my first day of school

This morning i got up and got ready for my very first day of school. i was reminded of my first day of kindergarten when my momma put me on the bus. i didn´t know anyone and i was scared to death. it´s funny how little things have changed just 24 years later! yesterday i arrived in xela around 1 pm. i was picked up at the bus stop by sylvia and taken to the school to register. after registering i ventured out on my own and went to a market in the central square. i also ate lunch at a place called utz hua. i was pretty proud of myself for ordering something that i actually liked, in spanish. afterwards i met the family i will be staying with over the next three weeks. the father´s name is carlos, his wife is magnolia, and they have two children, carla (9 yrs old) and jesus alfonzo (3 yrs old). carlos´mother also lives with them, her name is maria. if you know me well, you can understand the excitement i felt when i found out they had small children. i can´t wait to know enough spanish so that i can confidently communicate with my family. the family has been so welcoming to me and carlos told me that his house is my house and his family, my family. it almost brought me to tears!!
my accomodations are nice. i have a room to myself with a twin bed, a dresser, and a desk. i share the bathroom with the rest of the family. i was so excited to find out that there is hot water for showers...or should i say luke warm water! either way, at least it´s not ice cold. the weather here has been moderatly hot during the morning, rain in the afternoon, and cool at night. i got pretty cold last night and slept under three blankets. i´m not sure how cold it was this morning walking to school, all i know is that it was cold enough to see my breath in the air. i have to walk about 10 blocks to school which takes me between 15 and 20 minutes.
last night i met up with my friends from Duke and we had dinner together. it was so good to see them and i could already tell that they were more confident about speaking spanish. they have been a huge help to me already!
this morning all the students met at sakribal (the school) to do introductions and go over activities for the week. my classes are in the afternoon from 2 to 7 pm and will be able to do activities in the morning. today we went to a mayan cemetary that was built in the early 1700s. it was really interesting. tomorrow night we will have salsa dancing lessons and wednesday we will go to the hot springs nearby. there is so much to do around here!
well, i just wanted to give an update about my trip. i am feeling much, much better than this time last week and i appreciate your prayers so much.
love in christ,
Amanda