To continue on from the first day of school.
We started right in with a trace of a grin and we studied for 5 hours before we were taken to the home of our host family. We had all of our luggage with us at the school so we picked it up and toted it down the street. Our family is an Indigenous Mayan Family and they only speak Spanish. I believe they may understand some English because English is taught in the school at least a little. They own and operate a ´tienda´(small store) which is next to the garage and the garage is IN the house. They park their car next to the sofa! They have an absolutely beat up and finished sofa and two chairs. They face an entertainment center with a TV and DVD/Radio player and that stands next to a class display case in the shape of a cross with a statue of Jesus. Senor Miseal and Senora Hortensia Xicara may claim to be Catholic but that is in name only. They are Mayan and hold Mayan ceremonies. They often have lighted candles set in front of the display.
The family consists of Mom and Dad, 3 teenage sons and 2 teenage daughters, one 9 year old daughter, one grandchild, Michelle age 2, and Michelle´s dad. All of these people are at the house everyday for the big meal at lunch time. The evening meal can be rather skimpy. For the most part the home is poor but Don said that they have a better computer than we do and a better digital camera.
When we arrived the host family already had one student from Kie-Balam (our school). Stephanie had been taking Spanish in school and this was an enhancement. She had been in school here 2 weeks when we arrived. Can I say she was a blond! A generally smart blond but blondism is not something you can wash away!!!
Our room is upstairs at the back of the house directly over the primitive kitchen/dishwashing area. The furnishings are a bed (comfortable enough), a 4 shelf book shelf, a small stool of some kind and for the first week and a half that was it. One day Hortensia came in and saw our luggage on the floor and carried in a small table to put it on. I changed it´s function to a small dual desk so Don and I could work in our room (so far not quiet enough to really make that functional) but it was a good idea. Two walls of our room are windows which provide more light than we would otherwise have for the room. We have a key to the house and a key to our room.
Hortensia, does all of the cooking and will do a better job managing my diet than I ever will. The director of the school is diabetic and had a heart to heart with Hortensia. My meals tend to be a bit skimpy (to be nice) considering the 5 hours of head work and the walking to and from every place we go. So far I have not starved. La Cena (dinner) has been a dollop of frijoles (beans) and her version of corn tortillas (tasteless) and one or two cups of tea. La desayuno (breakfast) could be one scrambled egg, a dollop of frijoles and a cup of a milky, drinkable cereal (no idea what this is yet but it has no taste either). El almuerzo (lunch) can be a small serving of spaghetti with a little tomato sauce, a tortilla and two squash like vegetables plus a glass of pure water. I think it would be safe to say that Mayan meals are rather bland. The best part about it is that I do not have to prepare them or wash up after meals.
