esta bien!

A little update for those of you shocked and dismayed by my description of my home stay and Spanish school. Fear not! Todo esta bien!

I returned to my family last night after a beautiful weekend swimming in el lago de Atitlan. (Dylan- I thought of you the entire time: 3 tacos for $1.30 and swimming in the lake). I walked in the door and Valentin and Anna jumped up and gave me the biggest hug and hello! I played cards with the niños and they taught me how to play ¨robopaquete¨and ¨orejas.¨ It was just what I needed and I went to bed happy and looking forward to my first day of class. As I was going to bed, the mother of all cockroaches crawled out from under my bed! I guess you can´t win them all. My efforts at killing her failed, and so I am now calling her Mamacita Cucaracha and she will be my friend (dammit)!

I had a great day of class with Pedro and we are going to go to a museum of music on Wednesday to learn about musical tradition in Guatemala, and also visit a coffee finca and see how coffee is made. You can´t get a good cup of coffee in Guatemala because they save the good stuff for export (Catherine- you are drinking my coffee!) but Wednesday I´ll get a fresh cup!

Tomorrow I am going to visit Pacaya, an active volcano and right now I am off for a Salsa lesson.

See, not so bad =)

Hilarity ensues...

I start my adventure in Antigua by going to the tourist office and checking out some language schools with a helfpul guide. There are about 40 language schools in Antigua alone, so many to choose from and I wanted to check a couple of out before making a decision.

Marco, owner of GuateBueno language school, talked with me and I felt pretty good about his attitude about the school and his friendliness, so I signed up for 3 weeks. Yesterday, I met my home stay family and had my first 5 hours with Pedro, my instructor.

Let me paint you a little picture...I am living with Maria (Marco´s ex-wife), Marco Jr. (Marco´s son) and several other of Marco´s adult children, from different mothers: Julia, Julio, Luis, Juan...um, there are 10 in total, and I´m not sure who lives there or who just eats there and comes by. In addition, there is Alejandra. I believe she is Maria´s daughter, she is 17 and pregnant (but she´s not sure who the father is). In addition, there are at least 7 children also in the house: Anna, Dominique, Bruno, Adriana, Diana, Valentin, a little comedian whose name I can´t remember right now and some others that come and go.

I have my own room, and there are two other American´s (both from Cali) who live there as well. We have our own rooms, and the children seem to sleep on the couch.

My Spanish teacher is Pedro, an ex-freebase addict and ex-manic depressive (he showed me the scar on his wrist from attempted suicide). He used to live in East-LA and was beat up by a gang and lost his front two teeth (he has replacements, not to worry). Strangely, he also happens to be the nicest guy, easy to talk to and I think (hope beyond hope) a good teacher. Several of Marco´s children also teach at the school. Incestuous, to say the least. Pedro was telling me that Marco´s situation is very strange and rare in Guatemala...how lucky of me to have stumbled into it.

So, I have to admit, I didn´t exactly land on my feet. It´s not exactly terrible either. The family is really nice and the kids are friendly (Anna is the Spanish nazi, and we have to pay 10 dollars if we speak English). And today is Marco Jr.´s day to get drunk (I kid you not). I really have no other choice but to stick it out and make the most of it. It´s cheap; classes, food and room included. I just hope that the money helps the ninos. Normally, I wouldn´t want to live with other Americans either, but in this case, they make me feel a little safer with half the town coming in and out of the house. I imagine this sounds worse than it actually is...I have giggled a few times just writing it all down. But I swear to you, it´s true!

It´s hard to know the lesson learned here...all the language schools seem the same, and I did check some out before deciding. I´m wishing I had taken the recommendation for Tecun Uman school, but perhaps I´ll move there after my first 3 weeks, or go to Quetzaltenango (also known as Xela) for more classes. I´m also concerned about if what I´m doing is helping this family or not. I certainly don´t want to have a negative impact or enable Marco´s little empire.

I´m going to Lago de Atitlan this weekend, to get a little r&r before my classes start and also explore this country and bit and get a better feel for it. I feel like my Spanish has a long way to go.

My mantra, today, tomorrow, forever: one day at a time.

!Hola Antigua!

A very quick update, to prove I am alive and well in Antigua.

Arrived Wednesday without incident and found myself in a dorm room with the most fabulous fellow travelers. Chris and Lilly are Welsh, and are now on their way to Nicaragua, but I will be meeting up with them in Buenos Aires at the end of May. Andrea is from Baltimore and is traveling for 5 weeks in Guatemala, taking classes and traveling around. I made them be my friends, it´s nice being a friendly Californian who gets people drunk. =)

I also found a language school and move in with my family in about 30 minutes. Can´t wait to meet them, and despite the normal nerves of living in a strangers home, i´m looking forward to settling here for 3 weeks.

After that, I may head to Xela (shay-la) where I hear the language classes are great. May also travel with my big bad bro, who is now considering coming mid-May.

People are incredibly friendly, and I´m just taking it a day at a time!

Incidentally, we stumbled into a bar last night owned by a guy from Boston. NESN and Red Sox on the TV...i felt right at home, and they show every game there. Kate if that was any reason for you to come sooner...

Thanks to everyone for your messages!

Love to all,
Sam

The night before

I'm packed (almost).
I got everything done I needed to (almost).
And I'm ready to go (almost).

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited. Mostly, I am just so effin exhausted! Honestly, quitting your job, selling and chucking all of your personal belongings, moving across the country, saying goodbye to all of your friends & family, figuring out what to bring, what to leave behind, where you are going and how you are doing it...it really wipes a girl out!

I've been so busy getting ready to go, that I feel like I haven't had a chance to really sit down and process this little decision of mine. It's kind of like getting pregnant, planning everything, then looking down at month 8.5 and thinking "Oh shit, I'm knocked up!"

Well, I'm pretty much knocked up by now and there is no going back. And much like new parents (so i've heard), I really have no idea what I'm doing.

My flight leaves tomorrow morning and by tomorrow night I will be lugging my new life on my back and looking forward to 6 weeks of Spanish classes in Guatemala. After that, I will be getting certified to teach English in Buenos Aires and then will stick around to teach. That's as much detail as I have right now, but follow along and hopefully I'll connect the dots.

All I can really think of right now, tonight, is how grateful I am to have so many loving people in my life that are rooting for me, missing me and always inspiring me.

My scoop du jour: I'll never really be ready, I just gotta go.

Boston, a goodbye

Dear Boston,

I leave you in very much the same way that I arrived: freaking out, surrounded by suitcases and having no idea what I'd just gotten myself into. You knew from the beginning that I didn't choose you, that I moved to start my job with EUSA, and I think you always resented that. In the beginning, I didn't have much time to spend getting to know you. I worked 15-hour days and when I wasn't working, I was traveling to other cities across America and Europe. You took your resentment and frustration out on me, however, and bullied me with your idiotic public transportation system (tokens? really?), your angry people that refused human connection of any kind when buying a coffee or asking for directions and the complete and total punishment of negative nine degree weather, only to be followed by mind oozing humidity.

I was a reluctant convert, but you didn't make it any easier either. There are things that I may never understand, such as people's strange affinity for ice-cream, lots of ice-cream, year-round; why the hell you call milkshakes "frappes;" why the entire New England population swears by convenience store quality coffee called Dunkin Donuts; why the green line is the little train that just effin couldn't; and why not one driver in Boston knows the definition of "do not block the box."

But now that I am leaving and saying goodbye to my home of Boston/Cambridge/Somerville, I can't help but look back on the good times. Despite our differences and struggles over the years, I want to let you know that you had me at "douche bag."

Like a grumpy little kid waking up from a nap, I can't help but want to pinch your angry little cheeks. You're angry, bitter and have a New York City sized chip on your shoulder, but you are a beautiful little city and it's hard to hate you when taking the #1 bus over the mass ave bridge. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world when the Red Sox are playing, or on St.Patty's Day and I wouldn't want to train for a marathon around any other river than the Charles.

To the city where where the Red Sox won the world series (twice!), where you can drink an iced-coffee any time of the year, where you can be Irish despite never having been to Ireland and where you can eat a wicked good lobster roll, thank you.

I wear my Red Sox hat with pride.

Until we meet again, I will count the days until I rock once again at Toad, get shitty at Cornwall's and run over the knee-snapping pavement near the Science Museum.

Love,
Sam