This one's short - enjoy some photos

So I think I’m getting dumber in Spanish. Yes, I am taking four hours of class a day with a one-on-one teacher. Yes, learning Spanish is the entire point of my being in Guatemala. However, there comes a point where your brain learns so much so fast and all TWELVE conjugations of a single verb have nowhere to go. And then picking from those twelve versions when trying to order food -- forget it. 

On the other hand, class is always interesting since I have an absolute diva of a teacher, Lucy. Class always starts the same way; I show up three minutes late and Lucy greets me with a “¿cómo estás, chica?” as she finishes her sweet treat she picked up fresh from a bakery on the way. She’s always dying to hear the gossip from what I did over the weekend and freshens her lipstick as I spill the tea about who danced with who the night before. The only thing Lucy wants more than me to finally use the preterit tense correctly is to set me up with the young eligible son of a coffee shop owner. I don’t like to go out at night, but I collect the stories from my friends for Lucy’s sake. 

I may not go to bars and clubs, but I am encountering my fair share of chaos. Between roaming for three hours across Antigua trying to find a hiking trail and having brand new friends cut my hair on a whim, I just do young and stupid in a different way. 

Perhaps the hardest impulse not to pursue is the urge to buy every pretty thing in this gorgeous town. I simply cannot go into the artisan market; between all the richly colored textiles and handcrafted jewelry, my little artsy collector heart can’t handle it. Even walking down the streets full of vendors can be difficult. My bright pale face doesn’t help either, as it glistens in the sunlight like a beacon drawing vendors towards me and my withering willpower. To ward off the instinct to collect every beautiful thing offered to me, I have been spending a lot of time embroidering and making the things I already have more beautiful. So far, it's proven to be a successful technique.