Guatemala

well, last night it kept on pouring until like 2.30am. Elmer had called the mobile and my place and the mobile again but I was out earlier and than Chelsea had the phone ... but Heidi came along to pass the message on which was great! So I called him (another 15 minute conversation and I am so happy that I can do it) and we were both like no the weather sucks and we both can´t be asked to move out of the house. I was watching a bit TV, chatting with Milton, writing a leter etc. I had to steal the phone out of Chelsea´s bedroom since she had falen asleep with it. Sweety thank you so much for that very lovely call! I went back to sleep and feel very rested today I must say. School was fun because I actually knew what I was doing and I am more motivated now because I will have to speak the next two weeks non-stop Spanish and that is so much better to ... Well, after school I didn´t take a nap since I had so much sleep it is strange actually. Oh well, I went with the girls to town and went on a shopping binge but it was so much fun to be honest and I have now everything that I might need for a while. I found my towels for beach and regular one, some earrings, a handbag, flip flops etc. Than Camilla and me booked ourselves the trip to Tikal for the weekend. We think that we might stay up all night Friday since the shuttle pick-up is at 3.30am Saturday! I am curious how the plane ride will be in a baby plane o,)) After that Camilla went off for her meeting and I was waiting for Elmer who was running late. We grabbed a quick coffee and tea and quickly discussed next week. I thought what the hell try the net again since due to lightning the power here is going frequently. I am really happy though that the blog saves my writing. Other than that all that is new is that Robert has finally managed to work out how to use his phone. Who has ever said that men know whow to use a mobile o,))) So I guess we might go for dinner tomorrow night o,)) I will have to head off to the buses soon to be back in time for dinner. Ema washed some of my clothes today (I had orignally thought not necessary but actually aal my pants were dirty only jeans not; so I bought two skirts today as well to have something different to wear) and the funny thing is that it was boiling hot today but around 4pm it changed to more rain and thunderstorming and lightning. I am happy that my baby backpack has the rain cover otherwise it would really suck to get everything wet.

Gotta run now!

and it only hit me today that I have left Germany 22.03. and have been off work a bit longer than that! Guess what I don´t miss work at all! Amazing actually since I thought that I am more or less married to my work. Today I had a good talk with Ema over lunch. She said that I basically radiate happiness everyday except for the day when I was sick. She also complimented me on the fact that I look always very photogenic in the pictures that were taken so far. I don´t quiet agree since there are some action pictures that I don´t like all that much ,)) but hey I am having a good time here. People have the same problems like everywhere else but the mentality is more my style.

Yesterday it finally rained which explained why everyone was a bit more slow and quiet. The weather just made us all tired and when it started raining the timing was far from perfect since we got soaked going to Cafe Sky for Hanne´s birthday dinner. The rain felt good in a way since the humidity has increased but since it isn´t raining season yet the locals find the weather rather odd. Oh well, I had a top under my T-Shirt and put my fleece over it and didn´t get too cold but my T-Shirt was damp all night. It was Heidi, Hedda, Chelsea and me at first for the dinner and later Nicole and her travel buddy came by as well. Nicole told me that she is happy to leave early that night since they had just returned from a trip. Also she prefers a nice and quiet night every now and than and some proper talks. She is leaving Wednesday though and we will have bye-bye drinks Tuesday night in Monoloco. I made it last week no alcohol unless it counts having two sips of the local beer. I didn´t like the taste of it way too sweet. Gallo is a bit better but it always gives me a weird aftertaste in the mornings. So I think I rather stick with Cuba Libre o,)) or other rum based drinks. Hanne had dessert and I had asked in my best Spanish if they could put a candle on it so that she could make her birthday wish O) Eventually Alejandro showed up with Carlos and kept on babbling forever. The gang was like who is Carlos. I went I don´t know he is a friend from Alejandro. That is the next thing actually Antigua is very small and once you get to know a few people before long you run into the same people and everyone chats with everyone. When I went after internetting to Cafe 2000 for the afternoon movie (no charge but you usually you order drinks and food for the 2pm movie) it was ¨Madagascar¨ and I liked it. I got stopped on the way by someone saying hola Claudia. I have seen him around and he knows lots of people and the guys do the handshake thing but I have no clue what his name is but he certainly knew mine. Other than that after we were done with dinner we left and Hedda and Hanne wanted to go home but no tuc-tucs to be seen. We told them that they have to walk back with us to La Sala sine that is safer than that area where the cafe is. Later on they got the tuc-tuc home from there. Enzo showed up just than as well and said hello to everyone. He was on his way to play poker. Mike was there as well and I was his good luck charm for a short while but during that time he won money but refused to say that I brought him good luck o,)) Men!!! The guys from poker also know my face by now and just smiled at me. While all they said to Chelsea and Enzo was same old, same old, they kept on argueing that he hadn´t called as promised and therefore had 3 strikes and was out (means she can date Diego now). The joke is only that he invented it all o,))) We called it an early night since the rest of boys didn´t feel like going out and our clothes were kind of damp.
When I woke up this morning my throat was acting up again but other than that I was fine. I am glad that my room is the coolest because it doesn´t get as quickly damp like Chelsea´s. Sweet thanks for the very extensive phone call o,)) I was running a bit late for school but for some reason I was the one most motivated today. No idea why! I was chatting with the teachers in the break and with Lionel (he picked me up from the airport is one of the head honchos here). After school I went home and had a nice chat with Ema. Mario came home for lunch and we had a fun talk. I think that when Chelsea is gone (6. may) than I will have more talks with Ema and will actually learn more Spanish. She is so nice and always busy with cleaning or washing something. I must say that I have one if the better rooms others don´t even have mirrors or even fleas in their beds ... Great! After lunch I went to my room and slept a bit. I woke up and had sleep in my eye es so I was asleep very deep. Since it was pouring outside I decided to wait for an interlude to go out. I wanted to withdraw cash yesterday but all the ATMs in Antigua where either not taking my card or had run out of money. So I got my money today and have decide to stop in the Internet on my way home. Today I think that I will stay in and take it easy unless Elmer doesn´t have to work tonight than I might go out but the weather just really puts me off anyway!

God I am glad that I am able to save what I was typing because lightning just struck the cable here and all PCs went dead. Most rebooted and came back online but the one that I had is dead now. Otherwise I would have lost work of 45 minutes and that sucks!

It wasn´t really all that exciting! We met the rest in the park and waited for everyone to show up and than we went off for food in Monoloco since Luis just said that is where he wants to go since we all couldn´t make a decision. We stayed there for ages until I just couldn´t sit anymore on the benches and we went for a walk. I was chatting with Luis´s friend Stanley (who is playing on the national baseball team) and is studying to be a chef. It was an interesting enough conversation when his girl-friend wasn´t calling o,)) It got cold in the park and we left around midnight.

Today we slept in until 9am but actually I was awake by myself around 7am and just snoozed. Other than that I got myself a bowl of cereal and tea. At around 9.20am Heidi showed up and we got ready to go to Cafe Fernando for breakfast. The owner was really nice because although I hadn´t played Trivia yesterday I also got a free breakfast since he said that I also belong to the team. Than we did some shopping and I bumped into the Swiss girls and we might do some activities together which sounds like a real good plan. To kill time today we will go see a movie later on. Other than that it is Hannah´s birthday and we already got her two books. So we will return home after the movie get changed and than go out and I hope that later on I will meet Mike at poker. So it will be another early night! I bought two English books today for 42Q which is just really great! Now I better go check my inbox. Hope everyone had a good weekend! I must say that I like these chilled weekends!

Last night turned out differently than planned I can tell you. The concert wasn´t as good as we thought it might be actually. Plus Chelsea hadn´t planned on staying out at night at all and she didn´t have a sweater with her. In the end she borrowed mine since I had taken my longsleeve with me. However the group of Sjors and Robert moved on to the next bar but we were both so tired that we decided to call it a night. We just walked with them part of the way since the area wasn´t exactly the safest and police was out patrolling; made us feel a bit safer. We walked past Monoloco and had a quick look around since Chelsea was hoping to see Enzo around since he hadn´t returned her phone call. I had a brief chat with Elmer since work was slow. I was getting really tired and cranky by than. Enzo called and was goling to meet her downstairs. I got left with Alejandro who was annoying me with his dumb questions. Suddenly some guy showed up and did the handshake with the guys and chatted me up. He left since he saw that I wasn´t really paying any attention. Once he had left I asked Alejandro and Elmer who the hell that was. They both went he was just polite to say hello but actually he wanted to speak to you. Great way to go is all I can think off! Later on it dawned on me hat I had seen him before once or twice. I was getting cold and Chelsea didn´t return as promised so I went looking for her but no luck. Elmer told me anyway to go home before I would get sick again. Followed his advice and was home at a reasonable time!

Slept long and only woke up because Ema was hammering on the door because she had forgotten her keys. Milton had the music really loud and hadn´t heard her, Chelsea was under the shower and I was just waking up. I went back to sleep and emerged to have breakfast around 11am. Afterwards I was writing a letter and watching ¨The Incredibles¨ with Milton. We had lunch and I took a shower and got ready to go to Antigua. I checked real quick my mail in Jocotenango in the Internet cafe there. Camilla showed up and asked what had happened last night ... Suddenly Chelsea showed up as well and I told her that I was a bit annoyed with her. We went to Antigua together. She went off to play Trivia with the others while all I wanted was peace and quiet. I bought myself a cake and tea and sat in parque central reading my Lonely Planet and watching people. Elmer showed up briefly before work and he is getting better with coming on time (only 20 minutes late). I don´t know yet what I will be doing tonight but I don´t want to go back to Jocotenango just yet. I think that I will stay out and grab a bite here and see who shows up later for going out. I think that I might just find a nice quiet place and read some more. Tomorrow I want to sleep in and find a quiet place as well so that I can actually study my grammar because I am constantly making mistakes as far as I can tell. Elmer corrects me but I feel as if nothing is sticking in my brain at all today. I don´t know what is going on because there are times when I feel that it is going well and than I draw blanks for the correct tense. At least when I am with Elmer I can understand him without a problem and he is really nice about correcting my mistakes. I might actually learn something if I spend two weeks with him o)) and have to speak Spanish day and night!
The girls just called and I will go find them in a second and than we will see what we will do tonight.

As usual things work out differently here. Ema was out and gave us a late dinner. Camilla and me went to The Black Cat to meet her friends there. The owner remembered my name to my surprise and we had a nice chat. The group was pretty big and at the end of the table one guy was sittignby himself. I decided to chat with him for a while. He is Swedish and once he got a bit animated fun to talk with (Gato Negro he reminded me of you)!!! Around 10pm we went off to La Sala. The live music hadn´t started yet but it didn´t take long. Elmer showed up two minutes after us so that was perfect timing. We danced the whole time and it was such fun. I just love dancing here so much! Camilla was getting rather impatient because her guy didn´t show and at the end was pushing to go home. Quite annoying considering that I only get to see him so infrequently.

Today I went to school and learned some more tenses but being Friday no one was really motivated and we decided to play scrabble once again. At home we had lunch which was a big one today. Ema had cooked for Mario, her daughter and kids and Heidi as well. It was so much food and I ate a bit too much on the other hand that means I can do without dinner because I am so stuffed. I had my siesta and than Camilla came by to pick me up. We went to Antigua. Terry came by and they walked off. I was chattign with Heda, Heidi, Chelsea ... for a while but since I always see them it is kind of boring. I decided to write the first post card and read a bit. Elmer was running late of course what else is new but I guess I have to get used to that ... We were chatting for over an hour in the park but today the weather is really strange. It wasn´t hot during lunch hours and it is starting smell as if rain is in the air. The vulcanos are covered in clouds and it is all very misty and grey. I am glad that I have my longsleeve on over my top and a fleece with me. He is off to work now and I am quickly updating my blog because I´ll meet the others around 6.30pm. Tonight there is a benefiz concert here and almost everyone I know is going except for those who are sick ;( Tomorrow I don´t know yet what I will do we might go shopping and chill and of course go out tomorrow night. Elmer might be able to change his shifts around and work daytime; that would be great because than we could go dancing at night. On Sunday is Hannah´s birthday and we will meet for that. Further I will be Mike´s good luck charm for Sundays poker game. Otherwise everything is open still!