Antigua with Amber!

I know I am skipping the past two days, but I wanted to let you all know that I arrived safely to Antigua last night. It has been great to see Elvira and Enrique again, and especially Amber. I will try to post when I can but it will not be as frequently as during the past two weeks.

TRAMA

el 27 de junio 2011

I got up at 7 today and took a shower. As I was getting ready, I started feeling really ill. I spent a great deal of the morning in the bathroom, but I managed to go up to Sandy's and have some bread. I was a few minutes late to school since I had spent so much time in the bathroom, which was embarrassing because on Monday morning, they always have a meeting in the school to introduce new people and go over the week's activities. Today they went to Salcaja (a town outside of Xela) in the afternoon but I didn't feel well enough to go.

Carolina and I talked a lot today and I reviewed clauses that require the subjunctive (things like unless, if, so that, in case that, for the purpose of, etc.). We talked a lot. I felt rather ill for most of the morning. I drank some tea and that warmed me up. During the break, I checked my email and made a to-do list of all the things I need to do before I leave Xela on Wednesday. It poured all morning due to the tropical depression. Carolina told me that it is supposed to rain most of the next 48 hours, which is basically the rest of my time in Xela! We ended the break late, which meant that we got out a few minutes late from class. I headed back to Sandy's and did my homework while I waited for lunch. We had salty mushroom soup, small potatoes covered in sesame seeds, and a seed of tomatoes, avocado, and onions. I ate my soup and some potatoes. I was feeling better than I was this morning. I checked my email, but I hadn't heard anything from Andrea. After lunch, I called Angela to wish her a happy birthday, and then I went to arrange a shuttle to get me and my stuff to Antigua. Surprisingly, it was not raining! I easily found the place I was looking for and I booked my shuttle for 3pm on Wednesday. I am so excited to see Amber!

Next, I finally made it to TRAMA, a women's textile cooperative. I never made it here last year and then I was going to go on Friday until I found out about Andrea being in the hospital. There were two women weaving with backstrap looms when I got there. The women sit on the ground and have their weaving tied to a post or a tree and then they hold the looms close to them by wearing a strap that goes around their waists. It is amazing to see how much work goes into making a scarf or anything else. I looked around at all the items they had for sale. It is a fair trade organization, comprised of 98% women. The women are part of 17 cooperatives from around Xela. Each cooperative chooses two women who can read, write, and speak Spanish to represent them (many of the women speak only Mayan languages). The women decide together on fair prices for their work. I bought several things before leaving.

I next went to visit a fair trade cafe that sells coffee and other organic, fair trade items. I found it with little trouble, but I did not have enough money with me to buy what I wanted. The man there was really nice and explained the different types of coffee to me and let me smell the ground coffees to help me decide. I went back to the apartment, did my homework, and checked my email. I had a facebook message from Andrea saying that she was back at the hostel. I got more money, went to the cafe, and then headed over to the hostel. I brought playing cards for them to use tonight. They had a few complications in paying for her surgery and hospital stay, as might be expected, but the cost was much less than they had anticipated. They had to leave her mom's passport at the hospital so that Andrea could leave without paying the full total. When I got there, they were getting ready to head to Cafe Baveria. I decided to go with them. I had spearmint tea and they ate dinner. We had an enjoyable time talking. Andrea is still in a lot of pain, but she looked better today. All too soon, it was time for me to head back for dinner. It still was not raining!

I got to Sandy's about 7:25 and we ate within a half hour. Kristin had spilled a bag of milk in the refrigerator and on the floor so I helped her clean it up. She made a pasta bake for dinner with bacon and canned asparagus. After dinner, I went up on the terrace and took pictures of the cathedral lit up.



I came back to my apartment and got ready for bed. I tried to call Tammy when she got home from Bible study, but for some reason my calls would not go through. After emailing, texting, and calling her multiple times, I decided it probably wasn't going to work tonight. For some reason, the internet has been spotty today, although my picture uploaded faster than ever. I wrote my blog and I will soon go to bed. Tomorrow will be a busy day! I am glad I am feeling better. I think I might have to blame that delicious corn that I bought on the street near the park! :(

The Arrival of Andrea´s Mom

el 26 de junio 2011

Last night was terrible! I felt like I hardly got any sleep. My window panes do not meet each other so my room is drafty and loud. Last night was the soccer game between the U.S. and Mexico. I don't know if that is why people were so loud or if was just because it was the weekend. A bar up the road put speakers outside and was blasting music. I thought that was bad until they started using those same speakers for karaoke. There were people walking, talking, and yelling outside my window until the wee hours of the morning. There was also the usual dogfight around 1am, but I did not hear the 2am rooster last night. I woke up very tired and have been tired all day.

I got up at 7 and took a shower (my first in this apartment). I have to give this shower higher marks than the last one. With this shower, you can have great water pressure (with very cold water) or hot water (with very low water pressure) instead of the lukewarm, low water pressure that came out of the other shower. I ate the biggest banana I've ever seen and a granola bar before heading out to meet Ryan in front of McDonald's at 8:15.

I stopped by XelaPan and bought a sheca con frijol and some anise rolls to have for lunch at the hospital. I met Ryan and he decided that he didn't want to walk to Bethania (the church which was about a 30 minute walk away) so we took a cab to the church. When we got there, we couldn't go in because there was a church service going on right inside the doors. We walked around the corner and went to a XelaPan cafe because Ryan had not had breakfast. I showed him my recommended items and he got a few things. We went to the cafe part and sat down. We had about a half hour before church, but by the time the waitress came to take the order, we only had about 10 minutes before church, so Ryan didn't order any food. When he had finished, we headed over to the church.

People were pouring out the doors and many people were waiting in the street for the church to clear. There are three morning services (7, 9, and 11) and each one lasts two hours. I couldn't believe how many people were there. We finally entered the church and there was already a countdown going on the screen. When the church service began, they turned off the lights and had a fog machine with strobe lights. It was pretty intense! We sang lots of worship songs that I knew from other Spanish churches but none that I knew from English. There was a dance team that danced with tambourines, scarves, and ribbons. There were really cute babies in the church service, some of them tied to their mother's backs. I want a Guatemalan baby to tie on my back! I already bought the colorful fabric that they use! The sermon was about having a family that is built upon the Rock (Jesus Christ). It was interesting because he started off talking about all the political candidates and how everyone hopes that if the right person is elected, they hope it will change Guatemala. His opinion is that what is going to save Guatemala is building strong families. He said to build a strong family by praying together, by loving God's Word, and by blessing the people in your family with your words. After church, about 11, we walked to the hospital to see Andrea.


Ryan only stayed 15 minutes because he was going to go to the hostel and change the sheets on Andrea's bed. Her pain meds were wearing off, so she wasn't feeling that great. We walked around the hospital and then she got into bed for a while. It is so hard for her to get in and out of bed that she often chooses to stay in the chair. She needed a lot of help getting around so I could tell she was hurting. She is supposed to go eight hours between pain pills. She said she had her first pill at 5:15 this morning, so she should have had one at 1:15. About 12:30, she gave in and asked for the pill, but they wouldn't give it to her. They said that she had to wait until 2 since morning meds are given at 6. It was a long 90 minutes. I tried to distract her with conversation and helped her move around as needed. We attempted the crossword in the paper (in Spanish, of course), but we could only get about one-fifth of the words. Holly showed up a bit before 2 and then Andrea's mom arrived at 2:30, just as the pain medicine was starting to kick in. Andrea and her mom talked for a few minutes and then went on a walk. Andrea's mom was hungry, so Holly and I took her to the XelaPan cafe where I had been that morning. She ate a meal and Holly and I had sweets. I had a piedra (rock), which is a dense cake-like cookie with chocolate on top. It kind of has a cinnamon flavor. It was huge and very sweet. I could hardly finish it. I also had Hibiscus juice. When we finished eating, it was pouring down rain (due to a tropical depression), so we waited a half hour, but the rain showed no sign of stopping. Andrea's mom had forgotten her umbrella in her car, so she didn't want to walk. I didn't really, either! Holly and I went out in the rain and tried to flag down a cab, which we eventually did. The driver was really nice and we were soon back at the hospital. We hung around for another hour or so and then Holly and I headed back around 6. Andrea's mom was going to spend the night at the hospital. It was still raining quite hard, so we looked for a cab, but we could not find one. We started walking back, still looking for a taxi but without success. It was so wet and Holly didn't have an umbrella. I mainly used mine to protect my backpack that I had on my front to protect my Bible and camera. We walked the whole 25 minute walk back and I was so wet there was really no point in trying to stay dry. I was wearing a long black skirt and it was soaked in the back from the rain dripping off my jacket and umbrella. It started wrapping around my legs and it was hard to walk. When I finally got back, every single item of clothing that I was wearing was wet, including my jacket, sweater, and shirt! In the photo below, please note that the dark black part is the wet part!


I changed and went upstairs to see about dinner. Sandy was on the computer and Alvaro and Kristen were over. Gabby came out and started playing Speed with Alvaro. I couldn't tell if they had eaten yet or not. I wrote about a political article I had read in class on Saturday as part of my homework. We had some popcorn (dinner?) and I played Speed with them. Finally, Sandy went and made some very greasy microwavable pasta with meat for my dinner. I also had some dry bread with a few raisins in it. I miss vegetables! I headed back downstairs around 8. I met one of my roommates (Javi) that I hadn't yet met. She works with med students who are doing clinicals and residencies here. I went to my room and caught up on email and other stuff. I still need to finish reading my Isabel Allende short story. I am really tired!

Here is a picture of Holly and me standing by Andrea's hospital door (#2).

Happy Day of the Teacher!

el 25 de junio 2011

It has been a busy day, so I will use some bullet points to keep it short...

• I got up at 7:15 and went up and knocked on Sandy's apartment door for ten minutes before she let me in and fed me cornflakes with milk and gave me a banana. She is leaving today for San Pedro, so I won't see her until tomorrow at lunch time.
  
• Today is the Day of the Teacher in Guatemala. I brought Carolina some chocolate as a gift.
• I had class 8-1, as usual. We talked about Andrea and more about healthcare. I learned some new vocab words like IV, catheter, stitches, and staples. Olga came to work, so during the break I used the internet, but I had a terrible keyboard and the spacebar didn't work so I only replied to a few people using a minimum of words and I put periods in between the words (which is what I did in kindergarten!) since I couldn't use the spacebar.
• After school, I went home and packed what I needed for the afternoon. I ate some dried fruit, a banana, and my sheca con frijol. I stopped by XelaPan and bought some more bread and gave a roll to a woman begging outside.
  
• Walked halfway to the hospital and stopped and got a dulce de leche ice cream cone. It was kind of disappointing because the flavor was very mild. It almost tasted like vanilla!
  
• I got to the hospital at 2. Holly was there, too. Andrea seemed to be doing much better. She was in less pain and her IV was out. She is supposed to walk a lot. We walked around the hospital 3-4 times while I was there. She has to go very slowly because it hurts her. Holly left around 3:30, I think. Andrea and I chatted and I helped her with her soup, jello, and water throughout the afternoon. In between helping her get in and out of bed, walking around the hospital, and eating, it was a busy afternoon. Andrea's mom also called and I talked to her for a while and Andrea talked to her for a bit. She is coming tomorrow instead of Andrea's dad. After getting Andrea settled into bed for a rest, I left around 6:30.
• Went to Holly's to use Andrea's computer to call Andrea's mom's ride in Guatemala City, but I didn't have her flight info, so I called Andrea's mom and she actually has a friend of a friend who is going to pick her up at the airport and drive her 4 hours to the hospital!
• Went to the grocery store and bought some food for tonight and breakfast tomorrow and also a gallon of water. I bought an ear of corn on the cob from a woman selling it near the park. It was the best thing I've eaten here with the exception of the shecas con frijol!

• Called Andrea's mom to give her the address of the hospital.
• Called my mom and talked for an hour.
• Realized why my room is noisy and freezing... there is a gap of at least a half inch between my window panes. It makes it quite drafty in here. There is a soccer game between Mexico and the U.S. tonight and it is loud outside. There is also a bar blasting music on speakers outside. I am not sure I will be able to sleep.
• I really need to take a shower, but it is so cold that I think I might wait until the morning, even though I know I will regret that decision tomorrow.
• I am meeting Ryan (a new friend of Andrea's) to try out a new church tomorrow!
  

Hospital!

June 24, 2011

Andrea had to go to the hospital last night and have emergency surgery for a twisted intestine. I will just write the highlights of today.

• Could not sleep last night until 2:30 thanks to the tea I had at dinner.
• Woke up feeling really anxious about traveling this weekend for some reason.
  
• School 8-1 during which we mainly talked about healthcare and hospitals.
• During the half hour break, I talked to Sander, a man from Holland.
• Checked my email when I got back and had a message from Holly that Andrea is in the hospital.
• Ate lasagna for lunch with Sandy and Kristen in Sandy's new apartment.
• I was told that I had to move to a different apartment with three people I had never met. I was anxious to find Andrea, but I quickly hauled my stuff down two flights of stair and up one flight. I now live with an English girl, a girl from Boston (still haven't seen her), and a male artist from Argentina (according to Sandy).
• Called Jenny to wish her a happy birthday.
  
• Went to Andrea's place and asked the owner which hospital Andrea had gone to.
• Walked 20 minutes to the private hospital.
• Visited with Holly and Andrea (3:30-5) and talked to Andrea's mom on the phone about how her dad can get from Guatemala City to Xela. Andrea seemed to be in a lot of pain, but she said she was much better than last night.
  
• Went to my school to ask for Patricia's number so she can pick up Andrea's dad.
• Went home to get Sandy's number for Andrea and to look up the number for the private hospital.
  
• Tried to call the private hospital but got a recording with a different number for the hospital. I called back several times but could never hear all 8 numbers.
• Asked a woman on the street to call for me and get the number, but it took her about four tries. She tried the new number and it didn't work so she called the old number and confirmed that she had the right one. She did, so she tried the new number again, but it still didn't work.
• Decided to walk back to the hospital, even though it was starting to get dark. Stopped at XelaPan on the way and got a sheca con frijol to eat on the way. I got there about 6:45.
• Visited with Andrea, gave her Sandy's number and some water, and left about 7:10 when nine (yes, I did type that correctly) nurses came into her room. I think the head nurse might have been training some of the others.
• Stopped at a tienda and bought toilet paper and water.
• Went back to Sandy's apartment and ate the chicken drumstick covered in sauce that she had left for me. (She had a dinner at her school.)
• Came back to my apartment, emailed Andrea's mom, and talked to Tammy for two hours!
• Called Andrea's mom and talked for a half hour.
• Looked up possibilities of accommodations for Andrea and her dad.
  
• Wrote my blog, did not do my homework (for once, I am not going to worry about it), and I'm going to get ready for bed. I have had a crazy day of running around the city, and it is almost midnight!
  

My French/Spanish Day

el 23 de junio 2011

I woke up at 7:15. My throat seemed really dry and swollen like yesterday. However, it was so much better by the afternoon that I forgot to write about it yesterday. It doesn’t really hurt too badly, but it is hard to swallow. Sandy was here making oatmeal. I asked her what was going on with the moving around. She said that the apartment people told Gabby yesterday afternoon that they had to move to another apartment because the owner is going to use this one as an office. She said that I will move into the new apartment with her when the girls next door move out (tomorrow?). I am still kind of confused, but she said that she will keep cooking here in our old apartment until I move and we are totally kicked out of this apartment. She also gave me a banana and bread for breakfast. I saved the banana for later and got ready for school.

I arrived a few minutes early and talked with some people while I waited. There was not any tea made which was unfortunate for my throat. Carolina and I went over my homework and then we reviewed the perfect tenses. All of this was accompanied by a lot of conversation. During the break, I went with Carolina to the market to buy carrots and green beans already cut and some onions and peppers for the dinner tonight. Each person has to pay Q15 to come and the teachers are going to prepare all the food. When we got back, it was time for the fair trade conference. A man came and spoke about the coffee cooperatives. He said that out of 100 pounds of raw coffee beans, a coffee producer will end up with 12 pounds of beans ready to brew. He talked about some of the obstacles of fair trade and the difference between conventional trade and fair trade. It was interesting to hear him talk about the certification of fair trade because he said it is very costly so some fair trade organizations do not pay to have their products certified, yet others are not fair trade producers but they pay the people who certify the products so they get the certificates. The conference lasted an hour and a half. A man from the Canada group translated the lecture into French, but there was no English. After the conference, we returned to our table and began reviewing the conditional tense. We didn’t finish before it was time to go. I checked my email and when I went downstairs, everyone was gathered in a circle and they were giving Bernadette her certificate from the school because she is leaving before the dinner. When that was over, I paid Olga for my second week of school. Then I headed back to the apartment.

Sandy had something similar to fettuccini alfredo (with American cheese mixed in also) waiting for me. After eating my lunch alone, I grabbed my book and journal and headed up to the terrace for an hour and a half of peaceful reading in the sun (mostly). There were lots of big white clouds in the sky and sometimes the sun would disappear for a bit. It is amazing the difference in temperature when the sun is out and when it goes under a cloud. I headed inside and washed some clothes in the sink and took a long shower. Afterward, I did some stuff in my room while listening to music. Then I did my homework. I wrote my summary of the fair trade presentation and I read one of the short stories in my Eva Luna book. Then I got ready for the dinner. It had warmed up a lot during the day, so I wore my long black skirt and I wasn’t too cold.

I headed over to the school at 6:30. Carolina was making the ensalada rusa (Russian salad) with the vegetables we had bought during the break. I talked with the group from Canada (in Spanish) for a while. Then we went upstairs to my classroom for the dinner. Olga gave a speech and then each teacher presented his/her student with a diploma and said something nice to the student. Then the audience began to clap and chant, “Que hable, que hable, que hable,” and the students each had to give a speech. It is good to know this now before it is my turn! When all the diplomas had been given out, it was time to eat. A few of the teachers served us. We had two tacos and the ensalada rusa (see photo below). There was not anything to drink and I had not brought my water. I went downstairs to fill my mug with water and surprise! There was not any water! I was so thirsty I had to drink something so I had some hot tea. I am hoping that it will not keep me up all night. I only had ¾ of a cup, but I was so thirsty and the tacos were kind of salty. I talked with the Canadians while I ate. I especially enjoyed talking to Mari Eva, a 32 year old teacher. She has only taken four days of Spanish classes and so she can’t speak very well, but we both tried hard to communicate and another Canadian would sometimes help her if she got stuck. It was hard because she spoke with an accent and pronounced most words incorrectly. We celebrated when we understood each other. I like hanging out with people who don’t speak English. (I know that they speak some English, but what I mean is that they were not speaking English in the school.) When I am with Americans or Holly, it is too easy to break into English. I need to be banned from English except when I am writing my blog or communicating with people who don’t speak Spanish (i.e. my family). Tammy, when I get to your house, let’s try to be really good and speak lots of Spanish, okay? It was all too soon time to clean up, so we moved the tables and chairs back to their correct locations and we washed our dishes.

I headed back to my apt. When I got here, Sandy and Kristen were watching House and Alvaro was eating at the table. However, they have all moved out. I am actually the only person left in the apartment and I suspect I will be evicted tomorrow. There is no more room in Sandy’s new apartment. I hope those girls do leave so that I can move in! Sandy and Kristen and I had a massage train and then I went to my room to write my blog and get ready for bed. It is only 9:40, but I am so tired and I hardly did anything today!

La Guardería (daycare)!

el 22 de junio 2011

I woke up at 7:15 this morning still thinking about the movie from the night before. I got ready for school and had cornflakes with milk and a banano (yes, that is what they are called here). I went to school at 8 and chatted with people until the bell rang for class to start. We went over my homework and then we reviewed all the prepositions. It was completely review, but we incorporated a lot of conversation into it. We talked a lot about Guatemalan holidays and schools. During the break, I checked my email, got some hot tea (which actually did help warm me up), and spent the rest of the break in my classroom reading. After the break, we continued talking and I also read some short stories for children. They were very easy.

After school, I checked my email again and asked more questions about the activity for the afternoon. They were going to Las Cumbres which is a sauna and spa. It is about 45 - 60 minutes away. I didn´t really have the desire to go, although many people from the school recommended that I go. They were also showing a movie about the mines in Guatemala at 4. I went home and Sandy was giving Spanish classes through Skype. I was really hungry, so I helped myself to two slices of bread and made a sandwich with the peanut butter I brought. I also had some dried fruit and a granola bar. I read some of my book and then I got ready to go visit my friends at the daycare from last year. I checked my email and saw that I had a message from Holly saying that she would like to go with me. I sent her a message saying that I would come by and get her.

I walked to Holly´s place and then we headed to the daycare. Surprisingly, I did not get lost at all, even though it is kind of hard to find and I had always walked there from my house. A girl came to the door and I asked for Elisa. She went and got her. Elisa remembered me and let us in. Yadira, her daughter, was there, as was Juanita, the cook. They were happy to see me. I introduced Holly and we chatted for a while (all in Spanish, of course). I had brought pictures from last year and I gave them to Juanita and Elisa. They liked them a lot. It was good to see them again. Most of the children I knew were gone. Rosy Bella, the 9 month old baby from last year moved to Nicaragua. Estephani, Victor, and Katy go somewhere else since Victor and Estephani are too old to go to the daycare now. Carlitos was there, as was Jimmy. There was also a new boy named Juanito. Jonathan was there, too. After a bit, Elisa wrote down the address for me to give to my school in case someone else would like to volunteer there. We were getting ready to go so I could make it to the movie about the mines, but Holly wanted to ask if she could volunteer there a few days. Elisa had gone to her office, so we had to wait for her to come back before she could ask.

By the time we left, it was too late for me to go to the movie, so Holly and I went to the Dispensa (the grocery store) and I took more money out of the ATM to pay for the second week of class. I also had my first ice cream since I´ve been here. It was a mandarin flavored nieve, which is kind of like a sherbet. I walked Holly back to her place (since I had an umbrella and she did not) and then I headed home. I read more of my book and then I got to talk to Laura and Tammy simultaneously. Tammy was stuck in the Houston airport. I hope she makes it back to Chicago tonight. Sandy came back. I helped her cook dinner (refried black beans which we cooked with garlic and onion). Then we ate. We also had shecas (which are big rolls) with the black beans and eggs fried over a piece of lunch meat. Sandy and Gabby also added Philadelphia Cream Cheese to their shecas. After dinner, I had a message from Andrea that some people were going to meet at Bajo La Luna (Under the Moon) at 7 or 7:30. We had talked about meeting to watch the Copa de Oro fútbol game between Mexico and Honduras. I walked there, but they were not there yet. As I was leaving, I saw their group coming. The restaurant did not have a TV to watch the game, so I sat there and chatted while they ate dinner. We were a group of seven people: three from the U.S., two from England, one from Holland, and one from Finland. Andrea and Holly shared a cheese and fruit platter. The cheeses were very strong and no one liked them much. After they finished eating, they were heading to a bar to watch the game. I was tired and I still have homework to do, so I decided to go back home.

I said goodnight to Sandy who was heading for bed and then I went to write my blog. As I was writing on my bed, I saw the man who opens the door moving Sandy´s stuff out of her room. I was so confused. Gabby and Sandy were taking loads, as well. I asked where they were going and Sandy said they are moving to another apartment next door to mine. At first, I thought they were just moving to the other hallway, but they will actually not be in my apartment at all. I am so confused! I also wonder what this will do to meals. Spanish immersion is not that great if I am basically living by myself in the midst of strangers who either speak English or do not talk to me at all. I wonder if it is too late to get a host family for my last week in Xela...

Happy Summer Solstice!

el 21 de junio 2011

I woke up early to take a shower a little before 7. Waiting to shower until the morning was a terrible idea. It was a colder day today than it has been. The water pressure and the water temperature are indirectly proportional to each other. I think I haven’t warmed up all day as a result of this shower. I got dressed, putting on lots of clothes. Holly still had my pink jacket from yesterday, so I put on my black one.

Sandy gave me yogurt and very crunchy granola for breakfast. When I finished eating, I got ready to go, but someone was in the bathroom so I waited until I got to school to go. I chatted with some girls from my school and then the bell rang to start class. Carolina and I went up to our table. The only other group in our room is Liz and her teacher. Carolina taught me another children’s song in Spanish. This one has addition facts in it! We reviewed the future tense and the progressive tenses. I was so cold that I had two cups of tea during the morning! During the break, I talked to Liz and then refilled my tea and went upstairs to get a head-start on my reading for tomorrow.

After class, I headed back home and checked my email. Sandy came home and I talked to her while she made spinach with mushrooms, onions, and garlic. We had this very salty mixture with tortillas and super salty pasta (with grains of salt on it). I think I eat about 15 times the amount of salt I eat at home and one-fourth the sugar! I checked my email and worked on my blog entry for yesterday. Soon it was time to leave for the Mayan Summer Solstice presentation at the museum. Kristen came with me and we met Andrea and Holly at the school. We chatted with people and I showed them the activity schedule. I think it is nice that the schools let outside people attend the activities! I like that Andrea and I attend different schools so that we can take advantage of the best activities! It was 2:30 when we met at the school and we waited about ten minutes before leaving. We walked to a street near the park and caught a microbus that took us near the museum. It was nice that we didn’t walk since it was starting to rain. It was really cold and rainy today! When we got to the museum, the man at the door told us that there was not a presentation today and that there were no displays to see. The teachers from our school were confused and called Olga, the director of the school. I had seen a poster from the museum that advertised this event. We stood in the rain for a few minutes and then someone figured out that the presentation was taking place in the museum next door. We filed in and sat in a room crowded with mainly gringos. Three women in typical Mayan clothing led the presentation. It lasted a little less than an hour. They had a powerpoint explaining the rotation of the sun and what causes the summer solstice. It was interesting to learn that the Mayan name for the summer solstice means “the stomach of the sun is big.” We learned how the Maya weave the meaning of the four seasons and the solstices and equinoxes into their clothing. After the presentation, they answered questions for a while. Then we paid Q25 and entered the museum. They had traditional clothing from each part of Guatemala displayed. One of the women gave us a tour. The same guy who translated for the presentation followed us around and did his best to translate. We saw everything in the museum and then we left because some of our group had been waiting for a while. We caught a chicken bus back to the park.

Andrea, Holly, and I went to EntreMundos to see about Holly volunteering somewhere and then we tried to find a café. First we went to the one next door to my apartment building, but it was really expensive so we went to one across from the park. I had hot chocolate with milk. Andrea and I read the newspaper. We sat and talked for a while and then the girls headed back to their place and I went to XelaPan and got a sheca con frijol. I am only here eight more days so I need to eat all the shecas con frijol that I can while I’m here! I went back home and worked on my blog and then Sandy came home.

We had black beans and a very runny egg and sliced wheat bread (pan integral) from XelaPan and guacamole that Kristen had made. Sandy wasn’t feeling very well today. The people in my apartment have been passing around a cold. After dinner, I wrote my composition for school tomorrow about what my life will be like in ten years, using the future and progressive tenses. Then I continued reading my story for tomorrow. Soon, it was time for me to leave so I could meet the girls at 7:30.

I had to ring the doorbell three times and knock a couple of times before they heard me. We were supposed to bring snacks to share, so we stopped by a tienda, but they did not have much. We had to walk past La Dispensa Familiar (the grocery store), so Andrea and I bought microwave popcorn and Holly bought gummy bears. We then walked to Celas Maya, Andrea’s school. When we got there, we tried to make our popcorn, but apparently the microwave does not work! So much for microwave popcorn! We went and sat down on the couch and talked while we waited. It turned out that we were the only three who showed up for the movie, Voces Inocentes (Innocent Voices) about the Civil War in El Salvador. It was a horrific movie following the story of a boy named Chava. The violence the children and families experienced was unbelievable. Many nights, the entire family had to hurriedly duck under the bed and hide behind a mattress to avoid the shooting. The soldiers entered the schools and took away all the boys aged 12 or older. It is so incredibly sad that so many people have to live in the face of such terrible violence. Sometime during the movie, the guy working at Celas Maya came and brought us very rich hot chocolate. When the movie was over, the atmosphere was very solemn. We walked slowly back to my apartment discussing the movie. It is definitely worth watching but very sad. The girls walked me to my apartment and then they headed back to where they are staying.

I wrote the rest of today’s blog and I still need to finish about 8 pages of my short story for tomorrow, and it’s 10:45. My mind is still filled with the movie that we watched. I don’t think I’ll sleep for a while…

Más Fotos

Here is a picture of me coming down the steep rock wall on La Muela. Kristen took the picture and I was NOT posing for this. She actually caught me nearly doing the splits in order to reach the next step. I thought I was going to plunge to my death, but I didn´t.


This is a picture of Andrea and me at our Costa Rica reunion. It has been fun having people to hang out with, even if we do speak too much English!

Salsa Dancing

el 20 de junio 2011

I woke up at 7:15, got dressed, and had breakfast (oatmeal with cooked platanos). I was a bit concerned because these are the same platanos that have been sitting cold on the stove since Saturday. I finished getting ready and left for school at 7:50. My school is just two blocks from my apartment, so it didn’t take long to get there. I was one of the first students there. I chatted with other people while I waited for everyone to arrive.

The director, Olga, had a little meeting in which we all introduced ourselves and she went over the activities for the week. There are about 12 students studying during the morning and a group from Canada is studying in the afternoon. As I saw the activities, I felt a bit disappointed that I would not be able to attend most of them if I work in the orphanage.

When the meeting was over, Carolina and I went upstairs to our same table from Friday. Went over perifrasis, which are the connecting prepositions that go began certain verbs and we reviewed the imperfect tense. I felt like we did too much review. It seems like the problem is we spend too much time on what I already have mastered. After lots of practice, during which Carolina mostly gave me example sentences, I suggested that we move on to something else. We comprised by me doing one more exercise. I read some short stories aloud and retold them to Carolina. During the pausa (break) I checked my email to see if Andrea had emailed me about volunteering in the orphanage. She hadn’t. I got some tea and went back up to read some more of my Isabel Allende book. When the half hour break was over at 11, Carolina and I studied more and we talked a lot. She also taught me three Spanish children´s songs. Some of them are games that are played in a circle. I hope my kids next year are excited to learn Spanish!

After school, I checked my email again and I had a message from Andrea saying that we can’t volunteer in the orphanage. I was disappointed but also relieved because I feel like I have a lot going on, and I want to be able to participate in the school activities. I had lunch with Gabby (which consisted of some curry rice with vegetables, potato salad, and half of an avocado) and then I went down to talk to the people in the office of the apartments to get some info for Jenny. It is very cheap to live here… $100 a month for one person and that includes electricity, water, gas, internet, and cleaning, as well. Someone cleans the apt every day and your room (including fresh sheets) every week. I then went to meet Andrea and Holly in the Café La Luna. They had finished eating, so we sat and chatted for a few minutes before we headed out. We stopped by EntreMundos to see about Holly finding a place to volunteer, but no one was there. We went to my building to show Holly my terrace and then we went to a taco place so Andrea could get more food (the servings were really small at La Luna). She had gringas al pastor and ending up only eating two so I ate the other one. Then we headed back toward their place and I went to find Sandy’s school to ask her if we were going to eat dinner together. She said that we were at eight, which was perfect for me since I had dance class at seven at my school. I walked by a museum and decided to go since it was only Q6. I had read in the guidebook that the museum is not that great, but I figured it would be somewhat interesting. The lower level had lots of old documents and old typewriters and telephones. Something I thought was funny is that all of the objects had a tag attached that told what year they were donated to the museum, but they didn’t say what year they were made. However, the upper level was much more interesting. There were lots of old Mayan pots and photographs of Guatemala from the 1930s, which were fun to look at because I know some of those places. The very best part was the section of stuffed animals. There were many stuffed birds, including a quetzal. The funny thing is that they had really fake google eyes on the birds. It was cool to be able to see the birds up close. The next room had animals. It was quite a strange collection including a whale skull, a two-headed calf, an eight-legged goat (I think), some big cats, a Chow Chow, snakes, and a collection of fetuses in jars. There were kitten, puppy, rat, bird, fish, cow, and even human fetuses (eight weeks and four months). Very unusual!

After the museum, I went to XelaPan to get a snack since I would be eating dinner late. They didn’t have any Shecas con frijol so I got one long tostada with sugar and two anise rolls. I stopped at a shop and bought some postcards of Guatemala. Then I munched on my bread while I walked home. When I got back, I talked with Kristen for an hour and we looked for transportation options to get to Antigua. Andrea is sure that she saw an option to take a first class bus to Antigua from Xela. I don’t know of this option but would much prefer it as I hate traveling in shuttles. We tried to look some up online but several of the bus companies surprisingly do not have websites. We decided that we would go to the Galgos bus station some afternoon and ask because they might have one that goes to Antigua. I went and got my computer and tried to post some pictures. For some reason, the internet appeared to be working fine, but I could not get photos to post. Finally I got three to post, but it took each one about 20 minutes to upload! You might just have to wait until I get back to see more pictures! Maybe I’ll try facebook to see if that is faster.

Soon it was time for me to leave for my dance class. I walked the two blocks to my school. The four New York girls were there and Bernadette and some guys, including two male teachers who were leading the class. We moved all the tables and chairs out of the room and then we decided to move to a different classroom (mine) that is bigger so we had to move all the chairs and tables out of that one. Most girls were dancing barefoot but some were in socks. I wore socks and let me tell you, I did a nice job of cleaning their floor. When we finished, the bottoms of my socks were nearly black. They were so dirty I took them off before putting on my shoes! I guess I know which socks I will wear if we have dance class next week! The class was really fun. We reviewed the basic steps and then danced together as a group. Then after a half hour, we began to dance in partners. We had two too many girls, so we took turns having one pair of girls dance together. It was fun and all too soon, it was time to go. We finished about 8:15. I quickly put some chairs back and then I hurried home for dinner. No one came to open the door of the apartment building for about five minutes, but finally a girl was coming out and I slipped in.

Sandy had dinner waiting for me: an egg fried on top of a tortilla and a vegetable stir-fry with green beans, red peppers, carrots, and tons of onion. It was good, but later in the evening my stomach began to hurt a little, I think from too many nearly-raw onions. After dinner, the rest of the people in my apartment were going to a bar to listen to someone they knew sing. I was really tired, so I wrote a composition for class tomorrow and finished reading my story from Cuentos de Eva Luna. Then I went to bed around 10:30. I was too tired and cold to shower tonight.

Fotos

This is the cathedral that is off of the park. This is the view from my roof.

This is the view from the terrace on the roof of my building. I like to watch storms roll in from over the mountains. I think the mountain straight ahead is La Muela (the molar), which is the mountain I climbed on Sunday with Sandy and Kristen.






This is the political rally for the presidential candidate Otto Pérez Molina. ¡Mano dura!

Sunday Funday

el 19 de junio 2011

I woke up to my alarm at 6:30 and quickly got dressed and ate a granola bar before leaving the apt with Sandy and Kristen around 7:15. We walked a block and turned to the right and continued straight the rest of the way. We walked through town for about 10 minutes and then the road began to climb. In just a few minutes, we were surrounded by poorly-constructed, one-room houses surrounded by tiny yards littered with garbage in the midst of fields. We climbed up this road for quite a while. I was surprised by the number of cars and trucks that were going up. Sandy said the people were going up to work in the fields. The roads up mountains here are interesting. The actual road is made of irregularly-shaped cobblestones, but there are two smooth tracks (that look like sidewalks) for the tires of the vehicles to drive on. It easiest to walk on these, but we had to keep getting over for vehicles. After about an hour of walking, we came to a place where lots of people were getting off a bus to go to church. We stopped for a moment and drank some water. I anticipated that it would be cold both because it was early in the morning and that we were climbing even higher than Xela already is. However, I was surprised by how hot I got. Luckily, I had dressed in layers, so I simply removed a few (only one of which ever made it out of my backpack the rest of the hike). Next, we came to a dirt trail in the woods that was more like usual hiking through the woods. We had to cross a meadow that had been turned into a soccer field. There was a group of people having a church service in the woods. We saw a horse tied to a tree. As we walked farther, we heard howling coming from the distance. Sandy told us it was coyotes, but as we listened more, we realized it was people. Apparently, it was a Pentecostal church service. We could hear them, even when we were at the top of the mountain! At one point, we could hear two separate services coming from different places. We walked along this trail for about fifteen minutes and then we came to a place with huge boulders. I would have stopped hiking at this point, had I been by myself. However, we continued our hike, climbing up, over, and around the huge boulders, using both our hands and feet. Each step brought us 12-18 inches higher. Finally we reached a part I thought was the end of our climb. However, I was wrong. Sandy began to climb a vertical rock wall. I tried to take a picture of her, but my camera batteries were dead. I tried my spare set and they wouldn’t work, either. I was disappointed. I really wasn’t sure I could make it up the wall, but it wasn’t as hard as it looked. I made it to the top and then Kristen climbed up behind me. We kept climbing over the big rocks and finally came to a part with a rock spire rising about twenty feet in the air. We climbed the rock tower and seated ourselves on its pinnacle. I imagine that the place where the devil took Jesus and tempted him to throw himself off the mountain was very similar to this place. We drank water, ate yummy graham crackers (so much better than the U.S.), and took pictures. I think I had accidentally combined one old and one new battery when I tried to take pictures earlier because my low battery light was not even on. Unfortunately, there was a lot of fog, so we didn’t have a perfect view of Xela. However, the fog kept shifting so we could see all of it, just in bits and pieces. After about a half hour, we started back down. Sandy couldn’t find the way down at first, which was a bit worrisome because all the ways down looked scary to me. We tried a few ways which were not right. The scariest one Sandy tried sent loose rocks and gravel tumbling down the mountain and off a cliff. I was glad that she abandoned that way! She finally found the way we needed to go. It was difficult to go down but not impossible. However, when we came to the rock wall, I needed some help from Cristina because it was hard to see where to put your feet since the outcrops were directly underneath you. I had to hang by my hands at one point and lower myself that way since my legs weren’t long enough to reach. I was impressed by Sandy’s climbing because she is even shorter than me. Getting down the boulders took more time getting down than it took us to get up. However, when we made it to the dirt path, it went quickly. As we came down, we could hear one of the church groups singing Majesty in Spanish. It was cool to hear. I was hoping to make it back in time for church at 11, but I know it would be close. We saw lots of animals on our way down: a cat, several cows, a sheep, and many dirty, sick dogs.

When we got back to Xela, Kristen and Sandy headed to get ice cream, but it was 10:45 and I wanted to try to make it to church. I booked it back to the apartment and ran in, all sweaty, and threw on a skirt and top. I was really hot, so I decided to wear flip flops, which was a bad idea. I grabbed my bilingual Bible and dashed out the door. I had to hurry to make it on time. I stepped on a metal plate on the sidewalk and a gush of wet, muddy water shot up and got my feet and legs dirty. Yuck! As I was crossing a street, one of my feet slipped on my wet flip flop and it fell off. There was not anyone coming so I grabbed my flip flop and dashed across the street barefoot. I shoved my flip flop back on and decided that I am done wearing flip flops here! I made it to church on time and sat down and wiped my foot off with a tissue.

The church service was good. I went to the Presbyterian church that I attended last summer. I was not in time for Sunday school which was my favorite part last year because I got to meet lots of young people. However, we sang lots of songs and then the pastor preached on Moses and the burning bush. After the church service which went until 12:30, I hurried back home to call my grandpas for Father’s Day. I was able to reach both of them. I finished calling them and it was time for me to leave to meet up with Andrea.

I met Andrea in the park at 2 by the big tall statue. She looked the same as I remembered. We walked around a little bit and then we headed to my apartment building. I showed her my terrace and we sat up there in the sun and talked for about an hour. It was good to catch up with her. She has been teaching in Honduras for the last year, so we had a lot to talk about. After a while, I took her on a tour of the important places in Xela. We went to XelaPan, my favorite bakery. We each got a sheca con frijol (roll with black beans inside) which were delicious and also a little roll flavored like anise. We went to the theater and they were getting ready to have an orchestra concert put on by a local school. Then we went to the grocery store and she bought food since she is staying in a guest house with a kitchen. We went back to her place and put her food away and sat in her bedroom and talked. Then her friend Holly arrived. Holly is from England. They taught together this past year. We talked for a while and then we talked to some guys who were there. Then we decided to go to a café. Andrea took us to her favorite café, which turns out to be Café Bavaria, which I had been to several times last year. I got hot chocolate. We sat and talked for a couple of hours, and then I felt like I should leave to make it back in time for dinner with Sandy. We made plans to meet up tomorrow. Andrea is going to volunteer at an orphanage and I am going to try to do so, also. They want volunteers to make a minimum two week commitment, and I won’t quite be here that long, but I want to see if they would take me anyway.

I got home before 7, but Sandy and her daughter were not around. I talked to another woman who apparently lives in our apartment but has been gone since I’ve been here. Her name is Tyra. She was very helpful. Sandy never appeared so I helped myself to a bowl of cornflakes and milk that I had to eat with a fork. I think maybe I should start doing my own cooking, like Andrea. I checked my email and called my dad for Father’s Day. Then I took a shower and ate pretzel sticks with peanut butter, almonds, and dried apricots while writing my blog entry. I really need to try to get some pictures posted, but I have been having trouble with the internet. Tyra recommended going down by the office, so maybe I will have to try that tomorrow, if I have time. I have class tomorrow morning at 8.

Relaxing Day in Xela

el 18 de junio 2011

I slept surprisingly well last night given the noise level in the street outside my window. I ended up going to bed about 10, before Sandy got home. I woke up at six for the first time and then dozed until eight. It has been much warmer than it was last year. I actually slept in a t-shirt and pants and was plenty warm! :)

I got up and took a shower (poor rating on the water pressure scale, not too bad on the temperature scale) and then I unpacked my stuff. I really like my room. I have two dressers, a double bed, a double shelf by my bed, a wooden stand, a fold-down desk/tabletop, and a plastic chair. This does not leave much floor space, but it is a very homey place. I love my two windows. I don't know if it is because I am so much higher than last year, but I think it is less damp and cold here. Because my room is small, it is hard to back away far enough to get pictures of the whole room at once. For that reason, I have lots of pictures showing small parts of my room. I will try to post the whole panoramic view (for you, Jenny). However, for some reason, uploading pictures is taking forever. We may have to have a part 2...

Sandy got up while I was finishing my unpacking. She had fixed eggs and canned refried black beans (which were very salty). After breakfast, I decided to go find an ATM because I have no quetzales. I found an ATM across from the park. There was a line so a man who worked at the bank next door told me to use another ATM that was supposedly the same but was on the other side of his bank. I went and tried it, but I think it was out of money, so hopefully I won't be charged for the amount I tried to withdraw. I went back to the first ATM and waited. I didn't really like standing outside the ATM waiting because it kind of advertises that I am about to get money. I took out the largest amount that I could (Q2,000 or about $250) and walked quickly back to my apartment. I made it back with no problems. I stashed my cash and went back out with just my key to walk around. I walked to the church (after a bit of wandering around and then having to ask directions to the theater which is across the street) that I went to last year when I was here to find out what time the services are, but there is not a sign in front of the church giving this information. I went around to the side and spoke with a boy who looked about 10 and had trouble understanding my Spanish. He told me that the service is at 7. I asked "in the morning?" and he said yes. I asked if there is another one and he said he thought it started at 10. Sandy and I are going hiking tomorrow morning early so I don't know if I will be back in time for church. I hope so! Last year, I attended Sunday school with the young adults and that was how I found out about volunteering with them at that shelter for child workers who were taken from their parents. I also saw the Teatro Municipal (theater) and wandered up and down the roads around the park. They were setting up for something around the park and had several streets closed off. Everything I saw seemed so familiar from last year. I headed back to the apartment after about an hour and a half.

I stopped by the apt to get my books, journal, and water. I also put on sunscreen! Yay for sunny weather! I went up to the terrace or la terraza (teh-RAH-sah), which is more fun to say. It is really nice up there. They have tables and chairs and chaise lounges (sillas de playa), as well as many potted flowers. I took some pictures of the view. Then, I sat on a chaise lounge and read and wrote in my journal and started my Spanish book Cuentos de Eva Luna by Isabel Allende. I watched dark storm clouds roll in over La Muela (the molar), the mountain that we're going to climb tomorrow. It went from being hot and super sunny to cold and rainy. When it starts raining, it gets really cold. I went from being hot in a t-shirt and capris and bare feet to being cold in jeans, tennis shoes, socks, and a t-shirt with a sweater over it, all in a matter of minutes.

When it started to rain, I came inside and spent some time on the computer. I got to talk to Huseyin, the man from Turkey who stayed with Sandy last year when I was here. Sandy gives him Spanish lessons twice a week through Skype. It was fun to talk with him. His Spanish has improved so much since last year when he was just beginning to take Spanish classes. Sandy fed me some lunch which consisted of a quesadilla and a tortilla and something else that I can't remember (but wasn't a fruit or vegetable).

Andrea Sheridan (one of the "strangers" that Tammy and I shared our hotel room with in Costa Rica) and I tried to meet up. It is difficult to communicate because we have to use the internet and she doesn't have easy access to it. We wrote back and forth several times, but we never were able to meet up. Since then, we have planned to meet at 2 in the park tomorrow. I also practiced my English by talking to my family. Other than writing the blog and talking to my family and responding to friends who don't think Spanish, I have been trying to have complete Spanish immersion. I think it is working because I have been really tired. I remember when we got to Costa Rica and last year when I got to Guatemala, I was unbelievably tired the first few days, which I attribute to Spanish overload and my brain trying to compensate. Kristen is another girl who lives in our apt. She is from Sydney, Australia! She has been in Guatemala for 7 months.

Near sunset, Sandy and Gabby and I went out to see what was going on in the park. Sandy said that one of the presidential candidates was coming to Xela. He was from the Partido Patriota. The color of this party is orange and they had given out orange rain ponchos to all the people who were attending in the drizzle. They had set up a huge stage with orange balloons. The slogan of this party is Mano Dura and the symbol is a raised fist. Supposedly, he wants to take a hard stand against violent crimes in Guatemala. He is probably going to win. Several of the people I have talked with do not like him, but they think he is better than the other candidates. It was funny because after each point he made in his speech, the band would play a short, lively tune. At the end, they sang the theme song "Mano Dura" and Otto Perez Molina and other members of the party would shake their fists in time to the music. I tried to take some videos and pictures, but it was getting dark and rainy. After the speech, two bands played (one on each side of the stage at the same time playing different songs). One band consisted of about thirty men playing mainly brass instruments in a circle around four girls who were dancing to the music. We only stayed about a half hour and then we came back.

I helped Sandy get the dinner ready. I made the chicken covered in bread crumbs and Kristen made the salad of avocados, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Sandy made the rice and platanos, which we did not eat tonight. Then, Sandy, Kristen, and I played Bananagrams Espanol. We had fun. I actually won, which was a surprise because I think I know the least Spanish out of the group, but I have had experience playing the game. I am also very competitive. After our game, the food was ready and we ate together, which was nice. When we finished dinner (about 8pm), Sandy cleaned up the kitchen and everyone went to bed except me. They were all out late last night. Tomorrow Kristen is going hiking with us. I am finishing up with this blog entry and then I am going to head to bed, as well. I can tell that I got some sun on my face today from la terraza. Not burnt but definitely close. We leave tomorrow at 7am to hike La Muela. I hope it doesn't rain! I have pictures of the political rally, pictures of the view from la terraza, and pictures of my room to post when the internet is feeling more cooperative (probably when it's not raining!).

Guatemala City to Xela!!!!!!

el 17 de junio 2011

I woke up at 6:10 this morning (by alarm clock) after a surprisingly restful night. Patricia's is not far from the airport and it was very noisy. I slept 9 hours. It was not too cold in the morning, which was good because I had a very lukewarm shower with poor water pressure... welcome to authentic Guatemala! I packed up my belongings and Patricia told me it was time for breakfast. She served pancakes, pineapple, watermelon, bananas, and coffee. I ate breakfast with a woman named Ellen who has lived in Guatemala for twenty years. She was a teacher at a Christian school when she came. We left at 7:15 to drop her off at the airport and then we continued on to the bus station for me to catch my bus to Xela.

I bought a ticket and got on the bus without a problem. I was a little worried that I would only be allowed one piece of luggage, but they accepted both my suitcase and my duffel bag without a word. The bus was only about half full so I had the seat next to me empty. I spent the first part of the trip looking at the window and enjoying the view. Things of note that I saw included an advertisement for Special K, a Walmart, and lots of advertisements for presidential candidates. They showed the movie Rango on the bus. It was in English, but I could not hear the audio. I kind of watched it, mostly preferring the view from my window. There were subtitles in Spanish, but they were hard to see because I was kind of far from the TV. We stopped about 2.5 hours into the journey at a restaurant with bathrooms. I went to the bathroom and then sat and read my (Jenny's) Lonely Planet Guatemala book. We eventually left about a half hour after we arrived. The rest of the trip I fluctuated between reading the Guatemala book and looking out the window. I got excited when I began to recognize places from last year. I was actually surprised by how clearly I remembered places (like the restaurant where we used the bathroom). At the bus station, I was met by a man from the school (or so they said... I think the school hired him to drive me). He spelled my last name with a T! Dad, I bet you don't have that spelling in your collection! I chatted with the driver while we drove to the school. He told me I know a lot of Spanish! :)

When I arrived at the school, I was told I had to pay Q30 for the taxi. I did not realize that, although I should have known. I only had Q25 left over from my bus ticket, which was embarrassing. The man said it was ok after I offered him my two Guatemalan coins worth about 15 cents. I talked with Dora and signed some papers. Luckily she didn't ask me to pay then because I have not had a chance to get to an ATM. I took a tour of the school and met my teacher Carolina. Since they already have a Carolina in the school, I am not called by my Spanish name, but rather Caroline. Sandy, my host mom, was going to meet me at the school after she finished her classes. When I saw her walk in the door, we went running to each other and she couldn't stop hugging me. We were so glad to see each other! Sandy helped me move my stuff to her apartment. She only lives two blocks from the school! Her apartment complex is very famous (according to her) and it seems nice and safe. It is interesting because it is a shared apartment. Sandy and her daughter Gabby (and I) live here, but so do other people. I think there are six in total. We have our own bedrooms which lock, but we share the kitchen, dining/living room, and the bathroom. There is a balcony off the apartment and there are stairs to the roof. Sandy took me up and showed it to me. It is very pretty with lots of flowers in pots and a great view. Sandy fed me a fast lunch consisting of a soup with greyish pieces (mushrooms?) and tuna on crackers and potatoes. I was nearly late to school, but I made it right on time (2pm).

Carolina and I went upstairs to an empty classroom. She gave me a Spanish exam which was easy. After she saw how well I did on it, she made me conjugate a bunch of verbs and I only messed up on one verb! We did lots of oral exercises and a few written ones. We are doing a very fast review of the grammar. I kept telling her that I am decent with Spanish grammar but what I really need to practice is conversing. We took a break at 4:30 and I used the internet at the school to email my family. I went downstairs and met some of the other students, in particular a girl named Bernadette. She is leaving Xela soon. By the way, Xela (pronounced SHAY-lah) is another name for the city of Quetzaltenango. After the break, we did more exercises and then I read some short stories and answered questions about them. At the end of the class, it was quite dark. We went downstairs and I talked with Olga, the director of the school. She is an exuberant person. I borrowed a book by Isabel Allende (in Spanish). As my homework for the weekend, I have to write a composition using the preterite past tense and read at least the first chapter of the Allende book.

I walked home and made it there safely. I had a bit of trouble getting the door to the apartment unlocked, but I finally got it open. Gabby (Sandy's daughter of about 20 years) was the only one home. She said that Sandy would not be home until late. She helped me get some dinner (two eggs, a flaky roll with unidentifiable meat inside, and water. I talked to Gabby while I ate. She is reading a book in English. I explained the words deer, doe, and fawn to her. It was like a guessing game because how do you explain a deer without using that word (and being limited in your Spanish vocabulary). I gave the following clues: it's an animal that lives in the forest and hunters like to hunt them, and the males have horns. She guessed the word and I recognized it. We high-fived to celebrate our accomplishment. From there, it was easy to explain doe and fawn. After dinner, I washed my dishes and Gabby helped me connect to the internet. There is good signal in the living room, but none in the bedrooms.

A man came home and was cooking and watching TV. Gabby went out. I replied to emails (most in Spanish) and then wrote this blog entry. I am really tired even though it is just 9pm. Sandy still is not home, but I am getting sleepy. I think I will go to my room and unpack a little and get ready for bed. I think I might meet up with Andrea Sheridan (the "stranger" Tammy and I shared a room with in Costa Rica) tomorrow.

Indy to Chicago to Guatemala City!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011
The majority of today was spent frantically packing. The laborious process of selecting my clothes and other required items is almost enough to make me not want to travel. I do so detest packing! About a half hour before I was supposed to leave, I finally had loaded all of my belongings for the next five weeks into an overstuffed, hot pink suitcase, a green duffel bag, and my backpack. I took some pictures with my family before leaving. It was especially hard to say goodbye to Emily, knowing that she will be back in Texas when I return. (The picture with Emily is on my mom's camera, hence why it is not included here.)



I ended up leaving around 4:30, which was only half an hour later than I had hoped. My main goal was to avoid rush-hour traffic in Chicago. The drive up to Chicago was uneventful, other than my phone battery nearly dying. I talked to Tammy for about two hours of the drive and also Grandpa Bob (for 10 minutes). It was a strange feeling, talking to Tammy as I drove to her house, knowing that she would not be there. Around Chicago, the sky became very dark and looked like a bad storm was coming. I didn't have to drive through too much rain, though. When I arrived at Tammy's house, two men were in a boat in her pond with the waterfall. They were scrubbing the lights with a mop. There was also a guy standing on the rocks drinking a beer. They were speaking Spanish, so I guess that was the first part of my immersion experience! Tammy, I took this picture for you since you could not be there to see it:

Tammy's brother, Brennan, was there to welcome me, along with the two Golden Doodles, Mibby and Manzi. They (the dogs) are such enthusiastic greeters! Soon after I arrived, Tammy's friend Erin came over to play games. She brought banana cupcakes with chocolate icing. Yum! We talked for a while and then played games. We started with Forbidden Island, a cooperative strategy game where you are trying to save treasures on a sinking/flooding island. We won. Then we played Ticket to Ride, a strategy game where you are trying to build railroad routes through Europe.

Within five minutes of Erin leaving, Tammy called. I talked to her for about a half hour and then Tammy's parents came home. After talking about two logistical matters (car keys and departure time in the morning), we went to bed. It was weird staying in Tammy's room without Tammy. I had a good night's sleep, although it was too short. I was kind of excited at first so it took me a while to fall asleep. I slept about 12-5.

Thursday, June 16, 2011
I got up at 5:10 and got ready to go. I didn't have a lot to do, so I finished quickly. I went down and ate breakfast with Tammy's dad. We loaded my suitcase into his car and left for the airport about 5:45. The nice thing about the Michaelis Bed & Breakfast (other than the price and the hospitality of the staff) is that O'Hare is very close by, just a short "shuttle" ride away. I got to the airport without a problem and began the process of checking in my bags. My suitcase weighed 52 pounds so I removed my bilingual Bible and stuck it in my other bag. Then my suitcase weighed 49 pounds. I had looked online to see how many bags I could check, but I obviously wasn't looking in the correct location. I thought I could check two bags for free, but it turns out that I could only check one for free. I checked my suitcase and decided to take my green duffel as my carry-on (my backpack fits under the seat). The line for security was long but kept moving slowly. After I made it through security smoothly, I headed for my gate. Well, if I had planned on carrying-on my duffel, I probably should have brought one with a shoulder strap. I had a sweaty, long, heavy walk to my gate carrying my duffel which weighs 30 pounds and my backpack which probably weighs as much. When I went to board, shortly after finding my gate, a steward made me check the size of my carry-on and it was too big to fit into the overhead bins. After a momentary panic attack, I was much relieved when they said that they would have to check my bag (for free) through to Guatemala. It really worked out quite nicely!

My flight to Miami (leaving at 7:45) was uneventful. I started writing in my new journal. I love new journals, especially at the start of a new adventure. The promise of the blank pages excites me as I try to imagine the experiences I will soon be having. I also did the gentle and moderate Sudoku puzzles and tried my hand at the Mensa questions. I miss racing Tammy on the Sudokus (even though she always wins). When we landed in Miami, I scarcely had to walk to find my new gate. I immediately whipped out my cell phone and started calling people and making the most of my last few minutes (or so I thought) of my time on U.S. soil. However, most of the people I called did not answer. :( I ended up texting some people and talking to my mom for just a few seconds. We boarded about 11:45 for the flight which was supposed to leave at 12:15. I was one of the first people on the plane, so I got a chance to call a few more people (Tammy, Anne, my mom, and Emily) and texted back and forth with Jenny. We appeared to be leaving on time until the pilot came on and announced that there was a delay. He came back on a few minutes later to say that some people had checked bags for our flight but had not boarded. As a security precaution, they had to look through all the suitcases on the plane and pull off those suitcases. We didn't know how long it would take. We were allowed to keep talking on the phone, which was nice. The steward delivered cups of water to us. Finally, we left almost an hour and a half late. I was worried that I was not going to arrive in time for my bus. One thing I really like about flying to/from a Spanish-speaking country is that all of the announcements are made in both Spanish and English. I started feeling really excited to use my Spanish. There was a family sitting next to me (and across the aisle) traveling to Xela also. I spoke a bit with the mom (in Spanish). She has lived in Washington, D.C. for over 20 years, but she is from Xela. There was also a cute kindergarten-aged boy sitting behind me (who enjoyed kicking the seat until he fell asleep) and a dog in the row in front of me (grey Shih Tzu), who whined for the first half hour of the flight. We could see a lot of the coast of Mexico as we flew. The water looked so beautiful. I am posting a picture, but it does not quite do it justice.


We arrived in Guatemala City about an hour and twenty minutes late. I power-walked to customs and was the first passenger from our plane to get there. I went to the bathroom and exchanged some money while I waited for the suitcases to start coming out. I found mine (both arrived safe and sound) and headed outside. I saw Patricia holding a sign with my name (with some creative spelling of my last name). I greeted her and she helped me load my stuff into the van. Alberto drove. They told me that it was too late to catch the bus to Xela. It was 2:50 and the bus leaves at 3 across Guatemala City. I was really disappointed that I would not be able to make it to Xela tonight to stay with Sandy, but I tried to be gracious. Patricia's Bed and Breakfast is close by the airport. I am going to stay here tonight and then tomorrow morning I will take the bus to Xela. I left a voicemail for Sandy and Alberto told me how to access the internet, which they thankfully have here. I haven't really seen Alberto or Patricia since they left me in my room around 3. It is 6:20 now. I am assuming that they will feed me some dinner, but I'm not worried. There is a pretty courtyard outside my room, but it has been drizzling most of the afternoon. I was sitting out under the canopy, but there are little holes in it, and I was afraid for my computer. Here is a picture of the courtyard and one of my bedroom:




I am still getting used to throwing my toilet paper in the trashcan. I think habits are very interesting. I have to really remind myself not to throw the toilet paper in the toilet right now, but when I return, I will have to remember to not to throw it in the trashcan! I think studying people's habits and how they are formed would be a fascinating study.

Well, if you have made it all the way through this post, congratulations! I will NOT be posting this much on a normal day. However, sitting in a room by yourself can lead to excessive writing. Also, the internet is excellent here so it is fairly quick to post pictures (not that I'm in a hurry).

Hasta mañana!