Traveling tends to magnify all human emotions. — Peter Hoeg
Monday, July 16, 2012 (DAYS 134 – 137)
Unsure of exactly when I may press onward to Costa Rica or another part of Nicaragua, I stop and realize that I have been living in the Pacific paradise for just over a month. When I stop and think of all of the places I have now considered to be temporary places I have called home, it makes me appreciative of all the blessings in my life, both those that are more recent and those that continue to exist back in the States. I cannot thank my family, friends, and even coworkers that have made an imprint on my life through their influence even without knowing it themselves. Because, they have in retrospect affected my life, just as each person has with those they have encountered through their own individual journey that each person must walk for themselves, and when I take a step back, it makes me just that more thankful. My second week of working at The Surfing Donkey Hostel brings with it a bit of chaos as the staff attempts to keep up with an irregular system, but both the personalities of the guests and our small knit group of staff members make this part of the experience of hostel life that I have found to become more of an ease than a burden or a struggle. From day one, I was unsure how I would reinstate myself into living in communal settings, especially after living alone in a four-bedroom home that was spacious and what I thought was essential for my own sanity. The largest challenge for those that continue to wonder how I do this, it is a mindset that you must adopt, but I will promise if you are able to overcome the ideal of what you need to live as opposed to what is an essential, life will surprise you.
Unsure of exactly when I may press onward to Costa Rica or another part of Nicaragua, I stop and realize that I have been living in the Pacific paradise for just over a month. When I stop and think of all of the places I have now considered to be temporary places I have called home, it makes me appreciative of all the blessings in my life, both those that are more recent and those that continue to exist back in the States. I cannot thank my family, friends, and even coworkers that have made an imprint on my life through their influence even without knowing it themselves. Because, they have in retrospect affected my life, just as each person has with those they have encountered through their own individual journey that each person must walk for themselves, and when I take a step back, it makes me just that more thankful. My second week of working at The Surfing Donkey Hostel brings with it a bit of chaos as the staff attempts to keep up with an irregular system, but both the personalities of the guests and our small knit group of staff members make this part of the experience of hostel life that I have found to become more of an ease than a burden or a struggle. From day one, I was unsure how I would reinstate myself into living in communal settings, especially after living alone in a four-bedroom home that was spacious and what I thought was essential for my own sanity. The largest challenge for those that continue to wonder how I do this, it is a mindset that you must adopt, but I will promise if you are able to overcome the ideal of what you need to live as opposed to what is an essential, life will surprise you.
Having a night off after working, or at least what can be called work amid periods of lounging in the pool and conversing with new and old guests alike, I’ve decided to reward myself with a night out. I begin the evening enjoying the most beautiful sunsets I have seen in both SJDS and throughout my travels thus far, which I know I have said before, but I am still amazed at the beauty of the hand of God as the sun slowly fades into the night sky. Sitting at Iguanas with Marc, I am surprised in the quick-witted sarcastic banter that has developed in just a short period of time, and reminds me fondly of friends from back home. His most common insult he flails in my direction deals with my need for oral hygiene, until I remind him of the stereotype for most English people in their lack of a smile that can be stomached, not just by Americans but is a global nomenclature towards the British Empire. My retort is quickly followed with his need to change what cannot, his overall appearance, which is a shameful display for anyone that has been blessed with vision. Who would have known that my new mate would be a constant public embarrassment in his withering twilight years and my need to wash off the shame that I collect from just being in his presence tends to be a daily occurrence? Even those around the hostel have began to pick up on our verbal insults we greet one another with multiple times a day, asking us how long we have known one another, because if you had no idea the friendship we have developed began with a single meeting in Guatemala and was reunited in San Juan months later, it has just been over a week to realize that we have a very strong friendship that even if I tried, I could not escape his desire to correct my pronunciation with such vigor. Thank God we defeated the British, otherwise I would sadly be enjoying tea and crumpets while watching cricket. Cricket? Forget about it. Denver Broncos football, lazy boy recliners, the Big Mac, cowboy boots, the lovely phrase of all-you-can-eat, discovering fire, inventing the wheel, drive-thru gas stations, Taco Bell, Will Ferrell, all, scientific facts of being proud to be an American. I’ll pronounce the word vitamins even knowing there is no ‘d’ in the word, and refuse to allow the word vit-a-mens to spew from my orally hygienic mouth that has straight teeth to boot.
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