First Day of Language School

Today we had our first leisurely day of the entire trip so far. 

Marta, (our Espanol madre, as the girls have come to call her) made us a delicious breakfast.  It was like an open-faced submarine sandwich.  On it there was some sauce (not sure what but it was good), a slice of a ham, avocado, lettuce, an perfectly ripe tomato, and onion.  She also had thick toast with pineapple marmalade for the top.  It was delicious!

We had about 4 hours of down time between breakfast and lunch.  So, we ran some errands and Jeff and I went for a run.  We explored the city.  It is extremely hilly and the streets are cobblestone, so it was kind of like a trail run.  It was also somewhat like an obstacle course too - dodging people and tuk tuks.

Following lunch we had our first day of language school!  Much to the girls' pleasure, they both have young female teachers (maestras).  We also had a 30 minute break all together where they served us guacamole on a tortilla and chocolate cake.  Like what seems to be part of the Guatemalan culture, Guatemalan coffee was also served.  Brooke tried her first coffee - but wasn't a huge fan.  Don't think she's defecting to the "dark side" with Jeff and Lynn quite yet. There are students at the school from London, France, New Zealand, the bay area in CA, and Washington, D.C.  We were inundated with a ton of vocabulary and new terms in a short period of time.  Jeff, Brooke, and I were all assigned homework.  Being in class has brought back a lot of my Spanish knowledge from high school, which I'm pleased about.  The school seems like it's going to be a great choice, especially the one-on-one teachers for all of us.  It is forcing the girls to participate, and they're enjoying it too. 

Between our Espanol madre and the language school, we are getting an incredible amount of hours with Spanish.  Marta only speaks Spanish to us during meals (but understands some English so she works through what we want to say with us).  We learned a ton before we even went to school today since we had already had 3 meals with her.

Tonight Marta's 18 year old niece, Jonna, came to have dinner with us.  She speaks 3 languages - English, Spanish, and the native Mayan language of San Pedro. It was fun talking to her.  She said she is going to come back tomorrow night. 

We didn't get any pictures today.  We planned to get a picture with Marta tonight at dinner, however she and her 2 sisters went to church shortly after dinner started and her niece stayed to eat with us.  We will get pictures with Marta and her family as the two weeks progress.  I think we will see a lot of them.

Tomorrow am the girls and I have a date with Marta at 8 am to make homemade pineapple marmalade to serve with breakfast at 8:30/9.  We also have plans with her to make homemade tortillas at noon for our 1 pm lunch.  We will make the tortillas back in the US for our gang meal in NC at the end of July!