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.