Chickens, Sunrises, and Spanish

We’ve had a bunch of experiences and stories this month so there are going to be short segments of many of them.

San Pablo: Last week we had the chance to go to San Pablo La Laguna to visit Shauna’s sister Brittney and her husband Joel. They live about 3 hours away and we spent a few days with them. It was great to be able to spend time with another married couple and have fun together. One morning we woke up in time to see the sunrise. Another morning/afternoon we took a boat ride on the lake and hiked 3 ½ hours along the lake. The pictures below feature some of the sights we saw! We were also able to see the area of San Pablo, visit their neighbors, and see some of the kids Brittney and Joel have to their home four days a week.

                   

               

                  

Chickens: So Carlos, my Spanish teacher, and I were having lessons one day at our house and he looks up and says, “You know there’s a chicken in your yard?” Since that time we have had three different types of chickens in our property. Here is the one in our tree :) 

House utilities: I love how cheap electric and water are here. Our electric bill averages around Q120/ month (roughly $16) and our water bill average has been Q10 (around $1.45). Also we were running low on gas for our stove and so we ordered a new gas tank and within five minutes a guy arrived with the tank strapped to the back of his motorcycle. That’s called service! (it is quite rare to get service like this so I was a little surprised)

Spanish: When I have Spanish lessons I usually go to Carlos’ house twice a week and he usually comes to mine once a week. However , sometimes we change things up and go to a different location. Yesterday we went to a macadamia nut tree farm. It was a 30 minute bike ride to get there and back, but the farm was so cool. We had a little tour ( the tour guide talked in Spanish and I understood most of what she said!) then we had lessons at a table in the garden/sitting area. Did you know macadamia nuts can be used in sunscreen, lotion, soaps, and candies? Anyways my Spanish is definitely improving and my flash card piles are becoming bigger and bigger J I have had good practice when we have our neighbor kids over once a week. This past week we played the game memory with them and I learned some animal names I didn’t know so that was a plus: Pulpo is octopus and cabra is goat.

Jalapa: We took a trip early this month to Jalapa, a town four hours away. We visited five or six families to provide some food, formula, diapers, and evaluation of how their doing (health wise). We also visited this place where they do ministry for older adults. Behind this buiding there was a school where I was able to meet a physical education teacher who teaches all kinds of sports to kids there. We exchanged contact information and he said if I ever wanted to volunteer or help out I was welcome to. So that could definitely be a cool learning opportunity as I think about starting sports ministry here.

Anniversary: We celebrated our first anniversary on the 24th – hard to believe it has already been a year! We went to Antigua for the night and spent part of the next day there.

Antigua
Central Park Fountain

The restaurant we went to for dinner
was super busy!

A cool spiderweb on a
door near our hotel

We would love if you would continue praying for:

-Our neighbor kids as we build relationships with them

-Learning Spanish

-People who would be around our own age and stage of life to be able to be friends with

We would also love to know how we can be praying for you. Let us know. We also are encouraged by friends and family who have e-mailed and talked to us just to see how things are going. Gracias

Andi and Shauna

Shopping and cooking in Guatemala

Now that I am back in Guatemala, I can cook the way I like to... with fresh fruits and vegetables! It was hard while we were in the U.S. because these things aren't cheap, but here, it is one of the cheapest way to eat. Here are some average prices of foods we get (the exchange rate is about 7.50  quetzals for every U.S. dollar):

Sweet Bread

Potatoes - Q3/lb

Onions - Q4/lb

Carrots - Q1 for each carrot

Avocados - Q5 for 2

Bananas - Q5 for 6

Strawberries - Q5/lb

Pineapple - Q10 for a large one

Peppers - Q1.50 each

Tomatoes - Q3/lb

Zucchini - Q1 each

Sweet bread - Q1 for 3 pieces 

Tortillas - Q1 for 4

There is a tienda (these are small stores right on the street that are usually the front room of a house) right at the end of our street where we can go to get rice, beans, flour, sugar, ketchup, mustard, snacks (they even have real chocolate candy bars), drinks, fly traps (very much needed), and many other things. There are also at least 5 other tiendas on this one block so if one doesn't have something we need, we go to the next one to check. We can get fresh tortillas three times a day if we want (again, right at the end of our street). There are also small fruit and veggie tiendas everywhere. There are some things that we can't buy in these small tiendas so we have to walk two whole blocks  to the Bodegona (our grocery store). This is a new addition to our town in the past year. It used to be that we had to go a couple towns over for a real grocery store so this is a huge blessing. 

I could leave the house at 12:00, spend Q10 ($1.30), and be back at 12:05 with an avocado, a couple tomatoes, an onion, and 8 tortillas. A few minutes later, I am eating fresh tortillas with guacamole... Mmmmmm!

Here are some of the delicious meals we have made:

Baked oatmeal with fruit

     

Flautas

Grilled cheese and salad

             

Pollo/Piña stir fry

Black Beans and Rice

Chicken Tacos

Eggs, Strawberries, Toast and Coffee

  

Nachos

About three weeks ago, we were talking to some of our neighbor kids and invited them into our house. They played in the courtyard for a little bit, climbed our orange tree, and then asked for some oranges. We shared some with them and now, they ask for more every few days. We don't give it to them every time, but we decided to invite a bunch of kids over one afternoon. So this past Thursday afternoon, 7 kids showed up at our door. We taught them how to play Uno and we gave them juice and oranges. Some of the older ones are helping us with our Spanish and they are having fun practicing the English words they know. We have decided that we want to make it a weekly gathering. 

Andi and I also learned how to drive a motorcycle! We are still practicing, but it's going well.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge Chicago Cubs fan. Anyone who knows the Cubs knows that they haven't won a World Series since 1908. And anyone who follows baseball knows that the Cubs not only made it to the playoffs, but they won their Division Series and they are in the National League Championship Series this week. This is extremely exciting news!! So that means we are spending a lot of time over at my parents' house watching the games. Go Cubs Go!!!

We love our town!