I have to admit, I had my first shower in a few days this morning. Reason being that we don`t really get hot water and it`s pretty cold in the morning and at nights here, and the shower is a separate room outside in the courtyard. Like the rest of Latin America, the water is heated by electricity but thank goodness I don`t have to turn it on and off everytime i shower and risk electricuting myself (like we had to in Peru). The first time I took a shower here I didn`t get any hot water until the end of my shower and I FROZE! But I think I figured out the trick to get warm water this morning. You can`t really adjust the temperature as there is only one faucet knob. You have to turn it on enough so the `heater`kicks in but not too much because the more water the colder it gets, now I can take WARM showers more often, woo hoo! It`s funny how such little things make you happy when you live in a third world country.

So a little about the Siliezar Gonzalez family: Cleo is the mother, she is a homemaker, a great cook and very very nice, she reminds me of Po Po (my grandma in Vancouver, except younger) and makes me feel very comfortable there. Cesar is the husband who is a welder. He is not doing very well right now because his mother is very sick and they don`t have enough money to treat her. They just found out that she has gangreen which is what my grandfather had so I can relate but their biggest problem is that she is old, they have no money and can`t get a good doctor :( The government-provided healthcare is as good as none here but I can dedicate another post on that topic...

They have 6 children, three of them live in the house, Legia and Alexis work during the day and goes to university at night. Dorian is the second oldest son who is an accountant. One of their children died I think when he was young, two others are married with kids and live in Guatemala City. The family has hosted students for the past 10 years and really enjoy learning about other cultures. We have long conversations on culture and politics, healthcare, religion, etc. There are two other girls living there. One is a pastor (methodist) from colorado, the other is Elizabeth from Albuqueque. I mostly hangout with Elizabeth and two other girls, Karen from New Zealand and Anna from Sweden. We are all quite dedidcated to learn spanish but it`s hard not to revert back to English. But honestly, speaking spanish for 5 hours in class with Palmina (my teacher) and a few hours at home is probably enough practice. My brain is usually pretty fried by dinner time. I try to study some after dinner in my tiny and simple but relatively comfortable room - at least it`s warm. Oh, and there is also Daisy, Their little dog who Cleo refers to as `perro muy loca` - very crazy dog.