Lavar la ropa

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Well Ruth and I spent about 4 days trying to get our clothes washed . . . . without going into too much boring detail, we dropped off a bunh of clothes on Saturday morning to a private "business" across the street and they were to call us when finished. No call Saturday, no call Sunday, Sunday night Ruth ran over with Maria to fetch our still dirty clothes and we took them to a lavandería the following morning on the way to school, but they were closed, returned them to the house, went to school and FINALLY dropped them off Monday aftrnoon and picked them up Tuesday afternoon! But I was afraid of washing and drying some of my stuff so I set about washing several items, including a pair of pants (for fear I had grown since being here in Mexico). It was MUCH work . . . can't you tell? Every day someone hangs something to dry on the rooftop and every day in the late afternoon someone has to run full speed to get them down before the downpour (which we've never been caught in YET).

Sabritas—Habanero limón

People usually associate tortilla chips and salsa with Mexico—but have you ever tried “Lays” potato chips with Habanero chili and lime? Tonight Ruth and I spent 5 hours uploading and writing our commentary for our Morelia Semana 1 photo album we came home too late to eat “la cena” or “la merienda”, which is the last “meal” of the day. Remember “la comida” is the main meal of the day served around 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon, followed by a “siesta” and then a light meal around 8:00 or 9:00? We missed la merienda and ended up enjoying a 940 ml (large) bottle of Pacifico beer and eating a full bag of “Sabritas—Habanero limon at 10:30 pm (and I have yet to do my homework!).

I hope you all had a chance to view our first week in Morelia via our online photo album at kodakgallery.com. We spent hours putting it together when we could have been shopping or eating or drinking or seeing more sights of the city! Enjoy! (we are).

Ayer -- El 4th de Julio

5 julio 2007
Yesterday Ruth and I celebrated the 4th of July in our “recamera” (bedroom) with 3 votive candles, one red, one white and one blue, drinking a little “peach wine”. Salvador and Maria joined us. I can’t begin to describe all of the animated conversations we are having—my Spanish is on the move!

Our conversation “class por las calles” took us to a el Museo de Arte Contemporaneo and a magnificent church—full of flowers and gold.
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Today, Thursday, July 5th, I made my first presentation for my homework assignment on the educational system of the United States—tomorrow I do Mexico’s. It was great—definitely something I know about, but it is exciting for me to be able to do it in Spanish! Later our conversation “class por las calles” took us to the Conservatory of Music and the Museo del Estado. We returned a la casa for the afternoon comida and then up to the roof for a cerveza. Then this evening Ruth and I returned to “el centro”, which is quite the bustling place to be a night. There was a band in the jardin, and a huge crowd of people dancing (see the picture). Later the cathedral was lit. !Estuvo un gran noche! Tomorrow, el desayuno en el mercado (breakfast in the market) with our grammar teachers. Maria has given us warnings to “be careful”—!cuidado! (be mindful of what we eat, and from whom) (We will be!)

Una clase del mercado!

Today both classes were outside of school. My grammar teacher invited Ruth and her grammar teacher to go to the “mercado” for our morning class. We were given lists of fruits and vegetables and things you would buy at a grocery store—but today we concentrated on fruits and vegetables and tasted a little here and there as we walked through this market. We bought a liquiado, milk and fruit (I had mango and cinnamon), tasted tamarind and crystallized molasses.

After our class in the Mercado, our conversation teacher took us to an old church and convent turned into La Casa de las Artesanias. Tomorrow we are off to the Acueducto.

Later in the afternoon we took a car ride with Salvador y Maria to the Supermercado and mall to buy pan dulces (sweet bread) para nuestra cena (for our light supper) or breakfast, but instead we had oatmeal cooked in milk and strips of cinnamon. Our milk is delivered, fresh from the cow and cooked on the stove. Maria then skims the cream for cheese and butter and leaves the pot in the fridge for milk for our coffee and oatmeal. It is rich and yummy! South Beach here I come!

Las Clases por Las Calles

As I mentioned, I have 2 hours of grammar, 1:1 with my own teacher, followed by a conversation class just for Ruth and I and another teacher. The first day we talked Arturo, our conversation teacher, to take us on a tour for our class, instead of sitting in a classroom, so he did-- this is a picture, taken our first day of class, out the window of a government building with the murals. We told Arturo that we wanted our conversation class to be outside walking around the city every day-- he loves it and said that he has never had students make that request before! We are pioneers!

¿Dónde están los gringos?

Morelia is the opposite of San Miguel de Allende—hardly any tourist or gringos, nor Americanos nor Europeans—solomente Mexicanos. It is exactly what I had hoped for. Morelia is much more of a “city” than San Miguel, which seemed like a village. We are able to walk to school—a 30 minute brisk walk, but it is bustling with cars and people. Maria has assured us that Morelia is a very safe place and they live in a “muy tranquila” neighborhood. For those of you who have expressed worry—Mom, Robert, Evan . . . no need! Yo estoy muy seguro aquí. The loudest noises have been #1 Sleep interrupted at 4:30 am to Mariachis serenading someone in the neighborhood, and #2 the daily thunder, lightening and rain storms, which come and pass each afternoon. I love it

These boys were watching me take pictures in the mall and wanted to pose for me—I think they were showing off for some chicas nearby!

!Mi Tarea! ¡Dios Mios!

I’ve been assigned quite a chunk of homework—my first assignment is to research, “investigar” the educational system of Mexico and the U.S. and give a presentation on Friday, using my computer and a projector. He also gave me my next assignments due at the end of next week—again research, “investigar” the different themes of stereotypes, family, women/ “machismo”, death/ euthanasia, fiestas—Virgen de Gudalupe and La Noche de Muertos, and also different indigenous people, and “Zonas Arqueológicas”—Teotihucán, Tulum, Chichén Itzá, Palenque, Monte Albán, Mitla, and Uxmal (I’ve only heard of one of these places!) Thank God for the Internet and having access in this house! But I’ve already let one night go by without starting any of it! ¡Dios Mios¡

El Primer Día de Clase

My first day of school was really great. The first two hours is pretty intense. I start with a two-hour class, 1 on 1, working on my own special grammar needs with my teacher Ramsés, followed by a two-hour conversation class with Ruth and I together with another teacher—Arturo. We asked Arturo if we could do our class as a tour of Morelia, so we did! First stop-- an espresso shop for some real coffee, which will become our daily habit, then we walked around the government buildings, all very colonial, and historical, and we took a tour of the historical murals.

¿Quiénes “we”?

Ruth is the friend I met in school last year in San Miguel de Allende from Austin, Texas. She and I became great friends, finding we have lots in common—we are similar in age, we both have 3 kids-- similar ages, we are both at a similar level of Spanish and are both committed to learning Spanish and talking Spanish. She is very gregarious and will talk to anyone—and keeps the conversation going with our family, which is why it has taken me 3 days to write—we have been fully engaged with the family since our arrival. Ruth was assigned the same house with me. We both have our own room and bath on the 3rd floor, but spend a great deal of our time downstairs with Maria and Salvador—talking about everything!

¡Estoy Aquí!

2 julio 2007

It has taken me 3 days to find the time and the means to post a message. I arrived in Morelia, at the airport at 4:40 “en la mañana”, took a 40 minute taxi ride to my family’s house where I was greeted by Maria y Salvador. They offered me “coffee in water” or “coffee in milk”— most of you know I am a Peet’s Coffee Drinker—dark, strong, French roast, black, no sugar—but I saw the jar of Nescafé and said, “in milk por favor”. She then ladled out some milk out of a large kettle of milk, heated it in the microwave and then added instant coffee and sugar—It really was delicious and was just what I needed! After a little conversation—en español-- they showed me to my room on the 3rd floor of their house. I quickly unpacked, took my Rx drugs (my back went out the week before) and fell fast asleep, waking up just before la comida, about 2:00 in the afternoon. By this time, their daughter, Gortty, arrived from Mexico City. She is a 27-year old pediatric surgeon, visiting her parents for the weekend. Maria and Salvador have four children—all are doctors in their twenties. Salvador is a civil engineer, who has worked all over the world on bridges, dams, hotels, including the Sheraton in Maui. He works from home now. Maria runs the house, and is “una cocinera buena”—the food has been “incredible”. It is a good thing we have a 30-minute walk to school!