Santiago bound

Two weeks of Spanish school under my belt! My skills are still pretty weak but what is really interesting is that I seem to be better at the speaking than at the listening. I have connected with a woman from Washington state who has been studying Spanish in Guatemala annually for five years and she has encouraged me to really get myself into situations where I can connect with the sound of the language. I really enjoy listening to it so that sounds like great advice to me. Of course I have huge challenges with adding to my vocabulary and to dealing a language that might just have more verb conjugations than words!

One of the most interesting parts of learning and living in a new language is how often I have felt silenced because I have no words to say want I want to say - regardless of whether its in a store, at my homestay or a passing conversation on the street. I am working hard a learning some of the normal sayings so that I can feel a little more connected! Esta bien is the latest meaning thats alright, its ok, its good.

I have just spend that last couple of hours hunting and gathering; seeds for a gardening project, granolo bars for one of our team members and freshly ground coffee for the house. For someone who does not drink coffee the aroma is almost irresitable!

I leave for Santiago on a launcha about 10:30 tomorrow morning. I say ´about´ because very little in Guatemala is en punto ( on the dot ) and that works just fine for me. I leave Pana with strong possibilities I will return for a month of volunteer work after the 5 week project in Santiago. There are a large number of agencies working in the area and Mayan Families appears to be doing some of the work I could help with - supporting a new teacher in a preschool and helping some of there staff develop some conversational English. I might even be able to find an apartment to live in for that month. An interesting option for consideration.

Hastla Luego