We went on our first excursion this weekend to Antigua!
Overall it was a really fun time.
We left school around 12 on Friday so before classes ended.
We all crammed into a small bus that sat four people across shoulder to shoulder. Needless to say it was a long 5 hour bus ride. I'm just going to give you an outline of the trip for now.
Friday Night
-After settling in at the hotel, everyone in the group went out to dinner at the same place and our dinner was preordered so it was awesome that we could just get our food.
-The hotel was really nice we had 3 people in every room. I roomed with Jenna and Shannon.
-After dinner most of the group was tired so we just rested and played cards, and hung out at the hotel. It had a nice patio area to do so.
-Saturday was museum day. First we all went out to breakfast at a nice place that was outside. The weather was a little bit wamer in Antigua then it was in Xela. Our director gave us a list of the museums, churches, and historical places that we needed to visit and then we were on our own for the rest of the day. The large group split off into smaller groups to see the museums. I liked exploring with the smaller groups but it was also kind of weird because most of the museums and places there did not have any information about the places...literally not even in Spanish. The only place that did have some information was a small museum in one of the beautiful churches that I visited.
-Saturday night it was fun that everyone in our group chose to eat at the same restaurant called La Pina. There was live music playing while we were eating!
-After dinner we spent the night finding a place to dance.
-Sunday we had the day to ourselves so me Steph, Jenna, and Shannon went shopping!
We literally spent the whole day shopping and getting one last look at Antigua before getting on the bus at 2 and returning to Xela.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
La Segunda Semana
Hello everyone.
Sorry it has taken me so long inbetween posts, but I have found that it will be difficult for me to update it as frequently as I would like to. Last week was January 12-16th (I'm keeping reference for myself as well since I am not going to keep a journal besides this one).
Monday the afternoon activity was to go to a museum of Mayan clothing, and then afterwards there was a conference/speech/lecture which talked about the Mayan Calendar. I thought it would be interesting and about 10 of us from the group went. However it wasn't what I thought it would be, it was actually kind of boring. It was just kind of an old building with a bunch of Mayan clothing. I did learn some things about the Mayan type of dress but otherwise the lecture about the calendar was difficult to understand.
Tuesday the afternoon activity was REALLY fun. We went to natural saunas called Las Cumbres. Each sauna room held about 4 people so me Jenna Shannon and Monica all went in the same one. The sauna felt great and Monica had lotion we could use to put on our skin to make it extra soft :) There was also a cold shower and changing room in our sauna. We spent about 20 min in the sauna and then we needed to take a cold shower because it was so hot!
The rest of the week was honestly pretty chill because I got a cold after sitting in the internet cafe with wet hair and the cold atmosphere so I wasn't feeling to well and I still am not feeling quite normal today but I'm hoping that my cold will get better soon!
Wednesday we had a meeting in the afternoon about our trip to Antigua!! Thursday Sonia's brother visited us. I was a little embarassed because my cold kind of took over and I was so congested that I couldn't really talk to him very well.....haha. Sonia had to translate my Spanish to him. I know a lot about Sonia's family but it would take me forever to write about it. I could blog just about her but I really want to add pictures today so I'll write about her later...hopefully!
A couple random things...Sonia does laundry which is awesome! I pay her to do mine and she is also willing to do the laundry of other students. Sonia is worried about my cold and she thinks that I should see a doctor, but I think it will get better. She at first thought it was the flu but it isn't. She didn't want me to shower last week before Antigua because she thought it would be worse for my cold...haha.
Sorry it has taken me so long inbetween posts, but I have found that it will be difficult for me to update it as frequently as I would like to. Last week was January 12-16th (I'm keeping reference for myself as well since I am not going to keep a journal besides this one).
Monday the afternoon activity was to go to a museum of Mayan clothing, and then afterwards there was a conference/speech/lecture which talked about the Mayan Calendar. I thought it would be interesting and about 10 of us from the group went. However it wasn't what I thought it would be, it was actually kind of boring. It was just kind of an old building with a bunch of Mayan clothing. I did learn some things about the Mayan type of dress but otherwise the lecture about the calendar was difficult to understand.
Tuesday the afternoon activity was REALLY fun. We went to natural saunas called Las Cumbres. Each sauna room held about 4 people so me Jenna Shannon and Monica all went in the same one. The sauna felt great and Monica had lotion we could use to put on our skin to make it extra soft :) There was also a cold shower and changing room in our sauna. We spent about 20 min in the sauna and then we needed to take a cold shower because it was so hot!
The rest of the week was honestly pretty chill because I got a cold after sitting in the internet cafe with wet hair and the cold atmosphere so I wasn't feeling to well and I still am not feeling quite normal today but I'm hoping that my cold will get better soon!
Wednesday we had a meeting in the afternoon about our trip to Antigua!! Thursday Sonia's brother visited us. I was a little embarassed because my cold kind of took over and I was so congested that I couldn't really talk to him very well.....haha. Sonia had to translate my Spanish to him. I know a lot about Sonia's family but it would take me forever to write about it. I could blog just about her but I really want to add pictures today so I'll write about her later...hopefully!
A couple random things...Sonia does laundry which is awesome! I pay her to do mine and she is also willing to do the laundry of other students. Sonia is worried about my cold and she thinks that I should see a doctor, but I think it will get better. She at first thought it was the flu but it isn't. She didn't want me to shower last week before Antigua because she thought it would be worse for my cold...haha.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Mi Primera Semana Aqui (My first week here)
Monday January 5th was the first day of classes at Celas Maya. Every morning I wake up at 6:45am and then eat breakfast at the table my myself at 7:00am. Then I get ready and walk to school which starts at 8:00am. Every student has their own personal tutor whom they work with from 8am to 1pm. I really like my tutor, her name is Monica, she is young...like 25 I think. This week we have been kind of going back to the basics of present tense irregular verbs, interrogatives, etc. We do exercises and we also have conversations. I love the one on one attention in Spanish! Classes end at one and then we are done for the day. Celas Maya (the school) offers many activities both in the afternoon and at night. Sometimes the activities are free like the salsa lessons on Wednesday and sometimes you have to pay, but the activities are pretty cheap. On Monday a bunch of us went on our first activity, a hike to La Muela, which is a peak slash mountain. The people at the school told us that it was just going to be una camina (a walk) or hike up the mountain, BUT no it was waaayyy harder!! We walked up several inclined paved streets first for about 2 hours, and then the terrain switched to forest type paths and then solid rocks and boulders! We basically went rock climbing for another 2 hours. However, despite the fact that my legs have been sore for a couple days and it was one of the hardest hikes of been on in awhile, the view was definitely worth it! We were VERY high up. I found the whole trip fun and amusing, especially because no one in our group knew that the hike was going to be that hard! The walk back felt like it took forever. We left school and walked to the mountain around 2:30pm and the leader said that we would return around 5:30pm but we didn´t get back until 7:00pm! When I finally arrived home I ate dinner, took a shower, did a little homework, and went to bed!
Tuesday I had class, which I will have everyday from 8am to 1pm, so that won´t change for awhile. When people want to meet up and do something, Celas Maya is where we always meet up. I don’t know if I mentioned this yet, but we get a ‘pausa’ or a break from 1030 to 1100 everyday. During this time people either check their email, chat with each other, eat the free bread snack provided OR they go and buy a coco banana from Anna’s host mom who sells chocolate frozen bananas, pineapple, and strawberries, they are so delicious! Today a bunch of us didn’t really feel like going on the activity which was a visit to a cemetery which I actually might go on later because it is supposed to be really beautiful and different from an American cemetery. About six of us took a micro bus to Hiper Pais which is the big commercial type mall in Xela because we all really wanted to buy cell phones so that we can keep in touch with the group and loved ones from home. The micro buses are funny but great. All you have to do is simply stand on the correct side of the road on a street near school and get in the one where the driver or little boy is yelling “HHHHIIIPPPERRR, HIIIPPPEERR!!!!” (pronounced e-ber in Spanish). The ride was really cheap too, it was about a 15 min ride to the mall and it only cost about 2 Q, so if you read my conversion above thats like…not even 50 cents!! I thought that Hiber Pais was pretty nice for a Guatemalan mall, I would probably compare it to a smaller mall in the U.S. Hence I probably won’t go there too much because I think I’ll like shopping on the streets and being more involved in the Guatemalan culture better. We bought our phones from a store called Tigo. Its basically the Verizon Wireless of Latin America. You see advertisements for Tigo everywhere, even in the poorest of towns. We each bought a phone for 200 Q and got 30 free minutes with it, pretty cheap if you ask me. However you don’t have a plan, you have to buy the minutes for the phone. After we all had our phones we sat around for awhile and just looked like a bunch of Americans exchanging numbers. The number exchange was made even better when we all decided to buy frozen yogurt, it was delicious! They take fresh frozen fruit and make it for you. Yum, I’ll go back to the mall just for the frozen yogurt!
Wednesday January 7th
I am getting to know Monica better now and I love it. I have found that we become closer everyday through our conversations. I have no problem telling her things I'm frustrated with or things about my host family or just simply telling her about my family, friends, and boyfriend back at home. I was super excited for the activity today! Jenna said that we should for sure go some time! The activites at Celas will be offered more than once during our time here since the average Celas Maya student spends about 2-3 weeks here. We decided to go today! A bunch of us signed up to visit Las Fuentes Georginas. They are natural hot springs! We took about a 20 min bus ride, but this time it was in a tour van that the school owns so we all just packed in. Kind of remided me of la Gua Gua van in the Dominican. The hot springs were beautiful and…SUPER HOT! There were about 4 medium-small sized pools. Each had a little bit of a different temperature ranging from very hot to warm. I'm pretty sure I went in all of them. Some people including myself got a little light headed after entering and exiting the pools a couple of times. They felt great though because the atmosphere of the mountains is cool. A couple people in our group didn’t bring their swimsuits….I felt bad for them however I believe that the leader had said that, when the activities were introduced on Monday (the activities are introduced every Monday), that it was a necessity (obviously because the pools are like giant hot tubs). I came home for dinner and then I also wanted to do the night activity which was free salsa lessons! A bunch of us met up at school and walked to one of the local discotecas, which are clubs with salsa dancing and a bar. The one we walked to is called La Parranda, its nice and modern and I learned the basic steps again and then learned some fun turns.
Thursday-Friday
I didn't really do much on Thursday. It was nice just to vedge and spend a little time on the internet. If I failed to mention before I do not have internet in my house. At times it is unfair because some students do have internet in their house and it would be a lot easier, oh well it has both its benefits and its downfalls. That is why I haven' posted my blog until now. I have been slowly updating it and after a while I just decided that I wanted the first week to be posted before I sent everyone a mass email with my blog address on it.
Friday night was our first night out! Since I mentioned that we are not the only people studying at Celas Maya there is a graduation party at the school for the other students here every week! The party started at 7:00ish, but if you wanted to attend you had to bring something ie food or drink. Me, Angela, Shannon B, and Jenna walked down to La Dispensa which is a local grocery/convinient store to buy something. Jenna and Angela ended up making jello cake (a Jenna favorite), and Shannon and I bought citrus juice and soda for punch. Everyone else arrived later with their contribution to the fiesta. It was the most random buffet ever! There was spaghetti, cake, punch, pizza, home-made guacamole and salsa, chips, cookies and more! All of the things I listed were brought by people in my group :) After the graduation party died down/was over we all hung out for a little bit at the school, and then we all went to dance at another discoteca! This time we went to La Rumba which was a popular disoteca amoung last years travelers. It was very fun, loud salsa music and some techno, free popcorn, some drinks, friends, and Guatemalans equal a good time! The streets here are dangerous at night, especially on the weekends. I would never walk home alone, so we walk home in groups, usually a bunch of girls with one guy does the trick.
Saturday
It felt awesome to sleep in today. I wasn't really sure how it was going to work with our host families serving three meals a day. I thought Sonia would wake me up for breakfast but thankfully she let me do my own thing, and I just ate when I got up. Today I went shopping! Me, Jenna, Shannon B, Angela, and Mike A all met up at school and walked about 10-15 minutes to a store called La Democracia. It is an outdoor market with TONS of stores, and you can pretty much buy ANYTHING there like....underwear and socks, to DVDs and music, to Guatemalan souveneirs todos. I bought a cute Guatemalan looking purse, a coin purse, and a head band, but I will definitely be going back because there is no way I could visit/see all of the store in one day. I was tired after our shopping extravaganza so I didn't know if I wanted to go out salsa again. I met up with some people around 8:00pm to go to a place called the Blue Angel which is a movie cafe. What's a movie cafe you say? Its a small place that sells food (as in meals) and drinks and every night it plays 2 different movies in the movie rooms which have a regular sized TV and a bunch of seating. It cost 10 Q to view a movie, but they do have free wifi and cheap food there! After the Blue Angel we went to El Pasarje which is a nicer restaurant in an enclosed area. A couple of us ordered some awesome dessert, I had helado chocolate(icecream).
Sunday
I slept in again today, and used the internet again in the afternoon. I cried for the first time today. I think I was just frustrated talking about the streets of Guatemala but really all is going awesome here! On Thursday, I told Monica (my teacher) that I liked her nails, they are long...and real! I asked her if she had polish and if I could borrow some. Since she is so so nice she brought a small bag to share. Sunday me, Jenna, and Shannon B got together and at Jenna's house and painted our nails. It was cool seeing another house. Jenna's house looks like a Shanty from the outside but on the inside it was nice! Her house has two floors! I had to rush home to be there by 5:30 so I could go to church with Sonia. Something excited happened at church! Like at home there are prayers of the faithful...ya know when the person says, "For the poor." and then the congregation says "Lord hear or prayer." Except here they pass out slips of paper to random people to go up and read into a mircophone and Sonia and I both got one! I was SOO nervous, but Sonia gave me the easier one and it was only like a sentence long. I asked her a few pronunciation questions and when it was time I went up and read the prayer to the church! At least I didn't have to face the church....the people that get the slips face the alter instead of the church to read them.
Tuesday I had class, which I will have everyday from 8am to 1pm, so that won´t change for awhile. When people want to meet up and do something, Celas Maya is where we always meet up. I don’t know if I mentioned this yet, but we get a ‘pausa’ or a break from 1030 to 1100 everyday. During this time people either check their email, chat with each other, eat the free bread snack provided OR they go and buy a coco banana from Anna’s host mom who sells chocolate frozen bananas, pineapple, and strawberries, they are so delicious! Today a bunch of us didn’t really feel like going on the activity which was a visit to a cemetery which I actually might go on later because it is supposed to be really beautiful and different from an American cemetery. About six of us took a micro bus to Hiper Pais which is the big commercial type mall in Xela because we all really wanted to buy cell phones so that we can keep in touch with the group and loved ones from home. The micro buses are funny but great. All you have to do is simply stand on the correct side of the road on a street near school and get in the one where the driver or little boy is yelling “HHHHIIIPPPERRR, HIIIPPPEERR!!!!” (pronounced e-ber in Spanish). The ride was really cheap too, it was about a 15 min ride to the mall and it only cost about 2 Q, so if you read my conversion above thats like…not even 50 cents!! I thought that Hiber Pais was pretty nice for a Guatemalan mall, I would probably compare it to a smaller mall in the U.S. Hence I probably won’t go there too much because I think I’ll like shopping on the streets and being more involved in the Guatemalan culture better. We bought our phones from a store called Tigo. Its basically the Verizon Wireless of Latin America. You see advertisements for Tigo everywhere, even in the poorest of towns. We each bought a phone for 200 Q and got 30 free minutes with it, pretty cheap if you ask me. However you don’t have a plan, you have to buy the minutes for the phone. After we all had our phones we sat around for awhile and just looked like a bunch of Americans exchanging numbers. The number exchange was made even better when we all decided to buy frozen yogurt, it was delicious! They take fresh frozen fruit and make it for you. Yum, I’ll go back to the mall just for the frozen yogurt!
Wednesday January 7th
I am getting to know Monica better now and I love it. I have found that we become closer everyday through our conversations. I have no problem telling her things I'm frustrated with or things about my host family or just simply telling her about my family, friends, and boyfriend back at home. I was super excited for the activity today! Jenna said that we should for sure go some time! The activites at Celas will be offered more than once during our time here since the average Celas Maya student spends about 2-3 weeks here. We decided to go today! A bunch of us signed up to visit Las Fuentes Georginas. They are natural hot springs! We took about a 20 min bus ride, but this time it was in a tour van that the school owns so we all just packed in. Kind of remided me of la Gua Gua van in the Dominican. The hot springs were beautiful and…SUPER HOT! There were about 4 medium-small sized pools. Each had a little bit of a different temperature ranging from very hot to warm. I'm pretty sure I went in all of them. Some people including myself got a little light headed after entering and exiting the pools a couple of times. They felt great though because the atmosphere of the mountains is cool. A couple people in our group didn’t bring their swimsuits….I felt bad for them however I believe that the leader had said that, when the activities were introduced on Monday (the activities are introduced every Monday), that it was a necessity (obviously because the pools are like giant hot tubs). I came home for dinner and then I also wanted to do the night activity which was free salsa lessons! A bunch of us met up at school and walked to one of the local discotecas, which are clubs with salsa dancing and a bar. The one we walked to is called La Parranda, its nice and modern and I learned the basic steps again and then learned some fun turns.
Thursday-Friday
I didn't really do much on Thursday. It was nice just to vedge and spend a little time on the internet. If I failed to mention before I do not have internet in my house. At times it is unfair because some students do have internet in their house and it would be a lot easier, oh well it has both its benefits and its downfalls. That is why I haven' posted my blog until now. I have been slowly updating it and after a while I just decided that I wanted the first week to be posted before I sent everyone a mass email with my blog address on it.
Friday night was our first night out! Since I mentioned that we are not the only people studying at Celas Maya there is a graduation party at the school for the other students here every week! The party started at 7:00ish, but if you wanted to attend you had to bring something ie food or drink. Me, Angela, Shannon B, and Jenna walked down to La Dispensa which is a local grocery/convinient store to buy something. Jenna and Angela ended up making jello cake (a Jenna favorite), and Shannon and I bought citrus juice and soda for punch. Everyone else arrived later with their contribution to the fiesta. It was the most random buffet ever! There was spaghetti, cake, punch, pizza, home-made guacamole and salsa, chips, cookies and more! All of the things I listed were brought by people in my group :) After the graduation party died down/was over we all hung out for a little bit at the school, and then we all went to dance at another discoteca! This time we went to La Rumba which was a popular disoteca amoung last years travelers. It was very fun, loud salsa music and some techno, free popcorn, some drinks, friends, and Guatemalans equal a good time! The streets here are dangerous at night, especially on the weekends. I would never walk home alone, so we walk home in groups, usually a bunch of girls with one guy does the trick.
Saturday
It felt awesome to sleep in today. I wasn't really sure how it was going to work with our host families serving three meals a day. I thought Sonia would wake me up for breakfast but thankfully she let me do my own thing, and I just ate when I got up. Today I went shopping! Me, Jenna, Shannon B, Angela, and Mike A all met up at school and walked about 10-15 minutes to a store called La Democracia. It is an outdoor market with TONS of stores, and you can pretty much buy ANYTHING there like....underwear and socks, to DVDs and music, to Guatemalan souveneirs todos. I bought a cute Guatemalan looking purse, a coin purse, and a head band, but I will definitely be going back because there is no way I could visit/see all of the store in one day. I was tired after our shopping extravaganza so I didn't know if I wanted to go out salsa again. I met up with some people around 8:00pm to go to a place called the Blue Angel which is a movie cafe. What's a movie cafe you say? Its a small place that sells food (as in meals) and drinks and every night it plays 2 different movies in the movie rooms which have a regular sized TV and a bunch of seating. It cost 10 Q to view a movie, but they do have free wifi and cheap food there! After the Blue Angel we went to El Pasarje which is a nicer restaurant in an enclosed area. A couple of us ordered some awesome dessert, I had helado chocolate(icecream).
Sunday
I slept in again today, and used the internet again in the afternoon. I cried for the first time today. I think I was just frustrated talking about the streets of Guatemala but really all is going awesome here! On Thursday, I told Monica (my teacher) that I liked her nails, they are long...and real! I asked her if she had polish and if I could borrow some. Since she is so so nice she brought a small bag to share. Sunday me, Jenna, and Shannon B got together and at Jenna's house and painted our nails. It was cool seeing another house. Jenna's house looks like a Shanty from the outside but on the inside it was nice! Her house has two floors! I had to rush home to be there by 5:30 so I could go to church with Sonia. Something excited happened at church! Like at home there are prayers of the faithful...ya know when the person says, "For the poor." and then the congregation says "Lord hear or prayer." Except here they pass out slips of paper to random people to go up and read into a mircophone and Sonia and I both got one! I was SOO nervous, but Sonia gave me the easier one and it was only like a sentence long. I asked her a few pronunciation questions and when it was time I went up and read the prayer to the church! At least I didn't have to face the church....the people that get the slips face the alter instead of the church to read them.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
The Beginning: January 3rd & 4th
Hola y bienvienidos a Guatemala! (Hello and welcome to Guatemala!)
Today is January 6th 2009. I have now been in Guatemala for 3 days! Every day here is an adventure, there is rarely a dull moment. The trip from the states went well, I flew from Minneapolis to Houston and from Houston to Guatemala City. The first flight was about 3 hours and the second was about 2 hours. It was fun flying into Houston because we met up with three of our group members who are from Colorado. There are 23 of us in total, all who attend St. Ben’s/St. John’s. We had about half of the group when we flew from Houston to Guatemala City. The flights went well, I slept almost the whole time on both flights. Once we arrived in the airport of Guatemala City we went through customs and then found our luggage. Then we all went outside and Brian, the director of our program, was waiting for us. Once we had everyone in the group we loaded up our coach bus and began the five hour long bus ride to Xela, where we will all be residing for 4 months. The bus ride was probably one of the scariest things so far. Since we didn’t arrive in Xela until a little after 8pm, it was dark and everyone on the bus was anxiously awaiting to meet their family. We kept going up and up into the mountains. I was apprehensive because I knew that once we arrived in Xela, particularly at Celas Maya, our language school we would all go our separate ways. We kept going up and up into the mountains. Once we finally arrived we loaded our luggage into a smaller bus/van and then walked a couple of blocks to Celas Maya. There all of our families were anxiously awaiting our arrival. All we had time to do was send our parents a quick email telling them that we arrived and then we were off with our families! I was one of the last ones out of the internet café, which is located in the school, because the computers were super slow since we were all trying to use them at the same time.
My host mom Sonia is SO adorable. She is like my grandma and my mom here. Her son Victor and Victor’s son Roberto picked me up from the school. They loaded my luggage into their car, which also made me nervous because I thought that that meant that my house was far away from the school (but it really isn't too far away). I also thought that Victor and Roberto would live with us but they don’t. Its just me and Sonia, which originally I was more nervous about, but now I am seeing its benefits more and more. My house is small but cute. There is a living room right when you come in the door, and then you turn the corner and there is a long hallway, the first door on the right is my room and then the next is Sonia’s room. The bathroom is right across the hall from both of us, and then further down the hall is the little kitchen (pictures are soon to come). Sonia and I ate dinner together after I arrived and I did my best to start up a conversation with her. My Spanish is….not good, but then again it’s not horrible. After dinner I unpacked a bit and went to bed. My room is nice it has a nightstand, bed, desk, and a nice sized closet for my clothes.
On Sunday I woke up and took a shower. I have yet to shower in the afternoon, but I’m thinking that might be a better time. When I showered in the morning there is only a trickle of hot water. It is really cold in the morning and at night here. Way colder than I originally imagined. So I had a warm shower, but with very little hot water and then I got out and the atmosphere is freezing! I was actually cold in the shower too because there is so little pressure, but one can’t complain too much. After my shower Sonia walked me to Celas Maya for orientation. I took notes along the way so I wouldn’t get lost on my way home. I live about seven or eight minutes (by foot) from school, which unfortunately seems like a long walk, especially in comparison to other students in my group. After meeting at school we walked a short distance to a hotel for brunch. The food there was really good, gourmet style with eggs, fruit, bread, beans, fresh juice, pretty much the works. The director of Celas Maya whose name is Josua and our director Brian both talked about things like safety, places to go, things to do, the school, health, etc. After breakfast we took a small tour of Xela, but the Xela that is around us because it is a huge city, the second largest in Guatemala. It was fun to see Central Park and some of the stores that Josua talked about in his speech. After we were done with the small tour, everyone went home for lunch. Our families are required to provide us with 3 meals a day. I like the food thus far, there is a variety of things I have eaten….potatoes, rice, beans, chicken, different hot dishes, platanos or plantains, beef, soup, MUCHO! After lunch some of us met up and went to one of the local grocery stores called La Dispensa to get some Queztales from the ATM. The currency here is about 7.8 Q to the American dollar. Then we just walked around the city a little bit. I had to be home by 515 because Sonia asked me to go to church with her. Church started at 6pm but it was super packed, so we left at 530pm. Mass was similar to that of a Catholic mass, I liked it. We then came back and had dinner with a friend of Sonia’s named Freddy. Since I had already had a couple of meals with just me and Sonia, it was nice to have someone else at the table. Freddy is 25 and he is studying medicine to become a doctor. He has a girlfriend named Maria who is coming to live with Sonia and I in February! Freddy is really really nice, kinda felt like a big brother to me the moment I met him. He also knows a little bit of English so that’s nice as well, he is just a funny nice guy. Maria was born here but moved to Canada when she was 5, then returned to Guatemala when she was 18. Then at some point she returned to Canada, but she has lived with Sonia before, for a long period of time. Maria is studying medicine to become a doctor as well! Anyways she is in Canada now and is coming to stay with us in mid February.
Today is January 6th 2009. I have now been in Guatemala for 3 days! Every day here is an adventure, there is rarely a dull moment. The trip from the states went well, I flew from Minneapolis to Houston and from Houston to Guatemala City. The first flight was about 3 hours and the second was about 2 hours. It was fun flying into Houston because we met up with three of our group members who are from Colorado. There are 23 of us in total, all who attend St. Ben’s/St. John’s. We had about half of the group when we flew from Houston to Guatemala City. The flights went well, I slept almost the whole time on both flights. Once we arrived in the airport of Guatemala City we went through customs and then found our luggage. Then we all went outside and Brian, the director of our program, was waiting for us. Once we had everyone in the group we loaded up our coach bus and began the five hour long bus ride to Xela, where we will all be residing for 4 months. The bus ride was probably one of the scariest things so far. Since we didn’t arrive in Xela until a little after 8pm, it was dark and everyone on the bus was anxiously awaiting to meet their family. We kept going up and up into the mountains. I was apprehensive because I knew that once we arrived in Xela, particularly at Celas Maya, our language school we would all go our separate ways. We kept going up and up into the mountains. Once we finally arrived we loaded our luggage into a smaller bus/van and then walked a couple of blocks to Celas Maya. There all of our families were anxiously awaiting our arrival. All we had time to do was send our parents a quick email telling them that we arrived and then we were off with our families! I was one of the last ones out of the internet café, which is located in the school, because the computers were super slow since we were all trying to use them at the same time.
My host mom Sonia is SO adorable. She is like my grandma and my mom here. Her son Victor and Victor’s son Roberto picked me up from the school. They loaded my luggage into their car, which also made me nervous because I thought that that meant that my house was far away from the school (but it really isn't too far away). I also thought that Victor and Roberto would live with us but they don’t. Its just me and Sonia, which originally I was more nervous about, but now I am seeing its benefits more and more. My house is small but cute. There is a living room right when you come in the door, and then you turn the corner and there is a long hallway, the first door on the right is my room and then the next is Sonia’s room. The bathroom is right across the hall from both of us, and then further down the hall is the little kitchen (pictures are soon to come). Sonia and I ate dinner together after I arrived and I did my best to start up a conversation with her. My Spanish is….not good, but then again it’s not horrible. After dinner I unpacked a bit and went to bed. My room is nice it has a nightstand, bed, desk, and a nice sized closet for my clothes.
On Sunday I woke up and took a shower. I have yet to shower in the afternoon, but I’m thinking that might be a better time. When I showered in the morning there is only a trickle of hot water. It is really cold in the morning and at night here. Way colder than I originally imagined. So I had a warm shower, but with very little hot water and then I got out and the atmosphere is freezing! I was actually cold in the shower too because there is so little pressure, but one can’t complain too much. After my shower Sonia walked me to Celas Maya for orientation. I took notes along the way so I wouldn’t get lost on my way home. I live about seven or eight minutes (by foot) from school, which unfortunately seems like a long walk, especially in comparison to other students in my group. After meeting at school we walked a short distance to a hotel for brunch. The food there was really good, gourmet style with eggs, fruit, bread, beans, fresh juice, pretty much the works. The director of Celas Maya whose name is Josua and our director Brian both talked about things like safety, places to go, things to do, the school, health, etc. After breakfast we took a small tour of Xela, but the Xela that is around us because it is a huge city, the second largest in Guatemala. It was fun to see Central Park and some of the stores that Josua talked about in his speech. After we were done with the small tour, everyone went home for lunch. Our families are required to provide us with 3 meals a day. I like the food thus far, there is a variety of things I have eaten….potatoes, rice, beans, chicken, different hot dishes, platanos or plantains, beef, soup, MUCHO! After lunch some of us met up and went to one of the local grocery stores called La Dispensa to get some Queztales from the ATM. The currency here is about 7.8 Q to the American dollar. Then we just walked around the city a little bit. I had to be home by 515 because Sonia asked me to go to church with her. Church started at 6pm but it was super packed, so we left at 530pm. Mass was similar to that of a Catholic mass, I liked it. We then came back and had dinner with a friend of Sonia’s named Freddy. Since I had already had a couple of meals with just me and Sonia, it was nice to have someone else at the table. Freddy is 25 and he is studying medicine to become a doctor. He has a girlfriend named Maria who is coming to live with Sonia and I in February! Freddy is really really nice, kinda felt like a big brother to me the moment I met him. He also knows a little bit of English so that’s nice as well, he is just a funny nice guy. Maria was born here but moved to Canada when she was 5, then returned to Guatemala when she was 18. Then at some point she returned to Canada, but she has lived with Sonia before, for a long period of time. Maria is studying medicine to become a doctor as well! Anyways she is in Canada now and is coming to stay with us in mid February.
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