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Greetings from Guatemala!
First things first. Just to let you all no that our Internet access is a bit limited for the next two weeks, as the only alternatives are to use it here in our language school (as I am doing now) or to walk to the city centre to one of the fancy Wi-Fi cafes. For this reason I am trying only to post some quick notes when I have a few minutes at the computer of our school, and we are going to update our rest of the Mexico photos when we have more time.
So, we arrived from San Cristobal de Las Casas, Mexico to Guatemala two days ago, and after spending a night with our friend from Toronto, Irina (who just happened to be in this same Guatemalan city by coincidence), we settled to study some Spanish and to live with a Guatemalan family for two weeks.
We study Spanish with a private Guatemalan teacher for 4-5 hours a day (plus homework!) in a language school here in Quetzaltenango, or Xela like the locals call it. The organization running the school is non-profit, and all the money goes for running a school for the kids in this neighbourhood. Guatemalan school system is in theory free for all, but as it is really underfunded, the class sizes are huge, and schools have also had to introduce some other fees for studying, preventing the possibility of education from many. That is why there is a demand for afternoon schools like this one, where some of the kids get some well-needed extra attention after studying in a class of 50 kids. For some of the kids this is even the only school they have. Makes one appreciate the luxury of education that we have in lucky countries like Finland.
Besides studying, we are trying to help here every now and then, in every way we can. Right now Michelle is teaching arts for the kids, and I am planning to translate some of the information on the school´s website into Finnish! :) Before I manage to do that (and Michelle manages to do the same in Swedish), you all can go and read more about the possibilities in studying in the El Nahual Language Center of Quetzaltenanong at the website
http://www.languageselnahual.com
Studying here is a really cheap alternative, especially by including the amazing Guatemalan homestay option, as you would already be paying for your accomodation anyway when traveling. And you really learn the language dozens of times faster in this environment where you get immersed to speaking Spanish, than in a normal school!
Like said, after the school we live with a Guatemalan family, which has been a really rewarding and teaching experience so far. Homecooked Guatemalan food has been amazing and we are overwhelmed by the number of people living in the house. A couple of hours ago I was chatting about Guatemalan cuisine and Mexican rap music (in Spanish! :) ) with a teenager who I thought was one of the children of the family, until it appeared that he is just a student who rents a room in the house. Yesterday when we came home, we met around 35 people in the living room singing and dancing, and later we learned that it was some weekly religious gathering of the neighbourhood that was going on.
Bien, nada mas. More about beans, tortillas and Spanish in the (hopefully near) future. Hasta luego!
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