Guatemala!

Well, I'm in Guatemala again. Here's a run-down of the events since leaving Canada:

-- We left Calgary at 7:00 AM, flying to Dallas first. 5 1/2 hour layover, then we left there at 5:30 PM, arriving in Guatemala City at 9:00 PM. Due to the regulations restricting carry-on items on flights to the U.S., I had my laptop, a book, and my bible with me during that whole time... nothing else. Flights went smoothly and we were picked up by Alex and Evy (our field coordinators) at the airport. 1 bag misplaced, but hopefully it will be located soon.

Saturday evening, after arriving at the seminary (GBS), we unloaded bags, paid the driver, brought people to their rooms, and dropped into bed exhausted.

Sunday morning we had breakfast at 7:30, staff meeting to plan the day at 8:30, then we left for church at 10:45. Church was really great... I had missed worshiping in Spanish. Unfortunately, I was really tired and kept doing the head-nod/jerk regularly during the sermon... oh well for that one. As soon as church was over, we rushed back to GBS for lunch.

Another meeting after lunch, then I took a short nap. Woke up to find that a guy who was in Discover last year was visiting for a little while, so I went out to say hi to him... and was snatched away to go shopping for new cell phones and a receipt book. I was supposedly along to do the receipt book, but we never found one. We did, however, spent 3 hours looking for cell phones. Thankfully we did find enough cheap ones for the group and got things set up with that. We went back in time for dinner, then another meeting! Do you see a theme here yet?

The evening meeting was basically student orientation for Antigua. We gave out information on how to behave in Antigua, how to relate to host families, what to expect with Spanish school, travel details, packing details, cell phone protocol and passing them out, and a few other random things. =) The meeting was a little over 2 hours, and by the end we were all pretty tired. Back to my room for the evening, checked my email (since I had internet), and went to bed.

Today we traveled to Antigua. We left the seminary at 7:15, arriving at our language school at 8:00. After luggage was unloaded and people had their teachers, we learned Spanish until noon. For me it was a ton of review, reminding myself of all the grammar I'd managed to forget in the last year. So far, so good.

Language school over, we had lunch with our host families. I am staying with the same family as last year... Jose and Karla Sanchez. The friend from Discover last year is also staying with them, along with two friends. It's quite the fun party there! After lunch, we took off on a tour of Antigua in teams. Jordan and I showed our team a bunch of different places, including the Bagel Barn (my current location), central park, banks, McDonalds, Pollo Campero, Saritas, the arch, the market, the bus station, and the location of their other classes.

Now I'm in the Bagel Barn, as previously mentioned. Soon I'll be shutting off my computer and returning to my host home, hopefully to do a little homework.

Hopefully next time I post I'll have some pictures for y'all. Until then, adios, y dios te bendiga.