Finally, my first post!

Okay Guys! I know you’ve been waiting to hear about my experience here (It’s already been two and a half weeks!!) and I’m sorry for not doing this sooner but it’s been a real pain in the butt to try and access the internet here…

But my time here has been AMAZING!! On my way down here I switched planes in Atlanta’s airport and I had about 45 min in-between flights and I got to the gate just before they called my section to board…when I got to Guatemala City’s airport, going through customs and everything was a breeze and as I was exiting the airport I was greeted with Jessi’s smiling face and a guy named Hector. We had a nice conversation as we drove an hour to Antigua—I was a little startled at points because their highways are crazy [especially in Guatemala City] because people can drive whatever speed they want…some people were trying to go about 60mph and then others were going about 25…people were changing lanes really quickly and stopping abruptly…but we got to Antigua safely J and we made a pit-stop to the school to meet everyone and then went to my and Jessi’s house. It is only a five-minute walk from there to the school, and it is awesome! You walk in and mine and Jessi’s room is to the right, then pass through a doorway and there is a square-shaped are with a garden in the middle that is open to the sky and a walkway on the outsides that is sheltered with a roof. There’s access to three other bedrooms and a dining room, kitchen, and a bathroom that everyone shares. I absolutely love it—the garden has a bunch of exotic flowers in it, and the walkways have benches to sit on and just relax…it is very tranquil at home J I have a house-mom named Delia who is 54 and a house-sister named Geraldina who is 31, and they are awesome…Delia is really fun. She has no problem speaking up or asking direct questions, so we have no problems getting along or knowing what is something she is okay/not okay with. She makes all of our meals, every day except Sundays and sits and talks with us as we are eating. Geraldina is really nice—she is engaged and to be married in September…she likes to joke around with me and Jessi and our other house-mate Didier (who is from Cameron, Africa!!) and she has a really distinct and fun laugh that always brightens up my mood when I hear it.

So the first couple days I was taking in a lot—the climate and altitude is totally different, the city is gorgeous with its colonial-style buildings and cobble-stone roads (you have to watch out when you’re walking because often the stones are really uneven ;)—and I was also battling a fever and sore throat. On the evening of my third day in Antigua I went to a doctor and found out I had Strep Throat, so that was a bummer but I got some antibiotics and was happy to hear that it was in its early stages and would go away in a week and a half. Unfortunately, about two days after my infection spread to my ears and I had two full-blown ear infections…one night I couldn’t go to bed until 5am because fluid was constantly rolling around in my eardrum…and then a few days after that everything had passed but I had like a ridiculous amount of phlegm in my throat that was causing me to have coughing attacks for about 4 days, but I started a new antibiotic just two days ago and it has been working great!

Sounds like a lot of sicknesses for just two weeks, huh? I’m not going to lie, this was the last thing I expected because this whole past year all I had was a minor cold for about a week and other than that I have been really healthy! But thanks be to God, I was able to get help really quickly when I went to the doctor’s for strep throat, and then the last doctor’s visit and antibiotics cost me less than a dollar (when the first time costs me about 65 dollars!) because there’s a clinic and pharmacy at the same program where I help a psychologist. But none of these health issues held me back from starting off my time in Antigua with a “bang”…I took Spanish classes for 5 hours every day, went to a festival/religious procession in downtown Antigua, visited a Mental Hospital, climbed an active volcano, played two soccer games with a girls soccer team in a nearby city (we’re in what they call a tournament where we play a game every Saturday for 6 weeks), played a coed soccer game with my schools’ students and maestros (teachers) against another schools’ students and maestros, took a free hour-long salsa and meringue dance class, learned how to make tortillas, got connected with a [social-service] project where I help out a Psychologist, and explored the city.

My classes are awesome--the building has a garden in the middle, just like at my house but its much bigger, and we sit in little two-person tables in the shade by the walkways that border the garden...there are some tables in the middle of the garden, and I have loved sitting there :). The first week was really fun with my maestra Amanda, who one of the School Director's sisters--she's very amiable and loves to talk to everyone (which worked great for me because I wanted to meet everyone at the school!) and she taught me a ton about grammer and whatnot and then we would have random breaks and I would learn new vocabulary--the garden was so interesting to me because there's all these exotic plants that I have never seen before...one break we just walked all around the garden and another garden that's near the schools dormitory and I learned all the names of the different plants--in addition to a ton of beautiful flowers, they have banana trees, avacado plants, mandarin trees, orange trees, and mango trees there...and they have 5 white rabbits just chilling in the garden near the dormitory--so I learned the word for rabbit, haha. And I learned vocabulary for clothing (Matt K, this was for you and I!! now when we go shopping, we can keep practicing our Spanish!) and I learned vocabulary concerning Psychology, Restaurant vocab, and lots more!

But sadly I had to switch teachers because I have to work with the Psychologist in the morning and Amanda has a different student in the afternoon. But it all worked out great because my new maestra is Amanda's sister, Cony, and every day during the past week I spent an hour talking with her about the religious aspects of Guatemalan culture--the differences here between Catholicism and Protestantism (which is really sad...there is SUCH a division between the two sides of Christianity that the catholics are called "Catholics" and protestants are called "Christians"...I don't get this...I mean, BOTH sides are Christians, and both denominations should interact with each other and acknowledge each other as brothers and sisters in Christ, ya know??) But everything with Cony has been great--she is very enthusiastic and has a real passion for teaching students how to speak correctly--apparently she has had a lot of students who at first didn't know a lick of Spanish and left speaing very well...we worked hard all week and then Thursday afternoon she taught me a children's song in Spanish--and she has a pretty good voice and was singing all high-pitched and expected me to repeat what she did, but it was pretty difficult for me to keep in the same high-pitched key and faltered with that a lil bit, but we just laughed and laughed about it. I'm really having a great time there. All the family members of the School Director have told me that I am a part of their family because I have a place in their heart.

I really want to write more, but I have to go eat dinner! I'll give more details about everything else when I can! I miss you all!! Muchas Besas!!