sobre mi nueva familia (about my new family)

wow, so many racing thoughts and a slow keyboard with weird keys. that´s why i´m not using capitols. i´m in an internet cafe with my 27 yr old single mom and her 4yr old son. her name is ishi and his is pablo. they are great but i have my apprehensions. ishi speaks perfect english cause she went to high school in texas but she is only using spanish so that i learn it. i appreciate that. their apartment is very nice and clean. the shower is huge and has hot water. she has a car. she is very fasionable and reminds me very much of my cousin jed´s wife nichole. her son is adorable and talks nonstop. last night we were talking about the importance of wearing pants. and this morning curious pablo found and asked about my ´marka de naciomento´ (birthmark). haha they have a little turtle just like becca´s at home. the first night she took me to the grocery store and asked me what i wanted.. i felt sort of awkward cause i had just met her but we got a fair amount of stuff. she´s paid for everything so far and even bought a $12 cellphone today for me to use if i wanted or needed. you buy them cheap here then buy calling cards for minutes. i´m also getting my own set of keys. it´s crazy. i´m happy for the comfortableness of it but not at the same time. i was hoping i´d experience a ´poorer´part or family so that i could be stretched and challenged more. i don´t want to become complacent. that´s not to say that i don´t have a lot to learn from ishi and pablo. she is taking good care of me. it´s hard to tell whether she will be more of a mother or a friend. she has a boyfriend named enrique who took us to a karaoke restaurant the first night from 8-930 and then so a jazz concert. it was fun but i was super tired and we didn´t get back til 1230am. she actually works at CASAS where i am taking spanish classes which is nice. she said she walks most days cause it is really close. i´m looking forward to that. enrique also said he wants to take us to climb a volcanoe next weekend!!

last night we met 20 of ishi´s family members. it was just what i needed cause i was feeling homesick and not too happy about my host family. we ate a wonderful meal and her mom, aunt and a cousin made conversation with me. her cousin lived in philly for 7 1/2 yrs and knows lancaster and york. it was neat.

in other news, yesterday our group was together all day in the center of guatemala city doing a scavenger hunt and visiting the market. i bought a few things for super cheap. we also had the opportunity to witness and participate in a march for peace. i´m going to be writing more about that on monday on emu´s website for cross culturals so you can check that out www.emu.edu/crosscultural and we´ll put up some photos.

i´d like to thank my dad for the blonde hair genes which has gotten me many whistles and looks. it´s weird being the minority again. so much to see and do. we have some more shopping and then i have a lot of homework to do. i´m going to see if i can upload some photos of pablo and my house and guatemala and the march.

hope everyone back home is going well.
love and miss you all,
lindsey

a few friends waving goodbye from outside the bus before we left.

no.. we weren´t crying or anything like that..

the courtyard at CASAS where i will study spanish and spend my afternoon breaks tanning =)

a view of the distant volcanoe from the roof of CASAS with some sweet clouds for jake!

having bought scarves in the market, we felt we were officially on cross cultural!

one group marching in from a catholic church nearby during the ´marcha de paz´ (march for peace)

peace.

all ages can stand and sing for peace.


just some of the many hundreds (probably thousands) standing against the growing violence in guatemala city and a view of the catholic church.


my brother pablo and i.


la tortuga (the turtle).


there´s me, safe and healthy. pablo took this one. he loves using my camera.


a view from the door, looking towards the kitchen at the left and hallway back to the rooms, bathroom and laundry (oh yeah, we have a washer and a dryer!)


back towards the living room and kitchen.


my room which used to be pablo´s but he sleeps with his mama now.