The last week of training went by really quickly. On Thursday we went to see a live performance at Fables one of the bars in Tatamagouche, it was interesting and the musician was great at playing the mandolin.

We went to Halifax for the pow-wow on Canada day, which would have been more fun if I hadn't dislocated my knee and could have walked around more. However, it was a really nice day and Elsa and I felt compelled to get trashy airbrush tattoos. After a mini-crisis of sending the car keys back to Tatmagouche without us we returned after supper just in time for the  intern reunion that lasted  for the rest of the weekend. The reunion was comprised of past BTS interns from the last ten years, we also got to meet Jackie the Intern coordinator for Guatemala who is on parental leave as well as Isabel her three month year old daughter.

We went through some more security and Guatemala/ logistical training over the last days but had quite a bit of time to pack and do our last minute errands before leaving on Saturday. On Friday night we had a BBQ and a bonfire. Saturday morning I went to the market and then drove to the Halifax airport. We arrived in Houston after 10 hours and found out we were booked at the wrong hotel across the city and we had to be back at the airport by 6am. Therefore we did not have time or money to go to the hotel that was reserved for us, so we found another one nearby. We finally arrived in Guatemala city, where a driver of a microbus picked us up and we headed to Xela. We stopped along the way from lunch and I dropped laura's epipin in the toilet. I took some gravol so I slept most of the way and there was torrential rain for most of the drive, the streets were completely underwater and mini-landslides were beginning.

We arrived at the language school and were taken to our house families, my house is literally right beside the school and essentially shares one wall with the school. My house mom's name is Carmen and she is really nice, I also live with two Danish girls who are really sweet and friendly, I went out with them on Tuesday night to the cantina for a beer and played a very intense card game and met other students studying at the language school. Language school is Monday to Friday and I have classes from 2 until 7 that are one on one with my teacher. In the morning we usually have an activity, on Tuesday we went Salcaja which was beautiful, we went to the market and learned about caldo de frutas which is an liqueur made from fruit, we also learned about weaving.

 We visited these two churches that were also really beautiful. The following day our activity was salsa lessons, it was really fun and interesting, a bit hard on my knee with all the spins, but I think I will take some more lessons because its really fun and good to get some exercise. There are also several clubs that give free salsa lessons at night, especially on Wednesday nights but last night I did not go because I wasnt feeling well.

Instead we went to the cantina again and then to see some live music, only Rachel, Elsa and I went out. Some of the girls arent feeling well because of the altitude or the change in food. There was a movie this morning as our activity but I decided not to go and sleep in instead. Thats all for now!