First Day of School

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Today was my first day of classes. It was strange getting ready this morning. I was a little nervous, like everyone is on the first day of school I suppose.

I slept much better last night, thankfully b/c I had to get up around 6:40. Breakfast with the family was at 7:15 and then I walked to school. I got there early, no one was around and the doors were closed. I'm thinking, I am gonna be the only student here. I walked around a bit and came back to find 5-6 students, each with their own teacher.

First, I took a test to guage my spanish skills. My teacher came up about halfway thru, and was just kind of watching me... His name is Christian (Kris-chi-aan, en espanol) and he seems very cool. He's 23, and an engineering student. Since I know a lot of vocab. and grammar, we decided to focus on verbs and tenses for now. I was happy not to have to start with the basics. We worked until 10:15, then took a coffee break.

During the break I went outside and sat on a stoop with Heidi, from Canado, and Meredith, from Atlanta. Heidi has been studying 3-4 weeks and plans to stay for 4 more! She wants to become fluent and didn't know much Spanish in the beginning. Meredith is in her third week, but will be done after this. She knew even less than Heidi at first... So far, I'm feeling ahead of the game. As of today, I'm thinking I might stay here 3 weeks, then move on. But, we'll see....

After our break we came back and Christian suggested we take a walk around the city. He showed me this internet cafe, where I get some free time b/c of my school, and then we walked to the town center and park. We talked a lot and all in Spanish. I can see this is going to be good for me. We came back and continued until 1 pm. Then I walked home, ate lunch with my family and now I'm here.

The town, Xela, is beautiful and much more alive today because it's not Sunday. It's a big town for Guatemala, but it feels small and quaint with stone streets, small buildings and stray dogs on every corner. It's surrounded by mountains and volcanos, partially covered in mist - it's breathtaking. It was freezing (maybe 50 degrees?) this morning and last night, but now it's hot, sunny and nice. This area is well-known for being very cold for Guatemala, but I was surprised at how cold it actually was.... Last night I slept in my jacket. Oh, and my first shower in Xela... The first minute or so was warm, then ice cold for a couple minutes (keep in mind it's freezing b/c there's no heat and it's cold out) I was shivering! It got hot again for a minute so I took advantage of it as quickly as I could, and jumped out. Such is life on the road, or in Xela, Guatemala anyways.

I'm starting my malaria medicine tonight. It's supposed to make you hallucinate or have strange and vivid dreams... Should be interesting!

Love to all y hasta luego,
Brooke

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Comments

[anonymous]

Brooke, sounds like you are going to do great! I can not wait to read more in spanish I hope. besos desde San Sebastian Espana. - Lastenia