1st week of classes..

Steph and I started our Spanish class on Monday. We will be taking class from 1:00-5:00 every day for the first 2 weeks, and then start volunteering at a hospital in the mornings and having class from 2:00-5:00. Class has been good so far, but more challenging for me because I have only had half of the Spanish classes that Steph has had, and yet we are in the same class here. I think there is only one teacher available in the afternoon, so it had to be that way. It is just Steph and I and our teacher, Marta. We have a couple workbooks, which I think are at the elementary level, and also a medical Spanish book. We spend most of the class just talking with her though, which is harder, and also more helpful. I am already feeling a bit more comfortable with my Spanish. I know I don´t speak well, but I can understand more and it is making more sense. They tell us that we need to learn as much as possible before we start work at the hospital.
We take the bus about an hour to CASAS every day. We live in Zona 21, for those of you who are familiar with the city. The buses are absolutely crazy.. extremely crowded, sometimes with 3 rows of people smashed together in the narrow aisle, with people literally hanging out the door as well. Our mom has been coming with us everyday so far, but we will be on our own after tomorrow. She doesn´t speak English, and even if she did I don´t think she would use it with us, so it was very frustrating trying to understand the bus system and where our stops are. We love her, but she will talk a mile a minute when explaining confusing things like this, but then take 5 minutes to explain the difference between niños and niñas, like we don´t know. It can definitely be frustrating. After the bus trip both ways and 4 hours of thinking in Spanish, we are exhausted, but we are still expected to interact with our families as much as possible in the evenings.
The rest of the students are at CASAS all day, taking Spanish in the morning and culture classes in the afternoons. My friend from Hesston, Darin Schwartzendruber, is there, and also Joseph Spory, who went to Hesston and EMU, and Peyton Erb, who goes to EMU. There is another girl who just graduated from Hesston, 6 Goshen students, 3 Bethel students I think, and a girl from Indiana Weslyan. We have lunch with them every day, which is nice.
My mom said she was ´disappointed´with the modern ammentities, like the plasma TV, so I will clarify :) Our family is definitely more modern than the average Guatemalan family, and probably more wealthy. We were talking with the other students, and they were surprised at our internet access and plasma TV. However, it´s still not like our houses in the US (and we don´t even have a plasma TV). There are 3 bathrooms, but one rarely has running water, one usually does but it´s not always hot, and the other one does have hot water, but we can´t use it because the pipe is leaking. Not that I´m complaining, because I can usually get at least a mostly warm shower. We have beans that are the consistency of water for almost every meal, which are pretty good really, just not my idea of breakfast. Thankfully, the electricity is always on, in contrast to Nigeria, and they do have internet access! But we rarely watch the TV. They said that Chinita won it at work a couple days before we got here.
Last night Diana asked if Steph and I wanted to go meet Sandy at TGI Friday´s to watch the Lakers-Celtics game. We did go, and were surprised to see a Chili´s and Applebee´s right next to it. After TGI Fridays, Diana and Sandy wanted to hear a band play at another restaurant. His name was Tavo, and apparently his somewhat famous in Guatemala, but they are friends with him. We were introduced to the band, and they gave us a free CD! Between songs, he announced that Estephany and Leevy (how our names are pronouced) were visiting from American, so we had to stand up and everyone cheered. Steph and I were talking about how so many Guatemalans seem to be into American sports, American fashion, etc. Our teacher, Marta, had just been telling us how many of the young Guatemalans, especially the wealthy ones, are losing their culture. They can be so set on wanting to be American that they forget who they are. She said it´s very sad for the older generation to watch.