Everyday things...

A few people have emailed asking similiar questions, so we thought we'd entertain a few of them here for you all to read.

What do we do on the weekends?
This is our third weekend in Antigua. The first weekend here was September 15th, Guatemala's Independence Day. We walked around the streets and watched parades (many parades). We also moved into our new host family's home, so we spent a bit of time unpacking and getting used to our new surroundings.

I'm not sure we've been here long enough to say that we have a normal pattern, but we do enjoy going walking on Saturdays. We spend 99% of our time within the same one square mile. It is so nice to walk for a good bit on time on Saturday. Generally we have a good bit of homework on the weekends too.

We have been to two different churches on Sunday mornings. At Iglesia del Camino the pastor who is from Florida preaches in english and it is translated into spanish. Over 90% of those in attendence were American - all here for various reasons.
At Vida y Fe the pastor who is Guatemalan preaches in spanish and the sermon is translated into ensligh. The vast majority of those in attendence at Vida y Fe are Guatemalan.

What is the food like?
We eat 3 meals per day, Monday through Saturday at our host family's home, on Sunday's we are on our own for food. (That is the package deal you get when you get a host home through the school.)
For breakfast we have had various things ranging from oatmeal to banana pancakes to bowls of chopped fruit with yogurt, honey, and granola. Always for breakfast we drink hot tea, and eat bread as well.
Lunches always include veggies and rice. We've eaten a few vegetables that we've seen before. For instance there is a veggie called wiskill (sp?) they tell us it's like a potatoe - kinda tastes like one too. Sometimes we eat something one day that is reinvented a few more times. For example, we had mashed potatoes for lunch on Tuesday - that evening we have mashed potato cakes (that we poured honey on), and for lunch the next day were mashed potatoes within a folded tortilla that was fried.
Supper is very predictable - we have black beans in various forms each evening - whole bean, puree (thick puree, thin puree), soup, sometimes with cream and sometimes without. We always have bread with our beans, and often the bread is the utinsil of which we use to eat the beans. Generally there are also plantains either boiled with cinnamon or fried with cinnamon and sugar.

On Sundays, because we're on our own, we venture out and try other things - for breakfast this morning we had oatmeal pancakes, fruit, sweetend cream and coffee - it was very good. We've eaten italian food here (it was interesting), Domino's pizza, fried chicken, and even McDonald's and Burger King - which are suprisingly good.

A difference here is that when you order something like orange juice - they go and squeeze the oranges. Same goes for things like limeade. When compraring prices, the states is more expensive.

Have your been to the Children's Home?
When we arrived in Guatemala we spent our first 5 days at NLCH. Since then we have been in Antigua. We are planning a 3 day weekend at NLCH in October. We'll go back for the week of Thanksgiving and then for a bit during the Christmas holiday's. Other than that - we're here in Angitua for about 6 months.


We are so thankful for your support. We are without a doubt aware of how you are holding us in your prayers. We are thankful for how you are supporting us financially. Please let us know how we can pray for you all as well - we truly want to stay connected with you all - either through email or by leaving comments on our blog (we have fixed our blog so that everybody regardless if you have a gmail account of not may leave messages).

Have a great Sunday - we'll blog again soon.