Adventures In Guatemala (and elsewhere): Not a goodbye, but a catch you on the flipside

In addition to having my dad as a visitor for and around Christmas I also was lucky enough to be graced with the presence of this weirdo:

This isn't what she normally loos like though

This is more accurate.

Sometimes we did things like hiking

But most of the times we just cooked and ate


Fancy German panckaes

This goofy lady and I had quite the serendipitous meeting on a boat near where we live a few months ago and have been friends since. After sharing sweet dance moves (but for real, she memorized some choreography from the Backstreet Boys and proudly* displayed them), brownies, and banana bread we decided/I decided we were going to be great friends. And great friends we became, digo yo. She saved me from scorpions and I baked for her, what more could you ask for in a friendship? In our short time as friends we had the privilege of experiencing: both of us being robbed (both times while sitting no more than a meter away from one another…we really should be more observant), a few hangovers, new friends!, festivals, Halloween, Christmas, all the dance parties, silly jokes (shy milk), potential disasters (that scorpion was SO close to my FACE), successes and failures (that damn projector/beamer), dress ups, dress downs (your scribbled PJ pants), pictures (the good, the bad, and the ugly), a sharing of cultures, a culmination of languages, why is German SO difficult, a la gran (indubitably with both of your sleeves), traveling, and last but certainly not least, ALL of the food. There was also the beautiful spectacle of my dad busting out his German which we learned is quite antiquated.

Pues, on the 28^th Frau Books left Guatemala and headed back to Germany, which as I have learned is like 16 time zones and 29490590349 miles away. Or something. While those numbers are greatly exaggerated (I think, I have yet to actually look up the distance) it pretty much feels like it, and a seven-hour time difference really does feel quite substantial. However, we still talk on the daily and send pictures and she still is trying to teach me German, despite my reluctance to try and actually form the words (I maintain that I cannot hear the difference between the “oo” noise and the other “oo” noise). We did learn in Xela that if we put chocolate on our tongues German is much easier. In unrelated news I am probably going to come back from Germany fluent and 600 lbs. So it goes. This brings me to my next point! I will be seeing this very strange, lovable, adorable, fantastic lady in a few short months in *her* country! So if anyone has any recommendations of things to do/see or to avoid in Germany please share your wealth of knowledge, this would also any recommendations on how to study or learn this stupidly difficult language.

Querida Frau Brooks, te agradezco por su amistad <3. no puedo esperar a verte de nuevo en Alemania! Espero que sea posible mejorar mi Aleman antes de llego, pero vamos a ver. Pass auf, Danke Schӧn. I AM SO EXCITED TO SEE YOUR FACE IN JUUUUUUUUUNE and play Jenga with the other members of our pura Chapina group J. Oh, and meet my new best friend, obviously.