sabbatical

Sweety so good to hear from you! So my morning started off with an especially good mood and breakfast was also very much to my liking: watery cinnament outmeal with apple and bread to go with it! I can tell you guys the bread is better than in NL and GB but it still sucks because it is only white bread in different forms. I really want to have proper German bread one of the things that I am already looking forward to.
I went off to school and Carmen was already sitting there grinning at me. I had one of my good days and picked things up quickly. It is since yesterday very humid here and it constantly looks as if it will rain but nothing is happening. The whole school was very quiet and even very subdued during break. The Germans are such a boring bunch; honestly sometimes they are most boring people I come across here at least the rest of people mingle or address other nationalities but these guys no.
Chelsea and me sat down for a fun lunch since Ema was being very funny afterwards we watched a bit TV and than I went off to knock on Camillas door. We both decided to stay put in Jocotenango today since we are getting a bit tired of going back and fourth and spending money more or less ONLY on transportation. We went in search of an ice cream than we sat in the central park here. I had taken a book with me and paper and pen but actually what I did most was watch live go by. The church bells were ringing for a funeral. Old people were playing chess. Old women were selling fruit. Kids were playing in the dirt. Church service was over and the whole procession took over the street and all the cars started taking different routes and the buses went to stand still. People chatting and milling around and glancing at us. It is so different but also so nice to just sit there and watch ... Now I am updating my blog. Once I am home I want a refreshing shower, wash my hair and do my homework ... later on after dinner we will go to Monoloco.

I have finally gotten around to figure out how to use my ipod and I can charge it up while being in the net which is very handy I must say

Thursday: School and I wasn´t up to my usual things so we did lots of talking and played scrabble for the second part - I won against the teachers!!! After lunch we went to Antigua to hang out again ... at night we went to La Sala and were there for a while. I met Robert who is from Germany and we chatted for a while; saw him at the exercusion but thought he was Dutch since he was hanging with George. I spoke to Elmer at work and he was a bit mad that I hadn´t called him but than again he hadn´t called me either ... anyway we agreed to meet later on. He showed up at 2am in La Sala with his colleagues. The funny part is Elmer is about my height while his colleagues are partly smaller than me and that is strange looking down on people. I got to meet them and all but the music was all wrong and we didn´t dance. Like I said I can´t wait that this town goes back to normal because they usally have a live band that plays Salsa, merengue ... so much better! I can´t even remember how long we stayed there. In the end we left and walked around the city, watching people making carpets and we started being really hungry. In the end we found a place to have food and bumped into Isaak and later on into Erik and his group. He is mad because I don´t call him but right now I just can´t be asked. I still have to work out things with Elmer first. So by something like 5am or so we called it quits because we were so cold and than had to pay a horrendous sum for gettign a tuc-tuc home. I went to bed in my thermal underwear because I was so cold and that of course didn´t really help my cold. Anything though to get a real taste of what Eastern is here. I got explained that for certain days the purple robes are in and when Christ has died they change to black robes. There are tons of processions going on and incense is in the air and just made me cough.

Friday: I was sleeping in for a change which was really nice ... no school!!! We took it very easy that day and only emerged from the house around lunch time. The processions etc. were starting to annoy everyone here since that means lots of people, prices skyrocket etc. just too much all around! I took some pictures of that and some of a normal day and it is amazing to see the difference. We were just hanging and enjoying the day off. Further we had decided to stay in at night since it was a really bad night for being out since we were pretty dead ... Alex and Nicky said that nothing was going on in the City and wanted us to come out to Antigua. Not only did they let us know way too late because they were no tuc-tucs to be had ... and basically we feel asleep texting back. So althoug we felt bad that they had come from the City we just feel into our beds.

Saturday: We slept very long and constantly missed Camilla to catch up on the news. Mattheo being a player seems to have a crush on her and she is like sorry not interested. He does not want to get the message and we just all try to help her out if this mess - without much luck though! You see here someone is always dating someone and someone is hitting on someone. It is actully not much different than at home in the sense of "meat market" but the biggest difference here is that if you say you have a local boy-friend they basically leave you alone. Improvement as far as I am concerned since at home that still means nothing. I was supposed to meet Elmer at 3pm and waited for a while since Guatemaltecen time is not European time but no show. Chelsea showed up and said that she had no lucks with her phone calls so we decided in the end to make our way to Cafe Fernando. The Wednesday night we were 3. in Trivia and had won free coffee there. Heidi and me are non coffee drinkers and were made to drink. YYUUUKKK! Our coffee was more chocolate and sugar than anything else but we put on a brave face. We made it in time to join the 4pm Trivia in that location with 5 of us. Luis and Diego joined us later but were of no real help for getting is more points The biggest surprise was that we made it to be 2. the best group is like never to be beaten since we usually loose points in sports, science and questions about Latin America. We won a free breakfast which came in very handy for the next day since that is when we do not get meals provided. After that we just hung around a bit and went for the internet as usual. I saw Elmer briefly and he aplogized that he had overslept which is understandable with double shifts but no phone call ... When we went out at night we bumped into Luis and Diego who took us home and we had dinner and got changed. That is the only annoying part of living here that you always to go back and forth. At night we went to Reds and Chelsea found out that it was Enzos birthday. It seems that people do not mention it here. She was completely surprised and he was already pretty drunk. It was funny! George was there as well and his shoulder was killing him and was bruised. He got to carry one of those Jesus things with a group. He said that the coordination was not very good so the front dropped it and he got all the weight on the shoulder but it was an experience he said. Robert showed up as well and we chatted a bit. I had spotted Walter so Erik could not be far and I fled with Robert to the other table full with Germans and Canadians. I had made my escape just in time because Erik asked Chelsea where I was and she could honestly say no idea. He did not belive her but tough luck! The desk was done soon so I joined the others again. Enzo and his friends were pretty drunk so Chelsea had not much success in having a conversation. Camilla and me were tired and just wanted to go home. We started walking past Monoloco and Elmer appeared. We talked for a bit than we got escorted to a cab to take us home.

Sunday:

HAPPY EASTERN EVERYONE!!!

Not much of a lie in since we had to be in Antigua at 1am to meet Hedda. The breakfast was not enough to satisfy our hunger so we went to McDonalds afterwards. Where in the park for a while than decided that we needed to internet for a while. I was done and got lucky Elmer was on lunch break but Jose thought it really funny to join in the conversation since he knew by the smirk on his face that he was interferring. I left since the girls wanted to continue. Actually Hannah and Chelsea were left. Chelsea got a long phone call from her boy-friend but they agreed on time out for now. Hannah and me though it all takes too long and went for drinks and food upstairs. Elmer must think that I am nuts. Oh well! After that we went to watch a movie Having fun with Dick adn Jane with Jim Carry. Not the best thing ever in my book and not even particulary funny. I was cold and decided to leave the girls and go home and change. We meet for dinner in Enzos restaurant. The food was expensive and bad. Elmer and me were supposed to see each other after work but he never showed up. Chelsea and me were in La Sala where they were playing poker. I started chatting with Franz (he left Dortmund in the eighties and has not been back since, he asked like hoq does a Euro look like I ended up being the good luck charm for Michael (English guy). When the boys called it quits he had doubled his input. Chelsea and Enzo wanted time to themselves so Mike and me chatted a while longer and will meet again next week Tuesday in Monoloco. We were home pretty early and I felt a bit weird.

Monday: I woke up and felt spaced out. I got up and went to bathroom feeling all woozy and decided to stay in bed. Ema was worried but I told her I will just gt back to bed. I had a very late lunch in the end consisting of cornflakes. Went back to my room, tried to read without much success same goes for writing and before dinner Camilla showed up. That was great to hear some more gossip and see her smile all over the face since she is really happy with Terry and her Spanisch is improving We had a sandwich for dinner and sweet bread afterwards. I just had to get some fresh air and Chelsea and me said hello to Heidi and Hannah and to hear what they were up to. Well, they are going out to Reds tonight but I will take it easy today and will see if I go to school tomorrow but I hope to be okay again for going out tomorrow night. I really want to meet Michael again since I usually do not hang out at the poker tables and he has no cell. I just better get a hold of Elmer before the meeting though otherwise it could get even more complicated. Time to go home now and read maybe a bit before going of to sleep.

Finally up to speed again with my diary and lots of things for you all to read!

Well, I am really running behind with updating my blog but Eastern is crazy here. I have been constantly busy and just managed to catch up on my sleep so am finally once again bright and shiny o,)

Tuesday: After lunch I can not even remember what we did but probably went to Antigua. Okay here is goes I went to see the Cero de la Cruz which means basically walking up a hill and having a nice view. It was okay and I got to meet more people which is always good I guess. I took some pictures from that as well. The only thing is that tourists can not walk around there but need to be with a police escort and they do not like to be photographed so we always managed to sneak pictures anyway. At night it was ladies night in Monoloco and we were there but it was not as much fun as usual because the prices for everything had skyrocketed and there were just too many people to make it comfy and cozy. Mattheo and George were chatting about Mattheos list and true to his form he started hitting on Camilla. He is just one of the players around here! I got to meet a girl from Utrecht and got to chat to her group for a while. It was pretty much same old, same old. The highlight was seeing George dance in Sin Ventura which was just too funny. I meet Elmer after work and we chatted for a while.

Wednesday: School is some days good fun and others it is just a complete bore and at others really frustrating when one day your Spanish is going really well and the next day you think you are not making any improvement. I think Eric (the guy from Reds, could not even remember his name anymore) called me again and wanted to know why I was not there Tuesday night but actually his problem was that because it was so packed he could not find me which suited me just fine. However he invited me for lunch for the next day. In the afternoon we were off to Antigua which is what we do every day sicne there is nothing to do in Jocotenango. We decided to have dinner there and had a huge portion of nachos. Chelsea and me did not manage to finish that huge portion off. I did get to chat with Elmer though. Due to Easter everything has been switched around here so Trivia in La Sala started already at 7pm but since not mnay people were there it started slightly later. It was one of those days when it was all a bit weird. However the others showed up eventually and we got thrid place out of 6 teams so that was an improvement. It was a slow night though and we called it quits at 10pm - first time since I arrived to be home that early!

Time to run again since Elmer did not show up today for our date and Chelsea is all by herself so we will head off together now for Cafe Fernando. When we play Trivia we are playing under name Barbie Dolls and we got an invite for free coffee today.

Monday I woke up really early by myself and wanted to go for a shower but no water since the washing machine was running. Other than that I was just taking it easy and had asked Ema the night before if she could wash my stuff again since it was really disgusting with dirt, sweat etc. it could have probably stood by itself o,) Chelsea having also morning classes and me went off for school. It was good fun and my head was smoking and I thought I’ll never get a hang of this bloody language. However we had lunch and than I was of to Antigua with Camilla, She wanted to call home and I wanted to update my diary. My date wit Elmer turned out a lot better than I thought. I don’t know why but maybe because I wasn’t thinking so much the words came our more or less correct and the tenses as well. we sat in a cafe for 3 hours chatting. He had to go home than to change for work so I got to meet his sister and family. Don’t know when I’ll see him again since he has to work this week double shifts but next week definetelydefinitelyh means for Thursday night I’ll have to find a different dance partner o;(( I went home than for dinner and for Monday night it is usually the night to chill out but we felt like going out. Camilla, Chelsea and me went to “Red’s” together. I haven’t played pool in ages but signed up anyway for the tournament and we sure had some good laughs. the best part was that since many locals hang around I spoke more Spanish than English which is always good. We gave out our phone number again o)) Mattheo and George were away for the weekend and Mattheo got kicked by a horse and today he’ll go see a doctor because by the end of the night he was unable to stand on his foot. We were flirting like crazy but it was also so very hilourous and we have the pictures to prove it! The best thing was that I came in 3. out of 8 and some of those played clear the table if you know what I mean. Afterwards it was open again for everyone to play and I got to play a lot. We also heard that some friends from others got robbed at gun point just outside – really bad - and nobody helped them! We got back home like something 2am.

Tuesday: School was exhausting today and the second playing scrabble wasn’t much better. Chelsea and me went after lunch to find a place to get a haircut. we both love our new hair cuts for 15 Q (I give you this information so that you guys can think about of what it gets you 1 USD = 7.5Q). I got a phone call from a guy I had meet last night and have no clue what his name is Now we are in Antigua and Chelsea has decided she wants to stay here in Guatemala and is now checking out work permit, jobs ... and it makes me think also why do I want to come back?!?
Tonight it will be "Monoloco" night and I get to see Elmer although he is working o)

Friday at 2.30pm our trip started with three Guatemala people, two (very irritant and stupid) Danish people and our guide with family. The shuttle wasn't in best seating condition so when we arrived in “Biotopo de Quetzal” we were pretty beat. We stayed in the jungle if you so want to put it. We had a shack with two beds in it. Camilla and me were starving so we went for the local food (beans, cheese, creme, eggs, tortilla and chamille tea) and afterwards went off to bed. Chelsea skipped dinner and went straight to bed. It was a real adventure and we love the survival kit from Chelsea with all the bug spray and such so we didn't get eaten alive. We still had our flashlights in the backpacks which came in handy to go find the bathroom on the upstairs level since the lamp was broken to illuminate the trail o) The next morning we were up early and tried to spot the Quetzal but no luck! We went for a walk on a nature trail and got sweaty really quick. Some of us had breakfast there and others didn't. Afterwards we went on to Coban. We made a pit stop there for breakfast which was okay. From there we went on to Lanquin and dropped our stuff off in the hotel. We girls all had our own beds this time (Camilla and me shared the night before; was glad though to have packed my inlet). We changed into bikinis and put sunscreen on and off we went of Semuc Champane. Since the road had gone from highway to dirt road we were pretty much shaken through. Now we got a four wheel drive and got to stand in the back of the van for the next 10kms which was good fun. Half the group went of for a swim the other half opted for more exercise and we walked up the “Mirador”. We were pretty much dead when we reached the top since it was something like 40 degrees Celcius and the feeling of your sweat just dripping isn't exactly the best feeling ever. We enjoyed our fresh fruit and water that we had bought (slices of mango, melon, coconut etc. per plastic sack 1 Q)! The view was really nice and we were looking forward to go for a swim. The first spot we found was a nest with fire ants – arrrgghh! The next dry spot was close to our group. We bumped into Mathilda and Emily who were there also but not organised. On the way back it started drizzling a bit and we were a bit cold but not for long. Our legs were still shaking from the walk and than in the truck back we picked up some locals and they of course just sit on your feet and think none the worse of it. Chelsea and me were like almost hugging each other and I got to stand in front and my arms were killing me. It was good fun though! Back in the hotel we just fell onto our beds and wouldn't move for the next hour. Camilla was the brave one to go test the shower here (hadn’t showered the night before since that thing looked like “please let me electrecute myself” ). It was freezing cold water but hey it could have been worse. We were clean and hungry actually we were always eating like there was no tomorrow. The whole group ended up in the same restaurant not as if that tiny place had that many o) The Danish guys were so annoying for various reasons they threw our bags on different seats because they wanted our seats more than their own, talked down on the locals, threw their trash around and were the rudest people we have ever come across. The whole trip would have been even better without them. After dinner we walked back to the hotel and bumped into an American. We chatted for a bit and than went off to bed. These two nights we were in bed like 8-9pm which is like the earliest in ages. Sunday we could sleep in a bit. Actually there must have been a thunderstorm or something since Camilla told us that she had to get up and close the window we hadn’t heard anything only saw that everything was wet. After the best breakfast ever consisting of pancakes and fresh fruit we continued on. The tea wasn’t drinkable since they thought they needed to pure lots of chlorine into the water so that our stomachs would be okay. We poured tons of sugar into the tea to make it at least drinkable o) All our meals were never more than 20Q which is like nothing. On the way back to Antigua we stopped to have a look at some water which was unfortunetely very polluted and than stopped again for lunch. We got back to Antigua somethimg like 7pm. We hopped out right at the school of Appe because we wanted to have a look at the carpet that they were making which was really beautiful. The carpet is made of colored sawdust and lasts for maybe 20 minutes but is something that people put money, time and effort into making for Eastern (Semana Santa). Camilla wanted to have the huge nachos at “ Monoloco” so we went. Elmer was working and saw me and we rearranged our date for Monday. We got home by 9pm and chatted a bit with Ema and Mario before going to bed. We were pretty beat and were really grateful to be back HOME and in our beds again. All the tourists walking around in Antigua are annoying it is going to be even more crowed this week. We don’t feel like tourists since for us this all home!!!