Central America Revisited – Day Four

Well the fun began today. First day of classes and as I expected, my mind began to shut down after 4 hours of class. I found myself, when my teacher was asking me a question, staring at him with that deer in the headlights look. My teacher is great and I think we will have a good week, but it is hard to get started again after such a long period of time of not using the language. But I am getting ahead of myself, so I think I will back up.

I woke up at 4:30 this morning. At 5:30 I took my shower and then read and prayed until 7:00. Today was a busy morning for Luchie, because she isn’t accustomed to preparing breakfast for five people. She was definitely rushing around trying to get everything accomplished so that everyone could leave on time. Robert and I walked to the school together and shortly after we arrived, students were introduced to their teachers. My teacher is named Aparicio. I have never heard that name before. He is a relatively young guy and very personable. We started off with a brief quiz so he could evaluate me. He said I was a level 3 – I didn’t ask how many levels there are because I’m sure there must be at least 100. As usual, we started off conjugating verbs. This quickly led into a conversation on life in the United States and specifically about the life of immigrants in the United States. We talked for around 45 minutes to an hour before I (tongue in cheek) reminded Aparicio that I had written that I was interested in learning more about the culture and history of Guatemala, not the United States. He said that at the end of the week he would have to pay me and I could give him a diploma.

After class, it was a quick trip back to the house for lunch and then immediately back to the school to get my passport and money so I could exchange some currency. I didn’t exchange at the airport like I told everyone else to do because I didn’t like the rate. It was 6.4 Q per dollar at the airport and I was able to get 7.5 Q at the bank here in Quetzaltenango. I then spent a few minutes at Pollo Campero to upload a few things and check email, then it was off to the school for our afternoon activity. Today we toured the buildings around Parque Central. It wasn’t anything that I hadn’t heard before. After the tour, several of our team returned to Pollo Campero but the WiFi was out.

Back home for dinner – a tuna fish sandwich – and then a brief review of today’s lessons. I am turning in early tonight – 9:00. I still am not adjusted to the time change. It is 11:00 back in Virginia. I’m sure that tomorrow will bring great things because God is truly blessing me on this experience.