Jose Luis, Mi miestro
great tacos





Church bells in the morningPanaderia
dulces

5 de Julio

Finally, a morning to catch up on sleep… Kind of. Come six o’clock, I awoke to the sound of large church bells and screaming children. This would have been tolerable except the act was repeated every hour till 9:00, when I finally decided to arise. Andrew and I were eager to explore the goods of the local panaderia (bread store) for breakfast. Pastries or “pasteles” really hit the spot especially with hot cocoa to complement it. Since Classes are in the afternoon we took a morning excursion to the lakefront. There, we found a couple native boys enjoying the warm water. There were numerous bars and hotels as well. We were pretty exited at lunch time to buy our meal for 20 quetzales combine. That’s $2.60 which got us 6 tasty tacos and a side of guacamole. As we headed to the school to begin our first class Andrew asked me in Spanish if I was nervous to start. After thinking for a second, I realized that I really wasn’t. My urge to finally learn this language overpowered any other feelings that I had. At 1:00 I was introduced to Jose Luis, my new instructor. Luis is a pleasant fellow, only one year older than me and very nice. The first step was to take a written test to place my skill level. The remainder of my lesson was largely review of things I had learned at some point and forgotten. But I think I learned a lot and I hope it will stick this time. Class ended at 6:00 and by that time Andrew and I both noticed a familiar feeling in our stomachs, HUNGER! This was a significant finding because up until this point, we had been eating just to survive. Hunger indicated the end of what fear, nervousness, and home sickness I was feeling prior was gone. To celebrate, the two of us indulged in some incredible Italian cuisine and continued studying.