Pili, Paul, y Alexandro

it's only been a couple of weeks but already I feel like a common citizen navigating my way through the crowds and dodging drivers who follow no road rules. reminds me of how in Charleston I always felt a tinge of anxiety when crossing through traffic, such as at 4-way stops. I know, it seems silly, especially considering that here I'm always in arms reach of speeding vehicles and there aren't any traffic lights and the few stop signs we do have aren't taken seriously. so thanks to being here, I've rid myself of my car phobia.

I've also rid myself of personal space. people hug and kiss, even if they're strangers meeting for the first time. the exception is that guys shake hands with one another. this way of greeting is something I've only now gotten the hang of. usually when I met someone I stuck to my tendency of waving at them from afar. after all, I'm used to thinking that shaking hands was a bit too formal. there've been two occasions in which someone's put their head near mine, while I stood there for a couple of seconds until it hit me what it was they were waiting for. one time someone did that to me in the kitchen and I thought they were trying to grab something behind me.

even at the dinner table there's a lack of personal space. instead of asking someone to pass you an item, you simply reach for it. and take for example the streets. most of them are one way because they're only wide enough for one vehicle. and the sidewalks on either side are the same, built wide enough for a single person, so pedestrians have to practically walk against one another, especially when a vehicle takes up all of the space in the road. this also goes for the stairway at my university, which, again, by the looks of it, is made for one-way single-person traffic. and I've had conversations with people in which there was almost no space between us, so it feels like they're hovering. well, at least for me, since I'm short. anyway, now I feel at ease with all of the above.

I'm still getting used to being introduced to so many people, due to my host family having so many friends and relatives dropping by to visit the new baby. and apparently my host mom has a history of welcoming anyone to lunch at our place. it feels like every day I'm sharing the diner table with a new group of people, whether relatives, neighbors, or her kids' friends.

recently my host mom's eldest daughter, Pili, came to visit for the week with her two sons, Paul (6) and Alejandro (2). Paul is a super sweet kid who's currently obsessed with Michael Jackson, and Alejandro has gorgeous, innocent eyes and a diva personality.

these two were endlessly entertaining. and I liked that their mom, Pili, didn't act transformed by motherhood. she seemed like a peer of mine who happened to have kids, and all we did was make fun of them or make the same digusted faces at one another when they did something ridiculous, like danced. Paul would immitate Michael Jackson while Alejandro exemplified natural rhythm to the beats of the music, which was so odd to see coming from someone who's barely 2.

the picture above was taken on top of a mountain. I believe the place is called Cristo Rey, with the large statue in the background being of Jesus.

when they left Saturday night, it was a tearful goodbye. just seeing everyone else crying almost made me cry, but I held back because I felt it was odd for me to feel this close to people I only knew for a week, but my feelings were genuine, nonetheless. being here has made me appreciate family even more.

anyway, they might come back mid-September for another week

I walked to the art school with Mira and Anna and would have enrolled in a life-figure drawing class if it hadn't conflicted with my class schedule. each class is only $20-$30, and that's for an entire semester.

this weekend I went to see State of Play at the movie theater with Mira and Anna. we first walked around the Mega Mart and bought an assortment of snacks. there were all kinds of sweet, delicious-looking baked goods, so we each picked 2. I paid for everyone and the total was a little over $1 USD. however, I finally learned that not everything is cheap. in fact, a tube of exfoliating face scrub costs almost $5. but generally the cost of living is cheap. I know a guy who has a completely furnished two-bedroom apartment with everything (including internet) for only $300 USD, and that's near the central part of the city.

the movie had Spanish subtitles, so not only was it thrilling, it was educational. and afterward we decided to walk through the city instead of sitting in a bar. we got to see parts of the city we hadn't explored before and passed by a street vendor on almost every block. I wasn't that hungry but tempted to try something since everything everyone was selling cost under a dollar.

later today I'm going to be leading a conversation in English at the university. last week I attended a session and ended up being invited to a café afterward with three others, who turned out to be some of the nicest people I've ever met. they all said they'd come to my session every Monday at 5 PM. and at 6 PM there's a French session that I'm gonna start attending, since I still have to take French next semester at EIU.

I also got a hold of Adair, a guy I met in Charleston at Amigos&Friends who now lives in Toluca, which is 3-4 hours away from Guanajuato and 40 minutes from Mexico City. I made plans to take a bus directly to Toluca and to stay with him and his family for the weekend. my host mom told me that Toluca has great food, which must mean it's exceptional, since everything I've eaten in Guanajuato is excellent. in fact, when I get back to the U.S., I plan on cooking the same food

the climb

finished my first week of classes, the most noteworthy one being dance, which is a 2 hour class 2 nights a week. this week we started salsa, marengue, and cumbia. it's fast paced, so it's cool to imagine how much we'll have learned by the end of the semester.

this is the view from outside a classroom:

my host mom's daughter Faviola drove me to one of the university's more modern style buildings. I forgot that the campus is spread throughout the city:

Faviola's friend Cristián was my tour guide. she lives with us and recently graduated from the university and is spending a couple of more weeks in the city before reutrning to Guadalajara

I went to the Plaza de la Paz to meet up with some international students. all I knew was that we were walking somewhere

we started making our way up the city

we got to this point called the Pípila, which offers a panoramic view of the city

which is why you can find hundreds of other pictures that look exactly like this

as we kept trekking upward, we passed a number dogs, most of which run around freely. this one was an exception

I felt compelled to take a photo of every building we passed

I knew we were headed to some point called la bufa. I asked where it was and someone pointed to the mountain in the right-hand corner. I thought they were joking

I noticed this thing hop by. it looks like a toad and cricket mix

we had to take a number of breaks. I felt a bit tortured at this point, due to being out of shape and the altitude

you can barely see the city behind us. I still don't understand how we look so far away from it. the walk wasn't that long. anyway, at some points I was literally climbing the mountain, using both my hands and feet, and I thought, hm, this is kind of dangerous

people thought that my wearing boots was a bad idea. sure, they don't have traction, but they're probably the most comfortable shoes I've ever worn. even after this trip, my feet felt fine, as if I hadn't hiked and climbed a mountain

here's the top of la bufa. one of the guys in our group had slept here overnight

we made it back 3 or 4 hours later

the other night, as Mira and I walked to an outdoor book fair, we passed what appeared to be a medieval show. we should've watched it. instead, I went and bought 1984 in Spanish for a couple of bucks. we also passed by a French restaurant with crepes (Michael, why aren't you here?).

as I walked through the city, I felt glad for not changing my decision to study in Guanajuato. I did come close, though, thinking that I should go to Salamanca instead, that it would be more beautiful and cultured. but being here makes it hard for me to imagine that I could've chosen a better place to study Spanish.

baby, bank, and bootleg videos

woke up at 6:30 AM to get ready for classes, along with most everyone else in the house who was up because

one of my host mom's daughters had to go to

the hospital to give birth. both the daughter and new baby boy are coming home tomorrow.

today was the first day of classes and I left feeling really good about all of them.

everything was pretty much introductory, except for my history course, in which my professor started lecturing the

material. it's hard enough to pay attention to a lecture in English, so you'd figure it'd be easy to zone out to someone

speaking in a foreign language, but surprisingly she had a way of speaking that I really liked. she was so concise, composed

, and humorous.

and I'm really looking forward

to my conversations class in which we discuss world issues within a mixed group of Japanese, Korean, Canadians,

Germans, and U.S. citizens. today we touched upon stereotypes, which prompted our professor to share this joke:

Q: ?por qué las rubias no saben preparar hielo? (why don't blondes know how to prepare

ice?)

A: porque no saben la receta (because they don't know the recipe)

afterward, Anna and I walked around the city looking for a bank. I needed to withdraw

6,630 pesos ($500 USD) from the ATM in order to pay my host family for the month. along the way we ran into two

other international students, both from Canada and we all walked to the bank, then walked around looking through

various shops. I bought some apple soda and a package of lightly poweredered donuts, the total being around a dollar.

this is a view from our balcony

this is the street I live on, Calle Sangre de Cristo

on my way back to the apartment

our quest for stores. up ahead on the right side is a large group of students sketching on paded paper

near the bank. I'm guessing that yellow building is a church? forgot to ask

this is Lidia and Cindy. they're from Quebec, Canada. their first language is French

we followed Cindy into a video store. I noticed that they had Public Enemies, Bruno, and Ice Age 3 on their shelves, all movies playing at my theater before I left. the videos are about 3 for $3 USD.

I love the nightlife

yesterday I sat around watching and reading the news from the U.S. I still miss my home and family, even my country, for that matter; I appreciate it more than ever and can't wait to get back. but at the same time I'm quickly adjusting to life here and am loving the city and people.

one thing that's still odd is not having any responsibilities besides studying. all my meals are prepared for me and we even have someone who cleans the apartment. in regard to our meals, we have breakfast when we wake up, lunch at three PM, and then a super light dinner around 8 PM.

my host mom asked if I would be interested in teaching English at the elementary school nearby. OMG a definite duh. she said she'd speak with the director of the school once their term starts.

last night I met with Anna and two of her friends, both from the U.S. and we took a taxi to the movie theater, which was inside a mall. the taxi only cost the equivalent of two U.S. dollars, which we split, and my movie ticket was three U.S. dollars. and yes, they show the same movies that would be playing in the U.S., besides those in Spanish. we saw the Code, with Morgan Freeman and Antonio Banderes, which sucked, but at least I learned a bit from reading the Spanish subtitles.

afterward we took another taxi back into the city. BTW there appear to be no traffic laws. there aren't any traffic lights, and I only remember seeing one stop sign, which didn't phase our taxi driver, who was also singing loudly.

once we were dropped off, we decided that we'd all meet up later at the union garden at 1:15 AM.

we ended up going to four different night clubs. at one of them I was frisked at the door and the guy pulled out my chapstick and asked "Qué es?" (what's this?). I thought, really?

toward the end of the night we went back to that basement-style bar, where people dance on the white sofas, and this time there were strobe and lazer lights zipping through all the artificial smoke. we danced till they closed, which was about four AM.

on our way to this reggae bar, I saw this guy walking by who at first I thought had cerebral palsy, because of the way his legs were bent as he walked. but as he got closer I could tell by the look on his face that he was just incredibly intoxicated. I've never seen someone look that out of it. but somehow he was functioning as if he were on autopilot and like he still possesed a sense of direction.

unfortunately the reggae bar was closed as well, so I'm guessing that bars here close at 4 AM. there were still all kinds of people out and about, especially around this one taco stand. it reminded me of the many weekends in Charleston where after a drunken evening we'd all head over to taco bell.

and again, my night of clubbn was completely free.

anyway, gotta get back to studying. my first class starts tomorrow at 8 AM

first friday

in the afternoon I went to orientation and was given a presentation and tour by the language department staff. they briefed us on how to stay safe, even though Guanajuato is generally a safe city. apparently you have to be wary of ATM machines because sometimes people install small video cameras on them in order to read your information. therefore, it's best to withdraw money during the day. I mean, that's what I translated.

they also mentioned the festival internacional cervantino, which is held in October for a few weeks, and during those few weeks there're thousands of people packed in the city from all over the world, attending music performances, dance performances, plays, and art shows. I thought, how're all those people going to fit? the streets of Guanajuato are packed enough on a regular night.

during the tour I saw a flier requesting that English speakers volunteer to have conversations with students learning the language. I'm definitely going to volunteer as soon as possible. after the tour I was standing in the hallway, waiting for someone, and decided to initiate a conversation with the student across from me. she turned out to be someone preparing to be an English teacher, although it wasn't her first langage, and we ended up exchanging contact info.

at the orientation I saw Anna, who's also from EIU, and was so excited to finally speak with someone who could completely relate with me. when we started speaking in English, I spoke faster than I ever have.

I spent the rest of my afternoon speaking to my friend Beatriz on Skype, telling her all about Mexico. and while speaking with her, I felt like my Spanish flowed so well, and speaking with her gave me the type of relief I thought I could only get from speaking with another English speaker. I'm guessing it's due to the fact that I know her and that she can relate to being a newcomer and dealing with language barriers.

a short while later, I finally was able to get in touch with this girl named Clare, whom I met on a Facebook message board about Guanajuato. she was studying in Chicago, but now she's here for the semester like me. we made plans to meet at 9:30 PM.

before going out I had dinner with my host family and we ended up having a hardy conversation about work and workers' rights, and I was surprised by how much easier it was for me to express myself in Spanish. all my words flowed and almost without pause, simply after being here for three days.

anyway, I met with Clare at the teatro juarez. we wandered around the city speaking Spanish and I was surprised by the number of people out and about. there was music all around and people dressed up in costumes. there was even a clown entertaining the people sitting on the steps in front of the theater. I also noticed that the majority of young people here dress better than most people at EIU (which you can't tell by these pictures, but trust me, Angela, it's true). and there was so much more to the city than I thought. it was filled with life. I wish I could've taken more pictures, but it was too dark to take any decent ones.

eventually some guy started speaking with Clare and we ended up sitting on some steps and carrying on a conversation with him until it was interrupted by another guy whom Clare knew, inviting us to join him and a group of others at this Keraoke bar. so I met her friend Pablo, who I assume is a native to Guanajuato, a girl from Denmark, one from France, and two others from Mexico, and a guy from Portland, Oregon. after the keraoke bar, we went to a salsa club. at one point all the girls in my group started dancing together, only to be each approached by a different guy. these guys were pretty skilled. and afterward we headed over to another bar playing more dance-club type music, which is more my style, and we ended up dancing for I don't know how long, to the point that I had to stop because I felt like throwing up.

we left in time to avoid a fight that broke out between a couple of guys. we saw one guy come out of the club with no shoes and a bleeding forehead. the police who patrolled the city at night congregated in groups that appeared to be swat teams, which actually makes you feel super safe.

I made it home around 3 AM, which is fine by my host mom because I told her that I don't drink, and I didn't. in fact, my entire night out was free. I didn't drink or eat or pay any cover charges. in total, it was an awesome night.

(I promise to take far more photos of the city during the day)

solo in the city

after eating cereal and melon with my host mom, we walked to the university so that I could take the placement exam and register for my classes. it's about a five to seven minute walk from my house to the university.

this city is beautiful and bustling with young people. I had to be reminded that it's a university town. along the way I heard a bit of English by a man sitting on the sidewalk, playing and signing "Imagine" on his acoustic guitar. I also caught site of the many people congregated at the park around an instrumental band.

I took my exam and placed into the advanced classes, which means that I'll have to do a lot of studying before my classes on Monday, because although I'm comfortable with Spanish grammar and forming my own sentences, it's my listening comprehension that's not so strong, so I can imagine having simple questions directed at me by my professors and my having to ask them to repeat themselves over and over again.

while filling out paperwork, I befriended a couple of girls who were from Japan. they've been studying Spanish for three years and just arrived here to study for an entire year. the woman who worked in the office was able to assist them, speaking in fluent Japanese, even though she was obviously Mexican. I wish that I had the capacity for another language.

I walked back to my house by myself and was able to find it without any difficulties. it feels weird walking the streets of a foreign city, and the language barrier makes exploring much more daunting. I keep expecting someone to say something to me, to which I would respond, "lo siento, mi español no es tan bueno" (sorry, my Spanish isn't so good). and I kept hoping that I would run into another international student so that we could explore and look like naive tourists together.

well tomorrow is orientation. I'll meet the other international students and be given a tour of the university. I think once I start interacting with other students and start taking classes, things will start to flow comfortably.

I spent my evening studying Spanish and thinking that this might be most of what I do this semester, which won't make for much of a blog. I'm also going to bed before eleven and planning on waking up by six, only becaue I feel lonely and have nothing to sustain myself but simple goals, such as developing the habbit of waking up super early and being devoutly studious.

my classes are:

8:00 AM, Literature

9:00 AM, History

10:00 AM, Grammar

11:00 AM, Conversation

1:00 PM, Relations between Mexico and the United States

5:00 PM, Dance

goodbye, English speakers

yesterday morning Josh dropped me off at the Bush airport in Houston, and already I was wishing that I could prolong my stay, like how I wanted my summer in Pekin to continue, even though all I did was watch the Sopranos, read library books, and work at the movie theater. life was tranquilo.

my plane landed in León two hours later and moments after getting off the plane I was lost but redirected to customs. everyone around me was speaking Spanish, which put me on edge. I was expecting someone to spit Spanish at me only to have me assuredly respond with “Cómo?” (huh?), which is what happened a couple of times as I went through the process of retrieving my baggage.

the Señora, with whom I would live, was standing near the airport entrance with one of her daughters, holding a sign with my name. both she and her daughter were welcoming, embracing me with a hug and kiss, which caught me off guard.

as the Señora drove us through León, we volleyed questions back and forth in Spanish (no one in my host family speaks English), and, while we carried on the conversation, I was surprised by how poor the city appeared to be. everywhere I looked reminded me of the abandoned industrial part of downtown Peoria, except worse, and inhabited.

the city of Guanajuato, however, looks like a part of Disney World, with narrow brick roads and colorful Spanish-style buildings. my host family lives in an apartment on the third floor of their complex. it’s spacious, with enough rooms to house the Señora, her two daughters, son, me, and a large empty room furnished with two beds for any other incoming international students.

as soon as I unpacked my things, which were packed into two carry-ons and a backpack, we ate spaghetti and drank lemonade, which turned out to be the best I’ve ever tasted, made with actual lemons. the water I use is from a large jug, not the tap. I even have to fill up a cup with bottled water in order to brush my teeth.

after lunch I took a picture of the view outside my window and fell asleep. at 7:30 PM I awoke and helped prepare the dinner we were having as a “going away” for one of their friends, a Frenchman who has been studying here, and a “welcome” dinner for me.

while I chopped lettuce, the Frenchman and his girlfriend arrived. again, a light hug and kiss on the cheek was in order. and, soon after, my host mom’s son came home. he’s about my age and works at a museum. as we started to eat, my host mom’s other daughter arrived with two friends, and an older woman, a friend of my host mom, also joined us for dinner. we were gathered around the table, eating shredded pork with corn tortillas and an assortment of sauces, spices, chilies, and other various taco accessories.

the conversation and food kept coming until about midnight. at one point they made fun of me by slowing down their speech (hooooollllaaaa, coooomo estaaaas), which I appreciated :] and at another point I had to remind myself that I was listening to a foreign language. also, I suddenly craved English, wishing that there was someone with whom I could talk. I know that speaking in English would be counterproductive to my whole reason for being here, but at the time it would’ve felt comforting.

more specifically, I wanted to speak with one of the other international students who had come from the United States to know how their first day was. I kept feeling like I was plucked from Illinois and dropped into another world. anyway, I know I’m being melodramatic and that soon enough I’ll be accustomed to living here and attached to my new daily routine. and I’m grateful for being placed with such graciously kind people.