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.
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.
posted by USFBULL2002 | 3:08 PM
2 Comments:
How many people live in the house?
Is the "sun room" enclosed? If not how do they keep the rain from blowing into the rest of the house?
How far is your school from the house?
Was Josephina familiar with Chicago?
Have you given them any gifts yet?
Greets to the webmaster of this wonderful site! Keep up the good work. Thanks.
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