Pausing Here and There

Howdy All. So I have just completed my third day of Spanish school, ever, and can successfully create sentences in the present using all kinds of verbs. Yippee. I also know some random vocabulary. My teacher is very kind and patient, explaining grammar and indulging me in my rambling, poorly constructed Spanish tirades about current events or teaching. Somehow I manage to get my point across, and she is very good at speaking in a way that allows me to completely understand all that she is saying.

My homestay is fine. The mom runs a small lunchroom from her kitchen, so I meet all different people every day and eat yummy food. Still, I miss hanging out with people in the evenings as I can´t really go out after dinner. This makes things a little boring as I have so far spent my evenings reading, studying, and going to bed by 9 or 10.

Yesterday, I put a down payment toward my room at yoga house starting next weekend. I´m stoked. The girl who manages the house was sure to tell me that ¨We´re not really a party house. Mostly we just hang out and cook a lot.¨ I was sold. My room comes with a private bathroom–no shower though–and a brand new matress. Score! I think I´ll definitely stay in Xela until Jacob, my bro, gets here in December. I´ll study Spanish until then, who knows.

I´ve posted some pictures, so take a look 🙂 Actually, I am not as cool as Sarah and Megan and haven´t figured out how to post flickr directly into the blog…so here´s the link.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67808065@N00/

Hola todos! Today I started my first day of school. On Sunday, Sarah and Megan and I went out and bought school supplies. It was quite cute. I also endured a 2 hour yoga class with some of the wierdest moves I´ve seen at a yoga class thus far, but hey, when in Rome.

Since Megan and Sarah are at a different school, I´m not sure when I´ll see them next, but I´m sure we will figure out a routine…perhaps studying at our favorite little cafe, La Luna. First, I´ll have to find out where they live!

My school, Proyecto Linguistico (or plq), is amazing! I´ve been placed in a homestay with a very nice woman, Dona Yolanda, her husband and her daughter, Yohanna (who is 21). I feel like I´ve already learned so much from my teacher, Laura, and have met some nice people whom I will hopefully befriend.

The house is organized around a courtyard where a fig tree (los higos) grows. There are also pigeons and turkeys in this courtyard, and a place to do the dishes. Dona Yoland is an amazing cook, who runs a little comedor for the teachers of the school at lunchtime. Once I get a little Spanish under my belt, I´ll see if I can learn a few Guatemalan dishes. My room is very big, but totally without windows. This morning, around 5:00 I awoke to the sound of the turkeys calling, totally disoriented. Everything was pitch black. I tried to ignore the Guatemalan bed–so many springs sticking into my back–and the turkeys and go back to sleep, but there was no doing it. Oh well, sleep is for the dead anyhow.

There is much to do here as every afternoon there are movies, conferences, trips, etc… scheduled, as well as a giant library full of books about Guatemala and Central American history. I´m very excited to begin learning more! Maybe I´ll finally read Bitter Fruit, as it was again recommended to me here.

I study Spanish every day from 8:00 until 1:00. Today I learned the verb ´ser´, to be, and described lots of people from Shakira to President Bush to Che Guevera using my newly learned verb and adjectives. Yippy.

We get a half hour break to sit and drink tea and coffee and eat bread and soak up the sunshine as it is somewhat bitterly cold here. I was SOOO happy I brought the sleeping bag after all last night.

All in all, I´m feeling much better about Xela. Kisses to all.