Friday, May 20

What started out as a terrible week ended up being a fantastic week!  I’ve been super busy, but that’s a good thing!  I bought a (really!) cheap guitar since I had some money left over from last month and this month, and Justo, my neighbor in Santa Clara, has started teaching me to play.  I also had enough money to pay June’s rent in advance, which was nice.  So guitar has been really fun (although my hands really hurt!) but it’s another goal to work towards and will help liven up the rainy days.  I also had my first classes of Tz’utujil, and can now greet people (Saqiri’ - Buenos dias, Xe’q’ij- Buenas tardes, and xokaq’aa- Buenas noches) as well as say how are you and my name is.  Afterwards my throat hurt though from making all the different sounds!  My teacher is really nice though and was really prepared- he teaches Tz’utujil regularly, so he’s got it down.  On Wednesday I helped out with another gynecology clinic and got to talk with the women more and got to know the doctors more.  The universities make their students do a residency in the puesto de saluds, or community health posts, in rural areas for 6 months so it was interesting to hear the doctors from Guatemala city talking about how different life was in rural areas.  We all got lunch from the local comedor, which is kind of like a cheap restaurant with only a few things on the menu, and it was sooooo good because it was the first real food I had eaten besides bread since I got sick the weekend before.  I was also invited to dinner this week by a guy I met in a tienda.  His wife prepared a nice meal and I met their two kids.  He teaches English and wanted to practice English, so he spoke English and I corrected him while I spoke Spanish and he corrected me.  He also said his wife wants a friend, so I am going over to their house again on Sunday to help her make lunch and then have our “club de conversacion”.   

Friday, May 27

Last Sunday I went over to Israel’s house, or the guy I met in the tienda.  I talked to his wife for a while she got the baby ready for the day and then helped Israel with his English while he helped me with my Tz’utujil.  I love the way people speak in this area because they use lots of different tones when they’re speaking, kind of like singing.  They talk slower than people from the city too, which helps me out.  For example when greeting people, instead of a short Buenos dias, it’s more of a long bueenoos dIIIas seño (seño is what young women/women teachers are called).  Israel is really proud of being Maya, and so he and his wife are also teaching me a lot about the Mayan culture here.  I can’t wait to wear traje tipica but I feel like I have to gain more confianza with the people before I do that!  This week I’ve been working on going to schools and getting to know more people.  Me and Grace, my site mate, teach English every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday (we only have 6 students so far, but it’s fun) and I have Tz’utujil classes Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, so I have been busy with all that as well!  On Thursday I went with Grace to one of the schools in the more rural communities, Chuipoj, to introduce myself and get to know the kids.  They are all so cute! Also, I greeted a woman in Tz’utujil this week and she understood me!  I didn’t understood what she said after “Xe’q’ij xten” but it was still exciting!