Week 1 random pictures

I successfully finished week 1 of language training at CSA! It was draining but I definitely saw improvement every day and actually enjoyed class so I am looking forward to the next few weeks. Life is much more disciplined for me than back home, I am finally used to early mornings and early nights. Here are a few pictures from the week. It has literally rained every afternoon this week so the rain gear was definitely necessary.

I would also like to send a shout-out to faithful reader, commenter, and world-champion chess master Jeremy Schletz.

This is a "tuk tuk" which is essentially a taxi in

Antigua. I can't help but feeling that Kirk lived

in Antigua and drove these for a living in a past

life, it is just too perfect of a situation for him.

This is the huge mountain I see every day walking

to class.

Very fitting that I came across these hot kicks

while exploring the HUGE mercado on

Jeremy's birthday. If they weren't a size 6

you better believe I would have bought them.

Our definition of "rain gear" is very different. This is Paolla

(Elsa's grand-daughter) and her mom. As you can see I am a

large Guatemalan.

Last, but definitely not least, this is mi

"madre de Antigua" Elsa. She loves feeding

me and I love being fed so it is a great relationship.

She is great and I have loved getting to know

her and her family this week.

Estoy en Guatemala!

Just wanted to write a quick note saying that I am officially in Guatemala and everything is going great! I got in late Sunday night after a week-long farewell tour in Wheaton, and ate dinner and had coffee (a first...) with my host that night. My host is great, she loves cooking for me and she is used to having a lot more students so we talk a lot. Her spanish is very very fast but she is usually good about helping me if I am struggling to understand. I wake up around 630 every day and have breakfast at 7 and then out the door around 740 for school. School is great it is basically a 1 on 1 tutoring session from 8-1. It seems long and I was a little nervous about that but it actually goes by really fast. I can see a huge improvement already after a couple days. I come home from lunch, take a nap because by this point I am exhausted, and then head back to school to study/use the free internet for an hour or 2 before dinner at 6. Dinner is generally pretty long and after it I usually go to my room for the night and study/do homework, do my quiet times, and go to sleep EARLY. It is actually really nice to not have distractions and just be able to slow down at night.

Very long and narrow streets that all look the same...

There are 2 other kids alive missionaries at the school with me and they have been here for a week and were already way past my spanish level so it is good to have them here. We walked a little bit through the city and I bought a real cheap cell phone that is easy to use to talk to people in the states if they use a calling card. I am transitioning just fine and as long as I don't get sick or anything I think this is going to be a great 5 weeks in Guatemala. I am really wishing I was fluent, but realize that it is a process. Hopefully by the end of 5 weeks I will be good enough to communicate in the DR. Still working on getting videos on the blog, I am surprised enough that I was able to get pictures on here. It is really my first time having a camera, and today on my walk to school I decided to use it a little bit.

My school

Pray for:

- my transition to continue smoothly

- my allergies to stop acting up at the house and for mosquitoes to stop biting me in bed

- my spanish to keep progressing

- safety and health (my teacher told me that since it is a fairly small town the police have it under control and it is very safe, which was good to hear)

Email me at Kyle.Bradley@my.wheaton.edu I would love to hear from you.