Rainy days in Xela

I´m living in Quezaltenango (aka Xela, pronounced shay-la) these days at the Yoga House with my friends Rob and Carley as well as about 6 other folks from all over the world. There are yoga classes every day at the house, and it´s been an interesting experience living there with everyone so far. But you know, that´s life, living and learning about people and interactions and relationships. I´m happy to be there and I´m having a great time in Xela.

I´m also back to studying Spanish in the mornings. At this point though, I don´t know how much progress I´m making. I feel like I reached the peak of my learning curve already, and now it´s feeling a bit frustrating and tedious.

Furthermore, I started volunteering at a center for domestic violence. It´s heartbreaking on a daily basis. The place is a shelter for women and a daycare for children who have suffered abuse at home. The children are truly sweet, and it amazes me how people are able to cope with such dire circumstances. I´m constantly impressed with how resilient and adaptable the kids are. The shelter itself is absolutely pitiful. Their so-called ¨classroom¨ has a few books that no one can actually access without a key, rarely are their pencils, and it´s impossible to find blank paper. However, it´s a real opportunity for me to take some responsibility and initiative for coming up with activities for the children, and it´s a great chance to practice my Spanish. Kids really are the best teachers.

In other news, my dad has been in the hospital now for over two weeks after suffering a severe head injury. He´s apparently doing a lot better these last couple of days, although I´m still quite worried about the situation. He´s on the road to recovery, and I plan to make a trip back to Texas when I return to the states this summer.

For now, I´m going to enjoy my time left here in Guatemala. It´s mostly been rainy and cold here in Xela. In fact, last weekend, there was so much rain that the main highway in Guatemala had a major mudslide and has been closed. The pictures I´ve seen are incredible, it makes me wonder if the whole country might just eventually fall into the ocean. It´s funny to be in Central America during the summer and always need to wear sweaters and carry an umbrella. So yeah, that´s the update today.

Life continues to move forward. Sometimes there are ups, other times there are downs, but I´m grateful for it all, and learning all the time to appreciate every moment, every new friend, every bite of mango....