El tiempo la dira!

These are some things that are new in my life:

- I have started shaving my face. Well…at least that’s what the little girl at the tienda across the street thinks. I went over to buy a razor and she looked at me for a very long time and then told me that I was saying the wrong word because razors are for your face. I assured her that I knew what to do with it and after some coercing she reluctantly gave me the razor. Can’t wait to buy another one.

- It appears I misunderstood what My dog (Loba) is being attacked by- apparently she’s not recovering from a dog mauling incident but rather, “rat’s with wings” (as my madre explained to me, aka “bats“) during the night which is great because bats totally don’t carry rabies…wait a minute….snap. On the plus side the dog has not died yet which means that it probably doesn’t have rabies and that I don’t need to worry about the little love-nip I received when carelessly feeding the cat from the table (lesson learned) Other than that little scrape the treats are working! Loba actually jumps up to greet me now…my clothes may be covered in paw prints but she likes me. I’ll take it.

-I have made friends with neighborhood children and everyone wants to be on my team in sports (shocking I know).I also have found that my body doubles as a jungle gym for the little kids. Last night I played the most violent game of baseball ever. I tried to explain the rules to them about how the game is actually played on playgrounds and baseball diamonds in the US but apparently I am very wrong. America’s pastime- Go figure haha.

- I learned how to make tortillas! Just in case you were wondering there is an actual verb here for making tortillas and it is tortillar. As in yo voy a tortillar esta manana (I am going to make tortillas this morning) NUTS. It is really much harder than it looks, it takes a certain finesse that I’m not sure I’ve got just yet. Practice makes perfect!

- Luna Nueva (aka New Moon) is for sale here on DVD…yes.

- I climbed a volcano! I hiked Pacaya with a group of 9 other volunteers last weekend and besides being really out of shape and not seeing any flowing lava, I quite enjoyed myself. It’s actually possible to roast marshmallows over the heat from the rocks up there. Pretty sweet. We ended up meeting this group of Canadians (which has reaffirmed my love for Canadians in general) who were climbing the volcano as part of their pre-wedding activities. The bride was from Canada and the groom was her Spanish teacher Guatemalteco. QUE CHULO! (how cute). After climbing down from the rocks they offered to give us a ride back to Antigua in this huge party bus that they rented for their wedding party which was beyond generous and much appreciated.

- My family started making fun of me for changing colors in the sun; current status is very freckled and a little red-ish despite efforts with my SPF 60+ (thanks bri!) Reapplication is KEY.

-I got a cell phone…if you wanted to get a calling card and call me I’d be happy to give you the number…if you play your cards right.

A day in the life:

So here’s how a typical day in the life of Kristin is going- I get up around 7 and eat breakfast and get myself ready for Spanish class which takes place about 10 min away at one of the other volunteer’s host family’s. A typical breakfast for me has been some variation of egg and beans or (and this is my personal fav) a sliced up hot dog and eggs or beans on French bread; odd but filling. Then I head to Spanish class from 8 until noon upon which I return home for lunch. In Spanish we pretty much learn new vocab, using appropriate tenses of verbs and talk about the Guatemalan culture vs. US culture (in Spanish). For lunch I typically eat some sort of chicken and vegetables with rice or in a soup with corn tortillas. Then it’s off to Spanish class for the remainder of the afternoon where I try and figure out why I can remember all of the lyrics to Ace of Base songs but for the life of me cant remember how to conjugate pedir… We end class around 3ish when I return home and work on my homework and decompress with the family. We eat dinner around 7 and then everyone pretty much retires to their rooms. Sometimes I play games with the kids in the street right in front of our house which has been pretty fun until about 9 when I retire to my bed and try and read for about 10 minutes before passing out to start all over again the next day.

I hope I’ll have new cool stories to share soon. El tiempo la dira! (time will tell!)