October 13-15

Monday morning we started our Spanish classes at the Christian Spanish Academy, which isn't the cheapest school in town, but it's definitely one of the best. It's only about three blocks from our Apartment (El Solar), which we are still in despite the continuous mold/mildew problems so it's really easy to walk to and from school everyday. For the first week, mom, Larissa and I will go for four hours every morning from 8 o'clock to 12 o'clock. Larissa's teacher's name is Sonralla, mine is Maria Jose and mom's is Sonya. They are all really nice, perfectly suited to each of us. They're more like friends than teachers, which is really nice.

The first day we just talked a little bit, and got issued our books. Tuesday was when the fun began! Larissa, Sonralla, Maria Jose, me, and another teacher and student Marissa and Tina all walked down to the market in the morning to buy banana bread and Guatemalan cookies at typical places a little bit off the tourist track. They were really good, and we ate while we studied for the rest of the morning. At 10 o'clock we always get a break for half an hour, to chat or eat or just stop thinking really hard for a little bit. All of the official lessons I've had so far have been review, but we spend a lot of our time just talking. It's amazing how much better you can get if you just talk, and talk...and talk some more. I'm really pleased with the results.

Wednesday Sonralla and Larissa had plans to go get ice cream, and they asked me and Maria to go along with them. Maria had a little bit of a cold, so she didn't get any ice cream, because dairy's really not helpful in that way. I didn't really want ice cream, but I thought it would be fun to go anyway, so we went and I got a piña colada, which are pretty rare in the United States, and it was delicious. We were going to sit above the ice cream shop, but for some reason or another it was closed. I didn't hear the exact reason. We decided instead to sit in the central park to finish the ice cream. We sat and talked here for a while, and then realized that it was 10 o'clock and we had to be back for the break.

During the break Larissa and I tried to get the Internet to work so that we could show Maria and Sonralla pictures of Whiskers, because, like most people in the U.S, they had never heard of a chinchilla and had no idea what one looked like. Unfortunately it didn't work. Maria and I finished up our activity we were working on, and then she decided we should play a game. So for the rest of the day we played card games. Some of the time we played with Larissa and Sonralla, some of the time not. It may sound like an informal, or not productive education, but it actually really helps to just talk and get used to thinking in Spanish. And we can say “no” to anything we want...Many other people study all day. I think because Larissa and I are younger we get to do more activities...which isn't a problem at all I don't think!

Throughout the week we've gotten a chance to try a bunch of different little restaurants. Partly because we discovered, only after being here a couple of days, that we don't have an oven, which of course is slightly problematic. Did I mention we don't have a toaster oven either? They have all been really tasty, some of them serving more American food, and some only Guatemalan cuisine. Either way you need to speak Spanish essentially all the time here, since most of the adults don't speak English for one reason or another (or at least the ones that you encounter on a typical day). Larissa, mom and I have all gotten a little bit of a stomach bug already, but on different days and seemingly randomly, so we're not sure exactly why. It could be the food, but we're been really careful to double wash or cook everything, and not buy anything off the street.

Overall, it's been a really fun second week in Guatemala so far. I even have some friends (fine, teachers) besides Larissa, mom and Ben because having only family around gets a little old sometimes. I know they're reading this and I love you all still, but not 100% of the time.