My attempt to translating parts of my blog (sorry not the whole thing yet- don´t have the time on this computer): Llegué a Guatemala seguramente y ya acabé mi primero dia de la clase de Español.
I´m studying at the Celas Maya school where there are about 40-50 students studying at one time, all coming and going at different weeks. The staff is friendly and very helpful and I´ve already made several friends.
Estoy estudiando en la escuela Celas Maya donde hay 40-50 estudiantes, todos viniendo y saliendo cada semana. El personal de la escuela es muy amable y ya tengo amigos.
My host family is great. I live with Monica and Mario and their three children, Javier(18), Daniel(14), Alejandra(9), and the two dogs Scott and Happy. The house is a 10 minute walk from the school through dirt and cobblestone roads. It´s a large size house, 6 bedrooms, 3 baths, large dining and living room, office, garage, etc. There is also a Russian/Canadian student from my school that lives in the house as well.
La familia acá es genial. Vivo con Monica y Mario y sus hijos Javier, Daniel, y Alejandra, ademas los dos perros Scott y Happy. La casa es una caminata de 10 minutos de la escuela por caminos de tierra y adoquín. Es una casa grande con 6 dormitorios, 3 baños, comedor y living grandes, oficina, garage, etc. Tambien hay un estudiante ruso/canadiense que vive en la casa.
I have my own room which has two queen beds, so I very well could have a roommate while I´m here. Below is my room which you can see is a nice size. I don´t have hangers on my closet rod so I´ve hung my clothes over the rod or on the other bed(orange). I have a desk/chair and my trash bin in my grocery sack hung on the door until I buy one.
I wake up at 6 in the morning to the beautiful melodic sounds of the neighbor rooster, who likes to let us know about the gorgeous day ahead of us. Happy, the 4 month puppy, loves to break into my room if I accidentally leave the door slightly open, to steal one of my socks. It gets very cold at night so I might start stealing some of the blankets from the other bed to keep myself warm at night. I´m adjusting to the "warm" water available to shower. I thought keeping my showers to 10 minutes was hard in Chile, but I think I´ve got it down to 5 minutes or less now.
This is little Happy.
I went to the supermarket for the first time, which is owned by Wal-Mart, though you wouldn´t know it from inside or outside the store except for their Equate store brand products on the shelves. There weren´t any fruits or vegetables available due to the street vendors and local markets that are abundantly available. There were about six aisles, limited selections, and very few "snack" type items. Plastic bags to put your grocies in costed .15 Quetzals or about 2 cents, though I didn´t see anyone buy a bag except for us Americans.
The school offers activities almost every day of the week and yesterday morning a friend and I hiked up to La Muela, "The Molar" with the school guide Cesar. We took a bus for a short distance where we were stared at by at least half the bus. Unfortunately also, the bus drivers take advantage of ignorant foreigners and either don´t give change back if you aren´t insistent or up the price for you because you don´t know the true cost. When we got off the bus we hoped on the back of this man´s truck with his wife and two daughters in the back and they drove us about a mile or two up the hill. We passed flower and vegetable plantations, as well as a ritzy new development that was being constructed. We hiked and bouldered for about 3 hours. I fell towards the bottom on some slippery dirt, and besides breaking my watch and a scrap or two on my arm, I survived. It was a beautiful view of the city and neighboring pueblos from the viewpoint La Muela, which used to be an active volcano.
So far, it´s been a good experience. I´ll write more on the food soon, as that´s been a fun part of the experience too.
Saludos,
Christine
Wow, I can't believe you're trying to blog bilingually! Keep it up.
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