T minus....

Plans for the trip are well underway. I fly out of Aberdeen on Saturday, May 17 and should arrive in Guatemala City that evening. The next day, I'll take a bus to Quetzaltenango (Xela --pronounced shay la) and meet up with the folks from El Nahual and stay at a hostel for a few nights while I look for more permanent housing, which I'm told is plentiful and cheap (sweet!).

I have lots to do before then, and my head is starting to spin a little bit, but the closer it gets, the more excited I get. I've been checking out pictures of Xela again and it is just beautiful. I keep forgetting that I'm going to be in the mountains, surrounded by lakes and volcanoes, near the equator during the rainy season....ahhh...I can't wait!

Anyway, I'm planning to write about my adventures here and hopefully post pictures quite often. For now, if anyone is interested, the school's website is: www.languageselnahual.com. Every time I read their mission statement and info about their programs, I get so excited to see how it's worked out in everyday life, and I have tons of questions for them. From what I've read, they're very community, inclusion and giving oriented, which is wonderful. I get so excited about their volunteer programs, and then I remember that I'm also going to be studying Spanish for 5 hours a day. SA-WEET!!

As much as I'm going to miss being in Aberdeen and seeing my friends and family this summer (and I'm REALLY going to miss them), I know that this is something I NEED to do. I've felt the gnawing for me to go and do something like this since high school, and I know that I can't put it off any longer. I can't wait to learn from and connect with the El Nahual community in Xela and maybe even bridge their community with ours in Aberdeen/So Dak/etc.

More to come...