Thursday

During the class break I went to the roof of the school to rest with other students. Around 11am it was warm and sunny. Its now 5pm, raining and freaking chilly. Its the rainy season and pretty typical for this time of year. Today, in the center of town, began the celebration of the Virgin Mary. It will be a month long celebration. Yesterday I purchased two beautiful scarfs from a women selling hand made products on the street for 20 quetzales (Q) each which is about $2.6 each. Here one american dollar is equal to about 7.6 Q. My host family receives 300 Q per week for my room and board (about $40 a week) An ice cream cone is 5 Q or 65 cents, cup of hot chocolate is 7 Q or 95 cents, class of wine is 15Q or $2 and the minimun wage is about 40Q a day or $5 a day. I have only been here eleven days but I am very overwhelmed. Class is intense and i´m getting more information then I can retain. My brain hurts! Learning another language in 3 months is a daunting task and I fear that I will not be able to do it. I´m feeling a little discouraged. Today I left class early to take a nap. The cultural center next door was looking for volunteers to teach english to neighborhood children. I went to meet the students and observe the class yesterday. I soon became an active participant and will be taking over the class with my friend Kati next week. The kids are a lot of fun and I´m sure I will enjoy it for the next few weeks. I will be teaching twice a week for an hour and a half. There are about 8 kids in the class.