My School Routine

Wake at 6:30am to the buzz of my travel alarm clock. Pull out earplugs and hear roosters and people and trucks. Stare at ceiling and try to remember where I am. Remember where I am. Blink and put on glasses. Take shower. Dress. Read flash cards for a few minutes....Spanish that is. Eat breakfast with my host madre...Angela, cornflakes and fruit. Collect books and bag and walk a few blocks to school. Sit with sweet, patient Alejandra from 8-10am while she tries to teach me Spanish. Take a break from 10-10:30am. Wander around courtyard being ignored by snotty young westerners. Check email. More studying with teacher. Done 12noon....exhausted from being clueless and concentrating so hard. Wander the streets of Antigua seeing the sights and smiling at the wonderfully friendly Guatemalans. Yesterday afternoon rode a horse through a neighboring town. Life in the highlands..... A strange thing is happening...I am starting to understand a little Spanish. God bless Alejandra! She has the patience of a saint and the laugh of an angel. Sorry folks, being in this town dripping with Catholicism, I can´t help but employ such religious allusions!