Day Two

Day Two – 6/28/2010
Good News!!! No more internet cafes for me…at least during the day. I can use free wi-fi at my school whenever it is open. So, hopefully, I’ll write about each day at the end of the day and post something every other day or every few days. Megan – once I start taking some pictures, I promise that I will post them. I haven’t taken any yet though. It’s a little rainy here so I might wait to see if the rain goes away and then take pictures when it is nicer out. Mom – no, my phone does not work here. There is another American guy here whose phone works abroad. He must have AT&T or something because Sprint doesn’t work, I know that for sure.

As I was posting yesterday’s blog and catching up on my e-mails, I overheard another woman who was talking to her boyfriend via Skype say that she is going to start the application process for Teach For America. So, of course, since I’m nosy and like to know everything about everyone (I have my father to thank for that trait :-) ), I went up to this woman and introduced myself, told her that I did Teach For America in Newark and that if she wanted to chat about it, I’d be more than happy to talk with her. She was just finishing up her internet stuff as well, so we left the internet café and walked/talked for a bit about TFA and med school, actually, because she is thinking about going to medical school as well. For all of my TFA peeps…I didn’t brainwash her about how wonderful TFA is but I did let her know that I had a great experience albeit very challenging and that she could very likely get placed in a much more difficult school than I did (Katia and Anna…I explained to her a few examples from your wonderful experiences, haha). After our short walk/conversation, I wrote down my name for her so that she could find me on Facebook, in case she wanted any more sage advice from a former TFA corps member.

We parted ways and I wandered around the town a bit more so that I could find a supermarket and buy myself something small to eat for dinner since all I had in my luggage was dried fruit strips and a bag of Twizzlers Nibs that I’ve had in my purse for the last week. Neither of those are particularly nutritious, haha. I picked out an apple, a ripe avocado, sliced cheese of some sort (I think maybe it was romano or parmesan) and some whole-wheat pita bread. I contemplated buying some sort of deli meat but only saw pre-packaged ham that was kind of expensive. I probably would have just had the avocado for dinner but thought it in my best interest to eat something from more than just one food group.

I made it back to my host family’s house without getting lost (insert relieved sigh)! But, I was pretty tired after getting back from exploring and then eating my avocado and cheese on pita bread. I decided to change into my pajamas, read a book for a bit and then since it was 9:30pm, I figured I’d turn in for the night. But I got to thinking, do I have the right time on my watch? I looked in my handy dandy Guatemala Guidebook (Thank you, Sarah Jones!) and discovered a new fun fact: Guatemala is in central time like Nebraska BUT they do not use daylight savings time here. So, I was walking around all day yesterday 1 hour ahead of everyone else and had said good night to my host family at 8:30pm, haha. They must think I was REALLY tired!

Back to today’s events: My host mother, Jacqueline, made me breakfast this morning, pancakes and fresh fruit, and lunch this afternoon, Chinese noodles with chicken, carrots, peppers and onions! Both meals were wonderful & definitely something I could get used to, haha. We talked a bit during breakfast but I couldn’t say much because of my lack of vocabulary.

At school, I met my teacher (mi maestra), Amanda. She is a lovely woman who lives in Antigua. I learned a lot today but I will definitely have to take the afternoon to review a few things before going back to the school for an orientation tour and then the school has a Salsa Dancing program tonight. However, at lunch I was speaking with Jacquiline again and was able to understand and speak a bit more than yesterday. I see progress already and it’s just the first day. Her three children, Marie Cruz, Paula and Alejandro, also at lunch with us. I had a really hard time understanding much of what they said but that’s probably because they were speaking quickly and because I do not know enough Spanish vocabulary yet. Hopefully, that will come with time.

8:50pm – All tuckered out!
I had forgotten how tiring it is to learn a new language. I have been concentrating so hard today trying to understand everything Amanda was saying to me and then everything that Jacqueline was saying at breakfast, lunch and dinner that I am pooped! I’ll probably turn in early again tonight, although not as early as last night, oops!

Recap of my evening:
Went on another tour of Antigua, this time with Jorge, the special programs director for the Spanish school. Jorge does not speak English. So, again, I had to turn on my brain and really pay attention to what he was saying. I understood almost everything until we got to a building where, I think, a bunch of people were killed in an earthquake in the 70s. Not quite sure though. I didn’t catch every detail of that story. I wanted to ask a bunch of questions but didn’t know how to do so in Spanish and my mind kept trying to form the questions in German. It doesn’t help that the students at Mundo are either American or German. So, the German language center in my brain keeps getting switched on and might be making it more confusing for me to learn Spanish. I have already met one woman from Berlin and another from Stuttgart. There are a few German men as well but I have not figured out where they are from. I’m getting off topic though…back to my evening. It rained ALL DAY today and the entire evening, which led to wet feet, wet shirts, wet jeans and wet hair during the tour. Apparently the rain is from the tropical storms near the Yucatan Peninsula. In the end, the tour was great except for the rain and I got to see a bit more of Antigua than the tour last night.

After the tour, I went with four other students from my school to a group salsa lesson at this woman’s house. I had a flashback to the SAGH Nicaragua Salsa Dance Party! We learned the same steps as that party but I think it sunk in more this time around. I did realize, though, that I am a much better salsa dancer when I have a good leader. I didn’t do too well when paired up with someone who didn’t quite know what he was doing. I had a good time and the 1-hour lesson flew by very quickly. The instructor gave us her contact information and another student and I might take more lessons in the next few weeks. I might be a contender for Dancing With The Stars…wait, that means I need to be a star first, right? Maybe I can get on the Bachelorette, find a husband (or at least a fiancé for a while, hehe) and THEN go on Dancing With The Stars. Eureka! Why didn’t I think of that before?? Anyone up for salsa dancing when I get back to Omaha?

Enough for tonight! Hasta luego, chicas y chicos!

Footnote: As I get ready to post this blog, the skies are blue and there is no rain this morning. Yeah!