At least for now, I’ve decided to not record events for every single day since I’m going to be here over 40 days. I’ll write down events that stick in my mind or ones that I want to share with others.
Monday I had my first day of school! Because I’m new here, they put me in the afternoon group—the students in the morning have been here for a while already. I think next week I’ll be switched to the morning, starting at 8 a.m. I think in the end I will be happy for the switch, but so far, even though it’s only been a few days, I’m enjoying having afternoon class because then, like today (Tuesday morning), I can wake up, eat, then get ready for the day, do some reading and writing, have lunch, and then go to class until 7 p.m. I do think, though, that I’ll like having class in the afternoon because then I’m up and going by early in the morning and I can have the afternoon to do things with people or on my own.
Before I began school on Monday, I went with Christine and our guide, Cesar, on a little adventure up La Muela (literally “the molar”). It’s a mountain near Xela that you can get to by bus and then you hike up it. We did that for a few hours. The hike up was a bit strenuous since we’re at a higher altitude anyways, but we made it. The view was beautiful—we could see the whole city, nearby volcanoes, and other neat aspects of the area. The sun was warm and we were able to bask in it for a while… too long actually. Little did I realize how powerful the sun would be and how fair my skin is. The hike down wasn’t too bad, and we made our way back to the school, did a bit of grocery shopping, and then each of our homes for lunch. For lunch, we had pasta with white crumbly cheese (halfway between the texture of parmesan and feta cheese). At 2 o’clock, I went to my class to meet my tutor. Her name is Ingrid. She’s a very friendly and upbeat person. I think we’ll work well together. Class lasted for about 5 hours. At first it wasn’t long, but once we got past the halfway point, it became tiring (remember, though, I had just climbed a mini-mountain). My neck was hurting because of the sunburn I had received that morning.
After class, I went home and had dinner with the family. We had more pasta, frijoles liquados (refried black beans), cornmeal bread stuff, and juice. It was a good meal—I think the cornmeal helped fill me up well.
At night I put up pictures that I brought with me, as well as a selection from Steps to Christ that I really like. I listened to some music and then went to bed.
Now, today, my second day of class, I’m in the café using the Internet and updating this blog. I lathered on the sunscreen this morning so that I could at least maintain the bit of non-bloody-red skin I have. Oh, a note of interest: not shaving after a long time, and then doing it right after a sunburn hurts like nobody’s business. I don’t recommend it.
Pues, hasta luego. Voy a escribir mas y comer almuerzo.
