Hola mi amigos!
I am safely in Guatemala and it is increíble. The most amazing thing is how much Spanish I can understand. After living and working with my Latin friends this summer, I guess I absorbed a lot more than I realized. For the last hour of the flight to Guatemala City, I tiredly (but excitedly) studied my little book of phrases and vocab. We walked out of the airport and were greeted by a group of very sweet and friendly Guatemalans from La Union, the Spanish school where I'll be studying. Several of them introduced themselves and I introduced myself right back. La Union sent a bus for all of us so we piled on, along with all the staff and family members from the school. I sat next to a girl close to my age, and we actually had a conversation. In Spanish. Of course, mine was pretty broken but we understood each other and I was surprised at how much I knew. I was also really happy to find out that I'm not embarrassed to try. They are all so friendly and eager that I don't care how much I mess up or how awful my Spanish is. It's so fun to speak!
Okay, this is the best part. When we first got on the bus, 4 or 5 people from La Union got up and introduced themselves and their job, and one of the hombres explained our orientation packet. Later, when we got to the school, un otro hombre talked for a while and explained a bunch of things about getting around Antigua and being safe and staying with our host families. All of these talks were in Spanish, and I could actually understand the majority of what was being said. The coolest part was the fact that I wasn't translating. I was understanding. I can't believe it. Granted, I still have TONS to learn. But I am so encouraged and excited.
Our host family is so great. I'll talk more about them later, but for now I'll just tell you about the house. The cobblestone streets of Antigua are lined with colorful concrete walls with large wooden or metal doors. The police is corrupt and security is important, so the houses are behind these walls. The walls make up one side of a central courtyard. The bedrooms, bathroom, and kitchen are all off of the courtyard and some rooms have curtains for doors. All of the houses in Antigua are very open-air and it's really refreshing. Houses are not enclosed buildings like we're used to in the States. It's hard to describe exactly what the house looks like, especially because I've been up since 3 o'clock this morning and it is now 7pm (9pm to my body). I'm pleasantly surprised that I've gotten three coherent paragraphs written (we'll see how coherent they seem in the morning)..
I will post pictures soon. Our host family has wifi but it's not really fast enough for photos (I'm glad it's slow so it won't be a time-wasting temptation).
In other news, there was a 6.5 magnitude earthquake a few miles out of Guatemala City. Alley and I were sitting on our beds when we noticed that the floor seemed to be moving. I assumed it was just a big truck or something but then realized it was definitely an earthquake. Nothing dramatic happened in Antigua, it was just moving back and forth, like the earthquake I remember in Oregon about ten years ago. Either way, it was pretty exciting. Hopefully there aren't any damaging earthquakes this year.
Oh, in case you're wondering about the weather, it was warm when we got here but not hot (unless you're squished in a bus with 20 people and luggage). In the afternoon it started to get cool and now it's definitely sweatshirt-worthy weather. Pretty decent.
I love it here. I love Spanish.
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