So,
I've been in Guatemala 1 week and already so much has happened!? (I
will try to keep it as short as I can ;))
Me
and Nahum (the guy that I have come to Guatemala with who is also
doing Latin Link) had no troubles with our flight and arrived on
schedule to Houston and then Guatemala. The length of flight #1 (10
hours) wasn't particularly enjoyable but I made the most of it by
decorating my travel journal some more and watching one or two of the
films available. The wait at Houston wasn't great either (5 hours)
but we filled the time by getting a bite to eat at 'Wendys' - nice
and healthy!
To
finally arrive in Guate was odd and really overwhelming, but totally
exciting at the same time. For both of us it suddenly became real
that this was the next 8 months of our lives! Suzanne, the short term
coordinator for Latin Link in Guatemala picked us up from the airport
and took us in a rattly taxi... late at night... through Guatemala
city... to her house in San Lucas, Sacatepequez.... a pretty scary
experience after hearing so much about the lack of safety in the
city!
But
we got to Suzannes house fine and went to bed quite promptly for some
sleepy times, as hard as that was with creepy crawlies all over the
place, including a woodlouse scuttling across my pillow!
Over
the first few days we did our in country orientation with Suzanne
which included going through some similar stuff to what we did at
orientation in England such as how to deal with culture shock; as
well as a walk around San Lucas - visiting the local market, buying
some exotic fruits and trying them when we got
home; practising travelling on the 'chicken buses'; going
into Antigua (where I am now) to register with the spanish school and
get a feel for the place; going to Suzannes church and lastly going
for lunch at 'Pollo Campero' which is a very large and successful
fast food chain in Guatemala, like KFC which everyone is mad about!
On
Sunday evening I was transported to Antigua to start living with my
host family. I am so far loving living with them. As
my Spanish develops more and more each day, the more I am
able to converse with them and build relationships. Up until
yesterday there was also an American girl called Kiddissar staying
with the family who spoke a lot of Spanish, which was a real
blessing to help me settle in as she has been able to translate some
of what the fam has said to me and has been able to teach me the
tricks necessary to living in the house, like how to get hot(-ish)
water from the shower, how to open the doors, what the dealio is for
meal times etc.
The
house I'm staying in is a 2 minute walk away from the school and a 10
minute walk away from the centre of Antigua so is in a pretty
convenient location. The house itself is quite small but has two
floors, and I'm lucky to have quite a big room. It has an open roof
meaning that on stepping out my room I can see quite a lot of Antigua
which includes a perfect view of Volcane Agua!
My
family consists of Connie, the mom; Luiky, one of the daughters;
Heidy, another daughter, her husband Fransisco, and their 5 year old
son, Fransisco jr; as well as Connies son, but he comes in very late
at night and leaves very early in the morning so I haven't actually
met him yet! They are all really lovely and welcoming. None of them
speak English but Connie has been hosting students of the school for
15 years so that's really helpful as it means they are all very
practised in speaking really slowly and simply for me, and don't get
annoyed when they have to repeat things over and over again! :P
(The view I get of Volcane Agua by simply stepping out my room!)
The
school I'm attending is called 'La Union' and I'm loving it so far. I
started classes on Monday so have only had 4, however each lesson is
4 hours long with only a short break in the middle, so they're quite
intense, but really beneficial, and I feel like I've picked up a lot
already, which is great. It has been quite interesting though, as
baring in mind I have never studied Spanish before (and told my
teacher, Suella this at the beginning), I have been doing nothing but
verbs – which are quite tricky! Suella only realised yesterday what
I had been saying, and was very apologetic, but we have carried on
with them anyway because I seem to be progressing okay with them!
Lessons consist of a lot of conversation to practice using the verbs
I learn, as well as some fun games like bananagrams and Scrabble (in
Spanish of course?!).
I
am starting to feel acclimatised to Antigua. It is a fairly small
city with a lot of restaurants, cafés, traditional hand craft shops
and colourful houses all muddled together. I have already mentioned
the view of Volcane Agua but in addition to this are lots of hills
rolling into one another as well as lots of splashes of colourful
flowers lining the streets. It really is beautiful.
I
think I'll probably leave this blog there for now, as I am aware I
have written a lot! Sorry about that, I promise posts from now on
will be a lot shorter, I just had a lot to write about ;)
For
those who pray:
Things
to be thankful for:
-
Safe travel and arrival
-
That I am starting to feel acclimatised into such a new, different
culture and that I am picking up the language quickly.
-
That I have been blessed with a nice family and a good teacher and
that me and Nahum are getting on well together.
Things
to be praying for:
-
That my Spanish would continue to develop at a fast pace and that I
would find my time at the school as well as with my family really
beneficial in building it further.
-
That I would soon find a church in Antigua that I feel comfortable
in and can fit into (as I found out when I got here that my family
are actually Catholic).
-
Due to the fact that at the moment I am in Antigua with the sole
purpose of learning Spanish to a good enough level to be able to
start my project in San Cristobal in a month or two, I have a lot of
free time after class and after I've done my homework as well as
extra work I have been setting myself. Although on some days I am
able to chill with Nahum for a couple of hours or meet with Suzanne,
a lot of the days I am going to be on my own with nothing much to
do, as Nahum has already started aspects of his project. Because of
this I am starting to feel a little lonely on my own so prayer that
god would provide me with some people at the school to make friends
with would be good, and that I would generally be able to find a way
of making my free time really beneficial to myself, to my
relationship with god and to others also.
-
That I would remember to depend on God in every aspect of my time
here in Guatemala. He is the one who has brought me here, and so he
is the only one that is going to get me through this year!
Thanks
guys, much love, and missing everyone lots and lots
Adiós for now! xxx
