Liones y tigres y osos! Oh my!!

We´ve been in Guatemala for almost 2 weeks now! Wow! Today we went to the zoo here in Guatemala City, and saw many wonderful animals and learned their names in Spanish. Classes are going well, and we are moving through some review material and some new material pretty fast! Last week we visited the national cemetary and overlooked the landfill. That was a very eye-opening experience to see the extent of poverty there, compared to going to the mall with my host family to see a movie. We also toured the national palace, which was absolutely gorgeous! It was incredible the amount of detail they put into every single part of the building. Everything inside could be divided by 5 and the doorhandles all had the president´s (from the time it was built) finger print on them. We also visited an interactive museum that delt with racism, inequality, and the many ethic groups and languages of Guatemala. It is fascinating to learn some of their stereotypes compared to ours. For example, they think that fat people are fun-loving and relaxed. Hmm, definitely different from the U.S. stereotype. We have also had the pleasure of listening to some other professors talk about Guatemala. In addition, we didn´t have official salsa lessons like we were planning but one of my classmates from EMU, Michael, taught us the basics of the bachata and salsa dances. :) We laughed a lot while learning, partially because we have a ratio of 4 guys to 15 girls, so many of us had to learn the guy´s part. The food is wonderful and the weather is gorgeous! This week is our first weekend trip to Chichicastenango. I think we are all very excited to spend time together as a group and visit something outside of the city! :) That´s all for now!