Tricky first week

Trip Start Nov 25, 2006
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Trip End Feb 17, 2007


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Flag of Guatemala  ,
Tuesday, December 5, 2006

As usual it is hard to know where to begin. How about some shocking news? I survived an earthquake! Yep, Sunday afternoon was chilling out watching films in a cafe when suddenly floor and bricks started to rumble. My first thought was wow, great special affects on the movie (Madagascar!) until everyone looked a bit scared and started running for the door! Scary, lasted a few minutes, was quite mild really but apparently was 5.8 on richter scale, but somewhere out at sea. Antigua was fine no damage done but scared the residents who can remember the last big earthquake back in 1976. Never a dull moment.
Yesterday I was up at the school in the afternoon and we took a walk to see the damage Hurricane Stan, which hit this time last year, did to the town Itzapa. We walked over a hill in a built up area of the town and suddenly it was green fields with a river of sewage running through and sad looking animals. All of the homes, many belonging to kids at the school were washed away when a wall of water rushed down the valley. There are still very few people living in that area. Apparently the school was used by families that were homeless to live in after the hurricane Active Volcanoes
Active Volcanoes
 . It must have been a crazy time to be here.
I met my afternoon class 3 yesterday. They are cute about 28 of them, and a Jose! He has funny spikey hair that won{t lie flat, incredibly cute. Couple of the other kids I have been told to keep an eye on for any bruising or injuries. Life is getting rough in their home apparently, which breaks your heart. The little girl sat with me all through break determind to figure out why when u put words in alphabetical order, perro (dog) comes before senora. A mystery that is surprisingly hard to explain to 28excited kids in another language.
My spanish is still not great...i am understanding quite a lot but dont really have any spanish conversation skills yet. Much to my house mothers disappointment. This has also been hindered slightly by having a dodgy tummy for the last week, which has sucked. But a visit from the doctor this morning should hopefully have me back chatting the espanol in no time!
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