Como estas

¨Como estas¨ is the common question... How are you?

Well to be quite honest I feel like a child again. To be thrown into this new place is pretty much like regressing into childhood. Right now all my time is spent trying to relearn how to communicate and it is not easy. I spend my days in class for four hours speaking in spanish, playing spanish games, listening to spanish music, and reading spanish books.

I have to learn the customs and ways of a new family. I couldn´t have asked for a better host family. I have a mom, dad, and little brother who´s 9 years old. My dad is a professor at the University here and my mom works at the hospital. In the mornings they walk me to the bus stop like a child on the first day of school, and pick me up in the afternoons. The evenings are difficult in Guatemala because once it gets dark it´s too dangerous to go outside, so I usually play with my brother. We play pingpong almost every night, sometimes we build a house out of cardboard boxes, sometimes we play soccer in the kitchen (how many mothers in the states let their kids play ping pong and soccer in the kitchen). I am thankful for my brother though, because playing games doesn´t take much communication and when I´m tired and don´t feel like trying to mumble through broken spanish it is good relief. Meal time is very important here, we eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner as a family. This is where I try to get some conversation in, but it is difficult because they speak more quickly than my teacher. This weekend was nice. I spent the whole weekend with my family. I went to my brothers soccer practice in the morning. It was good to be in my element so to speak. A place where I felt comfortable and actually good at something.

Although don´t get me wrong! All in all I am doing quite well. Besides the constant fustrations with language and learning I really am enjoying my classes and family. It´s a slow process but every day I can pick up more and add a few more words to my vocabulary.
Continued prayers are needed!

Also to all those who thought I would be getting mad tan here you´re wrong... it rains every single day at 2pm and doesnt stop till the next morning!