Hola familias,
We started this week by moving out of our cozy hostel, Casa Seibel, and moved into homestays. Sunday morning, our weekly president, Joe lead us to the Spanish school where we were assigned partners. Then each pair left with his or her host family. Although we were all a little nervous, we very quickly realized that our host families were amazing. They provided us with great food, beautiful houses, and a lots of Spanish. Starting on Monday, we began our one-on-one Spanish lessons at Proyecto Lingüistico Quetzalteco (PLQ).
In the mornings, PLQ organized activities for our group. Some of these activities include, visiting a local cemetary, hiking up a mountain to a pool resort, and listening to a presentation about racism in Guatemala. At the cemetary we saw the tombs of ex-presidents of Guatemala, famous Guatemalan musicians, and revolutionaries. The pool resort was so much fun. We jumped off the diving board, held swimming races, and even played frisbee over the water. Katie and Ryan even were able to make it across the pool completely underwater. Brittany and Ryan consistently flipped and dove off the diving board. The time at the pool was a great way to relax.
Some nights there are even nighttime activites. For instance, on Wednesday night, our group went to watch a local futbol game. It was so much fun!! The energy is so different than at a soccer game in the US. During halftime workers were kicking soccer balls into the stands. Soma and Avery were very eager to get a ball for the group. When one of the balls came close to our seats, Soma and Avery raced over. However, many of the other fans had the same idea as them. Although neither got the ball, the two ended up on the floor trying to get the ball. It was worth it. After the game, the two still eager to get a soccer ball went down to the first row. Although they were told they couldn´t get a ball, one of the ballboys gave them a Xelaju (which is the name of the team) tshirt.
Last night instead of watching futbol we played futbol. We played at an indoor stadium in Xela. It was very different from playing soccer in the US because Xela is 7,640 FT above sea level. Everyone played extremely hard and everyone was sweating a lot at the end of the two hours of futbol. Wade was a beast in the goal. The majority of the shots taken against him were stopped including some hard kicked shots. Brynn and Lexi played strong defense, while Hannah and Avery scored several goals on offense. Following futbol everybody was super hungry so we got pizza. It was 2 pizzas for the price of 1 so we order 6 pizzas for 8 of us. The Pizzas are much smaller than in the US but we still ordered way too much pizza. Wade ate 8 slices of pizza. One whole pizza!!
Another great group activity has been playing shuttlecock. One of OE´s, David, brought a shuttlecock from Vietnam. A shuttlecock is a cork with feathers attatched. The Vietnamese game involves standing in a circle and keeping the shuttlecock in the air by kicking it and not using your hands. The goal is to get it around the circle so that everybody kicks it. Ryan always impresses us with his backwards kicks.
Today we are finishing our Spanish lessons at PLQ and having our graduation! On Sunday, we move out of our homestays and travel to La Escuela de la Montaña.
Photos from this week will be posted later today.
Also, during the next few weeks at the Mountain School and Yoga retreat we are not going to have very much access to internet.
Avery + Chris