So far, SOOOOO good!

It all began Sunday--the start of yet another adventure. My mother dropped me off at the airport early in the morning, and as I walked to my gate with a backpack containing my few possessions, a grin once again crept over my face. Like a pirate finding a hidden treasure chest but unsure of its contents, I was also ready to score some pirate booty. This situation is becoming familiar to me yet the peculiar excitement and thrill still caries my ambition. For some reason, I love stepping into situations where I know no one and no one knows me. And my time here thus far is proving this true yet again. 

 

Before I go on, the highlight of the flight was definitely landing in Guatemala as we made our way strait through a lightning storm! It was awesome!

 

Two flights and 12 hours later I was walking through customs in Guatemala City (which by the way very well may have been the easiest customs to ever go through). It was only as I was exiting the airport when I realized I was a bit ill prepared: I knew I was suppose to go to Antigua but I had no clue where that was, where my host family lived, what their names were, what their phone number was, and what my school´s number was. All I knew was that I was suppose to meet some guy holding a sign with my name on it.

 

I quickly spotted my name on a sign and the man brought me to his van and proceeded to drive me through the back streets of Guatemala city. Oh how the memories flooded my mind. All the trash beside the streets, the cement houses with massive steel bars on all the windows, the stray dogs, the crazy drivers, and of course, the unforgetable aroma.

 

An hour later, I arrived in Antigua. My driver shook my hand, rang the bell and left me standing on the street on one side of a huge concrete wall. I had no clue who would greet me in a few moments, but I knew I was stuck with whoever it was and wherever they lived. Was this going to be a mud hut? Was I going to share my room with some strange person or animal?... Perhaps this was all a bad idea; perhaps I shouldn´t have come at all. The door opened and I stepped in to the other side of the massive wall. A kind woman greeted me in Spanish and I started digging deep into that abyss somewhere in the extremities of my cranium where my limited Spanish is stored. `Hola, me llamo Pablo`---it had begun!

 

She kindly brought me into her home and it was as though I stepped out of the third world country I just entered and into some paradise. The beautifully tiled floor, the 25 ft vaulted ceilings, the electricity---this wasn´t going to be so bad! A little golden retriever named Dulce welcomed me in as I met the whole family: a boy and three adorable little girls.

 

My room was a surprise too. A good size room with those vaulted ceilings, a beautiful view with flowers growing right outside my window, a large bed I almost fit in, and cable TV (in both English and Spanish). I am ashamed to confess that I went through ALL the channels three times trying to find ABC in hopes that I could catch Lost on Wednesday......pathetic, I know.

 

This morning after breakfast I made the half mile walk to school where I began my first day! I met my professora who is wonderful and who I will be studying with for the rest of the week. I spoke Spanish with her for six hours today and needless to say my brain is fried! The school has a great courtyard where we study and it´s very nice to study outside in the sunshine---speaking of which, it is actually warm here. Perhaps I should mention that my past five months in Alaska yielded only 19 days of sunshine and thus, this direct sunlight is a much welcomed sight. I was starting to doubt whether it even existed anymore.....

 

Well, I must head off to la cena. Thanks for reading. Hopefully my thoughts will be more coherent next time.....ciao!