Come on you Super Rams!!!!!

Don´t be mistaken, although i am pleased that Derby County have reached the premiership, i´m actually referring to the super chivos (rams) that are Xelaju MC, the winners of the guatemalan league.
so, here we are again. time for some more information and some more photos. in fact, lots more photos. i was feeling generous so i decided to spend 2 hours at an internet café uploading them for your viewing pleasure. i hope you are happy...
the first lot of photos are from the football game i went to see here in Xela. Xelaju MC played local rivals San Marcos in the cup final of the guatemalan league. in the game that i went to (i had to queue for over 2 hours to get tickets) Xelaju lost 0-1. but went on to win the away leg 1-4. sweet. celebrations lasted a long, long time here in Xela, as they haven´t won the league for a long, long time.
the next lot are from a village called Las Nubes (the clouds) where i have been helping build a church. the building will also act as a community space for the villagers, where weekly film nights and typing classes will be held.
the final shots are of another village called xocalja (show-cal-ha) which is over 2 hours from Xela. a missionary group who set up the church i´ve been going to in Xela helped build the school and still have regular contact with the kids. i went along and played some games with them.

This is Shazad and Fred, my housemates, out shopping at La Democracia, the local market.

this is Jacob, Mary-Ann and Ruth (who is a teacher from the spanish school i went to) enjoying the prematch celebrations. we arrived at 6pm for an 8pm kick-off and the stadium was already full. some people arrived at 6am just to get a good spot!

Me and the girls!

things went crazy when the teams entered on the stadium. fireworks were shooting just over our heads onto the pitch. it was a very cool atmosphere. not quite as good as sitting in a half empty stadium watching Darlington FC lose though.

firecrackers were constantly attached to the fence or thrown on the pitch.

more craziness...

This is me explaining the complicated game of ´cat and mouse´ in english, which was then translated into spanish and then translated into the mayan language of quiche.

everyone having lots of fun!

... more fun

one of the school teachers being a mouse, much to her dismay.

me and some friends. very few of them spoke english or spanish, so there was little verbal communication to be had

These are some kids who live in the village of Las Nubes where i was helping build the church (you can just see it in the background). i can´t remember their names unfortunately. i can tell you they very much enjoyed bing photographed and seeing the pictures on my camera!

this is a picture taken by one the above kids.

me and me mates!

I´m back!

my friend has just pointed out that it has been almost a month since i lasted posted anything on here. so what have i been doing with myself since i last spoke to you. well, not a lot. i got very ill with either a parasite, bacteria or some other kind of unpleasantness for quite a few days. it was on a weekend so i couldn´t go to a doctor or get a test so i just went to the chemist and picked up some anti biotics (you can buy them over the counter here) and hoped they might do the trick... and they did, praise the lord! supposedly everybody gets sick with something here so i got off relatively lightly, although i still have over a month left to get something else.
so what other news; i spent two days in guatemala city sorting out an extension for my visa. i caught a bus at 5.15 in the morn in order to get to the immigration office in good time. however a bus journey that is meant to take3/4 hours took 6 and a half due to crazy roadworks, meaning i was late by 30 mins and had to stay over night and pick up my passport the following day. i went with my friend leonor from san fransisco and so we spent the day wandering round the city. we were fine but as guatemala city experiences between 30-50 murders a day we didn´t stay out too late (don´t worry mum i´m fine, no need to worry!) the journey back to Xela was even worse- 7 and a quarter hours!
currently i´m doing some language exchange with a guy from the church i´m going to who wants to improve his english, and on whom i can practice my spanish, i´m doing a lot of reading as well as sorting out some voluntary work, which finally seems to be happening. i was also invited to a piñata party of the grandkids of the family i was living with when i was studying last weekend. that was quite fun and very different.
i will post some photos soon. promise.
bye bye.