Life in Antigua

We left Magdalena Sunday afternoon for Antigua.  We had about 20 minutes to get settled in at our new house before we navigated the streets to find the SI office to go to Fernando’s house to watch the superbowl. (Fernando is the director of SI.)  Fernando’s wife Marionela made homemade pizzas, which were amazing, and we also had ice cream.  She told us, “If you get homesick, come here.  I make cookies.”   She’s wonderful!

                After the game when Fernando drove us back to our house, he told us that he didn’t realize how far away our house was and that he was going to talk to Becky about switching houses.   On Monday after class Leah and I moved houses.  I was glad that we did because it took us almost 20 minutes to walk to school, and our house was at the end of the road and there wasn’t much traffic, so it probably wasn’t the safest. 

Our new room is really nice!  There are a lot of little things I have in this room that we didn’t have in Magdalena such as a nightstand with a lamp.  However, Leah and I were most excited about the hooks to hang up our towels, and the amount of water pressure in the shower.  This house is 3 blocks from the school and takes about five minutes to get there, which is super great!  The only catch is that we might only be able to stay here for three weeks.  Becky is hoping that now that we’re here, we’ll be able to stay the whole time. 

                The host families here definitely host people more as a business.  There are seven other people staying in the house, and we definitely see them more often than we the owner of the house.  It feels a lot like a bed and breakfast, but it’s been fun getting to know the other people staying there. 

                I’ve had two days of language school so far, and it’s been going ok.  Classes are one on one and are four hours a day from 8:00-12:00 with a half hour break.  This is great for me because I can’t hide in the back of the class because I am the class.  My teacher, Veronica, is really nice.  Bethel writes the curriculum and then the teachers teach it, so it’s different having a teacher that isn’t familiar with the curriculum.  So far the homework hasn’t been too bad either.

                Today I walked to school, home, and to the SI office without getting lost, or feeling like I was lost.  All the streets here look the same and street signs are few and far between.  There’s a lot more traffic here, and pedestrians definitely DO NOT have the right of walk, which makes walking an adventure in itself!