Day 2?

Hmm so I'm not that great at coming up with titles. Oh well.

Yesterday after leaving the cafe, I walked around Parque Central and saw a photo exhibition or something on water and like something about how there's all these problems with water that are caused by humans not protecting the environment and stuff like that. There was a thing on Hurricane Katrina and how it wasn't the hurricane was what caused all the problems, but the government's negligence. And there were other displays on other things around the world. It was interesting.

I tried to go to a sports bar next door to my hotel to watch the Giants/Indians game but they didn't have it for some reason! The only FOX games they had were Dodgers/Angels and Rockies Yankees I think. :/ The Giants game was on FOX though, right?? Then I got a prepaid Guatemala phone (where I can receive calls and texts for free!) and bought shampoo, conditioner, soap, etc. (cause I only came with a carry-on so I couldn't bring any of that with the liquid restrictions). I tried to go back to the sports bar later to watch Cubs/Royals but everyone was watching the Gold Cup game haha.

And it was raining so I didn't really want to be outside, so I just went back to my hotel and watched tv for a little then went to sleep.

Today when I left my hotel this morning, I saw some people eating breakfast on the patio right outside. I asked the guy at the stand if I could have some breakfast and he told me a continental breakfast comes with my hotel stay, I just had to get a ticket! I wish I'd known that yesterday. :/ When I went to the hotel counter to get my ticket I did see a sign that says "continental breakfast" though. Oh well. Anyway, some Guatemalan coffee came with it which is apparently famous or something? I thought Colombia was known for its coffee. Then I walked to a church that was advertised in this tourist magazine they had at my hotel. On the way I could hear so many birds chirping, it was so cool!

I got a little lost and had to ask like 10 people for directions to the church but I got there eventually at 9:15, 15 minutes after it started. It's apparently one of the few "Christian" churches in Antigua - all the other churches are Catholic (which I guess they consider completely different from Christian?). The service was in Spanish and they had radios with simultaneous English translation. I used the translation for a little bit but I was trying to listen to the Spanish at the same time, and ended up just getting confused. So I just listened in Spanish and understood most of it! :D It was a really interesting service, the sermon was a video. And it was like part of a series called "Cafe Lafe" which was like about coffee. They were like comparing coffee to a Christian life. Like how coffee smells, and Christians should have a strong, distinct "smell" of being a Christian. During the songs, someone walked down the aisle with a tissue box and passed out tissue to people who were crying. I thought it was funny, but also a pretty good idea... After the service I asked where I could find a bible in Spanish and they said they don't know of any Christian bookstores in Antigua, but next week they'll bring one or two with simple translations that I can buy from them. Yay!

I went back to the hotel and packed, then got taken to my homestay.
My room:

Apparently the mom of the house is on a trip and won't be back til tonight (or tomorrow morning?) and one of the girls who lives there who knows the password to the wifi is out and won't be back til the afternoon. And it's raining pretty hard so I don't feel like being outside, so I'm at Bagel Barn again eating a yummy bagel sandwich, smoothie, and using their free wifi.

At 6 I'm gonna try to go back to that sports bar and watch the Giants game. They should have the game on cause it's on ESPN! I just hope there's no soccer game...

Now I'm just gonna type some random stuff since I don't really have anything better to do.

Apparently there are two seasons in Guatemala: dry season and rainy season. It's rainy season now. Pretty much thunderstorms every afternoon/night. Supposedly it's super hot and humid in the morning when the sun comes out, but I haven't really seen the sun yet, just clouds. The temperature is nice though, not too hot and not too cold. I'm comfortable with a skirt.

There are a TON of tourists here! From all over the world. So a bunch of locals speak English. But they also talk to you in Spanish if you want them to. And apparently this is a popular place for people to learn Spanish, so they understand that I'm still learning Spanish and are patient with me. It's pretty cool! :D

............

WOW I was JUST about to publish this post when the internet went down because of the thunderstorm! I was going to post this like 10 hours ago! A little bit more has happened since then...once the internet went out I went back to my room, turned on the TV, and A Bug's Life was on in Spanish!! One of my favorites!! :D It was so cool to watch it in Spanish. No subtitles though :/ but I've watched it so many times I didn't need them anyway! :P Then I watched Beisbol Esta Noche on ESPN Vivo and the beginning of the Giants game! The internet was still down (I think my homestay mom, Telma, said something like they were fixing the internet tower because of the storm?) It was so fun to watch the game in Spanish! The announcers were so much better than the English ESPN guys LOL! And they highlighted Andres Torres a lot cause he's Latino woooo! ;) Around the 6th inning I walked 8 blocks back to the sports bar that was next to my hotel and watched the rest of the game on regular ESPN but without the sound. Three Korean students sat next to me at the bar after I had been there for just an inning or 2, and one of the guys said something in Korean to me. I was like "uhh....sorry..." and then he said "de donde eres?" (where are you from?) and we ended up talking the rest of the time in Spanish! omg it was so cool! He and his 2 friends are studying Spanish for a lot longer time than me. He's here for a year! Then I got to see the Giants beat the Indians, wooo!! SWEEP SWEEP SWEEP! :D And now I'm at an Internet cafe that's right next door to the bar and charges 8 Quetzales/hour (about $1/hour, not bad right?) and I'm gonna go home and go to sleep soon.

What I know about tomorrow so far:
0630 wake up & get ready for the day
0700 breakfast
0750 language school!
-- 15-minute conversation with my private Spanish tutor to assess my Spanish level
-- 4 1-hour sessions? (I'm not quite sure what that means? I get breaks in between?)
1300 lunch
1400 walking tour of antigua with tecun uman (language school) OR start volunteer project
1900 dinner

OK now feel free to add comments and whatever! :)