La Ultima Dia

My flight leaves in 14 hours, I can't believe it. I've gotten so comfortable here. Well, now that Seattle and most of Texas left last week, I think this is a good time to salir but I will miss la cultura de Mexico. As well as my new friends. I am excited that I will have two new friends I can meet up with in Long Beach when I get back. All the Texans and Coloradoans, though? Forget it. I guess we do all have to move on to our own lives. Well, it was pretty funny in class today because almost everyone showed up really late (at least five minutes until almost 20) and Robert did not sleep at all, so he was soo tired, lol. He was like, falling asleep. So we read our essays and really the only one interesting enough to listen to was Douglas'. He applied what he knows of Mexico and his experiences and stuff, so it was pretty interesting. And then, whatever of the class we didn't spend reading, we spent talking. I was gone, though, lol. Conversation class, that was half and half. Our teacher went to D.F. today instead of coming to class so Rufi was our teacher, and he's a pretty cool guy. Because Leti didn't come to school today, we didn't have to do our test for conversation. We just spent the whole time talking about Mexico. Which was interesting at time and boring at others. Because, honestly, I have been talking to people for six weeks about Mexico. Not that Mexico isn't interesting to talk about, but we've been talking about the same thing: el pobre, la corrupcion, los pueblos, good sites to see, etc. Like I say, interesting stuff just it's always the same thing. And, after class was the graduation. Wow, it felt real nice to receive my transcripts (especially when they said I got straight "A"s) So weird, though, to think I won't be going back to that school on Monday. I'm kinda glad the school part is over and that I have my credits, but I will miss Mexico and my roommate and everything. So, after the graduation, Oyinna and I walked to Mega. OMG!! That place is HUGE and they have a WAY better selection than WalMart. I wanted to buy an extra bag, but the suitcases were ranging from $50-$70 dollars, and I just wanted something cheap. What I did find, though, was a duffel bag that you can contract and zip to store (and only costs like $20 bucks) that I figure, I can just take with me whenever I travel like that and then I won't have to buy another suitcase again. I found some Tequila too that looked so good, but ONLY because I'm under 21, I can't bring in alcohol. I did find Jose Cuervo chocolate, so I bought some of that, lol. We came home, and Lila fixed us lunch and later that night we went out. Around six-ish we went to Cafe Andromeda to meet up with people but they were like, leaving, lol. I got to say good-bye to some people. Then Oyinna, Maria, and I went shopping, got one last Tequila nieve from Tepotznieves, and ate street tacos for dinner. I later had another 2 scoops of ice cream that were pretty good too. We then went to Los Arcos and hung out. Chris was there so we danced and drank. Unfortunately Oyinna had to leave early, but I still got to hang with Chris and Elizabeth. She is so nice! She was like, "It's your last night, whatever you guys want to do." She was like, the only one to whom that seemed to matter. I'm so glad I met her. And Chris, he's been such a great friend. We stayed at Los Arcos until around 11 and went to Jet where we found a little private corner and just hung out. We chilled, talked, and danced. The good thing about that was Elizabeth and I didn't have to worry about anymore creepy guys hitting on us, lol. We had a lot of fun. Chris bought us roses, and we all danced. We did leave early, around 1:30, but Chris has to get up early for his bus and Elizabeth does have an excursion tomorrow. I guess I should get a good night's sleep before my flight too, but that's unimportant. I can sleep when I'm old. ;-) And even then I hope I still go out and have fun because that's important. Overall, my experience in Cuernavaca and Kukulcan has been so rewarding. If not in my Spanish then in the people I've met, both Mexican and American. Poor Mexico has such a bad reputation because of the drug war at the boarder, but Central Mexico is so safe. And the people are so friendly. Cuernavaca isn't necessarily a beautiful city, but the surrounding area and all the nearby pueblos and the views of the hills and everything are so beautiful, and I have greatly enjoyed the nightlife. I loved visiting the pueblos and going on the excursions. I loved practicing Spanish with students just like me and with the locals. This has been a great experience that I will cherish for a very long time, if not the rest of my life.

Un Dia Tranquila

As usual, grammar yesterday was normal. However, two of my classmates didn't show up because they went to Mexico to go to Casa Azul and other things. Conversation class was quite too because Melanie and Robert left as well to go to Casa Azul. It was fun, though. We played a board game where we would be shown a picture and had to identify it in Spanish. I didn't do too well with that part, lol. I did better than I expected but I didn't do as well as I would have hoped. Activity yesterday afternoon was Salsa. My last Salsa lesson with Johnathan. :-( I want to take him with me to the states to give Nick and I dance lessons, lol. He's a great teacher and really fun; I'm going to miss him and his class. So after school, Oyinna and I went home for a couple hours then went to the Galeria to go to the movie theater. We wanted to see Inception but we got there too late and they were sold out of both the dubbed and subbed until like 9 or something. Oyinna wanted to see The Sorcerer's Apprentice but we ran into the same problem. The next movie showing was Eclipse so we bought tickets for that. We walked around a bit then went to the movie. I bought a small popcorn for $28 pesos. $28 PESOS! Also, before we went to the movies we had Starbucks. They had a really interesting Frappuccino that I had never tried before called Banana Coco, so I got one and it was really good. It wasn't too expensive, probably about the same price as in the US. Really good too. The movie was pretty good. Better than the first two. I was just as disappointed when Bella picked Edward over Jacob as when I read that in the book. By the way, the movie ticket only cost $42 pesos. OMG!!! I spent like, six bucks and I got popcorn AND the movie. I love Mexico, lol. So, today, history was usual. We finished the book, which was good. Then in conversation class, we all talked about what we did yesterday. Everyone was here, so it was actually more interesting. Then! I was really irritated because we talked about suenos. AGAIN. I guess no one else had, but I did, and I was really irritated. I didn't say anything, though. Just went with it, and I told everyone about one of my worst dreams. I didn't have any nice dreams to tell them. So, Elaina, Elizabeth, and I wanted to go swimming today, however Elizabeth forgot a towel and by the time we could go into the water, it was not very hot out. And the water wasn't too warm. They don't heat it nor put chlorine in it, either, so it's not the greatest pool. I was quite disappointed because I was excited to go swimming. And! My only other option for the next hour was to listen to a lecture about Frida Khalo. That ended up being pretty interesting, I learned SOME new things about her, but not much. I would have rather gone swimming. Either way, that was cool. We came home, and I went to WalMart to get a new suitcase, but I ended up buying a bunch of cookies instead, lol. They didn't have suitcases, it was weird so I'll get one tomorrow either at Plaza Cuernavaca or El Centro. Tonight is Melanie and Robert's last night so we're all going to Carlos N Charlie's. I hope we don't go to Jet afterwards because I didn't like it so well. The group that goes out tomorrow night won't be the same. We'll see how it goes.

An Week of Outings

No staying in place this week, my last in Mexico. Last night a friend and I went to Casa Hidalgo for dinner. It was raining with thunder and lightening pretty badly so the lights were dim, and the camarero put candles on our table, lol. It was a very romantic setting. The food was really good and the atmosphere was really nice. We sat on the third floor and had a great view of El Centro. We then wanted to go to Los Arcos but it wasn't very exciting so we went to Eclipse where a young man played guitar and sang. It was really nice. We hung out for a good 2 hours before going home. It was really nice. So, today history was average. Place is still empty. It was my friend Elizabeth's birthday today, so we were making plans. Conversation we played Taboo, and I actually did pretty well. Certainly better than I thought I would. My team won (the Long Beach team ;-]) by one point. It was a really close game. We all had fun though. :-) Then! for the activity class we made little munecas out of...I forget what it's called. The paint sucked, though. It was really watery and kept running, so some of my colors started blending together, so I gave up. After school, the high school girl from Oakland Elaina came by the house around 6 and we walked to a taqueria down the street called El Semaforo. I had tacos al pastor and she had 2 quesadillas. We then took a taxi to Las Mananitas, and we were the first there. Not too long after, Chris and Doug came followed by Chris and later Melanie and Robert. Finally, the birthday girl and company arrived. It was really nice, and it ended up not being as expensive as I thought. The drinks, at least. The food got pretty pricey, but drinks weren't too bad. It was really nice. It's a hotel, and so like, it feels really isolated and there's lots of green around and peacocks walking around. There was even an albino peacock, it was really pretty. The food was really nice and once it started getting dark they placed candles everywhere. It was really, really nice. It started raining after a little while and some of us took taxis to Los Arcos. Robert was really nice; he bought shots for everyone. I had one, but it was not good. Haha, he offered me a Corona to chase it, and I think I'd rather take the tequila straight. I danced with Chris and Robert and this other guy I met there named Gustavo. He's a really good dancer. That's why I like to dance with the natives because they know how to dance. Robert does country western back in Texas so he's good to dance with too because he knows to be gentle, lol. Chris does interesting moves that I can't follow. I had fun dancing with all three of them. Later, Chris and Elaina left and the rest of us went to Eclipse. I stayed for like an hour and a half but it only felt like one hour. I had a lot of fun there. They bought like this giant tube of beer and shared it, it was funny to watch, lol. Robert danced with me and the other girls. At one point he tried dancing with Melanie and I at the same time and he did a really good job. Overall, tonight was a lot of fun. I enjoyed myself. Which I should especially since it's my last week. Chris wants to make plans to go to Jet tomorrow but I don't really want to go there. We'll see, nothing's set in stone.

T Minus 6 days, oof!

Overall, this weekend was pretty good. Yesterday was really enjoyable. I went to mass at the Catedral para la ultima vez. From there, I actually bought a book about the rosary in Spanish. It's just a small pamphlet with the prayers and descriptions of the mysteries and stuff. It's really helpful actually. I'll try praying the rosary every day and hopefully pretty soon I'll be able to memorize the prayers. So, after mass I walked to the Estrella Roja bus station and the bus was waiting for me, lol. It was a quick ride to Tepotzlan. Three songs after I finished the rosary we were there. Yesterday was a great day to go because it was so sunny! It was so beautiful out. So, I walked to the Zocalo where I walked around. Just walked down random streets that looked like they had lots of people. I walked down Avenida 5 de Mayo looking at all the bars, restaurants, and shops. Looking where there were lots of people. I went back to the mercado because that's where there seemed to be the most people. I walked around the market, looked at the different food for sale and stuff. I also walked down the artisan market. I ate lunch at the mercado. I walked around looking for a place that had tacos de pastor but I didn't find any. I did notice that a lot of the signs in the mercado said "tacos de cecina" I have no idea what it is. It's some kind of meat, that's all I know, lol. Even after eating it I'm still not sure. I think it's some kind of beef. Anyways. I sat down at a table that looked busy but not too busy I didn't feel like I wouldn't be served. So, how it works in the market is, there's a giant round fryer in the center and then the tables are set up in a circle around it kinda like a bar. You just take a seat, and they ask you what you want. So I sat down and ordered my taco and later a Pepsi. The tortilla she used was interesting because it was black. I didn't know why. I should have asked her. Well, she made my taco, and I ate it. A family of five sat at one of the tables and ordered their meal. A little while later, a family of three sat beside me. I noticed the family of five order sopes. I enjoy a good sope and I was a little hungry so I also ordered one. It was different than the first one I had. This was just salsa, crema y queso. It was still good, though. I watched her make it so now I know how to as well. All that (the taco, soda, and sope) cost me $45 pesos. FORTY-FIVE PESOS!!! So I walked around some more and had some nieve. Not from Tepotznieve but from a stand en el mercado. I had Queso (which was surprisingly good) and Beso de Luna. I'm not sure what was in it but whatever it was it was good, haha. Then I went to the Zocalo where there was live music. It was nice to look around and see the kids playing. And there were these three elderly men sitting on a bench. They all were dressed in light colored pants and button-up shirts and white cowboy hats. I should have gotten a picture cuz they looked pretty cool. I didn't see them talk to each other. They just sat there. It was awesome. I spent the rest of the day walking around and hanging out at the Zocalo. Before I left, I went to Fraspados Cafe (which is the awesome place Doug took Jenny and I to last week) and I got a frappuccino to go because I needed to break my $500 to have enough change. (turns out I didn't need it but it's always good to break a $500) Slowly and surely I made my way home. It started sprinkling as I left Tepotzlan, so I left at the right time. And the bus dropped me off at Carlos N Charlie's, and it started sprinkling here in Cuernavaca about when I got to Santa Clara, so not too bad. I got home just in time. Today, I started my final week of classes. OMG!!!! THE SCHOOL IS SERIOUSLY DESERTED! I guess the new French kids aren't coming until next week. There are only 5 classes: Papalote 2, Papalote 4, Papalote 6, Private Paplote 6, and my class; culture. My class is the largest consisting of 8 students including myself, well, I guess 9 (my friend is moving from Paplote 6 to my class) And even before the big groups came, we had 2 activity classes. This week, we only have one. And the entire school showed up for the cooking class, lol. Oh, my goodness. We made some kind of chicken vegetable soup which was really good. Easy to make too. Culture was usual. Conversation was good. We talked about our weekend and asked questions of each other. But, MAN! School was so EMPTY. I guess I didn't even really realize how many people were leaving. It's just, idk. Definitely not the same. I enjoy the company of the people who are left for sure. Just, it's weird. Just weird. Not used to so few people at Kukulcan. And then! 1) We didn't get ANY new students and 2) a bunch of us are leaving on Saturday. Next week, school will be even more quiet. It's weird to think that I'm leaving. In a few days, I'll be back in Concord. It's just weird to think about. I mean, I'm ready to go back and start school, etc, but at the same time, I kinda don't want to leave. Not stay at Kukulcan forever but not leave Mexico either. It's kinda hard to describe.

Final Good-Byes

Whoo! Past couple days have been quite busy. Yesterday, I had my exams. I turned in my history essay, and I think I did pretty well on that. Then for conversation, I had to talk about my theme. My theme was how I ended up in Kukulcan. The only question I was asked by my classmates was "Are you happy you came here?" and my response was that I was so happy. I did make the right decision. After conversation was many good-byes. Then we went on the excursion to El Castillito, which is a small castle that's now a photographic museum of Cuernavaca, and the cliff thing. I don't remember the name. The castle was cool, and the cliffs were really nice. A very green area in Cuernavaca. :-) Oyinna and I then walked with some of the group to el Centro and Oyinna and I went to the dress shop where she bought her dress and I bought my own. I love it! It's so pretty :-) Afterwards, we walked around a bit. We had nieve de coco and went to Burger King. All I had was an ice cream cone, lol. It was so good though! The vanilla ice cream actually tasted like vanilla ice cream not just like frozen milk or something. I have no regrets, lol. That was my lunch, actually. That and the Pop Tarts I had during the lunch break. We went back and took a nap. I showed up an hour late to Marco Polo, lol. But I didn't have to wait long for my food and everyone was visiting anyways, so it worked out. We were a much smaller group than last week. We walked to a bar where some people already were. Later, we split. Some people stayed, so I had to say good-bye to them, some people went to the gay bar, and I went with the group that went to this other place. It was ok. I should have gone to the gay bar. (That's where Oyinna was) I had a nice time with Robert and everyone. One of the girls was teaching me how to dance, lol, which was nice. I think I would have had more fun at the gay bar, but I did have a nice night overall. It just, so sad. This was probably the worst good-bye week. AH! No one's left! There are so few of us. At least the Long Beach girls are still here. There are a few I can party with this week. Not many though. Well, today, Oyinna and I spent the morning at home. We ate lunch with Lila and her friend. Lila made the amazing fish again. That stuff is so GOOD. I LOVE it. You can taste the sea. Well, after lunch we went to the ethnobotanic garden which is a garden that has plants native to the area. We got lots of really nice pictures. (One of them is above) We then walked to el Centro. On the way we picked up a cab because Oyinna was worried about being caught in the rain. We actually were able to wait out the light rain in the cafe we went to at el centro. Oyinna had a chai frape and I had a raspberry smoothie. Both were so GOOD. It's the same cafe where I had the hot chocolate last week. We then went to the falluca where I bought so much stuff, lol. Tons of DVD's and some Salsa music. We then just walked around El Centro. We enjoyed just watching people interact. It was cool. So many people were in El Centro, so much was going on. We walked around, took pictures, talked to a couple people, ate, and left. Not quite what I would expect of my last full Saturday in Cuernavaca, but definitely very, VERY nice. Very pleased with how I spent my day. Well, below is a slideshow of the cathedral in Cuernavaca. I talk about how pretty it is, so here's proof, lol.

Almost to the finish line

Today was alright. We just did more reading in historia y en conversacion, Melany and Doug did their topics. I'm doing mine tomorrow. Melany talked about her trip to Italy, and it was really interesting. Doug talked about...I don't remember. He talked about all the different careers he had, I think. I mean, I know that's what he talked a lot about, but I don't know if that was his topic. I'm guessing it is. I had Salsa as my culture class. I love the Salsa teacher. When I'm not wearing heels, he's probably about my height, maybe a little shorter. He's so skinny too! He's got this giant smile and the greatest mannerisms! Like, he's not like a wire skinny but he's very slim. He's got a little muscle in his brazos but he's really slim. I helped Nathan during his private lessons with Johnathan after school again today, and we did this move where like, the guy pulls me and my arm goes around the guy and it was just weird cuz he was so thin. Haha, and it's also interesting to dance with him because he's shorter then me in my heels. I think I'll get a picture with him next week. He's really good. He keeps time well, he knows to spin me when I step forward, not backwards. Es muy importante, jaja. Nathan has gotten pretty good too. He's even started adding a little style. ;-) I need to work on my style, too. I just need to get more comfortable with the movements. I'm also getting really good at moving my hips when I dance. It's kinda funny, in class, the guys will get lost, so I'll have to tell them what to do and give them tips and stuff. It's fun, I enjoy the Salsa class. :-) So, after 2 hours of Salsa, I went home and had an ENORMOUS meal. Gena feeds me EXTREMELY well. I was so full, and I ate late, so I didn't have dinner. I had coffee and a peanut cookie for dinner, lol. I then took a nap for about an hour. I think it was a little more than that. Anyways, I started writing my paper due today, but didn't finish because I went out. It was Onna's last night, so we went to Carlos N Charlie's. I wore my new skirt and looked so cute! <3 We were sat and drank our bebidas gratis. (she had rum and coke and I had tequila and that fresca stuff. Onna thought it was funny that it took me like 2 hours to drink my drink while she had like two or three, lol. she said i was "baby-sitting" my drink) While we sat there talking, a Cuernavance came up to us and was like, "My friends aren't here, can I hang out with you guys?" Of course we were like yeah. She spoke to us in English and apparently her boyfriend is from Indiana, so her English was pretty good. When Onna went to the bathroom she talked to me in Spanish, so I could practice my Spanish. We also met a guy from Dallas, Texas, and a guy from Switzerland. We also talked to a couple other Mexicanas, and they're the ones in the above picture. One of them, though, lives in Toluca Lake in CA. So that was pretty cool. I enjoyed Carlos N Charlies. Ran into one of my classmates and talked to her for a bit. Onna and I then went to Jet where the rest of Kukulcan was. Jet was ok. I preferred Carlos N Charlies because they played more Spanish music, for one, and there were more people. I still had fun because there were more people that I knew at Jet. I stayed out a little too late pero bueno, todo esta bien. Wow, it is almost 3 am. Ok, I think this is the end of my blog, lol.

La Galeria

So, school was average today. History was normal. Just did a bunch of reading. We finally read about a woman. She was a nun. All the people we've read about until that point were men. And I looked at the next few pages that are all filled with men except for one more woman. Conversation, we continued the exercise where we interview someone. Except we continuously got off topic. I was interviewed today as la Madre Teresa. Someone questioned why it's more important to help the poor in other countries as opposed to USA. Well, because the poor in other countries are worse off than the poor in the USA, of course. There were other questions, and I was glad that I finally wasn't going to be in trouble for not talking when a) there are native speakers who are more talkative than I and b) the subject is completely boring. I got a chance to ask questions of the other students too, so that was good. I didn't go to my culture class because I hung out with Chris instead. Last night, at Los Arcos, I danced with Nathan. Apparently later, though, he hit another one of our classmates in the face, lol. But yeah, we danced for a while and then later I danced with Chris. We had a nice long talk afterwards. Anyways, we had another long talk during conversation class. After school was another graduation ceremony for the 60+ students who were leaving and I was definitely NOT about to attend that. Cool for the students graduating and they deserve a big ceremony, especially since there are so many of them, but that doesn't mean that I have to stick around. So Oyinna and I walked to the Panderia near the school. (I don't remember the name) Then we caught a cab back to the house where Gena had lunch for us. We got ready to go and went to the Galeria. We bought our tickets for Encuentro Explosivo, that Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise movie. Tickets were only 42 pesos!!!! That's so cheap!!! We then went shopping for a bit. There were quite a few Spanish stores there. We also went to a department store that had candy and OMG! The chocolate was so good. I bought 50 grams of chocolate, which isn't much, and what was called a carmalela or something. I actually don't remember what it's called. Oyinna bought some of the native candy. It's actually really interesting, a lot of the Mexican candy is like, chilis or fruit coated in like, some kind of spice or something. I'm not even sure. I don't like it so well. It's too bitter and sour for my taste. I like sour if there's some sweet to balance it, but there usually isn't. We walked around a bit more. We found one of my favorite Spanish stores! It's called Oysho, they have adorable pajamas and stuff. Oyinna bought a pair of shorts. So, we went to the movie and enjoyed it. I liked the character arch of Cameron Diaz's character. Afterwards, we went shopping some more :-P We went to Bershka, which is one of my favorite stores, and I found the cutest mini skirt in the entire world! I also found some really cute tanks for like, 70 pesos. I liked the shirt a lot, it's really cute, but I LOVED the skirt. It was a little expensive but not outrageous. Reasonable. 400 pesos which is good for a skirt but more than I wanted to spend on a single piece here in Mexico, but it is so worth every penny. Oyinna loved Bershka because the style of clothes was so unique. Which it is! I love that store too, I wish we had more in the US than the one I've seen in SF. The style is very Spanish, which is extremely stylish. Bershka is one of the more expensive stores in Spain, but it's still really reasonable especially with a sale. After that, we returned home. Had the sweetbread we bought at the panderia for dinner. It was pretty good. Just, it was getting kinda dry, so it's good that I ate it tonight. Today was ok, but this afternoon was really good :-)