First Day of School, Tortugas, and Quesadillas

Our first day of Spanish school was a great success. Brett and Lily had a great time this morning. Both liked their teachers, and despite the fact that I never dreamed one teacher would be able to keep Lily entertained for 4 straight hours, she sat at her table with her Cece, her maestra, and never moved the entire time. They did lots of activities and she came back with a notebook filled with art, animals, colors, numbers, letters, feelings, and a few doodles here and there (:  She also was very excited to find out that the school has pet fish (pescados) and turtles (tortugas). So they got to go for a little scavenger hunt around the school courtyard for the two tortugas. She is exceptional at conversation and is fearless when it comes to striking up conversation with random people and any children. This naturally leads to US having the same opportunity to converse with the parents of said children whom she initiates conversation with. There really is no better way to learn a language I think. There's something so beautiful about the fact that no matter where you come from , or how different you are, you share the common adventure of parenthood.

I loved Spanish school as well. We dove right into tenses and I feel like I'm in high school English class all over again. So not only am I remembering my Spanish vocabulary, I am also remembering my English grammer and words like: conjunctive, preterite, and subjunctive. We took a little trip to the market at the end of class and did some grocery shopping vocabulary. Since we don't have school on Wednesday because of the New Year, my teacher and I are going to go to the big market on Saturday which is our make-up day. So I am excited for my first grocery shopping adventure and being able to cook real food for my family. It's been killing me eating out and eating things like noodles, cereal, and peanut butter sandwiches when I know that a whole ploethra of fresh fruits and vegetables are at my finger tips if I could just get up the courage to ask what the heck that weird looking green fruit is and if my children will survive eating it! (;

Healthy, happy, and learning. Looking forward to lots of fireworks and celebration tomorrow night and Wednesday.

Not many pics from today. A few for fun below.

Much love from the land of eternal spring.

Lori


Needed down time. Being together 24/7 necessitates some "zone out" time. We realized that after having not watched tv for 4 days straight, Lily was becoming quite clingy and needed something familiar. Unfortunately (or fortunately), "alone time" when you're a big sister rarely means being completely alone (:

Luna de Miel...the Nutella capital of the world (OK, maybe just Antigua) for crepes tonight for dinner. We thought Lily might like something she could liken to pancakes back home for a familiar cuisine. For some reason crepes smothered in whipped cream and chocolate were no good for our 6 year old, and ended in a knock down drag out about why it's important to clear your plate. Fortunately despite the fact that she wouldn't eat, she struck up a conversation with the family next to us and got some good spanish practice in. Little shit always makes up for it somehow (;

Le wall de Nutella!

After our "knock down drag out" about not finishing her plate and therefore no treats before bedtime, we happened upon a young girl making tortillas in the street. So I got creative and asked her if she wanted to "earn back her bedtime snack" Naturally she replied "yes," so I gave her a few Quetzales to buy some tortillas to bring back to the room. Hilariously she told the girl "I would like a cheese quesadilla please." Nearly peeing my pants I explained it was "just" a quesadilla...nothing comes on it. Below is a picture of us enjoying our warm, chewy goodness. She told me: "mom, even though I really don't like this, I'm chowing it down! See? Watch me chow it down mom!" Begging for positive reinforcement a little ya think?

Family Time

Lily wanted to show Mrs. Lux that she IS in fact practicing her numbers with the penguins!  :-)

We started the day with Mass at La Merced.  Naturally Lily had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the homily, but unfortunately in Antigua that means a trip through the church ruins only to return and get money from Brett because we have to pay admission to get into the museum where the bathroom is located.  We manage to complete all of this while doing the potty dance!  :-)

Probably my favorite part of being here is the fact that I honestly can't even take a guess at this point as to how many people have asked to hold Eve.  At least 3 different women have offered to help adjust by baby sling because apparently I do it all wrong.  This picture was taken in a market where we had a change of role.  Instead of us being the tourist, they stopped and asked if they could take a picture with Eve.  It was a lot of fun being the local photo attraction.  It helps me to be more mindful of when/if I venture to impose on other people's lives for the sake of a photo op.

We then took a Tuk Tuk over to Santo Domingo for a trolly ride up the volcano to eat lunch over looking the city.  This is one of the many art pieces you can find while walking around.

The view isn't so bad either.

We just had to take a picture of our two little minions!

One of our favorite pieces of art at Santo Domingo.

This is Lily's little buddy.  She decided his name is "Birdy Tweet Tweet" and spent a good 15 minutes playing with him until the shuttle arrived to take us back down into the city.

They looked so cute snuggling on the way back that I had to take a quick picture.  Brett's eyes always change colors depending on his mood, and I noticed that when Lily is in his lap in her blue dress (courtesy of eliana) that his eyes turned blue also.  If you zoom in really close, you'll see.

Eve smelled like a foot! Probably as a result of being strapped to us for the last four days, so it was time to buckle down for bath time!  This was quite the tedious process.  First, we needed to boil water and wait for it to cool to sanitize the water.  We had to consult with Raul, the front desk worker, on finding a tub that could fit her into.  He laughed as he reminisced about his three daughters when they were her age and the adventures that bath time brought.  Brett did some ad lib editing to maintain Eve's dignity.  

So all is well here in Antigua.  Today I asked Lily if she misses the snow back home and she gave a resounding, "NO!  I LOVE IT HERE!"  We are all looking forward to settling into more of a routine as we start school tomorrow.  Meeting new people, experiencing the people and the place, playing with kids, swapping babies, talking to locals and travellers from around the world, all while spending quality time together.  We probably have the most fun sitting in our room goofing off.  We are so blessed with such great kids.  Eve is totally chillax, and Lily is super curious and resilient.  I commented to Brett today that we couldn't have done this had we not known how confident and self-assured she is.  We are in awe watching her approach different children and introduce herself (yes in spanish) and then run and play with them even thought they don't know what each other is saying.  She is buds with all of the staff in our hotel, and I have a hard time explaining to her that we can't go back behind the kitchen where they wash clothes and work.  :-)  Her favorite place is in our little garden courtyard.  She likes to have alone time and we just sit in the window and smile wondering what curious thoughts may be running through her head.  She waters the plants and talks and sings to herself.  Other people smile as they walk by, and she greets them with HOLA! Followed by some sort of fancy dance move.  Having children opens up a whole world of opportunity to practice our spanish that we would not otherwise have.

I thought maybe when Lily skyped home to Eliana to talk about Mickey yesterday that maybe she would get sad or homesick, but we found that there is a cat next door named Misha to help ease the thoughts of missing home.  Well most thoughts at least, I still really miss my guitar.  Here's hoping I run into someone that will let me play theirs!

We heard about the blizzard and deep freeze......  Sorry about that.....  

Lori

Volcanoes and Swimming and McDonalds.... OH MY!!!!

Lily has been so excited that Lori and I decided it would be a good idea to do a special day to burn her out (and us) in the process.  :-)  We started out getting some great cinnamon rolls next door and Lily got to meet a kitty named Misha at Fernando's.  It was a great start to what would be a huge day for us.  

From there we proceeded by van to Santa Terisita at the base of Vulcan Pacaya.  It is one of the three active volcanoes in Guatemala.  The waters are heated by the springs from within the volcano.  Each pool had a different temperature, but most were quite comfortable.  Since Lori and I have been composing most of the blogs so far, we will be extensively asking for Lily's input on this one.

Below is a picture that Lily had no idea was coming ;-)  She wants to share that she jumped off the end of this shelf into the pool below.  She was a little scared at first, but gained confidence after a couple other kids did it too.  

Eve turned out to be the biggest hit today.  The Guatemalans are entranced by her, and love spending time with her making her smile and playing with her.  They can't seem to stop talking about how beautiful she is, and have been more than pleasant to talk with and practice out spanish.  

Lily stood on a rock and gave these trees the Hollywood Hogan salute.  She showed great balance and didn't fall off even with several attempts at dancing up there.

Lily got a taste of her first fresh fruit smoothie, and once she tried it she drank it so fast she only barely avoided a brain freeze.  After these smoothies, we packed up for the ride home.

Lily thought these lights were awesome, and quickly pointed out that we could see Santa's butt!  We then had thought not to go to the McDonalds here in Antigua, but after talking with the locals they said we HAD to go!  It is heralded as one of the nicest and fanciest McDonalds in the world.  At first, we thought, oh yeah, let's see this amazing place.  After checking it out.....well....it's really amazing, and we couldn't believe it.

It had enough seating for probably around 200 if they maxed it out.  They had a large couryard with several fountains, and Ronald hanging out nearby.  

Inside they had a play place, and when asked about it, Lily simply said, "I loved it!"  She also got to practice her spanish in sharing names with the kids playing with her.  

The last picture here is of our table. Really, the only difference we found was that instead of apples with the happy meal, they have strawberries.  DELICIOUS strawberries.  Huge surprise there.  After discussoin, Lori and I decided it is simply the most romantic date you could go on with two younger children in tow.  It has a great atmosphere for everyone involved, and was absolutely worth the visit.  

Tomorrow is Sunday, and therefore we will be looking forward to Mass at one of the many old churches, either followed or preceeded by a visit to Santa Domingo for brunch.  We are also getting very excited about Spanish classes beginning Monday.  We made a friend during our trip to the pool in Laurie from San Francisco.  She is taking classes at the same school, and it gave us a ton to talk about.  She was a fun companion to spend part of our day with, and we look forward to running into her more over the next rouple weeks.  She even taught Lily a new work:  mariposa....  butterfly!  Tune in tomorrow for our next update!

First Tuk Tuk Ride

First tuk tuk ride back from the grocery store. It fulfilled all Lily's wildest expectations. Eve kept her eyes shut...good call Eve.

 A well deserved                                                                                                          grilled cheese sandwich by candlelight.

One package of diapers, and a junk food binge.

I wish I could proudly boast that I cooked an authentic Guatemala cuisine tonight, but that would be a lie. I barely eeked out grilled cheese in our modest abode...it was quite the advenure actully. I made Brett throw the match into the burner.

Even more of an advenure was our trip to buy groceries at La Bodegona. We thought you might all be interested to find out what all your guilty pleasures cost us here in Guate. It also might answer your question: how can anyone afford to stay there for 3 weeks!!!

This bad boy is a 2.5 liter...you can get them in 3's to. $1.65. That's as much a a 20 oz back home, right?

 I don't know what it is about these colorful monstrocities, but these are the best dang marshmallows on the planet. Plus, they are much more colorful than their cotton-ball counterpart. Ran us .89

 

$2.04 We bought 3 because once we pop, we can't stop. 

 

$23. Worth the set-back when you're running around with a baby strapped to your back and a 6 year old with an insatiable curiosity about everything. Including that piece of glass in the street that she should reeeeally pick up and hand to me so no one steps on it. How thoughtful Lily. 

 

I know, I know. You're thinking "Well, we have cheap beer here too Lori! The difference is, YOUR cheap beer tastes like urine. Brahva tastes like Miller Light. A 12 pack cost us $12.32. That's two talls at your local Applebees. 

 

Though they had the huggies,  I just had to try the Guatemalan brand. It's kind of a pastime of mine to compare diaper brands. I'll let ya know how it goes. They don't tell me how many come in the package, however I'm guessing 50ish? Give or take, nothing's an exact science here...$7.02. 

Now I write this in a light-hearted way. However, in case you've never asked yourself the question before, I might encourage you to look into WHY things are so cheap in developing nations. I'm not going to go off on a tangent about BOP markets, multi-mational corporations, or the evils of globalization, because that's just not the point of this trip for us (this time:) So rather than ME educating you on MY opinion. Fire up the old google and see what you think about it for yourself.

All is well on the home front. Girls asleep and we're on our way. After a beer and a can of pringles.

Nighty night.

Buy everything? Slow down lily!

Today Lily had her first experience of shopping in Guatemala. Her first thoughts were to buy everything since very few things look like anything back home. Being the creative girl that she is, all of the colors and beautiful items had her in a bit of a trance. 

We took the time to explain to her that they all sell these things for their job so they can help feed their families. She responded quickly with, "we better buy their stuff so they can feed their families!" We then had to explain that we still have to buy things that we need and not all the things we want. She didn't a like that as much as her idea. 

It has been great spending time together as a family this morning and practicing our Spanish. Even after one morning it feels more natural, and comes easier. We are definitely looking forward to starting school Monday. 

I'm just going to say this once, so as to not get showered with complaints about how we keep saying how nice the weather is down here, but it is beautiful!  Can't complain. 

21 Questions

Locked and loaded for our walk!

I know you told me not to play with the sauce packets dad.....

My Beautiful Ladies!

When is the plane coming? How long do we have to sleep here? Are we landing soon? Don't they bring us pretzels on this plane? When is the 2nd plane coming? Can I have a drink of your water? Are we landing soon? Can you buy me a corn dog? Do they have McDonalds here? OH MY GOSH LOOK THEY HAVE MCDONALDS HERE!!! Is this guy gonna drive us around everywhere? Do they have a pool at the hotel? Is that one a volcano? Is that one a volcano? Will we be able to see the lava? OH MY GOSH THAT'S A VOLCANO! Can I get pancakes here? Why do they cut their bananas like this? Is this ketchup? What's this one? What's salsa? SPLAT (all over her face in the picture above)! Why is this green stuff burning my face!? Mom, I'm scared, why is it so dark here? Why are the people with the scarves sleeping on the sidewalk? Will you sit out here and look at the stars with me?

I'm not sure if I'm exhausted from the lack of sleep...or the mental stimulation of life with Lily the question master. So many favorite moments from today. But mostly just the joy of life with the coolest little curious cat I know. And of course, a baby who attracts the beaming smiles and "Que lindo!" of everyone around us.

Actually I do have a favorite: standing outside the chaos of the Guatemala City airport trying to figure out who the heck our driver is and all of a sudden Lily yells out: "HEY, that's my name!" And starts waving furiously at Sergio. Sure enough, our driver was holding a sign that said "Lily Mathiowetz" boy was he surprised when I introduced HER as Lily and not myself (:

Good thing our Kindergartner can read her name (:
Good night.
Lori

What a Journey

After 18 tough, but amazingly smooth hours, we have arrived in Antigua.  The girls were simply fantastic, and we are blessed to have such beautifully behaved children.  Everyone was impressed by their patience and demeanor, and we couldn't be more proud of how they made it through everything with us.

We ended up with a layover in Florida extended by an hour and a half due to weather delays elsewhere, but that provided a good opportunity for much needed rest as we were traveling through the night.  We are extremely excited to be here, and to get settled in.  We will check back in with pictures and more after dinner.  Again thanks for all the thoughts and prayers as we embark on this journey of self, family, and linguistic discovery.