Una semana

So....it's been a while since I've last blogged and quite a lot has happened in one month. I will get into why I posted in Spanish at the end....

Holidays in Nebraska were frigidly cold, in the teens. Of course, it was great to catch up with family and eat and talk, etc. Although it did not snow on Christmas day, I still say we had a white Christmas as there was plenty of the white stuff as ground cover. Some highlights: I danced to the Trans-Siberian orchestra soundtrack and cracked my family up; helped prepare Christmas dinner with my Mom for my grandparents, aunt, and a couple friend of my parents'; shopped some--Steve and Barry's carries Sarah Jessica Parker's new line, Bitten, I bought jeans for $8.95!; and had long conversations with family--especially my Dad as the other members of the family gambled away their money, we just talked; and went to the bar with my brother.

After Nebraska, we flew to San Jose, CA to visit friends from Guam now living in Monterey over New Years'. We sure planned that well, the weather couldn't be better: sunny and in the 60s during the day. We soaked up the sun at the beach in Carmel-by-the-sea (although too cold to swim), drove through a bit of Big Sur, did the scenic 17-mile drive, and visited the Monterey Bay aquarium. All this with Christy 8 months pregnant. So we got to spend lots of time with our godson, Aiden, and what a smart kid! When they picked us up at the airport, Aiden had earphones on and was watching a documentary: Deep Ocean or the like, he's totally into marine life! At the aquarium, he was pointing out the 7 gilled shark and striped bass!! Now, I'd be saying look at that fish and shark. This is definitely a future marine biologist!! Christy might kill me for saying this but I even helped Aiden after an accident: wiping a kid's butt and it did not phase me, well it did smell. Maybe I could handle this mom stuff.....someday....far off.....

Since our arrival back to Seattle, I've been busy working and working on the house. It's been quite the chore to paint the bedrooms. I just finished priming the master bedroom walls with a second coat. The texture of the walls is rough so I needed the expert advice of Lowe's on which roller to use. I'm happy to report that with the correct equipment painting is much easier! Now if I could just figure out how to clean everything (paintbrushes and roller) I'll be set. Also found a desk last weekend for free on the corner and preceded to stain it without knowing what I was doing. Well, it still smells of the stain and probably requires a lot more work. This house stuff sure does take up a lot of time!

So....on to my use of Spanish for the title of this post....is that even how you say one month? I don't know and that's what I hope to find out. Anyway, my intention was to say one month in Spanish and update you all quickly on what I've been up to this past month and share my big news:

I'm going to Guatemala for 2 months on my own to learn Spanish!!!!

Here's the dirt on why I'm doing this. Uno, I've always wanted to study abroad and as I've missed that chance as a traditional student, I am entirely too young to have a big regret like this already. Dos, I've always wanted to be an ex-pat....somewhere. So, here's my chance to see if it's all that. By going for an extended time, (and if I had my way, I'd be there for much longer but I am married and I plan to stay that way) I'll have a better chance to live like a local and feel the frustration of being a foreigner as well. As a tourist, I've never been able to get a feel for what it would really be like to live in that place. Tres, one of my life goals is to be fluent in many languages and at 31, I came to the realization that I'm not getting very far on this goal. So, I narrowed down my search of countries and even languages to Central America and Spanish, then considered cost and safety and Antigua, Guatemala is what I came up with!!! One major consideration: the dollar is weak in so many parts of the world but not Central America. For one days' pay at my hospital job, I can attend language courses and live with a host family in Guatemala, including meals, for a week.

My next step is to enroll in a language school in Antigua, which seems to be the epicenter of language immersion courses. Courses are individualized and intense running 4 hours minimum per day Monday-Friday. There are also other fun options such as cooking, dancing, and lectures about the culture. I plan to take full advantage of the hiking opportunities as well as visiting the Mayan ruins, another life's goal. I will be living with a host family (speaking only Spanish) and they provide me with guidance and 3 meals per day plus typical outings they do such as going to the market, etc,. Thus, I won't be hearing much, if any, English and should in theory learn Spanish much faster.

Although Ryan's not thrilled about my leaving he understands I have major wanderlust and hopes this will do the trick to get it out of me!!! Also, I'm up to date on my immunizations and will exercise extreme caution in all circumstances, so please, don't worry about me. As my Dr. said (who also spent 2 months in Antigua), living with a host family and taking courses provides safety and structure. She said her host family was wonderful and even provided her with safe water. Internet access is everywhere...including the schools so I plan to be in full contact via the web.

So....here's an open invite for anyone to join me. I'll be there from Feb. 22 through April 26th. You can take courses or not. I plan to travel around on the weekends, if not a week out of my two months there. I've been reading up on Guatemala and the Mayan ruins, they sound amazing! If you know of anyone who's done this sort of thing, I'd love to hear it....