Books to Learn From

I'm falling behind in my self-assinged homework. I brought a book with me from home to suppliment my studies at the school. Not that the school isn't fantastic, but I really like the book to add to what I'm learning in class. The english explainations and plethora of exercises are fantisticly helpful. I'm 3 weeks into a 9 week study program. In some ways, I think the process is far too slow and tedious and in other ways, I'm very happy with how things are coming along. I hope to finish the content of the book wihtin the next week or so. By then, I hope to finally have basic grammar (past, present, future, imperfect, etc...) figured out. Then, I suppose the fact that I don't know enough words will really start to hit home.

On another note, Emma loaned me 3 choice childrens' books this week. I'm giddy with excitement over the experience of reading books in Spanish and
1) understanding them
2) re-living the excitment of reading books for the first time (somehow reading a book in Spanish feels like the first time all over again).

The books?
1) Jorge el Curiouso
2) Donde viven los Monstruos
3) Juevos verde at jamon

I don't have them with me, so I don't guarantee my spelling, but still - nothing as entertaining as reading Curious Geoge, Where the Wild Things Are, and Green Eggs and Ham - in Spanish!!!!!!

Weekend Update

I just took some flack for not writing more in Spanish, so here:
Consado
Mojado
Divertido
Semana Santa!

Tired
Wet
Amused
Holy Week

That's pretty much sums things up right now. Anyhow, I am trying to do to much with my limited time. Saturday night I was out late, and then I woke up super early on Sunday (sans alarm clock, thank you: internal clock). It ended up being a good thing, but under-five-hours of sleep isn't enough for this boy. Here we are and it's Tuesday and I all wanted during my lunch break was a nap!

Anyhow, so what's all this fun stuff I'm doing?

Saturday morning I ran into Austin and Eve in front of the school and we hung out on and off for most of the day. Eve and I wandered the city looking at buildings, roads, people, stores, etc... Austin was a bit preoccupied with the NCAA playoffs, but we'll let him have his moment of americana. It all ended last night so he'll be out and about in the sunlight more than last week.

I'm trying to figure out how to describe the plethora and variety of processions, pagents, demonstrations, music, and the like that are happning here this week. Really - there's no way I can cover it al. But, they re-enact pretty much everything you can imagine from the last week of Christ's life (from his entry into the city, burro included, to his crusifiction). People come from all over the country and each day is busier and more crowded than the one before.

Sunday morning I followed a parade out of town to San Filipe (sp?) and the road was completely backed up with bus after bus after bus of people coming for the festivities (not to meantion a few pickup trucks loaded to overflowing. I have a feeling lawsuits haven't really reached guatemala yet. It's just not "practical" to have a seatbelt and an airbag for everyone! Beside - no one gets hurt going to church!

Cameras Images 18 GB

After we finished making colored saw-dust (on Friday)... Emma took Eve's camera by mistake. Woops! Luckily it was an honest mistake. Here you see Emma and Eve exchanging cameras.

My friends and I agree that, aside from a Passport and a credit card, perhaps the most important property we have with us as we travel are our cameras (or more to the point, the memory sticks inside the camera).

For me, I suppose my iPod is pretty high on the list - because all my photos are stored therein (when the 1GB cards fill up). This little gem of technology allows me dump the photos from my cards into the empty 18 GB of space on the iPod's hard drive - thus avoiding the need to carrying 15 cards (or a laptop) with me as I travel.

I'll be honest though... Having a virtually unlimited amount of storage capacity with me, I tend to take far too many pictures (by someone's reconning). And yet, I say, "why not?" I have several GB of cards with me, but even when they're "full" it's no big deal, because I downlaod the pictures off the camera SD cards into the empty space on my iPod. Technolgy!!!!!

1979 Club

Well, I´m really pressed for time right now, but I wanted to be sure that Eva and Austin made it onto my blog before too much time had passed.

This is Eve. She´s a lot of fun. She smiles a lot. She has a really cool last name and I stood her up (and Austin) the other night. Note to self: "in" and "at" are two different and very specific words which ought not to be confused. She's here studying Spanish at "La Union" and finishing up a year+ in Central America (Costa Rica, mainly) teaching people to teach english. Too soon, she's heading back to Contecticut to reintroduce herself into American life. Sadness.

This is Austin. He's also a lot of fun. He's a great story teller (so is Eve, in case you think I'm being unfair in my personal descriptions). I have no idea what his last name is but I suppose I'll find out eventually. He's from the back hills of North Carolina and proud of it. If you long for a nick a nick name, and idom, or a good story. He's your man. I think he knows more about his fmaily history than anyone I know.

They were both born in 1979 (thus the 1979 club - which Eva started some years ago with other 1979ers). Alas, i'll never be in that club.

But, hey - I remember seeing Star Wars in the theater - so there!