update from xela

hi everyone! just wanted to give an update from xela. i start my second week of school today. it is hard to believe that a week has already passed. i´ve already learned so much but i feel like i have so much more to learn before leaving here for el salvador. last week was wonderful but very hard at the same time. being in a strange place while trying so hard to learn the language was tough for me. there were a couple days that i just sat and looked at pics of my family and friends in order to feel happy. it was also aliezah´s first birthday...i hate that i missed it but i got to talk to my daddy that day which was good.
school has been great. i have a great teacher named leyla. she speaks very little english so it has forced me to use the spanish that i have and to learn a lot more. every day we sit for 5 hours and speak spanish to each other. i have also enjoyed time with my friends from duke. we have gone out to eat a couple of times and have spent time reflecting with each other. it has been really good for me to talk about everything that is going on here with others who are going through the same thing.
last week we had several activities. i learned how to salsa dance...which is much harder than it looks! i also went on a trip to fuentes georgianas, hot springs near xela. the hot springs are large pools with hot water in them that flows from the volcano. it was so relaxing and beautiful. i also went to an italian concert in the city theater on friday. it was beautiful. it was a concert with a violin soloist and he was amazing. this weekend we traveled to a finca, a coffee farm. it was a crazy ride as we drove up cobblestone and dirt roads to a town of about 400 people. it is a co op that produces coffee, macademia nuts, spring water, and they make their own compost for their gardens and their own biodiesel for their machines. it really was a interesting project. just to see the way that the community works together so that everyone benefits from the projects was inspiring. we had quite a bit of down time at the finca. we spent many hours just sitting on the porch reading or studying, looking at the mountains and volcanos surrounding us. it was very beautiful. it rained more and harder than i have ever seen while we were there. it was great to hear the rain on the tin roof...a far cry from the hustle and bustle of the city.
well, i should get to studying for class. i am still doing well and i appreciate your continued prayers. i hope to update more later.