Leaving (On A Jet Plane!) Don´t Know When I´ll Be Back Again...

(I can fly!!!)

Alrighty.

It´s last post time...

so sad...

and so ·$%& late for an ¨appt¨ at the gym so I´ll have to update when I´m back in the states.

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By the way...I´m going to be sending postcards from WITHIN the US, so just simmer down now...

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Adios!

Elizabeth

P.S. Send happy traveling thoughts my way! The next two days are going to be very interesting! Plus, if you´re not doing anything on Labor Day, I´m in need of entertainment...

Pluto, Mr. Potato Head, and Your Chance to Find Love! (Sort of...)

Now, you too! can vote for Pluto to be re-instated as a planet!

Found this on cnn.com the other day.

I love how we´re voting on this- as if status as a planet is matter of the democratic voting process. Um, it´s either a planet or it isn´t, right? Don´t we have scientific standards for this sort of thing? Now it´s arbitrary!?


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So on Saturday I spent the day at a child´s birthday celebration. Three gigantic pinatas later, I sat chatting with some lady.

At one point she was like talking and she mentioned, ¨El Papa.¨ Now you have to understand that I have committed to memory the difference between El Papa (the pope) and la papa (a potato).

So when she clearly mentions EL papa I think I´m all set. To make sure I´m following the thread of conversation she asks, ¨You understand?¨

I nodded vigorously, proud of my ability to discern between the two.

She goes on to say how he´s missing an ear but how much she loves him...

At one point I was like, ¨uh...La Papa? Benedicto?¨

Then the heavens opened and it dawned on me as clear as day what we were talking about:

Mr. Potato Head.

EL (as in ´man´ papa).

*sigh*

Naturally, I assume people randomly throw the pope into everyday conversation.

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So yesterday my host family is happily chatting with me and asks me a question to which I answer, ¨Yes, I like onions. ¨

The mother looks at me and is like, ¨Oh....no.... you do NOT understand the question! It is not about ONIONS. It´s about, blahblahblahblahblah.¨

I still do not know what they were talking about.

But now at least they know I like onions.

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So much planning goes into making plans with friends when you don´t have a cell phone!


How did people survive without them for so long?!


(¨I´ll meet you at the fountain at 7. If I´m not there at 7, them I´m late. If I´m not there by 7:15, then I´m not showing up. Don´t hate.¨)


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Took exam today! Three hours and ten pages of torture, but I passed and now have the materials for the next level of grammar fun.

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Okay, here´s the deal:

I need a ride home from the airport next Sunday morning.

GOOD THINGS WILL COME TO YOU!!!

The friend who picked me up from the airport last year when I returned from Guatemala got married one year TO THE DAY of picking me up. What are the chances of that?

Don´t all volunteer yourselves at once!

If Carbs Were Verbs...

If carbs were verbs, I´d be fluent.

Instead, I just feel full.

Eating is definitely not an issue. Working out enough to work off what I´m eating is another story...

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Not much to update because life is pretty straight-forward.

Four hours of class in the morning...

Lunch at 1...

Nap/read/gym/other...

Dinner at 7...

Study/read/sleep.

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Made some new friends. Kind of transitory since everyone, like myself, is in some stage of hmmm...what the word? Transit.


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Had a dream I was swimming with turtles.

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Continously wonder why Spanish classes I took in high school/college were so....punitive. Ugh.

Way to make entire generations of humanity hate the grammatical structures of an entire culture.

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Winter here is great- a nice 75 degrees.

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10 more days.

Then it´s ¨back to life, back to reality.¨

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P.S. If you want a postcard, please send me your mailing address!!! If you don´t have my email address/facebook etc., then create a comment to this post. All comments get approved so you can send me your mailing address securely because I can just write it down and delete the comment without anyone accessing it.

Vacationing With Paris Hilton

Ah yes. It is so difficult to keep up with me, alas, Paris Hilton has followed me to Antigua, Guatemala.

Last night she stayed in the hotel ¨Santo Domingo¨which just happens to be an old convent, which just also happens to be the site of where I went to church last weekend. Today she´s traveling as some ambassador of charity and then returning this evening. Perhaps she´ll ask me for my autograph?

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Yeah...so in other news... this morning during the 10am break, myself and another ´gringa´were hanging out across the street from our school. We were snacking on some break and sitting with our legs stretched on in the sun on the sidewalk. As we chatted she said to me, ¨That man just took our picture and then gave us the thumbs up sign!¨ I turned in time to see the man continue to stroll down the street.

We´re so going to be on a billboard someday.

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Tonight I´m going to an ´ab´class at the gym. I´m definitely nervous about understanding what the heck is going on in a fitness class that isn´t, you know, in English.

Comfort zone- be gone! (Love handles- be gone as well!)

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With the weekend being tomorrow...I can study like crazy for the 15 separate grammatical sections of the exam I´m supposed to take next week. *Sigh*

Perhaps Paris Hilton will help me with the verbs...

Adios for now...

¨You Are My Friend¨

Seems I have a friend...

She´s 5.

She holds my hand.

We color in her Hannah Montana coloring book.

She insisted I accept her gift of a Hannah Montana sticker.

You know what makes her a great friend? She doesn´t seem to care that I haven´t a clue what the heck she´s talking about half the time. She just repeats herself and sometimes demonstrates what she means (or she just continues about her business, unphased that I´m lost in whatever made up game she´s come up with).

At one point we played ¨hide and go seek.¨ During this game she told me where to hide then she counted to 10 and then she came to find me. Then it was my turn to count and find her. She, of course, hid in the same place every time!

The other day she sighed a very deep sigh and declared (in Spanish of course), ¨You are my friend!¨ It was adorable!

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The mother of the house I live in described for me the four types of tourists in Antigua:

1. Students
2. Volunteers
3. Tourists (whose soul intent is to go to the restaurants, museums, etc.)
4. Hippies (also known as ¨the dirty hippies¨)

So where do I fit in to the scheme of things?

Well, definitely student. Definitely not volunteer. I guess I´m a tourist in a sense because it´s hard to be in a different country without a spirit of exploration. Hmmm...hippy? Dirty hippy? I have my moments but truly... if you saw the types of hippies that hang out here you´d say ¨definitely not!¨

You see...apparently there exists an entire cross section of youth in society that literally have nothing to do but smoke, drink, and not shower. From what I can tell, they are mostly from Europe (sorry to stereotype but it´s the truth!) There are some from the US who try very hard to be dirty hippies but they just don´t pull it off as well.

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The economy of Antigua is depends on (approx.) 90% tourists passing through here. It´s very apparent that tourism is down this year (and thus enrollment in the language schools).

Here are a couple of theories behind the decline:

1. Economy of the US (and the world).
2. Scandals and thus deterioration of the reputation of Guatemala City.
3. Honduras is apparently in a state of crisis (curfew is 8pm, no one on can be on the streets after that time. Can you imagine living in such a circumstance?) Honduras neighbors Guatemala and world travelers aren´t about to put themselves in the proximity of what´s going on there.
4. Swine Flu- especially its prevalence in Mexico.

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Well those are my thoughts for now... I should add that my Spanish is definitely getting better but I have serious moments of doubt that I´ll ever be where I want to be with this language. That said, I´m preparing for a big exam next week and the content is completely overwhelming! Who knew a language could kick your butt?!?!

I hope all is well in the states!

Adios!

We Are In A Recession You Know...

Here is the story of my trip here: (I have to type fast because lunch is in a couple of minutes and I can´t be late! Sorry for typos, the keyboard is a little different...)

1. Friend picked me up at my apartment on Sunday at about 5:30pm.

When I checked my luggage I asked TWO DIFFERENT DELTA PEOPLE, ¨Do I need to re-check it at my connection before I leave the country?¨ Answer: No.

2. Got on plane. Waited. Waited. NO PILOTS!!! (¨Freakn A! We forgot the pilots!¨)

3. Arrived at 12:30am-ish. Flight attendent noticed that I would be chillin´in the airport all night and gave me snacks and blanket! Random cleaning man found circut box and turned off TV for me so that I could sleep. Other random (and dare I add, young) people slept in the same vicinity as me.

Asked THREE DIFFERENT DELTA PEOPLE if I needed to re-check my luggage since I was going to another country. All three said, ¨Nope! It´s going to your final destination.¨ Felt foreboding thoughts but ignored them.

4. Woke up at 5:45am- ish. Found next gate and ten minutes later sprawled out on some chairs and went back to sleep. No shame!

5. Eventually made it only plane. Sat next to a guy who promptly took out a book titled, ¨I Hate People.¨

Sat...

Sat...

Sat...

Pilot finally announces that a maintenence light is on and that there´s a good chance our brakes don´t work. AWESOME. (No pilots, no brakes...hey, what do you expect? We´re in a recession you know!)

6. Everyone was told to get off the plane. We were given $7.00 meal vouchers and told to return in two hours.

7. Eventually we all boarded a new plane (with both pilots and brakes) and arrived in Guatemala. Note that I was now THREE HOURS late and that I had some random man picking me up from the airport. I could not call ahead because I don´t have an international phone plane. I just kind of ¨hoped¨ he was still waiting for me!

8. Arrived in Guatemala and realized my luggage had not made it. After filing paperwork, I was the last person out of the airport exit (it´s a small airport). Man picking me up was still waiting for me! Yeah!

9. We drove to where I was assigned to stay and when the lady opened the door she was very confused. Said she was not expecting me! So there I was, standing in the streets of Guatemala, no luggage, no home, and hadn´t really slept in a realllly long time. It was kind of exciting!

Lady made a phone call and said that I was expected in another house...so the driver and I turned around and went up a hill. At the top of the hill there was a little girl, age 5, jumping up and down yelling ¨la chica! la chica!¨ (the girl, the girl!).

Personally, I think everyone should greet me this way! (Jumping up and down in excitement that is!)

10. A couple of days later, the luggage arrived. The part that you can pull out to roll it with is completely broken, other than that it´s fine.

Anyways...that´s the story of my arrival.

It´s now Friday.... I just finished 4 hours of class. My teacher is awesome. Explains grammar very clearly. After lunch I´m going to go to the gym and then see a movie (in English).

Be well!

Luggage, Where Art Thou?

*Sigh*

Luggage didn´t make it.

Bought some soap and a new shirt so I´m set for another day.

When I get all my affairs settled I´ll write a big post on how much Delta sucks.

Until then...send happy luggage thoughts my way...

And So It Begins Again

Thursday night before my Sunday departure...

I'm taking a break from packing in order to re-introduce myself to the blogging process here...

I found the above picture which I took during my trip in February. The yellow structure in the picture is covering a communal water "tub." Not everyone has running water and so it serves as an area where people can wash their clothes, etc. 

Notice the cobblestone street. In a number of ways, the city of Antigua is being preserved in it's colonial state. The unpaved streets add to it's charm.

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I can't believe I'm going for the third time in one calendar year. I looked into other countries, but when it came down to it, I couldn't beat the price of GUA (short for Guatemala). As well, the city of Antigua, GUA is particularly beautiful. The volcano that hovers above the skyline makes walking the streets truly breathtaking. 

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Friends have asked me about how I go about travel preparedness. Here are some thoughts: 

1. If you get bills in the mail (as opposed to online) pay all of them ahead for as long as you'll be away. For things like an electric bill, you can guess on the amount. You'll be credited anything you go over.

 

2. Get a prescription for "Cipro." It's an anti-biotic. A doctor will prescribe it for you if they know you're going to a country that is, uh, "less developed." Make sure your shots are up to date and ask about needing Malaria meds. 

3. For plane tickets, go to www.kayak.com. This search engine searches all of the other search engines. I bought my plane ticket (including fees, tax) for $275. Yes, that is round trip!

4. Set up with a friend to take in your mail/newspaper. 

5. Make sure you have your passport all squared away. 

6. When you leave your home, leave it clean! Have laundry done/dishes washed. When you return you'll be grateful!

7. Reading while abroad: I'm bringing about 10 books with me. Without constant access to internet/tv/friends via phone/etc. I end up reading quite a bit. Buying second hand books isn't as cheap as you'd think. But! You can trade in books very easily. You'll get about the equivalent of $1.50 per book. I'm bringing along books that I know I only want to read once and won't want to keep for reference. Then I'll sell them and buy delicious coffee with my return $. : )

7b.: JOURNAL. 

8. Research the weather; In August in GUA it's "the rainy season." Everyday it rains at 2 pm for about an hour. Other than that, it's between 65 and 85 degrees. 

9. Packing: Less is more. If when you get to a place you realize you should have brought another sweatshirt or something, you can buy one while you're there. Doing laundry at a laundry mat is easy and inexpensive. You really only need to bring enough clothes for about a week and a half's time. For a trip a month long (and over) I use a medium size suitcase and a regular size backpack. I don't bother with things like a hairdryer or make-up etc. Really, who needs all that extra stuff!?!?!? 

9b. Some people bring clothing that they know they would  otherwise give to goodwill. At the end of their trip they leave their clothes in the country, thus giving them more room in their suitcase for the return trip. 

9c. Don't look good! Don't wear jewelry! Don't wear earphones- especially no ones with a tell-tale white ipod cord. 

10. Banking: go to your bank before you leave the country and alert them of where you'll be. You may consider putting a hold on your cards; if they're stolen no one will be able to use them. You could also open a separate account with a limited amount of money and bring that with you. 

11. Doing the tourist thing vs. letting life take you where-ever it takes you... Personally, I'm not big on reading tourist info. I've always had great experiences by letting the wind take me where-ever it happens to blow. Restaurants/concerts/excursions... these things that make up the in's and out's of a trip to another country special- they will happen whether you hyper-plan them or not. If you live a ridiculously structured life during non-vacation time (such as I do), consider just buying a plane ticket and landing in another country without having a plan (such as I do). Just go and just 'be.'

That's all for now...time to dig through more odds and ends in preparation for my departure!

A Wednesday Update

Hello!

So I´ve decided it´s just too much of a pain to add pictures while in a sketchy internet cafe. I´ll add pictures when I get home next week.

Until then...here´s an update:

1. I love coffee and coffee loves me.

2. I have a slight sunburn and have never been more thrilled.

3. I just looked at the weather in NY- 36 for a high? Excuse me while I work on my burn before I return.

4. I´m starting to read the book ¨Twilight¨in Spanish and realizing how much I suck at reading in Spanish.

5. Helped two American´s who were robbed while on a Chicken Bus. Those buses are reallllly dangerous. Their bags were completely slashed open and both wallets stollen.

6. The family I am living with has a huge, green, talking parrot.

7. I somehow always manage to find buddies from other countries- this time around a woman originally from Malaysia, went to Colombia U. in NY, and now living in London.

8. Sometimes I can´t think of certain words in English.

9. I love when people come up to me on the street and say (desperately) ¨Do you speak English?!?!?!¨ and then are ESTATIC when I say ¨yes, I speak English.¨ I get to feel worldly and useful while telling said persons where particular locations are. But then I think, ¨Is it that obvious from looking at me that I speak English!?¨

10. Have I mentioned in old postings that the only music that stores/cafe´s etc. play are old 80´s tunes? It´s like traveling back in time to the summer of ´89.

That´s all I can think of for right now!

Adios!

Where Do I Even Begin?

I have arrived!

Trip was tiring. Had to take three airplanes. On one airplane the lady next to me asked if I was a student. I turned to her and said, ¨Oh, I´m a teacher.¨ She was like, ¨huh?¨ And so I said, ¨I´m almost 27.¨ She covered her mouth with her hand and started rocking back and forth- I thought she was going to fall out of the seat. ¨She gave me some more side glances and I was like, ¨It´s okay...¨ Then she told me that she married someone ten years younger than her and how great it is and that when I´m 40 I´ll snag someone who is 30. I told her that that is my plan.

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I just got out of four hours of class.

So the guy sitting five feet away from me at this school grew up in the same town that I teach in. He still lives on L.I.

Yep. Such a small world.

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Am wearing sandals.

Lunch is at 2:30. Time to go explore.

Adios!

Night-Before! Ready to Go!

First of all...Happy St. Valentine's Day!

You best be including "St." when you say it...imagine what will happen in a few years when we drop "St." off of St. Patrick's name?

My future children will be running around- all decked out in green- yelling "Happy Patrick's Day!" That will sound ridiculous, right?

Speaking of future children- this is a picture of me and my valentine.

He is invisible.

It's okay though. My married friends don't run off to random countries whenever they want to.

And I do.

Hasta Luego.

Almost there!

It's Wednesday night- I leave on Sunday.

Today was moderately warm here in NY, giving me a foretaste (what strange word) of next week.

Of course my suitcase is at my parents house in MA- so I need to pack really lightly just using a carry-on size case. This isn't so bad, except that you have to bring your own towel/s which take up a lot of luggage space.

The only packing 'trick' I have is to wear a lot of clothes on your way there and way back. It'll be in the 30's when I leave and arrive so I'll just layer.

In other news...

1. My internet hates me.
2. My car hates me- not only is the front end dented in- it's also now a pa-diddle! (is that a western mass term?)
3. There are things dying a slow death in my refrigerator and it's getting a little scary.

Weird to think how close it will be to March when I return.

Am not complaining.

In my opinion winter is one big pathetic purgatory designed to harbor germs inside of buildings while threatening to freeze your eye-ball juice when outside too long. Sorry, that's just how I feel.

This is where you tell me I ought to seek residence just a wee-bit closer to say, the equator.

Adios for now.

Best Cup of Coffee I've Ever Had

This past summer I drank this cup of coffee.

It was so good, I took a picture afterwards.

I can't wait to revisit "Cafe Condessa" in two weeks!

I'm going back!

Hello people!

Or should I say..."hola!"

Okay here's the dealy:

1. It's friggin' cold in New York.

2. I bought a plane ticket for Guatemala.

3. I'm leaving in 2 weeks on February 15th!

4. I enrolled in the same school I went to this summer.

I can't believe I'm returning so soon! And it's not even summer! And it's only for one week!

This is just too awesome.

Spanglish

Hey!

So I made it back in one piece. In the Guatemala airport the ticket man took one look at me and announced that my flight had been canceled. Seeing as Guatemala is the second most dangerous city on the planet I blurted out to the ticket man, "Can you get me home today?"

So I caught a flight to Miami and ended up back in NYC at 2:30 am. For picking me up so late I now owe a friend of mine a kidney, my first born child, and apparently my gall bladder (we made a list of body parts you don't actually need and can lend out/give to one another).

Oh and Chelsea Clinton was on my airplane. She looks skinnier in person.

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In other news...the next day I went to Barnes and Noble and lo and behold the book "Pardon My Spanglish" was right at eye-level. I swear it was fate! I was a little perturbed that someone wrote the book before I did.

I will say that it's a perfect book if your Spanish is in a place where you need a little bit of English to help you along with the meaning of sentences. I read a few pages before I go to sleep each night and it makes me feel like I'm getting some Spanish studying in!

Guatemala vs. U.S.A.!!!

Tonight´s the big game! (Soccer).

30,000 people expected at the stadium in Guatemala city.

I´ll be watching the game on a big screen here in Antigua.

Good times.

To Tikal and Back!

Wow. What a weekend.

First of all...I spent Saturday in a jungle.

How did I know it was a jungle?

Mostly from the presence of panthers, jaquars, and tarantulas.

Oh. And because if was HOT. Not like, ¨gee it´s hot today¨ kind of hot. But like, ¨Why am I sweating through my clothes while standing in the shade?¨ kind of hot.

Monkeys! Can´t forget the monkeys! You could talk to them. They would throw things at you from the trees.

So yeah...took a bus all Friday night. Arrived at about 7 am in a town called Flores. It was the kind of town you honeymoon in if you secretly think it would be cool to get killed on your honeymoon. Little sketchy, that´s all.

Friend and I bargained with several locals on the price of getting driven to Tikal- the location of the Mayan monuments (and my ¨monuments¨I mean temples of bloody sacrifice.)

Basically the Mayans believed in many gods. When they felt they needed to make a sacrifice to one of these gods they would capture someone from a neighboring community and kill them, offering their blood in exchange for rain etc. Good times.

After a long day of climbing such temples, friend and I decided that we would save money by traveling back on a bus Saturday night. More bargaining...

(I´d just like to note that on the completely Spanish spoken tour I met a couple who at the end of the trip explained to me that they are both doctors and that they have plenty of space in their Argentinian home and would like me to visit...)

The original plan was to stay the night in Flores and take a bus back all day Sunday. After changing the plan, friend and I took a bus back to Guatemala City Sat. night. Then we took a taxi to the bus station where friend and I got on a chicken bus back to Antigua.

Sooooooooooo... I get back in time to go to Sunday Mass. Let´s also note at this time that there are 31 churches in this town.

So I get to Mass and look to my right and see.... A FRIEND FROM THE UNITED STATES. I was dumbfounded.

So I go over to him and I´m like, ¨uh, Br. Justin?¨ and he´s like, ¨hi, Elizabeth!¨

Amazing huh???

So yeah, it´s been a good few days.

Also today I passed the level of Spanish I´ve been working on in school. After passing this, ahem, 7 page exam, I received a new, more advanced level grammar book. Obviously I won´t pass this next level in the next 4 days.

Well, there´s the update! Today a few postcards went in the mail. I need to go buy some more though. In any case, all will arrive after I come back to the states!

: )

In honor of monkeys, I will share with you the best youtube video ever. It´s very important to watch the entire thing and to listen carefully to all of the words!

Tikal!

(I snagged this photo off of the internet...real photos next week!)

Tonight I´m getting picked up at 6:30pm by a bus headed for Tikal.

Won´t arrive until 6 tomorrow morning!

Will find a hostel to stay in.

Tikal is a some ancient Mayan place.

Adios!

Love. It.

By far the best book store I´ve found.

Many books in English.

Love the name. Who the heck thinks of that?

Surely the political correctness police would be all over it in the U.S.

We really do need to relax a bit.

(Libros= books)

Child, You are Going Places (on a motorcycle)...

Look closely.

Look at the front of the motorcycle.

What do you see?

Yes, yes. It´s a small child.

Doesn´t quite compare to the families of 4 and 5 that go sporting around. But still, it´s a good shot.

I should get hired for National Geographic.

Pic of the Week

This is me and my teacher, Juliet. (Mom, is it, ¨This is my teacher and I.¨? I forget...)

We have a good time.

Sometimes we go to the bank.

Sometimes we eat food.

Sometimes we read People en Espanol.

One day I sat down and she did my nails for me.

On Friday we took a Chicken Bus (more on that another time) to the city.

Sometimes we study.

She mostly just corrects me when I sound like a 2 year old, which is pretty much whenever I attempt to speak.

Update on the Feet

Be assured, my feet are doing much better. Thank you, concerned readers of this blog.

The Great Volcano Climb

This past Saturday I climbed ¨El Volcan de Pacaya.¨

First, I was picked up at 6:30 am.

As I was about to get into the tour van it was evident that the driver was in a heated argument with two people already in the van. Eventually the two people got out and all was well.

After about an hour we arrived at the site.

Immediately myself and the other 30 people in the group I was in were surrounded by children trying to sell us walking sticks. (See above photo). They were very persuasive, mostly owing to the fact that they were a.) children b.) dirty c.) telling us the walking sticks were ¨necesario¨and d.) following us around and tugging on us until we bought one.

So I bought one.

Half way up the volcano my comrads and I realized that we would likely give the walking stick back to the children once we descended.

Thus, I rented a PIECE OF WOOD FROM A CHILD FOR 5 QUETZALES!!! If you think about it, it´s actually a great business plan on the part of these kids.

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So we had this tour guide who announced to us that whenever he blew this little plastic whistle it meant that we were ¨moving on.¨ He also told us that our groups name was ¨Jaguar.¨At first we thought he was saying ¨hot water¨ because of the accent. He only spoke Spanish except for that one word...

At the top of the mountain I asked him why he had a machete. He told me that it was because it is what all the cool men carry with them. ¨And also to kill the snakes!¨ Awesome.

Anyways, we´re going up the volcano and realize that there are several groups and that all the guides have the same darn whistle. Then we realize that EVERY group is named Jaguar.

I did get to see lava. Imagine standing infront of an oven that has been at 350 degrees. Now imagine opening the oven door and standing there. That´s what it was like. You could even feel the heat through your shoes! People roasted marshmellows!

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I hope everyone is doing really well. Thanks so much for leaving me comments on the blog.

Today my teacher told me that I ¨speak very well.¨ This is after we confirmed that I am now in the stage where I just boldly make stuff up. Half the stuff I say is no longer English nor Spanish. It´s not even Spanglish. My brain is doing it´s own thing at this point.

Lost in Translation

So I visited a convent. It´s the thing to do around here...

The nuns didn´t speak a word of English.

I tried to ¨connect¨ with them using my super genius abilities to speak Spanish.

I decided I would tell them about the time I saw the Pope at Yankee Stadium.

I proceeded to exclaim, ¨Yo vi la papa!¨(They looked at me kinda funny so I repeated...) ¨Yo vi la papa! La papa, yo vi!¨ By now I´m showing them pictures of my camera of the event.

That´s when I realized that I had been telling them that I saw ¨The potato!¨ (¨I saw the potato, the potato, yeah!¨) I changed gears and corrected myself saying, ¨El papa...¨

Looks of recognition crossed their faces and all was well.

A little while later I decided it would be nice to take the above picture. Afterwards I told the nun that if I could have her email address I would send her the pictures.

But instead of telling her I´d send her the picture, I mixed up the verb and told her I would ¨sell¨ her the picture. This time I didn´t realize my mistake until 10 minutes later when I had moved on with the tour group.

Oh well.

Speaking of things getting lost in translation, check out this video: (I´m not sure it´s going publish in this blog, if not go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eVO9V98-Bw

Schedule and Food

(This is a picture of El Volcan de Agua. If it were to errupt, it would kill us all).

I took this picture while walking to class one morning.

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Here´s a basic outline of my schedule:

7am Breakfast

8am Class

10am 1/2 hr. break

10:30 Resume class

12 Finish with class

1pm lunch

Between 1-7 randomness. Today (Wednesday) I´m going to go on a tour of some old convent.

7pm dinner

after dinner, reading/studying.

I have been here for about 9 days and I´m on my 4th novel! It´s pretty great. In the U.S. I didn´t have the patience to read for hours on end because it seemed there were other pressing matters.

Food: The food situation is fine. The only strange thing is that I never have any idea what I´m going to be eating.

Myself and another girl (she´s 22, from Texas) turn the corner into the kitchen and our meal is on the table for us.

The convenience of not having to buy or prepare my own food is great (and the price is right, I´m paying $90 a week for my room and 3 meals a day). The trade-off is that you eat whatever is put in front of you.

I was a child who somehow survived solely on peanut butter and fluff (or ¨marshmellow¨...some of my friends apparently don´t know the wonders of ´fluff´). Somehow this diet allowed me to grow and having functioning organs! Anyway...for me to eat whatever magically appears is a big step!

I should also mention that myself and the other girl staying in the same house never eat alone. There is always a member of the family who sits with us. I´m so used to living on my own and eating by myself that this too is something to get used to.

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Funny quote of the week:

¨Elizabeth! Your feet are so dirty!¨- Told to me in Spanish by the 9 year old girl of the family I´m staying with. I responded, ¨Yes, I have been walking the streets all day and they are cobblestone!¨

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¨When you travel in this way (following your intuitive promptings), you are are free, there are no have-to´s and shoulds. You are structured at first only, perhaps, by the date of the plane departure. As the pattern of people and places unfolds, the trip, like an improvised piece of music, reveals its own inner structure and rhythm. Thus you set the stage for fateful encounters.¨

- Stephen Nachmanovitch

La Tortuga- Franklin

This is Franklin, the turtle (la tortuga). This picture was taken INSIDE the house I´m staying in.

The thing about places here is that when you go inside, you´re still really outside.

¨Do not wish to be anything but what you are, and try to be that perfectly.¨

- St. Francis de Sales

It´s Electric!

Water for the shower is heated through an electric contraption.

During the orientation meeting last Monday morning we were warned not to touch this while in the shower.

So of course in my genius, I reached up and tried to adjust the temperature and subsequently got electrocuted!!!

(Just a little. My finger felt tingly).

Electricity and water: not such a great combination.

My dresser

So the house keeper organizes the top of my dresser every single day.

I think it´s kind of funny because I organize it myself every day.

Yesterday I left my wash cloth on the right side.

When I returned, it was on the left side.

Detachment- Day 2

Today I bought a cell phone.

So much for detachment.

I bought it used for 100 Quetzales. This is about $14.95. I can´t use it yet because I haven´t purchased any minutes for it.

There are some contacts I have here that I´ll need to be calling so that I can meet up with them. I´m going to wait another week to let my Spanish improve.

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There´s a house keeper that makes my bed for me everyday!

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Lunch is at 1pm so I gotta go...

I have arrived!!!

I´m here! It´s great! I may never return!

So... I tried to call ahead to the bank I use to let them know I´d be traveling and I failed the security test on my own account!

I just received an email that because of ¨suspicious activity¨ (a.k.a. me) on my account, that my account is frozen!

So now I guess I have to buy a phone card and call them to straighten it out. Crazy.

I just finished the first day of class. Now I´m off to have lunch with my host family.

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P.S. My backpack had to be ¨rechecked¨at the security checkpoint at the U.S. No surprise there. I NEVER get through security easily.

P.P.S. Indeed the driver that picked me up last night was named ¨Jose.¨I´ve been pretending that some guy named Jose would pick me up. Lo and behold, I was right. Weird.

Maggie: If you´re reading this, yes you can have my book collection. : )

2 1/2 hours!

Yep, it's 2:30am.

I have just finished packing.

The taxi will arrive at 5am.

Sleep in the past two weeks (years?) has become some sort of extracurricular activity, hence the need to leave the country.

Here... I took a pre-blast-off picture...I didn't expect the mirror to double the image. It came out cooler than I planned.

(Yes, the walls are orange.)

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P.S. I have listened to this song about 187 times tonight.

15 hours!!!

I'm leaving in 15 hours!

Right now I'm at my parent's house (at what point do you start calling it your 'parent's house'?)

I need to pack from here...drive to L.I., keep packing, call a Taxi, pretend to sleep, get taxi, and arrive at the airport!

I can't believe I will be immersed in Spanish in less than 24 hours. This is just craziness.

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From what I can tell I'll be able to access the internet through some internet cafe's down there. I'm probably going to spend some time exploring and getting the lay of the land for a day or so.

Also, at some point I'm going to take a nice little "technology fast" so if I don't post anything on here for awhile, that's what I'm up to.

Adios!

Sub-letting.

Was out dancing.

Shouted to friend, "Want to sublet my place?"

She shouted back, "Sure!"

Friend visited last evening and got the grand tour of all 4 rooms!

We ended up talking for about 6 hours. She's pretty smart.

23 days until blast-off!

Doctor's Visit

Originally the appt. was for 10:45 am.

When they called to confirm I asked if they had any earlier times.

The receptionist hesitated and then said, "9:45, but you'll have to wait."

I said, "I'll take it."

So...they took me at about 10am. I thought "not a bad wait."

The doctor didn't see me until 10:45, the uh, original time of the appt.

The Countdown Begins!

My big trip to Guatemala is only four weeks away!

Tomorrow morning I'm off to the doctors to see if I need to update my vaccinations. Also I need to ask about Malaria meds.

Today I cracked open a handbook on Guatemala and really started to fall in love with this country. Check this out:

" The war ended more than 10 years ago thanks to a peace treaty, which, although not yet fully implemented, holds real potential for transforming the country. Change is in the air."

- From the introduction page of "Guatemala" (a handbook by Moon travel guides).

I'll probably only a blog a few times between now and the trip just so that there's a little back story once things really get cookin'.

Adios!