Xela - Day 1

As soon as I got off the bus in downtown Xela, I strapped on mi mochila and started walking. I didn't know where, but I wanted to get lost for a bit before making it to my destination:
8a Avenida Calle BA-61, Zona 1
(translating that address means building number 61 on Street B off of Avenue 8 in the block after Street A... easy, right?)
So I only got lost for a couple of blocks before I got my barrings. I knew that Xela, like Guatemala City, is arranged in a grid system, so it is easy to find your way with Avenues (Avenidas) and Streets (Calles). Thank gooddness for New York City-like grid layouts!
Upon entering El Mundo en Español, the Spanish language school I would be studying at for the next three weeks, I saw one student and a teacher talking one-on-one in the livng room. Then Gladis, who lives and works at the school, took my back into her coutryard where there were another dozen or so students each with their own teacher at little tables soaking in the sun, with the expansive view of the mountains behind them. I learned that every six months a group of health professionals come to learn spanish at El Mundo, and this group was just starting. They don't live at the school, but we all study together in the morning with our teachers. Seen below:


I live only with Anders, a 6 1/2 (or more) foot tall Norweigan college student here for study. We take excursions in the evening together, I towering above the Guatemalans, and he towering above everyone.
In my first afternoon, I enjoyed a large alumerza (lunch) with the extended family of Gladis. IMPORTANT NOTE: Anders and I live in separate rooms upstairs, and one of Gladis' daughters also has a room upstairs. Gladis' tio (uncle) lives downstairs, along with Gladis, her mother, another daughter, and two grandchildren. For lunch and dinner, even more people come over (the spouses and boyfriends), and a dozen of us crowd around the table for our meals. I. love. it.
My first day in Xela also brought a game of six-person soccer played at elevation and in the smog on a concrete court. My skills aren't so bad that they didn't pass the ball to me, (I only scored 2 of the 16 goals my three-person team made, you do the math) but we can see what happens when more people show up!

I also enjoyed my first good night of sleep in many, many days. Between holiday travels, major jetlag that never wore off in Hawai'i, and simply getting to Guatemala, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to a podcast of A Prairie Home Companion and falling asleep by ten o'clock. Alright. Homework time.

The exterior of the house I will be staying in for my first three weeks in Xela.