Mi Primero Semana (my first week)

Tomorrow will officially mark my one week anniversary here in Xela, Guatemala. It has been a mostly good and definitely interesting several days.

I will begin at the beginning:

On May 1st I took a red eye flight from San Francisco to El Salvador and then an hour flight from El Salvador to Guatemala Ciudad. I arrived in Guatemala Ciudad in one piece, though thoroughly exhausted. Gilda (the contact person for the school) met me at the airport. I was a bit worried because I only had 30 minutes to catch the bus and I had to go to the bank to get Quetzales in order to ride said bus. Gilda kindly explained to me "now I am in Guatemala and it is time to relax". As she said, so it was. Well, mostly. 


It is a four hour (mas o menos) bus ride (sans chickens) to Xela from Guatemala Ciudad. I attempted to look at the sites, but ended up falling asleep for most of it. When I arrived in Xela, Gilda had instructed me to use the pay phone at the bus station, a somewhat daunting task. I was to call the school and say  "estoy aqui, soy Sarah" so they could pick me up and take me to my host family. It was all a bit awkward because it was loud at the bus station and I could not hear or totally understand the response very well, but I said "si" and hung up hoping for the best. Thankfully, Julie (one of the directors of the school) picked me up shortly thereafter and took me to my host family. This process was, in my opinion, somewhat rushed and confusing. Introductions went as follows: "Sarah, Lulu es tu mama" and that was it. Thankfully again, Lulu is a very nice and welcoming Guate-mama.


My Guate-familia:


Is comprised of Lulu, her husband Rudolfo, her three kids (who are more or less adults) named Sandra, Michelle, and David, la esposa de David (who happens to have a bun in the oven and I saw her vomit in the street last night), and Rupie the dog (also called el nino by Lulu). The house is a lot bigger than I imagined. There are three floors, relatively large common areas and multiple patios. Also, Lulu owns and operates a Lavanderia attached to the house (which makes doing my laundry a lot easier). There are always people coming and going but not in a sketchy way, more like a Lulu has a lot of friends way.


In the beginning, I was worried about the food because the first couple of meals were very limited. Since then however, there has been a different thing served for almost every meal. One thing I find interesting is that with EVERY meal tortillas are served. This includes occasions when the meal is pasta or potatoes. They are delicious corn tortillas so I have no problem with it. Also, they serve picante with most meals (this can mean many things). One is like a basic red salsa but another is a sort of pickled spicy thing with onions and carrots and peppers. The later gives me the hiccups but I like it. Breakfast is pretty basic (eggs and beans or cereal), but the lunches (served around 1:30PM) tend to be VERY large and the whole family comes home to eat together. I am usually starving by the time dinner comes around (8-9PM) and unfortunately it is not a big production. I am still trying to get used to the schedule here. 


Lulu is a good cook and I am pleasantly surprised with each meal, my only complaint is with the beverage options. Apparently kool-aid is a good idea in Guatemala. Also, most Guatemalans drink instant coffee. Agua pura for me thanks. Also, I have yet to get full born parasites (well I don't think so anyway) but my stomach never really feels 100% and one of the most frequent topics among the students is food  poisoning/parasites.


La Escuela: 


Has gone well this week. Right now there are only approximately 15 people but apparently at the end of May there will be a couple of groups coming (summer is the hot time to learn Spanish apparently). Through the school I have met several awesome people and have established an ever changing social group of sorts. At the school each teacher has one student at a time for 5 hours a day. Each week my teacher will change unless I specifically request one. 


This week I had Jeft. Yes J-e-f-t, a not very Guatemalan name. Something about his mother being Belgian or something. Not only is Jeft a great teacher (he speaks very clearly and coaches me well), but he is my age and we have similar interests which makes conversation easier/more interesting. Though the classes are helping, I end up spending several hours after school studying in addition to the 5 hours of class. There are lots of activities through the school (eg this week I went to a coffee plantation, the beach and learned merengue) so that keeps me busy too. One negative thing about language immersion has been the headaches and mental as well as physical exhaustion. I am just starting to be able to last through the day without taking a nap and I usually go to bed at the latest by 11PM.   


So far, I have yet to volunteer. There are two reasons for this. One, quite simply, I am still adjusting to the place. Two, the way I thought volunteering with the school would be, is not so. I still intend to do some kind of volunteering, but it is not very organized, as are, I suppose, most things here. I am sure I will figure something out though. 


In conclusion to this very long post, I am enjoying Xela, my schooling, and life. Thanks to everyone for their support. I miss you all and I will keep posting approximately once a week or so. Let me know how things are going with you!


xoxo,


Sarah