We made it...

all in one piece. We are enchanted by our surroundings! Our hosts have created a beautiful & peaceful place.

our bedroom

the view from our window

outside our bedroom door...the terrace (all the bedrooms open to this rooftop garden)

Maddy wasted no time writing about her day + neither have I (since here I am).

Smells: jasmine, gardenia, roses. Sounds: church bells, fireworks (not sure why), birds, latin american music, and (of course) Spanish language. Tastes: wonderful hot chocolate, pineapple cake. Thoughts: overwhelmed and tired but content. Tomorrow I try to begin to sprechen/parlez/hablar.

Adios Boston, Hola Antigua

Maddy and I are leaving Sunday for Antigua, Guatemala. I was invited by one of my professors to work on some child development projects there but first (minor detail...) I need to build my Spanish skills from practically non-existent to at least conversational.

So we're heading there for two weeks of immersed language study. As luck would have it, the town where my professor lives and where I'll be hopefully doing some work later just happens to have a concentration of highly respected and inexpensive language schools (here's a link to ours). So, with Greg's encouragement and a little blind audacity, we decided to give it a try.

{Moment of my nervous and excited dance. Think Snoopy but more scared.}

We'll be staying in the home of my professor and doing one-on-one Spanish classes every morning for 4 hours, then spending the afternoons and evenings exploring and trying out our blossoming linguistic abilities. It sounds like the school and the home where we're staying both have wireless internet so I hope to post semi-regularly while I'm there.

Although I've had my moments of nervousness, I'm getting really excited to try this and to take my spunky and sunny Maddy with me. That quiets the anxiety I have about whether I'll be able to learn Spanish, if Maddy will like it, if it will live up to my high hopes, if we'll be safe, if Maddy will eat the food, if my professor will get tired of having us there so long, etc., etc.

See you soon...

********
p.s.

I came across a really cool site while I was researching Antigua. Dozens of cities around the world participate jointly in a daily photo project. Sometimes they have themes, like colors or typical breakfast, but mostly they are simply fascinating views into life in locations around the world. You could spend hours here. I couldn't find a main coordinating site but the Antigua page had a list with links. Enjoy!

Origamiland

We took a break from the unpacking this week to visit the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem (thanks, public library, for your free museum pass program!).

I've heard much good press about the PEM but hadn't yet made it there. Sam was a little reluctant (car repugnant as he is) but once he heard they were featuring an exhibit on origami he was on board.

If you're in the Boston area, be sure to check it out. Besides amazing paper-folding creations (see pictures below), they also have hands-on origami projects that were pleasers. (Looking for a fun activity? The website has some great origami lessons to try at home.) These were so cool (and, yes, completely out of folded paper!):

Magical

Take three rivers in the downtown of a mid-size east coast city. Add dozens of fire pyres hovering above the water and light them at sundown. Play haunting Gregorian chants (or Arvo Part, I think it was), soaring opera arias, and cool jazz riffs + pipe the music through countless speakers up and down the riverfront. Invite circus acts, dance bands, and strange freelance statue people to spice up the action. Plop several gondolas on the river, complete with Venetian gondoliers. Host crowds of people, and call it WaterFire.

Thank you, Providence and artist Barnaby Evans, for creating and supporting such a cool, magical tradition that treats all of the senses.

Greg and I first discovered WaterFire one October night a couple of years ago (though it's been around since the mid-90s). Ever since, we've wanted to take the kids and finally did last night. If you're ever in the area around any of the WaterFire dates, be sure to check it out.

As you walk under bridges, along the river, there are candlelit chandeliers
hanging from the ceilings...very Phantom of the Opera

I loved this picture that Maddy took of the tango band and dancers

Sam's goal of the evening was to get a flower from the mysterious masked boatman who was tossing them into the crowd. At the very end of our evening...success.