One Week in...

Well, we've been here a little over a week, and I can now safely say that I am married. (See last week's post). I did, however, make the mistake this morning of saying that I will eat my breakfast naked tomorrow morning. My teacher just shook his head and said, "Your house...your rules..." Despite these hic-ups, the Spanish language study has been going very well and I can now understand a fair bit of what I hear around me. Elizabeth has been very good in engaging in conversation and getting stronger each day. I'm a little more timid, and have been mostly creeping in the background trying to make sense of things. This is particularly amusing in taxis, where I'm generally in the front seat yet Elizabeth is having a discussion with the taxi driver from the back seat. The girls are now beginning to pick up words left and right and are quite thrilled when they know a word in Spanish that we do not. Peter greets everyone with a boistrous, "¡Hola!" and attempts to count to ten in Spanish: "Uno. Tres. Cuatro..." In addition to the Spanish, we've learned that dogs like to be on roofs, rain with hail is common, don't leave your laundry on the line when you go out--even if there isn't a cloud in the sky at the time (has already happened to us twice), and fresh bread, milk, coffee, juice, fruit, veggies and meat bought at the market on the way home every day are good things. We've also discovered the people here are extremely friendly and helpful, and we've learned a fair bit about the local culture and some of the surrounding communities. The local blend of religion is also interesting. There's a strong Catholic presence with churches in every neighborhood, we attended a Presbyterian church on Sunday, there are nearby communities where the Mayan religion is still strong, including one that has the highest per capita consumption of Coca-Cola in the world because they use it in spiritual rituals, there is a Islamic presence in town, and my classmate is Jewish and planning to open a tahini factory in San Cristobal. We're settling in fairly well, though we're still a bit overwhelmed by everything that is new. It feels like a really different world, but we continue to be amazed at the ways we see God caring for us in this new place. We miss everyone back home, and we're praying for you all.