El Pescado y La Araña

My exam went well. I made a couple silly mistakes, but Aura pointed them out to me before she corrected the test, saying that she hadn’t been clear. She gave me full marks. Later in the afternoon she showed me exactly how I am being graded. There’s a system of percentiles in various categories: Vocabulary is worth 10%; Questions during tutoring – 5%; Accent and pronunciation – 5% (I personally think that should be worth more); Tarea (Homework) – 10%. There are a couple other categories, but the exam is definitely worth the most: 50%. For the week I received a 97%. I didn’t realize how intense the grading would be!

After class on Friday, Alyssa and I went to a bar named Ocelot, which is owned by a Welshman. There’s a ridiculously long Welsh word decoratively written on the wall above the bar, and apparently you receive a free drink if you can pronounce it correctly. I didn’t even try. If I go again I’ll try to remember to write it down so you see why I gave up. A lot of ex-pats go to this bar. In fact, while we were there I think all of the patrons were American. Located upstairs from the bar is a restaurant called Lava which serves gourmet hamburgers. I may have to try that out soon! There are so many bars and restaurants in the city that it’s hard to know where to go… On Sundays I’m responsible for my own meals, so I will have the opportunity to try out a few.

After the bar we went to an artisans’ marked called Nim Po’t. There were a lot of neat things to buy that were made in Guatemala. The weirdest thing was a shrine near the back that is dedicated to a Mayan god called Maximon. Apparently he is the god of liquor, tobacco, and love. I took a couple pictures because it was so creepy. In addition to flowers and all kinds of trinkets, someone had left a flask of rum sitting on the figurine’s lap! The whole thing reminded me of the witchdoctors and superstitions still plaguing the Christians in Africa.

Alyssa’s last day here was Friday. She really didn’t want to leave, and I didn’t really want her to go either. It’s been nice having someone to talk to in English and to explain what’s going on when I’m totally lost. We ended up talking on Friday evening way into the night. Juan came to pick her up at 4:00 AM and we said our goodbyes. I got a few hours of sleep before getting up for breakfast, then I went back to bed until noon.

For lunch Olga prepared rice, vegetables, and uno pescado (a dead fish). The fish was cooked whole, head, eyes, tail, fins and all. I am not a huge fish fan, but to my surprise it really didn’t taste like I had expected it to! The hardest part was hearing the crunch of removing the tail and head … and of course having to perform the surgery myself. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of putting yourself out of your comfort zone (especially when it comes to food!), but I’m glad I did it. I had told Olga that I would try anything, and I intend to keep my word.

Saturday was the official kick-off to the Corpus Christi celebration here in Antigua. Olga tried to explain all of it to me, but it kind of got lost in translation and I’m not converting to Catholicism any time soon. All I know is that there was going to be another procession and a lot of people in the Parque Central. I waited until mid-afternoon before taking a walk through the city. I ended up going to another artisans’ market near a ruined church called el Carmen. I really like the paintings here and I was determined to get a couple sometime, though I didn’t expect to buy anything at that moment. I ended up bartering with a very determined guy who tried selling me one painting for 200 Quetzales. I managed to get him down to 130 for 2, which translates to about $8.50 per painting. I should have been able to get him down more, but my haggling skills are a little rusty. Plus, I really like the paintings I got! I had just learned bigger cardinal numbers on Friday, so the timing worked out well.

I slept in late on Sunday, feeling bizarre again that I can’t go to church. It surprises me that there are no WELS missions in Antigua, because there are a large number of tourists walking the streets, and ex-pats who decide to live here. Last week I had mentioned to Aura that I am Lutheran, and we talked about how I attended El Universidad de Martin Lutero. Alyssa had tried to talk to her teacher a little more about being Lutheran, and her teacher was shocked that there was more than one branch of Lutheranism. She had figured it was like Catholicism in that way.

In my free time I do a lot of reading, thanks to Ruth’s kindle. I was reading in la sala (the living room) the other day, and I showed it to Olga, doing my best to explain that there were muchos libros leer (many books to read). She liked it and said it was “pretty.” Sunday evening I will be doing a lot of review studying so that I hopefully don’t have to back-track with mi maestro on Monday. I haven’t met him yet, but his name is Max.

I really do love my host family! Olga is an excellent cook, and she especially makes an effort to talk with me, even though she knows I can’t understand her half the time. She is also a hilarious mime when trying to describe something to me! However, I can already feel that I’m getting a little lonely now that Alyssa is gone. Perhaps another student will be coming to stay in the other bedroom, but I don’t understand enough words yet to know how to ask that.

I miss everyone and send my love! (And Olga says Hi!)

Adios!

P.S. There was a big spider in el baño this morning. ¡A mi no me gusto unas arañas! I managed to get a couple pictures before flushing him.

“I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.”

Psalm 27: 13 – 14