Ok, sorry it's been 9 days since I've written my last blog entry, I'm kind of bad at this whole keeping in touch with the outside world thing. Also, I'm not entirely sure what is happening to all my time here because it is seeming to be disappearing at warp speeds. I am definitely not ready to return to real life. First order of business, there is this super popular song here that blares out of 97% of the cars that drive by, as well as in parks, restaurants, etc. It is ridiculously catchy and has been stuck in my head [View Full Entry]

---

---

sd [View Full Entry]

---

---

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 [View Full Entry]

---

---

Vanuit Flores de bus naar Semuc Champey genomen met kleine tussenstop in Coban, waar de andere passagiers gretig een fastfoodhap binnenschrokten, bewoonde wereld zou nameljik niet meer lang duren. Semuc Chempey ligt namelijk in de bergen van Guatemala op een slecht bereikbare plek, in Lanquin moesten we dan ook overstappen op een pick-up, of toch de laadbak ervan. Goed vasthouden want soms ging het echt steil omhoog of naar beneden, met ruige wegen. Ik raakte aan de praat met een meisje uit Californie, die rond aan het reizen was met haar moeder. Zij had het jaar ervoor als vrijwilligster op G [View Full Entry]

---

---

08.07.2009 Vamos a bailar I've only been here for a few days, but it feels like two weeks or so. I'm learning a tremendous amount of Spanish every day and I'm having so much fun with my teacher. We laugh a lot and it doesn't feel like class at all. I like the people around here and I feel comfortable with my host family. I also enjoy the activities organized by the school. I'm so happy and content. All in all I could say I'm having the time of my life :) Today I've become friends with Josué, who works for [View Full Entry]

---

---

07.07.2009 Starting to settle down Today I woke up one hour early. I'm slowly adapting to the new time zone ;) I had really good conversations with Vivi, my teacher, at school. I started to make jokes which is a good sign. I once read that once you can start joking around you start to master the language. I'd say I'm still far away from that. But I also managed to say a few thinks in the past. Actually I have to clue how to conjugate verbs in the past for I was too lazy to properly learn them. Here at [View Full Entry]

---

---

Na het oversteken van de grens merkten we meteen dat we in een totaal verschillend land terecht kwamen; de wegen onverhard en hobbelig, veel kleine hutjes en mensen in traditionele indianenkleren, veel koeien met een slobberige nek langs de weg, het type heilige koe van India. We kwamen aan op het eilandje Flores, middenin een meer. De buschauffeur zette ons af aan de hostel Los Amigos, gehouden door een Nederlander en een excentrieke Brit. Het zag er geweldig uit, patio met banenenbomen inclusief papegaai, schommel, hangmatten, vegetarisch restaurantje, .. Enkel de piepende deur van de dor [View Full Entry]

---

---

06.07.2009 First day at school I woke up one and a half hours early and felt wide awake and fit. Damn, wish that would ever happen to me back home. Because I didn't know what to do with myself I started to read my travel lecture and then exercised a bit in my room. At the school we got a quick introduction and then were picked up by our teachers. Each student has got it's own and we get five hours of one-by-one lessons a day. My teacher is called Vivi and is nearly three heads shorter than me but she's [View Full Entry]

---

---

05.07.2009 First day in Xela (Quetzaltenango) While I had to wait for my family to pick me up, I read all the rules and had a look at the map in order to get a first sense of orientation. Fortunately it's very easy. The streets are arranged in rectangles and the "avenidas" go from North to South wheras the "calles" go from East to West. Looks like I'll find my way in no time. Shortly after 3pm I was picked up at the school by my "abuelo" (Grandfather) Carlos. He told me that we'd walk which I considered a good sign [View Full Entry]

---

---

04.07.2009 - 05.07.2009 Neverending journey!!! Although I've got some experience in travelling now and although I know what I need to bring and what not, I had a really hard time packing. After all the hazle and after a very busy week at home I could not wait to finally arrive at my new destination in Guatemala. If it weren't for the journey... Unfortunately there are no direct flights. I had to fly via New York and Houston. I'm not going to coment on my opinion about the American way of handling things (fingerprints etc...) for I could fill pages on [View Full Entry]

---

---