So today we started a new optional program. We meet with students from Universidad de Benito Juarez who are studying English and get to talk to them one on one for 30 minutes in English and Spanish after our Geography class. I was a little skeptical at first, because I wasn't sure how well we'd be able to keep a conversation going. Well after one session I'm convinced that I might finally be getting close to conquering the Spanish language. It started off slowly enough with the basic questions(name, where your from, major,etc) but after 10 minutes or so Victor and I were talking about classic rock, sports, and the story behind Eric Clapton's amazing song Layla. Honestly I don't think I've ever had a conversation in Spanish go that well. The best thing I can compare it to is basketball. It's like one of those days when the rim is twice is wide and everything your shooting is going in, and your shouting GOOD before each shot. After that we spoke in English for a bit which was cool since Victor is training to be an English teacher. I really think this is the most effective way you can learn or quickly improve your speakin skills at a foreign language. You can critique each other as you go, and your both motivated to do it since you each get something out of it.
Geography has gotten surprisingly interesting as well. The syllabus has had us going over everything from development economics to agriculture to to history to social movements. These might seem random at first but they all relate to each other in their own way. The most important thing I've seen both in home life in class is the value of community in Mexican and indigenous culture. It's really eye opening since we tend to value the power of the individual so much in the U.S that sometimes we forget about our neighbors and even families at times, as we get wrapped up in our own lives. I'm not saying that this doesn't happen here in Mexico or that it's a superior way of life, but it's just different and not what I've been used to for most of my time in the States.
The only other thing I've got for now is on Sunday we got to see the legendary El Tule tree, which is one of the biggest and oldest trees in the world. That may not sound all that exciting to most people, but this thing is just a beast. We also had an 8 year old guide(crazily similar to the scene in Slumdog where they become tour guides at the Taj Mahal) show us the different names for parts of the tree that they'd come up with. He used a little mirror to reflect the light on each part and say things like el elefante or el leon or las pompas de Monica Lewinsky(said woman's butt) or la nariz de Vincete Fox(said man's nose) and after each one would say in his cute squeaky voice "Ya Lo Vieron?!". It was way fun and we got to have a huge meal afterwords complete with mezcal.
Hasta Luego
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
So much time and so much to do
So there's a saying I've heard a few times here that goes "Si comias la chapulina, no quieres salir" which translates to If you eat the grasshoppers(a Oaxacan delicacy), you won't want to leave. I haven't had any of the renowned Oaxacan grasshopper yet but with all thats been going on the last few days, it may not be easy saying goodbye to this city.
It all started this Monday, when after class we decided to go on a hike in San Felipe which is about 20 minutes outside town. I'm not much of an outdoorsman despite(or more likely because of) my years in Boy Scouts, but I caved to the peer pressure and decided to give it a try. First we just stayed to a few roads trying to find a trail up into the area and kept running into dead ends and burros(donkeys) along the road. After a while we found a great trail that Will had heard about from some friends that was supposed to lead to some waterfalls. San Felipe is a lush region with tons of plant and animal life that 19 years in between Tucson and the Dallas suburbs have left me relatively unexposed to. It was a pretty simple hike more or less with only a few spots where you might need help like crossing the stream or going across a medium sized ledge. It was raining most of the time which was great since it was enough to cool you down but not enough to get you soaked. After about an hour or so we reached the "waterfalls" which were definitely pretty but not like anything you'd seen in a movie. Really more than anything it was just one of those moments where your like "Wow look how far we've made it".
For Tuesday we decided to go see Transformers 2 at our local Cinepolis, which I won't comment on other than to say the commercials and previews for Mexican movies are hilarious. Oh and that Michael Bay sucks and whoever wrote the movie should be forced to relearn the English language. That said if you go in looking at it as a comedy you'll be entertained for most of it.
Wednesday night brought us to the hallowed Estadio Lic. Eduardo Vasconcelos to see the Oaxaca Guerreros take on the Tabasco Olmecas. First off it costs about $5 to get in and a little over $1 for a beer so you're definitely getting a good deal no matter who's playing. Second instead of having concessions stands they just have people walking around to see if you want a drink or some donuts, tacos, or empanadas. They also have cheerleaders for the game or as they're called the "Guerrrrrritas" who come out and dance to some Latin pop in between the innings. After about the 5th inning or so they came into the stands and tried to get us to follow them. We resisted at first, but eventually the combination of their persistence and short skirts persuaded us to come along for the ride. We stayed for a little while in their little dugout area right next to the field til the inning ended and they had us play the classic bat spinning game. Now I've never done this on a field before, but one of my favorite stories from freshmen year is when Austin, Gabe, Labonte and I tried this with a few beers in us to hilarious results. So basically what you do is they give you a bat and you put your head to it and spin around for what seems like forever but is probably closer to 20 seconds, and then you run to the other side. Given that we'd all had a few beers, naturally our success was mixed. I'd like to say it was my superior balance and athletic ability that had me win it without falling but really it was more just dumb luck and some experience. Will, Alex and Hannah hit the turf immediately while Nathan ran straight into a baseball player on his way from the dugout. We got some calendars and team guides for our little display and stayed til the rain ended the game about an hour later with the score at 0-0.
One random cool thing about Mexican baseball aside from them having sweet team chants and ridiculous sound effects during the game. They don't use their screen for replays. Yeah, basically they put random videos of people getting hurt or classic youtube videos like Afro Ninja on there in the middle of innings. Good Stuff all around.
After rushing home in the pouring rain, we hung around til 3 new guests arrived at our house. They're gonna be staying here for the next 10 to 14 days, and were in a similar program with our host family about a year ago. We had dinner and then had an awesome time at El Bicho, playing pool and having a few drinks.
Finally, today we went to the home of Gustavo Esteva, just a genuinely really smart and nice dude, and the founder of Universidad de la Tierra(where I'm studying). Now officially I'm taking Geography here but it's that plus History, Culture, and Economics of the region especially of development in Latin America. So over the course of the day he showed his home which is pretty freaking amazing. I've always pictured myself living in a city, but after seeing his place and a few others here I could see myself going the complete opposite direction too. Words can't do it justice, but it's just a gorgeous combination of some farmland he's working on and a house that's incredibly well built and fits in with the beautiful plants perfectly. He's very loquacious(SAT word for ya) and we talked for about 3 hours about Oaxaca and his ideas on capitalism and localization and education. It doesn't do it justice to condense his ideas to just a few sentences, since it's not like he's pulling it out of his ass but in essence he's arguing that the bell is tolling for capitalism and that education only exacerbates inequality, instead of reducing it and that local communites can perform tasks much better than schools.
Again, a lot of his ideas are kinda radical as far as things go here in the States, and I disagree completely with some of them, but it's good to be challenged a bit and rethink almost everything you've been brought up with sometimes. In fact probably one of the most valuable things you can do is challenge convential wisdom. And also he admits that he nor anyone else knows how things are gonna fare with the economic crisis so he's definitely not inflexible on his positions.
Anyways after that long talk, we retired to his house to enjoy some of his wife's excellent cooking. The meal included a really good pasta and salad as well as some deviled eggs, followed by an apple custard desert.
Thats about all for now. Hasta Luego!
It all started this Monday, when after class we decided to go on a hike in San Felipe which is about 20 minutes outside town. I'm not much of an outdoorsman despite(or more likely because of) my years in Boy Scouts, but I caved to the peer pressure and decided to give it a try. First we just stayed to a few roads trying to find a trail up into the area and kept running into dead ends and burros(donkeys) along the road. After a while we found a great trail that Will had heard about from some friends that was supposed to lead to some waterfalls. San Felipe is a lush region with tons of plant and animal life that 19 years in between Tucson and the Dallas suburbs have left me relatively unexposed to. It was a pretty simple hike more or less with only a few spots where you might need help like crossing the stream or going across a medium sized ledge. It was raining most of the time which was great since it was enough to cool you down but not enough to get you soaked. After about an hour or so we reached the "waterfalls" which were definitely pretty but not like anything you'd seen in a movie. Really more than anything it was just one of those moments where your like "Wow look how far we've made it".
For Tuesday we decided to go see Transformers 2 at our local Cinepolis, which I won't comment on other than to say the commercials and previews for Mexican movies are hilarious. Oh and that Michael Bay sucks and whoever wrote the movie should be forced to relearn the English language. That said if you go in looking at it as a comedy you'll be entertained for most of it.
Wednesday night brought us to the hallowed Estadio Lic. Eduardo Vasconcelos to see the Oaxaca Guerreros take on the Tabasco Olmecas. First off it costs about $5 to get in and a little over $1 for a beer so you're definitely getting a good deal no matter who's playing. Second instead of having concessions stands they just have people walking around to see if you want a drink or some donuts, tacos, or empanadas. They also have cheerleaders for the game or as they're called the "Guerrrrrritas" who come out and dance to some Latin pop in between the innings. After about the 5th inning or so they came into the stands and tried to get us to follow them. We resisted at first, but eventually the combination of their persistence and short skirts persuaded us to come along for the ride. We stayed for a little while in their little dugout area right next to the field til the inning ended and they had us play the classic bat spinning game. Now I've never done this on a field before, but one of my favorite stories from freshmen year is when Austin, Gabe, Labonte and I tried this with a few beers in us to hilarious results. So basically what you do is they give you a bat and you put your head to it and spin around for what seems like forever but is probably closer to 20 seconds, and then you run to the other side. Given that we'd all had a few beers, naturally our success was mixed. I'd like to say it was my superior balance and athletic ability that had me win it without falling but really it was more just dumb luck and some experience. Will, Alex and Hannah hit the turf immediately while Nathan ran straight into a baseball player on his way from the dugout. We got some calendars and team guides for our little display and stayed til the rain ended the game about an hour later with the score at 0-0.
One random cool thing about Mexican baseball aside from them having sweet team chants and ridiculous sound effects during the game. They don't use their screen for replays. Yeah, basically they put random videos of people getting hurt or classic youtube videos like Afro Ninja on there in the middle of innings. Good Stuff all around.
After rushing home in the pouring rain, we hung around til 3 new guests arrived at our house. They're gonna be staying here for the next 10 to 14 days, and were in a similar program with our host family about a year ago. We had dinner and then had an awesome time at El Bicho, playing pool and having a few drinks.
Finally, today we went to the home of Gustavo Esteva, just a genuinely really smart and nice dude, and the founder of Universidad de la Tierra(where I'm studying). Now officially I'm taking Geography here but it's that plus History, Culture, and Economics of the region especially of development in Latin America. So over the course of the day he showed his home which is pretty freaking amazing. I've always pictured myself living in a city, but after seeing his place and a few others here I could see myself going the complete opposite direction too. Words can't do it justice, but it's just a gorgeous combination of some farmland he's working on and a house that's incredibly well built and fits in with the beautiful plants perfectly. He's very loquacious(SAT word for ya) and we talked for about 3 hours about Oaxaca and his ideas on capitalism and localization and education. It doesn't do it justice to condense his ideas to just a few sentences, since it's not like he's pulling it out of his ass but in essence he's arguing that the bell is tolling for capitalism and that education only exacerbates inequality, instead of reducing it and that local communites can perform tasks much better than schools.
Again, a lot of his ideas are kinda radical as far as things go here in the States, and I disagree completely with some of them, but it's good to be challenged a bit and rethink almost everything you've been brought up with sometimes. In fact probably one of the most valuable things you can do is challenge convential wisdom. And also he admits that he nor anyone else knows how things are gonna fare with the economic crisis so he's definitely not inflexible on his positions.
Anyways after that long talk, we retired to his house to enjoy some of his wife's excellent cooking. The meal included a really good pasta and salad as well as some deviled eggs, followed by an apple custard desert.
Thats about all for now. Hasta Luego!
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Week 1
So now that I've sort of got my bearings here in the city and have started figuring out I think I'll just give you some more thoughts on life here, in no particular order.
1. The food has been excellent so far. Margarita is a great cook and lunch (la comida FUERTE) is consistently awesome. I'm actually starting to like soup here which is a big step forward for me and gives me hope that I might be able to enjoy a full course meal when I'm at the State Department in the distant future.
2. We stand out like sore thumbs in the city and any time we notice other gringos it's typically an event and we either introduce ourselves or make fun of them for looking even more out of place than we do. We ran into some drunk Brits the other night from Cardiff and got to hear how the bar they were in the previous night got broken up by police which made Matt "nearly shat himself" in the process.
3. Compared to the rest of the city and to the house Nathan and Alex are in, we are quite comfortable. Our house has internet, hot water, a garage, and plenty of nice furniture. We took a tour of the whole city on Wednesday and saw the extent of Oaxaca's underclass. Literally house after house made out of tin and sheet metal for miles. And the mexican public housing system which has the government building smaller and smaller homes to meet the growing demand. Really puts things in perspective to how good we have it in the States.
4. There is a lot of free time in the afternoons and on weekends and we've spent it exploring the city, watching a 6 on 6 futbol game, and doing a little clubbing and bar hopping. We've rapidly become VIP member at the bar right next to our house called "El Bicho". Their combination of closenessto home, a jukebox with American music, a pool table, and cheap drinks make it tough to say no to after a long day studying and walking a few miles across the city.
5. Transportation in Oaxaca is surprisingly reliable despite the aggressive driving habits of the locals and their lack of conception of what we in the States refer to as "lanes". Taxis and buses are really cheap and can get you pretty much wherever you want to go.
6. The markets in town can get kind of repetitive. Womens clothes, shoes, trinkets, mezcal, etc. But the market we saw in Zaachila on Thursday had just about everything food related and otherwise you could find in Mexico, including an animal market filled with pigs(yes i encountered pigs in Mexico and lived to tell about it!), horses, cows, and goats.
7. There are bootleg DVD stands all over town and sometimes they'll have movies that haven't come out yet in the US yet. They are also ridiculously cheap so we may be using that pumpline to kill some time as it goes on.
8. Everybody is organized in Oaxaca. Teachers, plumbers, electricians, waiters, cab drivers, etc. We noticed this phenomenon when we were walking home from class and the cab drivers basically shut down a block with their cabs and then proceeded to inform us of our gringoness and their opinions on the US.
9. Our house dad, Hector, is a really cool guy and we decided to get him a bottle of his favorite Johnnie Walker Red label for el dia de padre today. I'll also take this moment to say Happy Father's day to my Dad, my stepdad, and grandfather.
10. Mezcal is not for the faint of heart. Especially if you get the homemade variety our family prefers.
11. Most of the female population of Oaxaca(at least what we've seen thus far) falls into the categories of too young or taken, and those that aren't in those categories aren't typically attracted to a gringo college student with limited funds and limited spanish skills. That said if you go into a crowded bar be prepared to have your butt pinched about 50 times by these aforementioned ladies.
12. Monte Alban is an amazing sight and way more than what I was expecting. I came in expecting maybe a few ruins here and there but the whole thing goes on forever(it takes a good 3 hours to see everything) and you get to see ancient temples, houses, and two ball courts.
That's about all I've got for now. Hope everyone in the U.S isn't working too hard and having a good time.
1. The food has been excellent so far. Margarita is a great cook and lunch (la comida FUERTE) is consistently awesome. I'm actually starting to like soup here which is a big step forward for me and gives me hope that I might be able to enjoy a full course meal when I'm at the State Department in the distant future.
2. We stand out like sore thumbs in the city and any time we notice other gringos it's typically an event and we either introduce ourselves or make fun of them for looking even more out of place than we do. We ran into some drunk Brits the other night from Cardiff and got to hear how the bar they were in the previous night got broken up by police which made Matt "nearly shat himself" in the process.
3. Compared to the rest of the city and to the house Nathan and Alex are in, we are quite comfortable. Our house has internet, hot water, a garage, and plenty of nice furniture. We took a tour of the whole city on Wednesday and saw the extent of Oaxaca's underclass. Literally house after house made out of tin and sheet metal for miles. And the mexican public housing system which has the government building smaller and smaller homes to meet the growing demand. Really puts things in perspective to how good we have it in the States.
4. There is a lot of free time in the afternoons and on weekends and we've spent it exploring the city, watching a 6 on 6 futbol game, and doing a little clubbing and bar hopping. We've rapidly become VIP member at the bar right next to our house called "El Bicho". Their combination of closenessto home, a jukebox with American music, a pool table, and cheap drinks make it tough to say no to after a long day studying and walking a few miles across the city.
5. Transportation in Oaxaca is surprisingly reliable despite the aggressive driving habits of the locals and their lack of conception of what we in the States refer to as "lanes". Taxis and buses are really cheap and can get you pretty much wherever you want to go.
6. The markets in town can get kind of repetitive. Womens clothes, shoes, trinkets, mezcal, etc. But the market we saw in Zaachila on Thursday had just about everything food related and otherwise you could find in Mexico, including an animal market filled with pigs(yes i encountered pigs in Mexico and lived to tell about it!), horses, cows, and goats.
7. There are bootleg DVD stands all over town and sometimes they'll have movies that haven't come out yet in the US yet. They are also ridiculously cheap so we may be using that pumpline to kill some time as it goes on.
8. Everybody is organized in Oaxaca. Teachers, plumbers, electricians, waiters, cab drivers, etc. We noticed this phenomenon when we were walking home from class and the cab drivers basically shut down a block with their cabs and then proceeded to inform us of our gringoness and their opinions on the US.
9. Our house dad, Hector, is a really cool guy and we decided to get him a bottle of his favorite Johnnie Walker Red label for el dia de padre today. I'll also take this moment to say Happy Father's day to my Dad, my stepdad, and grandfather.
10. Mezcal is not for the faint of heart. Especially if you get the homemade variety our family prefers.
11. Most of the female population of Oaxaca(at least what we've seen thus far) falls into the categories of too young or taken, and those that aren't in those categories aren't typically attracted to a gringo college student with limited funds and limited spanish skills. That said if you go into a crowded bar be prepared to have your butt pinched about 50 times by these aforementioned ladies.
12. Monte Alban is an amazing sight and way more than what I was expecting. I came in expecting maybe a few ruins here and there but the whole thing goes on forever(it takes a good 3 hours to see everything) and you get to see ancient temples, houses, and two ball courts.
That's about all I've got for now. Hope everyone in the U.S isn't working too hard and having a good time.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
First Impressions
So after months of preparations, applications, emails, and tuition deadlines, the time for me to make my trip to Oaxaca had come. The night before I left brought a lot of my anxiety to the forefront of my mind and all the questions that come with it. Will I fit in with the group? Is is place as safe as I've been assured it is? Will I like the food? etc etc. Thanks to a few conversations with some friends that night and the knowledge that my worries were a hundred fold less than my mother's, I was able to relax a bit and get a few hours sleep before the big trip in the morning.
Shortly after arriving in Houston and grabbing some food I was still feeling some of the same doubts and realized that once I got on the plane in a few hours there was no turning back. Maybe five minutes after I made it to my connecting gate I noticed another guy with a big bag and who looked decidedly less Mexican than the rest of the people there. It was Will who was the lone UK student in our group. We chilled for a while talking about Lexington and Tucson and why were in the program, then headed over to exchange our dollars to pesos(an awesome experience by the way as you always got a love having 200s and 100s in your wallet). Will is pretty cool, he does a lot of professional sculpting with cast iron and has a nice bike collection. The planes we flew on were tiny and I hit my head on the ceiling on more than one occasion. We landed and got through customs easily enough and made friends with a couple on vacation and some girls from San Diego State on another study abroad in our taxi from the airport.
I settled into Casa Arnel for the first two nights while Will had a reservation at Holiday Inn Express. Casa Arnel was very comfortable but I was momentarily surprised by the lack of soap and free shampoo. After reading for a bit I called a night.
The next morning I headed down for some breakfast from my hostess Liliana, and grabbed some pancakes, bacon, and coffee from the Gringo menu. After a few minutes at the table, Alex one of the UA students came down and we made a little small talk before he started telling me all about his trips to Brazil, Chile, and Nicaragua, while I told a few stories from my week in Spain. We headed down to el Zocalo, which is the big town square in the city, where we decided to grab some lunch and a beer. I was wondering what was up as Alex asked me a couple of times if I knew some random white people or tourists walking by, but the second or third time he pointed out Will, and Alex's keen eye for Gringos paid off.
We hung around a bit longer and explored some more of the city before we came back to Zocalo to see the biggest protest I've ever seen in my life. It was 3 years to the day that there were riots in the city after the teacher's union, which has over 1 million members in Mexico, came to protest for increased wages. It was really loud and you had people all over with APPO shirts and holding pictures of Stalin, Marx and Guevara. The newspaper said the next day that there were nearly a million people at the "megamarch". As a foreigner I totally respect how much energy, effort, and passion they put into it, but its kinda sad that a lot of these people they are glorifying completely betrayed any ideals they once stood for.
We met the fourth member of the group, a dude named Nathan, at Casa Arnel that night and he told us the hellish story of his 8 hour trip by bus from Mexico City with a ton of luggage and a bunch of people trying to scam him. After a little time on Casa Arnel's computer I called it a night and got ready for the real part of the trip to begin.
The next morning, the 3 of us piled in to a taxi with all our luggage and arrived at "La Universidad de la Tierra". We met Oliver, the guy in charge of the program, and he gave us a whole syllabus which has us going to some ruins, the beach over by the Pacific Ocean, and for a 5 day stay in village. We also met the last member of our group and the only girl, Hannah. After that we finally got down to the part I'd been most worried about, our host family. I was paired up with Will and Hannah and we were told our house mom's name was Margarita. She met us outside with her husband, Hector, and again we piled a shit ton of luggage into a small car. The first thing she said to us as we got into the house was "Mi casa es su casa" and she really meant it. The house is very nice and comfortable and has all the amenities you could ask for. Also Margarita and Hector are two of the kindest, most welcoming people I've met. Pretty much they are fine with just about anything and will do just about anything for you as long as you ask in Spanish. We had some sandwiches and spaghetti for dinner and polished it off with Corona's(except for Hector who preferred some Johnnie Walker) all around as a welcoming present for us.
After that we met back up with Alex and Nathan and did some more exploring of this new part of town and hit up a few bars, finally settling on one named "El Bicho". The first thing we did was give Mezcal , which is the official drink of Oaxaca, a try and were all even brave enough to have the worm with it. The owner of the place was definitely looking for some new regulars as I got a few free margaritas and a mojito while the other guys got a few free beers. Towards the end of the night we grabbed hold of the jukebox and played music from the Doors and about 5 songs from Queen, finally ending the night by leading everyone in Bohemian Rhapsody.
This morning we had an awesome breakfast of tamales, melons, and coffee. We walked over to school and had our first two classes which look like they're going to be pretty good. Because the Spanish class is so small you get a lot of one on one practice and since we're not studying out of a book we really can improve our conversatonal Spanish. Geography incorporates everything from history and politics to agriculture and demographics of Oaxaca so I should be learning a ton this summer.
Last First Observations
1. The city is very safe but we go pretty much everywhere in groups just in case and so it's more fun.
2. Everything is crazy cheap and they have open air markets almost every day where you can by everything from jewelry to bootleg DVDs.
3. The whole atmosphere of family life is way more communal than in the States and you'll have people coming into our house(the door is left wide open during the day) or shouting through the window just to talk or see what's cooking for dinner.
4. We get Breakfast, lunch, and dinner from our host family's so I will be bearing gifts when I come back to the States.
5. My Spanish is getting muy bien and I think I could be fluent by the end of this.
6. We talk a lot about politics and surprisingly I'm in the minority for not being liberal enough.
7. The whole group is awesome and the whole program is looking amazing.
8. I really couldn't ask for a better first 3 days.
Shortly after arriving in Houston and grabbing some food I was still feeling some of the same doubts and realized that once I got on the plane in a few hours there was no turning back. Maybe five minutes after I made it to my connecting gate I noticed another guy with a big bag and who looked decidedly less Mexican than the rest of the people there. It was Will who was the lone UK student in our group. We chilled for a while talking about Lexington and Tucson and why were in the program, then headed over to exchange our dollars to pesos(an awesome experience by the way as you always got a love having 200s and 100s in your wallet). Will is pretty cool, he does a lot of professional sculpting with cast iron and has a nice bike collection. The planes we flew on were tiny and I hit my head on the ceiling on more than one occasion. We landed and got through customs easily enough and made friends with a couple on vacation and some girls from San Diego State on another study abroad in our taxi from the airport.
I settled into Casa Arnel for the first two nights while Will had a reservation at Holiday Inn Express. Casa Arnel was very comfortable but I was momentarily surprised by the lack of soap and free shampoo. After reading for a bit I called a night.
The next morning I headed down for some breakfast from my hostess Liliana, and grabbed some pancakes, bacon, and coffee from the Gringo menu. After a few minutes at the table, Alex one of the UA students came down and we made a little small talk before he started telling me all about his trips to Brazil, Chile, and Nicaragua, while I told a few stories from my week in Spain. We headed down to el Zocalo, which is the big town square in the city, where we decided to grab some lunch and a beer. I was wondering what was up as Alex asked me a couple of times if I knew some random white people or tourists walking by, but the second or third time he pointed out Will, and Alex's keen eye for Gringos paid off.
We hung around a bit longer and explored some more of the city before we came back to Zocalo to see the biggest protest I've ever seen in my life. It was 3 years to the day that there were riots in the city after the teacher's union, which has over 1 million members in Mexico, came to protest for increased wages. It was really loud and you had people all over with APPO shirts and holding pictures of Stalin, Marx and Guevara. The newspaper said the next day that there were nearly a million people at the "megamarch". As a foreigner I totally respect how much energy, effort, and passion they put into it, but its kinda sad that a lot of these people they are glorifying completely betrayed any ideals they once stood for.
We met the fourth member of the group, a dude named Nathan, at Casa Arnel that night and he told us the hellish story of his 8 hour trip by bus from Mexico City with a ton of luggage and a bunch of people trying to scam him. After a little time on Casa Arnel's computer I called it a night and got ready for the real part of the trip to begin.
The next morning, the 3 of us piled in to a taxi with all our luggage and arrived at "La Universidad de la Tierra". We met Oliver, the guy in charge of the program, and he gave us a whole syllabus which has us going to some ruins, the beach over by the Pacific Ocean, and for a 5 day stay in village. We also met the last member of our group and the only girl, Hannah. After that we finally got down to the part I'd been most worried about, our host family. I was paired up with Will and Hannah and we were told our house mom's name was Margarita. She met us outside with her husband, Hector, and again we piled a shit ton of luggage into a small car. The first thing she said to us as we got into the house was "Mi casa es su casa" and she really meant it. The house is very nice and comfortable and has all the amenities you could ask for. Also Margarita and Hector are two of the kindest, most welcoming people I've met. Pretty much they are fine with just about anything and will do just about anything for you as long as you ask in Spanish. We had some sandwiches and spaghetti for dinner and polished it off with Corona's(except for Hector who preferred some Johnnie Walker) all around as a welcoming present for us.
After that we met back up with Alex and Nathan and did some more exploring of this new part of town and hit up a few bars, finally settling on one named "El Bicho". The first thing we did was give Mezcal , which is the official drink of Oaxaca, a try and were all even brave enough to have the worm with it. The owner of the place was definitely looking for some new regulars as I got a few free margaritas and a mojito while the other guys got a few free beers. Towards the end of the night we grabbed hold of the jukebox and played music from the Doors and about 5 songs from Queen, finally ending the night by leading everyone in Bohemian Rhapsody.
This morning we had an awesome breakfast of tamales, melons, and coffee. We walked over to school and had our first two classes which look like they're going to be pretty good. Because the Spanish class is so small you get a lot of one on one practice and since we're not studying out of a book we really can improve our conversatonal Spanish. Geography incorporates everything from history and politics to agriculture and demographics of Oaxaca so I should be learning a ton this summer.
Last First Observations
1. The city is very safe but we go pretty much everywhere in groups just in case and so it's more fun.
2. Everything is crazy cheap and they have open air markets almost every day where you can by everything from jewelry to bootleg DVDs.
3. The whole atmosphere of family life is way more communal than in the States and you'll have people coming into our house(the door is left wide open during the day) or shouting through the window just to talk or see what's cooking for dinner.
4. We get Breakfast, lunch, and dinner from our host family's so I will be bearing gifts when I come back to the States.
5. My Spanish is getting muy bien and I think I could be fluent by the end of this.
6. We talk a lot about politics and surprisingly I'm in the minority for not being liberal enough.
7. The whole group is awesome and the whole program is looking amazing.
8. I really couldn't ask for a better first 3 days.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
