Spanish, Spanish and more Spanish

Several times through out this journey, Chris and I have looked at each other and asked "Are we too old for this?"  Sitting around a table with our Spanish teacher trying to learn this language makes me think "YES, I'm too old for this!!"  My poor brain is trying to grasp it but it's slow going.  Have you ever heard a Latin person talk?  Muy rapido means very fast and they talk faster than that!  Do their brains actually go that fast?  Mine doesn't.  Most people here are nice and will talk "slow" for the gringo but that is still too fast for me.  It's as confusing to learn as English and they have just as many exceptions to their language rules.  I know we are only 2 weeks into a 8-9 month process but we really want to be fluent by now.  :)

Some things we did last week:

We went to a plant place nearby and bought some plants.  I LOVE plants - I don't think I can live without them.  Living in Guatemala is perfect because they grow alot of flowers/plants here and the people seem to like plants too.  No matter how poor someone is they have flowers and plants growing somewhere - in a container or in the ground.  And you can buy cut flowers all around our town.  My heart is a teeny weeny bit more at peace with some plants around the house. 

We took the boys to a barber down the street.  His name is Rocky (we also know a little boy named Elvis). He did a good job cutting thin gringo hair.  It was funny because after their cuts there was alot of black hair on the floor and then all this blonde hair - something you probably never see at his shop.

We are excited about a store in Guatemala City called  PriceMart.  It's exactly like Costco but 1/3 of the size and they even have the chicken bake in the food court.  We found a great deal on filet mignon.  Granted, missionaries probably shouldn't tell people they are eating filet mignon but you haven't heard the rest of the story.  It was extremely cheap (cheaper than what we consider regular cuts) because I don't think it's considered a prime cut of meat here.  Anyway we made it for dinner and let me tell you, it was not at all the same as in the states.  Jack and Jon said it tasted like a hot dog.  Nobody was real excited about it and the following morning all 3 boys had belly aches.  Meat is definitely different - I don't think cows are corn fed or something.  Anyway, now we know why meat tenderizer is sold more than milk here. 

In 2 days a team from Journey Church will be here.  It's like our family is coming and we couldn't be more excited!!  I might even give Vic a hug - I don't think I have ever hugged him.  :)  We are busy cleaning and trying to hide 20+ bins of our stuff so they have a place to hang out. Oh and did I mention that we are trying to learn Spanish?  ;)

We miss home and everyone more than we can express.  We've been here a month already and in some ways it seems like forever.  Being foreigners is something we are trying to adjust to and it's hard.  Next time you see someone from another county welcome them to America and ask them if there is anything you can do to help them.  They might not understand you but they will feel the love and it will make all the difference to them.