Life here in Xela continues with new adventures almost daily. This week has been busy with the activities that the school has arranged for students. On Tuesday Tom and I along with other students were able to get a free Salsa dance lesson. The lesson was one hour long and needless to say I was a little sweaty after and we both were yearning for more. Wednesday we ventured to Banos de Vahos, which was about a 20 minute bus ride from Xela and an hour walk up to this fantastic place. Banos de Vahos is basically a sauna, it is naturally heated by the hotsprings that are located underneath Banos de Vahos. It was very relaxing, refreshing (just what we needed) and had a wonderful aroma of Eucalyptus. Not to mention the view of the city during the walk back to the city, it was spectacular. Thursday we once again ventured out of the city to ¨COPAVIC¨, which is a company that makes glassware, anything from cups to vases to smaller glass trinkets, etc... Once we viewed all the glassware we were able to walk into the workshop, which is where all of the items are made by the men who work there. This was a very interesting process of making the glassware. I can´t describe how they do it very well, but we took lots of pictures. I was asked by one of the male workers if I wanted to give it a try (I think he saw the fascination in my eyes), how could I really turn this offer down!! So he handed me this metal rod that was probably 4 feet long with a very hot piece of liquid glass on the end. 
Carefully, I took the rod and with some assistance from him started turning the rod and simotaneously blowing in the end of the rod. At this time he was saying ¨suave, suave¨, luckily that is one of the spanish words I know, meaning smooth. After I got the hang of it he let me handle it by myself....after 15 seconds of blowing the small hot piece of liquid metal turned into a larger glass ball. It was very cool. We took pictures of the adventures this week and have them posted on an online gallery, those of you who are interested please leave a comment here on this blog page and we will send you an email with the gallery address.
Other than the activities we also continue with school and life with our host family. Tom´s spanish is getting rather good where I struggle to put a sentence together. But, with a little hope, serious studying and a good teacher hopefully I will start to improve. The meals here continue to be a struggle, however we get by the best we can. Tom was not feeling well the other day and told our host mom before lunch to let her know that he would not be eating much. Edna was ok with that however, proudly made Tom a drink that she was convinced that will cure his troubling stomach problems. She made up this elixer (that looked just as bad as the soup we were eating) and proudly gave it to Tom. Reluctantly, Tom gave the elixer a taste and over the course of 10 minutes was able to finish the glass. He was not able to tell me until we were in our room that the drink was ablsolutely horrible. He stated it was worse that the soup, I had a hard time believing that because the contents of the soup closely resembeld the water of a swamp in my parents back yard.
-posted by Melissa
Carefully, I took the rod and with some assistance from him started turning the rod and simotaneously blowing in the end of the rod. At this time he was saying ¨suave, suave¨, luckily that is one of the spanish words I know, meaning smooth. After I got the hang of it he let me handle it by myself....after 15 seconds of blowing the small hot piece of liquid metal turned into a larger glass ball. It was very cool. We took pictures of the adventures this week and have them posted on an online gallery, those of you who are interested please leave a comment here on this blog page and we will send you an email with the gallery address.Other than the activities we also continue with school and life with our host family. Tom´s spanish is getting rather good where I struggle to put a sentence together. But, with a little hope, serious studying and a good teacher hopefully I will start to improve. The meals here continue to be a struggle, however we get by the best we can. Tom was not feeling well the other day and told our host mom before lunch to let her know that he would not be eating much. Edna was ok with that however, proudly made Tom a drink that she was convinced that will cure his troubling stomach problems. She made up this elixer (that looked just as bad as the soup we were eating) and proudly gave it to Tom. Reluctantly, Tom gave the elixer a taste and over the course of 10 minutes was able to finish the glass. He was not able to tell me until we were in our room that the drink was ablsolutely horrible. He stated it was worse that the soup, I had a hard time believing that because the contents of the soup closely resembeld the water of a swamp in my parents back yard.
-posted by Melissa
