May 8, 2009 Mother’s Day, Spanish Lessons and Goings On

So it’s been a busy month. We picked up my mom from the Guatemala City Airport in mid-April, she’s taking a vacation with us. We spent a night in Antigua, which was very touristy. I didn’t really like it. I don’t want to get into it, but let’s just say the vibes were not good.
Mom and I have been taking Spanish lessons at the San Marcos Spanish School (which is actually the San Pedro Spanish School, but two teachers boat across the lake just for us). We go for three hours every weekday, with individual teachers. I guess it costs about $150 each for three weeks. The lessons have been really helpful. Mi espanol es mucho mejor.
Sal’s gotten all sorts of wonderful ideas about making cartoons. It should be a fun endeavor. We have our own show, you know. I don’t want to spill the beans or anything, but it’s going to be good. You’ll all love to watch it someday.
It’s been raining like crazy. When we first got here, I thought Annika (landlady) had said we’d just missed the rainy season. That’s incorrect; I must’ve misheard her. The rain started in April and though it’s not everyday, most days recede from warm sunny morning to stormy afternoon. Tropical storms, so it’s still pretty warm though a chill comes at night. I really like the rain, and the thunder is pretty strong too. One night, last week, the thunder was incredible. People around here said that was rare, it was beautiful lightening. And there was a pretty intense earthquake last weekend, not too rough, but long. It was fun.
We haven’t been doing much. Sal took a few days off work and he’s been drawing a lot. Mom and I both like playing silly computer games so we spend hours in the rainy afternoons with our computers on the long dining room table. It might seem a little silly in the middle of this paradise, but it’s fun. Besides, it’s an all right way to spend a rainy afternoon.
We’re planning on visiting Tikal once our Spanish lessons are over (next week is our last). I’m completely ready to see some Mayan ruins. I hope we’ll have lots of pictures. We also need to go to the city to see the new Star Trek movie. There’s no big theaters around here. Sal wanted to go on opening night (tonight) but it’s too last-minute and Sal and I both battled the flu this past week. So we decided to stay here.
It’s Mom’s Day weekend, and they celebrate here in Guatemala too! Today the school had loud music playing and it sounded like a game show, my Spanish teacher told me it was for Mother’s Day and that on Sunday all the young people will sing and give flowers to their mothers.
Anyway. I’ve been making delicious tamales but I’ve yet to be satisfied by a batch of cookies since we’ve been here. We’ve also got three bunches of bananas hanging up, ripening. Soon we’ll be in bananatown. Everything’s turning green from the rain, but this is the time of year they call invierno. Sometimes I miss the U.S. but mostly I just miss familiarity.
Sorry no pictures. We probably have some, especially of Antigua, but it'd take all night to upload them. I'm not exaggerating either. Goodnight.