First Week of School

Hola a todos from Antigua!

This week we moved from Magdalena to Antigua, where we'll be staying until the last three weeks of the trip, when we return to Magdalena.  My host family here consists of Daniela, my host mom, her husband, Rodrigo, who we don't see much because of work, and their son, Jose Rodrigo, who is 1 1/2 years old!  He is ADORABLE, and I have a good time playing with him.  School officially started on Monday...I was NERVOOUUSS.  Four hours of Spanish class one-on-one with a professor??  Talk about nerve-wracking!  However, I met my professor, Harvey, and I wasn't as nervous anymore.  Everyone tells me that he is the best of the best, and I can see why!  He loves to chat about life in general, and doesn't worry too much about following the syllabus exactly as long as I'm learning SOMETHING.  We also get to watch movies during class-time sometimes, so that makes the time go by pretty fast.  I'm taking a Hispanic Literature class, so I also get the chance to brush up on my Spanish reading skills.  Nothing too exciting happened during the week, except lots of doing homework, so going on an excursion to Guatemala City on Saturday definitely sounded like a nice change of pace.
We left pretty early on Saturday morning, at about 7:45 first to SEMILLA, which is a seminary near Guatemala City.  There we met the director and assistant director of the program, who would be our tour guides for the day.  We arrived in the Central Park in Guatemala City, which is surrounded by a cathedral and the National Palace, and we got an assignment.  We split into four groups, armed with different questions to ask Guatemalans about the city.  Our group went to the post office and asked how much a stamp to send a letter to El Salvador would cost (12 Q).  We also went to Pollo Campero, a popular fast food restaurant in Guatemala, and asked how many there are in Guatemala (145!) and who the owners of Pollo Campero are (the Gutierrez family).  We then walked to the cathedral and saw the posts outside of the cathedral inscribed with the names of people who were killed in the Civil War.  We also looked around for interesting graffiti.  We found one that said "barrio roto", or "broken neighborhood" and a lot of political statements sprayed on the walls of Guatemala City.  We reconvened with our big group and headed to lunch, where we were first told the history of Guatemala by a professor named Hector.  I think he was a little shocked that we all speak Spanish...he was going to give his talk in English, but we told him that we would be able to understand him just fine if he spoke in Spanish!  It took some major reassuring on our part to get him to understand that we would get the message no matter what language he spoke.  After Hector was done talking, we had a delicious meal of soup, beef, and rice, and left for the cemetery.  Now I know this sounds depressing, but it was SO INTERESTING.  All of the graves were above ground in buildings that looked like small houses or churches...it was like a neighborhood of dead people!  We could tell how rich families were by the fanciness of their mausoleums (the richest family in Central America is buried there in an Egyptian mausoleum!).  After wandering around for a while, we walked to the landfill, which is a GINORMOUS hole....it's more like a ravine...right by the cemetery.   The stench was awful, and we saw a bunch of trucks of people come to the landfill to rifle through the garbage in hopes that they'll find something of value, or at least some food.  Vicki, one of our tour guides, told us that children are no longer allowed to go to the landfill because last year there was a "garbage avalanche" and ten kids were trapped and eventually died.  It was a solemn experience, and made me think about how much poverty these people must be experiencing to be willing to go through a mountain of other people's garbage.  After we saw the landfill, we had a total turn-around and took a trip to the mall.  The mall is really nice, and has a sweet fountain, but it was somewhat tainted after seeing the landfill...the majority of the Guatemalan population can't even afford to go to the mall.  We looked around for about a half hour, and then, pooped after a full day, left for Antigua.  After getting back, I pretty much ate dinner then headed to bed.
Today, I went to Mass at a church by my house with two other girls from our group.  I didn't know the responses in Spanish, so it was confusing at times, but it was interesting to see how Guatemalans do Mass.  After Mass we went to the classiest McDonald's in the whole world for lunch (they have a gorgeous courtyard facing the volcanoes!), and here I am in the Students International Office attempting to get some things done!
I'll try to keep y'all updated at least weekly...maybe Sunday's my day for blogging??
Keep praying for me and my new adventure here!
I love you all!

Rosita