Some interesting side notes

The plumbing is very bad in Central America so you can't flush TP down the toilet b/c the toilet will overflow. I walked into my host families home to see the toilet overflowing and Josefina swept the water into a drain on the ground. The houses are made from concrete and it has 3 BR, 1 living room, and 1 kitchen, plus an area in the middle of the house cut out llike a sun room where she hangs her laundry to dry. The toilet thing at frist freaked me out, but then I said, Oh well, try not to look into the canister you put the soiled paper into and use a lot of hand sanitizer. I've just gotta deal w/o the luxuries for a while. Nolan, are you ready?

Also, I can't believe how short everyone is! I'm quite tall here and I'm a measley 5'4". The people are so beautiful, nice, and friendly. However, if they are driving in a car and you're trying to cross the street than look out. you have to run for your life.

The pollution is out of site. It's incredibly sad how dirty and how much trash is every where. I was walking over a viaduct yesterday and the entire river blow was covered in trash. Trash is everywhere. People at on the buses and threw out their wrappers. My eyes have been red, swollen, burning, and tearing nearly every day several times a day. The vehicles emit thick clouds of black smoke which can be quite suffocating at times. What's going to happen to my lungs while I'm here? Life here is very different, but very interesting. I'm soaking it all in like a sponge and welcome any new experience and dish; except meat. I even at a salad today, which Josefina prepared some kind of yummy dressing. Her black beans are out of sight!

It's very cold in Xela! I'm bundled up each night I go to sleep. The sun doesn't come out much and it rains alot there goes my idea of getting a tan while living in Central America. It takes my hair like 5 hours to air dry b/c of the moisture in the air.

My host mom loves ketchup! She makes the stiffest coffee, which I'm too embarassed to say I don't like the coffee so when she leaves the room I hurry to the sick and pour it down the drain. Am I bad or what? She made a very good tea for me the first day, but hasn't since.

My hand feels like it's going to fall off for typing for an hour straight! Yo esperanza todo es bein en Estados Unidos. (I hope all is well in the United States.) I have no idea if that's grammatically correct. LOL!

P.S. I rode a chicken bus to Zunil yesterday and it wasn't that bad! I survived my first ride!

I feel like I could write for every, but my hand hurts as the keyboard is a bit different than the states so my fingers are oddly positioned.

Ciao!

Hola!

I made it to Xela without a hitch. All my planes and people meeting me where there and willing to help me. The Airport in Guate (Guatemala City) is very small. I had no problems navigating through and obtaining my luggage. I walked through a sea of people who were baracaded with a fence searching for somone holding a sign with my name. The last person in the long, long line carried a crumpled piece of paper with my name scribbled in red.Whew! I think the women was the wife of Alberto, the guy my school has communicated with about me. It was only $7 for Alberto to pick me up and drive me to the bus station. I had to wake 1.5 hrs for a shuttle bus it costs about $6 for the 4.5 hour bus ride to Xela.

The bus ride wasn't so bad in the beginning, I sat next to a nice, elderly Guatemalan women who wanted to talk to me, but I didn't know what to say. I told her I only spoke a little bit of Spanish. The bus ride wasn't too bumpy and the driver didn't drive too fast. I sat in the front seat so I was constantly getting hit when people walked by carrying their personal effects. The bus become very crowded quickly as the drive would pick up people who waved at him on the side of the road. By the end of the trip I had this guy nearly sitting in my lap because the bus was so packed! Crazy! The bus driver had several helpers and they continously put in new CDs into a CD player above the driver's head. They played a lot of American music as is playing in the internet cafe right. The helpers would ask Americans to translate the meaning of the song.

Someone picked me up from the bus station and I took a cab to my school to call Nolan and meet my host mom, Josefina, she's been incredibly nice. I talk to her all the way home and during all of my emails. She's very patient with my "Spanglish". I think I'm imporving daily. The meals are sometimes good and bad. Yesterday, she prepared this oddly textured, lumpy, gray porriage or something. It was incredibly lumpy and I tried to eat it as quickly as possible. I asked her what it was made from and I wasn't sure what she said. Today, during a break form school a classmate of mine who is also vegetarian took me to a place that sold vegetarian empenadas with veggies and tofu w/ a spicy sauce. It costs 40 cents! It was very good and I'll be going there a lot while I'm here it's owned my an Asian women (maybe Thai) who speaks Spanish too. I took Pepto as preventtitive against travelers diarrhea for the first 2 days and haven't had any problems...yet... :)

I went on an Excurion to a small town called Zunil yesterday with my teacher. It contains a very respected stature of San Simon, a man who people come from all over to ask for things and bringing him cigarettes and rum. People pay to enter a person home who has the stature. The statue is of a man and he has a bandera across his face, a sombrero and traditional clothing. It costs 50 cents to enter the home to view the statue. I didn't take a picture b/c I didn't think it would turn out well. People bring various colored candelas and light them for example, red means a person is asking for love, blue and white is for protection, and black is for wishing ill will. There are only 10 families who are allowed to share the statue of San Simon because they are quite wealthy (according to the story my teacher told me). The families give the statue to another on his birthday in November. There's also a huge fiesta to celebrate the exchange.

I've been bitten by a few fleas so I'm constantly spraying myself with bug spray.

I decided not to go on an excursion today so I could study and find the internet cafe. I feel very safe here thus far. I've gotten lost a few time and someone has always helped me. All is well in Xela! I miss everyone sooo much! I showed Josefina my picture book of Chicago and it made me miss it so much. I also talked to her about the hurricanes my mom has to escape from and we talked about hurricane stan.

Oh! One last welcome, I was eating dinner on Sunday night and the electricity was shut off. I walked to my bedroom in the dark and obtained my flash light so Josefina could find some matches so she and her hubby could light candles.

Adios para ahora (Bye for now)

I can't believe I have to wake up in 6 hrs @ 3 a.m. to catch a 6 a.m. flight! Why do I have to check in so early? I'm all set and ready to go. I'm surprisingly very calm about my nearing departure. There's really no reason to be in a tizzy as I need to remain calm to ensure I make it to my destination. I'm really excited and was enjoying jotting down some common spanish phrases I may need to ask during my journey from Chicago to Xela tomorrow. I truly hope I learn a lot about the language and culture.

I'm exhausted and I hope to get to bed by 10 p.m. so I'll have a bountiful 5 hours of sleep!

Most importantly, I hope my travelpack arrives safely and my family is nice!

I'll write soon!

Background Information

5 days and counting!

I wanted to give everyone information about where I'm going to be living for the summer. This Sunday, I'm flying out of Chicago on a 6 a.m. flight, which means I'm going to have to get the airport at 4 a.m.! Fun! I'll arrive into Guatemala City around 12:30 p.m. Luckily, Guatemala's in the same time zone so no jet lag! I'll be escorted to a bus station by a person who's affiliated with the language school. I have a 4-5 hour bus ride to my new home in Quetzaltenango, commonly referred to as Xela (pronounced shay-la), the Kiche Mayan name. Xela is in the heart of the Sierra madres volcanoes, it's surrounded by two mist-covered volcanoes and one of which is still active. Guatemala has a total of 33 volcanoes! Some of which I intend to hike up! Xela is a commericial mecca of Southwestern Guatemala and is the second largest city in Guatemala with about 250,000 people; preceded by the capital, Guatemala City.

I'm going to go to study spanish at Sakribal for 3 months and the last two weeks I'll travel around Guatemala with Nolan. I'll be taking classes for five hours a day and going on afternoon excursions and weekend excursions with the school. Nolan's going to fly to Guatemala in August so hopefully by then I'll have a good understanding of the country and language so I can easily show him around.

I'm most nervous about my travel from Guate (an abbreviation for Guatemala City) to Xela. As I've heard the bus rides are quite crazy because the bus drivers drive fast and aggressive as they are climbing the mountains and dodging and passing cars. At least I'm taking a first class bus and not a chicken bus. I'll leave the adventures of the chicken bus once I'm a bit settled in my new home.

I feel like if I pinch myself then I'll wake up and realize that I'm not going to Guatemala in a few days! I've never been so adventuresome! I can't wait!

2 weeks and counting

It's Mother's day and what's more appropriate than to start my first post w/an adorable picture of my nearly 3 y/o son, Bernie! I can't believe I'm not going to spend time w/him for 3.5 months while I'm living in Guatemala. I miss him already!

I'm getting more and more excited about my immersion in Guatemala each day. I can't believe I'm doing something this bold!

Time to go cram for finals now.