North Carolina State University Athletics
Meredith Parrilla Blog's from Guatemala
5/12/2009 12:00:00 AM | Pack Athletics
Rising senior Meredith Parrilla of the NC State women’s soccer team is spending the next three weeks of May in Guatemala, going to school and traveling the country giving soccer clinics with NC State men’s soccer coach George Tarantini.
Parrilla is writing a blog for GoPack.com...Check back frequently as she gives us great insight into her experiences in Guatemala.
Friday, May 15
I guess all good things must come to an end .. right? I made the decision to end my trip a week early and head home to the US even though the soccer program was still going to take place. After going back and forth for days (and changing my flight twice) I realized I didn’t feel comfortable traveling to some of the places we would be going to and the more nervous I was the more vulnerable I would have been to something bad happening.
Wednesday, May 13
Never a dull moment here in Guatemala...
Sunday a very prominent lawyer here was assassinated and left behind a video (I guess he knew he was being targeted) for his family and friends to see at his funeral that of course got out to the media. In the video he claimed that the President of Guatemala, with the help of some of his people, shot and killed the lawyer and now things in Guatemala are a bit tense. Some think the military is going to try and overthrow the government, while others believe the President will be forced to step down and others think the President had nothing to do with it.
Since I am not from Guatemala I’m not able to fully understand the magnitude of this event, because I have nothing to compare it to, so I’m just being very careful and very quiet. I emailed Coach Tarantini to see if our trip was still on and as of right now it is, but Uty’s dad seems to think it will be cancelled or postponed because of the uncertainty of this country right now. We are suppose to travel to places away from the city and they are always more dangerous.
Yesterday Uty said there was three times the amount of police officers than normal at his University and today he called to tell me that almost half of his classmates weren’t there because they were protesting in front of the Presidential House. I’m so glad he lives in one of the safer “zonas” in Guatemala.
Tonight one of my dad’s business associates here in Guatemala is going to take me out to dinner and I’m very thankful because on Wednesday’s Uty doesn’t come home from the University all day and his parents stay at there restaurant extra late too. I hope we go get sushi!
I haven’t had the chance to watch the news yet this morning but hopefully I will learn more about what is going on. It doesn’t look like my dad will be coming here anymore which I’m bummed about. You can always count on Billy boy to take you to a nice restaurant, oh and also I was just going to be happy to see him :)
Friday, May 8
Today was supposed to be my last day here in Antigua, but after some heavy rains last night the roads were too dangerous to drive on so Uty wasn’t be able to get me until tomorrow morning when things clear up. I have really enjoyed my time here in Antigua, especially with the family I stayed with. They were so kind and generous with me and had much more patience than my friends in Guatemala City have been when talking to me in Spanish. By the end of my short stay I was able to have long dinner conversations with them that lasted well into the night (and of course by well into the night I mean 9:00 p.m., already 30 minutes past my bedtime).
Last night was another sleepless night for me and I woke up with an aching body. There was some .. well... I don’t know what it was but for about 10 minutes in the middle of the night guns were going off one right after the other and it woke me up and kept me up cause then it got my mind running wondering what exactly was the reason for all the noise. And compliments of Enano the parrot, I was up yet again well before all of you at 5:15 a.m. for the sole reason that Enano finds it necessary to sing at this hour. I think waking up early is in the top three of my least favorite things to do in this entire world and just puts me in a bad mood for the whole day. Some soccer with Uty and his brother, a hot shower with room to move and much needed sleep are all on the agenda for tomorrow.
Tonight I watched E’s The Soup in Spanish (incredibly entertaining in another language) and the Mets v. Pirates game while watching the scroll on the bottom for other scores. Last I checked the Red Sox were losing and the Yankees were winning, two things that brighten the day. I was also able to talk to some of my teammates today while on the computer at school. Kendall and Nadia are getting ready for a study abroad trip too to New Zealand and I can’t wait to hear about their adventures. Between the two of them I’m sure they’ll have plenty of funny stories to share.
That’s all for today, I’m looking forward to being back with Uty tomorrow in the city and impressing everyone with my Spanish. Un abrazote
Monday, May 11
I’m finally back at Uty’s house and we all enjoyed the weekend here. Unfortunately I wasn’t feeling too good this weekend so all we did was watch the baseball and basketball games, which was perfectly fine with me. Yesterday was Mother’s Day and we were all planning on going to Sonia’s (Uty’s mom) sister’s house, but I stayed back home eating some soup and sleeping lots. Uty and his brother Ferdi came back early to hang out with me and we watched movies and ate some popcorn.
I’m real excited because my Dad might be coming to Guatemala this week. He does a lot of business here (the first time I came here was on one of his business trip) and my mom said it looks like he will be booking a flight for Thursday so I’ll get to see him and he can take me for my favorite breakfast again!
Today Uty had class from 7-9 a.m. and came back right after and we went and had lunch together. He just left again for his afternoon class, but his brother is back from his classes and I’m about to dominate him in poker, and in a few more hours his parents will be home from dinner and we’ll watch some more baseball tonight, which seems to be the pattern here. As far as my patterns go, I’ve gone nine days now without ice cream and I’m starting to go through withdrawal. Back at school my friend Joe and I go all the time and I’m embarrassed to say that if I’ve picked up a milkshake from Port City Java at lunch time. There is always room for more if he calls me for a Coldstone Creamery trip!
Not much else is going on here, just looking forward to a nice relaxing week before soccer starts next Monday.
Thursday, May 7
WOW! Today was the hijo (son) of my house’s birthday and I came home from school to about 30 family members eating and talking in an area about a third of the size of the WB training room, quite overwhelming. Despite not knowing anyone, they all came up and gave me a kiss on the cheek and started firing away with questions. For the first time in all of my study abroad experiences I felt very comfortable conversing with everyone, it was great. It’s much easier for me to hold a one on one conversation with someone because they speak much clearer and don’t use slang, but I’m also starting to understand big group conversations that can be intimidating with any large family even if they speak the same language. I took some pictures and got everyone to throw up the Wolfpack sign even though for all they knew it could mean something completely different than what I told them but they did it without hesitation.
Yesterday I had my first heart pounding moment (aside from the bombs and earthquake last weekend). Here in Guatemala there aren’t really rules on the road and I’m convinced if you can successfully drive in this country you can drive anywhere. No one really stops at stop signs (or people crossing the street) and if the person in front of you is going too slow, well, you just go around them. Also, the cars here all have tinted windows so you can never see inside them. Anyways, I was walking home from school yesterday and a car pulled up real slowly behind me and as my heart started beating faster and faster it began to stop right next to me. I was already thinking about which brother of mine would take my room in my house or if my mom would turn it into a guest room. Lucky for me, the car was just going over a speed bump and had to slow down because it was so big. I’m not gonna lie though, I still get a little startled every time it happens but I’ve been getting better.
Tomorrow is my last day here in Antigua and after school Uty will come and pick me up and we will go back to his family’s house in the city for the rest of the week before I take my final adventure with Coach Tarantini the following week. I can’t believe I’m going to say this and I sure hope my coach isn’t reading this but I miss running, I feel so lazy here cause I haven’t been able to do anything aside from walk to school and back. And it will also be nice to get back to a tv with satellite cause this MLB live stuff isn’t doing me much good ...
Monday. May 4
Today was my first day at my Spanish school and I have already experienced some interesting things here in Guatemala. Yesterday, while Uty and I were having breakfast at the Westin Hotel in the city, there was an earthquake and it measured at 6.1! At first I thought it was just me until I saw the lights hanging from the ceiling swaying back and forth and the startled faces of a few of the hotel guests. It lasted only 20 or 30 seconds but it was still scary for me. It felt like the last time I was on a cruise and the boat used to rock at night, not such a fun thing to feel while you’re on land.
Then when I arrived here in Antigua for my week of school there were bombs going off, one right after the other. After Uty decided to joke with me and say we should take cover because things could get dangerous, I learned that it was just a Sunday ritual at the Church near my house. PHEW! I got settled in my room and then left to find an internet caf so I could call my family and hear how my brother’s lacrosse game went.
When I got back to the house I took a shower and it was probably the coldest and most unmemorable shower of my lifetime, oh, and it was in the dark! Just as I got in the lights went off and I was stuck in a shower no bigger than the size of my locker at State in water that was without a doubt colder than the cold pool in WB, if you can even imagine that.
Aside from playing soccer with Uty back at his house I haven’t done any sort of exercise here because there is really no where to go. I’m getting a bit anxious though and will be glad to get back to the city so I can play some more soccer. And as far as watching games, soccer is the only thing they play in Antigua so I’m relying on my cousin’s MLB live account to keep up with Yankees and their journey to championship #27 this fall. I’ve been keeping up with my friends on the State baseball and softball teams here too and can’t wait to hear how we do this weekend at the ACC Softball Tournament (NC State is hosting).
All right, its time to watch Siete Libras (Seven Pounds) and eat tortillas for the third time in as many meals. A bo berry biscuit from Bojangles on Western sounds really good right now!
Sunday, May 3
I arrived in Guatemala today to some rainy weather, go figure. It didn’t bother me too much though because somehow I talked my way into first class since the plane was so empty. Had some lobster and salmon on the way over while watching the movie Marley and Me (yes I cried), life is tough.
As soon as I got here I was a bit overwhelmed because it usually takes me a day or two to get my Spanish back. My friend’s mom doesn’t speak English so the moment I walked in the house I had to quickly remember all I had learned.
As the rain started to get heavier and heavier Uty (my friend) and I grabbed our soccer cleats and played in the pouring rain - he is better than I last remembered! We played 1 v. 1 and I got my butt kicked. He’s really fast and, well, if you know me I wouldn’t exactly place myself in the speedy category or the potential to be fast so that might have contributed to my loss. I’m not worried though, that was just a warmup!
On the way home from dinner tonight Uty and I saw a gang fight and it was a bit (or a lot) scary. Although I absolutely love this country and think it is one of the most beautiful I have visited, Guatemala is still a third world country and can be very dangerous. I will have to be very careful while I’m by myself in Antigua.
Tomorrow is when I leave for a week of Spanish school in Antigua, followed by a week with Uty’s family and then my last week I will be traveling the country with Coach Tarantini giving soccer clinics and speaking to coaches and players about the great game of soccer, I am most excited for that. Time for some much needed sleep, not that I didn’t enjoy it on the plane :) Ciao
