Our hostel, El Gato Negro, includes breakfast in the cost, so we all went down to the restaurant. After a delicious breakfast burrito and a few cups of coffee, we were ready to hunt down our language school for the week.

We stopped in a few places (there are dozens of these schools in town) before settling on Academia de Español Antigüeña. First, we met our host mother (because we signed up at the same time, Alec and I ended up in the same house) and got set up in our rooms. She made us some lunch and we tried to chat a bit. She liked us right away because neither of us had any dietary restrictions (the previous guests were both vegetarians, which doesn’t seem to compute for many Guatemalans).

Right after lunch, we started class. My teacher, Ana, was extremely friendly and immediately helpful. I answered her basic questions about me, and she would repeat my answers with the correct grammar and pronunciation. It was a great way to start off without feeling like a complete idiot. We moved on to some vocabulary and verb conjugation (regular -ar verbs).

Before I knew it, 2 hours had passed and it was time for a quick break. After grabbing a glass of water, catching up with a few other students and checking my email, it was time to get back to work. After the break, Ana and I joined Alec and his teacher, Nidia, in a few flash card games: some animals, some adjectives and opposites, and some professions.

We were assigned some homework and wrapped up for the day. Included in our tuition are a bunch of optional activites. Today a bunch of students got together for a salsa lesson. Surprisingly enough, I actually enjoyed it despite all the difficulties. I think I have three left feet. I also got to meet more of the students (including a guy I had met in Tulum, then later in Caye Caulker).

After, Alec and I returned to our house for some dinner, partial conversation with the host family (which includes a 20 month old niña, whose language comprehension is just beyond ours), and homework. It’s been a long time since I’ve had homework, but I think I nailed it.