Day 25

After class today, as I stood in yet another cold shower, having forgotten both my face wash and razor back in my room, I felt over it.  Everything is just so hard, I'm ready for things to be easy.  Later that day, I continued to feel like everything was a struggle, as I tried to work my way through the crowd to get to the chicken bus stop.  In the states, when we need something, we go to Target, stand in a short line, and pay the stated price for whatever we went to buy.  Here the market is a bustling place full of vendors trying to get you to bargain for every little thing, from socks & underwear to apples & beans.  It's absolutely exhausting!  And then once I'd finally made it to my bus, sitting there as the vendors came through trying to sell yet more stuff, I realized, this is their livelihood.  These people know no different then this very difficult life, they may not even get the cold shower while I complain about the little inconveniences that I'm not used to in my privileged little life where everything has become so convenient with our cars, superstores, and hot showers.

In any case, last minute, I decided that I did not want to stay in Xela for New Year's.  It seemed like everything was going to be closed and my friends had moved on for the week to Lake Atitlan.  And since I really like my teacher, I decided I did not want to study the next week at the Lake but stay in Xela for another week studying with Ari.  However, the house manager at the hostel said I wouldn't be able to get a bus back on New Year's Day for my class on Friday.  In the end, I decided to go anyway and forgo my Friday class justifying it by saying I needed a break and that I wouldn't have another opportunity to go to the lake.

By the time I took a minibus through the rush hour traffic, made it through the market, and took the 4 hour ride to Panajachel while watching the sunset, it was dark and New Year's Eve.  Luckily, there was a lot of activity in the very touristy town and I quickly found the restaurant that I saw in my tour book that had wifi.  However, once there, I discovered that my friends were actually in another city on the other side of the lake.

While ridding on the bus and listening to Spanish I was beginning to think that perhaps my Spanish was now better than my German.  However, while eating my dinner, there was a large group of  German youth at the other table and I found that I understood much more than I do Spanish.  However, with this trip, I am noticing that I am now able to communicate basic needs to Spanish and while I sat at my table doing research about possible hotels for the night, I got approached by an older gentleman who was hitting on me.  I was able to engage with him in a bit of a conversation though there was some confusion about my refusal for help finding a hotel for the night and I needed to clarify several times.

However, once I had been wondering around disorientated about direction for quite some time I wandered what was more stupid, accepting help from a kind gentlemen or wandering around in a new city without a place to sleep at 8:30 on New Year's Eve.  Eventually I found the place I was looking for and they had a room.  However, the fireworks I was trying to avoid after my experience on Christmas Eve were on the street below my door and window.  I decided to go to be early anyway and try to sleep through the New Year's Celebrations.

Day 23 & 24

It seems that with each new week I feel like I am starting over.  I am coming off of a very busy weekend where I have been surrounded by newly made friends for the whole weekend.  These friends had been in a different language school than I and I decided to move over to their school for the new week only to have them decide to leave in order to go celebrate the New Year at Lake Atitlan.  So here I am at my new school and staying at the connected hostel for the week.  The biggest plus is that my teacher is fantastic!  However, I am not walking into the family feeling I initially felt being here and am spending the majority of my free time on my own.

Also, I am now responsible for my meals.  However, missing out on breakfast is fine by me so Monday morning I woke in just enough time to start with my teacher at 8am.  After class, Fiona, one of the other students shared the soup she had made with me, and I didn't even end up leaving the school/hostel until 6pm or so in order to eat dinner.  It was a nice little respite from the bustling outside world and I was able to do laundry and catch up with some people via Skype and Viber.

Tuesday was also good with my teacher.  He is good about finding out the things I talk about so he can build up my vocabulary surrounding those topics.  It's interesting to get the different perspectives of the teachers.  For instance, my first teacher in Antigua thought that the government stepping in and saying that physical discipline of your children is illegal was creating more rebellious adolescents with more problems.  However, this teacher had more of the perspective that the government should do more and that physical discipline is unnecessary.  It is also interesting having a male perspective as opposed to my last teachers who talked a lot about the machismo attitude of the country that creates lazy males in the country.  However, this male teacher appears to be the opposite of what they talked about and appears to be hard working and loves his job.

After class I walked to the giant cemetery and walked around.  Usually I love cemeteries!  This one was definitely interesting but after some time walking in it, I really just wanted to get out.  I have never before felt such a strong feeling of death and decay in a cemetery before.  Perhaps I am just outgrowing my interest in them or the fact that there was so much trash and lack of care in this one that kind of just made me cringe.

Afterwards, I found the cafe that had been recommended when I initially came to Xela.  It was neatly decorated with a kind of museum type feeling to it.  I ran into the mother/daughter pair from my last school and sat with them while studying and eating a salad for my lunch before heading back to the hostel to have my weekly Skype bookclub chat.  During this call, I realized that perhaps I have not cooked or done grocery shopping for myself since leaving my apartment in Chicago back in May.  At the call's conclusion I headed to the grocery store and used the hostel kitchen to make myself some dinner.  Seems as though the homestay option is a better price after the amount of money I spent at the store, but it's also nice to be on my own terms for a change.

Life Sign

Just letting you all know that I'm safe and sound. I had quite the adventure this weekend climbing and camping at the highest point in Guatemala. Hopefully I'll have the opportunity to write more later.

Day 18

Quiet day on my home front.  Class as usual but no afternoon activity due to the holiday.  Took a walk to try and find a recommended cafe.  There was a guy sleeping half on the sidewalk and half in the street in front of it and it looked rather closed.                                                                        Found a hostel that said it had a cafe inside as well.  Pictured right is the view from the street before stepping inside.  Proprietor spoke English and was busy giving a guy instructions on how to take a bus to Lake Atitlan.  After he was done we talked about how long I'd been here.  He said he came down 6 or 7 years ago planning to stay 3 months.  He is from Philadelphia and now has a wife and 4 year old child here.  He said it was his wife's dream to open this hostel so I guess he helped make her dream come true.  He couldn't find the chocolate for the hot chocolate I ordered so a person who I'm assuming was his wife and son came in to help.  The interaction was a bit odd.

He sent me up to the terrace and brought my hot chocolate later.  The hostel had a wide open courtyard surrounded by rooms.  From the terrace, beautiful views of the city and surrounding mountains pictured above!

Before heading home I also walked through the giant market in Zone 3.  No pictures though as it was quite crowded and I didn't want to attract attention.  Hope everyone has a lovely Christmas Eve!

Day 17

A couple things about my new living quarters.  The next door neighboors have a rooster.  The first morning I thought it was kinda cool, being awoken each morning by a rooster.  Then it kept going and going and I realized it must have started at like 4am and continued all morning. Luckily this morning I must have adjusted to the sound and didn't wake until close to the time I needed to get up anyway.

The other thing is that there is a police station on the 5 minute walk between my house and school which makes me feel a bit safer.  Also, usually when I walk by in the morning the officers seem to be having their morning meeting so that's kinda fun.

I liked my breakfast this morning.  It was kind of an oatmeal but with more milk than I'm used to, more porridge like.  I also got a banana! In all it ended up being too much food!  But then my lunch ended up being not enough though very good.  It was kind of a chop suey noodle dish with carrots, celery, and chicken.

After my crying spell, class today went a lot slower.  Though I did still have my moment of getting overwhelmed.  For some reason numbers are quite difficult for me.  I never remember German numbers being quite this challenging.  All these years I've been able to count to 15 in Spanish from when I taught preschool and had both English and Spanish speaking students.  That was about the only thing I did in Spanish all day when I taught preschool, count out the number of students in attendance on the number chart.  I never had more than 15 students at one time.  But knowing my numbers out of order or by sight, that's another story.

This morning for the whole first part of class I finally got a chance for repetition and really getting much more comfortable with numbers.  I'm sure my teacher was bored out of her mind but this is what I'm here for, to actually learn something to the point where I can retain it, right?

Other than that, today has been very much about connecting with life back in the states.  I got to video chat with both the family I nannied for over the summer and my niece and brother.  I also caught up with my mom and had my weekly 3-way skype conference call with my book club.  Still haven't been able to connect with good ole Dad since arriving in Xela though.

Day 16

I might have to stop writing about what I'm eating as this homestay does not seem as exciting. Gone are my days of fresh fruit and coffee for breakfast every morning. This morning I had corn flakes and instant powdered coffee.  However, lunch was much better with a more traditional soup with rice and chicken. Strangely, it also had dates in it which the 3 year old voiced disliking as well. Only difference, he ended up liking it once he tried it while I merely forced myself to eat them.  Nonetheless, I finally ate a meal where the family members were eating with me!

Class was very hard at my new school. My teacher's name is Valerie. She is much younger than my previous teacher and knows much less English.  I feel like after two weeks I was really starting to understand, know, and connect to my old teacher Sandra.  She was a very experienced teacher who knew how much Spanish I knew, knew how best to teach me, could tell when I needed a rest and when to change things up a bit.  She'd had a plan of when to teach what and was building up my knowledge base in her own way.  Ah, the difficulty of change. And being outside my comfort zone yet again.

It must have built up. There were a few moments in Antigua where I felt emotion beginning to surface, where I thought I might need a good cry.  At the end of class today it finally built up enough to the release point.  I was just so overwhelmed.  Valerie was just piling on new word after new word.  The pages in my notebook might be filling up with Spanish words but very little of it is being retained in my brain.  If this is the kind of learning that I'm paying for, I might as well just sit at home with my Spanish dictionary and try to memorize every single word.  I think it would be better to teach a few words and make sure they were mastered with some kind of test before moving onto even more words.

I suppose it's just different styles of teaching.  Sandra had been selective about what verbs to teach me.  She informed me that there were just so many verbs to learn but she was selecting the most important ones. Even that felt like too much!  But she said other teachers in that school taught them all up front like Valerie decided to do.  Perhaps Sandra's reducing the number she taught came from years of experience in teaching Spanish as a foreign language.

I miss my textbooks from my German classes when living there, Grundstuff 1-10, their structure and "alles in ordnung" philosophy.  I want some researched and proven highly effective method of teaching this language rather than each school and individual teacher's hodgepodge having their own ideas of what's effective.

The school I'm at now seems to believe in the philosophy of just doing everything in Spanish, in throwing it at you all at once no matter what your level of comprehension.  This is similar to the school I first went to when I was in California.  There I didn't cry until my second class but time wise it was sooner since classes were only an hour and a half while today I cried at the end of a 5 hour class.

Luckily when I got home the adorable 3 year old came in my room and we played together for awhile.  After lunch I went back to the school for the cooking class. We made pupusas.  

It is a much smaller school.  Only 5 students there right now as opposed to the 45 at my last school.  I'm not sure I like this either. I need a happy medium. I need a few more people to choose from for the possibility of a more in depth connection, say a school of 15-20 students, enough for cliques to form but not so many that you don't know everyone to some degree.  

I did end up going out to shoot some pool with people after the cooking class. But even there all communication was in Spanish so I didn't much connect with anyone.  All in all I haven't really heard or spoken much English at all today. And that was the purpose of my move to Xela, wasn't it, to be more immersed. I guess I didn't take into account that it would also be more alienating.

Day 14 & 15

Saturday was my last day in Antigua.  I had originally planned to leave for Xela on Saturday morning.  But one of the other students has a car (he is Croatian but has been living in Las Vegas for the past 5 years and drove all the way down to Guatemala from there) and offered to give me a ride.  So come Sunday morning I was quite irritated when he still was not answering my skype contact request to figure out where to meet up.  Instead I took a chicken bus (more about that experience to come).

Therefore my Saturday was pretty chill as I planned to prepare for my departure.  I had stayed out fairly late the night before but my breakfast had been put out on the table for me for when I got up (cereal and a fruit salad with oranges, bananas, and a few other varaties).  When I went out to eat it Aldolfo came around to chat with me while I ate.  So much for having a nice quite breakfast to myself.  I stayed in the morning reading and relaxing.

For lunch some other older members of the family were around.  They did not talk to me much but the Spanish conversation in general was pretty lively.  Ordelia served a delicious soup which I think she said was typical of the Coban area.  It was quite spicy with a little bit of greens in it.  My extras were served on the side for some reason, but the others had the chicken, squash, yucca, corn on the cob, and rice in the soup.

Some time after lunch I finally made it out of the house and into the city.  I had plans of sending my stuff back home to lighten my load a bit but the post office was closed.  All that work for some of the ladies went to the day before to get me a box at the grocery store and I ended up just throwing it away.  While I was walking to the city, in the city, and back I ran into a total of 8 classmates!  For my ultimae (last) meal, I had beans and a tamale with Aldolfo sitting there watching me and keeping me company.

On Sunday I tried to find Damirs (the guy I was supposed to ride with) house and car with no luck  I decided to just go down to the chicken bus depot and make my way on my own.  The first bus was fairly easy.  I had been to the depot before and taken the buses with my school.

For those of you that do not know, chicken buses are all decommisoned yellow school buses from the states and Canada that have been pimped out with all sorts of bright colors.  I think the two I rode on today were really old, from before my days of riding school buses 20 years ago, so I imagine they take pretty good care of the buses. It still amazes me how, the speeds they drive up mountains and around curves, these buses last so long.  Supposedly, there is a documentary floating around that follows some guys process of getting his bus if you want to check it out.

The drivers assistant put my backpack on the rail above my seat.  I had some concern that I was not on the right bus but, eventually, I was the last one on the bus and the driver showed me where to catch the bus to Xela.  Also, during the ride I was only squished riding 3 across for a short period of time. 

This was a little more tricky.  He had just dropped me off on a street corner where I think he implied the bus would come through.  I waited for awhile where it looked like other people were waiting as well.  A couple buses went by and picked up people so I figured I must be in the right place.  Eventually one came by and the assistant was yelling out Xela!  He took my bag toward the back and I headed to the front.  So much for the tour books suggestion that you ¨watch your pack  The bus was absolutely packed, standing room only, and barely space for that.  For probably 45 minutes I was standing worried about whether my hours long trip would be this way.

At some point I got a seat.  Only problem, it was right ontop of the wheel.  Also, guys sat down next to me, so much for the other tour book suggestion that single female travelers only sit next to women and children.  Although, it was absolutely fine.  For awhile, I had also been wondering where my pack had ended up.  From my new seat by the window I could see the buses shadow and eventually figured out that the shadow of my pack was also on the roof of the bus.  I found myself counting out what things in my bag were expensive or irreplaceable.  Luckily, they must do this a lot and my pack was fine.

At one point, most people on the bus got on while a crowd of venders also came through trying to sell stuff.  As the chaos died down I asked a lady where we were but she did not understand my Spanish.  Eventually, the assistant came and got me and told me we were in Xela.  Once off the bus with my pack I was not sure what direction to head.  Somehow I eventually found a taxi.  The driver took me to one of the schools I had researched.  I was impressed with how much more I was able to communicate with him as opposed to that first taxi I took when I first arrived in Guatemala.  Maybe I was actually able to retain a little something from those 30 hours of Spanish classes.  My taxi ride that was less than 10 minutes was more expensive than my 5 hour ride across the country!

After enrolling in the school I was placed in a homestay.  Sylvia seems very nice and there is even a little boy at the house who is about 4!  However, there is no internet in the house so I may not be able to continue the blog as regularly.  Xela is a lot bigger and feels much more cosmotalitan though there are less people walking and out and about.  Perhaps more people have cars and drive here.

Day 13

Last day of classes with Sandra!  I wanted to get her a little gift for the last day and tried to find a florist that was open before class with no luck.  We did a bit of a review and caught up on some words that we had meant to go over, as if my brain really has any more capacity for more at this point in time.  My last assignment was to tell her a story, she said I had been listening too much, it was my turn to talk.

It is hard for me to talk about myself even in English let alone my minimal Spanish.  I also found it difficult to tell a story from the past when all I know so far is present tense.  Sandra stated that it was possible to just tell my story in present tense (all my Authentic Movement practice should have helped with this).  I ended up telling one of my best psych hospital stories.  I'm sure that dear old Ellis would love that remnants of his antics made it into Spanish and all the way into Guatemala.

My story also prompted Sandra's interest in Schizophrenia and mental illness.  We discussed the mental health problems in Guatemala and how when men have an illness here they are always diagnosed with alcoholism but that they may actually be self-medicating an underlying cause.  She said that there is a big problem with young men sniffing glue in Guatemala.  We talked about why this is only boys that display these behaviors.  The conversation continued from the day before about how these problems may have stemmed from the previous culture of household chores being the female's job while the men went out to do other work.  She said at one time men weren't even allowed in the kitchen.

I think this is gradually changing.  For instance, the family I live with, the husband excitedly told me that he is able to cook a few things.  Also when I needed hot water for my tea the other evening, Hector, the son went and got it for me without having to be asked.  But my teacher was telling me that many boys become lazy because they are not asked to complete household chores when young and become disrespectful.  Meanwhile girls are made to help with the younger children and are required to work more at a young age.

In the afternoon, I met a few ladies for cake (2 Canadians & 2 Germans, all traveling separately).  It is so interesting that it has taken me the whole week during my 2 weeks here now to find people to connect with.  With travelers things move quickly, it can't take me so long to warm up to people because before I know it they will be gone or I will be gone and I'll have to make a whole new set of friends the next week.  It's also interesting to see who I feel a connection with and how I develop my instantaneous friendships.  I am hoping to find a smaller school at my next destination so that it might be easier for me to get to know other students in one week's time.

A whole lot of us also gathered at another student's terrace after dinner.  After hanging out for a bit we also went out of the town.  I stayed out much later than I might have otherwise as I wanted to make sure I had someone with whom to walk home.

Meals today: Pineapple and an egg around some kind of meat that had a meat texture but no taste, red sauce on top for breakfast.  For lunch a bean soup with that same meat and rice.  And for dinner a really salty soup served with a veggie that was white like potato or yucca, but also had part of a root in it that tasted like and had texture of artichoke.  Also, Josh moved to my room in the other house today because it was too noisy for him here.  So for my dinner meal it was just me and Adolfo.

Day 12

Breakfast: pineapple & french toast

During class felt an earthquake, researched to be only a registered as a 4.2.  Lots of fun with my teacher today!  We were joking about all sorts of stuff.  She also disclosed a lot of information and I gathered a lot of information about the culture surrounding families in Guatemala.  I guess I must be understanding a lot more Spanish then.  Though she does speak some Spanglish, it seemed to be primarily in Spanish. It all began after me telling her that my parents have been divorced for almost 20 years.  I told her that my mother lived with her new husband and his adult child with Down's Syndrome.

This triggered her to tell me about her own first child that she had when she was only 18.  She said he was born with Down Syndrome and that he died a few months after he was born.  She told me that for a long time she asked God why?  She said that if she had not lost that child she would not have been able to get work as a teacher and support her family.  She said that for many years her husband was very lazy and did not work or contribute to the household.  After many years and 3 children one day he just disappeared and cut off contact with she and her children.  She drew out a map and showed me that for 10 years he has lived just down the street and around the corner from her with his other family.

We talked about how common this is for men in Guatemala to have affairs and many children with different women.  Sandra informed me that there are many families in Guatemala with just a mother and the men contributing very little.  Perhaps this is only from her perspective.  I am amazed how hard she has worked over the years to keep her family afloat!  She says she has attempted to contact her husband in order to get a divorce and he refuses contact with the lawyer she hired.

Lunch: Chicken with delicious red sauce, rice, & guacamole

Laundry day!  I dropped it off at a laundromat who said I couldn't pick it up till the next day.  Somehow I had 12 pounds of laundry so when I said I would just take my business elsewhere they changed my pick up to 7pm.  I then went on the school activity.  We took a chicken bus to the village of San Juan.  Here we visited a convent and a local chocolate factory.  Unfortunately I forgot to bring water.  I got dehydrated and a terrible headache. I went home to rest and then ran to pick up my laundry before dinner but was still late to dinner.

Dinner: Potato pancake & flat peas but shaped like snap peas

Went to bed at 8pm only to wake up at 3am.  I was able to get back to sleep for 2 more hours but it was so hard to get up.  So tired!

Day 11

Days are starting to run together.  Probably time to mix it up a little so I spent some time researching my next moves.  During the rest of the day just Spanish learning, walking around the city (made it to the ruins at Santa Domingo), and a cafe to Skype with my book-club peeps back in the states.

Breakfast: Cereal & very sweet and delicious cantaloupe
Lunch: Bow-tie pasta with a little spicy kick, flank steak with onion, cold veggie mix (carrots, broccoli, green beans, potatoes).
Dinner: I finally encountered something I didn't like of Ordelia's cooking.  Yuck, plantains, I've never liked them though so it has nothing to do with Ordelia's cooking.  Also some black beans, they helped me get the plantains down since I still ate them even though I'm not fond.

Adolfo was the primary companion at both breakfast and lunch.  He talks to me as if I have any idea what he is saying and tells me that I need to speak more or I won't learn.  Hector likes to ask me what I'm learning and I'm never really able to recall.  My brain is full!

Day 10

For breakfast today, scrambled eggs and pineapple.  Josh and I mostly ate alone though Ordelia came and joined us for a bit.  Hector came in later and I could hear Ordelia from the kitchen ordering him to speak to me, "hablar a Christina!"  I guess that means I'm understanding more Spanish, no more talking about me behind my back in Spanish!!!  He and I briefly forced some kind of conversation with me not understanding what he said to me.

Learning more verbs at school.  We played a memory game with opposites cards and Scrabble, but I'm not much good at Scrabble even in English.  For lunch we had a breaded eggplant served with a lentil risotto dish (I thought I was finally eating rice and beans but was corrected by Ordelia).  I'm trying to figure out why Hector is always around.  At the end of the meal, it was again just me and him hanging around.  He says he works in a pharmacy but he never has work clothes on and always seems to be home.

Went back to the garden for the week's cooking class.  We made a fruit punch out of fresh fruit.  Back to studying at Fernando's.  I'm surrounded by such serious students that appear to be picking up the language so much quicker than I am.  Maybe their work ethic will rub off on me.

Stopped by my old house to say hello to Sunny again.  This time she was there and I talked to her and the other two students from Sweden for awhile.  I felt like part of a team as we struggled to communicate with one another in Spanish rather than English.  The other girls also seem to have picked up so much more than I in just a few short days.  It just seems so much warmer over there both physically and emotionally.

Back at the main house, it was just Josh and I for our dinner of a fried wonton-like shell filled with cream cheese and topped with a creamy tomato like sauce (asked later and was informed that it's called "doblada de queso") in addition to a green bean side dish drenched in butter.  I'd imagined the other girls in the warmer home chatting away with Ordelia wishing I were there instead of struggling to understand awkward Josh.  Ah, the grass is always greener on the other side.

I'd wondered why the rest of the family wasn't eating with us.  When Hector showed up I asked him why he wasn't eating and he said he had a stomach ache.  As I retreated to my room the rest of the family's take out food arrived and they ate a separate meal.  So strange!

Day 9

First morning in my new dwelling.  Ate breakfast with my fellow classmate Josh from Boston and Ordelia's husband Aldolfo, pancakes and watermelon.  Class as usual, feeling like I'm starting to retain some vocabulary and understand some simple grammar.  Many more new students in the garden!

At home, a lot more activity with the family, there was even a small child there of the age of 2 or 3 running around, who was explained to me to be somebody's God child.  Josh and I were served lunch first, some kind of pasta with a cannelloni type shell with sausage and tomato sauce inside, a potato, and a carrot/cucumber salad in a vinegar sauce.  Other family members joined us later the only name of which I learned is Hector.  Hector appears to be Ordelia's youngest child of 19 years.  Ordelia's niece was also there.  The child's mother breast feed the child at the table and the child quickly fell asleep.  Everyone, other than my classmate, stayed around the table talking for awhile.  I wasn't really involved in any conversation but I'm hoping that just hearing Spanish will help my brain get used to it.

Later in the afternoon I went to get some money out of an ATM, buy a Spanish/English dictionary for a reasonable amount recommended by Leo, and pay for the week of school and housing.  I then met Leo, Lisa, and their housemate Phillip at Fernandos and studied for a bit.

At home, the other student and I ate some kind of soup (I couldn't decipher if it was asparagus or broccoli) and a zucchini/red pepper/onion side dish.  Ordelia's husband and Hector ate with us but ate something different.  The other classmate left the table again shortly after he'd finished eating.  The rest of us stayed around the table but conversation was limited until some other random people showed up.  I felt like some creepy wall flower observing and out of place but I wanted to stay around to try and soak in more Spanish.  One of the friends that showed up attempted talking to me.  So far I've really only spoken with Ordelia, my teacher, and fellow students in Spanish and I realize how amazingly slow and patient they have been with me.  I guess the rest of the Spanish speaking world isn't the same.  I've got a long road ahead of me.

I missed having Sonny at dinner!  She is just so animated and awesome!  Ordelia told me that she was sad that I left the other house without saying goodbye.  I knocked on their door to say hello to her but she wasn't home.  If only I could have the best of both worlds, her as my housemate and still have exposure to the family as well.  Also, Ordelia isn't around much in this house.  She is very busy with all the work of running the household and doesn't have time to sit and chat like she does in the other house.  Also, it is colder in this house with less light and more of a basement feel to it.  However, the shower here is so much better!!!!

Day 8

Woke up with a bit of a hangover this morning after 2 beers and 2 shots of tequila spread across the evening before.  Slow to get going and out of the house.  No meals for the home-stay students in this city on Sundays, we're on our own for the day.  After figuring out that my Guatemalan phone was dead, I was finally able to contact my friend Adriana who had come down from Coban with her husband, brother-in-law, and his wife for the weekend.  We met for breakfast.  It was a bit awkward as it had been almost 10 years since we had known each other in Germany.  She and I caught up a bit on our lives since in English but her companions at the table seemed to only know Spanish.

Afterward, I went to get some notecards for the flashcards my teacher assigned me to make.  She said I could buy them at a store across the street from the school but I couldn't find it.  I felt bad about sending my money back out of the country and into the states but knew that the Office Depot would have what I needed.  While I was in the store I heard some scary sounding noises (someone yelling then and a struggle) from the wall opposite where I was shopping on the outside of the building.  I decided I was safe if I just stayed in the store and it eventually quieted down.  When I left there were still people gawking and I saw that two men were holding down another guy, but I'm not sure what actually occurred nor did I stay on with the gawkers.

Back at home it was quiet and there were no other students so I decided to stick around and do some work and correspondence there.  My host mom came in and informed me that I needed to pack up my things so that a new student could come but that my new room wouldn't be available for an hour or so.  I stuck around with my stuff and switched houses.  My new room is a bit bigger and in the main house with the family.  However, another student never returned the key for the room so it doesn't lock.  I guess you can't have everything, there are positives and negatives to every situation.

I met up with some other students that were studying at a cafe and after a bit we went to have dinner.  It was so interesting because 2 of the people I had just met that I was having dinner with seem so connected.  I'd asked them how long they had known each other and they stated that they'd only met that morning at the youth hostel that they were staying at.  It was then that I realized that almost all 6 of us sitting at that dinner table were solo female travelers from the states though there were also two solo men, one Canadian and the other German.  And we were all traveling for months at a time.  One girl stated that she had done something similar in South Africa several years prior and knew she just had to do it again.  In her describing it and being there with all these people I'd just recently met I felt a strange connection to I remembered the value of this way of traveling solo rather than with a companion.  If I were with a friend, boyfriend, or father I wouldn't be meeting nearly as many people.

I suppose the city that we are in also adds to the ability to connect so easily to so many other foreign travelers.  So on this Sunday evening, my one week anniversary of being in Antigua I'll tell you a few things about this city.  First and foremost, this city is teeming with foreigners!  This is not to say it is not filled to the brim with locals either, but you also can't go too far on a street without running into another gringo.  The locals are very proud of their city and given the time of year, their Christmas celebrations.  It is an old colonial city and was once the capital but had to move several times after being destroyed by one natural disaster after another, "earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and floods" according to my guidebook.

It is characterized by cobblestone streets and ruins and is surrounded by hills and three volcanoes, one which is still active.  Volcano Fuego can often be heard rumbling (much like thunder) and one student told me he saw lava coming down the side of it at night.  The cobblestone streets and old colonial charm remind me of two other UNESCO World Heritage Sites that I have visited (Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay & Quebec City, Canada).  But it's living structures and style of the people also remind me of many of the small towns I visited while in China.

The many Spanish language schools (probably over 50) appear to be it's main infrastructure.  In my school alone, Antiguena Spanish Academy there are at least 45 students at one given time and even more teachers waiting to have a student assigned to them.  Since we all have our own private tutors and there are so many students it is hard to really get to know too many people.  I have been going to the free activities offered by the school in the afternoons and have found myself connecting to other students similar to myself.  You certainly observe many little cliques in our half hour break each morning.  It's all very charming and welcoming, but I think I might be ready to move away from the tourist hub and onto somewhere a little larger.

Day 7

This is a view from the Volcano Pacaya.  The closest one to us is Volcano
Auga  which is inactive.  The one to the left is Volcano Fuego which is
very much active.  You can see it fuming.  You can also hear it rumbling
at certain times during the day and night from Antigua.

No breakfast this morning for me.  I had to catch the tour van to the volcano, Pacaya, at 6am so I just grabbed a piece of bread from the bread basket that had been left out after dinner from the night before as I ran out the door.  I was late to the pick-up spot, but luckily the van was also late.  It then picked up several other tourists and was filled to the brim for the hour and a half drive to the Pacaya protected area.

The hike up to the volcano was great exercise and I met several other travelers not enrolled in language programs in addition to the 2 other students, Richard (New Zealand) and Leo (Germany), I signed up for the tour with.  Our guide was great, and funny.  She had us roast marshmallows from a spot on the volcano.  Altogether, a very enjoyable experience!

When I arrived back to the house Sonny and two new students were seated at the table already eating lunch; rice, chicken, and an amazing cooked veggie concoction (eggplant, celery, onions, etc).  After everyone else left, I had seconds and sat speaking with Ordelia.  Maybe the hike did my brain some good as Ordelia noted that I was talking a lot more (yea! Spanish)!  She said that the two new students were vegetarian, maybe that's why I got such a varied vegetable dish.

After a short rest I had plans to meet up with the guys again at Fernandos at 2pm.  I'd also run into another student, Natalie (Switzerland) on my way home from the van drop off and invited her to meet up as well.  Natalie, Richard, and I had a coffee and hung out for a little while at Fernandos.  I discussed with them how to tell my house mom that I was switching houses.  Leo didn't show up so Richard and I decided to go to the market without him (Natalie went home to rest).  We ended up running into Leo in the street.

At the Mayan market I bought a scarf though I should have argued the price down much more than I did.  Richard and I went on to the local market without Leo.  It was less packed than I expected but still an interesting scene.  We then made plans to go out that evening after our respective dinners at our home stays.

I decided to try Richard's tip shortly after I got home.  He told me that if I just put the water at a trickle, the strange contraption (pictured right) in the shower would be able to heat the water.  Hurray for a warm shower even if it was just a trickle!  (After my first cold shower, I'd asked Ordelia about it.  She said she would have someone fix it the next morning.  I went and tried it again after class the next day and it was still cold.  After a second cold shower I'd resigned to just going around smelling until I switched houses.  The combo of sweating and having volcanic ash all over me after the hike though was making me have second thoughts.)

 For dinner we had tamales (my first time actually, I always thought from the name that they were spicy and had never ordered one back home)!  Bien!  It was amazing!  When I told Ordelia at dinner that I would be switching homes the next day she seemed sad.  But I felt it was for the best since with the new students (Sweden) there was a lot more English being spoken at the meal.  She pulled me aside afterward and offered me a space in her house with the family next door!  Yeah for continuing eating Ordelia's amazing and varied cooking!

Leo, Lisa (Japanese American from New York), and I met at Richard's at 8pm.  It was fun to wander around the city together and observe the exciting night life of Antigua at Christmastime.  It was awesome to have people to wander with rather than being out on my own.  We had a beer and a shot of tequila at two different bars and tried to meet up with my Guatemalan friend (from 10 years prior when I had been an au pair in Germany) who was in Antigua for the weekend.

When we were finally ready to call it a night, we first walked Richard home.  We had to say goodbye to him there as he would be leaving on a 5am shuttle to Xela the next day.  I'm feeling sad about seeing him go and even thought about going with him, but it was too late notice for me as I'd already told my teacher I would stay on at least another week.  He has been a nice companion especially after spending most the entire day with him today.  Maybe he'll still be in Xela whenever it is that I make it there.

Leo and Lisa were awesome and walked me back to my house even though they were complaining about how far away it is from everything (I don't think I mind too much, at least that way I'm sure to get my exercise in).

Day 6

For breakfast this morning french toast and some very awesome pineapple.

For class my teacher and I sat on the roof of the building so it wasn't so cold as we were sitting directly in the sun.  After the break we walked through the city which seemed again to be an opportunity for her not to work so hard at teaching me.  There was some conversation of me struggling to find words and her correcting my grammar.  We also went along with another teacher and a student from Canada whose Spanish was as bad as mine.  I'm sure we sounded great as we struggled to communicate with one another in Spanish.

We went to the church to see the festivities for the Feast of Our Lady Guadalupe.  As Antigua is primarily Catholic this holiday is quite the production!  Little kids dressed up as different versions of Our Lady of Guadalupe and her indigenous husband, Juan Diego, wearing a mustache, almost like Halloween!  My teacher told me that there would be 4 different parades of children through the city throughout the afternoon.  In the open space in front of the church, stands set up for children to get their pictures taken such as the one pictured right!

The night before had been the beginning of the festivities.  A fellow student had a video of what looked like a night club scene taken from the streets.  From my room I heard fireworks starting to go off around 11pm and continuing throughout the day today.  I was starting to think that if I hear it enough I'll grow accustomed to the sound, to not get so triggered by it.  But there is still this fear that builds up in my stomach, some nerve that gets hit with each one sounding as if a gun has been fired.  Many of my fellow students out enjoying the festivities tonight as well, but instead I sit hearing the crackling of the firecrackers in my safe little room writing this instead.

After being dismissed from "class," I returned home for a lunch of carbohydrates; rice, potatoes, and a tortilla with a piece of pork on the side.  After awhile I went back out to find the cafe that one of the other students raved about, Fernando's Kaffe.  I found her and two other students there and ordered a salad to supplement my carb filled lunch.  A good place for studying and hanging out but filled primarily with Europeans.  Planned on going to hike up near an active volcano with 2 of them the next day.

Back at home, some authentic spinach/tomato concoction and squash for dinner!

Day 5

Breakfast: papaya and a delicious tomato omelet; perhaps all the salt Ordelia uses is why the food tastes so good.

Class as usual though the garden was absolutely freezing!  Wishing I had brought more warmer clothes.  I only have one pair of jeans and my one other pair of long pants are of thin material.

Lunch: A very tender breaded chicken breast (schnitzel like) served with tasty guacamole and a beet/onion vegetable side.

Afternoon activity sponsored by the school was a cooking lesson by one of the teachers back in the garden.  She was making Chuchitos.  It was quite humorous with her asking for volunteers and making one of them stay up at the front for quite awhile but again I didn't understand a lot of the explanation due to my limited Spanish comprehension.

I'm impressed with their sanitary cooking etiquette, making sure we all washed our hands in the preparation of the food.  This was the same for the day before when we helped with the tortillas in the Mayan village.  The only thing that made me a little uncomfortable was that the Swiss volunteer who prepped the chicken wiped his hands on a towel that was on the table after he was done rather than going to wash his hands.  Perhaps that is one of the differences between here and Ghana.  Perhaps some african countries just need better hand washing and sanitary food preparation education to help avoid the spread of certain diseases.  Though other travelers warn about buying from street vendors, so far I've only encountered one traveler who has been sick due to poor food preparation during their trip.

After the class I went to a private salsa lesson.  It was good to be using another part of my brain rather than the language center and to be in my body rather than my head.  I feel a bit more comfortable with salsa though with any other partner than a professional salsa dancer as a lead I'd probably still tripping all over myself.  They again got me roped into signing up for another class.

Dinner: pasta with a wide variety of veggies!

Day 4

Breakfast was again not as exciting as some other meals, corn flakes and watermelon.  Instead of regular class today, I paid an extra 100 Quetzals ($13) to go on a bit of a field trip with my teacher.  There were 4 other students with their teachers that went as well.  We rode a chicken bus (an old American school bus pimped out with many colors and decals) and went to a nearby Mayan village (San Antonio) to observe some of the traditional practices of the Mayan people.  However, I think I missed out on my Spanish practice by going on this trip since my conversational Spanish is so minimal and we didn't work on grammar.  It was less work for the teachers though as they just sat back and talked to one another during the presentation.

We observed the hand weaving practice and they dressed the students up and went through the ceremonies of a wedding and birth of a first child.  Everything was explained in Spanish though so I didn't comprehend a lot of what was going on.  They then tried to rope us into purchasing some of their textiles and clothing.  It was very similar to my visit to a kente weaving village while I was in Ghana.

We then observed the tortilla making process, rolling it out on a stone and everything.  We got to help form the tortillas but mine kept falling apart.  They served us a kind of soup with beans, chicken, and rice, the tortillas that we made, and authentic Mayan coffee.

When we returned we walked a little through the market.  I guess I'm glad I went just because I was able to experience riding the chicken bus while accompanied so I can maybe try it on my own at another time.  However, I think I missed out on Spanish learning.

For lunch Ordelia made a delicious fish patty of some sort that was tortilla and corn like.  She also served a delicious vegetable that she said was a relative of a zucchini.  Also, a carrot and tomato salad in a vinegar dressing.  When I'd been in Ghana I had been warned never to eat fruits and vegetables unless they were cooked.  But it doesn't appear to be a problem here so I only thought twice before digging in.

In the afternoon, I went on the school activity again.  This time a jade museum and chocolate store.  After the free jade presentation they again tried to get up to purchase some expensive jewelry.  I bought a $6 piece of Guatemalan prepared chocolate for snacking for those days when my meal isn't quite large enough for my American sized standard proportion sizes.  The best of all I tasted was some chocolate tea made from the leaves of a cocoa plant.  It was amazing, subtle, not so rich like hot chocolate but I didn't purchase since I would be carrying it around for another 3 months.

Back at home, another student finally arrived.  It is a very strange set up, my home-stay, that's taken me while to figure out.  After the morning field trip I walked home with another student, Hannah.  She lives next door with another student in the home Ordelia goes over to sleep in after serving me my meals.  I discovered that Hannah actually lives with Ordelia's family and gets to eat with them while I have been having my meals on my own where Ordelia usually just watches me eat.  I asked Ordelia about why I take my meals seperately over dinner and she said that it's better to not have so many students together as it encourages less Spanish speaking.  It's just very strange because then she must attend many meals a day.

It's been nice having peace and quiet and a house to myself but it also defeats the purpose of a home-stay and the total immersion in the language.  Therefore, I will be moving to another home after this week, hopefully to have more interaction with other family members.  I just worry that I'll have to start eating rice and beans all the time rather than this beautiful variety of fresh fruits and vegetables that Ordelia serves.

My new house mate's name is Sonny.  She is from Korea and her name fits her well, so animated and shinny.  It was great having another conversation partner at the meal and her Spanish is better so there is more to listen to!  Plus, the meal was again delicious, a mushroom and spinach soup served with black beans and bread on the side!

Day 3

Hard time waking up.  Exhausted from trying to learn and listen to Spanish the day prior.  Didn't manage to get myself out of bed and into the shower and only got up a few minutes before being informed that breakfast was on the table.  My host mom served pancakes with guava jam and honeydew melon.  I'd also realized that somehow with all the Spanish words in my head I didn't remember her or my Spanish teacher's name.  She walked me part way to the garden where school took place since I was coming from a different direction where she passed me off to another teacher who walked with me the rest of the way.  Luckily in the passing off, I learned the name of my host mom, Ordelia.  The embarrassing part was when in Spanish practice my teacher asked me the name of my teacher and I didn't know.  For the record, her name is Sandra.

For lunch Ordelia served an amazing noodle soup with 2 or 3 different vegetables, chicken, and fresh herbs and spices.  So far I'm simply amazed with how well I'm eating.  After my experience in Ghana for only 10 days all I wanted to eat was salad for at least 2 weeks after due to the lack of fresh fruits and vegetables.  Plus everyone had informed me that all they eat down here is rice and beans.  In that regard I may have lucked out with my host mom as the other students in the program also stated that they eat a lot of rice and beans, even for breakfast!

I went on the school sponsored afternoon activity after lunch.  Which just turned out to be a short little hike up the hill behind my house.  However, my guide book states not to come to the Cerro de la Cruz "without a tourist police escort, as it's notorious for muggers" and that the "tourist police was formed because of robberies here."  So I was glad to be coming with a group.  Additionally, I don't think that we were out of sight of the so called "tourist police" during the entire hike as I probably saw about 10 stationed throughout the walk.

Afterward a few of us decided to grab a beer (2 Swiss *not traveling together, a German, a New Zealander, and myself).  Then two of us (myself and the guy from New Zealand) went to free salsa classes which turned out to be more of a tourist trap as they roped me into signing up for a private lesson for another evening.

Dinner was less impressive though still tasty.  Some kind of white vegetable maybe similar to yucca and some kind of sweet bean pastry.  It wasn't quite enough and I was hungry before I went to bed.  All this Spanish really makes me famished and tired!  I did manage to get into a shower before going to bed.  However, the hot water didn't seem to be working so it was a rather quick and unpleasant shower.

Day 2

First day of Spanish course.  Managed to locate the school.  A bunch of local ladies standing around and in the building, none of them knowing much English, finally directing me to the office.  The director of the school, Julio, quickly called in a teacher without much explanation or introductions and sent me off.  She and I walked for several blocks through the city with my new teacher wondering if this is what class would be, us wandering the streets trying to communicate with my limited Spanish and her limited English.

Eventually made it to a garden (jardin) on the outskirts of town where several students and teachers were already studying at tables.  Finally started learning some Spanish grammar in a more formalized way though the garden is quite chilly in the morning.  During the half hour break I spoke briefly to another student as we tried to figure out the food vendor (all the teacher's pushed their way up to the table and quickly ordered all the food up).

Later returned to the hotel to pack up and check out and managed to carry my large pack (later I realized I had bruised my hip with my heavy pack) the half mile or so back to the school's office to obtain my homestay assignment.  My host mother came and fetched me at the office and we walked another quarter mile or so to her home.

The home is very basic.  My room as well (pictured right), but for only $60 a week plus 3 meals a day I'd say it is a steal!  She offered me water and we sat there awkwardly not being able to speak much to one another.  I tried asking questions, but based on her answers I don't think she really understood.  Plus my stomach was growling, thinking I might be offered some lunch.  Eventually she excused me and I made it back into the city and found a fast food restaurant where I scarfed down a chicken burrito with french fries only to be served dinner at home just a few hours later.  My host mom served what she said were Guatemalan tacos (some fried concoction rolled up with a green sauce over the top) and a huge plate of spinach!

Day 1

Plan for the day: Take my travel guide (Lonely Planet's Central America on a shoestring) recommendation of using the Transmetro's SubiBaja hop-on, hop-off self-guided tour around the city and get myself to Antigua before dark.

What actually happened:  Woke up to what I thought might have been an earthquake at 6am (bed shaking and hangers in closet rattling).  Finally got the courage to leave the hotel around 10am.  However, lobby was busy and didn't find anyone to ask my 3 questions to (Where is the ATM?  Where do I catch the SubiBaja?  And where can I buy a SIM card for my cell phone to call the bus depot to find out the bus schedule to Antigua? *local calls were $1 per minute from the hotel room).

So instead I walked blindly out the hotel doors into the scary world of Guatemala City as a single female.  Needless to say, I didn't end up finding any of the things I needed and after a 20 minute walk found myself back in the lobby.  In the end the receptionist pointed me toward the ATM and gave me a vague estimate of where the mall was to get a SIM card.  However, she had no idea what I was talking about when I asked for the SubiBaja.

On my next walk I found the infamous red city buses which my travel guide states "it is pretty much universally accepted that tourists" should avoid "due to an alarming increase in (often violent) crime" that often occurs on them.  Also, observed the many guards with large assault guns strapped to their chest.  And a storefront with a big billboard advertising the "Arms" which it sold beside the billboard for the daycare located next door.

At the mall, the phone company Tigo storefront was crowded.  Finally got up the courage to ask someone if they spoke English and then asked about a SIM card.  They directed me to someone that did who said I needed a passport to get it which I'd left in the hotel room since something recommended that I only carry a copy of it with me as it was likely to get stolen.  Back to square one.

After returning to the hotel to get the passport, I decided to try a mall closer to the hotel.  The Movistar stand was a lot smaller than the Tigo store and I didn't end up needing the passport afterall.  But for some reason my phone from my last trip abroad didn't work (it was unlocked so I'm not sure what was wrong with it) so I had to buy a new phone to go along with my new SIM card.  However, when I called the bus depot, they didn't speak any English so I still didn't know what time the buses ran.  So much for getting a phone to find out the bus schedule.

Back at the hotel I experienced the bizarre sensation of some kind of shaking and the hangers rattling from my 9th floor room once again.  I tried looking up then if there had been an earthquake that morning but couldn't find anything on-line.  Though I tried several days later and found that I had in fact experienced two earthquakes, one at 6:11am of a 5.6 magnitude and one at 3:16pm of a 5.8 magnitude.

By the time I'd left my hotel and managed to get a taxi (my cab driver tried speaking to me in Spanish which turned into him only laughing at me) and to the bus depot it was already 4pm.  Sadly, the next bus wasn't until 6pm.  So much for making it to Antigua by dark (it was an hour ride and sunset was at 5:30).  Two hours I sat unable to leave the uncomfortable bus depot due to my incredibly large pack (I sure wish I'd packed lighter).  And then I somehow managed to miss my bus since I was expecting it to be one of the large ones that kept pulling up and instead it was just a little van with 5 passengers.  Luckily, they were still close and they called the driver back.  When I'd arrived in Antigua it was quite crowded where the van dropped us off and I was able to find my hotel pretty easily.