Como se dice "sketchy"

So, we didn't end up going out cause it was raining and cold and I forgot I had turned in all my clothes, including pants, to laundry...so. Also, a group of us went to play vball and my papas team was there but he wasn't! So we waited until they were done to play, but they took the net with them! What kind of sports complex makes you bring your own net?! So we screwed around a little and it was raining lightly, so we left soon after. Lame. We are going to buy a net today for there and the beach! Ok, so since I didn't go out I was going to study for my text today, which I didnt, cause when I was walking out of my room, the family friend, Yomarra, was walking into her room which is right next door. So I asked her if she's ever eaten pancakes in this house and she said no, but she saw the family eating them once. I was like what? So we went into her room to chat. In all the 9 years shes been here, shes had the same corn flakes with luke warm milk and bananas or mosh every morning, sucky! Anyway, but that led to other things. She asked me if I had ever noticed that the family eats different things than us and I said no, and I asked if it was better or worse food and she said better! So they don't eat with us at breakfast or dinner, because they are eating at different times so we can't see they are eating better more varied food. Weird. For example, a bad example, but I get cornflakes and the 4 year old gets fruit loops...I want fruit loops, I'm going to ask. That's a bad example. Anyway, then I asked her what the father did for work since he nor anyone else would tell me, and she said he didn't have a job because he got fired for stealing from the government company he did work for! What the hell right?! So I'm like, where do they get their money? My theory is that they deal drugs, but I could be completely wrong. I only say that because the other night Yomarra was cooking me dinner and there was a roach on top of the fridge, so to make sure it was what I thought, I picked it up and smelled it, and sure enough, weed! Then the night before last I went to brush my teeth and someone was blazing because I could smell it so strong and the bathroom is by their side of the house. Sketch. She told me not to believe the dad, Anibal because he's a liar too. She said she moved out for 9 months because he was harassing her asking her always where she went, what was she doing, why, so it got to the point she moved out! It sucks because I actually liked the dad a lot since he was the only one who took interest in me learning spanish and he appeared to care, which I'm sure he does, but now I just look at him different. She also said that he says really vulgar things during lunch or dinner but they are things I don't learn in school so I wouldn't be able to pick up on it and it's bad because the little girl, Camila, picks up on it and gets in trouble. So, I've always felt like the family wasn't very welcoming but now I feel like they're sketchy! Except Amelia, she's really friendly and smily but never home! She's inited me to come out dancing before. Yomarra said the mom was weird because she's not very friendly, which I completely agree. The last girl here, one her last day, she told the mom she was leaving at 2 and the mom on purpose made lunch after 2 so that she didn't have to waste her food on the girl who was leaving! It sucks cause it seems like Yomarra and I are their major source of income yet they treat us as just that. Other families like worship their students, like they give them the best food and the most and they treat them like babies...not in mi casa! I'm a ghost, except to Yomarra and the 4 year old. Kinda sucks, cause everyone else has such welcoming families, but I can't complain too much cause I have a nice place, hot water and healthy food. Yomarra says that the reason she only comes to eat is cause the family is so weird and no one talks to her either! It's funny cause she said she has this conversation with each student who's lived here. I don't remember if there is anything else I needed to tell you all. So weird. Whatev, at least I have Yomarra, and the group of course! I told her that the mom told me that I have to buy my own water since the water there was only for lunch, as well as that I have to ask her for toliet paper and she was speechless. I don't remember if I told you all that, the first week I went into the kitchen to get water for my room and the mom came in and told me that I needed to buy my own! That's not right. Anyway, it's not all that bad, I mean I don't have a million bug bites. Ok, time for class.

Stuff

Hi all, not so sure what to tell ya, nothing new since last time I blogged. New pics up soon from Las Fuentes. I have been getting a little braver with telling my host mom what I want...for example I asked to have less food a few times...just too much fucking carbs here. Though some stuff is great and I want to learn to cook it and write a little cook book to take home. Jill gained 10lbs already, though the girl eats icecream probably 5 times a week and cookies and chips...I'm not that bad but nor have I weighed myself. YIKES. I just told my mom that we have snacks at school everyday and that I'm not that hungry at lunch for so much food, so she understands, and it's true, we do have snacks. Often tortillas, hard or soft, with beans, or avacadoes, or salsa, or cheese, or all the above, sometimes fruits, sometimes this weird hot chocolate with rice in it that looks like maggots swimming around, I can't look at it, nor really drink/eat it, freaks me out. That same rice was in my lunch the other day in the soup, but not only was it in the soup, it was in the meatballs so when you cut open a meatball it looks like there were maggots inside...these things I don't look at, and just eat it or else I'd flip the fuck out, pods galore. Last night I ate a fig, it was green and had a hairy center, which also freaked me out to the point of almost not eating it, it looked like a mouth with teeth all around the whole circle and inside lsfdjsldfjasfksdfjslfj I can't even handle thinking about it. Anyway, last night we had a speaker who fought as a guerilla in the repression here, it was pretty interesting, though you could tell he's got some post-traumatic stress issues. For those of you who don't know, there was a big civil war here not too long ago, which isn't taught in schools here even, which killed hundreds of thousands of indigenous people. The guerillas were on the side of the indigenous and fought against the army here, often other coutnries like the USA funded this and other countries gave arms...it's all pretty screwed up, I can't really explain it cause I get bored listening to history and stop paying attention and start day dreaming. Anyway, we've now watched 4 movies about the war, 2 of which were of good enough quality to not fall asleep, and had 2 speakers about it, all really boring to me. What else, I've begun to teach the birdie to say my name, though I have to do it at odd times so no one sees me repeating my name over and over to a freakin parrot. It has the smallest cage, I will take a picture of Paco for you all. Apparently they found him injured one day and have been taking care of him since. Though I really want to buy him a bigger cage. Maybe I will. Or maybe I'll take him back to the USA! Ha! Anyway, trying to teach him to say my name. That would be awesome. Today after the speaker Jill, Greg, Crystal and I are going to the Complejo Deportivo to play volleyball with my papa and his friends, should be fun! Each week he gives me shit for not coming on wednesday so now we're going and he's going to regret it! I'm excited. Jill and I layed out sunday at the school, and did a little peppering, in our bikinis, I'm pretty sure Tio, the old old man who lives here pooped his pants. He came outside to sunbathe as usual but this time there were two girls in bikinis! Haha. He tries talking to everyone, and he's a great old man, but I most of the time have no idea what he is saying cause his words slur, so it's hard, but I try. I think he taught Paco how to say Paco. I guess if it starts raining, no vball, and it's thundering now so not a good sign. I think I mentioned that some people have bed bugs right? Jill showed me hers today, she probably has over 100, all around her stomach and back and arms and legs...she itches constantly! It's so bad, we went to Hyper (owned by walmart) and bought dog and cat flee spray, raid, tylenol pm, and calamine for her yesterday...and still new bites today! If I believed in god, I'd thank him for my kick ass house. Ok, conference time. Adios. Guess I had more to say than I thought.

DIPLOMA!

Not So Sure

I'm kinda doubting I'll be fluent in Spanish by the end of 6 months.

Potential Week Off Map

http://maps.google.es/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=es&msa=0&msid=110851477483061420351.0004531d5e5705ea935ac&ll=16.240606,-89.740448&spn=4.576799,9.580078&z=7

Las Georginas!

The hot springs were great and it was such a fun time! 7 of us went, jill, amy, ruchi, nicci, greg, jake, and myself. The rest of the group came too but they left around 430 back to Xela. So, you take a chicken bus (old US school bus) to Zunil, ~30minutes, 5Q, then you get to Zunil and hop into a pickup truck which takes you up to the springs. That was an interesting ride, the roads are super small and windy and the drivers drive like nuts so often you feel like the truck may tip over. SCARY. but it was fun. I'll post pics later of the place but there are 4 or so pools, one of them is off more secluded and right next to our bungalows...so we got there, checked in to our bunglows, which were quite interesting...and made some lunch inbetween the bungalows cause we brought bread from the bake shop, avacadoes, cheese and meat and chips...yum! We rarely get to eat sandwiches here, so it was nice. Had a few brewskies then off to the pool next to us. It was perfect, and if you got near the spring that water was super hot. It looked like if it were to rain then there would be a waterfall into the pool, which could have been awesome but it didnt. Then we got out and ventured to the other pools where everyone else was, locals, foreigners, all in their trajes de bano (bathing suits). Theres a restaurant there too which we had a few beers in and played 2 drinking games just cause we had nothing better to do. More swimming, the pools up top were way hotter so we didnt stay in long. We decided as it got later that we really needed to improve on our drinking so we opened up the bottle of rum and passed it around taking a shot every time it came by you...so Ruchi ended up puking in Jills shoe and all over the bathroom, Greg and I hoisted Jill up on a cliff to check out the glowing door in the side of the mountain which obviously was the door to the 8 of hearts, and when Jill disappeared behind it we freaked out, screamed, and jumped back into the springs, not to mention we were all butt naked since it was pitch dark and you couldnt see anything, asking and answering questions no one should, had a moment of confession with jill, stared at the recta (jill kept calling the star right above us the recta because recto means straight) so we could all see the same shooting star while we were on our backs in the middle of the street, spilled some sort of fire goo on the wood table outside and watched it burn cause it was awesome looking, took pictures of a melted candle and a lily in a tecate bottle, ate way too many chips, came back to find jake had made the fire in his bungalow so jill and i decided wed stay there too since we knew ruchi and amy didnt make one, therefore jake went and stole their wood too, slept like shit cause jill stole all the covers, then when we came back to see the crazy door in the hill, just happened to see dads headlamp in the bottom of the pool! I freaked out, recovered it thinking dads going to be sooo pissed, to find that its waterproof to 1 meter. Nice purchase pops! So, everything is a-ok. The door to the 8 of hearts ended up being the sign by the pool that said stuff like wear bathing suits, no drinks or food or pets...pretty funny. Had breakfast, and now I'm here at the school again waiting for jill to come here to so we can lay out..cause it's sunny and hot!

I hope we have beets for lunch, and I hope that every day. I used to hate beets but here they mix them with tomatoes and onions and put, guess, lime all over it, and it's delicious! yum. We're all really excited because Jills birthday is next saturday and we're spending the weekend at the coast, on the beach in a house! Its going to be so much fun. The town in Tilapia, I think, and apparently the undertow is so bad its dangerous to swim, but we'll see...the hotel next door has a pool so that will be great. I'm going to get a pinata for Jills bday night! But heat and bathing suits and sun and sand and swimming = perfect. What else...this place is so beautiful, I wish you all could come visit. We were joking the other day cause Guatemala is fertile in all areas...girls get pregnant here from kissing at 15, and that's normal and no one cares. I still can't get over that there arent any animals here, just birds, dogs, and a few cats...apparently other places have more, like panthers and shit. 3 of the other kids in the program booked their week off trip to CUBA, Eric, Ruchi, and Amy...I don't really understand why they'd want to go there except just because they can. I would much rather scuba dive and sit on a beach for a week, which is exactly the plan. Jill's friend Michelle, her parents have a timeshare in Belize near San Pedro so shes going to go there during the week off and Jill and I are going to meet her there...we're working on what we're going to do to get there and what to see on the way. Right now we're thinking of taking a bus to Antigua, staying a night, taking a bus to Rio Dulce and floating the river to the coast for a day to Livingston, taking a boat to Placencia, perhaps a bus to Belize City then a flight or something to San Pedro. Then on the way back take a flight from San Pedro to Tikal, flight from Tikal to Guatemala City then a bus back! Sounds great eh? Anyway, I'm on Amy's computer and she's here now so I need to go...que les vaya bien!

Week in Review

This week sucked, obviously from my other post you can tell...the only time I cried, but I teard up the next couple days too...today I was fine, solely because I gave up on asking why why why. But, class was cut short today because there is a bake shop that is only open on tuesdays and fridays so all of us and our teachers went there after the break so then there wasnt anymore class today! Then, this afternoon we learn how to make chocolate covered bananas...Im sure it will be sooooo hard to do, dipping bananas in chocolate sure sounds like a task. But, yummy! Yesterday we had our first official salsa class! It was great, I love it! Though it kinda sucks cause there are so many girls in the group so its hard to partner up. But, so fun! After that everyone went home for dinner but Jill and I decided to stay in town, cause its just annoying to walk home 15 min then have dinner, then walk back to go out...so we tried out this mediterranean restaurant which was awesome! Got tapas and a bottle of vino, it was delicious, pricy but great and worth the experience. Then we met up with friends and had a liter of beer each at one place, then went to Rhumba, where people usually salsa, and they had this free salsa lesson but it wasnt really a lesson because they were awesome and moving all around all crazy, it was like line dancing but salsa, pretty interesting, the dj forced us to come out there and try it, so we probably looked retarded and served as entertainment for the locals. Bought 2 bottles of rum, took like 4 shots each, had a beer, danced more when real music came on and did some salsaing, fun dancing night, then we went to another bar, el cuartito, and had another shot, of tequila, barf, then headed on home...all in all, fun night, and this morning most of us who went out all contemplated calling in sick for school, but didnt. I bet they think foreigners are alcoholics. My teacher said people dont keep booze in the home, its only for celebrations...but im sure that varies from house to house and age. Oh and thanks for trying to write spanish in your comments, but i end up not reading it because i dont feel like translating! haha. darcy, that was funny though, thanks. que mas........we had a conference the other day, on guatemalan independence, so boring. History and politics are really not my thing, because afterwards we had a discussion and everyone had something to say, they were well informed in tons of historical people, events, and had smart shit to say, and im just like, wow, im either really dumb or just have absolutely no desire to know any of this shit, most likely a combo. anyway, i cant wait for the conferences to not be about history or people or politics...health por favor, then ill have some stuff to say. i wonder if one day i will care about politics...everyone says i will and i should and its bad i dont because it affects me, which i understand, but i dont care. maybe its just because people always argue about politics and i, being nonconfrontational, decided to never know what they were talking about so i didnt ever have to argue about it. and, its not like i can do shit about anything regarding politics, except vote, and im uninformed, so i dont vote. whatev. Went to the mall the other day to do some shopping...wanted a couple tshirts cause i realized i only brought like black and white and gray and had no colors! so we went and had SUBWAY for lunch, which kicked ass cause i havent had a sandwich since before i left and ranch dressing, yum! then shopped around a bit and bought a couple shirts for like $10 each! Anytime i get sad im just going to go eat subway and shop...haha, and probably play video games cause they have an arcade there. tomorrow we go to the hot springs! 7 of us are renting a bungalow and staying the night, for $10 a person and you can get in the springs all night! so today after the bake shop we went and stocked up on booze and snacks for that, im excited. last weekend wasnt much of a relaxing weekend cause we got up so early ever day, so this should be great. the hot springs are heated by the volcano! scary! like in dantes peak!!!! and well get to sleep in! lindsay ill get more videos for ya, sorry, havent been doing much exciting, what do you all want to see on video? taking special requests. ive begun buying presants for christmas! its hard though because its all pretty eclectic, indigenous type stuff so i dont know how much everyone will actually like their gifts...but ill figure it out. i think ive also decided that when i get back, ill work as a translator in a hospital or something so i can keep my spanish up but also be in a medical setting until i go to pa school, if that ever happens. anyway, now im rambling, more sunday when i get back! love you all!

Happy Birthday Dylan!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR DYLANNNNNN HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUUUUUUU! BIG 30!!!Hope your day is fantastic!

Anyway, Ive got into this routine of going to yoga MWF and afterwards buying fresh squeezed orange juice from the lady on the corner for 5Q, and its delicious. Shes there every morning, squeezing away at her little station. Its great! Anyway, nothing new here, except at yoga this girl sat near us who had hairy armpits and legs and smelled like ever living hell which after a while made me nauseous, barf. Breathing only through your nose and breathing thick b.o, sucks. Anyway, new day, I have a test on the body parts but didnt remember until halfway through yoga...so I guess Ill tell her i forgot. no big deal, ive done it before with homework. I cant wait to get my computer here! Ok, talk to you all later, perhaps in a few days so I have something interesting to write...time for Paco lessons. Bye and HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROTHER!

Skype

So, just so you all know, if you download the program skype, you can call my cellphone for like $.10 min from your computer...and if we set a time together, then it costs nothing and we can use webcam and everything for free...and there is a headset here for me to talk into and webcam. So, if youre interested, email me or call me so we can set up something to chat! My phone number is 01150243634091. It would be great to hear from you all!

So its raining, and has been for like 2.5 hours...it may do this all week since the past two weeks have been glorious with tons of sun. But, Ive made friends with the birdie...taught it to whistle and it lets me scratch the back of its neck. Next Im going to teach it to say Kira...haha. I was thinking of going to the pet store to get some special birdie treats so that when it does something I want I can reward it then I will have it, the birdie will be mineeeeee, PACOOO! Ha, everyone thinks its kinda funny I taught the bird to whistle. Today I cried. I havent gotten so frusterated from learning to the point of crying in a long time, but this morning, I couldnt handle it. Then, it snowballed, and I didnt even have the umph to think of how to tell her Im frusterated in spanish, and I though of how miserable its getting to not be able to express myself to the people I live with and eat with every single day and I just couldnt deal. Im sure it will happen again. Whatev, poco a fucking poco right. Anyway, did I mention they have great tea here? Its better than any tea ever. I drink about 5 cups a day, not all caffinated, but a lot.

HAIRCUT. So, its not the worst ever and it cost $5 (35Q)!!! The trim is fine, but when it came to asking her to feather my bangs around my face...she didnt really get the translation...she basically just cut my bangs to my eyebrows and angled those a little, then skipped down a few inches and feathered that...so its like a screwed up Z...and the other side it didnt look like she cut it...so, I bought some scissors, and fixed it a bit. It will be much better when they grow out more and then Ill cut them myself this time with my kindergarten scissors for free. And my trim was a little much so now my hair is back at my shoulders where as it was an inch or so below and I was sooo excited to have hair! now its gone. oh well, no one here to look good for! Anyway, Im going to get off here and be social. Hasta luego. Poco a poco.

Today

I met with my new maestra today, and shes awesome. Way smarter than the other one and knows more english so i spend less time looking through my dictionary. Its great. And whereas the other teacher only gave me 2 reasons where to use imperfect, this one gave me 11 and we only did imperfect today and some preterite. Yipee finally. Though I could barely think today because I had serious allergies (took some drugs so am feeling a little better<). But this morning sucked, I snotted everywhere and couldnt focus. The teacher didnt care though cause she has allergies apparently. Anyway, mas papaya during lunch though this time it didnt taste like vomit. I think sometimes its ok and others nasty as hell. Today was tolerable. So, im at the school, as usual, and before i got tot he computer i sat down with the parrot and whistled to it forever, and it whistled back! It also let me scratch behind its head! Moving on up in parrot world. So now we have a conference, then studying probably, then the hair cut!!! Adios.

Mas fotos!

Mas

Olivido

I realized I didnt say anything about the soccer game...it was great, though we lost. I didnt end up wearing my socks over my skinny jeans though because that with a scarf I looked like a bull fighter. So we all met at the school at 7 and walked to the stadium where we all kinda split because some were waiting for others some wanted to get seats, and Jill, Amy, this other guy, and I wanted beers. So we went to this burger place by the stadium and ordered papas con queso, which we thought would be cheese fries, then we realized it didnt say papas fritas so we thought wed get a baked potatoe with cheese, but we ended up with fries doused in powdered neon cheese. so gross, but we still ate them and had a beer. then got into the stadium, which you first get patted down, to find out they dont sell beer or anything there so jill and i decided to take matters into our own hands. we left the stadium, found a bar that sold booze, bought a pint or so of rum, i stuffed it in my pants, then we went back to the stadium, got patted down with booze in my pants, got in, bought a pepsi (which they put in plastic bags and give you straws), went to the bathroom, and downed the rum with the other girls! Worked out but ended up sharing it too much and not getting a buz even, but it was fun. Oh and on the way to get the booze we stopped at a vendor who sold scarfs for the super chivos, and bought them! theyre great! the game was fun, there is this one section that is always jumping, screaming, dancing, throwing long strands of firecrackers over the fence into the field...they do that all over the stadium and no one cares, its fun. we lost though after being given sooooo many chances to score. should be a fun season though we want to find out how to get to that party side of the stadium. a 7 year old tried selling up nuts too, all ages work everywhere here. ok, thats all!

The weekend

So I realized I havent blogged since wednesday so now that I have almost forgotten what happened, Ill write backwards.

Today we met in the parque central at 8am to go to Momostenango...took a nicer bus than usual that actually fit us (you can see in the new pics what we sometimes ride like in what are called microbuses which the driver and his helper seriously try to cram as many people in as possible). So, that was nice. Then we drove about an hour to these peoples home who make rugs, blankets, jackets, gloves, etc, all from their own sheeps wool. It was pretty neat, and amazing how it works and how long it takes to make things. First they sheer the sheep, then brush out the hair? to make it smoother, then you take a bundle and touch it to this needle which some how magically grabs it and while you spin the wheel, it keeps grabbing it from your hand...so weird, it was like magic because you wouldnt think the fibers would just keep on grabbing eachother so as to make yarn but they do, and you can feel it when it is being pulled out of you hand. We all got to try that, with help. Then they take that yarn and put it on another aparatus to make the blanket or whatever and its crazy too being a wooden contraption. So the children go to school half days and work the other halfs. The bathroom there was interesting, kinda close to kerrville style, but worse because i dont think its ever cleaned out and its settled nicely next to the sheep and cows...aka smells like hell. At least they had toliet paper. I thought it was funny though because you cant flush the toliet paper here cause the pipes cant handle it so every toliet has a trashcan next to it...as did this one...as if the pipes couldnt handle it too, yet, there are not pipes, its a hole in the ground that goes on forever. Anyway, after that we shopped a little at the house for CHRISTMAS PRESENTS and then the family made us a snack, tortilla, guac, salsa and nasty ass cheese which I didnt eat, and tea. We ate in their dining room-kitchen which was interesting. They only had a woodburning stove type thing, more like a huge wok on top of fire and the walls made of dirt. I felt like I was in a museum exhibit more so than somones house. Next we went to the village to the market, not much new here, same market stuff and same horrible smells and tons of people. Stopped at one booth to get some candy, I got toasted coconut balls. They were pretty good. Then back home for lunch and now blogging with a headache at the school and studying and homework after this then dinner then bed then the week with a new teacher.

Saturday we met in the parque central at 7am! We went to hike up Chicabal...to a sacred lake. Well the hike is supposed to last only like 45 minutes but the bus driver wouldnt take us up to the entrance so we hiked an hour up to the entrance first...straight up, here their arent switchbacks to make it easier, they are just straight up and really tiring. On the way a few trucks came by and 4 people got rides to the entrance. Thought about it but decided on more exercise. At this point in the day it was nice out. Finally got to the entrace, peed in an outhouse type thing without light, swang on a wooded swing, then off to the lake...straight up some more. At one point I thought I could see the ocean, but I think it was just another hill then below that fog so I coudlnt tell the difference. So we climbed up a long way and then down again until we got to the lake which by the way Jill and I played follow the leader which was super fun and kinda dangerous cause the ground is iffy, breaks a lot under your feet. It was great. Then as we came upon the lake we heard chanting and shit which ended up being a family doing some religious ceremony (see pics and video)...so that was cool. The lake was a lake, with random fog and people chanting and thats when the rain began. Then off to the lookout place which we climbed 576 stairs to get to! That was tough and it was raining so it was muddy, slippery, wet. But no lookout because we were in a cloud and it was raining...nice! So we went back to meet the bus driver, but no bus driver, so we walked out the entrance and about half way down to the bottom before we met him and he took us back to xela. nothing interesting the rest of the day, just lunch, studied notecards, dinner, movie at school (blood diamond in really bad quality because they tried to fit 3 dvds on one cd so the resolution is horrible) and bed.

And thats my weekend. I guess I need to also talk about the rest of my day friday. so we went to that clinic, which was a 2 rooms attached to a pharmacy (see pics) with a bed and a scale and some posters...so crazy, no way in hell id go there for help. the doc only comes twice a week. then we met with the girls who are running that other program with the local girls about self esteem, sex, life, whatever. They were so shy. The 2 girls running the program had each girl take a camera and take pics of their life to show the rest of the girls and the pics were interesting. They got into groups of 4 to show us what they do for food, religion, the animals, transportation, most of them didnt talk becuase they were too shy but their peer leaders explained the pics and we were supposed to ask questions, which I did, some, but I have limited words and limited questions. I took a pic of one of the activities they did which was they took men and women and said what they thought the social aspects and biological aspects were for each...that was interesting. Check it out in the pics. After that we came home for dinner and nothing else I dont think...went to bed at like 9.

So this week I get a new teacher, which I am excited for. Then this weekend, a free weekend, we may go to Gorginas Las Fuentes (I think thats it), hot springs near or on a volcano and stay saturday night in bungalos for $10 per person per night. Sounds cool. Wanted to go to the beach but the weekend after next we are going so we decided to leave that until then, which will be jills birthday and soooo fun! I cant wait to be on the beach with the heat, bathing suit, water, shorts! Yea! And air! Ok, thats all for now I think. Tomorrow at 6pm the family friend is taking me to get my hair cut...yikes, but her hair is good and gets it done at the same place by the same person and she said i could tell the lady exactly what i wanted, which is a trim and to fix my bangs...scary. wish me luck. tell you later how it goes. love you all and miss you and wish you could visit!

Futbol!

So last night we went out...nothing special, just some drinks at Saloon Tecun and another place. Then the girl who knows the least spanish tried to convince the security guard at mcdonalds that we just wanted fries...it was hilarious. This morning yoga, hard, and this afternoon we go to check out the clinic we will be shadowing doctors in and may be doing volunteering there with this thing past Somos participants set up for rural girls with issues. So were going to check that out, then when we get back around 5...i dont know, maybe shower and get ready for our first futbol game, the Super Chivos...Super Goats! Yes! Haha, I bought some socks to support...I guess I will wear them over my skinny jeans with shoes...Ill look pretty awesome, ha. Apparently the games are nuts so were excited. Now im learning when to use preterite and when to use imperfect, for those of you who know what im talking about, it sucks and makes no sense!!! I suppose it just takes practice. But Ive done it before so its not that bad. Anyway, time to go back to class.

Sin Cables

So, I'm sitting at my kitchen table in my casa...I have wireless! And my great new bud Rucci, lent me her computer cause no one else has wireless (yet). This kicks ass, though may give me reason to stay up past 930pm, oh my so late! So, do you guys have any questions for me?!? I guess I've told you all just about everything that has happened to me and others, in detail. Though I don't know much about the family I live with because my memory sucks and I don't want to ask again. Tomorrow I will take pics of the house inside so you all can see it. Its way different than the other houses Ive been in, it's not traditional at all, very modern for here. I think my family is pretty well off because today we had shrimp in the soup. Rosy (mom) asked me if it was expensive in the states and I said it depended but not really, especially near the coast and then I asked her and she said that seafood is the most expensive, out of red meat, chicken, and seafood. When we got here our director told us that we'd probably rarely if ever get red meat so having shrimp for lunch was serious business, I think. It's pretty funny, the 4 year old, Camila, used to ramble on to me and I told them that I never can understand her so now everyone tells her to slow down for me, and she does, but then I have a four year old talking to me like I'm retarded, which I am basically here, but it's funny. After she says a sentance really slow, she asks me if I understand, it's super cute. Last night we did our homeworks together...she drew 3's over and over, and I wrote sentances, over and over. Ha. Lately the electricity has been going out. I think Rosy told me tonight that some power plant is doing maintenance and she thinks it goes out at 2 hours at a time but not just here in Xela, like everywhere with electricity. I don't know, I could have gotten that all wrong. But so for dinner we ate with candle light, now I understand why everyone in the market sells candles. Right when I was about to go on to the roof to see if the city was completely dark, the lights came on...booo. Have I ever mentioned I hate papaya, it tastes like the after taste from throwing up. They love that shit here. Barf. This other guy in the group and I were talking before dinner last night about how much we hate platanos and later I got a text that he got so many platanos...apparently they gave him like 5 sections, which sucks! Bad luck for him, I've only had it once and one 4 inch section was enough. Funny, I laughed out loud when I got that text, the little things here. So, the museum was boring and after that we got icecream and went home. Not an adventurous day, but this weekend will be. Hiking something and going somewhere to see a big market and learn how to weave. Tomorrow we also have a scavenger hunt around the city and a mini welcome party for James, the new estudiante. Ok, my head hurts, off to bed. Buenos noches y'all.

Lo Cien (Sor)

Well not much has gone on since I wrote last...Jill and I tanned for an hour this afternoon on my roof...in like 10 minutes were going to a museum about the Mayas (boring...Jill contemplated drinking before hand). Had my first test today, I kicked as cause it was over shit Ive always known and just reviewed the past week and a half...I guess it just takes that, reviewing and practicing, I need more patience...poco a poco. Yesterday though, the new kid came, James, who Jill and I tried to guess what hed be like but we never guessed hed be anything but white, isnt that fucked up, but hes asian. haha. we, i, suck. anyway, and after class we went to check out the spa...and ended up doing notecards together while we got a pedicure for ~$10! It was nice and productive too. The spa has 3 hour treatments for $45!!! Stuff is so cheap here, its awesome! So I suppose life isnt too hard these days, I pretty happy here. Except when I get annoyed with my spanish teacher, though we all get new ones lunes (monday). Havent started dreaming in spanish yet, in fact I dont remember my dreams here, or at least havent yet, its weird for me because mine are always so vivid and I remember all the details. this morning though i woke up at 6 am to a stream of firecrackers somewhere super close to the room...that sucked and was pretty startling alarm clock. nothings interesting has really happenend...jills new cat is preggers, so i want to steal a baby kitten and bring it to the states...and name it jorge...haha. anyway, tonight we may go to a benefit party...lots of foreigners working here throw them and the entry fee goes to their nonprofit...whatev. so thta may or may not be fun...thats all for now!

Mas fotos!

The First Week

MAP

How come no comments on the map...especially you dylan, you told me about it! Today I will add pictures of my own since I got a charger...exciting! Yoga this morning was great, except for cracking up because there is this pose called the happy baby, and its hilarious, i couldnt handle it. you lay on your back with your legs in the air and spread apart holding your big toe...wtf. anyway, look at the map damnit.

First Weekend

So what did I do this weekend...lets work backwards. Now im at the school doing random stuff on the computer. Earlier I took a nap and played with Camila, the 4 year old, and ate lunch. Before that Jill, Amy, Jake and I were at the big mall getting me a camera charger and to fix my phone since it wouldnt send messages to the states. its so gay, so when you buy 100Q of minutes, you can get up to 400Q worth total, but the first 100 are used first and are the only ones i can use to text the states...the promotional minutes can only be used for texting here and calling...and yes, jill and i found this all out in spanish by ourselves! This morning, my mama woke me up for breakfast at 9, which she usually doesnt wake me up but i think she felt bad because last night i came home for dinner and waited and waited and no dinner, no familia...apparently she left a note in the kitchen for me which i didnt see because i never go in the kitchen...duh. so she woke me up and fed me plenty cereal and luke warm milk. i had to explain to my teacher friday that warm milk is nasty to us because we keep it really cold and if its warm we think or it as expired...i also explained to her that we have dogs and cats as pets...she didnt understand, they only have parakeets as pets here really...and they never come out of the cage. its getting colder now. its been a great beautiful day, and my forehead is burnt. ok, so after breakfast, i had allergies for whatever reason and i had to meet those kids to go RUNNING...barf i hate running. so we went and ran and did some jumping (squat, tuck, split, 3x15 each and other stuff)...it was good, and im going to be so sore tomorrow. i think my body was shocked that i was working out since i havent much cause the rest of the day i was exhausted and felt like shit. did i mention that the beer here makes your poop black?!! Its really odd. anyway, saturday i slept in, glorious, then we all went to a cafe and studied most of the day, pizza for lunch, then jill and i went to get flowers by the cemetary...only place we have found that sells them...and got a huge beautiful bundle for 35Q, im sure we could have bargained but it was worth way over $4 so whatever, and i hate doing that anyway. then back to the casa for no dinner, then out to salun tecum for drinks, then a DRAG SHOW. hahaaaa, theres this magazine here called Xela Who which has all events in it, and it just so happens that every saturday night there is a drag show here...so we went and it was hilarious, the whole 10 minutes it was on. but after that a swarm of gay guatemalan men so we left...actually more like got kicked out cause there were like 4 cop cars, no idea what was going on. that gay bar had the fucking nastiest toliet ever...god. then to another bar that Ruccis host brother knows of that we could stay at until 3, so we did, and spent most of our time listening to the craziest story ever. we met this guy who is 21 at the first bar, king and queens, who left home at 15, has been homeless 3 times, almost has died 4 times, when he left when he was 15 he didnt tell his parents where he was going nor told them for how long and the only way they knew he was alive was because they tracked his passport. hes been addicted to heroine a few times, and made his living in most of the countries hes livedin by selling drugs. it was a crazy story, and im sure you all think he was just bullshitting, but i sense he wasnt at all. another random note, the cops here dont carry cute little guns, they carry gigantic shotguns, and they stand outside banks like if you even try to do something stupid, theyll blow your brains out. no stunning here, just immediate messy death. i bet some people would eat you afterwards too. so weird, i smile at the cops. im starting to get sick of breathing exhaust, it really sucks and kinda pisses me off at times because i cant get a full good breath of fresh air. im also sick of small talk, and my brain goes blank when i try talking under pressure, like at the table...it sucks, i stutter and shit. i can talk pretty well when im with 1 or 2 other people and not eating. and i can understand a lot. i lack the little words in sentances and put it together, prepositions really. do you like it how my blogs are random thoughts. and i think this whole plantain commenting is wrong, arent plantains small? platanos are huge, and here bananas are small, i think theyre just confused here. anyway, cooked big bananas are gross. i havent had one since then though or the fish soup, luckily. i cant wait until i can actually converse with my family, so they know i actually have thoughts going on, though im sure they know that and are used to peoples speaking picking up over time...poco a poco they always say, everyone says, i like that a lot. i dont think i mentioned that one of the guys in the group showers by the family putting water on the stove, then dumping it into a tub in the bathroom, and he has to use a cup to scoop water onto himself to bathe...poor kid. i accidentally mentioned it to the director because i figured she knew, everyone knows, and it turns out that is not acceptable. like they asked every family about having a warm shower and this one lied about it, i mean its warm he says, but scooping it onto yourself? looks like another guatemalan family doing what they can to get by, even if it takes housing someone and lieing about the accomodations for money. not sure what the director will do about this one. i got really lucky, my house is modern, the food is great, the water is hot. anyway, i am going home now, its 630 and i have been on this computer for a while so, hasta luego!

Some pics from Amy's camera...since mine is dead...

Guatemala

map

check this out: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&ll=14.835189,-91.517808&spn=0.00238,0.003256&t=h&z=18&msid=112777167195532044529.000451c8a2302e94aef96

Huele Mal (it smells bad)

So, this morning Jill, Rucci (girl), and I went to our first yoga class! It begins at 650am and apparently thats when everyone is driving into the city because when I turned the corner off my street, there was a cloud of exhaust for as far down the road as I could see and it sucked. It smelled so bad, like I had my nose stuck in an exhaust pipe of an old school bus. NOT what I was hoping for at 630 am on my way to do something healthy...barf. Yoga was great though, so we bought a months pass, $12 (100Q)...good deal minus the exhaust issue on the way. They have these buses here called chicken buses which are super old school buses painted all crazy, and they drive just as crazy. If you dont get out of the street, they will still go right next to you, and when I say next, I mean 5 inches from hitting you. Its happened to me once, and never again. I about jumped out of my skin when it came by...I had heard it coming but there was enough room in the street, so I bet they got close to me for fun. Anyway, there are millions of them and they let out that exhaust you see come out of semis in the states. I guess I will get used to it. Today I feel much better, I went to the pharmacy and told the lady my stomach hurt so she gave me a box of pills which read something like intenstine in the symptoms part so i figured it was ok...so i took them and feel great! kinda risky. but i could read enough to feel like it was ok to eat and i didnt start seeing crazy shit. lessons are good, learning so much vocab and verbs that i feel a little swamped in how much i need to study this weekend. ive learned the parts of the body, fruits, vegis, clothes for winter...amongst other random words. right now all the students are on a hike somewhere, which i wanted to do, but when i got home lunch wasnt ready and i only had 15 minutes until the group left so i just skipped out...rather do that than find a way to skip out of lunch, and i have other stuff to do, like blog. can you use blog as a verb? yesterday we went to zona 3, it is the city part of xela. the roads are much wider, the buildings taller (as in 2 to 4 stories) and here is where the market is and a mall and the bus station and the market. though we walked there and if i want to go alone or with someone else i have to take a little bus...i may do this to get a charger for my camera..going crazy without it! mom, have you found it? that area is nuts. the market is huge, selling everything you can think of from lingere to crazy foods ive never seen and dvds. probably where you all will get your christmas presents from! though i can get so much stuff cause its so cheap here. heres an example of the prices

beer $3 at an expensive place
bus ride $.15
cell phone $12 (and when you buy 100Q worth ($12) worth of minutes you can get up to cuadruple that, 400Q worth, so minutes are super cheap and it costs the same to call the states as it does anyone here)
i went to the grocery store and bought water, shampoo, conditioner, chips, razors, soap, a basket, body scrubber, other stuff i dont remember...all for like $15

its awesome. write a comment if you want anything in particular because i forgot everything you all said to get. i might get a pet parakeet for my room...every house has them except mine and i really want one...and when i leave i can give it away easy. the other day we watched a movie about the trash dump in guatemala city...saddest shit i have ever seen. generations of people have lived there...taking peoples trash and leftovers to make houses and eat and survive with. kids work there, some abandoned, like this one 10 year old. they sleep there too. and when they were interviewed, some said they like it there and they dont ever want to leave. it is crazy. lots of women get pregnant and just leave their baby somewhere. others take care of them and put them in this free nursery some us organization created so they wouldnt have to grow up in there breathing methane while they were developing...so fucked. kids apparently used to get run over all the time too. picture this...when a new trash truck comes in, the people line up on the sides of it until it stops so that they can have the best chance to get the new goods...the people in the front grab onto handles tied to the top of the truck so as the trash piles out, they kinda surf the trash until they want to let go and start looking through it. its raining now. sucks cause after this i was going to venture to the cell phone place and the bank...raincoat it is. were having a wine and cheese welcome party here at the school at 6pm, should be cool. i practiced some vocab with my papa before coming here and now he wants me and him to practice for an hour every night at 8! he really likes helping, and its great! i dont know what im going to do this weekend, its a free weekend. may go with the school to some hot springs tomorrow...most likely will. i think the family friend asked me if i wanted to go out with her saturday night but im not sure...i get wrong ideas sometimes. shes great, last night we were eating dinner together and she asked me if i played cards, and i said yes, and she asked me if i knew and tricks, and i said yes, so after dinner we sat on her bed and showed eachother our card tricks...it was great and so hard to do a card trick in spanish! i think shes lonely. she doesnt have a boyfriend and is home most of the time besides when she works and there shes the only on in the office! ill be her friend. all week my papa and one of the daughters have been working on a flower to go over the granddaughters head for a play shes in today...at 5pm...which they didnt invite me to. i was hoping they would. whatev. and no dylan, im not being picky about food...ive eaten EVERYTHING...including cooked banana that was fuckin nasty...its like a really old brown banana, heated up...can you imagine?!? they call big bananas platanos, and the little ones no one in the states eats, bananas. anyway, i think thats all for now...im sure your bored. i should have broughten a better variety of pants...shorts are only worn at the beach... except long ones...which ive worn. every day i wear long sleeves..so needed more of those adn less little shirts. if you all want to send me anything i can get the address to the school because apparently so much mail comes here it doesnt usually get lost or stolen...or dhl is here and shipping stuff to that store is perfectly fine, just more expensive. perhaps my computer could be shipped there, my house has wireless...the sergio was using his laptop last night so i figured that one out. ok...hasta luego. oh, and the finger is fine...no problema. and about flowers...the place isnt covered in them. my school has some boganveilas and rose bushes but not much more...theres tons of bushes and grass and trees but not much for flowers...darcy.

no title

today i feel like hell. my stomach hurts pretty bad (guatemala combined with drinking liters of cervaza). ill give it a couple days...they gave us little tubs to poo in if were sick for long, then they take it to a lab to find out what we have and tell a doctor and get you medicine...i dont want to poo in a tiny ass cup, can you imagine how hard and nasty and awkward that would be? one guys already done it, he has amoebas. anyway, i hope lunch doesnt have lime all over it. they put lime on freaking everything. i dont remember what ive already said in this blog, i dont take the time to reread and make sure...so sor. yea, so lime. lime on salad, corn, beets, broccoli, celery, soup...everything. so i figured a lot of my stomach issue is probably the acid so ive been eating pepto pills to try to help. it helped the other night. lessons are getting better, but i really need to study and memorize allt he vocab i have. its usefull vocab at least, like fruits, vegis, body parts, verbs. today we are talking a walk to another part of town, zona 3. i actually live in zona 3 but were on the line of zona 1 and 3. there is a stadium in zona 3 and a flower shop i think. did i mention there are wild dogs everywhere here. some people feed them, but they arent their pets. every house pretty much has a parakeet too in the smallest cage ever, and i dont think they ever let them out or touch them. there is a parrot today at the school in a tiny cage, i touched its foot adn it didnt try to bite me so who knows. sometimes people come in to the school courtyard to sell stuff. no one kicks them out, they just lay out their stuff and attempt to sell it. i looked at one today and may buy something but i dont know, need to look around. yesterday we attempted to go to yoga but passed right by the sign and ended up walking around in the rain and found it with help from our director and got there too late to do it...so we went home. last night we went out to eat at Salun Tecum, pizza and liters of brahva and cabro...it was fun. then we went to another bar called la rhumba, music was good, and a mixture of foreigners and locals. at first everyone was salsaing or whatever, who knows, then it changed to american music like YMCA and it turned into a mess. we didnt dance, just watched and chatted. it was fun! then we all walked home together for safety...though i brought my knife in case anyone decided to abduct me...ha...theyll be sorry they picked up this chicita! hahaa. anyway, im going to go to my casa and lay down for a while, maybe nap and then lunch. manana, una fiesta para los estudiantes de Somos Hermanos!

Finger it Out

So, before I left for here I sliced my finger with a cerrated knife while cutting flower stems...I was afraid it would get infected here, and it did, and is. Awesome. So tonight Im going to reopen the wound, clean the hell out of it, and hope it gets better. I really dont want to go to the doctor here...who knows what theyd do. Im sure the directors know someone to trust but id rather try it myself. Anyway, lesson today is going better. Learned parts of the body and moved on to irregular verbs which I also know but Im learning new verbs and words as we go. I need to buy notecards to go over each night in bed. Who knows if they sell those here. Ive started getting to know the city, well at least zona 1. I think there are 6 zonas...a couple I think they said we wont go to, I assume they are bad parts. Last night after dinner I brought out my pictures of my family and they said you were all very good looking! They said mom and dad looked young, too bad they didnt see a picture of dads new doo, cause then theyd think hes my brother! haha. I wanted to get up this morning and go to yoga but jill and i couldnt get a hold of eachother on the walkie talkies to arrange a meeting time, maybe the building block too much for reception. I didnt want to go the first time alone, and get lost alone, so Ill wait until tomorrow morning. Its from 650 to 750 am, and class at 830...waking up to work out has never been easy but i think since i get up that early anyways if i dont work out it should be ok. Tomorrow try again. Its really cold here in the morning...not enough to see your breath but still cold while sitting for 4 hours talking. They have tea and coffee at the school though so that helps a lot. Tonight we are going out for our first time with one of the other students at the school who has been here studying a long time, her name is June, shes oriental and super nice. Shes going to show us where to go out...well, were tagging along. Then next time were alone. What else...oh, my stomach has been feeling weird lately, as has many others...eating tons of beans will do that i think. i ate some pepto pills last night and i feel ok today. ahh barf, for lunch yesterday my host mother put this huge hunk of cheese on my plate with spaghetti and i was like, shit, i hate cheeses. so i tried it and it was sour and nasty as all hell like i thought so when they told me it was homemade i had to find out a way to tell them i couldnt eat it without offending them. so i told them some cheeses upset my stomach because in america we usually eat only chedder and milk is ok too...haha, well it worked and they understood, and after the little i ate my stomach hurt so it wasnt complete bullshit. cheese=barf. its break time now during lessons, everyone has tea or coffee and some snack that is made my the school family...today its something red with some white cheese im not eating. last night with beans and tortillas we had cooked banana...that was weird, didnt taste very good but tolerable, ate it all. anyway, must go back to lesson now...

1st lesson

my first lesson was LAME...went over regular verb endings in present tense...thats the shit I know and havent nor wont forget ever. also went through the alphabet letter by letter saying as many words as I could for each...4 hours of this...borrrrrinnggggg. lunch time.

Mas

So my first full day yesterday was great! For breakfast I had soupy as hell oatmeal with banana...pretty bland but still good, though not really filling. Then for lunch FISH soup! I thought it was chicken soup until I called it chicken soup and they said, no pescado...fish. But it still tasted like chicken. Though I didn't really want to eat the fish, I did, because that's what you do. This must have been the biggest fish ever because it had monster bones, hence why I thought it was chicken. Then after lunch (everyone goes home so the family can have lunch together) the directors took us on a tour of the city to see good restaurants, coffee shops, bars, landmarks, etc. This place is really neat. Though I can't wear any jewelry because people have been mugged and its best just to give them what they want, and it's often jewelry or watches or money of course. After walking around we stopped at a restaurant which overlooks a park in the center of the city for some beers. We ordered each kind of beer so we could get an idea of which we liked. Apparently Gallo has a monopoly here so even if you don't order it, they still get the money and the other beer tastes much like Gallo anyway. Then home for dinner, which was great, 2 tortillas with a strip of meat in it, black beans, and noodles with veggies and one shrimp. My family eats really healthy so i havent really had to eat anything gross. Yesterday was good, the night before that was so nerve racking and stressful. While my host father was talking sometimes id get lost thinking about holy shit im staring at a guatemalan and im in his home and im here for 6 months. it was so weird. then id have to ask him again what he said. i find that when im on the spot to speak spanish, my brain goes blank, like i forget the easiest words. though when others are talking i know whats going on and can help others...weird. but yesterday since i wasnt super nervous with the family i did better. in 10 minutes i start my first 4 hours of spanish lessons. after that lunch with the fam, then back to school for a movie. my room is cold, and my bed is a rock so last night i got creative and put my sleeping pad under my bottom sheet and my sleeping bag between my blankets for added warmth, it was great! anyway, must go, need to find out the name of my maestro! adios.

Xela

Hi Everyone! i have so much to write but i dont have time since were in an internet cafe and need to go back to the family for lunch at 130...then back to school at 230 to tour the zona 1. things are great! my family is great, more people than i thought. mom, rosa, dad, anibal, daughter, amelia, daughter, lucia, granddaughter, camila, son, forgot name, and family friend, yomadorr or something. the drive from guatemala city to xela took 5 hours but we stopped for lunch for an hour. this place i cannot describe. so amazing. huge hills covered in lush green, farms everywhere no matter how steep the terrain, dogs, horses, cows randomly on sides of streets. people laying around everywehre and selling stuff. a couple times we were so high up we were in teh clouds. by teh way, i forgot my m fing camera charger so ill have to figre that out soon. xela is a busy town surrounded by the awesome hills and volcano. its cloudy today and was yesterday. my house is nice, my room is good too. bathroom is outside...cold when washing my face at night. ate eggs, beans, and tortilla for dinner last night while the dad bombarded me with questions. i wanted to tell him i was excited and i used the word for sexually excited, so i basically told my host father i was horny...it was embarrassing but he understood i didn't mean that...hahhaa. today i will get a cell phone so i can call. tomorrow we begin lessons for 4 hours. ok, must go!

Bienvenidos a Guatemala!

Im here and the keyboard is already screwing with me. It took me 5 minutes to figure out how to put the ´at` symbol to log into this blog...and now I struggle making caps cause there is the < key where the shift key should be! Im sitting in the atrium of the Hosteles Las Volcanes in Guatemala City...its raining but i love it. im not capitalizing anything anymore. slows my roll. ha. i am also drinking the bud light of guatemalan beers, gallo, or rooster i believe that means. i need my dictionary strapped to me, nahhhhh. the trip down here was successful though mexico city was a mess. we had a 3 hour layover and got to our gate with 15 minutes to spare because the airport was confusing as hell and one lady who worked there didnt even know the airline taca existed. so that was nice. when we checked in in houston it was funny to see that most of the people were half my height. then off to guatemala we went. i had a middle row so i couldnt see much but what i did see was awesome. you could see mountains covered in lush green with low lying clouds going in and out of them. guatemala city seemed pretty hilly too. the hostel is close to the airport so we didnt see much of the place. its a cute little hostel, i have nothing to compare it to but the people are friendly, theres lots of light, and this here computer with internet. and they sell beer at checkin for 16q. the rest of the clan, or most of them are upstairs in our 7 bed room, probably staring awkwardly at eachother. smart people are awkward. they probably think jill and i are crazy already cause we already bought a beer and have been talking like crazy. whatever, someone has to talk right (cant figure out how to put a question mark). so we stay here tonight and get picked up in the morning to go to xela. ive alread tried speaking a little spanish, basic things like hi, thank you, rain...jill is a little timid at trying. its funny. im like jill, you have to try. kinda strange when we got to guatemala city airport we went outside and no one was there waiting for us...we were expecting a sign for the hostel but nothing. so i look over and see a midget coming towards me on a skateboard and i smile and look away, then he says, miss, and holds up 5 pens for me to buy, so i smile and shake my head no. then 2 kids come by and ask me if were going to hosteles las volcanes and we say yes and all teh sudden the midget puts his pens away and pretend he works for the hostel too, asking us for their phone number...were like, uh no well wait for the dude with the sign. sketch. kinda funny though too. people kept giving the midget money too, but wouldnt take the pens...who knows. then we found out we were on the wrong level and the guy with the sign had been waiting for us forever upstairs...lo ciento muchacho! anyway, thats all for now, i should get back to the staring contest with the other members and relieve jill of doing the duty. haha. till next time...i love you all and im here safe.

Last Night

I LEAVE TOMORROW! 

I am excited, nervous, sad, ready, anxious, and can't believe I will be in a hostel in Guatemala City tomorrow afternoon and then my host family's the night after. NUTS. Fuckin' awesome. That's all I have to say for now...adios.