Jennifer is a close friend
Little Kevin is precious!
Julia! Sweet Girl!Sorry it has been awhile since I last updated this blog. We have been very busy for the past couple of weeks. We spent 10 days at the Children’s Home from September 17th until the 26th. It was a much-needed break from Spanish school, although we did practice a ton by trying to converse with the kids! During the week we had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with the other staff members and we really got to know each other. After that, we headed back for our last three-week stretch of language school. It has been getting tougher, and we are ready to be at the Children’s Home soon.
We got to celebrate two independence days this year. Yesterday (Sept. 15th) was Guatemala’s Independence Day. The celebration was a little different than back home though. The main festivities for the day included marching bands, marching bands, and MORE marching bands. A parade of marching bands started around 9 a.m. and lasted until 2 p.m. We could have possibly watched 5 hours worth of marching bands. However, we choose not to because, as cute as those kids were all dressed up, they were not very skilled in the art of music.
Jared and I had the opportunity to attend a semi-pro soccer game here in Antigua. It was hilarious for several reasons. First, the field was surrounded by fencing and topped with barbed wire. Second, the entire crowd was very intense (let’s just say we are glad we don’t every word in Spanish!) throughout the entire game. Third, every time a player “got injured” (it was usually a FAKE OUT) firemen would run onto the field with a stretcher and attempt to carry the man to the side. It was strange how quickly all the players would recover after needing a stretcher. Finally, a little girl around the age of two was doing laps around the outside of the field on a tricycle the entire time. Oh yeah, the game ended in a tie 2-2.
Jared and I got the chance to hike up to a spot overlooking Antigua (the city we are living in while we attend language school). It was so beautiful to see the city, even though it was a little foggy. At the top of the hill there is a giant cross that can be seen from almost anywhere in the city. One of the students at our school is from Japan, and she gave us a concert with a really cool instrument that you can see in the video posted below.
On a funnier note, the other night we were eating dinner with the family. In the background, the Miss World pageant was playing on the TV. It got to the point in the pageant where they announced the top 15 women. Sandra (our house mom) was barely paying attention until near the very end when they announced that miss Guatemala was one of the final 15 women. Sandra jumped out of her chair and shouted "Increíble!” over and over again while running over to the TV. It was so funny to watch her get so exited about the Miss World pageant, and I could tell she was very proud of her country.
