La escuela

Using Skype

6 de Julio

I think I’m starting to get used to the cold showers. Although, it is still not the pleasant experience that I am used to waking up to. I think we will be making it a tradition of pasteles y chocolate for breakfast because it is so darn good. Plus there are different types every day. It’s so cool! We spent half the morning doing tarea ( homework). There is so much to learn about a different language. I don’t feel like I can study enough. We were eager to try our the wireless internet we handsomely paid for and were hopeful to reconnect with the real world for a little while. No cigar this morning but we did not have much time to think about it because another day of class was about to begin. As Jose Luis and I practiced the many uses for words like saber and conocer, I felt like we also made a connection today that put us more on a friendship level. We had a super interesting discussion about different religions of Guatemala. Supposedly, it is still quite common to find native Guatemalans (Guatemaltecas) who practice El Religion de Maya. Apparently, there is a nearby cave which they use as their “church”. There, they perform rituals such as animal sacrifices and use materials like alcohol, tobacco, and special lotions… Es un religion muy extrano. We also talked about accents today. Apparently, Andrew has an accent very similar to the local Guatemalan. And apparently, I don’t have an English accent which I’m super glad to hear. I am down with that even if I don’t sound Guatemalan. Overall, it was a great day in class. Part way through I did feel a little frustrated with my progress. Sometimes it feels like there is this barrier that will forever inhibit me from learning Spanish. However, after class today, I had a strange sense of confidence that I know was not there before. So I just hope I’m being hard on myself and am learning more than I think I am. Something else that made today glorious was the opportunity to talk with Victoria and my Mom both. How heavenly it was to hear their voices clear as crystal over Skype. It helps enormously in dealing with being away from those you love when you know they are only a Skype call away. However I must mention that as nice of an experience as it was to speak to them, every word in English that came out of my mouth felt like a swear word. Andrew and I have been holding to a strict vocabulary diet of “I have absolutely no idea how to say this and need to use English”.