mi escuela, mis amigas del mercado, cafe, y una visita a las ruinas

Today was a great day! 

It did start on an interesting note with a ham, cheese, ketchup, and mayonnaise sandwich for breakfast (Yes! Seriously!), but it definitely improved as the day went on. 

Tonight at dinner, I'm going to kindly tell my tia that Hannah (my roomie) and I won't be needing breakfast in the morning. We found a cute little cafe called Fernando's near school that opens early. We're going to get there at 7:00 for breakfast, have our quiet times, and then walk to school by 8:00. It may become our new routine!

We get woken up by the rooster at 5:30 anyway....I swear the little crazy thing sings "buen provecho" instead of "cock a doodle do." Well, buen provecho means "may it settle well with you." I'm trying to figure out how to tell Senor Gallo that it sure doesn't settle well with me to have such a rude awakening! 

Today was the second day of school. 

I am LOVING it! 

All my Spanish knowledge is quickly surfacing and it's a lot of fun. My maestra is named Lloyda. She is a strong Christian, so I'm learning how to have deep theological conversations in Spanish. It's a dream come true. For real. Today we somehow ended up talking about end times. I didn't even know I knew how to talk about end times in Spanish. 

Yesterday, "tatuajes" came up in the conversation because of an example she used. She said most tattoos are bad and I asked her why. I had heard that Guatemalans aren't fans of tattoos, but I wanted to hear it from a Guatemalan herself. I guess I was a little too interested in her response because she got suspicious and I ended up showing her my little tree of ink. After explaining the symbolism (in Spanish!), she decided that it's a good one. What a relief! ;)

In case you're shocked that Meredith Gilbert would get a tattoo and wondering what on earth it could symbolize, I'll give you the short version and in English. It's an acacia tree. In Exodus, God commanded that the Ark of the Covenant (where God's presence dwelt) be constructed using acacia wood, so to me it is a symbol of God's holiness. It is also a symbol of the Gospel because Jesus' death and resurrection made God's presence available to us at all times through faith in Jesus! Que buena noticia! 

Here is Lloyda. I just love her. Isn't she cute? 

There are two person tables all throughout the school and every table has a white board. 

I took this picture today from my table at school. This man was selling nuts during our break. I bought a bag of cashews from him because I'm a sucker and haven't quite mastered how to say "no gracias" and keep walking, plus it sounded like a nice treat. Offering me a sample was definitely a good move on his part. 

Lloyda taught me about the fruit that cashews come from. It's called marañon and each fruit only has one nut, which would explain why cashews are so expensive. The Glicks told me last week that the fruit is really gross so I asked Lloyda and she said it has great flavor and she likes to drink the juice. Maybe I will have to try some! 

I'm pretty sure anyone could enjoy learning Spanish with such beautiful surroundings. This is what I see when I look up! 


After class, Hannah and I went to the central park to read and do our homework, but I ended up practicing my Spanish with ladies who wanted to sell me jewelry. I didn't have much money with me, so I told them no at first, but the little girl with them was just too precious. 

Another great marketing technique. How could anyone say not to such a cutie?

I ended up buying a little turquoise necklace from them. Then I only had 18 quetzales (about $2) with me when another lady came up and sat by me to show me her collection. She was just so sweet, so I bought two bracelets for 5Q from her. She sat and talked with me for about 10 minutes. I heard her whole life story and got some great Spanish practice! 

Notice my necklace in the next picture! 

Here's what I took from our conversation. Her name is Mercedes and she lives outside of Antigua in San Antonio de something...She rides the bus every day to Antigua to sell the things she makes. She has four kids and six grandkids. One of her daughters lives in El Salvador because she married an El Salvadorian who she met when he was visiting Guatemala. It makes her sad that her daughter is far away. Her husband works in construction but doesn't make much money. All of her children and grandchildren live with her except for the daughter who lives in El Salvador. Oh, how I would love to see everyone in her family making the scarves and bracelets. Maybe If I keep seeing her and become best buddies with her like I want to, I'll get invited home with her for a night to learn the secrets of Guatemalan handiwork. You think I'm kidding, but I would totally do it if my mommy wouldn't have a heart attack. :) 

After Mercedes left, it started to rain so we walked over to a coffee shop. I've never been much of a coffee drinker, but Guatemalan coffee is AMAZING. Flavored creamer would probably ruin its deliciousness. 

 The sugar packet says, "Una cucharita de CanaReal le da alegria a tu dia," which means a spoonful of CanaReal gives happiness to your day. My cup of cafe con leche with CanaReal sure did bring some more happiness to my day!

We walked around the town for a bit and saw some ruins. These buildings have actually been here since the 1700s when a huge earthquake caused the people to move the capital from Antigua to Guatemala City. Walking around, I felt a hint of nerdiness emerging as I wished I could slip back in time, climb up on one of the walls, peer through the window, and spy on the people on the other side. 

Yep. All in one day.