Hola!... I can't sleep!

It's been a whole lot of fun so far! The group of students that I have been hanging out with have gone to a bar nearly every night so far. On Tuesday we went to a bar called "monoloco" (crazy monkey) and the diversity there was incredible. Of course the whole town is about as diverse as a landfill but I absolutely love how there was probably over 12 different languages being spoken under one roof. I found myself talking in German more that night than in Spanish. I just never had the opportunity to use my German in a real world experience, so I kept annoying the German speakers. :)

Next to the bar was this dance club and it just happened to be "salsa night" that night. On the first day of classes, I asked about the supposed free salsa classes every Wednesday night, and everyone could tell I really wanted to learn the salsa. So I get everyone psyched about going to salsa class and we go check out the real professional dancers next door. WOW! I had no idea the salsa could get so complicated. There were 2 or 3 moves that looked like they need to be "saved until marriage" but other than that, it looked like so much fun!

I persuaded everyone to go to salsa classes with me, and we had a great time, even though we knew just the most basic steps. I am going every night even if no one else comes with me and I have to dance with the instructor. :) After dancing, we went out to eat and then some of them hit another bar. After drinking some rum, everyone headed to their host families. I walked Donna (the German) and Maryia (from Holland) to the park where Donna was going to meet a few friends. They were no-shows, so Donna took a tuk-tuk (a 3-wheeled motorized thing with a hut) home and I walked Maryia home since it was late at night. As we walked she was talking about how amazed she was about my relationship with Jennie and how I was dependant on God like that. She said in "rough" English, "I think I would learn something from you; how you live your life." She went on to talk about all the Americans she had met in the past in how they were all superficial, and flatter you too much; she said, "But you are different, you are genuine."

In the Spanish school, I have 2 group classes in the morning and a private tutor in the afternoon for a total of 6 hours a day. On the first day, I met my private tutor who just did not want to be there teaching me. She had such a bad attitude as she would sigh really big when I got something wrong, or roll her eyes when I misspelled something in Spanish. After the private class was over, I was ready to go to the administration and get a new teacher because they said we can switch teachers whenever we wanted. Well, I felt God telling me to stay in the private class with miss "bad-attitude." Everyday I have brought my Spanish/English bible to the class that Bryan & Jamie gave me for Chistmas. I was hoping to learn some "God-words" in Spanish, but we never talked about the bible that always laid right next to me. Today, I wasn't going to bring my bible because we never did anything with it, but as I went to my room to get my Spanish folder, my eyes locked on to the bible for a few seconds and God said, "Bring it."

In the middle of the class, the teacher randomly pulls out a little pamphlet that she was reading. She said it was a pamphlet that gave reasons why the bible was truly the Word of God and she picked up my bible and started looking at it. I was shocked. She had'nt even acknowledged the bible until today. She said "I have seen a translation of the bible that was from Spain and is very old, but this one here [the Spanish NIV] is very modern and easy to read. I don't have a bible." As she was looking at the bible, God said quite clearly, "Give her My bible." When I offered the bible to her, she didn't hesitate to receive it. Now I know why God wanted me to stay with the one I had dubbed miss "bad-attitude," God loves her and she needed the Word of God to tell her so.

[Shifting gears] Life in Antigua, Guatemala is very different from life back at home. For those of you that have been here with Immanuel before, you already have a taste of what it's like. The family's house I am living with is actually quite large compared to normal middle-class Guatemala (which is a VERY small class) and is packed with kids. One day I was walking to my room and I heard this kid say, �Hola!" I looked around and didn't see anyone, and as I started to walk again, I hear another, �Hola!" I stop and look around again and there is no one in the room besides me. The voice kept going, �Hola!... Holaaaaaaa!... Hooooola!... Woaaaheeeku!" "What the heck kind of sound was that!?" I thought as I tried to figure out if some kid had hacked into my mind with his computer and was IMing me. Suddenly it hit me � the bird upstairs was on crack.

Yes, the big, green bird was bored and talking to itself. Birds are beautiful creatures... that is, until you want to sleep. As I made my way into my room, I am in no way shielded by the annoying sounds coming from the creature. There are essentially no sound barriers between the sounds coming from bird's beak, and my ear. I have never felt such a desire to murder one of God's beautiful creatures than that moment as I lay in bed and am kept awake by a bird that can say, �Hola!"

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