Hola Guatemala!

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