We are still alive!!!

We made it through the first week!

We are weary, but having a great time!

Our host family is wonderful. They feed us lots of great food, and it is all grown just around the corner. Our host dad (Silvestre) is the head of the farmers association so we are lucky! We also have a host mom (who we call na:nah- Oapan Nahuatl for mom), and two sisters, Ofelia and Juanita, that live with us. They are so sweet, and no one will let us do any work! They also have two other daughters, one who lives in Oapan (Roberta) with her husband, two little boys, and little girl (Angelica, who follows me around everywhere even to the bathroom!), and the other lives far away.

I like our Nahuatl classes, but they really hard. Also, the second half of the day (conversation class) is basically taught in Spanish which is hard for me because I was never all that good to begin with and am now rusty.

Today we are in Chilapa. We spent the night here so we could go to a Nahuatl festival in Acatlan. Their Nahuatl is far easier I think. Not only are some of their sounds different, but their greetings are more basic. Here you can say, “Hello mom” or “Hello dad” as a greeting to anyone. In Oapan, you greet based on what the person you are meeting with is doing. For instance, a greeting in Oapan may go as follow, Person A: “You are going to feed cows?” Person B: “Yes, I am going to feed cows.” Person A: “Then go feed cows.” Person B: “You are going visiting?” Person A: “Yes, I am going visiting.” Person B: “Then go visiting.” I am sure you can see the difficulty here. Oapan is the hardest Nahuat to learn according to Jonathan. It is the only dialect with tone!

The Acatlan festival was lots of fun, but everyone kept giving us Mezcal while they ate bull’s bloodl! They did theses crazy dances, and some people even danced on ropes! We also went to a mass at the beautiful little church there.

I’m sorry this update is brief, but the connection is slow and we only have a few minutes. This is also why I have only included four pictures. Maybe next weekend we can find a better connection.

Please remember to keep us in your prayers. Being here is great, but there are so many adjustments in addition to struggling through the language (like no air conditioning in 105 degree weather :o)! Here are few pictures:



Our corn mill!


This is na:nah, though I need to find a picture of her smiling. She is pretty much the cutest little person in the world and can flip tortillas like a mad woman!

Me in traditional dress in my hammock (the only place I can get cooled down).


These piglets remind me of Okie D and make me sooo happy!