El MUNDO EN ESPANOL y XELA

The Spanish lessons have been going well, I have had 2 professors so far, my first was a woman named Rosa who taught me a lot of the basics but is very nice. Mauricio on the other hand is hilarious and he was my second professor. We talk about a lot of silly stuff and he’s always making bromas. The Spanish school itself is pretty incredible and has a kitten and used to have a rabbit before Sergio got rid of the bunny. The two were funny together and I thought of them as a milo and otis, just a different Guatemalan version. The two could be seen running and playing together amidst all the students practicing Spanish. Its hilarious. The school is great I have really been enjoying my time there, it is so much information though, in the first two weeks we surpassed the amount of Spanish I learned in a year of high school . I guess that makes sense since it is 4 hours of one on one lessons a day. Above is a picture of the schools learning area.


Our first week involved a lot ranging from movies to learning about the history of gutemala, which is incredible and something I never was really exposed to. It is interesting the influence and impact the USA had in spiraling the country into a 36 civil war that lead to the massacre and death of hundreds of thousands of Guatemalans. However, it is extremely interesting overall. Being a huge fan of futbol, I soon traveled to the complejo for some good footy. I traveled to the sports complex with ryan and Rachel two other students in my program who are both fun and chill people We immediately found some locals to play with and man were they good. I watched as a family spent 7 minutes heading a pelota to each other without letting it drop. Simply incredible. We played a 3 on 3 game with them and quickly found that altitude totally leaves an effect on our running and breathing abilities. Hilariously, after only a few sprints we were all sucking wind. It was an amazing time. I have found that it is very easy for me to connect with others I can’t speak with by just bringing a soccer ball with me. It is really incredible.


We also did a lot of walking around to get familiarized with the City. We explored zones 1. 2, 3 and there is so much visual stimulation. People left and right are trying to sell things, but they’re typically the same things over and over just sold by different people. There is so much knock off ropa y cosas en general. One of the things that I noticed that I found particularly hilarious, yet frightening is how many shopkeepers have armed men for hire outside their shops. All of which carry shotguns, you can find them almost every other corner and at every bank. The hilarious part of this is that they are at some of the most random stores. My prime example is a pizza hut/ pastry store that had inbetween them was a man holding a shotgun. I like to call Xela the land of Shotguns and Cakes after seeing that, but it isn’t very dangerous at all if one keeps their head about them.
Things sold in Guatemala are quite perplexing as well because there are strange combinations such as this Vodak and Pringles in the same box, we all saw this and were very confused but there are tons of these combos everywhere you go.


The end of the first week we had our first salsa lesson which was really hard. I have never really done structured dancing before, but it is really tough, you have to always be thinking and trying to incorporate the steps together. So least to say the first lesson was stressful and annoying . However the second lesson was amazing and I have been getting much better which has made it much more fun. I love the spins and different moves involved in the dance.