Our neighborhood and tidbits

There are two of these types of shops within one block of our house. Truly, just a hole in the wall, but with an astounding array of goods. Everything from beer to tomatoes to toilet paper. We can even buy more minutes for our cell phone.

Early this morning we suddenly heard very loud military-type band music being broadcast from the nursing school on the other side of the little, directly across from our house. some sort of celebration was going on, and this was the scene at 7:00 AM. It was all over by 7:30.

From our front door we look across a little park to INVO, a boys school that is an institution in Xela. A recent article in the local newspaper said that INVO officials believe that there is a hidden underground tunnel(substantiated by a couple of former students who say they were in it 50 years ago) to - guess where? The nursing school across the street. Some things are the same in every culture, and generation. They are beginning to excavate to look for it in the hope that it will be a tourist attraction

Bus stop and orange juice stand across the street

Our closest internet access. Dusty and noisy from buses and adolescent boys playing WarCraft all day, but still the fastest and most reliable machines in our area. It costs about 3 Quetzales per hour (about .40)

The pinata store next door where we buy our 5 gallon bottles of water.

In addition, within a 2 block radius of our house there is a University, the main police station, lots of office supply stores, farmacies, copy centers, tortillerias, lawyers, restaurants, shoe and clothes shops, computer sales, etc., etc., etc. Three blocks away is the main soccer stadium and the second largest market in town. 5 blocks away in the central plaza. In short, we can get anything within a short walk from our house.

The English Language lab is going very well. Things are shaping up. We have painted the walls, made some posters, added some color, and obtained a book case. We have been quite busy lately with classes of small kids and indivuduals from the classes of older kids. We have discovered the joy of using matching (memory) games. The kids who have very little interest in English, and very little background, will jump with vigor into a game that is competitive, and actually learn something in the process. If has been fun and very satisfying.

Pat has been doing lots of repairs around the place (just like home) and has helped a couple of boys with a small building project (tool boxes) he is just about to start a couple of more book cases. He is just waiting for the lumber to arrive, which for some (unknown) reason, is delayed.

The weather is warmer now, although it is still quite cold in the night (in the high 30´s) At least we don´t have to wear our hats and scarfs in bed anymore. Days are quite warm (70´s) and it heats up a lot earlier in the morning than it did in January. Last night it rained (a tiny bit) for the first time since we have been here.