Mi estomago es YUCK!

Hola everyone! Well, Xmas in Guatemala was certainly different. I did end up going to church with mi familia de Guatemala and that was pretty cool. The church is beautiful. I'm not at my laptop right now so I cant post any pix, but I will show them to you soon enough. There were a few unique traditions here that I have never seen in a Catholic church in the states. For one, they clapped after Baby Jesus was brought to the alter, after the homily and after the mass ended. There was an insane amount of insense. Everyone rushed the alter after mass to kiss Baby Jesus. And there was no order to the procession for communion. Just a sort of free for all. (Kind of like the driving here) But all in all, it was nice to be there and despite not understanding every word, I got the jist of things. Got my God on.

So, after mass, Lis and Maria (my mom and sister) walked with me back home and we had the traditional Xmas tamales. Now,let me say I LOVE Mexican tamales. Guatemalan tamales,on the otherhand, are not high on my list. And we tend to eat the same food for 2 or 3 meals in a row. So, Kim's stomach has NOT been happy. Actually, I have had the awful traveler's stomach issues that are abundant here for newby foreigners. Not fun. But mi mama gave me some drugs and some tea this morning and although they made me slightly loopy during class, I am happy to say I am feeling better than I have in the past two days. OH! I nearly forgot...another Xmas tradition is to go crazy with fireworks at midnight. Since I wasnt feeling well, I passed on watching the spectacle, but I certainly was awakened by the unbelievable noise. And I hear it was better than Disneyland. And by the look of the streets on Xmas morning, every citizen of Guatemala must have set off about 100 firecrackers each. They still set them off all the time, but Xmas was just especially crazy.

So, Xmas day was really nice - maybe in the 80's - so I spent most of the day writing and studying in Central Park. (You'll see pictures of that soon too!) It was nice, despite my stomach issues. McDonalds was about the only place open, so I spent a few minutes in there, making interesting observations...there is an armed guard, free internet, Bon Jovi tunes playing, beach volleyball on TV. All very random and unlike Guatemala - well, except for the armed guard.

Last night we had a Xmas dinner at the school. We all helped prepare it, so it was interesting. We started around 5 and didnt eat until about 9. My stomach was still a bit queezy, so it wasn't the best Xmas dinner, but at least I got to hang out with some nice people and play some cards.

Today I went to one of the orphanages after class. I really don't know how to describe it yet. Kinda scary. Really sad. Disturbing. Yet, I enjoyed it to a certain degree. I don't know. I can go into more detail with those of you who may be interested later...

So, future plans for this week? Study, study, study. I got a bit frustrated with myself in my class today and my lack of remembering much of anything, so I need to get my butt in gear! Wish me luck!

I hope you all had a great holiday and I'll "talk" to you soon!

Kim : )