Uh...lo siento, no puedo hablar bien en español

First of all, apologies to everyone who commented on my last couple of postings! I had inadvertently changed my Blogger preferences to "Approve all comments" and so had a large backlog of your comments to approve! And here I thought you just had nothing to say. You like me...you really like me! Thanks to Julie for the heads up.

Aaaaah, sweet Guatemalan livin´...sort of. Yes! I arrived on Wednesday, after a red eye flight from LAX to Guatemala City and a 4-hour bus ride climbing into the highlands of Guatemala. It´s has been quite nice so far! Like I said, I´m now pretty oblivious to culture shock of any kind (well, besides the occasional Guatemalaneco calling out "Chinita!" when I pass by..."Si, yo se"). Does that make me truly worldly, or merely ambivalent to everything in the world? No se.

Quetzaltenango: First Impressions
I am currently in Quetzaltenango, which most people call "Xela" (shortened form of "Xelaju", the Indian name...I think the language is Kiche?). Despite being the second biggest city in Guatemala, it´s still quite quaint. In fact, it reminds me an awful lot of Accra, except no open sewers (whew) and no animals in the streets. I´m happy to report that the roosters also crow, appropriately, in the morning, too. THANK GOD. It´s actually a very effective alarm clock!

I´ve been taking walks around the city and have discovered the existence of a McDonalds in the town center. Aah, good to know it´s there...just in case. My teacher (wait for it...wait for it...) also informed me that there is a Burger King and Gap in town. Oooooookay. It´s always pretty amusing for me to find all the different American influences that abound in the world. But I guess I should´ve seen it coming - the first song I heard on Guatemalan radio was Beyonce´s "Check On It."

During my walks, I try not to get hit by cars. As in most non-Western countries, lanes and pedestrian´s right of way do not exist. That´s OK...I just hope I don´t die (a couple of close calls already!).

During the day, the weather rocks. It´s usually 60s and 70s (Fahrenheit, of course), sunny, and pretty breezy - the pleasant coolness during the day is due to Xela´s location in the highlands (mountains, yo!). Unfortunately, this also means that nights are teeth-shatteringly cold, with temperatures around freezing and NO CENTRAL HEATING in houses that are constructed of concrete block. Needless to say, I learned on my first night that it´s quite necessary to wear my hoody, my fleece jacket, my gloves, and scarf to bed...under the three blankets which are more like heavy carpets.

Guatemalan Moolah
T´is the Quetzal, named after a bird, apparently! It exchanges at a rate of US$1=Q$8. Sweet for los Americanos! Nothing really weird about it, ya know...ah, the Q$1 is available in coins! Y´all know how much I love that!

Food & Drink
Tortillas, tortillas, tortillas. They´re quite tasty, because they are usually crazy fresh and made of natural ground corn and not crappy flour. I actually haven´t eaten much (OK, any) meat yet, but maybe that´s good, eh? I noticed that the vegetable selection is sadly lacking. Boo. Except beans...well, those really aren´t really a veggie so much as protein, huh? Anyhoo, I´ll have to get my vitamin fix elsewhere other than my vitamin supplements - I saw some street vendors in front of my school with some tasty looking watermelon slices. Yum. I´ve also been eating some super tasty, super pure honey (from the mountains!). Sweeeet...literally!

Drinks! Don´t drink the water! Only spring water for privileged foreigners like me! Guatemala is a big coffee producer, but the best beans are exported so the crappy beans are left behind. It doesn´t taste so bad. I will explore further. My host mom makes me tea boiled from fresh mint, fresh chamomile, and cinnamon. That´s pretty cool.

I have not yet experienced the "stomach troubles" that plague most newcomers, but, watch...since I wrote that, I´ll be pulling out my Imodium like crazy tonight! Fingers crossed...

My digs
I´m staying with a host family, headed by Bertilla. Her daughters (Bianca and Lupita) and granddaughter (Joselina) live with her, as well as two pretty cute dogs (CiCi and Mohita). I have a small room, nothing fancy. Functional. Aaah, one thing "special"...Guatemalan toilets, although modern and wonderfully Western-style, can´t handle paper being flushed into the septic system. I try with all my might not to throw my toilet paper into the bowl, with a few mistakes here and there, leaving me to fish it out. EEEEEEW.

My school
I have 5 hours of one-on-one instruction each day at Sakribal Spanish School. It´s really great for learning a lot in a short time! Do you know how many irregular verbs I know now?!?! Anyhoo, my teacher this week is Julio. We chatted about how there are American shows on Guatemalan TV. Julio´s faves are Las Chicas Gilmore (that´s right! Gilmore Girls!) and Smallville, although he seems partial to Two and a Half Men. Cultural imperialism at its best!!!