Avocados - 25 cents each

... and they're green and ripe! Ripe when they're green!!!

I'm learning Spanish pretty well. I figure by Christmas time I'll be quite fluent. This immersion thing is as good as theory declares it to be. I have an English protogé, my neighbour/friend/coworker Walter. We're having lots of fun laughing about the b-v interchangeability and -ed extensions. My English students at school have taught me a lot too. When playing hangman, they put spaces for what they say is an English word (it's English class, so I've placed natural restrictions on the game - no Spanish words) and it ends up being a local town name Paranaagulisijuaquorira or something like that. My marker dude was hung. I've also been commissioned to produce the graduation video - lots of fun to participate in here.



I've set up my office, my temporary office I should say as I will have to clear out when a short term team comes here to stay for a week at a time. It's great! I've got a closet for all my mini DV tapes, books, discs, RCA cables, tools, games, and frisbee. My desk is a slightly warped 6' X 3' table and on it... iMac, PowerBook, iPod, speakers, 3 external HD, miniDV camera, cell phone, and digital camera. Pretty sweet. It's almost like Carl's spread!

[note to zaakistan.como fans: new pictures posted. Got connected to ftp with the help of Dave in Calgary, our network administrator by proxy]

Birthday Blessings

I just returned home in the rain (fortunately I live next door) from a youth meeting. This week celebrated the September birthdays of some kids in the group. After eating pizza and visiting with people jamming in a corner and after a 30 minute time of open worship and prayer and after a story about El Spiritus Sanctus, girls gathered around their girl friends who had birthdays this month and likewise for the boys. They prayed for eachother without being shy about their devotion to their friends. It was really beautiful.

Elsewhere in our exhilarating lives... I've taught some elementary classes and one of the teachers named Walter (he also leads the youth group) English and I've taught a couple guitar lessons... in Spanish. Brutally funny. I have 17 guitar students divided in 3 groups. We've also moved to the back room of our house, with the help of Rolando, so that we aren't so close to the main road where big trucks barrel down early in the morning and in the afternoon. Mind you, as I write this at 9pm, there is a group of about 12 youth beside the back of our apartment enjoying a lively discussion which I know is keeping Amber awake (I think Amber needs sleep callouses so that she will be able to sleep through explosions and floodlights, this way I'll be able to read in bed before The End comes). We have closets in this room too which is fab.

Amber and I were treated to lunch by Rita, Les and Vicky. It's so good to know that we'll be spending so much time with these people of vision, rather than just a quick visit.

God's presence sure is great.

[note to those zaakistan.com fans: I'm having severe difficulties connecting to my website via ftp, so I'll post pictures and such when this devastating issue is resolved. Hang in there! Life without regular updates will prevail, I think.]

fwd-rwd

Bought a Nokia 1108 phone today in Coban. Bought two, same color for Amber and I. Paid Visa and was able to call Alberta directly from Guatemala immediately - no wait, no hassle, no contract.

Bought tree ripened bananas for 1 Quetzal (approx CAN$0.15). Bought six, same color for Amber and I. Paid cash and was able to walk home immediately with them within 3 minutes - no gas, no crosswalks, no rip-off.

Praise God we're here and we're so glad that we are!

Well zaakistan.com visitors, after months and months of planning and prayer and excitement and stress here and there and a lot of packing and a trip to Calgary and 2 flights and a great rest in the capital and a 3 hour drive from Guatemala City: we're here in our new home with an internet connection and beds (lots of them!) and a roof over our heads to keep us dry (lots of rain). We've here for about 90 minutes already. We're thankful and jubilant right now.

I've got our 5 large luggage pieces and 2 smaller ones to unpack, so I'll tell the detailed story of our journey in the future, perhaps, if there's nothing else exciting happening in the next couple days, so stay posted. Send us an email if you want.

Blaise has started to laugh in the past 24 hours. Very cute laugh and he's so big. He's in his swinging bed right now and he seems much lower than Tuesday night when he last slept in it.

5 weeks, now 3

Oh man. This has been a whirlwind summer. I haven't had time to think of the next 3 weeks.

So we had a great time in Montreal. Groovy place! I miss it even now. Tennis is the rain. Food that I've never heard of before. Quick friends. Gosh.

And then to Acadie. Grande-Memere could make Blaise smile so easily. Pepere turned 55. We visited a vinyard and Cap d'Or and Kevin and Pam and Peter and Shari and Jeff and Marta and Jean-Pierre and Sherry. Such a rich life there. And stars. Canoed a bit too.

We fly to Guatemala on the 23rd of Sept. I have to check online to see if my flight is still good as a bunch of flights are being cancelled due to this supposed fuel shortage. But, man, too many logistics to think of to really think of what life will be like there.

Is anyone else out there listening to Arcade Fire?

Now we're trying to pack in as much visiting with friends and family as possible and figure out which 280 lbs of our possessions we will bring to our new home. Check out www.zaakistan.com/guatemala/support.html for more details about our move.

Amber's funny today. Especially funny I should say.