Culture Shock Stage 2: Hating everything

Mi familia: me, Farnanda, Gemma, and Fatima; Jous and I at the Miss Teen Guzman Pageant or something


Jous and the newest recruits Kristen and Tyler; 3am Tacos!!! yumyum

May 23, 2008

A couple days ago I was catapulted into the fiery depths of stage 2 when I discovered that 700 pesos was missing from my wallet. That is the equivalent of $70 Canadian. In the great scheme of life $70 is really not that much, it just makes me sad. Since the discovery of the missing money I figured out that the money was stolen at the rehab centre either by one of the boys or by someone who works there. If it was one of the boys there is a good chance they will recover the money, if not, well… too bad for me that money is long gone. The part that really makes me quite sad that someone I know took that much money from me knowing it was me they were stealing from (the first thing you see when you open my wallet is my ID). If it turns out to be one of the boys, I can understand. These kids come from the streets. They would steal from their mother if she left money where they could find it. But if it’s someone who works there, well… I don’t reckon I would work there anymore alongside people like that.

I didn’t go out last night with the other volunteers or go to the party that one of the girls from the centre invited me to and I didn’t go to work today. I took some time to myself to rest and remind myself why I’m here. I went down to the town centre today, sat on a bench and read an entire novel. And then I bought a new novel in Spanish to help me with my vocabulary. It’s called Memoria de mis putas tristes by Gabriel García Márquez. I don’t really know what it’s about… something to do with an old guy and prostitutes. Should be a good read. I reckon those are two ingredients of any good novel haha. The town centre here is really beautiful. It was good to just sit there in the beauty and breathe; tell myself that everything will be okay; that no matter how painfully I miss home, I’m here, and here is really not that bad. And I do miss home painfully. Summer is my favourite time in Saskatoon and this is the second year in a row I’m missing it. I miss my family and my friends and especially Alexis. I knew the culture shock was going to be bad here… I went through it in Australia too (and that was in an English-speaking country) but I got over the hating everything stage and had the best time of my life out there. So I’m telling myself it will get better here too. My host mum has resorted to writing things down for me because I can understand way more when reading than talking (stupid, useless university classes) and I had to bring Jous with me to the centre to tell them about the missing money and translate for me. This whole Spanish thing is becoming quite annoying. Anyway, I’ll be staying here and doing a whole lot of nothing this weekend seeing as I have no money. I think I will find the art supplies shop to get some paper and do some painting. That’s always a good stress reliever.