Mi Casa

Today was my second day of Spanish lessons. For those of you who know Spanish, yesterday was spent learning "ser, estar y hay." Today we focused on regular verbs ending in "-ar."

My teacher's name is Sheny...short for something like Eugencia. She's a sweet woman in her mid-50s who lives just outside of Antigua on a small farm (from what I can gather in Spanish!). The lessons are one-on-one which is the standard here in Antigua, and I have lessons Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to noon.

The Spanish school also offers accommodations, and I rented a room there for a week. If I like it, I'll probably stay there for the next month. My room is huge with two beds (if you want to come visit me), a desk, a bookshelf, a little wardrobe, and a bathroom (toilet paper and towels not included). There's a communual kitchen and dining area available too.

One interesting aspect of the shower...the water pressure affects the temperature. So you can either have lots of pressure & a cold shower OR a little pressure & a hot shower (which is also kind of cold because you aren't getting a nice strong stream of hot water on you). My teacher told me this is a problem throughout Guatemala. It's not unique to my shower. I guess your neighbor could turn on their water and the water flowing out of your shower head will stop or trickle off for a 30 seconds or a minute and then continue...happened to me today.

My room looks out onto a nice courtyard where many of the Spanish lessons are held. My lessons are on the terrace right outside my door.

I will post pictures soon, I promise!

There are a lot of interesting people staying there...some have been there off and on for years...like 8 years!

Nancy is one of those people. She's from Canada, probably in her 50s, and from what I understand basically lives in Antigua now teaching yoga and giving massages. Her boyfriend, Doug (American), has a sailboat in a nearby river/bay (not exactly the right term) that empties into the Caribbean, I think. In the summer, he spends most of his time on his boat.

Fred (probably also in his 50s) is my next door neighbor, an American who is involved in multiple volunteer projects here. In fact, if my Spanish improves quickly enough, in two weeks I might be able to volunteer reading Spanish books to kids in a nearby village. Many kids here aren't interested in reading because their parents don't read to them, their parents don't know how to read, their teachers haven't been educated on how to make reading fun, etc. On Sunday, the program director (I think) is coming to our guesthouse to meet with some of the other volunteers, and I've been invited to join them.

Some younger people I've hung out with are Becky (American) and her German boyfriend, Oliver. They are a fun couple, and it's nice to hear some German again. And there's Ana from Paris, who (if I understood correctly) has an Italian dad and French mom...something like that. She speaks French, Italian, some German and English and is now learning Spanish. She's moving to another guesthouse of sorts in Antigua, but we are planning to keep in contact to meet up for coffee and practice Spanish, etc.

These three invited me out with them on Tuesday night to watch the election results. Since all four of us don't have a common native language (or even a common language that we can speak semi-fluently), you might be able to imagine what our conversations sound like: a little English, un poco Español, ein bisschen Deutsch. At times the conversation moves slow and it can be exhausting to listen and communicate. But it's always entertaining!

What else...? How does drying off from your shower with a bandana sound?

I took my laundry to a "lavandería" yesterday with the impression that I would use their internet and wait for my laundry. Nope! It wouldn't be ready until today. Of course, I didn't realize until I was on my way back home that I wouldn't have any pjs, a hoodie, or a bath towel. I survived the cool night, and after my shower this morning, I patted somewhat dry with a bandana and dried my hair (somewhat) with my shorts!

I wonder what tomorrow has in store...?