survived another class (spanish and yoga)

today's report:

what a busy day i had. it is hard to believe that while on "vacation" (that's what some people would call what i am doing but that word does not come close to describing what i am doing here) one could have so little spare time!

yesterday after class i found half an hour to update my blog then it was off to my house (mi casa) for lunch, mmmmmm, as far as food is concerned i am doing very well, then it was time to focus on homework. i plugged away at regular and irregular verbs, present and passed tenses, for 3 hours then it was off to yoga. it was intense. after 15 minutes i was once again prepared to walk right out, but i didn't and i am glad for regardless at how unbendy i am i leave feeling GREAT! in class he was expecting us to plant our hands on the ground outside of our knees as we crouched. then he told us to put our knees on our elbows (what?) then, and i quote, "simply put your weight on your arms, lifting your feet and swing back and forth. (did i mention WHAT?) suffice to say i collapsed twice before i realized that move was still beyond me. aside from that ego squashing experience the class was intense but doable and i felt fresh and alive when i walked out.

it was a brisk walk to the casa for dinner which true to form was delicious! simple but delicious. tortillas (fresh), eggs (fresh), cheese (fresh) and of course hot sauce...mmmmm. dinner was wolfed down and a quick shower followed. dressed i was off to a meringue lesson at my school. meringue, a new experience for me and for my unfortunate partner who received the business end of my elbow in face during, what i considered, a particularly difficult move. she was gracious and was pretended not to be bothered with my clumsy/ungraceful nature. despite my lack of ability in meringue we both had a blast and when it came time to finish our lesson it was decided that we would all head off to a bar to practice...mama mia. remember yesterday how i told you my detox was going great, well no longer. i didn't get polluted but beer was consumed. alas, i figure that a fine balance of education, health and fiesta is my way forward. 

arriving home at midnight i had no energy left to review my days studies and homework and drifted peacefully off to sleep. ah sweet sleep. i was so tired i was not woken (for the first time this week) by the rooster who feels the need to flex his muscle at unnatural hours, even for a rooster. 

so busy as i am good times are still not only at hand but being had, day in and day out. off to lunch, then homework then a goodbye party for a new friend (where i dare say i will have more than a little beer, but it will be for a good cause. wish me luck. ciao for now. 

school, school and then just a bit more school...

my apologies. i have promised yet not delivered at putting together a batch of photos and videos of our outrageous futbol experience. (yes i do know how to spell but now you too know how to spell it in spanish, your welcome) the reason, not excuse, is due to a change in attitude a shift of focus. rather than going out and partying all night, having a blast and sharing the oddities of the night i have pulled back and am spending a lot of time reviewing what i've learned and even more time tackling all the homework assigned. for example yesterday i was made to write 60ish sentences using irregular verbs in the present tense. sounds pretty tough eh? (if you answered no to this question feel free to close this window and never come back!) i worked on those sentences for 6 hours with but a few interruptions. that's right, 6 HOURS. but that is how one learns a new language and i am determined to bring my spanish to as high a level as possible during my 4 months here.


as well as bettering the mind i am now attempting to also better the body. on monday i went to my first yoga class in 8 years with the idea of detox and betterment in mind i ignored the INTERMEDIATE in the title of the class and focused on the fact it said BEGINNER/INTERMEDIATE. at first i was thinking, hey this is just like riding a bike, a little measured breathing, self recognition and introspection. but then it all went to pot. our instructor thought we should do the postures without him talking, he said we'd get more out of it. i however disagree, as trying to follow the movements of someone who as been practicing for 18 years without the aid of instruction, was far far far away from easy but slowly i started to find my own pace and ability level and things started looking up. that is until he said ok now 4 more times in this posture and we can get started. WTF! what felt like 1.5 hours was but 15 minutes, i died a little. when the cute girl beside me, with the "omega" symbol tattooed on her back with a wreath of green and roses, started grunting my spirits lifted.


suffice to say the class was hard but not too hard to scare me off. i may have fallen, i may have sweat a liter of moister, my body may have shaken throughout the entirety of some postures but at the end of it all i felt AMAZING! so much so that i signed up for a month of unlimited classes,  i thought it a nice complement to my 20 hours a week of spanish study. i had to laugh when the yogi said "now damon, for this to be of value you have to come at least 6 times" he didn't mean personal value, no he meant financially, 6 classes equal the cost of one month unlimited. why is that funny? well a solo class costs 15Q - just about 2 dollars, the unlimited class is 100Q - around 12 dollars. now if any of you have taken yoga or at least gone to class you will know that a solo class costs well above $12 in fact something much closer to $20-$30 per class and that is reduced when a package is bought to on average $15 a visit.
if i never went to another class again i would still have paid less having bought a month package than if i went to one class in ottawa. that is not to say i am not going back, no that is not the case. this evening i am returning to the aptly named "yoga house" for another session and this time i have recruited, i believe 4 ladies to join me. i don't know if walking like i'd ridden a horse from ottawa to guatemala or wincing at every movement for the past two days would be such a selling point but for whatever reason, i've got recruits!


it is now time for me to go home for lunch, the most impressive meal of the day, and then time to hit the books till it is time to punish my body once again. wish me luck.


oh i think it's a good time to mention that i have not had a drink (not even a beer) since saturday! the detox stands! i don't know for how much longer, but yes it stands!

a wild weekend

please excuse my lax approach these past few days but it has been crazy busy with fun, frivolities and yes even football (that's soccer to all of you up north) and when i have had a minute to myself my condition was not conducive to motivation or at times coherent thoughts. suffice to say that there was much fun to be had and little time to do anything else so i will take a few minutes to go over the broader strokes while highlighting a few funnier moments.


friday night started off innocently enough with a small fiesta at my school. there were some silly games that became bearable after a gallo (or two) (gallo = local beer), then there was dancing and a man i refer to as elvis guatemalteco played some sweet latin sounds on his guitar. at the end of his 'set' we started to chat and he offered me guitar lessons, not something i was interested in but when he quoted me 25Q for 2.5 hours i couldn't say no. so tomorrow i will begin to learn an entirely new style of guitar, should be pretty cool. things started to go downhill pretty quickly thereafter. first going to a bar, la rumba, where the drinks were flowing and the dancing was abundant. in fact my salsa partner from a few night prior happen to be there and well i wont call it 'salsa' per se but we danced and danced. we danced until i as forced to flee the dance floor. why run away damon? well what started innocently a high five to a guatemalan couple turned into something no bueno, when i was propositioned to 'take leave' with them. i don't want to come off as a prude for that is the last thing i'd call myself but i do consider myself someone with standards and well, they were not being met. rumba closes and we, for no other reason than because, go to the next bar on the block. i can say that we didn't need to be there and at some point my housemate and i decided it was time to return home. by this time it is 3ish in the AM and we are both feeling very 'good'. we were walking chatting, laughing and generally just being foolish. but when we finally looked up (paid attention to where we were and where we were going we realized that we had no clue as to where we WERE! this was slightly unnerving. i hid my wallet in my clothes and kris got out his knife, just in case. luckily for everyone involved after only a few minutes passed and after turning a few corners we come across another friend of ours, who must have heard us coming, as he stood at the end of the street with his arms outstretched in the air, like a beacon of light and hope after a long voyage at sea!


saturday started much slower than not and i missed a walk to some nearby natural saunas, oh well. our entire house looked worse for wear but we knew that the night ahead would hold no prisoners so we had to sort ourselves out. our mama, sandra, looked at us and started making a local hangover cure, gracias mama. slowly but surely we started to feel 'normal' again. and before long it was time to get ready for the football match that was going to be amazing, the crowds were already about, the cops were out directing traffic and generally spirits were high. spending time with the brits of course like before any big night we went out for some curry. i'll give them this, it was huge, spicy and bloody delicious.


meeting up with some more friends post-feed we went and purchased some bottles of 'ron guatemalteca' a local inexpensive brew or rum. arriving at the stadium i knew i was in for more than i could have imagined. people everywhere. fireworks going off. food vendors. unofficial jersey sellers (which most of us ended up buying...when in rome). it was nuts. buying out tickets we entered the stadium. drums pounding. horns blaring. people everywhere! through the mess and up to the stands (concrete seats). we found what we thought were good seats but later turned still to be good but in the oppositions section...iffy.


now it was time to buy some mix for our rum. so guess what they sell the soda and then pour it in plastic bags. interesting. so here we all are holding bags of coke and rum...too funny. the game starts and so do the minutes of fireworks huge ones, little ones, loud ones and scary ones (ever have a firework fall on your head? well me neither but i saw it happen). truthfully, the game wasn't that hot but we made up for it in noise and good times. right before half time we run out of rum. lauren and amanda head out to pick some more up. 45 minutes later we are all a bit worried. just when we think its time to send out a search party they return and far from empty handed. as well as buying more goodness they not only found a puppy but brought him into the stadium. what they were thinking is well beyond me and to be fair after all the rum we'd consumed i think their actions were beyond them too. somehow the situation sort of resolved itself as a couple of guys who also had a puppy agreed to take 'our' puppy. i say 'sort of' because i am of the belief that the puppy was not lost and abandoned but had an owner and a home. oh well.


the game ended we lost but the party didn't stop. i carried on and we carried on. i left sooner than most but couldn't tell you when and felt only slightly better than the rest the next morning. yesterday was spent very very relaxed. walking around the markets that seemed to pop up out of nowhere, eating greasy food and watching movies in the company of good friends. hurting heads but also good times. 


i have decided that this week (not weekend) will be spent in 'detox'. focussing on my spanish and my mental/physical well being. this may make for some interesting blogging and it may not. only time will tell. hasta pronto.


photos to follow.

salsa disaster or master?

as you will know from my last post, i am in xela, guatemala. i am here to learn spanish and experience the second largest city in guatemala. so far so good. being the lucky guy i am i fell into a great school and met up with some great friends from part 1 of my guate adventure. i thought this would be a primarily spanish learning centre (at least for me) but it has turned out to be much more than that.


last night after a delicious family dinner me and my friends went off to a salsa dancing lesson at a bar in town. i was reluctant to say the least so i did require some lubrication from my good friend Gallo (a local beer). 1 liter in i was ready to hit the dance floor, truthfully it may have been more than the beer that brought em to the dance floor...there was a very sexy finish lady that could also take the credit. at first i was thinking cool, 1 2 3 4 5 and back 1 2 3 and forward 1 2 3 4 5, easy i got this! well that was until they added more steps and then, if you can believe it, a spin! i was wishing now for another cervesa and a pair of shoes, the sandals were just not cutting it. but things changed, as they always do, for the better. we got paired up and now we got to practice our 'moves' with another. would you believe it if i told you that canada and finland were united on the dance floor with some wild steps, moves, spins and whatever else our teacher tried to throw at us. i was feeling atop of the world! that is until the bar opened to others and a crowd flowed in filling the once empty bar. soon there were others on the dance floor and they were not beginners. knowing out place we found our seats and watched the madness ensue. i tell you i saw things on that dance floor that i thought was reserved for xxx websites (not that i've looked, of course) and not that i am complaining for it was AMAZING. 


the coordination, the skill, the sexuality all ensure that i will be back next week, in shoes and ready to SALSA!

i have arrived!

after a month of canadian pride i have finally made it back to the lovely land of guatemala! monday night i landed in guatemala city and made it safely to my hotel at around 9:30 pm (not a very safe time to be out and about) but i was in a taxi and felt pretty ok. my intention was to check-in, drop my stuff in my room and head out into the neighborhood in search of food as i had not eaten since 2ish in miami. however this was not to be the case. as i approached the hotel all the shops, eateries, everything was closed! the man at the front desk was a nice and was very adamant the there was nothing open near by and walking around trying to find one was not in my best interest (guatemala city is one of the most dangerous in the americas). i suppose it goes without saying i went to bed hungry - boo. 

waking early the next morning i made it to the bus terminal that was going to take me to xela, the city i planned on staying for the better part of march studying spanish. the trip was uneventful and i arrived in xela noonish. having heard from a few friends who had arrived in xela while i was in ottawa i knew to head to a hostel called casa argentina, where they were staying. no problem. met at the door by two lovely dutch ladies who were touting a school. never one to turn my back on pretty ladies i let them lead me to sol latino, which as of one hour ago became my spanish school, to show me around. i could barely believe it when i passed through the front gates and heard my name. sitting in the classroom was phil and lauren to friends i had met in san pedro and who i had spent nearly everyday with before my trip was cut short and i was forced to return to ottawa.

hooray this was working out better than good. i was invited to join them on a trip to a nearby town that makes a fruit liquor, ok i like liquor. it turns out they make bootleg fruit liquor, of course never refusing a host or a drink i bought a bottle as did my friend phil. prepared for the night ahead we got on the 'chicken bus' and returned to our casa. it all started so innocently with 3 liters of beer and our fruit liquor but when we went out for 3 more liters and then 3 more after that we were feeling better than fine. at some point my phone rang and another friend of mine was on route looking for me. he arrived with 3 liters in tow and it went from drunk to drunker. it was truly a well deserved fun fiesta! that being said, this morning when i woke up i wasn't thinking of the fun, nope i was holding my head and wishing i had a bano in my room as i couldn't be bothered to dress!

sucking it up i made it out and had a very productive morning. i checked out a couple of schools and decided on a smaller one with much more character and charm than the others. i start tomorrow and am registered for 3 weeks and 2 days. cool. also i am moving out of my casa argentina in about 30 minutes and moving into a local family's home. also cool. not much else to say other than i really ought to pack up so that i can make it to meet my friends and move into my new home.

i am going to try and be as blog-productive as last month when i was last in guatemala, to share with you what i see through words and photos. thanks for stopping by and chat soon!

the cause of my hangover

rasta dog watch out!

oldest church in CA

a man on a loom, he is also the bootlegger who sold us our drinks

same

loom detail

loom detail

loom detail

view from my room first night in xela

GREAT NEWS!

just a quick note to say that after a what seemed like ages but was actually on 10 days the results from my latest excision came back with flying colours! they were able to conclude this time that they successfully got it all, no nasty cells left behind. YAY.


thank you all for your kind words of encouragement and positive energy, for all intense and purpose they worked! i have had the pleasure of spending some quality time with my family who are supportive and loving as per their usual MO. over the past few weeks, when not dropped by illness or post surgery pain i've been able to touch base with some old friends, some of whom i haven't seen in a few years, all are doing great.


you have all been more helpful than i can even begin to express so please take this small thanks and know you've helped me through a difficult time.

happy family day!

hi all, sorry for the lax behaviour with regards to my postings and musings on my blog. let me recap the last few fun filled weeks as i am sure you are dying to know all the exciting and fun things i've been doing to fill the time...


lets being with my head in the toilet, for that is exactly how my return to ottawa began, praying to the porcelain god oh joy. i was literally felled by the debilitating stomach flu for the whole weekend. managing to get up just in time for my doctor's appointment monday morning. the surgery lasted for 55 minutes (much longer than i had expected) but it felt like only a few minutes due to a wonderful suggestion from my sister ... NO2/laughing gas = AMAZING. (thanks lara) 


maybe now would be a good time to discuss drugs vs pain. regardless of how we feel about drugs illegal or prescription i think we can almost unanimously agree that pain is bad. so why is it i had to wait until i was 32 to be giving NO2 to help ease the pain and anticipation of pain? throughout my life i have had my fair share of cuts, bruises, fillings/teeth pulled and later in life interesting (and scary) bouts with foreign born infections. never once was i offered anything for the pain aside from local anesthetic (and if i may point out those needles tend to hurt as much if not more than the offending problem). why is this? why oh why would we subject people to pain without even the offer of respite? NO2 happens to be even better than a dulling of pain i would dare to describe it as fun, i was completely removed from the experience of having a doctor roughly cut, scrape, dig and sew just below my lower lip for just under an hour. i would not have wanted it any other way. from now on i will take responsibility and ask for help with the pain instead of stoically enduring simply to say i did. 


so the surgery was bearable (fun) but the post was brutal. my lower lip swelled and swelled to the point of ridiculous. i was likened (by me) to a white bubba from forest gump, not cool. unable to drink but from a straw, eating but the most basic of soft pureed foods (thanks for all the effort and delicious smoothies and milkshakes mom!) this lasted for 4 days, brutal, it got to the point that i believed my swelling lip would never subside and was beginning my life anew as a freakshow scarring little kids and making babies cry being my new niche.


but then on the 5th day the sun shone and my lip reduced, and the people rejoiced!


saturday i woke with a purpose, a raison d'etre. off to look at some new cool sleeping bags that occupy 1/4 of the space of my current sleeping bag, it just made me giddy. then off to coffee with a couple of friends. a very successful coffee if i may say so, 1 richoo is working on my professional website (so when it gets launched and looks super cool you know where to go for your wicked cool site) 2 recruited my buddy marc to join me on a scuba adventure in early april! how cool is that! we both have been wanting to get out padi for ages and now we plan to get it together in the most inexpensive places in the americas on a reef that is considered second to the great barrier reef! not to mention march and april are two months you are likely to encounter whale sharks! omg!


from there i got in the car and headed to my sister's where i've been since. together (lara, mike, katie and matthew) we celebrated valentine's day and now family day. oh the fun we are having! they say the best medicine is family and i would have to agree with "them". when katie saw my face she said "uncle damon, what happened, you have a booboo?" 
"well katie, i went to the doctor and he did some cutting and making me better"
"does it hurt?"
"well yes a little but not so much anymore"
"uncle damon"
"yes katie"
"i am so proud of you!"
well if your heart doesn't melt from that you just may dead inside. (that was harsh so i am going to add a smily face to lessen the impact) :-)


so now i am waiting for the results which will of course be good news and filing my days with fun, family and friends. trying to accomplish a few minor improvements on my pack and travel system, see as many friends as possible and spending some quality time with my family. 


until there is more to report, be well.