French? Spanish? Maybe Frenish?

After spending six weeks in France this summer, I am use to hearing a foreign language around me. Unlike in France, however, people here speak Spanish. But my brain doesn't make this distinction. So when someone speaks to me in Spanish, my initial reaction is to respond to his question--in French! At the airport in San Salvador the lady processing my ticket asked me if Guatemala was my final destination. She asked me in Spanish of course, and I understood the gist of the question, so I responded in French. She looked at me with a confused look and then asked the question again, this time in English. We both knew enough English to understand the other person.

I have talked to many people in French without realizing they can't understand me. This cracks Jim up. He, thankfully, knows enough Spanish to make himself understood and translate for me.

Today is our first Spanish lesson; I'm on break right now. Spanish is similar enough to French to make it recognizable, but not similar enough to make it easy. In fact I have spent the last two hours confusing French and Spanish, and I expect the next week (at least) will be more of the same. At least now people will understand me--hopefully!

The Great Airport of San Salvador

Seth and I are on hour #4 of fighting boredom in the San Salvador Airport, waiting until hour #6, when our plane to Guatemala City leaves. Thanks in part to the free internet, we've accomplished the following:

-watched Bon Qui Qui at King Burger three times in a row. We stopped because our imitations were beoming unbearable

-watched three of the Three Stooges short movies. Now we understand why we weren't allowed to watch these growing up.

-counted the number of duty free liquor stores. There are 13

-walked around to see if there were only 17 gates in El Salvador's largest airport. There are.

-seen an uncountable number of music videos on the airport TVs. I kid you not, they are all either of Shakira or Beyonce.

I forget if we've done anything else ... I think it's time to watch Bon Qui Qui one more time

I Hate Packing

which is why I didn't start till this morning.

It also explains why I'm writing this instead of making sure I don't forget my toothbrush, among other small toiletry items. Again.

In addition to clothes and shoes, I'm only taking a towel, my laptop, speakers, an ipod, Seth's Hershey's Kisses, and lots of books.

In the interest of full disclosure, Seth will probably make me post what I forgot.

To pack, or not to pack?

So today after I rolled out of bed someone informed me that instead of leaving Thursday, higher authority had decided to leave Wednesday. I had entertained plans to begin on packing today, but when I found this out I decided those plans actually had to be carried through. Bummer number one. A while after lunch (notice that I put off packing until after lunch!) I went through my drawers and pulled out most of my clothes. My thought was that since I am going to live in Guatemala, I might as well take most of my clothes. So I rolled my clothes and packed them away. The suitcase was mostly full, so I decided to weight it. 48 pounds, and I still wasn't done. Bummer number two. Instead of sorting through what I had packed, I threw more stuff in (not clothes this time), and decided to sort on Wednesday. After spending the evening with a friend, I rolled back home and saw more books I will have to pack. Bummer number three.

Long story short: Wednesday has every promise of being a very busy packing day in a not so fun way! (Bummer number four) and too my knowledge Jim hasn't begun his packing yet.

And yes, we are still leaving tomorrow too!