Moving In and Starting School

Monday was my first day of language school and also the day I moved in with my homestay. I decided to stay an extra night with Kristin, so the man at my homestay, Juan, picked me up at the end of class. He and his wife, Marianna, live with their daughter, her husband, and her three year old daughter, Sesia, who is very cute and very talkative. She turns four tomorrow. I see Juan and Marianna at mealtimes, and while we don't have much to say to one another, they are very patient and helpful with my very limited Spanish. I don't have pictures of the house yet, so I'll do my best to describe it. There is an outer gate that leads into a cement courtyard, surrounded by all the individual rooms. As far as I can tell, there is no common room other than the kitchen/dining room. I have my own room with my own key, so I have a good amount of privacy and security which is nice. I will however need to replace the curtains because you can see through them at night if the light is on, which is not so great for changing clothes. This week there has been a German girl living with the family, but she is leaving on Sunday. I will miss having her because she speaks much better Spanish than me, so she helps with communicating with the family, and I feel much less isolated having her.

Speaking of which, it is incredibly isolating not to be able to communicate. It's frustrating to have thoughts and ideas and feelings more complex than the weather or simple sentences, but be totally incapable of expressing them. Politics completely aside, I have a newfound respect and sympathy for anyone living in a country where they cannot speak the language. It is so frustrating and incredibly exhausting! It is also very humbling to be a well-educated person reduced to sentences as simple as, "The dog is under the table," "The man is fat, but the girl is thin," "The shirt is for Maria." Sometimes I feel like I'm never going to learn all of this, and I have to remind myself to be patient. Today was only my third day of class, and I already feel like I've learned a lot, so we'll see how I feel in a few weeks.

A couple people have asked me about the meaning of Quetzaltenango since I gave a brief explanation of Xela's. From what I have found (mostly on Wikipedia, I'll be honest), it comes from the name in an Aztec dialect for the city that was here before the Spanish came. The Aztecs are mostly from the Yucatan and central Mexico, and were the rival civilization of the Maya. Taking advantage of an already standing antagonism, the Spanish fought with the Aztecs against the Maya, and replaced the Mayan name for the city with the Aztec. It is commonly thought to mean "the place of the quetzal bird," but may have originally been closer to "place where there are erected walls" or "in the quetzal fortress." The quetzal is the national bird of Guatemala, but I've heard they're more commonly seen in countries futher south.

It has been really great to hear from some of you. It helps with the homesickness and feelings of isolation. Keep them coming!

Around and Above

Yesterday, I went on a hike with Kristin's (the friend I've been staying with) friend, Brendan up above Xela. It was such a gorgeous day with clear skies and perfect weather. Xela is about 7500 feet above sea level, and I was feeling the lack of oxygen at this altitude as we hiked up the hillside. We took several breaks and drank lots of water. It felt so good, though, to get out of the house, move around, and get winded.

I've posted some pictures from the hike. The first three are pictures around Kristin's house in the city. She's on the outskirts, so you can see the mountains on her street. The rest are as we got higher above Xela. You should be able to see the pictures much bigger if you click on them. It was so beautiful!

Getting Adjusted

This is the view outside my friend's house in Xela. From what I can tell, a lot of houses are set up this way, with an outer gate leading into some kind of yard and then the house. It's the only picture I have so far of Xela, but more will be coming soon.
For those of you feeling climate-envy, let me offer this one consolation, small as it is: while it's pretty warm here in the afternoons, because Xela is up in the mountains, it gets pretty chilly in the mornings and at night, and since no one here has heat, I've been bundling up to sleep and staying bundled until it warms up. That will change in a couple months, but for now, it's not as warm as I had planned or packed for.
I spent my first full day in the house. I was tired from traveling, and a bit too overwhelmed to go out alone in a new city with pretty minimal language skills. Yesterday, I took my friend's dog for a walk in the city. It was really good to get out. The streets are laid out in a grid system with calles (streets) in one direction and avenidas in the other. They are numbered rather than named, so it's pretty easy to get around. For those of you who went on the Mexico trip last March, Xela is a lot like San Cristobal in that the buildings are almost all one-story with no breaks in between, the streets are narrow and a lot are cobble stone or brick, and there are really narrow sidewalks ranging from a couple inches to more than two feet above street level. You can see the mountains outside the house, but once you get further into the city, there's almost no green space other than the main plaza. I'll get pictures soon so you can see.
I found my school, and it was really nice to have another point of reference in the city and to know where I'll be for the next several months. It apparently gets a lot of medical students because it offers medical Spanish and is connected to a clinic. I'm looking forward to hopefully studying with people who have visions for their work similar to mine. School starts on Monday, and I move in with my homestay on Sunday.
Last night, I went out with my friend with some of her friends from work. We rode her scooter, which was a fun and exciting way to see the city at night. Tomorrow we'll go hiking above the city, so hopefully I'll have good pictures to share.
I'll leave you with a picture of Callie, my companion and protector for the past few days.

I've Arrived!

Hello all!
I am here safe in Xela staying with a friend from college for the week. I landed in Guatemala City yesterday afternoon and was met by two people who are friends with a man my dad went to school with almost 30 years ago. It was a great connection made through a Christmas letter and the wonder of Facebook. They were incredibly generous and kind, and they encouraged me to stay with them overnight rather than taking the bus alone late into the night. So I stayed with them overnight and long enough this morning to watch the Inauguration. It was a bit strange to watch CNN and see Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper in Guatemala. When was the last time any of you watched the Inauguration of a world leader outside of the States? I know that I never have, but it was on several channels this morning. It was, of course, very exciting, and it will be interesting to see what people here are thinking about it.
I will be here, in Xela (shay-la) for the next five months, studying Spanish, hopefully volunteering in a clinic when my Spanish is good enough, and traveling the surrounding area. Xela is the indigenous name of the city. Its official name is Quetzaltenango, and that's the name to look for on a map. Xela is short for Xelaju (shay-la-WHO), which roughly translates as "under the ten," probably in reference to the mountains that surround it. The bus ride here from Guatemala City was a stunningly beautiful ride through the mountains. I didn't get any pictures, but I will hopefully upload some soon.
I would love to hear from you, either here, by e-mail, or on Facebook. Let me know if you have questions or things you'd especially like to know about. I would love if this could be more than just me talking to/at you.