A blog of two tales...

Estamos en Guatemala! (We're in Guatemala!) We were pretty exhausted after a day and a half of traveling, but our classes started already this morning. The travel went well overall. Our incredibly awesome friend, Eric, drove us the airport on Saturday morning. Dave and Eric definitely dominated the conversation, which was focused on football, movies, and super heroes. In fact, I think my only contribution was when I thoughtfully inquired why X-Men is not called X-People or X-Humans. The boys didn't feel like entertaining the idea. :)

We flew through a thunderstorm on the second flight, which always raises my anxiety level. (Of course, I love it as much as it scares me!) Our stay in Gilda's bed and breakfast in Guatemala City went just fine, except for not having power nearly our entire stay. Oh well! Sunday morning we boarded the bus for the five hour ride through the mountains to Xela. The views of the countryside are incredible, so I was quite dismayed when Dave chose to spend most of the trip reading or sleeping. I couldn't tear myself away from the window. :) We met another student who is studying at ICA. Her name is Ann, and she's a grad student studying sustainable development. Needless to say, we are getting along great.

Pedro, mi maestro (teacher) last year met us at the bus station in Xela and drove us to his home. It was El dia de la Madre (Mother's Day), so the ENTIRE family was there. At one point there was definitely over 20 people in the house, which was a little overwhelming for the first day. The family is wonderful, muy amable (very nice), and hospitable. We both felt very welcome. Dave has already kissed at least five women! :) (FYI - Guatemalans greet each other with a kiss on the cheek.)

We brought a photo frame as a gift for Pedro's mom for mother's day, which she loved. I remembered seeing a lot of photos in their home last year when I visited. We also brought a bunch of gifts for Pedro, including one of my paintings and some of my favorite foods (Nutella, Amish noodles, couscous, almonds), which we had talked about last year, but Pedro didn't know what they were.

We are eating well, by the way. Even me, with my preferences that seem crazy to Guatemalans (vegetarian who doesn't eat eggs or beans). We are both adjusting well to eating food and not necessarily knowing what you're eating. Last night we had a wonderful soup... but we have no idea what it was. With lunch today we had bananas and pineapple, which are so much sweeter here than at home. Que rico! (How delicious!)

Last night at dinner the family asked us about the swine flu and if we had any problems at the airport. We didn't at all, but we were asked to fill out one extra form. Pedro said there have been three confirmed cases of it in Guatemala, but they are all in Guate City. He mentioned that the city declared a state of emergency, and he expressed some frustration with that. Pedro said an average of 27 people are killed everyday in Guate City due to violence and there's no state of emergency for that. It doesn't quite seem right. (And don't worry, Mom, we are not in Guate City! It is safe in Xela.) :)

Funny story: Every Monday morning, Enrique, the director of ICA introduces all the new students. When he introduced Dave, he told everyone that Dave is from a country that doesn't have much freedom and where Dave is an esclavo (slave). I wasn't quite sure where he was going with it until he told everyone that the name of the country is Megan. :) Jajaja muy chistoso, Enrique. (ha ha, very funny, Enrique)

Dave just asked me if I'm writing a book! But you guys all want me to type a lot, right? :) Okay, here are some photos:

Getting ready to leave the house on Saturday. Bet you can't guess what my favorite color is!
Incredible sunset from the plane... and the beginning of the thunderstorm.
Dave's first volcanic view! Que increible, no? (It's incredible, don't you think?)
Our bedroom. Check out that bed - it's so small! We're on the third floor of the house and we have our own bathroom, which is nice. We are definitely not roughing it this year.
Just outside our room is one portion of la teraza (the rooftop patio)
Dave on the very top roof at night. It's a great view, but you definitely can't tell from the photo! The huge jugs contain water for the house.
The living room of our host family's home (see all the picture frames!)
And the kitchen
With our maestros on the roof of ICA. I love this view! Edwin is my teacher and Maria Alejandra is Dave's teacher. I became friends with both of them when I was here last year. It was great to see them again.
Tomorrow we are looking forward to going to El Bake Shop, the Mennonite bakery. Now I'm finally going to let Dave type for a bit. :)

Ok here is the simple truth as i see it. Someone I wont mention got us to the ohare airport about 4 hours early. I guess it was ok because I have become a reading machine in my new book, Brissinger. I have read 385 pages in three days. Those of you who dont know, that is like two months worth for me.
I dont mean to sound negative i am having a good time seeing a whole new world, but our first few moments in Guatemala consisted of no one waiting for us at the airport. She did show up just a little late, but that was a little unnerving. Then when we get to the bed and breakfast the power went out for the first time, which wasnt such a huge deal. we were going to bed anyways. The power did come back on and we went to sleep. At 3 30 in the morning I awoke to the power being off again. The second time there was an annoying beep, which turned out to be the surge protector for their computer. They dont know that you can turn it off so it will quit making that alarm sounding noise.
So on to the five hour bus ride. I was quite puzzled why a man had a shotgun at the bus station, but to everyone else it seemed perfectly fine. I did enjoy the scenery of the bus ride dont let Megan fool you it is very beautiful here. I also enjoyed reading and catching up on some sleep. Hey I am on vacation. i am suppose to be lazy.
That leads me to school today. I came expecting that whatever sinks in sinks in, what ever goes over the top of my head can just keep going for all i care. I have a very nice teacher who is trying very hard to teach me something. She has given me homework to do. Hello she didnt get the memo that this is vacation and i am suppose to be LAZY. maybe she will get it without thinking she is a bad teacher because i do not have my whole heart in learning.
So now my wrist hurts from typing so much. I am ready to go to the bakery for some sweets. Hasta Mañana Your Guatemalan Gringo.