09.07.2009 Yoga and more

09.07.2009 Yoga and more

I spent another tough morning at school. One of todays activities consisted of a discussion about Pop Wuj which can sort of be considered the Mayan bible. The discussion took place in the morning during class time.

Today I called my mom during the break. It was nice to talk to her although it was just for a few minutes. I told her how much I liked Guatemala and she reminded me, that I HAVE to come home at the end of the trip.

In the afternoon we had a typical cooking class. We learnt how to make traditional tortillas. At first we got a speech in Spanish about the importance of maize in the Mayan/Guatemalan culture. Then we started to cook. I really made an effort here but what can I say? I'm just not the cooking kind.

When the cooking class was over I used the little time I had left, before meeting with Jeff, to answer e-mails and start writing my travel blog.

Jeff told me that he's a Yoga instructor for kids and that he takes lessons on Thursday evenings. Because I'm supposed to work out during my time off school, I decided to join him. I still haven't figured out if I like Yoga or not. I've taken a few lessons at different places. One lesson I loved, some were ok and others just boring.

We met at the Parque Central at 5pm. On the way to the Yoga place we had the opportunity to talk. I thought that it would be easier now that we didn't have to shout at each other like at the club last night. Unfortunately I was wrong. I had to focus on every single word he said, yet he spoke way to fast. Luckily he got that quickly, started to speak slower and had the patience to repeat over and over again. For the first time since my arrival in Xela I did not feel like speaking Spanish!

The yoga class...well...it lasted about 90 minutes and felt like at least thousand. For the first half of class or so we kept repeating the same exercises over and over again. I have to confess that I felt rather sore after some time. But hey, I'm going to be a physical trainer soon so I really can't give in and even less so walk out of the class, which was what I really wanted to do. I mean if Jeff would have thought that I'm unathletic it would have been a different story, but he already knew what I do so I felt like I had no choice but to put up with this. I managed to survive the whole class, feeling rather bored and stressed out at the same time than relaxed. At least after the class I brought up the guts to tell him that I found it a bit boring, that it's not my kind of sport and that I will not join him again.

Jeff offered to walk me home. On the way he asked me if I had plans for tomorrow night. I kind of saw that question coming and had already decided that I'd decline. I did not want to go out with him. So the answer was "no, no tengo planos". What? I just can't lie! And when he asked if I wanted to do something with him I said "sure". Damn, I just love it when I'm so consequent! Jeff suggested we meet at 8.30pm at Parque Central and he made sure I got that. He told me time and location twice and repeated it again before I went in.

At home I barely had time to eat dinner and then be off again for a salsa lesson with Josué. He told me last night that he teaches again today at another school and that I should come. After the killer yoga class I was tired as anything. But what's one more hour of Salsa? Josué picked me up at home shortly before 8pm. We went to the school and of course I did not feel stupid at all being the only student not studying there and being looked at by the others like "I haven't seen her before" or "is she studying here?". But I made an effort to ignore it. When I was eventually asked, I just said that I'm a friend of Josué.

The lesson was much better than the one yesterday, because we were fewer students and the music at the school was not as loud as the one at the club. Therefore I could actually understand Josués explanations. Only downside - there were no guys. Well actually there was one of the teachers called Irwin, who volunteered to dance with us. He thinks he's like the coolest guy ever. But I have to confess, he's a great dancer.

After the lesson I was ready to go home. But Josué and two of the Spanish teachers from the school talked me into going to the club with them. They said that a really good Mexican band was playing and that they don't get great acts like that in Xela often. I really couldn't miss it and they had VIP tickets so I didn't even have to pay to get in. Josué promised to take me home after ONE drink. A long drink that was and if you ask me it consisted of more than one glass. I couldn't check on that for I spent quite some time on the dance floor with super Irwin.

I believe it was only around 11pm when Josué took me home but I was so so tired. I've only been in Xela for five days now and I've already learnt some Spanish, met a lot of new people and gained many new impressions. It's terribly tiring. But never the less, I'm glad to have the opportunity to experience all of this. I also consider myself as really lucky how it all worked out for me. Josué also said that he thinks that I am really fortunate because in his opinion I got one of the best host families (he's known them for years) and one of the most experienced teachers.

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Part of trip: Guatemala

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