We have been home from Guatemala for approximately one and a half months. The newness of being home has worn off and we are now well into our autumn routine.

I have noticed a small change in Charles and Daniel. They are more open to Spanish than they were previous to the month in Guatemala. By "open" I mean they, at times, speak in Spanish, study it from a book (Charles), or play around with Spanish words (Daniel). They also don't mind us speaking in Spanish to them, like they used to. I've been trying to pinpoint exactly what could have caused this change, but am left only guessing. Clearly, they did not consciously decide to like Spanish. Perhaps the feeling of being in the minority, not being able to speak Spanish, gave them a sense of motivation to learn. Whatever it was, this change in mindset is delightful and appears to be long-term.

I am thrilled with Charles' and Daniel's new openness to learn Spanish. At the same time, I am noticing a lack of openness in myself. I have realized that being in Guatemala was really difficult! At the time, we made the best of it and laughed a lot. What was hard was living in a place where we didn't understand what was going on around us and often didn't have enough language skills to ask. We never knew what was expected of us, we were never certain about anything! How comfortable it is to be home (not physically, but socially) and know what our roles are, in every aspect of life.

FORTUNATELY, the desire to stick close to home and remain comfortable is not too strong. We know this because we have just decided to accept an invitation to go to Mexico in January. A couple from Spanish church is going to an orphanage and invited us to accompany them. Since visiting an orphanage has been in the back of our minds for a couple years now, we couldn't pass up the opportunity!

It's a small world

Tonight we returned to Puente de Vida, the Spanish church we've been attending for the past year, to celebrate the church's anniversary. Duane and I both found ourselves picking out the words we COULDN'T understand. That's a big change from a month ago, when we'd pick out the words we COULD understand! (Here's the way Duane described it--We went from "Blah blah blah oh, here's word we understand, blah, blah, blah" to "Wow, we're understanding most of this blah, but not all blah.") Our listening comprehension has certainly improved a lot.

Here is something more surprising than improved Spanish skills...Guess where the woman sitting next to Duane was from??? QUETZALTENANGO! In addition, there was a Wycliffe missionary couple who lived in Guatemala in the 1970s and their Guatemalan friends visiting. As you can imagine, we heard some frightening stories, but, oh, how we loved talking with all of them!

The experience tonight has made it just a little bit easier to return to life in the States.

If you would like to contribute money to the work of Vid y Pompanos, you can do it online through the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) at

http://www.crcna.org/pages/crwrc.cfm

Designate the funds for "Guatemala"

Sunday morning we were up at 3am to prepare for the trip back to the United States. Sonia's friend drove us from Antigua to the airport in Guatemala City. Just after Duane mentioned that emotionally he felt like he was already home, the windshield wiper fell off the car. Then it started to rain. How hilarious! No, it would be a few more hours before we had to leave Guatemala.

As the flight from Guatemala to Houston took off, I could only think about the people we had met. Many of them want to come to the U.S, but cannot. For us, it was so easy. Flash a passport and climb aboard. Many people we met are so poor they live in shacks. Yet, we return to a home that feels like a palace.

I found myself dreading the inevitable--landing in Houston. I didn't want people to speak English around me. I didn't want to remove the kids from this immersion experience and slow down their language learning. I didn't want to leave Guatemala. We landed in Houston and I almost burst into tears of sadness.

How different this experience has been for us than our trip to China in 1995. After China, we felt satisfied, like we didn't need to return. After Guatemala, we can't wait to return. We are eager for another experience in Guatemala or another Latin American country. We decided to work to incorporate our Guatemalan experiences into our lives. We don't want this trip to become a memory, rather a part of who we are and who we will be. To this end, we will try to speak Spanish as much as possible in our household.

It is becoming increasingly obvious to us that the kids have learned a lot of Spanish. And effortlessly! How I would love to keep them in an immersion setting! A few more months and no doubt they would be fluent.

After this experience Duane and I are convinced that learning a new language teaches a person so much more than how to communicate with more people. It broadens one's thinking and understanding. The Spanish language makes different distinctions than English, and vice versa. This idea reminds me of a book from my linguistics days, that I must read again, called, Metaphors We Live By.

On our flight, there was one very brief moment of panic. Just after some turbulence, the flight attendant, who was obviously a native Spanish speaker, announced in both English and Spanish, "This is an absolute emergency. Please sit down." Duane and I just looked at each other. Nothing happened. People didn't even sit down! Maybe this was our last cross-cultural event of the trip. Is it possible he used the words, "absolute emergency" just to scare people into obeying him? We thought for the briefest moment we might crash into Mexico!

Now it's back to life in Minnesota. We are grateful for the experience we have had. We are eager for more! In the meantime, how DOES one use the subjunctive in Spanish?!

To see photo slide show, go to

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nykamp/sets/72157622309205678/show/

Click "Show info" to see slide descriptions.

Well, it happened. A piece of our luggage was stolen today. We aren't surprised because the scene at the Xela bus terminal is crazy. There are tens of buses all lined up with drivers screaming out where they are going. It appears to us as chaos. In addition, the terminal is adjacent to the market. So, to say the least, it's a place with a lot of people and A LOT of activity.

Our host mother took us to the bus terminal this morning. Since there wasn't enough room in her car to fit everything, we arrived at the bus terminal in 2 vehicles. Half of our luggage was in Sonia's car and the other half was in a taxi. Suddenly, as we were unloading the luggage from the vehicles, about 5 men showed up to "generously" carry the suitcases to the bus. Thinking all of these men worked on the bus, and not wanting us to miss the bus, Sonia told us to let them take the luggage. Immediately after the men crossed the street with our luggage, another chicken bus drove past and blocked our view of the luggage. Immediately Sonia saw what happened and told us, "check, check." We did see some of our luggage tied onto the top of the appropriate bus, so we thought we were good to go. When we arrived at the transfer point, and asked for the last piece of luggage to be thrown down off the top of the bus, the man said there was no more luggage for us. In the 10 seconds that a bus blocked our view of our luggage, one piece was stolen.

Fortunately, the bag that was stolen was the children's clothing. There were some other items, but they can all be replaced. We have experienced Guatemala in a new way and now our trip is complete.

Today none of us felt much like being tourists, so we took it easy in Antigua. We went out for lunch, walked around the central park, and visited the market to buy a few last minute gifts. We leave our hotel at 3:45 tomorrow morning, so we are heading to bed early tonight.

As I write this post, Daniel is telling me to "sopla, sopla" Guessing that he wants me to blow on him, I asked, "Is this what you mean?" Yes, apparently the verb "soplar" means "to blow." Actually, Daniel taught me how to better pronounce a word in Spanish today too. He said to me, "Mom, don't say _____, say it like this _____."

Ahh...it's a good feeling to learn some Spanish from Daniel as we prepare to leave. Yes, this trip has been successful, even if the kids don't have any clothes!

It is with sadness that we leave Xela. Tomorrow morning we travel to Antigua to begin the journey back to the States. Has the trip been successful? Have Charles and Daniel learned Spanish? The short answer is "a little." The long answer is that we return home with increased language skills, and a whole lot more. Duane and I are now much better equipped to hold conversations in Spanish. No doubt this can only help Charles and Daniel. Also, after hearing Spanish so much, we return with ears more adept at understanding it.

Perhaps more importantly, we return to Minnesota with increased

• knowledge of how to get by when everything around us is foreign,


• appreciation for natural beauty,


• generosity and


• understanding of what life is like for the poor.

Here is a country school house in rural Guatemala. We journeyed into the country to visit 4 poor communities. In fact, the majority of people in Guatemala are extremely poor and live in conditions similar to those described in this post. We had two wonderful travel companions, Adolfo and Milton, who knew just what to say when we didn't know what questions to ask. The primary motivation for this trip was to view the work of a local organization called Vid y Pompanos, which means "Vine and Branches." We met many village residents and saw their houses, churches, farms, and schools.

Apparently these villages receive zero aid from the government. The work of Vid y Pompanos includes helping communities effectively support themselves. For example, the local presbyterian church wants to build terraces on church property so the soil nutrients will not be washed away by the rain. This will produce better crops and, in time, hopefully the use of terraces will be adopted by the rest of the community. Another agricultural aid is to encourage farmers to diversify their crops so they have income throughout the year.

Vid y Pompanos also works to better educate communities. They pay for teachers to come and teach adults how to read. Most of the people do not know how to read or even know the alphabet. The pressure to work, rather than go to school, is very strong. Many of the people do not realize that receiving an education can be beneficial to their situation. Part of our job while visiting the schools was to encourage the people that learning to read is a worthwhile endeavor.

Fortunately, the people seemed to have enough food. However, that was about all they had. They were extremely poor. Their houses were shacks, made from wood or metal scraps with mud floors. Many had no electricity or running water. Some had no shoes. And yet, the people we met were all in good spirits and quite generous. We were given refreshments (limeaid and bananas) at many of our stops. We were also given gifts of fruit to bring home. Of course we did not want to take anything from them, yet what could we do except graciously and humbly accept their gifts.

To get to these villages, we drove on extremely bumpy, one-lane country roads deep into the jungle. It was hot, buggy, and also very beautiful. In the first community we took a hike to view their crops. We hiked on a mountain slope thick with vegetation. We were told there were tigers on the opposite side of the ravine. We passed the local women bathing and doing laundry in the mountain stream. Our local guide carried a machete. Then we were attacked by biting ants. We pulled down Charles pants to pick them off one by one. Sarah was also bitten multiple times. Who knew one could be so grateful for underwear!

We spent the night with a "rich" family. They had running water and an extra cement block building for us to sleep in. Their bathroom was an outhouse made simply of opaque plastic wrapped around thin tree trunks stuck into the ground.

When we arrived home we were hot, filthy, and exhausted. But, what an experience!

Early tomorrow morning we will leave Xela for an overnight trip. The plan is to visit four villages to view the work of Moises Colop, a Guatemalan CRWRC missionary. The villages are named Monte Margarita, La Palmera, El Tineco, and Esperanza Miralta. We do not know what to expect other than the following: 1)It will be hot. 2)There will be mosquitoes. 3)Moises' colleague will accompany us. 4)We will stay in one of the villages overnight. Initially, Moises had mentioned staying in a "rural hotel," but I believe instead we will be hosted by a family. 5)We have been told not to go out after dark without local companions.

We are grateful for this unique opportunity and are eager to see how this adventure unfolds.

We have now been in Xela for three weeks. It is a fun and friendly city and much safer than we were led to believe from guide books.

It is common to hear firecrackers around the city, especially in the mornings. They are used to wake up people having birthdays.

There are gorgeous mountains surrounding the city. One is an active volcano that fumes smoke!

Most of the streets in our district are one way as they are much too narrow to fit two cars side-by-side. Traffic patterns tend to be chaotic. If a car beeps it means "Beware I'm not slowing down at this corner, so get out of my way." Many of the streets are made out of rocks which make them extremely bumpy. Sidewalks are adjacent to the street and have buildings on the opposite side. The sidewalks are quite narrow which makes for many close calls for pedestrians. When pedestrians meet on the sidewalk, it is necessary to either chance it in the road, or suck in and squeeze past each other. These tightly enclosed areas also give Xela a quaint feeling.

Stores are very small. In fact, many are simply counters with the items for sale behind them. One must ask for whatever specific item is desired. Often times we are not able to figure out the pattern of items for sale. This makes shopping at locally owned stores difficult. There is also a market called Minerva. It is full of vendors at shack-like booths. The walkways are muddy ground and it is crowded. It is a delightfully cross-cultural experience! One can buy whatever a heart desires here.

Yesterday while we were at the market we saw the trash area. There were about 10 stray dogs eating from the large pile. The city has many feral dogs wandering about. They are behaved well enough, so one does not fear them. However, we were instructed not to touch them because they are full of fleas. In fact, one day after wearing shorts, Chase had small, itchy, red dots around his ankles. Flea bites!

As mentioned previously, Xela is a safe enough city. One can walk alone in daylight without fear. It is the transportation that is dangerous.

Yesterday we went to Xocomil, a water park about an hour from Xela, via chicken bus. After locating the correct bus at the bus terminal, we realized the loud noises we were hearing were people trying to get our attention. Apparently, there was another bus leaving sooner. We were on the new bus no more than 5 minutes when it stopped in the street, in front of a tire repair store. We waited as the tire was repaired, then continued on our journey, which fortunately, went without a hitch.

The water park was pure entertainment and great fun. It was similar to any large water park in the US. We noticed only two small differences. 1) one needed to say "pasa" rather than "go ahead" to people in line, and 2) the ubiquitous signs which read, "Favor, no orinar aqui." That is, "Please don't pee here."

Sonia has been gone the past couple of days in Guatemala City. We have had the house to ourselves and have been cooking our own meals. Chase has spent the last 2 nights at our house and is currently cooking pancakes for breakfast.

Today we will return to the church we visited last week and then we will shop for mementos of this fabulous trip.

Last weekend we hiked to Laguna Chicabal, a lagoon in the crater of a volcano. We took public transportation to a town named San Martin. It seems public transportation here is an experience in and of itself. Duane spent the half hour ride on the microbus (i.e. van) bent over, trying to avoid falling on people whenever the vehicle flew around a curve. Daniel spent the ride absolutely smushed between two strangers. The hike to the lagoon was long and, obviously, uphill. Part way up we decided to hire a truck to ease our legs. A man happened to be by driving by and, for a few dollars, was happy to turn around and take us up the mountain. We rode in the back of his pickup truck which was full of large sticks. The ride was, once again, a crazy one, winding on a bumpy mountain road without guard rails.

The walk the rest of the way to the lagoon was gorgeous. The clouds would roll in and out of our path. Every so often we would see local families carrying piles of sticks down the mountain on their backs. It appeared if one was old enough to walk, one was old enough to work. The path into the crater was a bit scary. Since we were in a cloud, the 570 steps down were not only narrow, but also wet and slippery.

On Sunday we visited a local church. Surprisingly, we were greeted solely by a young boy. While we tried to engage people in conversation, no one was interested in talking with us. Disappointed, we stopped for ice cream on our walk home to lift our spirits.

Immersion is certainly the way to learn a language! We've found that living the language helps us retain it. The other day we saw a dog that had been killed in the road. (There are ferril dogs all over the place.) The dogs body was completely flattened against the road. One comment about the "perro plano" was enough for us to never forget that "plano" means flat. Another example of this happened while we were hiking up out of the volcano's crater. We were with an older woman who was having a very difficult time. She kept begging our young and strong Guatemalan guide to, "empuje, empuje." He pushed her the whole way up. It was a hilarious scene and never will we forget that "empujar" means "to push."

It appears, not surprisingly, that Daniel has the most authentic accent of the family. The entire way up out of the crater he said, "arriba, arriba," beautifully rolling his R's.

Duane and I continue to enjoy time with our teachers. Duane's teacher, Erika, tells him stories that give us a better understanding of what life as a Guatemalan is like. My teacher, Pablo, continues to ask a million questions a day to get me to talk. I appreciate it immensely and know that struggling to speak is the only way to learn.

Charles was sick yesterday, but is now feeling better. Today Charles was saddened by the idea that this opportunity to learn Spanish by immersion is almost over. He feels he learned more Spanish at Casa Xelaju than he does at the Guatemalan primary school, so he would like to return to Casa Xelaju. Perhaps a few afternoon classes at Casa Xelaju are possible.

What a day! Today ends our second week of studies in Guatemala. The pressure is on to make good progress because we are now half way through. We have all made progress and look forward to the next two weeks. I believe Duane, Chase and I are all a bit sad knowing we will be heading back to the States in only 2 weeks.

Every Friday the Mennonite community here runs a bake shop. So today our field trip was to the bake shop to eat sticky buns. Just plain fun for a Friday morning.

In the afternoon we walked up one of the mountains surrounding Xela. It was beautiful in a simplistic way. The road was cobblestone. There were fields with corn and squash, cows and chickens roaming, and lots of green open space. It seemed as if every time we passed a farmhouse children would come out to look at the gringo kids. Not sure if Charles and Daniel noticed this.

Pablo, Sarah's teacher, accompanied us. We practiced Spanish and he got to practice English a bit. I have suspected he speaks some English, but had no idea how much, as he has only spoken to me in Spanish until today. I trust we will be back to Spanish-only next week at school.

The plan for our walk was to meet Sonia, our host mother, at a park at the top of the mountain and then all go to dinner together. We got mixed up and realized she was on a different mountain! Oops. We met at home and went to dinner from there. Andres, Sonia's 4-year-old grandson chose the restaurant--Pizza Hut! Pablo and Duane took a bus there as Sonia's car could only hold so many people. Because of his height, Duane had a hard time fitting in the bus.

How strange to walk into Pizza Hut in Guatemala. One is practically transported back to the States. The ambiance (if one could call it that at Pizza Hut) was completely familiar, including the pop songs booming throughout the restaurant.

We hadn't been there long when Daniel came running from the play area covered in blood. For a brief moment Sonia, Chase and I just stared at him, trying to figure out what part of him was hurt. Finally he told us his it was his nose. We whisked him to the bathroom to get him cleaned up and to stop the nosebleed. Almost immediately a male doctor was in the women's bathroom telling us what to do. Though Daniel's nose didn't hurt, he was scared by all the people surrounding him as he sat on the toilet in the little bathroom stall. Of course I was frazzled and the doctor was speaking Spanish. It made for a scene I won't soon forget.

One bright moment of the day was when Duane was explaining something to Charles in English and Charles responded in Spanish. Though it was only a few words, Duane was greatly pleased that Charles CHOSE to speak Spanish in response to English. Hoorraay. Also today Charles taught Duane how to multiply in Spanish. A little math lesson for his dad from a budding mathematician.

The first week of Guatemalan school for Charles and Daniel went well. The kids will continue at the school next week. There appears to be a growing affection between Andres and Charles and Daniel.

Tomorrow we are rising early for a Casa Xelaju-sponsored hike to the top of a volcano.

Feliz Cumpleanos! Yesterday was Daniel's 5th birthday. Our kind Guatemalan mother, Sonia, hosted a birthday party. She invited her friends and their children. She also had a dolphin pinata made especially for Daniel. Charles' and Daniel's previous teacher from Casa Xelaju also came. The kids broke the pinata, we ate cake and passed out goody bags to the children.

Our living situation is quite comfortable. Sonia has a house of approximately 1000 square feet. It has 3 bedrooms. Duane and I sleep on the main floor, in a bedroom just across the hall from Sonia. Charles and Daniel sleep upstairs in a cozy A-frame room. There is a TV in our room and high speed wireless internet. Many of the walls, floors and ceilings in the house are made of stained wood, so the house feels a bit like a cabin. The rest of the house is made of cement and the flooring in the main area of the house is all tile. All the doors are made of glass and windows are quite large. To enter the house, one must walk through a covered garage and up a set of outdoor stairs. Out the back door and down the stairs is a 100 square foot patio, which is enclosed by a complex of houses all owned by Sonia or a member of her family. Andres her 4-year-old grandson lives just below us. Sonia has a housekeeper named Viviana, a Mayan woman, who comes daily. Viviana cooks most of our meals and she serves lunch, which is the main meal of the day. Sonia has a cockatoo and two dogs, both of whom have befriended Daniel. Lalita, is a miniature French poodle who lives primarily inside the house. The other dog is a German shephard who lives on the outdoor patio.

The bathroom looks similar to ones we're used to, but it functions differently. The pipes in Guatemala can not handle toilet paper, so one throws used toilet paper into a trash can rather than the toilet. No one here drinks tap water. Rather, there is a water purifier in the kitchen where we get all water needed for drinking and brushing teeth. Water for the shower, in this house, is heated by the sun. While it has more potential than many Guatemalan showers to be hot, it hasn't been, as it is winter here (i.e.the rainy season).

Many Guatemalan showers make hot (i.e. lukewarm) water on demand. The electric water heater is actually part of the shower head. Since there are live wires in the shower, one must be careful not to get zapped by touching them. I made this mistake at the hotel at Lake Atitlan. Oops!

We are safely home in Xela after our weekend trip to Lake Atitlan. The lake was magnificent. We rode a boat across it from Panajachel to Santiago and then back again. Duane had really wanted to hike in the area, but one needs armed escorts to do it safely. With three minors along, we thought it too risky and passed up the opportunity.

Saturday evening the entire country lost electricity. Fortunately for us, Chase had his flashlight! We were walking in the streets when the lights came back on a couple hours later. What a relief!

The following day we visited a natural reserve. Since we had heard the reserve was small, we weren't expecting much. What a surprise! It was a beautiful outdoor jungle. Completely green with beautiful waterfalls. We saw monkeys and braved hanging bridges. Duane even got to feel like he'd taken a hike. At that altitude, we were all huffing and puffing.

We rode a public bus, commonly referred to as a chicken bus, back to Xela. What a ride! It was two hours of a speeding bullet bus (60 mph?) winding along mountain roads. Absolutely crazy! Even though the chicken bus had many stops, it was much faster than the private bus we took on the way to the lake. At each stop, a man would haul people's luggage to the roof of the bus at lightening speed. He'd balance the luggage on the back of his neck and shoulders as he climbed the ladder up to the top. Whenever anyone had to get off the bus, the man would just throw the stuff off the roof. And during the ride, one could see this man climbing, like a monkey, all over the outside of the bus to arrange the luggage and prepare for the next stop. (Did I mention how fast and swervy this bus was?) This is clearly what Duane saw a man doing on our first day in Guatemala, on our trip from the airport to Xela.

Today began our second week of classes. Duane got a new teacher who he thinks will be even better than the first. As I write this, he is conjugating a verb into the 25 tenses of Spanish. Yikes. Our field trip today was shopping for Daniel's birthday fiesta tomorrow. Our host mother had given us a list of items to buy so our teachers helped us find everything.

Today was also the first day of Guatemalan school for Charles and Daniel. It went OK! There are approximately 10 students in each of their classes. The other students all wear uniforms but since our kids are temporary, they don't need them. Charles described the experience as "easier" than the Spanish school. We think they will do fine at the school and hope they will make friends.

Today we also met with a Guatemalan Christian Reformed missionary. He told us about the work he is doing and invited us to visit a few of the very, very poor villages he works with, which are about 1.5 hours from Xela. We decided this would be an interesting experience and plan to play hookey from school a couple days in early September.

Today after class Sonia, our host mother, and her grandson Andres, took us all to the "country" which turned out to be a municipal park up in the mountains. It was a large park with walking paths and some old, rusty playground equipment. The highlight was the 3-story-high slide. It was made completely out of cement, even the bottom onto which one falls. We slid down it sitting on cardboard. Then we found a plastic 2-liter bottle which someone had obviously used before for the same purpose. Chase tried it first. He sat on the flattened bottle and flew down the slide and off the bottom, catching himself against the cement guard wall (designed either to keep one from falling down the mountain or hit one's head against). For some reason, I guess the way Daniel was sitting on the bottle, he came down the slide with GREAT velocity. Thank God I happen to be in his way at the bottom and was paying enough attention to catch him as he came crashing into me. It was one of those situations where we know an angel was watching over Daniel. If I had not been standing exactly where I was, he would have been severely hurt. Yikes. Our skin crawls at the thought. Thank you God!

Early tomorrow morning we are headed to Lake Atitlan for an overnight stay. The trip is a touristy splurge as Casa Xelaju does not have any planned events of their own. We will spend the night in a fancy hotel (by Guatemalan standards, which means it usually has hot water). We are going with two women we met from school. We were planning to take a chicken bus there and as we were discussing all the details, a staff member from the school overheard us and said he was taking a private group there at the same time and we could ride with him! Hooray. The chicken bus experience will have to be saved for the return trip.

What an incredible day! Thanks to Chase and his good relationship with his American house mates, we were invited to come along with them to visit some hot springs this afternoon. The place is called Fuentes Georginas and it is about an hour drive from Xela. The bus trip there was an experience in and of itself. First, there were gorgeous views of Mayan fields and local vegetable stands. Trucks loaded with one type of vegetable would pass by. Mind-boggling to think that all that work was done by hand. What steady feet the farmers must have to work on mountain slopes. The road we drove on was, of course, also up a mountain slope. It was a narrow, one lane mountain road (no guard rails) that led us directly through a cloud. The driver could hardly see 10 feet in front of the bus. All the sudden we would come to a sharp turn and just hope no one was coming the other way.

The hot springs were in a beautiful, natural setting. The mountain slopes surrounding the pools were completely green with jungle-like, large-leafed plants. It was misty with fog (once again, we were in the clouds) and steam was coming off the green water. Wow, was the water hot where it entered the first pool! We've heard it's even more spectacular in the morning when one can also see the more distant mountains. We do hope to go back again.

Today my teacher and I got into a theological discussion about faith. It was fun because suddenly I realized we were having a conversation without language being the focus. After a while, we decided this would be a topic to discuss more another day. The following grammar review seemed so dry after such an engaging (though slow) exchange of ideas.

The field trip today was to the Natural History Museum. I skipped out on most of it as I felt like having a more traditional lesson. From what I hear, one highlight was seeing a (taxidermy) Quetzal bird.

It is currently absolutely POURING rain. We were out buying cell phones when it started. Needless to say, we arrived home drenched. Chase has one phone and we have the other, since we are staying at separate houses. The American group that is staying at Chase's house, and that has been watching over him, is leaving this weekend. We now have an easy way to communicate. Very good.

Today I thought I heard my teacher say that he is "indigena" (indigenous). In Xela there are many indigenous, Mayan people. The women still wear traditional dress. Many of the families are farmers or work in the market and don't have enough money to send their kids to school. When I later asked him, "did you say you are indigenous?" he just looked at me like I was crazy! It took lots of practice speaking to later figure out that, in fact, he is not indigenous. What he said is that he is an "ingeniero" (engineer). We all thought it was hilarious and got a good laugh out of that.

Today, the third day of school, was the first day that I felt like I could speak with my teacher without being too self-conscious. It is hard to not care about making mistakes! However, I know self-consciousness will ONLY slow down learning. As a result of the "confident" day, when I walked into the office to return something, the words, "Where does this go?" in Spanish slipped out of my mouth without a thought! What a terrific feeling!

Thanks to our host mother, Charles and Daniel will be attending a private school next week (with Guatemalan children). They will attend the same school as Andres, our host mother's grandson. We think Daniel will be much happier with other children. He likes his teacher at Casa Xelaju, but is missing interactions with other kids. We're not sure how Charles will do in the school, but we figured trying it out for one week can't hurt. He can always come back to Casa Xelaju.

Another group field trip during class today. We do enjoy these field trips because it gives us an experience in language learning beyond the classroom. There are lots of explanations to hear (i.e. listening comprehension) and many questions to ask. (i.e. practice speaking).

Today we went to the cemetery. Many caskets here are put in tombs rather than in the ground. There is not enough space in the ground for everyone. In fact, even the tombs are full. The tombs are arranged three high and appear as a wall around the cemetery. For families that do not have enough money to buy a mausoleum or plot, there is an option for renting a tomb. When the family decides not to pay rent anymore, or if they don't have enough money to pay rent, the bodies are exhumed and buried in a common grave. Then the tombs are available for another family to rent. What a strange idea this is to us, and yet it makes sense in a city where there is not much space. Enough writing about funerals and cemeteries...

One big difference for children here is that there is not much space to run around and play. The streets are much too narrow for kids to play in. It wouldn't be safe the way the cars zip down the roads! The ONLY place kids can do this is in the small courtyards which are enclosed by a a families' group of houses.

Our siesta is over and it's time to head back to our school, Casa Xelaju. We're going to dance class. Salsa!

Next time I will write about a funny miscommunication I had with my teacher.

Today the family, along with my nephew Chase, and all our teachers spent part of our class time taking a field trip. We went to a Menonite bakery. On our walk we saw a funeral procession. The family was all walking along the street as the casket was being carried. First came the men and behind them all the women. Then came the cars with friends.

The walk gave us a chance to speak more with Charles and Daniel´s teacher. She mentioned that she is an evangelical Christian. Apparently yesterday she was humming a song that we learned at Puente de Vida, our spanish church in Minnesota. She said when she was singing it Daniel corrected her. She was quite surprised when he continued the song! Today the kids made a memory game of fruits. Charles wants to learn grammar. We had to actually ask his teacher to include some grammar in his lesson so he could feel like an adult. He is enjoying writing spanish words in his notebook. Currently Chase and I are at the school waiting for a cooking lesson to begin. Charles and Daniel stayed home to play with Andres, the grandson of our host mother.

All is well and we are loving Xela. Now if we can just let those irregular verbs sink into our minds...

We arrived!

The 18-hour trip to Quetzaltenango went without hitch. The last leg of our trip, the 4.5 hour bus ride up and up and up and curving around and around, was long and tiring, but so exciting as well! We saw Mayans farming on slopes, cows tied up in places that appeared to us like the middle of nowhere, and chicken buses flying past us. Duane saw a man on a chicken bus jump out the front door, run to the back us the bus, climb up the ladder onto the top of the bus, fiddle with lugguage, climb down, run to the front of the bus and hop on again. All the while the bus never stopped or slowed down!

When we arrived at our host family house there was no one there. The owner was out. We waited for 20 minutes for her to arrive. As we were waiting a young boy and his mother walked up. The boy had seen Charles and Daniel and couldn´t help but come over to say hello. He`s from the USA and is in Xela for the same reason we are! When our hostess finally arrived she didn´t have the keys to her house so she broke the window to open the door! The house is quite comfortable. It feels like we are at a fancy camp. And the food has been terrific! Papaya for breakfast and a delicious meal this noon with spaghetti and salsa, zuchini with a chese sauce, cucumber salad, and a hot apple drink that was similar to runny applesauce.

Our first day of class went well. My teacher kept me talking (i.e. practicing!) for at least two hours straight. It was one question after another. Whenever I tried to ask him a question, he´d answer it briefly and ask me another one. It was obvious he wanted me to do the talking in order to learn. I am greatly pleased. Our hostess has a daughter and 4-year old grandson that live below her. Next week we are considering sending Charles and Daniel to school with him, just so they can interact more with local children.

As far as safety, we feel much more secure than expected. Another huge relief! A school administator took us for a short tour of the city today. More about Xela another time.

In Grand Rapids

The past few days we have been staying with Duane's parents in Grand Rapids, MI. They have been kind enough to babysit as Duane and I do final errands. Yesterday we met with my sister and brother-in-law to get travel documents notarized. Our 14-year old nephew, Chase, is coming with our family so we needed proper documentation to show that we are not kidnapping him and to authroize Duane and me to make medical decisions for him.

Yesterday as Charles was jumping on a trampoline with his second cousins his knee knocked his mouth. It started bleeding and got swollen. To his surprise he spit out his front tooth, which had been loose. The event was a relief to him because he'd been hoping to lose the tooth before leaving for Guatemala.

Today we celebrate Daniel's 5th birthday with Oma and Gramps. Yesterday he asked Gramps if they were going to give him a present. He was delighted to know that, indeed, there is a present for him! Since, as an almost 5-year-old, gifts are SO important to him, Duane and I purchased a little something to give him on his real birthday, which we will celebrate in Guatemala.

Duane and I are getting excited, mostly by knowing we WILL have a better grasp of Spanish when we return. It's difficult to know what language goals to set, what is realistic and what is just a dream. We've been told by our Wycliffe Bible Translator friends that typically it takes 6 months of full-time immersion study for a person to become fluent in Spanish. (They are in China where is takes 2 years!) Right now, my personal goal is to improve speaking skills. I look forward to the day that Spanish rolls off my tongue without long pauses first, to think about how to translate a sentence or how to conjugate a verb. Currently, conversations with me in Spanish are more a lesson in patience than anything else.

Preparing to Leave Home

Today the growing piles must finally be shoved into our suitcases as we pack to leave home for a month. We are eager, yet nervous, to visit Guatemala. Our motivation for this trip is for the family to learn Spanish through immersion. We have attended Puente de Vida, a Spanish-speaking church, for the past year in hopes to increase our Spanish language skills. Since learning has been so slow, we decided to try out immersion.

Tomorrow morning we'll pick up a rental car from the airport and drive to MI.