Splashed

This is now going to be a bit of a group blog... with my new friends olivia and eric because we are the only three people in this house right now with nothing to do since it is now dark.

My first flight I flew with my cousin Elizabeth.. Then Olivia and I had the same flight going from Houston along with Anne Goodman who was headed to Antigua in Guatemala. It was mostly pain free, no delays, limited crying babies and our bags came on time! Francisco and Eric were there waiting for us so that we were abducted by someone pretending to know us. Francisco only spoke Spanish, so we were forced to brush up... or start learning for Olivia haha. Oh and Brian, we are all listening to 1980 right now thanks to you.

We were shown to our rooms by Virginia, a welcoming host. She sat us down to have a chat about some cultural differences directing us what to do and not to do. Certain gestures here mean f* you that we never would have known. Very important. Another peculiar thing was one of Virginia's first questions was if Eric was Jewish. She said that people like to call it how it is. We thought it was offensive to just call someone fat or by what their skin color is. In this culture it is very different. Also, she advised us to never claim to be atheist. That would never be a problem for any of us but apparently that provokes the highest form of negative judgement.

Our next step was to find some quetzales, aka Guate money, but got lost with spanish directions and ended up wandering to find the gym and eating at Tacontento. Wonderful food! The beverages were almost as costly as the food. That was one of subtle cultural differences we are beginning to notice. Tomorrow we have orientation at 10 and after we have the rest of the day to explore! In the meantime, we will be bonding... maybe over some youtube videos. :). Until later, the Guate cast.