Xela
I have now been here in Xela since Thursday night, and am actually becoming busy and developing somewhat of a routine. Last week I chose a language school named the Proyecto Linguistico, or PLQ (link), and signed up to start Monday. Choosing a school was hard as there are probably 50 to choose from, all which offer essentially the same thing. Howver, the PLQ is a non-profit cooperative that focuses on the social issues in the past and current lives of Guatemalan people, of which there are many. It seemed to me the best way to gain an understanding of what the lives of locals are and have been like. So far, I think its been the right choice. Sunday night I moved in with a local family, where I have my own bedroom with a double bed , TV and small table. The family is Mom, Dad, a 7 year old son, a 17 yeard old son and a 19 year old daughter, plus many other people rotating in and out. Meals are eaten with some or all of them depending on the time and the day. None of them speak English so its a great time to practice my Spanish. Sometimes they don´t say much and watch TV, but I have been able to speak a fair amount with them and feel quite at home at the house. If only the water were hotter…
I am about to start my third day of school, which consists of five hours of one on one instruction with a teacher. We converse a lot, and also do exercises practicing verbs and vocabulary. I.m remembering a lot, but the practice is very important. I´m really pleased at how fast my Spanish is coming back and how much I am able to speak with people. There are also conferencias at the school where locals come in and discuss topics from the present and the past. Yesterday we learned about the situtation in Guate´s liberal colleges during the 80´s, which was marred by violence and repression. Quite a sad situation and one that made me think a lot about how different attending college is these days, espescially back in the states. Everybody here has a story, so many of which are heartbreaking. The amazing thing is that when they tell the stories, they come out as quite normal and my reactions almost seem out of place. So bascially, being here in the school and with the family is allowing me a chance to see the culture here from a more involved place than traveling form place to place usually allow for.
Xela itself is pretty large and located in the Guatemalan highlands. The sorroundings are beautiful, though the town is rather decrepit and full of diesel fumes. I do like it here a lot. The central park of the the town is a bizarre remnant of German occupation, feeling like a European square that somebody forgot about with many faux Romanesque details. There´s some good food here, though mostly now I am eating meals with my “family”. Today I went to a town called Almolonga, which is the wholesale vegetable market for the area and walked through fields. Afterwards we took a hot spring bath in a small room from natural hot springs.
One more interesting thing was that last Friday night, in the Casa Argentina where I was staying, I had a Shabbat dinner that was cooked up by 18 Israeli people. It was very homey and great to be invited.
