My last day at spanish school

I{m feeling really sad and melancholy, as today I finished my last day at my spanish school. I{ve made lots of friends there, and the director is like a surrogate mother to me (hooray!) .

T and I received our {diplomas{, and made speeches in spanish! I was really proud of the progress I{ve made, although at the same time, a bit despairing of how far I have to go, particularly in growing my confidence to have a go with the language, especially when speaking to strangers. My ability to conjugate verbs evaporates when I have to think on the spot.

People are full of talk of a bus crash that happened in Xela yesterday. It{s pretty tragic, but it{s so common, you almost stop feeling anything when you read about them in the papers. As I wrote earlier, the buses here are discarded school buses from the US, with all the attendant problems driving outrageously outdated vehicles brings. People die needlessly every day in these road accidents. ;o( As buses are the only form of public transport here, there really is no alternative, although if you{re a gringo, you can afford to take the {shuttle buses{, which are slightly newer and safer than the chicken buses that chug around. The flipside is that you{re much more likely to get robbed!!!

It{s lunchtime on christmas eve, and things are beginning to close down for the afternoon. As christmas has fallen on a saturday this year, the people of Guatemala aren{t having any additional days off work. Although no-one seems to be outraged about it. Just one of those things.

Fabulous news is that since my move to my new house, I seem to have left my fleas behind! I can{t begin to describe the pleasure this has bought me! As mentioned before, T and I now share a house with a load of health-freak gringos who have been living in Xela for several years. They run yoga classes in their-our house (which is enormous, rambling and utterly bizarre). T and I are beginning to be health freaks too! We do Chi Gung (or various other spellings) at six thirty in the morning, ashtanga yoga at 10.30 and hatha yoga at 5pm. Apparently everyone does pressups and pull ups at 8.30 but these definitely don{t appeal to me 'urghgh!

The sun is still shining, whilst strains of {white christmas{ can be heard on the radio and in all the shops. I{m feeling strangely at sea a little bit England-sick.