Mexico

t´s been wet here, raining most afternoons, evenings, and nghts. It´s otherwise sunny, so we end up huddling under umbrelas (if someone has the foresight to brig one) in our sumery clothes.

Cosas Interesantes

Mosquitoes appear to be an indoor-only thing- I´m being eaten right now, but if I go outside and, say, read, here will be none in sight.

I now know how to judge when an avocado is ripe: when the tip s black, cut it from the bush; when the whole thing´s black and a littlesquishy, you can eat it. You´ll need to know that sometime.

It´s very hard to buy the groceries around here, not because the grocery store is far away (it´s all of two blocks) but because Abuelita sneaks out of the house and buys so much that it would be wasteful to buy more.

The way most English-speakers can´t pronounce rr, most Mexicans can´t pronounce our form of r. They always roll it.

Domingo, 7/16/06

Dan walked me all around town, showing me the panadería, the mercado, the supermarket, and how they all related to the town center and to María´s house. At the Casa de la Cultura (the closest equivalent in the US that I can think of would be somwhere between a community college and a day camp), we found the proram for the cltural festival, and I signed up for daily classes (10-1, Mon-Fri, as many weeks as I´l be here, and then some) in Ballet Foklórico.

When we returned, Eileen, Dan, Daniel (whomwe are supposed to speak to only in English, to teach him how), and I drove to a waterfall. It was a hot hike, and we wished we´d brought our swimsuits, because there apeared to be swiming in the river. When we reached the top of the hike, just about right under the falls, we got soaked anyway. The water splashed dwn about 100 m, and there were ziplines available (at little cost- about 10 pesos (>$1)) which we wuld have gone on had we not had to leave.

We hurried home so that Dan and María could catch their bus to Oaxaca for their 1-week luna de miel (hneymoon- the literal translatio is accurate) at Dan´s house.

In the evening, Eileen and I (and, separately, Jorge and Tanya,) walked up to the center of town for a free concert (parto f the festival). It was a brass band concert, and the lead trumpet was a very funny MC for himself. They played everything from classical to Mexican traditional to swing.

Lunes, 7/17/06

My first dance class: I felt a bit out of place, being tall, white, and blond-ish (t´s funny- I´m conspicuously blond here, even though at home my hair´s smewhere between blond and brown), not to mention the only one of my age there. Most of my classmates are girls between the ages of 10 and 13, with a couple of moms in the back also taking the class. There are also three guys, sread evenly over the age range. The music was played VERY loudly, and we learned a dance, then reviewed some that they had learned the previous week (I followed along, trying to figure out what they were doing). Over our 45-minute ¨recess¨, I made friends with sme of the 13-year-old girls.

I came home, ate, and read from th kid books we´d gotten. I finished Cenicientas and Mujercitas.

Tanya, Jorge, Eileen, and I all went to the concert (it´s great- a free concert every night during this festival). Three groups played, and all were very funny (by accident).

The first group: It was called ¨Sivory¨ and was a Mexican rock/pop group. The music was al right, but it was hilarious watching the lead singer, who was a bit full of himself, dance around the stage in front of a completely unresposive audience. It would´ve worked had there been peple dancing, swaying, singing along, but everyone was just staring. It was a tough audience anyhow, though.

The second group: ¨Grupo Leyenda¨ playing ¨The Beatles¨. Good music, and we sang along. However, you had to know the words already to know what they were saying through the accents- netiher English-speakers nor Spanish speakers could tell.

The third group: Äguila de Chiapas¨ was a marimba group, and they actually knew what they were doing and were able to make the auience get up and dance. I enjoyed watching the old guys in suits geting so into the music, and especially the one wih the electric guitar, keeping the beat.

The volume of all three groups was up high enough that I think the drumbeat altered my heartbeat.

Martes, 7/18/06

After dance class, I tried to find a new way home (aside from the bvious route- it´s two blocks stragt down te road from where I take classes..) and got lost, ending up on the opposite side of the square than I should have been. Soeday, I´ll find a map or something, so I can at least do relocation practice.

Reading: I finished El Gato con Botas (I´ve been compiling vocabulary lists for each story, although some of the words aren´t in either my Spanish-English dictionary or the Spanish dctionary) and started La Bella Durmiente.

At six, Tania, Jorge, Eilen and I went to a concert enttled ¨Cuba para Todos¨. We weren´t sure what to expect, but unfortunately, it turned out to be opera. The pianist who accompanied the singer, however, was extremely entertainng- very skinny, animted, and incredible with the piano.

IN the park, there was a storytelle, who sang and danced and spoke slowly enough for his young audience that I got most of what he said. He told two stories adding music and dance where he saw fit. The first story was a version of A Midsumer Night´s Dream, only without any mortals (exeption of Bottom). The second was Ceniciento (Cinderellis), modernized (the step-siblings watched TV all day, the ball was a discotech..) and with the main character not particularly kind, beautiful, intelligent, etc.. as Cinderella generally is portrayed.

There was another concert, Music of the Bolivan Andes, but we were tired and didn´t stay long.

Miercles, 7/19/06

We began to dance the Palenque (specific set of dance moves) in formation, and I ended up in the lead of the line, even though I´d never actually been taught that dance (it was taught before I came, though I have picked it up since, fortunately), because I´m tallest in my class (despite the fact that it includes adult men and women.. I feel SO tall here).

During the break in classes, I talked with a woman from my class who´s been trying to learn English from a book. After classes, because I´d asked, she showed me to a place nearby where they teach salsa. The same place also teaches mambo, tango, merengue, etc., and the lady at the font desk couldnçt tell me which classes were when, because from wht I can tell, it depends on the teacherçs mood. We havençt gone yet, but it remains a possiblity.

It was a wet concert that night, but Eileen and I went anyway. I jugled, and the cameras set up to project the concerts filmed me juggling instead. The first person who playeed was nto very interesting, but the next people up were flamenco dancers. (sigh) I want those skirts.. They were very good.

Jueves, 7¡20¡06

I uggled during the break, and a lot of the kids tried juggling with me ¿three between two¡. After break, we danced Palenque in the courtyard, with the marimba class playing the music. They kept getting lost, so we got lost too. Our respective tachers made us start overagain and again until there were no errors.

In the afternoon, there was a free play, which I went to without knowing what it would be. It turned out to be a comedy of a gay Dracula. It was at least as odd as it sounds.

The concert was a bad with drums, electric viola, guitar, and a really big instrument with about twelve strings. It was very wet in the audience, and seated on the ege of the fountain, we feared for a fountain overflow.

Viernes, 7¿21¿06

This keyboard keeps changing which keys mean what as I type. Very strange.

Our dance teacher, for an unexplained reason, couldnç come today, but I was let join the theater class instead. I was unimpressed= imagine the way preschoolers crawl around and make animal noises, chasing each other, pretending to be cats and dogs, then imagine them being directed to do so by a teacher, and having a stage to do it on.

After classes, I walked all around the town to get exercise, then camehome and washed clothes. Exciting...

Tonight, Taniaçs invited us to a party one of her friends is having. Itçs supposed to be Hawaii themed.

Whatçs everyone else been doing+