Things that make me happy

Today I felt complete elation. There are many things that make me happy here. But it is usually the small and insignificant occurrence that makes my day. Today I felt complete elation because the man who runs the molino told me to recoger la masa.
I have been going almost every day with my host mom or aunt to grind the corn for tortillas. Usually I just stand there while my mom (this is a funny term because she is only a few years older than me) waits in line, dumps the corn into the grinder, and gathers the dough as it comes out of the bottom of the machine. Recently I was promoted and got to pay. Even the five year old kids who go with their mothers to grind corn are better at this job than I am. This became obvious when I quickly demonstrated my inability to pass coins to another person without dropping them under an immovable object. With this sort of history maybe you can understand why today’s events were so extraordinary. Before today I had yet to interact with the molino-man; the noise of the mill inside his shop impedes small talk. But today he jokingly commanded me to make myself useful and gather the dough from the molino! I have secretly wanted to do this for a long time now and here was my chance. I pretended not to understand that it was a joke, and I went for it. My mom laughed, I made a fool of myself for having to bend over a lot because I am so tall, and molino-man and I are now bffs. He even gave me permission to take pictures next time we come to moler!
In case you were curious, here are some other insignificant things that make me extremely happy:

The other day we had hamburgers for lunch. Mixed into the ground meat were onion, red pepper, and MINT LEAVES. Mmmmmm.

The ayudantes at the gas station/bus stop often try to convince me that I don’t really want to go to Guate today, but would actually prefer to get on their bus and head to Chimal, in the opposite direction-.

Out of 10 internet cafes where I live I FINALLY found one that has the magic combination of both internet fast enough to download Skype, AND headphones with a working microphone!

I love that it is customary to greet everyone you pass in the street. Many people give the simple greeting “adios.” It was at first strange to me that people say “goodbye” in situations where we say “hello,” but it also literally means “to god,” which I think is pretty.

I’m on the camioneta (bus) today just minding my own business when my host dad taps me on the shoulder. I look up and see…a clown. Yep, a for-real, face-paint, rainbow-wig, red-nose clown, climbing aboard the packed bus. At first I thought he was on stilts. Then I realized he only seemed so tall because he was not Guatemalan.

My aunt bought watermelon today for a snack and I made watermelon teeth to show them! They loved it, especially because they thought I was crazy earlier when I told them I was going to make teeth out of watermelon.