing body, of the association that I am assigned to does not speak or read Spanish. This poses quite a challenge. If I intend to have any sort of professional or social life, I need to learn this language. I consider myself an outgoing person, but I am really struggling here. There are many times when I think about quitting, but I know I will never do that. See my Commitment to Service and Aspiration Statement for my reasons. The teacher I have in my town is not capable of answering any of my grammatical questions. He usually just laughs and tells me, “That’s just the way it is” every time I search for an answer to a question. It is incredibly frustrating, and I think I will need to find another teacher outside of my town. I really, really want to learn this language, and each day is spent using the new phrases I have learned and asking other people for additional words and phrases. They are eager to help me, but the process is painstakingly slow. I want to start speaking Q’eqchi so I can start to express myself, make true friends and have meaningful conversations. Wow, it is so lonely sometimes, but I need to keep pushing forward, one day at a time.

Here are some random thoughts:
• My host father’s last name, Chub, means saliva in Q’eqchi.
• Ironically, I taught the numbers 1-10 in Q’eqchi to a little girl the other day.
• They can’t afford diapers here, so the little kids in my family regularly shit their pants. It smells pretty bad. Maybe I can design a better system as one of my secondary projects.
• Everyone calls me Don Jordan, thus proving that I have at least earned some respect here.
• I found a scorpion next to my pillow the other day.
• I bathe with a bucket in the middle of the front yard, and talk to my family when they are 2 feet away from me.
• I can make the babies in my family stop crying.
• I am completely soaked with sweat all day long.
• I killed a flying beetle the size of a baseball the other day. At first, I thought it was a bat. The next night, a bat actually did get trapped in my room, preventing me from sleeping for several hours.