Wow what a week it has been. At last I have a few minutes to sit down at an internet cafe and let everyone know what I have been up to.
The journey here was looong but we made it. When we finally arrived in Guatemala we were all tired but SO excited. I absolutely couldnt wait to set foot outside, my first time outstide of the US woooo! We took a bus out of Guatemala City, stopped on the way to eat our first Guatemalan meal, and continued to Xela where we are all staying. At the restaurant Kim told us who we would be rooming with. I am living with Allie! I was so excited. When we arrived in Xela our families were waiting for us. I am absolutely love my family here. My moms name is Judith and she is absolutely HILARIOUS and awesome and caring and she adopted us right away. We also have 2 host sisters, they are actually not the daughters of Judith but they live in her house. Anna is 26 and Sara is 21. Judith also has a son, Luis, who is around all the time but does not actually live there. I love all of them. On our first day there we met in the Central Park and got to explore the town a little bit. It is absolutely beautiful here in a way soooo different than the United States. That night Allie and I went out to eat with our mom and Luis. The food here is great. The restaurants are interesting and have a lot of great options. Also, Judith is an AMAZING cook. For breakfast she makes pancakes or eggs and beans. For lunch lots of vegetables, potatoes, carrots, pumpkin, celery, peppers, always rice, sometimes soup. Yesterday we had lentil soup, steamed carrots and rice. Today we had cauliflower dipped in egg and cheese stuffed mini pumpkins!!! The big meal of the day is lunch so we just have leftovers or go out for dinner. OH and mama overheard Allie and I talking about how much we love peanut butter and she went out and bought some for us! Oh my gosh it is sooo good, made right from scratch. This morning we had pan integral con mantequilla de mani y marmelada de durazno. Which in English is whole wheat bread with peanut butter and peach jam. Not at all that different from what I eat every day in the US!
Anyway, Monday was our first day of school at Casa Xelaju. We were all paired up with our teachers and off we went to our classrooms. The name of my teacher is Lucky and I really like her a lot. We have school from 8 to 1030, a small break for coffee, tea, and bread, and then we return til one. It is crazy having a one on one learning experience. Soooo much Spanish. And it is so different in the US because I cant ask what does this mean or just resort to English. It is good for me though I can feel myself improving already! Being surrounded by Spanish and having to speak it constantly is exhausting but fantastic!
On Wednesday a bunch of us went out to a club to learn how to salsa and oh my goodness it was soooooo fun. There were I think 4 guys who were teaching and they would stand in the front of everyone and everyone would just do their best to follow as the teachers rotated around each side of the room. Then they let everyone do their own thing for like an hour. One of the teachers asked me to dance and he taught me to how to salsa. We danced almost the entire time and I learned so much it was so fun. Then they started playing pop music like all of the stuff played in the US so we danced to that for a while. Most of our group left after a couple hours but Allie and I and a few others stayed to dance more! After the pop music they cleared the dance floor and three of the salsa teachers picked girls to dance with. Two of them were with Guatemalan girls who were really good and the main teacher guy came and picked me! aaaahhhhh it was so crazy he was so good and I had no idea what I was doing but I just pretended like I did! My friends said it was so fun to see me out there with this Guatemalan salsa man haha it was great!
Anyway, there is just way too much for me to post in a blog. I am having so much fun and experiencing so many new things. I feel like Ive been here way longer than 5 days!
This weekend we are going to for an overnight stay at a lake that is a couple of hours away. I heard it was beautiful and I am so excited!
I hope to update soon because there is so much to share!
uggghhhh I just tried for SO long to upload pictures but its not working! Maybe next time...
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