Halftime

Yesterday was my mediotiempo here. Four-and-a-half weeks down, four-and-a-half to go. On one hand, it feels more like it's been four-and-a-half years. On the other hand, I think I was hugging my Boo at the airport, I blinked like Samantha from Bewitched, and time fast-forwarded to now. Conversely, sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever make it back to LA, but I’m sure it’ll feel like just another blink when it’s all done. Also, I took something of a midterm exam, not for a grade or anything, but just to check in on my progress. Alas, I’m still depressed about how much Spanish I don’t know. I think I’m going to vote that the rest of the world should have to learn English for the sake of my brain. Where's that ballot?

One of the pastimes of some maestros here is ping pong. There’s a table at the school and this group of four plays doubles every day. Thus, they’re really good.
Now, I’m not a great ping pong player, but I can usually hold my own with most people. Not with these guys. They don’t really like playing against me because they’re so bored by it. I haven’t been this beaten down since I’d play against the Chinese kids in my college dorm. (Yes, Daryl/Steve, you usually beat me, but not 21-5!) I think I’m just going to have to live with being a Pepe of all trades, master of none.

Annie de LA and I went to brunch a couple of weeks back. Here’s the menu.
We both ordered a number four, of course. Even though it’s pretty much the same meal I get from Maria de Xela nearly every day. It was yummy and filling, naturally. Speaking of Maria de Xela, I still love her, but I’m not as enamored with her cooking anymore. While I really like all of the food, it’s pretty much the same every single day. Mush with banana or corn flakes, one huevo, frijoles, and tortillas for breakfast. Arroz, pasta, this potato-like vegetable called guisquil, tortillas, and either broccoli or chicken for lunch. Carb heaven! Dinner is more frijoles, tortillas, and platanos. Again, all stuff that I like, but can a gringo get a burger once in a while? I'm kidding. Mostly. It’s a good thing I’m a creature of habit myself. Occasionally, I buy banana bread or other pan to take a break from tortillas and I occasionally hit up different restaurants, like the one from the picture. And in spite of the ingredients, I couldn’t pass up the chapin desayuno.

Maria de Xela likes having a man around and I try to help out where I can. I removed a big rock from her garden. I change the agua pura bottle in the house. I kill gigantic flying insects in the house. I removed the old TV from the shelf and put up her new one. One little problem with that--when I reconnected the old cable wire, the connector was messed up and the TV wasn’t very clear. She thought the problem was with her cable company, but the TV just needed a new a cable. So I bought her one, thinking it’d be an easy fix. The cable from the TV goes outside to a connector. Problem one: I couldn’t unscrew the rusted connector and I needed a wrench. Which she doesn’t have. The next day, she had borrowed a wrench and I proceeded to switch out the cables. Problem two: the cable connector wouldn’t fit through the hole in the wall. So I had to cut the connector to remove the old cable, cut the connector on the new cable to put it through the wall, and reattach the connector inside the house. Finally, one day and one hour later, I got them connected and gracias a dios it worked. Unfortunately, now she thinks I’m some kind of handyman, which should be making you laugh right now. Her phone wasn’t working last week and she dragged me up to the terrace to look at the phone wires there. I didn’t see any problems. Fortunately the phone started working soon thereafter. Then the other day, she pointed out to me how her faucet is leaking. Since this is clearly out of my league, I just shrugged and returned to eating my tortilla and frijoles.

I’m not sure if anyone is watching world news, but all that rain I was complaining about last week is killing people. The big highway from Guatemala City to Xela, that’s less than five years old, is washed out in various places. Basically, I think they didn’t really have the money to properly build a highway on the side of a rainy mountain region in the the first place, and now they’re paying for it all over again, but now with lives. The school was supposed to receive about 10 new students on Sunday, but most of them were stuck in Guatemala City. Eventually, they all made it here, taking alternate routes that lasted 12 hours instead of the normal four via the highway. Oh, and it’s still the rainy season here for two more months.

On a brighter note, September 15th is, along with the cumpleaños de mi hermana, Guatemala’s Independence Day. The big event here in Xela is a week-long fair. I’m super-excited about this, and I hope the weather will cooperate a bit. Having grown up with the Ionia Free Fair, me gusta mucho fairs. Plus, I missed the Orange County and LA County fairs this year. I’m terribly curious about it and I’ll make sure to recap and post some pictures next week.

Besos y’all.