Turning a Corner

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