This week 6 new students moved in to the house we’re living at, so there are a total of 9 students now, along with the the 3 kids and 2 adults who live here permanently. Its a crowded house, but its a big house so its not to bad. The 6 new students are all teachers (middle school I think) from Alabama and there’s one other 16 year old girl from New Jersey who’s here by herself. Interestingly, it isn’t that uncommon for teenagers to come to Chac Mool without parents. Apparently its known in the US for having a great teen program and kinds program. There are also another brother & sister who are 15 & 17, respectively, and here w/out paretns. The teen program and kids program are run similar to the camps that Brent and I went to so much as kids (YMCA, Caz, etc). If I would have known about it, I would have came here instead of camp during summers!
School is going great. We both really like our classes and still feel that we are learning a lot every week.
Our excursion this weekend was to the historic buildings in Mexico City.
It was another great week in Cuernavaca. On Monday we went back to Las Monanitas (the Hotel) with the school. On Tuesday I did another cooking class. We made this really delicious dish. Its like a casserole with bell peppers, onion, mushroom, ham, bacon, beef, and oaxaco (pronounced wahaca) cheese. Then we put the casserole in tortillas to make tacos and added salsa and squeezed some lime juice in it. Omg…sooooo good! On Wednesday we took the bus to a city close to Cuernavaca called Tepoztlan. There’s another pyramid there which we started to climb, but since we went after class, the bus ride took about 40 minutes, it takes a few hours to climb up to, and it closes at 5pm, we didn’t make it to the top. So, we’re planning on going back on a Saturday or Sunday. Good thing we still have six more weeks!
Since people leave every week, every Friday the whole school gets together for a little party where the children perform skits in Spanish to show what they learned, then we all do something fun together like play a game or sing songs, then the director of the school, Julio, hands out diplomas (or certifications of completion), and lastly people give speeches (in Spanish of course) about how much they loved Chac Mool, how much they learned, how they’re going to miss all they’re friends here, etc. I always look forward to the little fiesta at the end of the day on Friday This week we all sung songs together. Here’s a video:
On Saturday Brent and I went with the school to another ancient city called Teotihuacan. It was about 2 hours North of Mexico City, but we were in one of those nice charter buses and there were movies playing. There were several big pyramids and we climbed the biggest one which is the pyramid of the sun. What a workout! Here’s a movie form the top of the pyramid:
The school Brent and I are going to (Chac Mool) has a different activity every afternoon. On Mondays the activity is just a get together where everyone meets and talks. This week we went to a nice hotel near the school called Las Monanitas. The first 3 pictures are of Brent and I at Las Monanitas. On Tuesdays the activity is a cooking class at someones house. The second two pictures are of the cooking class as well as the video below. On Wednesdays the activity is arts and craft (3rd picture). On Thursdays the activity is salsa dancing, but Brent and I haven’t done that one yet. On Fridays the activities vary. The 7th picture is of kids at our school doing a skit, the 8th picture is of the family from Ventura that has been staying with us and the last picture is of Brent and I at the school.
Every weekend the school has a different excursion. This weekend we went to an ancient Aztec city called Xochicalco (so-chi-cal-co). I think the city is from around 700 AD. Its about a 40 minute ride south of Cuernavaca.
Here’s a video of the house that Brent and I took the cooking class at:
Brent and I have completed one week of school. We’ve actually picked up a lot of Spanish in just one week. We are able to carry basic conversations pretty well. Since Brent is ahead of me he is in a more advanced class, but I’m sure that’s better for the both of us because its frustrating being in a class with people ahead of you or behind you. However, we still have a lot of difficulty communicating with the family so we have a lot more to learn.
The school is really great and I would recommend it to anyone who wanted to study Spanish abroad. All of the students and teachers are really nice and the classes are taught in a very relaxed, but efficient manner. There are 4-5 students per class and there are two types of class: structure and conversation. We have conversation in the morning and structure in the afternoon. One interesting thing is that most of the students are from California. It seems like about 80% and the others students I met are from various places in the US such as Virginia, Michigan, and Texas. Also, most people stay from 2-3 weeks and are astounded (and of course jealous) that Brent and I are staying for 9 and 12 weeks.
The host family that we live with is very nice, but they speak no English and we can’t always understand what they’re saying so we haven’t spent a lot of time with them. I hope to be able to communicate much better in a week or two. There is also a family of students staying in a different part of our house who eat with us (A dad, a mom, and 3 kids who are 8, 12, and 16). They’re from Ventura, Ca. We mostly speak English to them, although the parents seem pretty fluent in Spanish.
The food has been pretty good, but sometimes a little weird. We eat a ton of meat and very little vegetables which I don’t like. We eat a normal breakfast at 8am, our big meal is lunch which is around 2:30pm, and a little dinner around 7pm. This is apparently very normal for most people who live in Mexico. Brent and I (and most of the other Americans I talk to) have a hard time lasting until 2:30 for lunch so we’ve been buying snacks at the school and unfortunately they only sell junk food. I’m hoping that we’ll get used to their eating schedule soon. Most of the food is typical Mexican food: enchiladas, taquitos, quesadillas, and a lot of soup with meat on the side.
I bought a really good map of Cuernavaca from a lady that was leaving so Brent and I got out and explored the town. There are a lot of markets, museums, big churches, and other historical land marks. We’ve mainly been walking for exerciser, but taking a bus or taxi is cheap also. On Saturday Brent got a nice looking watch for $10 and I got a few t-shirts for a couple bucks each.
The weather has been nice and warm, but a little humid. It pours for about 20 minutes in the late afternoon everyday, but as long as we can stay inside or hide in a cafe its fine. Probably the biggest complaint Brent and I have is the mosquitoes. Both of our ankles and feet are covered in bites. I have at least 20 on my right ankle alone. We bought bug spray, but need to be better about wearing it.
Well, that’s all I can think of to write for now. Please post comments if there is anything else you would like to hear about!
Since the internet is slow I can only upload short videos. Here’s our school:
I went backpacking in Big Sur again last weekend with Rex, Brent, Terry, and Jake. We went from Kirk Creek to Vicente Flats and had a nice relaxing time talking around the campfire, making somemores, and playing drinking games. Here are some videos we took on our trip. To see them in HD you have to view them from the vimeo website where I uploaded them by clicking on the link below the video.
