1st Weekend in Xela!

So I'm updating a lot, but so much has happened in this first week!! I can't believe I've been here a week already.
This was my first weekend, and since we didn't technically have school duties we were pretty much on our own. Friday night most of the teachers went out for dinner. Even though most of them already knew each other, it was especially nice for me to get to know them a little more in a setting outside of school. It is a HILARIOUS group-- we probably attracted too much attention to ourselves because we were all laughing so hard, but it was worth it!
After dinner we went to Central Park to see what was going on. We watched about 2 minutes of a Guatemalan screamo-rock band, and then continued on to a little coffee shop with some live acoustic music and singing. It was definitely a fun night.
Today, three of us ventured out to the school on our own. Yes, I went to work at school on the weekend. Call me a loser if you want, but if you could see the amount of work that needs to be done before next Monday, you would understand. We took a chicken bus out and had a productive morning. Although, we did have a little incident with the school alarm system! It wasn't our fault though!! :)
After that, we rode another chicken bus to Minerva, which is a part of Xela a little farther away. Its much more of a city. I think this was the first major culture shock I had experienced. We went to the Hiper Paiz, which is a huge grocery store. It kind of reminded me of a Super Walmart on crack. It's connected to a mall and I almost felt a little like I was in Richmond. It was just so different from what I've experienced here so far. But all in all, it was a fun day. Good to know where that part of town is and what is available there. We took a microbus back!! I was so nervous because I've seen buses pass that are filled to the brim with people hanging out the doors, standing, sitting on each other. But Praise the Lord! we got on one that only had 5 people. We all got seats. It was a great way to ease myself into the microbuses.
I am starting to really learn my way around, which is exciting! I'm excited to sleep in tomorrow--I'm worn out and next week is going to be another busy one!