First day in Jocotenango

Have some catching up to do.
Wednesday mornign at 2.30am NYC time the alarm went off and Robil got up with me (guess you´ll be getting to used to that soon o,). Thank you so much for letting me stay with and for the short but fun time with you and for getting to know you both a bit better. The shuttle was on time and all except for one person was ready to go so in the end I arrived at JFK 4.15am. The check-in desks were closed but also the electronic one´s ... opening around 4.45am I was one of the first one´s to check in and than I was walking through a really empty airport - strange feeling! Other than that had a seat wrote a bit, read a bit and no still didn´t have the nerve to figure out how the ipod works. Had a very annoying guy sittign next to me who was constantly moving around and no chance to catch up on some sleep. In Atlanta I went hunting for an adapter with USB cabel otherwise the whole ipod issue is a joke but no luck, Also no Dunkin´ Donuts to be had so settled for a huge smoothie. Walked over to he gate since I had arrived with 45 minutes delay due to fog in Atlanta. You electronically ¨check-out¨ by left/right index finger scan and picture, get a receipt and than give your partly green card to teh airline agent. That was new to me! The plane to Guatemala city was pretty full. BUiness class in that plane was a bit of a joke since people have to be rather small to appreciate the space ... o OH well, the food was okay but the movie and headset a joke. I was hoping that ¨Harry Potter and the goblets of fire¨ woudl put me to sleep but no chance. OH well, so here I am tired but sleep not forthcoming. Flying in to Guatemala City the pilot did a nice turn and we saw everything from the city center to the poor parts. The customs was great fun. I should have expected that one look in the passport would trigger an avalanche of sPanish. THe baggage claim was the strangest I have seen so far. Three planes had arrived and all teh luggage was being dumped on the same conveyer belt. The good thing was though that I had a priority sticker on mine and it was there and in one piece (I got told later that it was a miracle since normally bags disappear and reappear 2-7 days later). Getting out of teh airport was a marathon because you are being justled from all sides. I was tryign tow read all those signs but not the one that I was looking for about 45 minutes later I had Lionel standing behind me. He already had to Norwegian girls in the car. I got to sit in front and had an excellent view on the sceneray. The first thing that I noticed was that people drive like mad here and that some of teh buses would be banned in Europe with that pollution they cause. People are very friendly here. Lionel let us make phone call home to say that we are okay. Mami, das war echt uebel DEine Stimme zu hoeren, denn dann bricht das Heimeh aus und davor hatte ich es unter Kontrolle! IN Antigua after about 45 minutes we got dropped of at our host families. I got to meet Ema and her son MIlton (who speaks a few words of English). I got a glass of water, dumped my bag in my room and Ema took me to teh school. I got introduced to Vilma. We had a chat and she told me that she had expected me the day before - guess communication broke down somewhere! So anyay Vilma walked me back to my house and I could finally change clothes. During the day right now it gets as hot as 30 degrees but at night it cools down to 15 degrees. She showed me where the bus station is, where to walk at certain times and what to avoid. We went into Antigua and I exchnaged money for teh local currency. Lots of new impressions and my mind was in a whirl. I tried to get my bearings but it was all one mix. We sat in a restaurnat for a drink and nachos with real guacemole - yummy!!! By the time we got back to my family it was around 9pm here (they are 1 hour behind NYC time). Ema warmed up the soup for me and I had a little sandwich. The other thing is here they are worried of not feeding you enough so the portions are huge for me. I got to meet Mario. By the tme my head hit the pillow it was after 10pm and I was dead beat.

Vilma had told me that I was allowed to sleep in today. So I did just that and forced myself to sleep longer. I woke up around 7am because of teh noise outside sounded like a car had misfired but later I was told had to do with birthdays and something being fired. Took a shower in the smallest bathroom I have ever seen in my life. The water was kind of cold but once you get used to it it is okay. My room is facing the street but is the coolest in the whole house which is great. Chelsea is stayign there as well. The car is parked out front my door. REally funny!

I´ll continue later now have to run since it is dinner time here. The writing is full with spellign erros but this is teh stickiest keyboard that I have ever come across ... but at least the internet is kind of quick!