Saturday, December 3, 2016

San Pedro la Laguna, el 2 de deciembre, 2016

School was fine.  Mynor and I talked a lot but he always seems bored when I'm speaking.  I know I
talk slowly (even slower in Spanish) but he shouldn't look away or worse yet go on his phone!!!   At least he didn't yawn or roll his eyes.  Yesterday he went to get a cup of coffee and didn't come back for 10 minutes!  I should have asked for a refund!

On Fridays at coffee time, graduates are presented with certificates-


It's an absolute waste of paper if you ask me but whatever.

For two weeks, I sat in this nook-


Looking at the lake and garden.  It was a beautiful spot and apparently, the school just bought the property as rough land a couple of years ago and they have turned it into a peaceful, lovely place-


Walking around town this afternoon in the brilliant sunshine, I was thinking how I was going to miss San Pedro.  The mornings are spectacular: the sky is blue, there is little wind and it's warm.  However, that's when I'm in class.  After lunch about 1:30, it is starting to cloud over and there is no place to sit outside in the sun at my homestay.  So I go walking to find a bar with sun.  About 4 it gets cooler and the sun will be gone for good behind clouds, so I head home to study, read or search on the Internet until supper, which is around 7.

School wise, it's been an okay 2 weeks - I don't think Mynor was as good for me as Sheny- she was soooo patient, yet, maybe it's unfair to compare.  In Antigua, I had no Spanish, so everything was new and I learned a lot.  Here, I already knew quite a bit, yet Mynor's teaching style was a bit stiff- he would write the grammatical ideas on the board and I was expected to copy.  He often looked away, even while at the white board, as if he was just dying to be somewhere else.  I should have asked for a different teacher after the first week, but he is part of the administration so....  I still learned a lot, and decided that my learning really is solely up to me. As long as I can converse with someone, I will get better.

Tonight I met another student from school and my new friends Carole and Gerry Sauvé from Gibsons, B.C. at a local bar for Quiz Night.  We didn't win but we had a lot of fun.  There were questions like what's the world's largest desert? (Sahara).  The river that runs through Rome? (Tiber). The closest planet to the sun? (Duh).  What do GPS and SMS stand for?  How do you say rain in Spanish?  (Lluvia) The place was packed with young people as first prize was $100 US.  As well, there were 'bonus' questions for drinks and 'bonus' activities.  I took one for the team and tried to guzzle a beer the fastest of anybody.  I've never done that before so was surprised when even though the beer continually poured out of the can into my mouth and I kept up, quite a few finished before me.  I know the trick for 'next time'.  You have to squeeze the can!  

I'm leaving San Pedro la Laguna at 8:30 tomorrow morning for Quetzaltelango, also known as Xela, pronounced Shayla.  I am looking forward to something new!




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