Again, lo siento mucho for the long silence. I can't complain, though...pretty much I got caught up in the business of life and didn't think to update for a while. All last week my American housemates were away, and for about half the week the Guatemalteca I live with was also away. I spent my days creating a couple of lesson plans for this art curriculum and translating a couple of Mayan legends. One book I was working on is the Popol Vu Para Niños, a collection of Mayan creation stories. I learned words such as "arrancar", which means, "to wretch off," as in somebody's arm. Also tronco, which is what it sounds, only the 400 boys were throwing the trunk on somebody's head. I think I know what to get my favorite niece for her birthday. The work was hard but rewarding, and I felt like my Spanish improved leaps and bounds last week. Over the weekend I headed to Antigua, the colonial capital. The capital was moved to Guate City after the third earthquake had about leveled the city. They still have some really fabulous ruins. One is a convent with an open top level you can walk around on and imagine yourself a love-sick nun waiting for the fire in the field which will tell you your lover is thinking of you. Er, I'm just saying you COULD do that, if you wanted to. Not that I did. Another of the ruins is an old cathedral. As Jill and Rebecca know, I love me some ruins (Old Sarem? Temple of the Vestal Virgins? Anybody?) so I spend quite a bit of time and memory space. Unfortunately, I'm in a café with slow computers, so I'll have to leave you hanging a little longer in the photo department. A very interesting difference between Guate and American culture is the difference our perceptions of public and private spaces. Places like the ruins, the parks, the doorways, are filled with couples making out. But this, of course, is because most people live with their parents until they marry. True, the culture is more traditional, but not completely. So the house (a private space for Americans) becomes public, as it is filled with family and the park, filled with strangers, becomes private. Hence, necking couples up and down the block. This bothers many extranjeros (their word for foreigner is the same as the word for stranger...another interesting cultural difference) but as soon as I explain why, the situation makes a lot more sense. Antigua was super cool, like a resort town, filled equally with extranjero and Guate tourists. It was very safe, very clean, and I couldn't wait to get back to Xela. The social consciousness here is just so much stronger. People here in Xela are living, not vacationing, and I love the atmosphere. 4 days left and I'm already sad to go.