A long story short

I baked some delicious food with a lady named Celeste once.

She has a dog named Chuck...

The cookies were pumpkin flavored.

Then my hand made some homemade cookie glaze...

Dan Russel was there. We made wheat bread together.

Celeste got a pic with the bread baby.

Me too!

Joe was there as well. We made breakfast for dinner.

The next day, I got to packing for Nashville. Maggie was sad, so she sat next to the box and moped.

Then I walked through Target and found this... I wish I could say I didn't want to see it. But man, I do.

Then, I saw this in the impulse aisle at Walmart... I couldn't resist for the life of me.

My niece and I ran some errands together. 

She was super good, so I conceded to getting her a "Birthday Pop" from Starbucks.

Then I brought her to a party.

She and Miss Teen hit it off quite well.

 I am learning about retirement plans, home ownership, loans, investments, mortgages, flexible spending funds, and much more #adulthood #wisdomplease

I took a picture in my Florida State sweater in honor of our game against the Gators on Saturday :D

Then I wanted to make some homemade pizza... so I did.

Even the sauce is homemade.

Ingredients: tomatoes, onion, fresh garlic, spinach, mushrooms, oregano, artichoke, mozzarella, and pita.

Then I saw Leah and Jimmy

The End.

My mom....

This is a compilation of quotes from my mother after just ONE day together.


IN MY ROOM AFTER I BROKE THE CEILING FAN:
[I made a super loud noise and one of the fan blades was on the ground]
Instead of being mad, she ran to my room, saw the blade, grabbed it, yelled:
"NEW SPANKING STICK"
Hit me with it, set it back down again, and left...


WALKING IN TARGET:
Mom: Hey, Cody. What do hipsters call houses again?
Me: Ma, I don't know what in the world you are talking about... I don't think hipsters have another name for houses.
Mom: .....OH! Cribs! That's it!
Me: Mom, hipsters definitely don't call houses "cribs"... Do you even know what a hipster is????


IN THE CAR:
Me: Mom, where is your doctor from?
Mom: Oh, he's a Muslim...
Me: "Muslim" isn't a place... it's a religion.
Mom: Oh..
[A minute long pause and after deep thought on her part]
Mom: Cody, where do Muslims come from?
Me: They come from a lot of places, Ma. Sometimes even the United States.
Mom: Wow...


IN OFFICE MAX:
Mom: Look! That's at least a month's worth of fun..
Me: Where? What are you talking about?
Mom: *Points at a huge pile of bubble wrap*


IN OFFICE MAX AGAIN:
Mom: This stuff is way too expensive. It's ridiculous.
Me: You're telling me, let's get out of here.
Mom: Got it. First let's go to that copy machine, make copies of our behinds (I'm censoring this), and find that box where it asks about what we think about the store! That'll show 'em!


ON THE WAY HOME:
[After failing horribly trying impersonate my Spanish music]
Mom: I think I can pretend to speak Chinese better than I can pretend to speak Spanish...
Me: Alright, lemme hear it.
Mom: Wong, Tong, Dong, Kong, Shong, Bong... 
Me: Ma, you're just saying "ong" and changing the first sound every time... That doesn't sound like Chinese at all....


And folks wonder where I get it from....


Love,


Cody

A birthday party, Karaoke, and a funeral...

My Trip to Xela: Written November 6th


SO. I'm here in my living room blogging about life. I'm listening to One Republic's song "Good Life" because for some reason it makes me chipper.


This is my blogpost about my trip to Xela (pronounced SHAY-la... "x"s make the"sh" sound here). Xela is a city about 2-3 hours away from Panajachel by bus.


I had a free weekend, and I could choose to go anywhere I wanted.


I so hoped to climb a volcano while I was here in Guatemala, but decided that given my money constrictions, and the fact that it was my friend's birthday, it would be all around better if I went to Xela to see some old friends.


[To clarify: I met the folks that I know from Xela when I was in language school in July]


The first night was awesome. I got to the language school and surprised my friend Kevin with a cupcake and a candle ( Christmas themed, because the store was out of Birthday candles)... and of course the singing of "Feliz Cumpleaños."


After sitting with Kevin a while, I went to the cafe to visit my friend Luis who told me about Kevin's surprise b-day party. I was so happy we were celebrating. There was a piñata, music, drinks, cake, guacamole, singing, a little dancing... An all around good Guatemalan B-day.


Here are some of the pictures from the party on Thursday Night:

Kevin ( The birthday boy and friend of mine) and one of the owners of the school. She was with me in the hospital the night I got stupid sick in July. 

Kevin and his BFF Luis. These are some really good guys.

Candlesssssss

Me, Aricely, and Jane

Everyone should be kissed on their birthday. At least I think so. My niece kissed me this b-day. I'm satisfied.

Gag gift. Tiny Undies :)

Anytime I'm at a party where there's cake, you should know that I almost always going to throw it... This was my icing casualty.

In zee face :D

 Thursday night I stayed in a Hostel. For those of you who have stayed in a hostel, you can sympathize with me... The next morning I woke up, grabbed some breakfast, then met my former teacher at the language school. We hopped in a mini bus and went to the market, then to her house to cook some delicious food.


We had pasta and collard greens :D
We also had this drink:

This is stewed pumpkin with sugar , ginger, and cinnamon sticks...

Then you just add water. Suddenly you find yourself drinking an iced beverage that tastes just like pumpkin pie. It was odd to say the least.

Either way, just getting to eat and catch up with Monica was wonderful. After lunch, she had to clean a bit, so I went downstairs and got her laundry off her line outside for her. I spent a good amount of time shooing away chickens from all the clean laundry... then Monica mentioned the chickens were for her mom's stew... after that I started treating them much more nicely.

Friday night I attended a funeral for the mother of a woman I knew from the school. My friend Lupe and I went to pay respects. This was totally new for me. I've never been to a Wake outside of my own culture. In the States, it seems you bring flowers and a card. In Guatemala, you bring soda and a bag of sugar... I didn't even get to ask why. I was taking the whole thing in.

After the funeral, we went to the school because they were having a karaoke night. I met some interesting new people. The gentleman I met from Liverpool was an absolute RIOT. I cannot even explain to you how interesting it was to interact with him. He used the "F" word in almost every sentence. As my ears were becoming accustomed to what seemed like normality on his part, I was loving the conversation. We discussed incest because I am from the South. We also talked about how American "Foot"ball has little to do with feet. Then we talked about bad teeth and the BBC because he's from England... Typical, I suppose. To say that it was clear our cultures clashed was an understatement, but still we had a great conversation. What a joy.

After a full day, I retired to my hostel then headed back to Panajachel Saturday morning.


This weekend is one that I definitely won't be forgetting for a while.


Love,


Cody

Short Story

One night my co-workers and I were driving home from Camanchaj. There were fireworks to celebrate the lighting of the big Christmas tree at the town square in Solola.


I took a picture and somehow captured it...kind of...

Lemonadeeeeeee

Last Day in Guatemala

Boy was I sad to say goodbye to Guatemala.

I packed up all my things on Wednesday and tried to hit the sack as early as possible.

That morning I did a lot of last minute errands like arranging my shuttle to the capital to catch my flight the next morning, buying gifts for the family, etc.

One thing I absolutely HAD to do was visit with a family that I met while wandering through the riverbed and came to love. The photo below is Petrona and her family in front of their home. These are some of the sweetest, most giving people I know. Carlos is the little boy in the middle. We got to practice numbers and the alphabet together. I had some awesome conversations with Petrona as well. It simply felt like a second family. What a privilege to know them.

Carlos and his sister walking me back to town after I visited a while. <3

My mini-guides :)

Whilst running errands, I encountered a Chicago Bulls themed Tuk-Tuk...odd...

To celebrate my last day, I treated myself to food out. Tofu/Veggie fajitas. Deliciousssss.

I purchased my favorite Guatemalan drink in bulk since I knew I wouldn't be about to find it in the States... Rose/Hibiscus tea. Amen.

So long Guatemala, you will be extraordinarily missed.


Love,


Cody

San Antonio Palopo

This is a post I wrote while I was in Guatemala, but didn't get to post it.

I took a day trip to San Antonio Palopo and it was amazing. 

 I have pictures to help tell the story of my day:

This is the type of pick-up I rode to the city. It's normal to simply stand up in the back and hold on for dear life. As a true Guatemalan should, I made sure to stand up in the bed and hold on to sack of corn in order to keep myself stable. It was thrilling to say the LEAST. It's about a thirty-five minute drive in total. The cool part is, it's not just any drive. You find yourself flying down winding mountainous roads on the coast of a centuries-old crater lake surrounded by mountains and volcanos. If that isn't enough, you are in the midst of some of the most beautiful foliage you could ever see. Rock cliffs, trees, streams, waterfalls, cattle, gardens, fields, farmland... As we were traveling, I kept thinking of two different movies:

-Jurassic park because of the scenery. If you've seen Jurassic park, you know what I'm talking about. I felt at any moment a Pterodactyl was going to swoop down and steal the corn I was holding on to.

- Apocalypto because of  the scenery as well, but mostly because of all the Mayans who were in the truck with me. They aren't as scary as the people in this movie, but man do they look so similar. It's wild.

These are just some of the pics I took of the city itself. It was truly breathtaking.

                                         A lovely aged church

Lake Atitlan

Pretty door thing :)

Love,

Cody

The Lost Cyst...

My Last Surgery Day

A lipoma the GP and I removed from a 15 year old's neck :) Grossed Out? I was by myself in the OR cleaning up all the biohazard stuff and HAD to take a picture. I said to myself out loud, " Aww... it's kind of cute." Yep...

This is a picture of a picture. It's a UTERUS with a Fibroid tumor the surgical team removed. It weighed a total of 12 lbs. This woman was a mother and wife and was living life with a 12 lb. tumor in her abdomen. What a blessing this was!!! 

This is one of the sweetest gentlemen I know! We couldn't talk because he speaks a different tribal language, but man did we talk without words. I smiled so much my FACE HURT. He had a hernia repaired, and it was so wonderful. This man was so joyful and appreciative after his surgery. It was amazing to behold.

This GP is from South Africa but lives in Canada. He let me assist him with minor surgeries, and it was soooooo awesome!!!! Here we are removing a Ganglion cyst on the hand of a gentlemen who works as a corn picker. He was so sweet and extremely patient with us. He waited for so long and traveled from very far to be with us.

Speaking of Ganglion cysts..... here it is!! Ok, I actually have a funny story about this little cyst. I wanted to take a picture later, so I had to hide it in the OR. I found the gentleman's family, helped the patient to the holding room, did discharge teaching, put his bandage on, got his meds all worked out, and saw him to his vehicle. When I came back to clean and take a picture, I realized I Couldn't remember where I hid the cyst!! I was completely freaked out.  I thought to myself, " Cody, HOW DID YOU LOOSE A CYST???" I just knew someone was going to walk in any minute and ask what I was looking for... I left the room and found Fransisco (the nursing student from triage day) and had to awkwardly explain to him that I lost the patient's cyst and HAD to find it before the next patient came in or worse, the Doc found it. Finally I found it... in a glove on the counter. HALLELUJAH!!!

Take two!

Me, Karen from Canada, Sonia ( Spanish to Quiche translator), and Fransisco

This guy was so, so cute. After his surgery was over, I was explaining to him that everything went super well. He was still quite groggy from the anesthesia. He got a HUGE grin on his face as if I had said nothing at all. He just said... "hola..." He was staring at my face and kind of looked enamored lol. This young man had a testicular hernia. For you boys/men out there that are reading this,  I imagine you can have proper sympathy for this guy. He was starting to have trouble doing daily things without tremendous pain. What a privilege to be a small part of his healing!

Love, 

Cody