We're Here!!!!

Hello!

Right now I (Jessie) am sitting at a table with Cameron and we have just filled out all of our information and even taken a Spanish placement test for Christian Spanish Academy (CSA)! Our driver picked us up at the airport no problem last night and it was about a 45 minute commute to our host family's home. We got in to our room (2 twin beds, a desk, a chair, and a tiny bathroom) around 10pm local time (midnight back home). Our host parents are Lydia and Carlos and they are SO sweet. There is one other person staying there too. His name is Matt and we met him this morning. He is from Tucson, Arizona and is super nice. He is a graduate student at Arizona University studying hydrology... I told him he and Emily would get along great probably! (Hydrology is the study of water in it's natural state or something like that.. above ground, under ground, etc. Also he said he does physics sort of stuff too- aka Smarty McSmart Pants) He has been here since Monday and is staying about as long as we are so he helped us find the school and has been our tour guide of sorts as well. It is lovely to have someone speaking English in the house, because our host family does not. It is good for us though, we will learn quickly I'm sure!

Anyway, we start classes on Monday and I am really excited about it. Just sitting in this building I can see lots of people working one-on-one with instructors and they are of all ages.. so that makes me feel better about not knowing much!

Oh yeah.. this morning we had the BEST breakfast prepared by Lydia. Two eggs cooked over medium with salsa on top, fried bananas, the most delicious-tasting beans I'd ever tasted with 3 tortilla chips stuck on top, and the most delicious coffee I've ever had (with one spoonful of sugar that I believe is 300 times better than our sugar at home lol). I think I'm going to like Guatemalan cooking :)

Jessie did a pretty good job of covering everything but I'll make mention of a couple of things. First of all, we were both awakened around 3 AM local time by our entire room shaking from a minor earthquake. It didn't cause any damage but it did wake us up and give us a little excitement. Also, I decided to take a shower this morning and I'm still not sure exactly how it works. It looks like a water heater is attached to the down spout but I tried to turn it on and the water didn't get any warmer. I didn't really mind the cold shower though, it was refreshing. The temperature is great, right now it is in the low 70's.

We will be sure to keep everyone updated.

I think we're going to spend the rest of the day checking out Antigua!