greetings from guatemala!

ok i´m having a small issue with this keyboard. i´ll get used to it in time...
BUT YAY! I MADE IT! here i am!!! how´d i get here? funny u should ask.

sat. night i departed at 11:15pm. arrived in guatemala city at 6am (4am PCT). a friend who is already in guatemala arranged for my pick-up from the airport to my final destination of quetzaltenango, aka xela (¨x¨is pronounced like ¨sh¨). the driver from 2 lunas hostel stood outside with a sign. he took me over to the hostel where i rested and had breakfast. then he took me to the private bus terminal at 10am. it´s funny because it says "first class service" but by american standards it certainly wouldn´t qualify. it just reminded me of how much we as americans demand. anyway, the 4 hour bus ride with the crazy bus driver taking curves at who-knows-what-godforbidden-speed with his right hand man making derogatory signs at other bus drivers (really funny, actually)... now i trapped myself in a really awkward sentence... so basically i got to xela, then waited for my friends who were supposed to meet me at the bus terminal. they never came so 45 min of near paranoia later (this is my first time traveling alone in a foreign country), i said screw it and took a taxi to my school. he tried to charge me 40 quetzales, which i know was too much. we agreed to 30, which was still too much but beggars can´t be choosers. most of the taxis were gone and only come at the next bus pick-up/ drop-off hour, which in my case would have been 2 hours later.

at my school, proyecto linguistico (www.hermandad.com) the folks checked me in and arranged for me to meet my host family. during the wait, my friends showed up at my school. yay! after a long journey, familiar faces are a relief. we caught up a bit, then they headed back to their neck of the woods. i got settled in at my host home and talked with the family a bit, then watched el hombre araña (spiderman) on tv while rain poured. my host family consists of mom carmen, dad hector, 15 yr old daughter ceci, 7 yr old daughter maria jose, and 1.5 yr old cockerspaniel zuni. i have my own room and set of keys to the house. everyone is freaking me out about the water though. i think starting tonight i´ll start using agua pura to brush my teeth rather than the tap. geesh. in mexico i drank water from a well and brushed my teeth with the tap water and walked in the flooded (sewer-filled?) streets. i´m still fine. but better safe than sorry. i´m also warned not to eat the fruits from the streets, unless it´s something i peel myself. actually, they advised not to eat anything from the street vendors... shhh. i know i won´t be able to resist.

today i met my teacher at 8am. one-on-one, very awesome, very knowledgeable. after some inital, yet extensive, conversation and a written diagnostic, he basically told me that one of things we need to work on is my level of confidence. he said that mostly everything i was saying was fine, and on my written exam for intermediate level i didn´t have many errors. i just don´t want to say things if i feel like it won´t come out perfectly. and he said good thing i wasn´t getting scored on it because i was taking it so seriously. =p i also need to slow down because i kept throwing all kinds of questions at my teacher, and he´s like.. you´re hungry! well, yeah... i need to figure out all this por/para, ser/estar, tiene/hace, el tema/los temas, la-las manos, el agua/ las aguas business. i´m slowly trying and reminding myself to bring down my affective filter. being the nerd that i am, i got all excited about homework so i think he gave me a lot accordingly.

it´s soooo rainy and cold here. i think i took the term ´packing light´ a little too seriously. i´m going to have to buy more (warm) clothes. people won´t have any difficulty recognizing me with the same one sweater on everyday. i´m soooo thankful for my rainjacket. i had to go buy an umbrella today. as well as a notebook for class. exchanged money at the bank surrounded by armed guards, and found a sports store!! i´m going to blow my money on a futbol and guatemala national jersey. OOHH!! and at my school they play futbol every thursday evening AANNDD there´s a foosball table!!!! i´m OVERJOYED! and there are political documentaries and roundtable discussions about social issues in guatemala, the indigenous struggle, field trips... it´s only been one day so far and already i feel like i´ve done a lot. what does the rest of the week have in store for me? feel free to tag on the left-hand side any comments or questions or requests u may have!