Day 3.5

I absolutely love the women who are helping me learn Spanish. Mayra, my house mom (I misspelled her name in my last blog-- disculpe me) and Angelica, my teacher at the Spanish school. These women are amazing. The amount of patience, humor and intuition that they have displayed is unbelievable. Today, I said that Zac was under my chair during my Spanish lesson, meaning to say he was behind me, and Angelica made me feel NOT stupid, which I think is near impossible, just by the gentle smile she gave as she corrected me.

Plus, Maxie, my boricua, has been helping me by correcting my grammar. For those who don´t know Maxie, she´s one of my students, and she grew up with a family who spoke Spanish. She´s been getting no end of joy from my awful Spanish. At least when I correct her English, I don´t laugh at her. Maxie still has a few things to learn about teaching...

Today one of the girls who are usually so shy at the table started speaking up at dinner, using her dictionary to ask questions of Mayra. I was impressed. The lunch was delicious, as all Mayra´s meals are, and all the students chowed down.

I´ve agreed to give Mayra´s sister, Leticia, a Spanish lesson today. I´m excited and more than a little nervous. I told her that I have never taught English to a non-native speaker (except Isamal, who will always be my favorite student), but that I was willing to give it a try. I´m nervous because Leticia speaks her Spanish very quickly, and it´s very, very difficult for me to understand her. I hope that I´m able to give her something valuable during the lesson.

The rain has almost let up entirely, so I think it´s a good time to wrap this up and head over to the libreria (sp?) and the phone cafe. I will write more soon. Guatemala is continuing to rock my world!