Here´s Dad doing what he does best the day I left for Guatemala..
Jake squeezing me one last time!
Family picture (minus Eric and Lindsay, sorry).
Our Spanish class and 3 others went to the zoo one day.. this picture is for papaw!
Dad, ´Como se llama?´ How´s your llama?
This monkey reminded me of my sister.. HA! Just Kidding.
Here´s a picture for Meme!
This is my Spanish class.. Me, Anna, our teacher Albertina, and Allison. Also some giraffes for mom!
A shot of the hot springs 5 of us girls visited one Saturday while the rest of the group hiked a huge and difficult volcano!
How´s that winter weather? (P.S. I´m getting sun burned in this picture)
Aerial shot of the hot springs from the top of the building you could climb. There were 11 pools of varying heats. Did I also mention we got massages? All for the low, low price of $20.
Here´s my brother, trying to run from the camera. He seemed to think it was a fun game, even though I just wanted one good picture of him!
Now Pablo´s trying to duck out of the way of the camera. He makes me laugh!
And a confused look.. not sure why. But at least he stood still!
The picture Pablo took.. of his power ranger. It´s funny when he sings the theme song in English. He also likes to change into ´turbo´ and then fight me.
Yesterday Amy and I went to get pedicures in our free afternoon. So good!
All smiles after getting pampered!
Hi everyone, LOVE YOU ALL! Also, look how tan I am - you can tell on my wrist where I wear my hair ties while tanning : )Ok, so now that I finally got those up I wanna write a little bit about a typical day..
I get up around 6:55 and shower and almost always get back to my room from the bathroom at 7:26.. it´s kinda creepy actually. Then I make my bed (which I never do at home), finish getting ready, and go eat breakfast. Most mornings I eat breakfast alone but sometimes the other two are ready when I am. My last box of cereal was OH´s which reminded me of grandma and grandpa and the beach. We usually leave the house around 8:15 and we´ve been driving instead of walking lately cause we have to drop Pablo off at school which is close to my school and Ishi´s work. Everything with Pablo is a contest or a game. We always ´race´down to the car from our 3rd story apartment, and we race to the apartment when we get home in the afternoons. Naturally, he always wins. Usually I let him, but on the days I wear skirts and heels, he wins legitimately. I always pretend to fake cry and he calls me ´chiona´ which means cry baby! It´s funny.
I get to school right before the bell rings and have Spanish class from 8:30-10:30. We usually talk about a story we read the night before, or do grammar exercises (my fav.. not), or talk about random topics such as our weddings and families back home. Then we have a half hour snack break at 10:30 and we can only talk in Spanish with our friends. We usually have some kind of sweet bread or chips and dip.
We go back to class from 11-12:30.. more talking, usually some games, and listening to a spanish song and writing down the words then singing it. Then we have lunch, which I usually eat most of.. and always consists of some kind of rice, tortillas, sometimes beans and usually foreign meat. I usually ask for no meat.. I much prefer Heindel meat that I´ve helped butcher..
After lunch we have a little free time until our group activity. Mondays are history class with our leader Jim. Tuesday´s are a field trip with CASAS to either the MCC office, a church, museums, or something like that. Wednesday´s are our free days.. when I go to the internet cafe, get ice cream, check email etc. Thursday´s are another CASAS activity, usually a native person comes for a lecture. And then Fridays we have group debriefing. We talk about relevant topics, homesickness, our weeks, announcements for the weekend, and usually have a time of worship at the end.
Most days we´re done by 3:30 or 4 and then I wait around for my mom to get off work at 4:30. We go home and I either do some homework or take a quick nap. Then we usually have something in the evenings. Some nights we have meetings at her church, or activities like an Oriental Night at her church this past Tuesday. Every Wednesday we go to her Grandma and Aunt´s house.. with her parents. It´s their family tradition that they said they´ve been doing forever. I really like it because it reminds me of the Grosh family Friday tradition. We always eat eggs, beans, cream and bread.. It´s my one authentic Guatemalan meal each week! Other nights we might go to restaurant with Ishi´s boyfriend or friends, and occasionally we do stay at home.
Ishi doesn´t really cook that much.. and when she does it´s usually pasta (which is fine with me), or frozen dinners heated up.. Or she makes me grilled cheese and pb&j! I feel like she is always cleaning.. her family was teasing her about it the other day. She brooms the floor, mops it, and dusts, collects the garbage, and does the dishes just about every single day. It´s crazy! But our house is always clean. I think that´s kind of cultural.. buut maybe not because Amy told me her host parents never clean and there´s always clutter.
I usually finish up homework after we get back home around 8 or 9.. or after dinner. Sometimes I watch part of a movie with Pablo but he´s always changing them 20 minutes in! Oh well. I normally get to bed between 9-10 which is nice. And then start all over again!
It has started to feel normal and like a routine. I feel comfortable in my host house and with my host family. It´s crazy that a month is already gone.. and we only have another month being stable here in Guatemala. I´m not looking forward to saying goodbye to Ishi and Pablo..
Alright, I have about another hour until my oral part of my spanish exam today. The written part and paragraph part went really well. I feel pretty good about them. I am kinda nervous about this oral part though. We´ll see how it goes!!
I always appreciate getting emails.. and I can receive mail here at CASAS too.. (ask Mom for the address if you want it). Hope everyone had a good Groundhog´s day. Also, today is my half birthday.. so HAPPY HALF BIRTHDAY TO ME!
Much love and prayers from Guatemala,
Lindsey
I get up around 6:55 and shower and almost always get back to my room from the bathroom at 7:26.. it´s kinda creepy actually. Then I make my bed (which I never do at home), finish getting ready, and go eat breakfast. Most mornings I eat breakfast alone but sometimes the other two are ready when I am. My last box of cereal was OH´s which reminded me of grandma and grandpa and the beach. We usually leave the house around 8:15 and we´ve been driving instead of walking lately cause we have to drop Pablo off at school which is close to my school and Ishi´s work. Everything with Pablo is a contest or a game. We always ´race´down to the car from our 3rd story apartment, and we race to the apartment when we get home in the afternoons. Naturally, he always wins. Usually I let him, but on the days I wear skirts and heels, he wins legitimately. I always pretend to fake cry and he calls me ´chiona´ which means cry baby! It´s funny.
I get to school right before the bell rings and have Spanish class from 8:30-10:30. We usually talk about a story we read the night before, or do grammar exercises (my fav.. not), or talk about random topics such as our weddings and families back home. Then we have a half hour snack break at 10:30 and we can only talk in Spanish with our friends. We usually have some kind of sweet bread or chips and dip.
We go back to class from 11-12:30.. more talking, usually some games, and listening to a spanish song and writing down the words then singing it. Then we have lunch, which I usually eat most of.. and always consists of some kind of rice, tortillas, sometimes beans and usually foreign meat. I usually ask for no meat.. I much prefer Heindel meat that I´ve helped butcher..
After lunch we have a little free time until our group activity. Mondays are history class with our leader Jim. Tuesday´s are a field trip with CASAS to either the MCC office, a church, museums, or something like that. Wednesday´s are our free days.. when I go to the internet cafe, get ice cream, check email etc. Thursday´s are another CASAS activity, usually a native person comes for a lecture. And then Fridays we have group debriefing. We talk about relevant topics, homesickness, our weeks, announcements for the weekend, and usually have a time of worship at the end.
Most days we´re done by 3:30 or 4 and then I wait around for my mom to get off work at 4:30. We go home and I either do some homework or take a quick nap. Then we usually have something in the evenings. Some nights we have meetings at her church, or activities like an Oriental Night at her church this past Tuesday. Every Wednesday we go to her Grandma and Aunt´s house.. with her parents. It´s their family tradition that they said they´ve been doing forever. I really like it because it reminds me of the Grosh family Friday tradition. We always eat eggs, beans, cream and bread.. It´s my one authentic Guatemalan meal each week! Other nights we might go to restaurant with Ishi´s boyfriend or friends, and occasionally we do stay at home.
Ishi doesn´t really cook that much.. and when she does it´s usually pasta (which is fine with me), or frozen dinners heated up.. Or she makes me grilled cheese and pb&j! I feel like she is always cleaning.. her family was teasing her about it the other day. She brooms the floor, mops it, and dusts, collects the garbage, and does the dishes just about every single day. It´s crazy! But our house is always clean. I think that´s kind of cultural.. buut maybe not because Amy told me her host parents never clean and there´s always clutter.
I usually finish up homework after we get back home around 8 or 9.. or after dinner. Sometimes I watch part of a movie with Pablo but he´s always changing them 20 minutes in! Oh well. I normally get to bed between 9-10 which is nice. And then start all over again!
It has started to feel normal and like a routine. I feel comfortable in my host house and with my host family. It´s crazy that a month is already gone.. and we only have another month being stable here in Guatemala. I´m not looking forward to saying goodbye to Ishi and Pablo..
Alright, I have about another hour until my oral part of my spanish exam today. The written part and paragraph part went really well. I feel pretty good about them. I am kinda nervous about this oral part though. We´ll see how it goes!!
I always appreciate getting emails.. and I can receive mail here at CASAS too.. (ask Mom for the address if you want it). Hope everyone had a good Groundhog´s day. Also, today is my half birthday.. so HAPPY HALF BIRTHDAY TO ME!
Much love and prayers from Guatemala,
Lindsey
hi friend. i just wanted to say you ARE tan and you forgot to wear your black swimsuit in that picture...
ReplyDeletei miss you. hope you're having a splendid experience. loves!