MoyBienStories: retro-blogging: language school in Xela

when school ended in June, i hopped on a coach bus to Xela (a town about three hours north, $8 one way) to do some Spanish language school and to see another part of this beautiful country. part of the language school is a homestay with a Guatemalan family, as immersion is indeed the best way to learn a language. luckily i already know some Spanish, so interacting with them was pretty easy, and we got to talk about other things rather than them teaching me vocabulary.

as soon as i rang the doorbell, i could hear a little dog yelping from within. crap. not that i hate dogs (i don't), i just didn't grow up with them and so don't really care to live with them. oh well. my weariness over the presence of this little dog faded when i learned that her name was.... wait for it.... Angie, which is short for Angelina Jolie! HA!

how hilarious! i inquired about brad pitt. she grew on me during the week, except when it was raining b/c then she smelled.

they were actually a Mormon family, with the son having just returned the month before from a two year mission trip in Mexico. he seemed to have met a lot of people from around the world in his two years there, and was not able to return home at all, which is probably quite rare for someone like him. i tried to ask him some questions about his faith, but i don't think he was super comfortable with it. he explained a few things to me.

the daughter had been living at home with her mother, and was just recently engaged the week before. she is studying hospitality at a school there.

we had lunches and dinners together (mom, sis, brother, sis' fiance and the occasional cousin.) i got to listen to their conversations, the mom asked me lots of questions and was really interested in the Chinese side of me.

a sampling of her questions, and my answers in paranthesis:
do you have any problems with latin people?
(uhhhhhn, no, i don't think so.)

do you know how to use chopsticks?
(yes.)

do you cook chinese food?
(more or less.)

what is your favorite chinese food?
(i just said "wonton," which they spell "wantan" and pronounce "wahn-tahn.")

it turned out that the family did live in Cleveland for just one year, while the children were elementary school-aged. one night at dinner, after more questions about my ethnicity, the host mom proceeded to tell her children, the fiance and the cousin that the Chinese in the United States are so hard-working, and many of them own businesses and work really hard. funny how she was so so so convinced by the model minority myth about Asian Americans, just after one year. or maybe she was trying to compliment me.

one night, after making dinner in the above kitchen, she shuffled to the living room... "i have to watch the show," she called from the TV room. as a second thought, she invited me, and i joined her and a cousin for the telenovela (soap opera in Spanish.) this was a great time to hang out with them, and i had to ask lots of questions during commercials breaks.... i don't pick up on twists and turns easily (my brother hates me during twisty movies) and telenovelas are as convoluted as US soaps....