Guatemalensis and life in Xela

We now have two more weeks of Spanish school under our belt and are all the better for it. We loved the school we attended in Xela (Shay-la, I know, who starts a word with the letter X? Hmmm…but the thought of becoming a xylophone playing x-ray tech in Xela is enticing). Our host family was also perfect. Our new home away from home while studying was a long trek of a whole block away from our school. Our new family consisted of Fransisco, Edna, and their twelve year old daughter Astrid. I would describe the house as very… comfortable. We shared a nice little room, that judging by the multiple posters of teen rock stars, we must have stolen from the daughter, Astrid. The five of us shared one bathroom which was surprisingly not a problem considering we are still getting use to the millions of viruses, bugs, and bacteria that attack your stomach in the most pleasant of ways. The rooms were all located around a courtyard (very common in Guatemala) which meant some very cool emergency visits to that bathroom in the middle of the night, but also a perfect place to hang out or do a three hour secession of hand wash laundry (my favorite).

As all of our meals were provided for us, we able to try all of the wonderful local dishes of the area, as well as 15 different ways you can serve a hotdog in some combination with black beans and corn tortillas. But weather it was delicious tortillas with all the fixings, or white bread sandwiches with globs of mayonnaise (Brooke’s favorite), we were always happy to sit down for a nice family meal. While I have to admit that in the beginning the awkward silences were a little tough to handle. Our Spanish had not progressed much in our week in Antigua and the only English our family new were from the album Chicago’s Greatest Hits (an incredible album that if you don’t have you must get). Needless to say we had some pretty deep conversations. But as the days went by, our Spanish improved and the family was always great slowing down their speaking or at impromptu charades. Communication was even good enough that we could join Edna in the kitchen for learning to cook “comida tipica” of Xela and play an intense game of war (the only card game we knew the words to explain). In the end it really felt like home and we were very sad to say our final adios.

The school is Guatemalensis (and we’d recommend it to anyone!). We had wonderful teachers, Vilma for Brooke and Nancy for Donny. Five hours a day of 1 on 1 instruction has greatly improved our speaking. Well, minus a half hour break mid-morning where we got snacks like mangos, cookies or avocado and tortillas, plus coffee or tea! Whether you get snacks or not I think is a great way to rate a school. Plus other excursions like to some of the many thermal hot springs in the area or visiting the oldest church in Central America and seeing people weave trajes (typical dress) on giant looms. The directors, Nora and Rolando are great people that are very involved in every aspect of the school and are always there for the students. The school had a very laid back feeling where everyone was always joking around with each other that we really liked, and it wasn’t jammed with students either.

On the GROW side of things, we got to do our first project in conjunction with Guatemalensis. They have a long standing project of support of eight families supported by single mothers in one of the poorest districts of Xela, and amongst those 8 families are 22 children. They support them with food donations, scholarships, education, school materials and in other ways as well. When we visited their community we brought food and got to play with the children (got our butts kicked at futbol) and help them with their homework or do arts and crafts. For more on this project, check out The GROW Initiative site!

We are certainly going to miss Xela. From free concerts at Teatro Municipal with our “family” to a benefit to raise money for a school where we won private salsa lessons (yes, I dragged Donny to them), we have been very busy here. With Spanish school done, our focus has turned to projects and there is no lacking of those in Guatemala (as we are writing this blog a little late as usual, we’ve already worked on a great one, stay tuned for more on that!). We could be here for years with all the good work we could do and are looking forward to the weeks to come.

Oh, and we went through an earthquake.