Entiendo un poco de espanol...yeah, I know what THAT means!

At the request of Karolyn, here is the answer to "WHY Guatemala?"

1. Todd and I took Spanish in high school, and Todd took a few more classes at Ricks after his mission. His is much better than mine, but we both desire to become fluent. We believe that learning Spanish will benefit us both in our careers, as well as give our brains something new and different to learn!

2. I didn't go on a mission, so I guess I could say I've never had a real "cultural" experience (unless you count Utah, which is a whole culture of itself, and yeah, it took me two years to get used to it!). So living in a very non-modernized country like Guatemala for six weeks should be quite the experience. I am mentally preparing myself now, so that when I have to drink ONLY bottled water and take cold showers, it won't be such a shock.

3. We're young! We're agile! We're mentally stable! All things that will go downhill in a few years (haha). But seriously, this is a trip we believe we'll enjoy a lot more now than 20 or 30 years down the road. By then, we'll be all for cruises and cushy hotel service (even though I'm all for both of those NOW too).

4. What better way to learn a language than to immerse yourself in it? We will be staying in small Guatemalan towns with Guatemalan families speaking, hopefully, only Spanish. We will be doing 25 hours a week of classes, plus going on trips and watching movies in Spanish. I think I will be dying for some English by the time we get home, but hopefully I will SPEAK a whole heck of a lot more Spanish (don't quote me on that, if you happen to speak Spanish now, don't expect a whole lot!).

5. Learning Spanish is really cheap in Guatemala. It is actually one of their main industries, and language schools are there in abundance. Schools are much more expensive in Mexico, and at this point, Guatemala seems just as safe, if not more so. I had no idea so many language schools even existed...it's almost overwhelming!

So, if you've skipped most of that, here's the Guatemala recap: It's cheap and they speak lots of Spanish there! Know anyone who wants to sublease an apartment for 8 weeks this summer?