This Week´s Happenings

This was the first week without the rest of the students here. We went to the hospital Mon, Wed, and Fri, and had class everyday, as usual. We have seen a mother crying over her baby that is near death, and made friends with an elderly man in a wheelchair on our street. I cannot predict a day in our lives or the adventures we will encounter. Last week, 3 buses were attacked. I´m not sure if the drivers were killed or just robbed. There has been some of both cases lately. The buses were very scarce after that, but they have been almost back to normal in the last couple days.

Veronica, our teacher, took us to Zone 1 on Tuesday to the market and to see the ¨Palacio National¨ and the cathedral. Afterward, we had cake and coffee in a cute restaurant and bought bread for our family in a bakery that is definitely worth going back to.

As far as the language goes, I definitely have improved. At the beginning, I could hardly follow a conversation at our house or put a sentence together. It was incredibly frustrating. I felt like people were also less patient with me because Steph could speak pretty well. I still don´t speak well, but it is easier to follow conversations and respond some. I´m not terrified to order coffee anymore, and actually enjoy some small talk in Spanish. I still have some stumbles, take an example from the bus yesterday: There was an empty seat between me and a college-age guy. I usually just motion for the other person to sit, but for some reason I just said ¨Quieres sentir?¨ He said no, so I said ¨Gracias¨and sat down. I immediately realized that I meant to say ¨Quieres sentar?¨, and that I had asked him if he wanted to feel, instead of if he wanted to sit! Oops. Luckily, my stop was only a couple minutes later...

Steph and I are planning on going to Lake Atitlan this weekend. We hear that we can pay for the bus both ways and a night in a hotel for less than 100Q ($12)! Four of the other students are doing their service there, so we are planning on meeting up with them too.