Buenas noches,
Well, we didn't get to go up the volcano as there was a bit of a mix-up... we'd arranged to be picked up at 1pm on Sunday(we thought) but the minibus arrived at 6am. Needless to say we weren't ready to face the day, let alone a 5 hour mountain hike, so we hid under the duvet until they gave up banging on the door and went away. We'll try again on Saturday.

In fact its been a bad week for excursions - everything has been rained off. We found out today that it is actually Winter in Guatemala, does that mean we are south of the Equator? Shameful to be so ignorant of a country we have lived in for 3 weeks. Does explain the damp, musty, chilliness though. We've used up 2 whole bottles of Fabreze on our apartment already. Meanwhile, England is sweltering in a tropical heatwave. Typical!

Spanish is going well. There are many similarities with English and French but also some strange anomalies. For example, Spain has 2 verbs for 'to be', one for so-called permanent states and one for temporary conditions. Interestingly, your job is considered permanent, but death is temporary...I'm not sure which is more disturbing.

Spanish is also full of peculiar idioms and 'false friends', words or phrases that sound like something in English but mean something entirely different. What do you think 'estoy embarazada' means? 'I'm embarassed', perhaps? Nooooo, it means 'I am pregnant'. Obviously.

So although there are aspects of this language which makes it a pleasure to learn, it is also clear that even if we study 10 hours a day for the next 6 weeks we will still be a long, long way from being fluent. Advanced beginners at best. But we remain positive, our plans have not changed - I applied for 8 teaching jobs in Spain this week and although I am still waiting for a response from any of them, I am hopeful. Please keep your fingers and toes crossed for me!
Adios, hasta manana,
Jakki